Wildcat Cub

[stewartb]

Been traveling. Been busy. Been sick. Life goes in many directions at the same time and that doesn’t make finishing an airplane any easier.

Here’s some fodder for the critics. Except for printing more transfer labels the panel’s finished. 10 push-pull cables. 10 switches. 20 pull breakers. Lots of stuff and each piece has a function that warranted using it. Brakes are functional. Boot cowl's back on. Windshield’s in. PTT and trim switches in. Engine bay details completed, mostly heat shields for cables and hoses. Wings will go on in a few days. Then commission the G3X and test run. The finish line is in sight and I’m limping home!




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[stewartb]

Stuff you don’t think about until you have to. The IO-400 and Vetterman exhaust are crowded in a Cub cowl. Protection from heat has been a challenge. A custom heat shield at one of the oil cooler outlets. The FI system requires using fire sleeve so adding it to the MP line where it’s close to the muffler made sense. The throttle and prop governor cable routing required them to pass close above the exhaust. The last two pics show a heat shield for those cables. Not much space to work with but hopefully the prevention measures work.











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[tedwaltman1]

Beautiful craftsmanship Stewart. Thank you for the pictures!

[pak]

It sometime seems the closer you get to the finish the slower time moves. Plus it seems the punch list grows and grows. It will come together and will be grand plane. I'm looking forward to liftoff.

[mike mcs repair]

Someday you run out of parts, and cross all the items off your list without writing down 10 more to do's per item crossed off. Someday, that elusive someday.


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[stewartb]

It must be real. I insured it today.

[stewartb]

Metamorphosis.






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[RVBottomly]

That, there, is stunning.

[gpepperd]

That looks awesome, Stewart! Can hardly wait to go up and watch you fly that beauty ��

[stewartb]

Thanks, Greg. I'm looking forward to fun flying. I need some smile time.

I tugged it out of the shop to the other end of Birchwood with my pickup. To transport struts and tools I opened the left window and loaded all four struts in the plane with room to spare. Stacking parts and tools was equally easy with the big cargo door. I haven't even flown it yet and I'm already enjoying the space and access this thing has.

[Dave Calkins]

that cargo door is great!

nice to see your project moving along fast now!

[G44]

Looks fantastic!

[stewartb]

Cheese!





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[spinner2]

Congratulations on completion. And in time for a full summer of Alaska flying.

I like the paint scheme, a blend of traditional Cub style and newer flowing lines combined.

[mike mcs repair]

Congratulations on completion.....

not quite yet, but closer.....

[stewartb]

Mike's clever slat locks. The slat at rest, followed by the slat open to the stop. A longer stop screw, a UHMW disc to fit onto it, and voila... A slat lock. Sweet!












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[stewartb]

I’m gonna need a ladder to reach the slat stops. For perspective, I'm 6'2" and I'm wearing boots. Holy crap, this is a big Cub!

[flyrite]

That Mike Guy really reminds me of some of the sharp designers I've read and observed for years {Burt Rutan for example}......Super simple solutions to what can be complex issues. Good on ya man, I like to watch when folks walk up and start processing the engineering !

[stewartb]

And now it's officially an airplane!





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[tedwaltman1]

Congratulations Stewart on completing your build. Looks awesome!

[Dave Calkins]

Am smiling for you.

[gdafoe]

Very very nice. Can't wait for the flying reports.

[jrussl]

Congrats Stewart! And Mike......

Very well done!


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[Bill Rusk]

Congrats Mike and Stewart. Very well done indeed. I can’t wait to see it in person. Thank you for posting the build. It has been a pleasure to follow your progress.

Bill

[Dan Gervae]

What an accomplishment! Congrats guys.

[Mspindler]

Great build thanks for posting.

Mike

[stewartb]

Thanks for all the kind words. It's been fun and I hope it's as fun to fly as it was to build. You other builders please keep posting. The activity on this site is in decline. Step up and show us what you're doing!

[RVBottomly]

Thanks for all the kind words. It's been fun and I hope it's as fun to fly as it was to build. You other builders please keep posting. The activity on this site is in decline. Step up and show us what you're doing!

