Manual Question

[Allen B]

Hello everyone,

I just received my model 5 fuselage kit a couple days ago. I’m curious what people are using for assembly information. Since the fuselage manuals are not completed at this time and plans no longer come with the kits, what is a guy to do to figure out how to put this thing together? Am I really to just look at the photos and hardware callouts online to figure out how to do all this? Plans seem to be required information but perhaps they are not as useful as I imagined? I’m in talks with BH to have them sent to me. Are some of the older books from other builders useful on these newer quick build kits? Even something as simple as installing the floorboards seems like an impossible task without knowing the exact layout or which size hole to drill or hardware to use.

Any (and all) advice would be appreciated! Thanks, Allen

[Astro John]

I was using the Text Manual/pictures and the Legacy Manuals for my fuselage. I got to the skylights, and realized that the design on the QB kits had changed. That's about when the wing manual came out, and I pivoted to the wings.

I haven't really used the plans much. There is not as much information in them as you might think. There are many different ways you can do things, so the plans don't specify. For instance, after you bend the stringers into place, they can be attached with rivets, cotter pins, or even bolts if you wanted to.

For the floorboards, there are a few different ways you can attach them. The factory kit supplies nutplates, which is probably the most labor intensive method, and the one I used. If you are going that route, you can use a nutplate as a template to locate the hole. Center it left to right, and it will be closer to the front of the tab than the welded edge. The tubing extends out from the bottom, so give yourself enough room to rivet and good clearance from the tubing. Mark the center hole location, and center punch it.

I drilled a 3/32" hole to start, and then upsized it to #27. Drilling in steel is not the easiest. Go slow, and use plenty of lubrication. Even with that, you will go through a few drill bits.

Once you get the floorboards trimmed and fitting nicely, you will match drill them to the holes in the tabs.

After that, it's back to drilling the #40 rivet holes for the nutplates. Two per tab this time. Did I mention this is labor intensive?

If you haven't purchased the appropriate nutplate jig, you will definitely want it for this build.

I know it seems overwhelming at this stage, but slow and steady gets it done. I am a first time builder, and I quickly learned that my idea of building the perfect airplane was a fantasy. The good news is that there is very little you can screw up hasn't already been done by someone, and there is a fix almost everything. I messed up a cargo door sill plate and had to order a new one from the factory.

[U2fletch]

Several resources on YouTube as well. Look up Colby Osborn's videos. The legacy build manuals available online have good info, but it is often a lot of material to read through to find what you want.,

[Iceman]

Hi Allen, I can help. I too am a new Quick Build model 5 builder. I am about 1 year ahead of you, so I can share some of my lessons learned.

The first thing I did was put together a manual with the photos and text together and added an index. This saved much time when looking for a specific item such as the floor boards. The size of the file is about 40 megabits, but I can send it to you if you send me your email.

On the floor boards I used Monadock clips ( aka Floating Clip nuts) as shown in the model 5 pictures. You can get them on Aircraft Spruce stock number 4972-6-82 size 8-32. You can make a jig to find the center of each tab and drill a #40 pilot hole, then drill with 11/64 drill bit fits the floating clip nut perfectly, its much easier than using nutplates, but they work also.

Some on line resources in addition to this forum are the EAA builders logs. there are about 6 people posting their Model 5 progress search for builders Jeff Fletcher, Nick Downs, Travis mcQuinn, Thomas Dendinger, Elliot Abel, and myself. Some good YouTube references in addition to Colby Osborn (model 5) are Bearhawk Blog (Model 4), Ken F (model 4), and Bald Pilot (Model 4).

It is frustrating that there is no clear way to build the model 5 yet. I find that when there are differences in hardware for example that the hardware list or Bill Of Materials (BOM) posted on the Bearhawk website Feb 2025 is the final word for correct materials to use.

I think my best resource so far has been the entries on the EAA builders site and the Colby Osborn videos, but there are some discrepancies in those from the way Bearhawk does their builder assist program. I think this is because there are many ways experimental planes can be built and still comply with the standard practices of AC 43.13.1B

Cheers!

My email is ki6spv@outlook.com

Martin Fahning

[Allen B]

That would be amazing! Thank you. Allenburl@yahoo.com. I appreciate all the advice.

[jfoz]

Allen,

I feel your pain! I got my model 5 kit in August of 24, didn't get started until January 25 due to not making the decision to have Virgil send the bulk pack hardware. I got a good start with just the pictures and the bill of materials and then the wing book came out and I decided to get the wings done as that seemed to be an easier path to follow. I think you can look at the Bearhawk 4 manuals and puzzle things out for some of the stuff shown there. I'm almost to the point of getting the wings closed up. I got an abbreviated set of plans from what I can tell, they were helpful in figuring out how some things went together but as time moved forward Virgil came up with some different ways of doing things. I've found that looking at the pictures that are posted on the Bearhawk Aircraft web site helps and looking at pictures of other already built Model 5's helps in figuring out how things go together. Like Martin said above, there are many ways of doing things just follow AC 43.13.1B.

