Tell us what you did today on your Bearhawk Project

[spinningwrench]

Wing #1 done and in the cradle. Probably should build a second one.

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[Sir Newton]

Lol ya two wings is good. second one goes way faster!

[spinningwrench]

Exactly, no head scratching on this one.

[Bcone1381]

This thread started 6 1/2 years ago, has +1300 responses, and 51,500 views. I never thought it would go on so long!

I'm still plugging away: working on Fabric! I'll finish tail feather rib stitching tonight. I like the Staggerwing hidden knot and Stewarts!! So far fabric may be my favorite part of the build.


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[spinningwrench]

It’s that a little aluminum plate you use as reinforcement around your hinges?

[Bcone1381]

The fabric has no support around the hinges, so I stole this idea from others to help make the installation a little bit cleaner. (my nieghbor/engineer says stealing an idea is called "Research!" Haha) I used .020" 2024-t3.

Most hinge gussets I've seen are U-shaped to carry the load around the tube to support fabric on both sides of the hinge and may be installed before covering. Those can be installed before covering. I saved quite a bit of time with these smaller pieces and they contact the tube so I think they will be plenty secure. I use gussets everywhere fabric is unsupported. If you magnify my rudder you'll see the bottom gusset supports the fabric in the rudder horn area where the horn has a flange for strength. There is no way to support the fabric inside that. Gear attach fittings is another area that got gussets.

[gary heuser]

finished up all the form blocks tor routing blanks and forming for bending flanges and holes for all the flaps and aileron nose ribs and pockets. ribs next.

[gary heuser]

I like fabric work also I am used to the stits proccess. I may have to visit someday, when I visit my brother in Brighton

[Bcone1381]

I'd love to have you visit!! My number is on the Bearhawk Builder Map in Chelsea, MI.

[RatherBFlying]

struts.jpg Wings drilled and struts fit

[SpruceForest]

Should wrap up the last of the wing rib MDF tooling and start on the flap and aileron stuff using the larger template cutoffs tomorrow... just the flanging templates for the tip ribs and the center rib forming block to go. Had forgotten how delightful MDF was to work with in quantity, as it is seldom used in luthiery. Even with a respirator, nasal rinse and Flonase 2x a day needed to stave off the inevitable sinus infection, and that's after a fairly efficient cyclone dust collection system in the shop handles 95% or more of the fines off the band saw, router table, and tablesaw. The CA fumes from edge hardening made yesterday's 50's F temps in Maryland a very welcome development... all that MDF dust and glue fumes wafted away on a breeze while I went through the last of 16 ounces of Starbond super thin that has been in the 'fridge for too long to trust for guitar work. Massive shop cleanup after this stage of the prep work wraps, allowing the focus to switch from fine brown dust extraction to fine aluminum chip collection...that's progress, right?

[triumphantduke]

scheming and dreamin' - thinking of minimizing the paint effort and weight, while leaving the door open to paint later - cover a model 5 in oratex 6000 yellow and blue, leave the shiny bits coated with LPS Hard Coat, AV30 or just plain polished or nothing but a wash? I don't need a polished look, especially if the oxidized layer is a natural protectant...or maybe just paint the aluminum bits to match is best for longevity - The science of corrosion prevention

[Utah-Jay]

scheming and dreamin' - thinking of minimizing the paint effort and weight - cover a model 5 in oratex 6000 yellow and blue, leave the shiny bits waxed?

I am painting the engine and boot cowl, but going with polished wings. TrueAirSpeed has a BH 4Place with polished wings that I really like

[jcowgar]

My LSA kit has been sitting while I have been preparing and finishing up another project. It took way to long to start, took delivery 5/15/2021, but as of last Sunday, Feb 6, 2022, we started the build. We being myself and my girls. I played around with multiple tools to track my build but wound up settling on a static site generator. I like to document my plan, tasks to do, etc...

Anyway, the plane is on its gear, have the rudder pedals test fit, control sticks in, floor boards trimmed to fit properly. I need to order some proper hardware, thus many of these things are just initial fit, but I'm just happy to be starting now.

My build log, if interested, is at https://jeremys-bearhawk-lsa.vercel.app ... It updates daily (or as we work on it, can't make it to the shop every single day). I will post monthly updates or so here as well.

[Chewie]

I like that engine.

[Mark Goldberg]

Looking good Jeremy. FYI - sometimes it gives better clearance if you install the bolts at the top of the shock struts non standard - meaning the head aft and the nut on the forward side. The bolt head takes up much less room than the nut and bolt threads sticking out. For clearance with the stick assy. Mark

[jcowgar]

Mark, yeah, those bolts are ones I have to order. I had them in before the main control stick. I figured I would wait until I get the real bolt in and take a peek then. It doesn't look like they will conflict, I like to follow standards, but I also do not like anything with "tight" tolerances that could cause a control issue. I like plenty of clearance :-D

[500AGL]

I chose a finish date.

[alaskabearhawk]

Funny, my finish date was Someday. But, it is getting closer to Someday.

Out of the paint booth this morning. A couple tiny runs when I tripped on the stupid air hoses, but all in all looking good. Moving on...

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[Craig Van Sickle]

Incredible job!

[rodsmith]

Looks great Paul

[N3UW]

Looking fantastic. Great work!!!!

[jcowgar]

Got stringers all cut and fit, front control stick cut to size and test fit the grip, then got kicked out of my garage by a family of skunks that apparently made a home under the garage! I see no skunks but the odor was unbearable. Guess I will call someone Monday to see what they can do. No odor outside, but opened the garage door and wow! There may be no more building until that problem is taken care of :-(

[rodsmith]

I know how to get skunk odor off a dog, but wow, entire garage permeated, not sure how you fix that.

[Viking]

Over the last couple days, I’ve painted my O-360 crankcase, getting ready to assemble the engine, and I got the new Bob designed brake master cylinders in the mail, and got them installed.

[SpruceForest]

Baby-steps, but still progress. First aluminum order showed up (3 x 025 4x8, 2 x 032 4x8, 1 x 032 4x12, 1 x 020 4x8) and the three 025 sheets got sliced and diced yesterday. Despite some creative layout, I only managed to get 28 of the 30 nose ribs out of what I had, but did manage all of the center, flap, aileron, and aileron nose ribs, plus the full-chord tip ribs. The remaining pile of offcuts was pretty small... enough to get out some of the stiffeners. Next order will have the remaining 025 needed!

On to getting the 020 ribs and spars bent... the Patrol builder search for the elusive 10' brake...