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For the last little while I've been working with Mark to go through the old manual (the 5-part PDF) for the 4-Place. Some of the info there has become outdated, either because the kits have changed, or folks have come up with more streamlined ways to do things. There have also been opportunities to clarify some of the old entries, and occasionally update the philosophy and style. We have added new entries based on Mark's "frequently received questions" and will continue to add more new sections as they are requested.
If you are building from a quick-build kit and have not yet been using the updated manual, please sign up here:
There is not an automated process to approve your request, so the delay length varies depending on what I'm doing that day. It is a little inconvenient getting started, but you'll only have to do this once. There is a purchase option for builders who are not building a quick-build kit (scratch builders, builders who purchase rib and spar kits, basic fuselages, etc) but don't pay any money if you are building from a quick-build kit.
This is the URL for the section once you are authorized:
The manual is not structured like the old one, in a giant pdf file that you would read front to back. Why is this? The short answer is that this effort started from the ground up with the goal of making the best builder experience available, both now and for years to come. Instead of the single big file, each manual topic is built in its own entry, more or less. Builders can add comments at the bottom of entries, and we can very readily change entries as feedback dictates. If something that is a short paragraph now needs to become 5 pages with 100 photos later, there is no restraint from making it that way, as there would be if everything was tightly nestled into a single document. If you have connectivity in your workshop, you can use something like an ipad to access the content live right in your shop, and not have to print out lots of pages. If not, each entry is still downloadable as its own pdf that you can save for offline use, or if you really want to, print. Because the content is dynamic, odds are good that if you printed the whole manual on day 1, there would be updates to some of the later steps by the time you got to them. The intent is that the builder will access the relevant content shortly before completing that particular step. This method also allows better crossover between the three types. For example, there is an entry about assembling shock struts, and that same entry will be presented to 4-Place, Patrol, and LSA builders. If an LSA builder suggests and improvement, it will be visible across all three types. In some areas the entries are separate, but because of the way Bob designs things, there is a lot of overlap, and using this database-driven method helps keep things tidy and more mutually beneficial.
Bearhawk.tips is also the website where all of the archived Beartracks newsletters are. Most builders will be using this content also, so it is intentional that they are in the same place. Frequent builder feedback laments the decentralized nature of the resources available to us. I hope to continue this trend if any other resources become available that can be presented at bearhawk.tips. Though the system does allow for monetizing the content, it also works just fine for "free" content.
At the bottom of the page at https://bearhawk.tips/kit you'll find a text listing of manual entires, in chronological order that they were added to the site. This allows you to easily catch up on what has been newly added. But the intended primary means of navigation is "the map" or "the tree." It is embedded in a tiny window on the same page, but it is much easier to use at this URL:
This tree, inspired by, um, another type of kit that ends with "X", is the best way that I could come up with to present the information. Sometimes tasks are dependent on other tasks, and sometimes you can jump right in without any prerequisite steps. The map allows you to easily see where each step falls in the chronology required to complete the kit. Most boxes have a little arrow, which is a link to the corresponding manual entry. There may be a link or two that aren't active yet, since I have created links for topics that are still in the approval queue. You'll notice that the topics also naturally fall into geographic areas that correspond to sections of the airplane. Like the wing tasks tend to be on the same branch of the tree, up until they are attached to the fuselage, etc. There are plenty of opportunities to change the look and feel of this concept if we need to, and perhaps also an option to export it into something that looks more like the text outline you'd use to write an essay in 8th grade.
I was waiting to make this post until all of the old manual had been incorporated, but we started talking about it on another thread, so I realized I needed to do it now instead. Thus, there are a couple of parts of the old manual that are still not posted, which include mounting the ailerons and flaps, mounting the wingtips, pitot tube mounting, and wing wiring. I hope to have these done in the next few weeks depending on how quickly the Q4 Beartracks issue goes together.
So having said all of that, this thread is a great venue to discuss the manual as it is. Especially, what tasks are things that need to be done, but aren't on the map? Rob and Jim, can you say more about what you don't like about the map (the whole concept, anything in particular)? I was just about to branch out the current 4-Place tree into specialized separate trees for the LSA and Patrol, but I'd like to make sure that the 4-Place tree is as good as it can be before we do that.
