BearHawk 5 school of construction

[500AGL]

Bob made a change and added a small stiffener to the top skin addressing this.

[jaredyates]

Love the pics! I would recommend that any structural changes be discussed with Bob rather than with fellow builders.

[Sir Newton]

Some simple cheerleading! Layout & drilling took 34hrs and that included building the skin stiffeners in the fuel tank bay. That is alot of holes. RH wing is ready to be deburred & dimple. :cool: Now it is rinse and repeat with the LH wing. So for anyone who is reading these post & has seen the picture of Macho BH5 flying showing oil panning between ribs #5, 6, 7, & 8 on the top skin. Imho, the photo is illustrating the loading of the rear spar in flight? Because we built aircraft with an abundance of caution. I have been thinking about up grading the underside skin from 0.020 up one thickness to 0.025 between ribs #5 - #11. Then continue with 0.020 the rest of the span. I would like to have a intelligent conversation regarding that photo and not some hear say conversation. Builder's please ring on this subject.

[Sir Newton]

Some more BearHawk cheerleading. I have fitted the main wing skins on both wings, using to different procedures. 1st wing RH I only used 3 clecos to mount the skins, the 2nd LH wing I used 5 clecos 2 extra clecos around the nose. There was very little difference in the out come between the two technics. I could only pull the skins so tight. I used 4 - 20lb weights with bungee cords to assist in holding the skins tight while I lined them up with the ribs & do not forget to cross square the wing 1st. Pictures attached of RH/LH wings that have no measurable deficiencies of any kind. Now I am pulling off the plastic & continuing on with rivet layout, drilling & dimpling. This task could take awhile. Best regards to everyone.

[Sir Newton]

Over the past months I have thought more about this post. Being a green BH builder I have started to noticed many ! things about the construction of every other plane I set my eyes on now. All of the designs have been borrowed from someone's past design & in some cases improved upon. It is not rocket science. I get upset when I see out right greedy people set up financial barriers to entry into aviation. The industry is rip for disruption imho. There is so much good stuff for younger ones to learn by getting involved in our hobby.

[Sir Newton]

AC-43 is the bible I use nothing else.

[Sir Newton]

Genius ! I have a heat gun! Brilliant that will work like a hot dam. Thank you for that drop of ingenuity. "20 hrs per wing" Experience speaks!

[rodsmith]

Lots of people use a soldering iron to strip the rivet lines.

[Sir Newton]

Thank you for the kind words. I am having a great time & learning new things along the way.

[Sir Newton]

100% ! I am trying to figure a technique to remove 1" strips of plastic off easily. Without scratching the shine surface finish.

[rodsmith]

Very nice work. Get that white plastic off the wing as soon as riveting is done, or enjoy 20 hrs per wing removing it like I did.

[Sir Newton]

Just more general cheerleading about the Bearhawk project. RH wing has skin installed. Now I just have the simple lay out and about 1000 holes to drill & dimple. Skinning the wing is a snap with that wing skin roller I fabbed up. I used a 5/16 tipping die to roll the edges of each skin. The skins lay very nicely up against each other on the one good side. I tried to take a picture of of the tipped edge. Any questions ask away, Love talking Bearhawk.

[Gerhard Rieger]

Well done. You are progressing well, enjoy

[Sir Newton]

A milestone has been reached today. Both wing superstructures have had every single 470 rivet bucked & both wings were placed into the skinning jig! Finally!! 996 man hours spent to get to this stage.
Wow 90% complete 90% to go!

[Sir Newton]

Biult a 49" wide nose forming roller for wing skins, very simple to build. 1" 1/2 & 2" pipe that rotate about one & other with a 0.060 clearance between the two pipes. The pipes are also interchangeable should you require a tighter radius. Forms the nose skin perfectly square in seconds. 7skins per wing 14 skins total. Ignore the unprofessional messy work area!