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First flight of Carlo's airplane... test pilot was our local hot stick (high time F-16 test pilot; race plane guy). Airworthiness inspection yesterday, and no real issues there. The usual high power run-up and then off the ground about 3 minutes after target time. Build ran September 2023...

Spent a toasty Sunday at Frederick Airport getting Carlo's wings on. Clock is ticking on this one, as the owner of the hanger next to Carlo's (very full hanger) is out for a few more weeks (Cirrus jet touring Europe). Usual conversations on this stuff as shown in the video screen grabs. Once...

Carlo has been prototyping the overhead actuation system for the flaps with some engineering help on my part... a little CNC magic for the aluminum actuation bar grip (local straight-tail Bonanza guy is a CNC machine shop owner) and what is a multi-position ratchet quadrant to allow fine-tuning...

Carlo is getting close to needing the tail surfaces to get his aft fuse control runs done (avionics and interior already done on his bird... too cold to weld = not too cold to wire or set nut plates), so he asked me to block time to fab the stab/elevator and rudder jigs. The stab and elevator...

Carlo mentioned October 19th as the date for this year's fly-in. We will be driving in via pickup truck rather than taking his AirCam due to the need to back-haul some stuff, but I am curious who else is planning on making it into VA04 for the day?

I've seen Carlo using a cool, handheld articulated light bar-equipped work light for a few months, but did not get a chance to really give that tool a workout until we started welding up the fuselages. Turns out that all-aluminum, rechargeable, handheld, magnetic base, foldable light bar (Item...

After living with tungstens scattered all over the fuselage jig table, I looked online for a decent 3D holder that would protect the sharpened electrodes and store the dead/dipped/tip-less tungstens without confusion on what is good and what is not. Nothing I found really combined ready tungsten...

Carlo closed out his wings in July, and we are jigging up for fuselage work on both aircraft as he completes all his wing set's detail work (TE stuff; retract landing lights; flush mount on wingtips, etc.). I had a chance this past Tuesday for a brief visit after the local chapter meeting where...

So after a quick hop in the AirCam to do a little fam this past Sunday AM, we headed back to Carlo's hanger to start duplicating the Bearhawk factory's leading edge skin bending jig... that is a post for another day, given he is still prototyping and proofing the tool (wet wing has .032" leading...

Seems like reversing the tip rib flanges back to the rear spar (tip closeout aft of the spar permanently attached to 'glass) and stretch-forming an outward-facing offset mounting flange would allow a flush (no 'glass overlap) tip mount. Anyone go that direction to try to avoid the usual...

After finishing all of the aluminum forming and cutting work on the Patrol's wings, I've been doing more steel work of late. While I am blessed with a another builder close by that is a genius with 4.5" grinder and carbide burrs, I really did not want to do all that weldment, hinge flatwork, and...

This might be something better placed in classifieds, but my fellow local Patrol builder Carlo is seeing at least a two month delay from Spruce in 1/8" x 1" cap strip material for his Patrol. The option to mill the strips from 4' x 12' sheet stock is worth exploring, but only when the excess...

Build buddy got a wild hair and had these made up by a local machine shop with CNC lathe... 4130N rod stock. With two scratch built patrols, that was going to be 54 little 4130N washers to turn out. Met the shop owner last night, and he's happy to make up more if there is interest. PM me if...

I have a good assortment of the shorter Starrett stuff in useful aircraft scales (5R grad) and C305 config, as well as a 36" rigid rule that is fine for precision flat layout, but heavy enough to be a bother for aircraft work. When I went looking for bargains on NIB or lightly...

PDF of the spreadsheet used for wing spar material and config info... might be useful. YMMV. PM if you need a copy of the Excel worksheet, and as always, corrections welcome. Like working in Fusion 360, but having a quick and dirty physical model (with thickness dimension bumped 5x) handy when...

For those forming ribs with the press or hybrid methods, the 20 ton press and jack setup from Harbor Freight does a great job, and is on sale thru at least the next week as part of HF's extended parking lot sale. With the coupons out this week, $309 for press and jack ... need to add two 3/4" x...

I like After Action Reviews… they are usually structured something like: “What was supposed to happen, what did happen, good stuff, bad stuff, and how to make the ‘supposed to’ and ‘did’ line up next time.” I consider these reviews to be just as important to a homebuilding project as a military...

After 45 years watching professional maintainers do their job in the hanger, on the flight line, and in the field, I spent some time recently looking for the sort of small, 3 to 5 drawer maintenance carts I used to see parked next to where the work was located. Harbor Freight has been selling a...

Probably old hat and covered in numbers vids, etc., but if roughing out lightening holes with a fly cutter seems daunting, and tin snips is a little tough on the smaller nose rib and aileron and flap blanks, an air nibbler does a quick job of removing the material to within a 3/16" or so of the...

Working through all the rib routing and pressing/forming the extras to get the process debugged before committing to numbered parts. May be nothing, but seems like the flange notches should start a little deeper into the rib to avoid what seems to me to be a compound bend. These ribs seem to...