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Roger and Darin Meggers Rebuild Santa's Supercub's Wings

WindOnHisNose

WindOnHisNose

BENEFACTOR
Lino Lakes MN (MY18)
In January I flew Santa's cub to Baker MT to let Roger and Darin Meggers do their thing recovering the wings. The aircraft was flipped on it's back shortly after it was purchased in 1979, and when Roger and Darin uncovered the wings it was evident that many of the ribs were damaged.

The intent was to have the following performed:

Install Dakota Cub 24 gallon tanks
Install Atlee's tie down mod
Install new LED strobes in each wing tip
Install landing lights in both wings, with wig wag function
Install 2000 lbs STC from WipAire
Install X brace in the cockpit
Install new fuel valve selector (leaving header in place)

Photos of the rebuild to follow...they are getting ready to cover the wings.

Randy
 
That is a great thing to have done!!

There is always damage to the interior parts, part of life. If we were easy on planes we would be mooney pilots!

That said, I am going to ask: Do you really need the extra 12 gallons of fuel? Why change tanks?

Now, that asked, I will say that you only need to answer for yourself, not to me or anyone. But more fuel is more weight.

Are you having the leading edges painted a dark color to help melt ice/frost? From the front spar forward it helps to have the dark color.

Hope it goes quick and easy!! Right now seems a good time for a plane to be in the shop.

George
 
George, you don’t have to fill the tanks, the extra capacity is often nice to have.




Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org
 
SJ said:
George, you don’t have to fill the tanks, the extra capacity is often nice to have.




Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org
Click to expand...

Like when you have the big tanks and a full belly tank yet you still have to stop for fuel to make the 400 mile
Trip to graham


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
George, I hadn't thought of painting the leading edges for the warming effect. I'll give that some thought. They are going to be covering the wings now.

Darin pointed out that some people would prefer not having the bigger tanks because of the loss of useful load when the tanks are full. His advice to me was "well, you don't have to keep them full!", as SJ just pointed out. Mike Vivion suggested that it would be a good time to install a fuel flow instrument in the aircraft, pointing out that they are stupid accurate...and I've asked Roger and Darin to put one in.

Thanks for the input!

Randy
 
WindOnHisNose said:
George, I hadn't thought of painting the leading edges for the warming effect. I'll give that some thought. They are going to be covering the wings now.

Mike Vivion suggested that it would be a good time to install a fuel flow instrument in the aircraft, pointing out that they are stupid accurate...and I've asked Roger and Darin to put one in.

Thanks for the input!

Randy
Click to expand...

Until they are not!!

I have personal experience with one being 10% off after being flawless for a couple of years. Same gauge did it again 8 years later. Trust, but verify often. A little piece of nothing makes those not so accurate the wrong way.

As I said, you need to answer the question yourself, but when was the last time you were more than an hour from fuel?
 
Yup. A little trash jams the impeller and gives weird readings. Just have to verify everything. Even a stick is wrong if you park on a slope!

Web
 
Another thing to consider is color of the wings. When you fly with other aircraft one thing you find is white sucks!! My buddy has two white cubs with red leading edge and a stripe. In the winter it is almost impossible to keep track of him and not much better in the summer. All red wings make it so much easier for people to see you and it will look good with the fuselage you have. I love my fuel flow, Combine with a engine monitor it will pay for itself in a short while. Usually accurate to 0.1 gal per tank. They can go bad that is why you burn right tank until empty then go to left. Still have simple math in the mix. No right or wrong (other than the wing color stuff:lol:) just things to think about.
DENNY
 
wireweinie said:
Yup. A little trash jams the impeller and gives weird readings. Just have to verify everything. Even a stick is wrong if you park on a slope!

Web
Click to expand...

Simple answer to that: Clean fuel solves a lot of problems. I've run fuel computers in several different airplanes for a total of over ten thousand hours, with nary an error, as in never.

But, I'm also really picky about the fuel I put in my airplane.

At one point, HQ was ordering a replacement airplane for one whose crankshaft broke, and our Chief of Maintenance called me and asked what equipment I wanted in it. My response was a good GPS and a good fuel computer.....everything else was nice, but.....I'd been spoiled by flying an airplane with big tanks on a lot of short legs......that was equipped with a FS-450.

I do agree that it's wise to check as well. With a Cub, that's pretty simple, because of those very straightforward fuel gauges in the wing roots. Those'll catch any big errors if they were to occur.

As to never being far from fuel, long distances between fuel are certainly more rare in this part of the world than in Alaska, but get out in eastern Montana and western SD and the gas stops aren't real close together.

But more to the point, I don't fuel up every time I stop somewhere. Lousy prostate..... But, I buy fuel where it's cheapest. And, I regularly see differences in fuel prices on the order of $1 a gallon. So, on a 30 gallon fill up, you just paid for that bottle of gin.....er--that bouquet of roses for the missus. And, with the resources we have these days, you can save a lot that way.

