J230 @ YSWG

[Guest micgrace]

Hi,

 

Another tip, If doing the same type of repair at home, I'd actually put a layer or 2 of extra resin over the whole repair after set to sand down then fill up any hollows in the conventional way (microballoons/resin) I'd prefer to see the fibres completely encapsulated and not use a sacrificial layer. The flatness of the original layup is of crucial importance to avoid endless hours of work.

 

Progress on my wooden wonder (friends wonder why wood)(mozzie one???,a joke by someone who said it will buzz around with that darn lawnmower engine you ultralight pilots use.suggestions for name welcome) is slow but steady. Currently doing wing ribs, dozen completed, need 24 very repetitious and pulling staples really gets to you (64 gussets per rib, 3 plus staples per gussett)

 

The process for making them is quite simple, if slow. Transfer full sized drawing onto a flat board, marking dimensions of members. Get some broom handle, drill off centre and screw to board. Use some timber for straight members. Put in first cut timber, adjust the cams till happy then simply duplicate members. Mix and place epoxy on timber members and backside of ply gusetts. Let sit for some 5 mins then staple. When finished remove from jig and set aside to dry The more care you take, the less work later, which is a bit hard as this job is incredibly repititious but needs to be exacting.

 

Should be finished with them in a week or so then onto the fuselage and wing assembly. (still need to build table for jig and assembly)

 

Micgrace :)

 

 

[Captain]

Wings are back on and am preparing to trim outer end of the flaps, with aileron taped in place.

 

Also establishes final position of cut-out for aileron control cable.

 

[ATTACH]262[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]263[/ATTACH]

 

Also .. preparing to cut inner edge of flaps to clear fuselage

 

[ATTACH]264[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]265[/ATTACH]

 

Flap positions before trimming.

 

[ATTACH]266[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]267[/ATTACH]

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest AusDarren]

Not so much hardware decorating the walls now :-)

 

going great!

 

I am planing to take the Kids to the Flyin at Bendigo on the 25th,

 

I'm flying up from Point Cook in a Jabiru (LSA55)

 

Lynne is driving up with the extra kids..

 

they will have to take turn this time.

 

Regards,

 

AusDarren

 

 

[Captain]

Thanks Darren. Taking parts out of those blister packs on the wall is one of the simple pleasures & real kicks of doing this.

 

Hope you have fun at Bendigo. I'm going to do a heap of those Fly-Ins once I get this thing completed. How about taking some pics and posting them when you get back home.

 

Regards Geoff

 

 

[Captain]

G'day all,

 

Flaps are shaped, trimmed, complete, and move thru their complete travel.

 

Wing root Fairings are bonded onto the fuselage. That is key as once I get that faired in tomorrow or Wed, then the fuselage undercoating can be completed and the fuse sent off for final painting ..... so a tentative "Yipee".

 

Have also bonded on those signature winglets ..... so that feels like progress.

 

Once I get the wing root fairings completed tomorrow, it is on with completing the ailerons.

 

Regards Geoff

 

Captain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Captain]

It doesn't sound like much, but have been trying hard this last week.

 

The wings are progressed and I hope to complete their fitup this weekend. More pics then.

 

The wing root fairing and undercarriage fairings are complete and have been undercoated today .... as has the area around the cowl .... see pics below, so with a little more fitting of door locks, the fuel and cable penetrations at the wing root, the cowl attachment screwsand a couple of rub backs next week,it is still on track for final painting of the fusealge on Sat 25th .... fingers crossed so that I haven't forgotten too much else.

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ross]

Hi Geoff

 

That looks great. I can tell you have been working hard with all the background gradually turning a light shade of grey.

 

What is the old saying - just drill one hole everyday and eventually there will be no more holes to drill!

 

By the way what has the teddy bear done to deserve beingbanned to sit in the steelwork of the workshop?

 

Regards Ross

 

 

[Captain]

G'day Ross

 

That Bear is in charge of Security during the build ... but as you can see in this pic, the lazy bugger hasn't moved for a while. The bog and undercoat dust looks like snow on him.

 

Once the build is complete he is moving up to be security chief on the property and will then hopefully become a tax deduction.

 

Over the weekend I glassed in the aileron attachment plates and have cut one back ready to attach the aileron hinges.

 

The rest of the fuselage has been given a rub back and a little touch up today, ready for final spraying on Saturday.

 

Regards Geoff

 

Captain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ross]

Geoff it looks good and the bear will be obvious when he leaves that spot!

 

Regards

 

 

[Captain]

A disappointing last couple of days. One of the spray painters is crook so had to cancel the final spraying of the fuselage yesterday.

 

BUGGER.

 

They need 2 guys spraying to get the best possible job and keep it all wet thru-out the job, so have now booked the booth for Wednesday night ..... fingers crossed.

 

The bear is not happy ......... and neither am I.

 

[ATTACH]283[/ATTACH]

 

Used yesterday and today to do some more final rubbing back with real fine paper and to touch up around the door locks.

