Building Small parts without a fuselage

[brett313]

Hey everyone, I've got my plans in hand now, and I'd like to start building some of the 'smaller' parts for the fuselage due to my temporarily limited space. I've been studying what's on the plans, and trying to figure out a systematic way of choosing what is okay to be started without the fuselage to reference off of.

So far on the list of parts I think I should be okay with making I have:
1. Tailfeathers (minus vertical stab, as it is part of fuselage)
2. Tailwheel (I intend to order the plans for this as well)
3. Landing Gear (not sure about this one, may need a fuselage to work from, please advise)
4. Landing gear Shock Struts
5. Seats
5. Torque tube/control sticks
6. Flap Handle
7. Rudder and brake pedals
8. Wing attach fittings
9. various bushings and brackets.

Anyone see any issues with the list or maybe additions? I don't quite want to get started on the wings yet, I haven't quite decided if Id like to scratch build or quick build them.

[Glenn Patterson]

No one is jumping in so I will lean in and help as best that I can.

1. Tailfeathers (minus vertical stab, as it is part of fuselage)
You can do the full size layouts on plywood of the vertical stab, the horizontal stab and the rudder. We painted plywood with white latex and laid out a 1 inch graph lines. Did a scale grid on the drawings and transferred scale to full size. Can bend the leading edge & trailing edge tubes to form the ribs or use short pieces of tube to be able to cope the ends for the tube. The full scale drawings will help give you a perspective to work out the fits & transitions. The elevators, horizontal stabilizers & trim tabs need only one pattern as left and rights are identical except in the shaft lengths. Can make the hinges, end levers, trim and all the associated parts parts. Basically kitting the tail feathers

2. Tailwheel (I intend to order the plans for this as well)
Cost effective to buy the tail wheel unless you have full & free access to a machine shop.

3. Landing Gear (not sure about this one, may need a fuselage to work from, please advise)
You can make a lot of the parts and have it near weld ready. Setting gear stance & axle toe out will have to be done on the fuselage.
4. Landing gear Shock Struts
We bought honed hydraulic tube that was the same dimensions as the drawings for the shops. I think 2 ft was about $25 from a hydraulics shop that built cylinders as one of their services. Excellent start as it just needs the snap ring groove.
5. Seats
Make be possible if part of the drawings. The 4 place did not have seat drawings.

5. Torque tube/control sticks
We did a 4 place but see no reason that you can't get a good jump on those parts or again kit them ready for assembly when space allows. The bearings should be built on flat surfaces so that the parts move smooth. Put a tube in the bearings that has a lengthwise relief cut when welding to keep the bore smooth and round while welding.

6. Flap Handle
Should be able to make this assembly & quadrant

7. Rudder and brake pedals
Can certainly make all the parts. The bearings should be built on flat surfaces so that the parts move smooth. We moved our pedals closer to the seats & glad we did. Tallest partner is 5'10 and shortest about 5'-6". We had a slight bind in the final install and had to put a thin shim under one corner which made it operate smooth.

8. Wing attach fittings
Fuselage attach pieces can be prefabbed. Final alignments need to be done on the fuselage. Could leave slightly oversized & file to final fit.

9. various bushings and brackets.

More done the better.
door hinge barrels & pins for seaplane doors
fuse strut attach, wing attach bars
Trim parts
Any actuating pieces
engine mount bolt sleeves. Can do the firewall tube arrangement with the engine mount sleeves.

Personally after building a pair of wings I would not do it again. It would have been smarter to have worked extra hours of overtime at work to buy the wings that would have been far less time than the hours invested in making the wings. Buying the wings will save years and is a good direction.

All the best in your build,
Glenn
BH727

[brett313]

No one is jumping in so I will lean in and help as best that I can.

1. Tailfeathers (minus vertical stab, as it is part of fuselage)
You can do the full size layouts on plywood of the vertical stab, the horizontal stab and the rudder. We painted plywood with white latex and laid out a 1 inch graph lines. Did a scale grid on the drawings and transferred scale to full size. Can bend the leading edge & trailing edge tubes to form the ribs or use short pieces of tube to be able to cope the ends for the tube. The full scale drawings will help give you a perspective to work out the fits & transitions. The elevators, horizontal stabilizers & trim tabs need only one pattern as left and rights are identical except in the shaft lengths. Can make the hinges, end levers, trim and all the associated parts parts. Basically kitting the tail feathers

2. Tailwheel (I intend to order the plans for this as well)
Cost effective to buy the tail wheel unless you have full & free access to a machine shop.

3. Landing Gear (not sure about this one, may need a fuselage to work from, please advise)
You can make a lot of the parts and have it near weld ready. Setting gear stance & axle toe out will have to be done on the fuselage.
4. Landing gear Shock Struts
We bought honed hydraulic tube that was the same dimensions as the drawings for the shops. I think 2 ft was about $25 from a hydraulics shop that built cylinders as one of their services. Excellent start as it just needs the snap ring groove.
5. Seats
Make be possible if part of the drawings. The 4 place did not have seat drawings.

5. Torque tube/control sticks
We did a 4 place but see no reason that you can't get a good jump on those parts or again kit them ready for assembly when space allows. The bearings should be built on flat surfaces so that the parts move smooth. Put a tube in the bearings that has a lengthwise relief cut when welding to keep the bore smooth and round while welding.

6. Flap Handle
Should be able to make this assembly & quadrant

7. Rudder and brake pedals
Can certainly make all the parts. The bearings should be built on flat surfaces so that the parts move smooth. We moved our pedals closer to the seats & glad we did. Tallest partner is 5'10 and shortest about 5'-6". We had a slight bind in the final install and had to put a thin shim under one corner which made it operate smooth.

8. Wing attach fittings
Fuselage attach pieces can be prefabbed. Final alignments need to be done on the fuselage. Could leave slightly oversized & file to final fit.

9. various bushings and brackets.

More done the better.
door hinge barrels & pins for seaplane doors
fuse strut attach, wing attach bars
Trim parts
Any actuating pieces
engine mount bolt sleeves. Can do the firewall tube arrangement with the engine mount sleeves.

Personally after building a pair of wings I would not do it again. It would have been smarter to have worked extra hours of overtime at work to buy the wings that would have been far less time than the hours invested in making the wings. Buying the wings will save years and is a good direction.

All the best in your build,
Glenn
BH727

Glenn, thank you a ton for verifying these things for me. I'm excited to get started and glad to hear my plan should work out for the most part. Once again, very much appreciated on this end.
With the announcement of the Bearhawk Bravo, I think I'm going to be changing directions and going with that instead of the Patrol! Hopefully I will still build my patrol some day as well though. But overall the same game plan of building small parts works out.