Also, lots of fuel sometimes permits you to go out and back without having to fuel, which is sometimes handy.

I've flown Cubs with just about every fuel modification out there. I really don't like the Atlee Dodge 60 gallon tanks, because they are really too big for what I would do with a Cub.....but, if you're a fish spotter, or?? I've flown two Cubs with the old polar bear special mod....two sets of 18 gallon tanks....too busy, too heavy and waaaay too much fuel.

The Dakota tanks are just about the right size for the Super Cub, especially if you have a 180 hp airplane.

As always, opinions....and we all know about them.

MTV
 
wireweinie said:
Yup. A little trash jams the impeller and gives weird readings. Just have to verify everything. Even a stick is wrong if you park on a slope!

Web
Click to expand...

Mine have all been installed post gascolator, so never had a problem with junk. I have had one impeller/sender fail in three different airplanes over twenty years so I think they work pretty reliably. Biggest unreliability is the pilot forgetting to reset it when they fuel up.

sj
 
I think building as light as practical is always a good way to approach a project. I also think having fuel capacity is a bonus. Unless you want to levitate off the ground like Steve Henry does then build that cub how you want to use it. Those are nice improvements that you won't regret.
 
You couldn’t pay me anything to take the cgr-30p out of my airplane. It’s been within 2/10 of a gallon was the furthest off I’ve seen. Like SJ said, works great until you forget to reset it. I do like the leading edges painted on my wings. I put one landing light in each wing with the aero led lights with the pulse built in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
aktango58 said:
Until they are not!!

I have personal experience with one being 10% off after being flawless for a couple of years. Same gauge did it again 8 years later. Trust, but verify often. A little piece of nothing makes those not so accurate the wrong way.

As I said, you need to answer the question yourself, but when was the last time you were more than an hour from fuel?
Click to expand...
But George, you could tear up a kilt with a rubber bagpipe!
 
I've got the Atlee 30.5 gallon tanks in mine and LOVE them. I need to install a fuel flow, but typically I keep them around 1/2 to 1/4 tank. On road trips I bypass high gas prices and extra stops if I want to. Or if I want to land and stretch my legs then I do that. Sure is nice to have options.

The good news is that I can carry the exact same amount of fuel as I could with stock tanks, with a negligible useful load difference from the bigger tanks. Or I can top them off and have 7+ hours of endurance.
 
I believe Atlee 30.5 gal tanks are overall lighter than other 24 gal tanks because they do don't use a tank cover and remove some rib parts.
DENNY
 
WindOnHisNose said:
George, I hadn't thought of painting the leading edges for the warming effect. I'll give that some thought. They are going to be covering the wings now.

I had not thought about a warming effect either. There is a J3 here with black leading edges and I have watched it disappear in the background foliage many times on it's approaches when it drops below the hill.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, a dark colored leading edge will "disappear" frost faster than a lighter color.

But, realistically, are you actually going to launch with the remaining 7/8ths of your wing frosted up??

If you're going with dark leading edges, paint the entire wing dark colors.

As to visibility, there really is no all season "good" color that's very visible. My old 170 was painted about equal amounts of red, white and yellow. The former owner was an old time Alaska pilot, and when I asked him why that color scheme, he said he wanted at least a portion of that plane very visible in every season of Alaska.

Of course, when he first saw the plane, Gary, aka T-craft on here asked me: "So, does this mean you're going to paint your bunny boots red now?".

MTV
 
Mike's former C-170 is a visual standout year round. Even in flat white light and at a distance against a cloud background the color combo is such that at least one of the three is visible. Parked locally it's still a standout. Tom did good with that choice.

I like the idea of capturing solar heat with an overall wing paint that will disappear frost quickly. The whole wing heats and it rises inside towards the leading edge.

Red boots were a color coordinated fashion statement best left in the last Century.

Gary
 
mvivion said:
Yes, a dark colored leading edge will "disappear" frost faster than a lighter color.

But, realistically, are you actually going to launch with the remaining 7/8ths of your wing frosted up??


MTV
Click to expand...

Dark leading edges do help keep ice and snow from building up in flight. Sometimes that is the difference.

I won't disagree that having all the wing dark is a bad idea at all, but having from the spar forward is a really good thing.

I had a yellow cub with a brown and orange stripe for a while. Came into Hood one day in the winter and a guy ran up asking if he could copy the paint scheme because it was so easily seen.

Pictures of it in fall you would think I was a hunting partner of Steve Eaton:peeper

Impossible to see against yellowed trees!

My suggestion, once she is finished, is for you to bring her up here to Alaska and we will do some visual tests on how easily it is seen at different fishing holes!
 
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