I really hope to see it in action some day. As I'm welding on my fuselage I keep seeing myself heading up to Alaska, maybe tagging along behind Bill Rusk, so I can see such things.

I'll take your words to heart and keep posting, but I think I'm slower than you. But one thing's for sure, the target for build quality has been elevated significantly.

[stewartb]

Mike and I talked often about you scratch build guys. I respect what you’re doing but can’t imagine the amount of work it’ll take to complete. A kit plane was enough for me. Keep the faith. I look forward to your posts!

[SJ]

Thanks for all the kind words. It's been fun and I hope it's as fun to fly as it was to build. You other builders please keep posting. The activity on this site is in decline. Step up and show us what you're doing!

Stewart, my sincere thanks for taking the time to post about your project progress. I know that doing that is a project in itself!

Although the stats say that site activity is at an all time high, Stewart is correct in that the most popular threads are ones like this one and we need more of them! Don't be shy!

sj

[stewartb]

As Mike says, the fuel test was successful. It leaks!
Put it together, take it apart, put it back together.




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[RaisedByWolves]

As Mike says, the fuel test was successful. It leaks!
Put it together, take it apart, put it back together.



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And then, all of a sudden you will have an airplane, and nothing else matters as you take off for the first time. Youre really close!

[stewartb]

Yes, really close. The G3X is the biggest hurdle in front of me, and that's not a show stopper as much as a source of frustration. Friggin computers.

[stewartb]

The G3X woes got worked out. Garmin’s G3Xpert tech support is awesome. But then the constant speed prop was unresponsive. Yep, Superior didn’t install the internal crank plug and we never thought to look. Off with the prop to fix that. While doing so we found another unexpected problem. After just a handful of starts my ring gear was destroyed. WTF? Custom Aircraft in Palmer had a new ring gear and installed it on the flywheel while I waited. Kudos to them! Advice from them and others was to retard the timing a little. Done. It turns out there’s a known issue with Skytec’s NL149 starter when used with Superior’s 149 tooth ring gear. It was probably a combination of TDC timing and an unhappy starter-ring gear relationship. Stuff you don’t know about until you’re forced to know about it. An unanticipated day of wrenching and driving to chase parts when days are hard to come by. Sigh.

From Skytec’s website-
“It appears that Superior reverse engineered the 60882-type ring gear support assembly (for 122-tooth ring gears) when they manufactured and PMA certified Superior Ring Gear Support Assembly PN SL77579-1 Rev.11 (for 149-tooth ring gears). Unfortunately, when pairing those ring gear support assemblies with 149-tooth ring gears, the ring gear rests further aft than Lycoming specification and therefore tends to crash the front face of NL-type starters by a mere couple thousandths of an inch. Other starter models tend to stand back sufficiently from the ring gear, so the mismatch is not as problematic. Since the NL “hugs the line” defined by Lycoming, the mismatched ring gear and support assembly causes an interference condition.”







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[cubdriver2]

When I first looked at the ring gear picture I thought you were doing a Bill Rusk mod at saving weight and only using every third tooth

Glenn

[Carey Gray]

When I first looked at the ring gear picture I thought you were doing a Bill Rusk mod at saving weight and only using every third tooth

Glenn

OK, that was pretty funny.

Nice job Stewart/Mike. Looks great. Can't wait for a pilot report.

[OLDCROWE]

Stewart,

I just went through this with my 0-320. I had a 149 tooth ring gear with an old funky Bendix style light weight starter that was no longer available or rebuildable so we changed to the Skytek NL style and it contacted the teeth intermittently which the A&P that installed it did not catch it (was not at home) and when I got the cub back home and found the problem as the starter stayed engaged. Long and short is that we chased our tail through a bunch of parts and finally had to convert to a 122 because the 122 ring gear is significantly thinner than the 149 thus gives more clearance. No issues now but that starter change cost me about $1500 and even the 122 was a tight fit.

Kirby

[stewartb]

In fairness to Superior, they've referred my photos to their engineering dept for answers. They're taking it seriously.

[skukum12]

Got a glimpse of your plane the other day. It was already drawing a crowd at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning.

[stewartb]

Birchwood has a great environment. I’ve met lots of folks out there. Very friendly.