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January 2012
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Weather in Zurich

Clear 13°C Clear
Tue Partly Sunny
22/11
Wed Chance of Rain
25/12
Thu Chance of Storm
27/13

Raising the Lower Cowl.

This idea by Clive Whittfield, a very clever Kiwi, was posted today on VAF in answer to a question. I liked the idea so much that I had to reference it on this website for future use and so that I do not forget. The pictures pretty much tell the story with just a little description in words. I did ask Clive if I could do this and you can see his response below.

Materials required are a length of PVC pipe, some twine and and hooks formed out of short lengths of wire. Duct tape over where necessary to stop scratching and an old  tee shirt threaded over the prop/spinner to minimize scratches here too complete the ensemble.

Twisting the PVC pipe with one hand while guiding it with the other, the cowl in any position with the ‘locking device screwdriver’. Once the cowl has been lifted into position and the device ‘locked’ it is now securely suspended and can easily be maneuvered to line up the piano wire hinges. Removing the cowl is simply a reversal of the fitting process.

Lower Cowl Lifting. The start, the cowl is on the floor.

The Locking Device is a screwdriver.

The Cowl Being Raised by Turning the Pipe

Done! Almost.

So Quickly Done. Save this Tool. Tape the Twine to the Pipe in Storage.

January 22nd, 2012 | Category: Tips | Comments are closed

Riveting Air Pressure Information and Tables.

This information has been deliberately plagiarised from Bill Repucci’s excellent website. I wanted to create my own set of tables so Bill’s info makes a good start and I will modify the settings to what is good for my compressor/gun combo.

Here is Bill’s info:

Suggested Operating Pressures

As I mentioned, I use different operating air pressures at the rivet gun for various different sizes of rivets and material. I put this table of information together based on my experience. Keep in mind that I use an Avery 3X rivet gun, and that your results may vary (some builders opt for a 2X gun, which may behave very differently). Also, you can vary the duration of driving the rivet to compensate for pressure in many cases. For example, instead of cranking the psi up, you can drive the rivet for a longer period of time. Anyway, here are the “baseline” settings I use for reference:

AN426 Rivets:

Rivet Type Air Pressure Duration
AN426AD3-3 to 3-4 34 psi 1 second
AN426AD3-4.5 to 3-5 37 psi 1 ½ seconds
AN426AD3-6 plus 40 psi 1 ½ seconds
AN426AD4-4 to 4-5 45 psi 1 second
AN426AD4-6 to 4-9 50 psi 1 ½ to 2 seconds

AN470 Rivets:

Rivet Type Air Pressure Duration
AN470AD4-4 to 4-5 60 psi 1 second
AN470AD4-6 to 4-7 60 psi 1 ½ seconds
AN470AD4-8 to 4-9 75 psi 1 ½ seconds
AN470AD4-9 plus 80 psi 1 ½ to 2 seconds
January 22nd, 2012 | Tags: | Category: Tips | Comments are closed

Tools that I may have to get.

In the next few weeks, I will be commencing the empenage build and there are a number of tools that I would like to get if I can afford them. I will also use this post as a reference for other tools that will be needed further down the line.

The Main Squeeze

The Main Squeeze looks an interesting hand squeezer. I will try firstly with what I have got before I fork out on one of these. It is a bit expensive at $279 plus shipping and Swiss tax. I am sure I have the right tools initially to get started.

Click here to see a description of the Main Squeeze

Click here for Main Squeeze Instructions Document

The Main Squeeze

Strap Duplicator

Strap Duplicators look as if they could be really helpful with the non prepunched tail and fin in the RV-4. There are other ways around to line up the holes in the skin and the ribs but further down the line these little buggers could be really useful.

Click here to see a Strap Duplicator from ACS.

Strap Duplicator

ROL-AIR Flairing Tool

This looks to be the definitive tube bending tool used by builders posting on VAF, as demonstrated here. It has good reviews and at 94 bucks it will not break the bank. This is one tool that I will be ordering in due course

Click here to see a ROL-AIR Flairing Tool from ACS.

Rolo Fairing Tool

#6 #8 and #10 Nutplate Jigs

These little buggers can help really save time in installing nutplates in the wing where there are shed loads of the things for mounting the tanks. Another useful area for nutplates is fairing attachment.

Click here to see a selection of nutplate jigs from Brown Tool.

Nutplate Jig Double Wing Standard

January 19th, 2012 | Tags: | Category: Tools | Comments are closed

The Wing kit was Ordered and it has Arrived

Here is a belated post that should have been added last December. I was pretty much out of commission then with my illness as I am now to be honest. Here is a potted precis of placing my order, with the completed forms and receiving delivery.

Click Here to see Completed Vans Wing Order

Click Here to see Completed Phlogiston Spar Order.

The wing kit was ordered on the 9th August 2011 (I cannot believe it was that long ago). After this date there were various communications with Vans discussing shipping options. I chose a company called Kuehne and Nagel basically for no other reason other that there office was located just around the corner from where I work near Zurich Airport. This turned out to be a good choice because Kuehne and Nagel eventually delivered right to my door and even placed the crates inside the garage.