 

[ATTACH]284[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]285[/ATTACH]

 

But have been able to make more progress on the wings ..... and finally found out the easy way to get the strobe wiring thru to the wingtips when there is no drawstring installed to the wingtips at the factory (not their fault - I didn't order it).

 

[ATTACH]286[/ATTACH]

 

They are beaut benches, those wings. I'm going to miss them.

 

Am now waiting for this morning's glassing to dry, so given the weather today I think I'll spend more time here, wash off the bog and gelcoat dustand listen to the cricket. I wonder when Ricky will declare?

 

Might move the wings over here this arvo.

 

[ATTACH]287[/ATTACH]

 

Have received excellent service from the RAA this week and have the Rego Number Assignment. Nice number, all good and will show it when the graphics are done ... if we ever get the final spraying completed.

 

Regards to all.

 

Geoff

 

Captain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ross]

Hi Geoff

 

Best of luck for the rest of it. The bear does look fairly resigned to the paint but will probably be much happier after Wednesday night.

 

I used combinations of small boreslightly flexible electrical conduit and about 12# tie wire to aid pulling or pushing wires and control cables through the fuselage. This wire is heavier than the wire sold in small rolls in hardware shops. It is usually used to twitch barbed wire to the top of "star" posts in ordinary farm fences and is easily bent by hand.

 

The tie wire is thick enough to be pushed through the length of the fuselage and would probably work along the length of the wings ifanybends are not severe. I usually bend over the end of the wire so that it presented a smooth end to any obstruction like a lump of stray epoxy or a sharp edge.

 

Regards Ross

 

 

[BigPete]

Hey Geoff,

 

nice spats mate, don't like the brown colour, could do with a tad more sanding back but at least the wheels will stay clean.

 

regards

 

Peter

 

PS Jeez I'm funny!!

 

 

[Captain]

G'day Pete

 

Did you hear about the Sheriff who went into the Saloon and asked if anybody had seen the Brown Paper Cowboy?

 

"What does he look like Sheriff?" they asked.

 

"Well, he has a brown paper hat, brown paper boots, brown paper shirt, brown paper pants, brown paper gunbelt and brown paper 6 shooter" replied the Sheriff.

 

"And what's he wanted for Sheriff?" they said ...................

 

"Rustling" Captain

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Had the pleasure of test flying a brand new J430 NVFR today out of Moorabbin. Very nice machine. 7 inch Dynon, Garmin IFR GPS NAV COM, Autopilot and a nice paintjob and excellent upholstery. Not many things were wrong. It needed a flap adjustment, possible wheel alignment and the taco was reading incorrectly.

 

TAS was around 120 at 2,800rpm at 1,500ft. TAS at 3,500 was 128 at about 2,900rpm, however without taco it was hard to tell exactly what was going on.

 

Credit to the builder and what will be a regular fly-in attender. It's always good when someone finishes a nice new aircraft. I'm not sure however it may be based at Tooradin soon bringing the number of Jabs on the field there to 8! Not bad. 3xLSA55's, 1xSP500-6, 2xJ160's, 1xJ400 and 1xJ430.

 

 

[Captain]

G'day Clem & welcome back

 

I'd be interested in the differences between the 230/430 wing and the 200/400 wing.

 

Do you have any idea how the 200/400 would compare with the figures in your para 2?

 

And what flap adjustment did the 430 need? Wasn't it getting full travel?

 

Regards Geoff

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

It was dropping the left wing when it should have been straight and level. Lifted right flap by 1.5 turns and will have tolower left flap 1/2 a turn perhaps. Any more than that and we might have to look at adjusting the angle of incidence which can be done on a Jab with a bit of messing around (pain in the butt actually).

 

Full travel wasn't the problem. Stalling was dropping a left wing too as expected.

 

As far as comparing to J400/200 with shorter wing, top end speed was a bit less, like it hit the wall more at 125 rather than 140, however it doesn't have rear spats though. I'd be happy to get 120 TAS at 1,500ft in the J230/J430, that's a pretty good figure which is what it looks like it will do ok though, however they are very very weather dependant.

 

I'll have to do some more flying first however the owner is now in the middle-east for 3 weeks so I'll have to report back later and when the taco is fixed.

 

 

[Captain]

Thanks for that Clem.

 

You inspired me, so spent this morning finalzing the Aileron attachment and glassed in the hinges before it got too hot, save for one bloody hinge leaf ..... see builder's tip No2 below.

 

Have also marked out the fuel filler and fuel drain positions and plan to drill the holes and attach those tomorrow.

 

[ATTACH]288[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]289[/ATTACH]

 

Have also spent the last 4 hours wet rubbing the fuselage with 600 wet and dry. Boy am I getting sick of that type of preparation .... particularly in 34 C heat.

 

I tell you all that I'm going to be really upset if this rubbing back gives me a heart attack or RSI before I get to fly the thing.

 

[ATTACH]290[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]291[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]292[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]293[/ATTACH]

 

Now for Builder's Tip No 1 ................... get one of these .... and fill it up with plenty of Tom Petty and Steve Earle. You almost don't notice that your arms are dropping off while sanding.

