Badland Part 103 Pilots and Builders Forum

Bruce_L

So now the list of do not forget items for the flight from Truman MN to Florida goes like this:

1. Old Timey 1990's handheld GPS
2. AA batteries for item one
3. Mittens
4. D cell batteries for old timey electric heated mittens (if applicable)

Enjoy your flight!

Bruce_L

I seem to be flying everyone else's plane but mine !!!!! So today the owner of the bright green Aerolite 103 that shares a hangar with me, called me up to go flying today. Gorgeous day, light wind and only about 50 degrees. I did not fly the aerolite, instead he brought his "OTHER" plane t...

Bruce_L

If you get Chris to get your plane 100% flight ready and pay for him to add a really mega-huge fuel tank, you can fly home non-stop in 24.8 hours at 60 mph. All of that titanium should offset the extra 150 gallons of fuel of course. Plus your engine would now be completely broken in as a bonus. Don'...

Bruce_L

Well Todd, you finally made it. Florida is nothing like Texas. I prefer Florida myself. We go to Pensacola now and then to watch the Blue Angels fly and visit the Naval Air Museum there. Now you can get your new location set up for starting out on that F5 build! ...and how many miles from Florida to...

Bruce_L

Yeah, I know the round profile of the lift struts will be "Draggy" I like your idea of adding some material and creating a pseudo airfoil shape. I am always tinkering with pink foam sheets. Same material as my flaperon airfoils from Chris. You could glue your foam as rectangular strips to ...

Bruce_L

And don't be jealous of the white fuselage in the picture, I can buy a few cans of titanium spray paint from Amazon and have the fuselage at your new place in Florida in a week. What color do you want your rudder/brake pedals? Just be sure to accidentally leave your bathroom scale behind in Texas wh...

Bruce_L

Todd, have you heard anything about the flying training provided by an outfit called M-Squared? They are next door from your new spot in Florida. They are close by in Alabama. http://msquaredaircraft.com/flighttraining.html They even sell a few ultralights too, sailcloth and aluminum tubing variety....

Bruce_L

So today was a non-work day on the build. The Challenger ultralight that was temporarily parked in the hangar finally got a hangar spot and so it left my hangar a few days ago. Today it was replaced by the new plane that I will share the hangar with. It is a brand new Aerolite 103 with the 45hp MZ 2...

Bruce_L

Has anybody applied any kind of paint or primer onto their 2 1/2" spars before applying your covering material? Is there a possible long term corrosion issue that needs to be prevented ahead of time. How about painting the elevator control pushrod or the lift struts? I know this is all thin wal...

Bruce_L

Prep and Prime Day - got a break in the weather today so I cleaned off the surface rust from the brake and rudder pedals and the small tubular bushings for the flaperon cable holders. I did the vinegar treatment and sped up the results by also scrubbing with a wire brush too. (stainless steel bristl...

Bruce_L

I think this guy needs to add one more axle to his trailer setup. His truck is kind of puny too...

Bruce_L

I like those you made, support and sealing of the spar tube. 2 for 1! You are going to have a great setup for sure. I am kind of envious of how close you are to some wide open flying spots. Its nothing but pine trees everywhere here. A big problem here is a critter called a Mud Wasp, Dirt Dauber, wh...

Bruce_L

So I wonder about the stress on the rear spar mounts at the fuselage as I drive down a bumpy country road. I would think the lever moment of the folded wing would do a number on that area as the wing tries to flop up and down. Is all the weight of the folded wing still transferred down to the lower ...

Bruce_L

No training in an aircraft at all. My instructor (to be) sold his plane 2 days before my scheduled first lesson. It was a Citabria taildragger with stick control. Would have been a great start. We were even going to practice spin recovery. He is replacing it with a Beech Bonanza. Not doing spin reco...

Bruce_L

The U-Bolts give you a lot of freedom to move the axle to get the tongue weight where you need it. Honestly, the trailer probably outweighs your completed aircraft. I found this picture a while ago. Traile_Wind_protection.png I like that the trailer has a front panel to take some of the wind blast o...

Bruce_L

Welcome Gary !!! You have excellent taste in aircraft for sure. Chris is a great guy and a great fabricator. I think a lot of us who are fresh to ultralight flight all share the one issue with getting some training that is relevant to what we will be flying when we first take off and fly in on Badla...

Bruce_L

Not much going on this week. Waiting for a warm day with no rain to paint a few items such as rudder pedals, flaperon handle, brake pedals and assorted small parts including control bellcranks. I am using Rustoleum grey automotive primer first followed by a few coat of color on top. Probably add som...

Bruce_L

What engine are you running in your Sky Raider? Are you the original owner of the airplane?

Bruce_L

Not sure that everyone knows that there are a few earlier cousins of the Badland F series out there. One in particular is named the Sky Raider, sometimes called Sky Raider 1 since they made a 2 seater later on. There are even a few mentions online of Sky Raider coming back with a 2 seater (Kitfox Cl...

Bruce_L

So earlier I had asked if anybody had some info on the new style aluminum part that is the connection from the control stick for lateral movement (ROLL- AILERONS) from the control stick pivot to the flaperon bellcrank. (FYI - a bellcrank is typically used to get one motion to produce one or two moti...

