Progress Report

[sbmurphey]

Many thanks to everyone that has shared their knowledge and experience. My rudder assemble is now in the completed column. Here are pictures taken during the first phase of this project.

Thank you all,

[stinger]

Sam, your rudder looks great from my house. good work Stinger

[N3UW]

Nice work. Thanks for sharing your progress with us. Hey.....I have that same stationary sander!

[sbmurphey]

Nice work. Thanks for sharing your progress with us. Hey.....I have that same stationary sander!

I have been pretty happy with the sander. It seemed to be one of the best sizes/values on the market at the time I was looking for one. How is your's holding up? Any experience keeping the lower sanding guide from moving around? Mine only has one set screw on the smooth bar stock. I have thought about machining a notch in it.

[sbmurphey]

Last two weeks were busy at work. I did manage to build the elevator jig and now have a complete left elevator. I am planning to leave the spar long and fit the control horn to the air frame when the time comes. I will be taking off a few days to spend with the family.

Merry Christmas!!

[Enewton57]

Looks good Sam. One thing I noticed on the Patrol kit is that they build the entire trim tab system in place and don't cut the trailing edge tube at all. Then the builder cuts it free from the trailing edge tube afterward. Seems like that gives you a perfect transition along the elevator trailing edge.

[bestbearhawk1231]

Looks good Sam. One thing I noticed on the Patrol kit is that they build the entire trim tab system in place and don't cut the trailing edge tube at all. Then the builder cuts it free from the trailing edge tube afterward. Seems like that gives you a perfect transition along the elevator trailing edge.

Eric, do you think that method would work for the 4 place as well? Sounds like a good idea.

[Enewton57]

Yes - anything with a trim tab.


Eric Newton - Long Beach, MS
Bearhawk Tailwheels LLC
Bearhawk Manuals

http://mybearhawk.com

[sbmurphey]

I found that waiting to cut the rear tubing worked very well. Thanks for sharing the tip. The trim tab was actual laid out as part of my jig. I did't have scrap 3/16 tubing so I cut some shims to set the trim rib spacing away from the elevator and tack welded the trim tab.

[sbmurphey]

Hope every one has had a great start to the new year. Just posting some progress photos. I can not say all of the components are finished as I will be leaving the ends of the tubing long and fitting them to the fuselage. Installing control horns and fitted joints will have to wait.

[sbmurphey]

Just a quick update. My build budget was spent early this year due to finding a good o-200a core locally. I decided not not to pass the opportunity up. Also, I was unable to build the fuselage in my current work area. I had to make a decision to either tear down one of my old out buildings or try and repair it. Finally decided to repair and that project has not produced any Bearhawk parts, but is is moving me closer to the final goal. I was able to move the project into the building this weekend. My overall strategy this spring was to continue working on small parts that take time while using material I already had on hand as I waited for my budged and building space to continue the fuselage.

[stinger]

Looks great Stephen, I think you have got it. Stinger

[sbmurphey]

It has been awhile since I posted a progress report. This summer has held a couple distractions. Example, I lost oil pressure on our farm tractor... Required an engine overhaul which competed directly with my build time. The engine ran this week and I was able to get some long over due mowing finished. (Including the future runway)

I pull the trigger and ordered a tubing kit from Mark. Per his recommendation, I plan to pick up the "big tube" from my closest Forward Air location in Columbia. This prompted my other project. My trailer needed a new axle ever since I bought it and I have been putting the project off. Using the motivation of picking up my fuselage kit next month, I reworked the trailer.

Out of the old trailer parts I built an engine stand modeled after the ones I saw at Bob's place last year. Also, fabricated an adapter that will fit my o-200 crank and bolt to the stand. I think it will work great.

Some small parts that have been completed this summer include the control stick/torque tube and some of the linkages. Pilot seat and part of the passenger's frame that can be done prior to fitting it to the fuselage are also complete.

Tonight I leveled and set the legs on my build table and finished by laying out the top fuselage flat pattern. Looking forward to picking up the tubing kit.

Until next time,

[sbmurphey]

My tubing kit came in last night. Spent the evening inventorying it and laid up the top/ceiling. Tonight I finished the jig and tack welded the upper structure.

I have to give Mark G. and his team a lot of credit. The packaging, organization and labeling is great. So far the fit for all of the joints have also been very good. Thanks guys!

A little of what you can expect from a tubing package:

Excellent organization (ceiling, floor, left and right side tubes were all grouped and packaged in there own bundle.
Every tube is numbered with with the ends identified (e.g. left, right, front.....)
Expect to save many hours as each tube is fit in the factory jig prior to being packaged.

[sbmurphey]

With Christmas and all my family living out of state, I haven't had as much time in the shop as I had wished. However, there has been some good progress this week on the tubing kit. All tacked and plumb. Ready to start working on C/S and the firewall. I hear this is the hardest part of the tubing kits.