 

[ATTACH]294[/ATTACH]

 

And Builder's Tip No 2 ..... don't let your grand kids into the shed because I can guarantee that they love to play with big rivets. Because I am 4 short to attach the last leaf on one aileron hinge. Get on your bike, Mr Postman, from Bundaberg.

 

I bet the kids had a great time with those 3/16 rivets. Can't wait to find out where they put them when I drive around the paddock in the landcruiser.

 

[ATTACH]295[/ATTACH]

 

Regards to all

 

Geoff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Don't drill the hole too large for the fuel fillers. Make it tight.

 

 

[Captain]

G'day C .... and thanks for the tip.

 

Below, FYI,are 2 pics ofone of myfillers.

 

Were yours stepped like this and to this degree?

 

The instructions say to open up the hole in the outer skin so that plenty of floc gets to the tank skin ... which is of obvious importance for sealing etc. It looks like the outer holes will be about 3/16" bigger dia than the inner.

 

Is your advice to keep the hole tight for the inner hole in the tank skin or the outer hole as well?

 

Except for the hole in the filler to which the tank breather pipe is attached, I assume that the rest of the holes in the pic are for keying the floc in and around the filler.

 

In all of my previous activities I have been concentrating on getting fuel tanks not to leak, and here I am about to drill 2 whopping holes in each of my perfectly good 70 litre fuel tanks. Goes against the grain a little.

 

(As a little aside re my last post above, just an item of warning for any other kit builders, if your grandkids ever say "What's this for Poppi?" it's almost a given that the item in question is about to go missing.)

 

Regards G

 

Captain

 

 

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

The problem with the fillers is that there's no "void" between the two skins. Looking at the filler, it looks like the difference between the outer skin is about 10mm, however there is only a gap between of probably a mm or 2. Therefore the "step" in the filler is next to useless.

 

Cut a tight hole, throw in some flock and throw it in. The holes in the filler are supposed to be so you can squeeze some flock in them so that they are held in secure. They probably aren't really needed and you will find that you probably can't actually use them.

 

Check and re-check5 times before you drill the hole...

 

Once you've drilled the hole, stick your (or the grand kids) hand in and feel around. I think in their wisdom the tank manufacturers put a hole in the tank where the filler is supposed to go, however when the tank it put into the wing skin there is no way to know where the hole is, so when it's drilled, feel around and there might be a hole. If so, try filling this with flock, otherwise when the tank is full you might end up with fuel between the skin and the tank... I hope that makes sense.

 

FUEL DRAINER - If you haven't done this, please take note because nearly everyone drills through both skins!!!!

 

There is little if any void betweek the tank and the wing skin, contrary to the instructions. Drill a pilot hole with the appropriate sized holesaw but don't go more than a mm or 2 into the wing skin. You will need to use your dremel or similar to carefully dig out the wing skin without penetrating the tank skin. Very carefully is the key to this operation. You could use a cylinder shaped die-bit and use it ina vertial fashion. If you use a wholesaw you'll probably just drill a 2 inch hole straight into the tank and you'll have to fill it all in later. Very messy. Don't do this! Don't become a statistic!

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Oh, I measured this J430 with the inclinometer and it had around 38 degrees at full flap.

 

 

[Captain]

Thanks for those tips Clem.

 

But please lift your game and speed up your tips, as I had gone over to the shed and drilled all of those holes by the time I got your message.

 

Didn't go thru the inner skin at either drain, so that is good.

 

Will have a look inside around the filler for their "hole", as I have put my hole withing 0.5 mmof the prescribed spotbased the instructions.

 

Re flap angle, the figures that I have from Jabiru are 20 dgrees half flap and 38 degrees full flap.

 

Best regards G Captain

 

 

[Captain]

I should add that Clem's tips with regard to the drain holes are spot on.

 

When I initially put a pilot drill thru at those locations there was a distinct air space of 2 - 4 mm between the 2 skins, however there is actually foam between them in places (not everywhere and not where both my pilot drills went thru) and when you then put the hole sawto workto justpenetrate the outer skin, the foam holds the outer skin and it is difficult to feel when you have just cut thru the outer skin ..... but not touched the inner one.

 

I put tape around the outside of the hole saw to gauge it's depth and my result was just pure dumb luck. I had to then pry the outer skin piece away to break it away from the foam.

 

Have you done yours yet Ross? Captain

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Well if you had answered your mobile AND or home phone you would have had plenty of notice. Instead I got your droning "LEAVE A MESSAGE" 3 times. Seems you don't reply to SMS either!

 

 

[Captain]

You are correct as usual Clem.

 

I must have been over in the shed attacking those fuel penetrations when you called.

 

I noticed that there was an03 number had called the house, but I got no message there.

 

My mobile phone is lost somewhere and I have discovered that I actually prefer that it be lost .... so it may stay that way.

 

Thanks again for your tips, though. I very much appreciate the help that you and the others have given.

 

Regards & I'll reply to your SMS if/when I locate the phone.