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

Dec 31 - Jan 1, 2012 -- Work on Ribs

Slowing up to do some research, because all of the sudden I am being bit by lack of planning ahead. For example, it's time to have an autopilot servo; however I haven't even evaluated the various choices.

Also time to drill holes for wiring in the wings. Many people run a single conduit; however I am running at least two in order to keep electrically noisy runs (strobes) away from things like antennas. Also need to consider how to service the not-yet-selected autopilot servo, which will be mounted short of all the way out there in the wingtip. Ordered some bushings to install in the holes, drilled holes that are too small for the bushings (just in case they don't work out).

Should I even run conduit? It's made from material not allowed in certified planes, and frankly I just don't trust it not to cause issues. Won't wire laying loose in there chafe from vibration? Lots to decide. Soon.

So each rib now has two 3/4" holes. One key learning along the way: Unibit (the actual brand) bits rock. Harbor Freight knock-offs suck.

Finally, also created a tool to measure aileron alignment later.

Total Time: 5 hours

Dec 28-30 -- Rear Spar and Ribs

Puttered at replacing the parts that I messed up the other day, and some "work work" that ate almost two full days. Then went back to the main wing ribs to make certain that they were square in all dimensions. Used a machinist's square, the flanging tool, and also a fluting tool.

Oh, and you can see my high-end storage approach to the spars. Am still trying to avoid building the stand for these spars, in hopes that my garage will somehow get bigger via positive thinking.

Next up is drilling holes for conduit in the ribs. But first I need to figure out how many conduit and pitot runs are required for all the various systems. Realized today that I even need to pick out an autopilot, because its time to install servo mounting brackets. Leaning towards a Dynon, but am going to bounce this off others before deciding.

Lots of deferred decisions are suddenly rearing their heads. Suppose that's a sign of progress!

Total Time: 5 hours

Dec 19-27 -- Rear Spar

Been working on the rear spar for days, yet it seemed so simple...

Initial challenge was priming parts outside in the dark. A total of five nights -- each time going back to touch up one more spot. Finally had some daytime on Dec 23rd when I came home early. Should have just waited :)

Then there was the matter of working on the plane while quite sick with a bad cold that made me woozy. Lesson learned: don't.

So I also managed to screw up a couple of parts, which I am now waiting for from Van's. These were installed and looked very nice indeed! Until I discovered (a) a missing row of dimples, and (b) that I has countersunk the wrong holes in the doubler. Oh well, now an expert at drilling out rivets...

These are the parts that are in the top of the lower right photo. New parts will be here in a day or two.

Total time: 6 hours

Dec 18 -- Drill and Prime Rear Wing Spar Doublers

Hard to believe that it took all day to accomplish this, but it did. 9:30-5:30 to be precise, with a couple of breaks for things such as eating.

Shaped and match drilled the various doublers for the rear spar, with a oblong hole for the ailerons accounting for quite a bit of this time. Also dimpled and countersunk a number of holes.

Then used ScotchBrite to scuff the doublers and both rear spars. Had hoped to prime today; however by the time that I finished all of this, it was too dark outside to paint.

The result doesn't look a heck of a lot different than the previous post, does it?

In the end I decided that even a bad prime job was north of not even trying. So I set things up to prime where some light is afforded by the fixture on the front of the garage. Might have to touch up the front of the house if overspray "decorated" the garage door, but it's worth that amount of bother.

Total Time: 7 Hours

Dec 17 -- Deburr Rear Wing Spar and Doublers

Deburred the rear spar channel (W-907A), doubler plate (W-907B), and all related doubler plates (W-907C, W-907D, and W-907E).

Total Time: 2 Hours

Dec 16 -- Final Nutplates on Main Spar

This is going to seem like a weird post because the only progress is 6 nutplates. However they were a Big Deal in terms of hassle.

For starters, the nutplates are on the drawing but I can't find any reference to them in the instructions. Other RV-9 blogs voice a similar concern. So hopefully they are installed correctly!

The countersink cage wouldn't fit into some corners, and I spent several days and trips to the store looking for creative workarounds. Then I found the tool. In my tool box! Doh... There's a photo of the bad boy below.