Jason

[Allen B]

Thank you all for your advice. I really appreciate it. When I ordered the kit (14 months ago) I was told the new fuselage manuals would be complete so I didn’t out much stock into researching much else. I’m sure Virgil has about a zillion things going on and he’ll get to them when he can. I’ll get started with using the legacy manuals and pics. Thanks again.

[Bcone1381]

Hey Allen; Have you organized all your parts yet? If so then Build your shock struts, or intall your tail wheel. You pick.

I suggest you do not focus on ever building an airplane. Instead, focus on doing one specific task. Just one. Don't look at the big picture. Accept that you have no manual. That one is coming. Don't let the manual absence stop you. The Manual's absence is not a barrier to doing one task. The info and data are available for you to build it right. I built my shock struts first. Then I intalled my tail wheel. Get the fuselage to roll around.

The Eric Newton Manual tells how to build a Four A from scratch. It will give information and Eric's work flow order. I guess that 95% of his manaul will apply to your Five + lots of good data on firewall forward. Bob approved these manuals. So its a good data source.

I Built a Patrol, alone, at my home, with no help, with no experience, using a kit less complete than yours. I found the plans very useful. Plans came with Bob's 80 page "Patrol Book". It came with the Plans. It is a really well written account of how to scratch build a Patrol. Reading it was always am encouraging to me. I needed encouraging too. I referenced it often in my build and I love that thing for building the cowl, fuel system, weight and balance, and the Flight test report. Its possible the Five's plans has one too...not sure though.

Back to building the shock struts. You may be asking "How do I build the struts?" I used this manual.https://bearhawk.tips/kit-builder-manual-superseded

(I know. I think 5 resources are listed above. Newton's, Bob's Plans, Bob's book, the legacy manual, others have given you youtube videos. I'm older...so Im a book guy....not so much youtube, little facebook.)

Don't let "no manual" frustrate or stop you. My Patrol kicks but man. 140 MPH @ 7ish GPH, 1000 lbs 1000 miles from less than 1000' You got the right design. When we camp out some day you'll bring to fire wood, and the cooler full of beverages & meat.

[Dpearson]

Hey Allen, congratulations on making the transition from Buyer to Builder!
You have a bunch of good advice above, which I agree with 100%.
The first question for you is Fuselage first or Wings first.
I am in progress on my 4-Place build. I bought a partially assembled QB kit, where the previous builder had done some work on the fuselage and the wings were untouched.
After some consideration I set the partially completed fuselage aside and went to work on the wings, and I’m glad I did. My wings are done (except paint) now and I’m well into the fuselage work now. The benefits of this sequence imho are:
1. Starting with a focused set of skills: rivets, nut plates, fuel lines.
2. Lots of help available. I found a couple of experienced RV builders to provide advice and help, especially when it was time to rivet the wings closed.
3. Defers decisions and purchase of expensive items (engine and avionics). With the rate of change in the avionics market this can have technical benefits too.

I learned quite a few lessons, and made many mistakes of various magnitude, while doing my wings. The “lessons learned” has helped me tremendously now that I’m working on the more complex fuselage part of the project.

[dramsey]

I would second the suggestion of Colby Osborne’s youtube videos. That made the biggest difference to me. The second most helpful thing to me was actually looking at planes live and asking builders questions. Tyler Williams was kind enough to allow me to fly down and look at his Five build and ask questions. I would suggest going to oshkosh and taking lots of photos and asking questions. I spent lots of time at Virgil’s Five and asking questions when he had free time. Now there are a lot more Five’s finished and you have the opportunity to ask multiple builders how they did things. I think this will charge your battery for the task ahead… at least it did for me. Virgil is an amazing source because noone has built more Fives than he and his team. They are constantly learning and evolving and making the kits better and I have found his insight helpful. His wing procedure (and perhaps my learning) cut my wing build time in half for the second wing. Brooks suggestion to focus on specific tasks and not the bigger picture will lead to “eating the elephant” in a less stressful way. I personally tried to have at least two tasks going simultaneously so that when I got frustrated with one I could get some relief on the other. Good luck.

[Astro John]

I have watched all of Colby's videos as well. Just curious if anyone know the status of his build?

[CokerAviation]

I’m curious about that as well. He was making great progress. Hope everything in the family is well and not the reason he seemed to have stopped building and posting videos

[dramsey]

Colby made a post earlier this year. He was working on firewall forward at that time. I seem to recall he got delayed waiting on an engine.