Do y'all have any interest in a little air racer project?

[Old SAR pilot]

Actually, I've been attempting to sleep at more "normal" hours

Gary? Sleep normal hours? While he's doing winter maintenance on one large, four-engine museum escapee, "tinkering" on another, and rebuilding a really neat racer? Uh-huh.....and the sun rises in the West, right, Gary?

Last edited by Old SAR pilot on Sun Nov 18, 2007 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Beachy]

LOL! What's that old saying about a leopard not being able to change it's spots?

[phil65]

Well I don't know about a leopard but I think Colonel Mosquito is doing the sleeping for Gary

Phil

[krlang]

Maybe, I'm crazy.

But shouldnt you start a new thread or move this one over to Air Racing/GA/yudda yudda?

This is definitely not off topic to that category.

Good luck G, it sounds like fun.

[retroaviation]

But shouldnt you start a new thread or move this one over to Air Racing/GA/yudda yudda?

Yeah, I thought about that, but figured nobody really looked at the Air Racing thread that much. I reckon I could get Scott to move it over there for me.

Gary

[krlang]

Yeah, I thought about that, but figured nobody really looked at the Air Racing thread that much. I reckon I could get Scott to move it over there for me.

Gary

Hey, Here it is, I was looking for it over there!

nobody really looked at the Air Racing thread that much.

[retroaviation]

I managed to get to work on the little racer for a few minutes today, but didn't get a whole lot accomplished (my "real" job seems to be holding up progress). However, I did manage to get some sanding done on the wing. I was basically just trying to get some old fabric remnants removed and some body filler smoothed up in preparation for the recovering process. While doing this, I noticed that the inboard, aft portions of the wings were actually made of fiberglass, not wood. These were obviously added to the wing after it initially flew on the Wagner Solution. I suspect that the Wagners were just trying to make the fairings more aerodynamic and these little extensions were part of that modification......




But what worried me was that I wasn't sure if they would affect how the wing fit to the fuselage I have. Remember, my fuselage has never flown, which means that this wing has never been bolted to it. Also, I've been told that Judy Wagner was over six feet tall and that the fuselage on the Wagner Solution had been modified (stretched, and possibly widened...depending on who you talk to) to fit her better. So I was pretty nervous that the wing wasn't going to fit my fuselage without a ton of work and modifying.

So, I decided to temporarily install the wing, not only to see if the little extensions were going to be a factor, but to see if the wing attach points all lined up. Thankfully, everything worked out! I was very relieved to be able to use some basic tools (phillips screwdrivers) to easily line up the aft mounting holes for the wing/fuselage. The front spar is held in place with a u-shaped clamp, which I don't have and will have to fabricate. But anyway, I sure feel a lot better about things now that I know I've been able to simply run around that hurdle..........








Gary

[krlang]

Gary

Cool,

I need to volunteer at a place that has the room for my spare time projects. I like the rope around it. In your spare spare time you should make up a sign to tell guests what it will be.


Do you have any pictures from back in the day?

[boomerang]

Gary Interest in project YES I AM .
Another Solution !! possible 444 has a nice ring to it.

YES please post away.

this topic is not off IT'S spot on air racing and it's cool.


R.H.White

[muddyboots]

Dude, you are way interesting-anything you post we'll eat up! For some reason when I see this I think of old wood kayaks and old style ice hocky, or rugby and dirty cleats. It's obviously a real balls to the balls sort of experience flying that little booger!

[retroaviation]

Well, I just got back from a long weekend (that got longer due to bad weather and snow in Midland, of all places), so I've not been able to do much to the little racer over the last few days. I did, however, tinker with it for a few minutes today by temporarily installing the wooden fuselage formers on the steel tube structure. These are what hold the stringers in place and help form the actual shape of the fuselage, when covered with fabric. I've only got them held in place with Clecos right now, but will bolt them in place when the time comes.

The reason I'm "assembling" the airplane right now is so that I can see what repairs and/or modifications I need to do to the fuselage before it gets covered with fabric. I'm just waiting on my tail section to get here right now, so that I can insure nothing needs to be changed for it to bolt on safely. Here is what it looks like with the formers in place.......






Gary

[Kyleb]

Gary, we need an update! With your immense energy and skill, I bet you've got that baby flying by now...

[retroaviation]

Gary, we need an update! With your immense energy and skill, I bet you've got that baby flying by now...

Well, thanks, but it's really not energy and skill that get these airplanes flying....it's cubic dollars. I'm currently searching for a sponsor or two that can help me with some of the more expensive items on the airplane (engine, instruments, etc.). I've been talking with some folks that make the SnoShoe, which was an indirect copy of the Shoestring, to make me some cowlings, canopy fairings, etc., but we're not sure if they will fit. I'd hate to spend the money to get them fabricated (out of carbon fiber) and then see that they won't work. So I've got some measuring and such to do in order to make that decision. And again, money is a concern.

I've also not yet received the tail section for the airplane. The owner has been out of the Country and won't be back until after the first of the year. That slows me down a little bit, as I need that tail section to see if it'll fit on my fuselage without modification and to see what kind of tailwheel setup I can use, due to the shape of the rudder.

I'm really anxious to get the airplane flying, but I just had those few hurdles that have slowed me down for the moment. I may go ahead and start covering the wings since I'm waiting on that other stuff. Either way, I'll try to keep the updates coming.

Gary

[retroaviation]

Okay, I managed to get back to work on the racer today and actually feel like I got a fair amount accomplished. Mark helped me take the wing back off the fuselage and sit it on the stands. We flipped it over so that I could finish up filling in some low spots that had been started with the previous owners of the wing. For some reason, the left wing had needed more attention to the right, so that's the one I started with.

The first thing I did was to get the air file and smooth out some of the body filler that the previous owners had applied......




There were still quite a few low spots left, so I continued where the old owners left off and filled them with good ol' Bondo after wiping the area where the Bondo would be applied with some wax/grease solvent to insure that it stuck to the wood well. I'm not a big fan of doing Bondo work as it's just so stinkin' slow. Put it on...sand it off...put it on...sand it off. Eventually, you get it to where you want, but it's just slow, tedious, and dusty work.






Put it on.........




Sand it off.......




Put it on.......




Sand it off........




In between the coats of Bondo curing, I sanded the old varnish off the wing spar carry throughs. I was going to leave them in their "vintage" look, but decided to redo it so that it has that "new and shiney" look to it. I'll get some varnish and apply it later.........




And eventually, I managed to get the bottom of the wings dang near finished. I've got one or two little spots to fill in on the right wing, but that shouldn't take long. I hope to finish that up tomorrow.




Gary

[retroaviation]

I managed to sneak out and apply a few coats of polyurethane varnish to the spar carry throughs today. So, only a couple more little items to tinker with and I'll be ready to cover the wings. Maybe, with any luck, I'll be able to start doing that this weekend.








Gary