The goal here is to produce the most usable manual possible, knowing that 40 hours of professionally-produced video would probably be even better, but not funded at the moment. Please provide open feedback about how it can be more usable, you won't hurt my feelings. Or if you do I'll tell you, so if I don't tell you, assume that you haven't.
If you are building from a quick-build kit and have not yet been using the updated manual, please sign up here:
There is not an automated process to approve your request, so the delay length varies depending on what I'm doing that day. It is a little inconvenient getting started, but you'll only have to do this once. There is a purchase option for builders who are not building a quick-build kit (scratch builders, builders who purchase rib and spar kits, basic fuselages, etc) but don't pay any money if you are building from a quick-build kit.
This is the URL for the section once you are authorized:
The manual is not structured like the old one, in a giant pdf file that you would read front to back. Why is this? The short answer is that this effort started from the ground up with the goal of making the best builder experience available, both now and for years to come. Instead of the single big file, each manual topic is built in its own entry, more or less. Builders can add comments at the bottom of entries, and we can very readily change entries as feedback dictates. If something that is a short paragraph now needs to become 5 pages with 100 photos later, there is no restraint from making it that way, as there would be if everything was tightly nestled into a single document. If you have connectivity in your workshop, you can use something like an ipad to access the content live right in your shop, and not have to print out lots of pages. If not, each entry is still downloadable as its own pdf that you can save for offline use, or if you really want to, print. Because the content is dynamic, odds are good that if you printed the whole manual on day 1, there would be updates to some of the later steps by the time you got to them. The intent is that the builder will access the relevant content shortly before completing that particular step. This method also allows better crossover between the three types. For example, there is an entry about assembling shock struts, and that same entry will be presented to 4-Place, Patrol, and LSA builders. If an LSA builder suggests and improvement, it will be visible across all three types. In some areas the entries are separate, but because of the way Bob designs things, there is a lot of overlap, and using this database-driven method helps keep things tidy and more mutually beneficial.
Bearhawk.tips is also the website where all of the archived Beartracks newsletters are. Most builders will be using this content also, so it is intentional that they are in the same place. Frequent builder feedback laments the decentralized nature of the resources available to us. I hope to continue this trend if any other resources become available that can be presented at bearhawk.tips. Though the system does allow for monetizing the content, it also works just fine for "free" content.
At the bottom of the page at https://bearhawk.tips/kit you'll find a text listing of manual entires, in chronological order that they were added to the site. This allows you to easily catch up on what has been newly added. But the intended primary means of navigation is "the map" or "the tree." It is embedded in a tiny window on the same page, but it is much easier to use at this URL:
This tree, inspired by, um, another type of kit that ends with "X", is the best way that I could come up with to present the information. Sometimes tasks are dependent on other tasks, and sometimes you can jump right in without any prerequisite steps. The map allows you to easily see where each step falls in the chronology required to complete the kit. Most boxes have a little arrow, which is a link to the corresponding manual entry. There may be a link or two that aren't active yet, since I have created links for topics that are still in the approval queue. You'll notice that the topics also naturally fall into geographic areas that correspond to sections of the airplane. Like the wing tasks tend to be on the same branch of the tree, up until they are attached to the fuselage, etc. There are plenty of opportunities to change the look and feel of this concept if we need to, and perhaps also an option to export it into something that looks more like the text outline you'd use to write an essay in 8th grade.
I was waiting to make this post until all of the old manual had been incorporated, but we started talking about it on another thread, so I realized I needed to do it now instead. Thus, there are a couple of parts of the old manual that are still not posted, which include mounting the ailerons and flaps, mounting the wingtips, pitot tube mounting, and wing wiring. I hope to have these done in the next few weeks depending on how quickly the Q4 Beartracks issue goes together.
So having said all of that, this thread is a great venue to discuss the manual as it is. Especially, what tasks are things that need to be done, but aren't on the map? Rob and Jim, can you say more about what you don't like about the map (the whole concept, anything in particular)? I was just about to branch out the current 4-Place tree into specialized separate trees for the LSA and Patrol, but I'd like to make sure that the 4-Place tree is as good as it can be before we do that.
The goal here is to produce the most usable manual possible, knowing that 40 hours of professionally-produced video would probably be even better, but not funded at the moment. Please provide open feedback about how it can be more usable, you won't hurt my feelings. Or if you do I'll tell you, so if I don't tell you, assume that you haven't.
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