New Smith Cub coming together

This is Peter Annis's (skywagon 8a) Smith Cub, hanging wings today.




























Proud builder capt Pete Annis

I helped out the posting of pics for Pete. He is a neighbor of John Meade and myself. This aircraft is going on floats. The lake is just outside Pete's house---I mean like 200 feet.

What a sense of accomplishment that must be.. it looks great.

That is a beautiful sight. Congratulations! What prop, engine, floats?

Captain Ron

I used to feel bad about the 12 different shades of yellow we have on 'Tuff Tweety' but after watchin all the planes at the flyins, I don't feel so bad anymore - its fairly common. But only with yellow.

captainron55746 said:

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I used to feel bad about the 12 different shades of yellow we have on 'Tuff Tweety' but after watchin all the planes at the flyins, I don't feel so bad anymore - its fairly common. But only with yellow.

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yep, ALWAYS paint it WHITE first on all parts, then yellow.... and other colors.... I always paint white first, no mater what the final color..

Yellow will make you crazy...Dad is doing a Fairchild F24 yellow and he is pulling his hair out!

tcraft128 said:

Yellow will make you crazy...Dad is doing a Fairchild F24 yellow and he is pulling his hair out!

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ya I should say, EVEN with painting it white first you still have tint/shade issues..!!

Wow! That airplane is beautiful! I like that landing light, and man that exhaust looks sexy, did I mention how nice your instrument panel set up is.

Congratulations! Are you gonna name her?

Thank you Tom (Seaworthy) for posting the pics and for your help in hanging the wings.

captainron55746 said:

That is a beautiful sight. Congratulations! What prop, engine, floats?
I used to feel bad about the 12 different shades of yellow we have on 'Tuff Tweety' but after watchin all the planes at the flyins, I don't feel so bad anymore - its fairly common. But only with yellow.

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The prop is a 77" Whirlwind ground adjustable. Engine is a IO-360-B1D (180) on a dyna-focal zero thrust line mount, and the floats are EDO 89A-2000s. I am not concerned about the different "shades" of yellow as it is a seaplane which I will be dragging into small bush scratching places where there are not many people to see it. Therefor I will not be worried about scratching it. If it was a "show stopper" I would not be able to enjoy it as much. This is my "beater" plane. The 185 is my "show off" plane.

mike mcs repair said:

yep, ALWAYS paint it WHITE first on all parts, then yellow.... and other colors.... I always paint white first, no mater what the final color..

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Yes Mike, I agree, I have always painted white or a light color first as well. This time was my first try at using the Stewarts system and since it is different than just dope & fabric, which is what I am used to doing, I tried to follow their instructions. The manual said to spray the top coat over the black Ekofil. I didn't find the jug of white Ekofill in the bottom of the box until after the top coat was already on. It wasn't until a couple years later when I ordered some more paint that the instructions for the use of the white showed up in a supplemental instruction sheet. I wasn't about to repaint anything. Particularly since I hate painting. I did repaint the rudder since it had a run in it and I had some final parts that had to be done. The rudder is now the best painted part of the whole job but there are twice as many coats of top coat as the manual calls for. And since it was a cured yellow top coat before the repaint that became the light base coat which made it come out so well.

Richard Deblack said:

Wow! That airplane is beautiful! I like that landing light, and man that exhaust looks sexy, did I mention how nice your instrument panel set up is.

Congratulations! Are you gonna name her?

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The landing light is a $30 LED which is set up with another in the other wing with a Wig-Wag flasher for maximum visibility. We have a lot of folks who fly around here that don't seem to bother looking for other airplanes. So I'll need all of the help I can get for traffic avoidance. No I'm not going to name her, unless we are having a bad day, then she might have a few four lettered names.

Thank you all for your kind remarks.

Wow! Very nice! I need to get going. I should be able to spend a fair amount of time over the next couple months.

Thanks for the inspiration!

cafi

Hmmmm... Innovative wheels there. The new replacement for Bushwheels? Four caster at each gear to float over terrain and compensate for crosswinds. I can't put my finger on it, but something in the back of my mind says there is a flaw here. LOL !!

John Scott

Your idea of leaving a long tail on the nicropress fitting and heat shrinking is nice. The nicropress(es) still have plenty of air and the tail will not hurt anybody. Good work!

Longwinglover said:

Hmmmm... Innovative wheels there. The new replacement for Bushwheels? Four caster at each gear to float over terrain and compensate for crosswinds. I can't put my finger on it, but something in the back of my mind says there is a flaw here. LOL !!

John Scott

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Actually Tom wasn't supposed to show those wheels as they are part of a new top secret STC project:lol:

mike mcs repair said:

yep, ALWAYS paint it WHITE first on all parts, then yellow.... and other colors.... I always paint white first, no mater what the final color..

Click to expand...

I agree with MIKE!

White or you must use the same primer on everything. Is it painted with Aerothane? That S*!T is just Clear with a hint of yellow in it!

Brandon

Also, Beautiful Aircraft! I think you will absolutely Love that thing. And if anybody gives you any crap about the paint ask them what color there brand new Smith Cub is painted like

Awesome Pete!! How long to first flight?

Jay

Looks great Pete. Can't wait to hear about the first flight.

It probably won't fly until the fall as my summers are fairly busy with other things and in spite of what it now looks like there is still a lot to do.

Looking Good Pete,
Sorry I was unavailable on Friday. The day job gets in the way.
John

Progress Weighed it yesterday. 1432.8 lbs @14.13" on floats. Calculated to be 1239.8 @15.5" if on stock landing gear. Seems a bit heavy to me but under the circumstances I don't see how I could have made it much lighter. It has no generating system and no interior. I'll be charging the battery after each days flying. Probably will eventually come up with a wind generating system. Poured in 12 gallons of gas and found no fuel leaks. Getting close, fairings, engine run and paper work to go before I call the DAR.

Pete, now your at the point of, dont rush things and finish everything you wanted to do.

Started the engine today. This is the first time that this engine has run in 40 years. Just been sitting in a crate in my dry shop for the entire time. All I did was a good visual inspection for rust. There were areas which could have rusted if it was going to happen, nothing. Had the fuel injection system overhauled and installed two new Pmags. This is the smoothest running IO-360 that I have ever seen. Probably the dynafocal mount, Pmags and the Whirlwind prop made for the smooth combination. No O-360 shake on shut down either.

It's heresy to not worry about a little extra weight.. Our 0-360 Bushmaster is l515 on 2250 floats, handles differently from SC. Like the 185 and old Seabee, sink from weight when you need it isn't a bad thing.

Pete

Down with that terrible bug going around for three days---will take pics today if you are around.

Pete

Congratulations!!

Weight seems to be good for your combination of kit, engine, prop, floats, etc. Lots of these are coming in at 1300pds and over on wheels, so you did well.
I think you are going to be really pleased. I am looking forward to seeing it in person, (and pictures when you can).

Keep us posted on the first flight. Very very nice!!

Bill

Outstanding! Looking foward to first flight news!

Do not attempt to perform this high wire aerial act in your own home. Only elderly retired airline captains are allowed to perform
this death defying feat! Isn't there like an OSHSA Act or law against this???

Fueling AVGAS in a hangar? I was told not to do that.

I pump gas into my plane in the hangar. It's grounded to the truck. Gasoline is dangerous no matter where you use it.

Thank you for the warning.