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Bolivia 4-Place Build

We come south out of the Salt Lake City area, Huntington, UT -Monticello, UT- Aztec, NM- Sandia East, NM- Hereford, TX- Graham, TX. ;)
 
Univair front strut 12 lbs. It has a lot of oil sloshing around in there.
HD 4130 rear strut 10 lbs.
These are certified scales but the resolution is only 1 lb.

I've been trying to keep "unnecessary" permanent weight to a minimum. I have added some for utility and ease of building.

Frame was epoxy primed with Aerothane top coat. Might have saved a pound or two vs powder coat. The decision was based on practicality.

Cessna sliding seats saved maybe a pound or two vs PA-18 seats.

Overhead flap handle saved a little weight. I think we saved four pulleys and some
cable.

The L21 greenhouse glass (1/16th polycarbonate) weighed in at 7.1 lbs. The rear skylight is about 3.3 lbs of that. We could have replaced this with fabric for ~3 lbs of savings but I didn't want to spend the time cutting and modifying the frame.

We upgraded the floor to .032 6061T6 (+1.7 lbs)
Welded two steel channels in the rear pax foot area. (+0.5 lbs)

These changes more than doubled the rigidity of the rear floor. The .020 and .025 2024T3 we started with was unacceptable for our mission. The two large floorboards from the rear stick area to the end of the extended baggage are removable in minutes and stiff enough for a stretcher or sleeping.

Boot cowl is three piece .025 with stiffeners at the side and bottom seams. .020 might work but the large flat areas would oil can pretty bad.

We will be making the tank lids out of .032 6061T6 with no stiffeners. This is like the lids Javron supplies with their kits. Heavier than CF but they save about a pound total over Piper lids. Kirk says he tried .020 and it lasted about 100 hours.

Planning to use .025 for the upper cowlings.

Sticking with the EarthX battery and SD8 dynamo and reducing electrical load with LEDs.20221121_181631.jpeg20221115_132647.jpeg

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Fabric going on. Using Steve's aluminum inspection point reinforcements.imagejpeg_1(1).jpegResized_20221128_143739.jpegResized_20221128_143603.jpeg

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Paint scheme progression.

We were goofing around with tape in the paint booth and not getting very far.

Jodi came to the rescue. She likes this Carbon Cub scheme so we started with that and moved the lines back to keep the boot cowl a solid color. The kids wanted to help. Tirzah (4) drew me up some new wheels. We could move a 35 to the tail and put some 44s on the mains. What do you think?

Merry Christmas everyone!20221221_105548.jpeg20221221_105412.jpeg20221221_104855.jpeg20221221_104746.jpegimg.jpeg20221223_102031.jpeg20221223_103524.jpeg20221223_114114.jpeg

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That inside panel is very high. Make sure you can pull it out with the instrument panel in place for future maintenance and when that fuel valve fittings start to leak.
DENNY
 
Thanks Oli. The fabric and paint have been a labor of love by an anonymous volunteer at an undisclosed location somewhere in Georgia where the gravity is reported to be different. It is one of the lightest cover jobs besides Oratex.

I love the doors too. A 55 gal drum goes through the opening standing vertical. Rear seat access is phenomenal.
 
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That inside panel is very high. Make sure you can pull it out with the instrument panel in place for future maintenance and when that fuel valve fittings start to leak.
DENNY
Good point. It could be lower. Jonathan wanted things tight and clean and went the extra mile. It is .016 and pretty flexy. Will double check.

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If you make the sides of that top piece shorter and build it into a 3 piece it will be easy to access stuff behind the panel. DENNY
 
If you make the sides of that top piece shorter and build it into a 3 piece it will be easy to access stuff behind the panel. DENNY
Good ideas especially for a narrow Cub. Boot cowl is already built and nutplated as a 3 piece. Jonathan is doing final windshield fitting and door post trim strips. Then engine mount and engine mocked up to begin building the cowls.

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Leave the boot cowl and interior panels on when you install all the instruments and electrical, that way you will know you can fix/replace anything without pulling off the engine and boot cowl.
DENNY
 
Yes. Sort of...
Kirk says he has tried without but it didn't work well. The windshield flexes enough to leak. He said about a foot of inner strip in the front center would be enough. Jonathan is experimenting with two smaller pieces to avoid the shrinker/stretcher routine. Even in the middle things are not quite flat or straight. I believe the Bearhawks do something similar.IMG_20230112_173844_409.jpegIMG_20230112_173856_154.jpeg20220708_123831.jpeg20220708_163401.jpeg

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3003 aluminum and the shrinker/stretcher is how I have made them. Not for a wide body though. Should be easier since it isn't as tight a bend. Takes time and patience.
 
I built that inside windshield fairing on my Bearhawk Patrol using strips of fiberglass. The windshield was in place just like you did on the outside. I just tucked in strips about 10 inches long, overlapping them as I went and used I think a rubber kitchen spatula to position them. I think I used 5 layers of 8 oz bi-directional. Total width is about 28 inches wide. Fabrication went quick.

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Before you build the doors or do much more metal work (bottom cowling) you might want to put the motor mount and motor or a box of equal weight on the nose, and put a set of gear under it. The fuselage will change shape when you add the weight on the nose.
DENNY
 
Yeah doors are all done with their polycarbonate skin. The aluminum door frames fit quite loose and rely on the polycarbonate overlapping the structure for a "seal"

Don't worry the the castle nuts are not the permanent hardware.

Jonathan got a loaner O-290 hung this morning to build the top and side cowls around.IMG_20230116_125158_222.jpegIMG_20230116_130318_968.jpegIMG_20230116_130223_036.jpeg

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Yeah doors are all done with their polycarbonate skin. The aluminum door frames fit quite loose and rely on the polycarbonate overlapping the structure for a "seal"

Don't worry the the castle nuts are not the permanent hardware.

Jonathan got a loaner O-290 hung this morning to build the top and side cowls around.View attachment 64364View attachment 64365View attachment 64366

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I did lexan doors on my seaplane doors like you did. About 3/8" over edge, before mounting I stuck each side in a brake and put a 10 degree bend on them. Seals better

Glenn
 
DJ, I'm impressed with the progress you guys are making.

What did you use for a nose bowl? I'm wondering what works and looks good for the extra width of the 4-place fuselage?
 
Thanks Spinner2. I'm in Bolivia at present but we have some great volunteers fabbing it up there in Georgia.

I bought Randy's carbon nosebowl that is an inch wider for the O-360 but I should have just called Kirk. I'm guessing he uses the cheaper stock width ones.



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