Also, some of those rivets look funky. However when I carefully checked them, they are actually just fine other than one that is countersunk 0.001" deep.

At any rate, we'll call this 3 hours of work, but that's a lie on the way low end of time wasted. Looks like it's on to the rear spar next.

Total Time: 3 Hours

Dec -- Install Aileron Bellcrank Brackets & APEX Plates

This seems like such a small thing, but took a fair bit of work for the details. Installed the aluminum APEX parts to act both as a tie-down ring mount point, and also to hold the aileron bellcrank brackets.

Torqued all AN-3 bolts to 25 inch-pounds.

Total Time: 3 hours

Nov 23-27 -- Install Nutplates

This is getting repetitive: installed more nutplates of varying sizes in varying locations, over a period of several days.

Unfortunately my attempt to drill holes for the Apex tiedown bars did not go well. The first one suffered from layout issues that made the holes off-center. Bottom line is that a ruler plus marking pen is simply inadequate for accuracy. Looking online, it appears that others pioneered this mistake well in advance of today.

On the second bar, I was able to produce a unique piece of art. The work scooted under the edge if the stop on the saw. Result: wrecked aluminum and broken tooth on the aluminum saw. Luckily the blade held together, so no amputations. Ordered a new blade, two new hunks of aluminum, and a beer.

BTW, for others building RVs, these apex plates can be ordered with the pain of tapping the hole already finished. See Cleaveland Tool's website.

Total Time: 3 hours

Nov 21 -- Install Nutplates

This is going to be a series of boring posts. Tonight I installed 8 of 24 nutplates that will hold access plates attached to the wing spar.

Total Time: 1.5 hours

Nov 19 -- Finish Nutplates for Fuel Tanks

Exciting, huh? Spent all day attaching a gazillion nutplates for the fuel tanks. Guess that's penance for having fun flying the Luscombe yesterday. But it does make for completion of one paragraph in the instructions!

Total Time: 7 hours

Nov 17 -- More Holes

Tonight consisted of three tasks -- and I will be at these for quite some time.

First, I primed a bunch of nutplates. They are plain steel, so if anything ever needed priming in the Pacific Northwest, these nutplates would be at the top of the list. Note that the photo shows two types. I only used the flat (small) ones, but figured that I may as well prime some of each.

Then each center hole was drilled to 3/16" (instructions are very vague here), and the bottom of each hole was deburred.

Next up was to create a template piece of metal to use for testing countersink depths. The aluminum test piece is the same thickness as the tank skins (0.032"), and dimpled for a #8 screw.

I started installing nutplates, one or two at a time, and riveted them in place. The nutplate will sever to center the countersink bit.

Set up my new single-fluke bit and gingerly drilled to the correct depth, testing with just the screw and also with the metal template to make certain that all is correct. Think that I need to go just a touch deeper; however want someone else to look at my work first. Easy to drill deeper, but not so easy if the holes are too deep...

Total Time: 2 hours

Nov 16 -- Countersink Wing Spar

Tonight was Hole City. Counter-sank half of the holes in both of the wing spars (where the fuel tanks will bolt on). All this made possible by the arrival of new single-flute countersink bits, because the old ones were too dull to work. This countersink is sooo much nicer than the standard ones!

Building both wings at the same time, so overall progress will be faster due to efficiencies. Or at least that's the lie that I am telling myself.

Not much else to say, other than there are still lots of holes to work on!

Total Time: 1.5 hours

Nov 12 -- Start Wing Spars

Big day in that the two wing spars, which had been leaning against the garage wall since last April, finally slid out of their plastic bags to join the project. They are supposed to be hung on a wing stand; however I am delaying that day until really needed, because the stands burn up a lot of real estate in the garage.

Once out, I also opened up the many hardware bags of rivets, screws, and fittings. Tucked each of them away in a wall-storage bin with clear plastic drawers. Hopefully the parts organization is logical enough to find the parts when needed later.

And finally the first couple of nutplate rivet holes were countersunk.

Below are photos that are mostly for the records -- and that show the hand-etched serial numbers of each spar.

Total Time: 7 Hours