Luscombe Tailspring for Sale

Cleaning out the garage... This tailspring came off my 1947 Luscombe 8#. I cleaned it up today, but am including a "before" photo so that you can see what it looked like. In great shape!
 

Wag Aero sells these for $180 new, plus shipping -- this one is $100, plus shipping.

Click on any photo for a (much) larger version. Obviously the last photo is the "before" version.

 

Anniversary

Tumblr just sent me an email to say that this blog was created 4 years ago today.

What I find more impressive is that 13 months after my diagnosis for Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer, I am writing this post. They originally gave me until last May. HUGE thanks to the doctors for pushing back the cancer, and also to my family (especially my wife!) for their support.

Cancer is spiking again, so who knows where we go from here. Hopefully the blog will remain active for some time as others start their RV projects. Sorry that this blog stopped well short of completion.

Mike
(Continuing to fail to meet expectations)

Project Sold

My project was purchased by a local builder (repeat offender!), and will be gone as soon as he has a chance to organize storage. I am pleased to report that he was able to purchase at a price that means he will not face financial risk if yet another person winds up purchasing from him. That's great news for everyone -- but especially me because people who feel good about their project are more likely to complete the build. At least, that's my opinion...

Project for Sale

This is the last thing I hoped to post; however medical issues dictate that I sell the project. Here's the skinny, and of course this website has enough detail to see all the minutiae of the build to date.

The Condensed Version of the Facts

• RV Model: RV-9/9A Standard-Build kit
• Builder number: 93150
• Location: Seattle Area
• Price: $5,500 for fast sale. Note that purchasing an untouched kit from the factory would cost $8940 ($1750 for the empennage, and $7215 for the wing kit)
• I am forced to sell due to medical issues, and can assure folks that this is the last thing I planned to do.
   
  It is a slow-build kit that consists of the empennage (completed, except for fiberglass tips), and the wing kit. Just one wing has any appreciable work completed, as you can see in the various build log photos. So you can build it with the third wheel on the proper end, as your religion dictates.
• I purchased the empennage kit, untouched, from another person and have personally completed all work to date.
• Took delivery on the wings by driving to the factory in spring of 2011. No work done in 2012 thanks to business travel, and then medical issues.
• Because the kit came uncrated, you will need to pick up in Seattle (or more precisely, Redmond) WA

Contact Info
Mike Culver
425.894.6101
mculver at extencia dot com
Prefer that folks call evenings or weekends, before 10 PM PST (Seattle)

Thanks!
Mike

Nov 10 - Building a Paint Booth

The blog, and the RV project, have been quiet since the beginning of the year. There are three reasons for that: business travel, a bathroom remodel project that is affectionately known as "Bathroomgedon", and re-skinning the Luscombe vertical stab and rudder.

So while the paint booth will be for the RV project eventually, at the moment it's really for the Luscombe. Used 1" PVC and then covered with 3.5 mil polyethylene. Of course even this progress has been slow. Last weekend a failed seal on the BMW's rear door gave way, which resulted in 2-3" of water inside the car after a hard rainstorm. This weekend I have to travel to Boston on Sunday.

So status is that the booth is built, but no air filters are installed, and no painting so far. Hopefully it won't become a huge condensation chamber while I am away. For that matter, hopefully it won't blow away...

Jan 7-14 -- Assemble Left Wing Skeleton

The photos below show progress that is an accumulation of off and on work for quite a few days.

Primed all the ribs, then riveted them to the main and rear spars. Looks like the rivets on the trailing spar are backwards from what the plans recommend (manufactured head on the thinnest side to avoid rib distortion); however I squeezed rather than use a gun, and there is no sign of distortion.

Still just a few holes left to rivet.

Today my good friend Michael Beare stopped over to help drive rivets into the main spar. I started this part of the riveting solo last weekend; however the result was that at least half a dozen rivets needed to be drilled out. Completely different outcome with his help -- and he is experienced to boot!

Total Time: 10 hours

Jan 2 -- Left Wing Ribs

Enlarged all holes in ribs for both wings to accept bushings for the conduit (I caved -- going to run conduit). In fact, I added holes for a third conduit run to the pitot and aileron bell crank. Need power for pitot heat and the autopilot servo.

Then I assembled the left wing (excluding nose ribs) and match drilled the ribs to both the main spar and the rear spar. Then deburred and used Scotch-Brite to scuff the ribs up in preparation for priming. Took the lot outside and cleaned them up with Coleman Fuel.


One rib received primer -- just as it started raining. Am going to have to wait for a dry weekend day to finish that part.

Total Time: 5.5 hours