Tell us what you did today on your Bearhawk Project

[rkennell]

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Today I took the tail fathers off. Then used the forge the Grandpa, Noah, and Dad, Frank, made when they built the farm shop many years ago, to melt lead for the elevator and aileron balance weights. Dad was a commercial and instrument rated flying farmer, who loved flying and would have love this project.

[spinningwrench]

That’s the classiest lead melting rig ever used on a Bearhawk.

[Bcone1381]

I love that forge!! I used a Coleman white gas stove and an old camping sauce pan to melt mine. The forge helps me imagine me father in law’s old barn. I have the anvil from it.

I’m painting aluminum. I shot the window frames and a few other items yesterday and took these shots of the today.

This is the third booth I fabricated and I believe building the booth wrong is easy to do and poses risk non of would accept if properly educated. Clogging up the exit airflow while painting large parts is the error to avoid.

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[DBeaulieu]

A bit more organizing and then got the shock struts cleaned, inspected and assembled... shoutout to Bruce (aka Spinning Wrench) for his help with a detailed checklist in PDF format to illustrate the process.



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[DBeaulieu]

Organized hardware and drilled tapered rod tailspring to final size
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[pnh2atl]

Today I reserved N750HT.

We raised our family on 750 Henry Turner Trail and we will build the airplane here. Kit due 8/24

[fairchild1934]

I finished building a home made 12 inch long brake and I am making the stiffeners for the ribs. I figured if I had about 200 of them to make- I might as well try to streamline it. Also continuing to make the .025 main outer ribs. That going pretty easily so far. ( I have not made scrap yet--- but the day is yet young ! ) I also have 5 more routered out blanks for the thicker inner ribs ready to hydro-form. :-)

Tim

[fairchild1934]

making rib stiffeners and more main ribs-- thick and thin. built a 12 inch brake to bend the stiffeners.

[rv8bldr]

In Canada, we must have a Transport Canada approved organization (MD-RA, Minister Designate - Recreational Aviation) perform inspections and sign off for experimentals at certain points in the build process. One of these is "pre-cover". The inspector must be able to inspect pretty much every nut, bolt, cotter pin, rivet head, weld joint, etc BEFORE you permanently close up any surface be it by riveting or fabric. He/she will leave you with official paperwork that details any observations/deficiencies and whether or not you can proceed to covering.

The MD-RA inspector is just a regular person who gets specialized training from MD-RA and has either a regular day job outside of MD-RA or is retired. Our local inspector in Eastern Ontario is actually a member of my EAA chapter and is a multi-experimental owner/builder as well as a retired AME (A&P in the US).

Yesterday was my "pre-cover" inspection which has been coming for 11 years on my scratch build 4pl. I was both nervous (what is he going to find) and confident (I'm sure this is a solid airplane and I don't see any major issues). Well, I passed my pre-cover so I am good to do, but he did find 7 deficiencies, a couple of which I am embarrassed existed. I guess after so long building your eye just doesn't see some small things like a few overdriven/squashed rivets is hard to reach places, etc.

In the end, I am super happy with the outcome and I know that it will take just a few days to rectify those things I really should have seen for myself. This means I can finish rivet the flaps and ailerons (once I fix the bad rivets), and finish rivet the skins on the wings. Then it is on to covering and paint. I have already wired, fitted, and smoke tested my avionics and panel, and the engine has been fitted, plumbed, and removed. I would REALLY like to fly to Osh next year but I'm not going to set myself up for disappointment; I'll assume that I have one more year of flying the Maule to Osh (oh, the tragedy....) before I get to show off the new airplane.

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[Aero_tango]

Wow, nice work Mark. Congratulations on the pre-cover inspection. If you need a hand for bucking the wing skin rivets, let me know. Michel.

[rv8bldr]

Will do, Michel, thanks!

[huntaero]

Looks good always good to have a second set of eyes look it over nows the time to correct any deficiences

[rkennell]

Glad the inspection went well. It is good to see your post and progress. Thanks for the visit at the Bearhawk dinner and seeing the bikes. Like Nev said, "Nice work!!"

[rv8bldr]

Thanks, Roger! Linda and I really enjoyed our visit with you at the BH dinner. It was great to meet with a fellow cyclist (well, Linda is the REAL cyclist having done bike tours of Europe...) Hopefully we'll see you again next year.

[DBeaulieu]

Started drilling for nutplates around the fuel bay access panel nutplate fuel panel.jpg

[alaskabearhawk]

I put the wings on last Friday. As I stagger and creep toward the finish line, it's time for final assembly and making all the fairing bits.

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[Gerhard Rieger]

Looking great Paul. Your work is next level.

[rodsmith]

Looks great Paul. Installing the wings for the last time felt like a big accomplishment. The fairings took way more time than I expected, hope it goes faster for you.

[DBeaulieu]

Fuel bay panel nutplate holes drilled and deburred (waiting on a few corner nutplates) - started on inspection panels
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[DBeaulieu]

Inspection panel rings dimpled and squeezed, panels fitted and pilot drilled.

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[Bcone1381]

I've been painting sheet metal over the summer.....but living life slows down my progress. July was work and OSH. Aug was work and a west coast wedding. Sept is work plus a Vacation in Durango to see/fish with two of my boys. Life is good and the airplane comes in third of fourth behind my wife, my four boys, and work.

When I started painting, I did not enjoy it. I found it stressful. I was slow. The paint job sends a message to everyone who looks at the aircraft. So it matters to me. This makes it a bit scary. My confidence was low, and so my concern was this data point....I will be stuck with however poor or good the paint gets applied.

But I've learned a lot, have become more comfortable. Painting is now easier and faster and unknowns are fewer. Fear is trounced with a healthy bit of experience and knowledge. I shoot for a trophy job, am satisfied a good amateur job. I only have one run so far in a hard to see area, and some very minor orange peel in places. I set up the shop better this time too. For example, this is my third paint booth. I have everything painted except the wings and the engine cowl. The cowl is not fabricated yet. My goal is to paint the wings before it gets too cold out, and finish the rest of the firewall forward next.

I paint using Stewarts Systems. I have a very good compressed air supply that complies with Stewarts Systems requirements. The paint booth air system is also working very well. Air movement through the booth is moved by an exhaust fan and exits outside using an elephant trunk with no filter. I learned that Exhaust Filters clog quickly with overspray and create a severe health hazard, so no filter is a good design I think.

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