Tell us what you did today on your Bearhawk Project

[swpilot3]

I painted and hung the wings. Major Visual Progress!!!

[Mark Goldberg]

Looking great Bobby. MG

[schu]

That looks fantastic.

I worked on my skylight a bit. Making the standoffs and welding saddles in them. I hope to have the thing completely mocked up and tack welded this weekend. Then I think I'm going to build a welding table to mount my new tools to.

[Gary Wallace]

Today I drilled and fitted last major wing skin! Now I have some trimming to do.

[Tim213]

CF97F44F-9745-4997-8357-775A294F869D.jpeg I fabricated the H bar tail brace and made the template for the tail belly pan I am utilizing.

[Sebastian]

Finely got back on the plane after the new year. I finished the rack for my instruments behind the panel. I made this with all light aluminum angle. Back rail has 1" angle with 1/2" x 3/4" angle sandwiched and riveted with a 1/16" gap to slide the angle that holds each instrument module. that is what anchors the back of the modules without having to put any screws in the back.
On the front edge I used another 1" angle for the modules to rest on with another 1/2" x 3/4" angle to capture the front of the modules. I cut some slots in the small angle and installed 8-32 nut plates in the 1" angle to secure the small angle. Hope the pictures explain what I tried to. IMG_1997.JPGIMG_1996.JPGIMG_1999.JPG

[Sebastian]

Also worked on installing strobes and nav lights in the wingtips. IMG_2003.JPGIMG_2002.JPG

[rodsmith]

Finely got back on the plane after the new year. I finished the rack for my instruments behind the panel. I made this with all light aluminum angle. Back rail has 1" angle with 1/2" x 3/4" angle sandwiched and riveted with a 1/16" gap to slide the angle that holds each instrument module. that is what anchors the back of the modules without having to put any screws in the back.
On the front edge I used another 1" angle for the modules to rest on with another 1/2" x 3/4" angle to capture the front of the modules. I cut some slots in the small angle and installed 8-32 nut plates in the 1" angle to secure the small angle. Hope the pictures explain what I tried to. IMG_1997.JPGIMG_1996.JPGIMG_1999.JPG

Thanks for the pictures, that is a more elegant solution than I have come up with for mounting all the garmin boxes.

[Sebastian]

The hardest part was getting the slots that you can see cut in the back rail and the piece of angle between the tubes must be trimmed about 1/4" so it will sit flush on the tubes. I don't know if you can tell but I riveted a flat support of 3/4 x 1/8 to strengthen the cut outs. I also had to put pieces of that support material on the front rail to make it sit right.

[Bcone1381]

So, removing four screws is all it takes to remove any LRU box....Very Innovative! Tell us about your instrument panel, its removal, and how you will get access to these boxes that sit behind it. It looks like you have a 1" flange on the perimeter of the instrument panel and have removed the remaining material of the face of the panel.

[Sebastian]

Brooks: It actually is five screws but who's counting. LOL You can loosen the screws on the front and lift the angle they hold and slide any module out for service. My panel isn't cut yet but I can post a picture. My plans are to put 4 clamps around the lower panel support tube to attach them to the panel. The top edge will screw to that 1" flange you see in the picture when I get the nut plates put in. I am also mounting my throttle, prop, mixture, carb heat, cabin heat, and primer on separate cutouts that will screw to the panel and be able to be dropped out of the way when I need to rotate my panel down ( on the clamps from earlier ) for service. I'm putting two Garmin G3X displays in the panel ( one 10.5" n one 7" ) along with a TruTrac Auto pilot. I have left 4" between the rack and the panel.

[Bcone1381]

For some reason your description reminds me of watching a mechanic do a quick fix on B-727 decades ago. Some gage was inoperative in the engine instrument panel. His screw driver applied two quarter turns to a couple dzeus fasteners at the top of a panel, the entire panel with probably eighteen 2 1/4" gages hinges down and a grounding strap held it in perfect position for his repair. (Boeing thought of everything.)

The opened panel briefly exposes a huge array and catacombs of mysterious going-ons behind "the Curtain". Dark, dirty, scary, yet a wonderment to ponder...what goes on back there? Are there mice? Bugs? Bats? Money? hidden treasure?

He re-racks a cannon plug, or swapped gages, then closed her up, and we were good to go in minutes.

Tell me, are you going to include a ground strap in your design?

[whee]

After a few hours of working on my exhaust problem I decided to take a page out of the Corsair engineer’s book and just side dump my exhaust. 😁

[svyolo]

I still wonder if pointing the exhaust tips away from the cockpit isn't a fantastic idea. Pointing them down Pi$$es off your neighbors. Pointing them sideways? Not sure. But it is away from the cockpit.

[marcusofcotton]

After a few hours of working on my exhaust problem I decided to take a page out of the Corsair engineer’s book and just side dump my exhaust. 😁

Ahhh, so now I see where the phrase "a 'whee' bit loud" comes from.

[Bcone1381]

The boot cowl skins are all cut, formed, fit and clecoed in position. It was a big job and I enjoyed every minute of it.
BootCowl.JPG
My top skin is three pieces which varies from the plans and the kit. The top center skin is about 18" wide. The two top-side skins then wrap around below the bottom of where the windshield will join the cowl. Others have also done this...The lower joint will allow easy removal of the side boot cowl skins.

I put a curve in the top skins using a sheet metal roller that my local EAA chapter has laying around. I never have used one before....pretty cool, worked real nice, easy to learn.
______

I made a poster board pattern of each panel. Fifty Cent poster board form the dollar tree was too flimsy, but spray gluing two pieces together made for a nice stiff panel that resembled the stiffness of .025 sheet aluminum. My first pattern (White/yellow) was made out of smallish pieces of poster board...fitting around every little nook and cranny and taped to each other. Packaging Tape was everywhere and it looked like a mess. I made a second neater pattern from the preliminary pattern which required additional trimming. Fabricating the sheet metal from the pattern was a familiar task done with confidence and without too much trouble after tracing, cutting out, and fitting the two patterns.
posterboard pattern.JPG
I positioned the joint of the top skin and the side skin to be a visual extension of the bottom of the side window. The line I am trying to create is like the paint line that runs under the side window of Bob Barrows' Patrol. The joint of the upper and lower engine cowl will also run parallel to this line.

IMG_3707.jpg

[whee]

Looks great Brooks! I remember the boot cowl panels being very satisfying to build.

[svyolo]

So you hold the top side skins on with nut plates, allowing easier access to avionics and electrical? I was wondering how you would work on that without laying on your back under the instrument panel.