I had the whole shebang crated in sea freight containers and air freighted to Zurich. I wanted to make sure shipping damage was avoided at all costs.

Anyway in October I was confined to hospital for nine days. Anne at Vans was sending me emails understandably asking for final payments which when I got around to it I made. I sent Anne a confirmation email of payment. Around the middle of December 2011, the wing turned up at my door. There was a load of snow outside the house and I regret I could not lift a finger to help the driver. The driver was magic however and I gave him 20 bucks for his trouble in placing the crates inside the garage. Here are pictures of the crates as delivered:

Spar Crate takes nearly the whole length of the garage.

Here is the damage to one of the wing crates.

As you can see the damaged wing crate was delivered the wrong way up and the minor damage is I sure ok to ignore. I will report again on this further down the line.

Finally, here is a copy of an email I sent to Anne:

Thank you Tony,
I hope next year will be better for you than this one turned out to be.
Anne

On 29 Dec 2011 at 12:07, Anthony Johnston wrote:

Hello Anne,
I just want to say thanks very much for organising the shipping and
being patient with the payments. Your help was outstanding. The wing
kit arrived here in Zurich a couple of weeks ago in good shape. I am
still not strong enough yet to attempt to move or open the crates but
hopefully, I am slowly on the road to recovery.
I wish you and all at Vans a Happy New Year.
Tony
On Nov 24, 2011 01:16 “Anne B” wrote:
I am sorry to hear that Anthony, I hope you are feeling better soon.
Anne
On 24 Nov 2011 at 0:19, Anthony Johnston wrote:
Hi Anne,
Sorry I have not contacted you. I have been very sick and I was
nine days in hospital. I still have a way to go for recovery.
However I will organize the remaining payment and will contact you
in the next day or two.
Having the wings here will give me inspiration to get better
quicker.
Thanks for your patience.
Best regards
Tony.
Sent from my iPhone

January 18th, 2012 | Category: Orders Placed | Comments are closed

Van's Airforce VAF

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been recovering from my radiation treatment. I have been feeling very low and my strength is non existent. In order to keep myself amused I have been posting updates on Facebook to keep my friends informed of my condition and I have been tracking various posts on Doug Reeve’s VAF forum. These have for me been a life saver in keeping me sane. I have not just arbitrarily posting on VAF, I hopefully have made a genuine contribution in highlighting a safety issue on RV-4s that show c of g can go outside the envelope under a certain set of load parameters. The post I am refering to is this one:

RV-4 Centre of Gravity Observations

Anyway the above post is not really the point of this particular thread so let me try and drag the emphases back on topic. What I want to say is that VAF is arguably the best reference site on the Web for ALL things related to RV aircraft. If you have an issue you can search the forums and usually someone has posted something related to your query before. If not, the wealth of expert help available on VAF is vast and usually someone will pipe up with a solution or work around to your problem. This information is entirely free if you choose. However, Doug feeds his family on the revenue generated from this site. I personally donate 50 bucks every year to Doug. It is the BEST 50 bucks I have ever paid for any building/flight related service.

Doug has some guidelines to posts on his website. If these guidelines are not followed, then the post will be removed. For me that is not an issue. It is Doug’s website and he controls what is placed in his forums. I try to follow the guidelines but I have had some posts removed. When if you do find a post has been removed, do not complain, the post has infringed the guidelines so just take it with a pinch of salt and don’t worry about it. If your post is a genuine technical or information enquiry then it will not be removed.

January 17th, 2012 | Category: Praise | Comments are closed

RV-4 Centre of Gravity Observations.

I spent yesterday (13th January 2012) knocking together a generic RV-4 weight and balance spreadsheet. I derived the sheet from the one available from my website for the 3. After I finished the sheet I started playing around with the numbers and I found that it is possible with a certain set of parameters for the c of g to migrate outside the rear limit with fuel usage. There are simple safeguards however to prevent this. Removing any and all weight from the rear baggage area helps but the c of g must be checked against fuel usage so it stays inside the required envelope. Using the optional front baggage area does help a lot to keep c of g within range. I am talking here of rear seat loads of 250 to 300 lbs which are very unlikely but still have to be considered.

Here is a link to the generic RV-4 weight and balance spreadsheet:

RV-4_WeightAndBalance_Calculations

Normal operation with one on board, leaves the c of g well forward and near the front limit with no issues on fuel usage bringing the c of g outside the envelope.

It is virtually impossible to do aerobatics in the 4 with two people on board the Aerobatic Gross Weight of 1375lbs sees to that. I will not be deviating from this “Set in Stone” weight and fuel WILL be considered in my aerobatic c of g calculations.

I am going to use the 4 as a single seater mostly with an option of the occasional second seat for pax weighing no more than 170 lbs. Used as a single seater and provided I have no more than 100lbs of luggage divided between the rear seat and the baggage area, I will not have to give c of g a thought. When pax are involved, the c of g calculations will be done before the flight to ensure c of g remains in the required envelope.

January 14th, 2012 | Category: Weight and Balance | Comments are closed