Kit #7 arrived

[Utah-Jay]

And no I have not made any airplane noises yet

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[Mark Dickens]

Congratulations! Looks familiar!

And now, let the great "bubble wrap and packing tape removal" begin...

[Utah-Jay]

Congratulations! Looks familiar!

And now, let the great "bubble wrap and packing tape removal" begin...

All packing material has been removed, all tape from the fuselage has been removed. I have not unwrapped the tail feathers yet, but will in a day or two when I mount the horizontal for my negative 1 degree and get the trim going

[Utah-Jay]

Day 1
Built a work area
C5AEC2CF-836E-44A5-B550-A017CFEE0513.jpeg
Assembled one strut, btw, that snap ring is a BIATCHDAD9DCF0-84E1-4972-B0E6-72CE62D8A0A5.jpeg
Installed a BH tailwheel
D7F3FF96-60A6-4DB6-AAD8-9242BE6BC355.jpeg
Drilled and cleco’ed the rear windows
F59E4B34-5F49-4BA6-8273-54F17B88CF1B.jpeg Great first day

My Wicks hardware shipment arrived this afternoon, so will be doing some organizing tomorrow morning. Tires also arrived, now just need the wheels and brakes

Life is GOOD

[Nev]

The snap ring shouldn't be too hard Jay, are you using a snap ring tool ?

[Utah-Jay]

The snap ring shouldn't be too hard Jay, are you using a snap ring tool ?

Nev, I was using snap ring pliers, actually broke a pair and went and bought a more heavy duty pair to get it done

[Utah-Jay]

So it seems Heber Airport is a hotbed of experimental building, in two days I’ve had over 10 different visitors, several Kitfoxes, a couple of Rans, and a Carbon Cub… they are all amazed at the quality of the Bearhawk QB kit!

So cool

[Utah-Jay]

Spent a lot of time on the seat adjustment handles and springs….
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Also drilled a bunch of holes in the tabs for floorboards, had to make a trip to the hardware to get a sharper drill after the first 4 when SUPER slow.

Got started on the flap handle, but called it a day. Seemed like very little progress, but I have heard there are days like that.

Back at it tomorrow.

[Utah-Jay]

Unlike yesterday, I saw some progress.
The flap control took some TLC to get it just right so the flap handle fully engaged the notches. And yes it does have that distinct Bearhawk sound.ADA8C61F-C004-4A04-9BFC-12F067AF05EB.jpeg

I also finished the seat adjustment levers after I saw last night that I had them on the wrong side, short one goes on the right side
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And if you have seats… well why not?
IMG_0734.MOV

I also final sized the holes in the tabs for the floor to be installed when ready. I am not going to use tinnerman clip, nor am I going to use nutplates…. My buddy has built two planes and he likes these:
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The are glued to the bottom of the tab, he has been very successful with them in the past


Project for tomorrow is…
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Yep, gonna set the horizontal stabilizer to -1* to the level fuselage ****edited to correct verbiage****

[Viking]

Ive only ever seen those click bond nutplates used for bonding to composites. If the adhesive is good for bonding to metal, it should be quicker than riveting nutplates for sure.

[rodsmith]

Is that lead, already installed in the elevators? If so that is great, a lot of people seem to dread the job of melting lead.

[Utah-Jay]

Not that far yet, but being a long time reloader, I am going to use lead shot

[Mark Goldberg]

Yes Rod. We now install enough lead for a very light fabric covering like Oratex. And we leave room aft of the melted and poured lead for some lead/epoxy slurry if you use a heavier fabric covering or lots of paint. Mark

[Utah-Jay]

Accomplished a lot today… it seeded

Got the control stick assembly all set and temporarily attached (floorboards need to go in)
Set the assembly after checking the alignment with the aileron pulleys
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Not sure how I failed to take a photo of the actual stick assembly

Attached the horizontal stabilizer and struts
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So, my buddy left for the day and I jacked up the tail to get things leveled
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But it turns out there is a better way


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Once I get things leveled and set the horizontal tomorrow, I think I will tackle the stringers

”Back to work”

[Utah-Jay]

Another good day working on the Companion

Here is a photo of the control stick assembly
9578CA7B-8344-4472-B87C-654B1F32CAD5.jpeg

Mark educated me on the water level today
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AB404870-34EF-46DC-B7B9-383979A1B2C1.jpeg
Got the horizontal all set to -1*
This photo was prior to getting it perfectly set, but I do like the water level
3FA64D1C-F8D4-4C54-BE26-90B787C9B081.jpegI got the rear window frames cut and trimmed, but they still need some tweaking, but nearly there

And then I started on the stringers
8BE76137-72F5-4E58-8D29-DB64B81E9782.jpeg47544562-6332-4144-A158-FADBD5B89F47.jpeg

hmm, tomorrow it will be “Back To Work”

[Utah-Jay]

Good day today, put the 2nd strut together so both are done.

Cut out the trim tabs, that was not fun
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Next was the laborious job of sanding out the trim torque tube, NOT FUN, but I got it perfect so happy with that.

I should have done this before I put on the horizontal stab, so I made it more difficult on myself. The right horizontal must have been on and off 4 or 5 times, and more tomorrow as I need to drill the holes to finalize everything. The measure 3 times and cut once worked on the trim torque tube, nailed it the first time

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And my first moving flight surface
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[robcaldwell]

Be sure to check to see if your trim tabs will fit AFTER fabric is applied. I encountered an unexpected fix after covering mine. https://bearhawk4place.blogspot.com/...trim-tabs.html

[Utah-Jay]

Thanks Rob

I attached a photo of the gap I currently have, it is 3/16’s on all 4 gaps. I will be covering with Oratex, not sure if that is a factor or not.
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[Chewie]

3/16"
I am enjoying pictures of your build, not only because of your enthusiasm but also I like seeing how the factory did their various weldments.

[Utah-Jay]

Chewie, glad you like the build progress. Lots of progress the past two days. Yesterday was a lot of small stuff so did not take any photos.

Yep, 3/16’s and corrected

[Utah-Jay]

Amazingly I spent most of the day on my trim torque tube and spacers. The spacers are perfect, not one bit of side to side movement. It was a long process to get all the holes drilled, I started small and upsized a few times to try to keep things tight. FYI, the AN3 bolts are obviously just for fitting so don’t judge me

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[robcaldwell]

Good thing you picked up on the offset and torque tube spacers. I missed that on my build and had to go back after fully constructed. For some reason I centered mine and had to back back and completely re-do that area to include installing spacers. I used PVC pipe.