Bruce_L

Today I met a buddy at the airport who needed a place to store his plane for a few days while he is relocating to a new hangar space. It is a Challenger 1 with a 40hp Rotax. Paint is Glidden Gloss latex, applied with a Wagner power painter from Home depot. Charles_Chal_1.jpg So while I waited for hi...

Bruce_L

About to open a can of worms here.... What's your propeller choice? I kindly ask you to limit answers to tractor propeller installations only, regardless of airframe or powerplant 1. Why choose that brand? 2. What size - diameter and pitch (please list your motor and displacement for clarity) 3. Bla...

Bruce_L

Another useful tool for covering. (more model airplane stuff) Small Sealing Iron.png Its able to apply heat directly over a single wrinkle and flatten it out. Some even have a Teflon coating and slide real easy. Its basically a small iron. The pricey ones have a digital temp display. When I start to...

Bruce_L

I plan to buy a pair of these and see if they help Fabric Stretcher Pliers.png on the difficult areas that need a bit of a tug to conform to the curves on some locations. Grab and tug oratex with one hand hold the heat gun with the other, use clamps to hold the structure in position as I tug away. T...

Bruce_L

Yeah, I totally spaced on the adhesive being part of the situation at that location. My wings would have fallen off at 10,000 feet on that note.

Oops or is that Ouch....

Bruce_L

How do you go about applying the covering over items like flaperon cable brackets or the large lift strut brackets riveted to the tubular aluminum spars? I have seen some covering jobs where the covering is placed over/on top of the brackets or mounts. You can see all the bulges and rivets protrudin...

Bruce_L

For the uncovered look, one advantage I came up with is that it definitely looks like a part 103 aircraft. You will even expose the 5 gallon fuel tank to visual scrutiny as well. I have a friend with an Aerolite 103 with a gorgeous polished aluminum 10 gallon tank, it looks sharp but it screams non-...

Bruce_L

So I still haven't decided if I am going with a full covering job or a partial (3/4) look. What advantages does each one have? (excluding cost-weight-build time) I almost hate to cover up all the neat tubing in the fuselage. I like the earlier Ducati trellis tubular frame motorcycles but have never...

Bruce_L

Here is a picture of the mystery ????? hole at the end of the tubular control stick I asked about earlier. Stick_2.jpg I think it is the location where the tubular stick connects to the aluminum pivot block. Stick_1.jpg Mounts the stick to the aluminum pivot block with the small AN bolt pictured. Mi...

Bruce_L

La F2's (is that Peer? What do I call you?)) two pictures he posted are worth 10,000 words to me. Is is too late to request some pictures of some other items/mechanisms? I am not sure what's covered up with oratex at this point and out of sight. Some items I could use some visual clarification on ar...

Bruce_L

Has anybody used the oratex trim tapes for two color covering jobs? Could you use the trim tape to cover the seam where the two oratex 600 colors meet? Example: a blue upper fuselage with a silver lower fuselage while using a black stripe of oratex trim tape where the blue meets the silver. Make the...

Bruce_L

After a few days to take care of some family business I got back to work today. Managed to get one tire mounted but I have a leak in the tube after all that work. I am sure I pinched it somehow in all my previous attempts. Oh well. I had success with getting the bushing for the flaperon bellcrank to...

Bruce_L

CONTROL STICK QUESTIONS ---So my kit came with a piece of tubular aluminum for the control stick. It is drilled at one end but rather close to the edge of the tubing. I could not find any information in the build manual on the dimensions for where the hole needs to be for the pivot as well as the o...

Bruce_L

About $31 each

Bruce_L

Summit Racing Equipment has a big selection of ribbed low pressure tires for 6 inch diameter wheels. They carry the Carlisle brand which is the same brand of tire that my older brother used in his racing go-kart days in the 70's They even have a slick too. Sadly, you still get the pleasure of mounti...

Bruce_L

Tire size is 15x6. Ribbed tread pattern. 20 psi max pressure

Bruce_L

Is there a link to this answered previously?

Thanks

Bruce_L

Talked to Chris this afternoon and he had a possible solution to tweak the alignment issue. Use a big rod or screwdriver and move each to the correct direction to split the difference of offset present. I have a huge old phillips driver with a huge shaft that should do the trick. Maybe even apply a ...

Bruce_L

Thanks LA F2, you were right. It hangs down like you said. The aluminum pushrod tube actually skews to the right to pass through the rear fuselage tubing. The welded in round bushing to support the elevator pushrod at roughly its midpoint is even canted a few degrees to the right. Mounted the rudder...

Bruce_L

Today I mounted the right hand landing gear leg. Waiting on cabane gear springs from Chris. After that I started trial fitment of the elevator to the horizontal stab. On all three hinge locations, I could not get the clevis pins to slide all the way in. At first I though it was an alignment problem ...

Bruce_L

I like the LONG BOLT idea. Thanks. I think everyone building a Badland should start on the wheels 1st and here's why: If you can manage to put two plastic wheels together without going into a psychotic rant :oops: or wild rage, you can build the rest of the plane in your sleep! Hope I never pick up ...

Bruce_L

I will be posting most of my info on the build log discussion part of the forum. I want all of you to be able to make comments and suggestions as needed. I know I am going to be asking for help here, so I appreciate all the input, especially from those builders who are blazing the building trail ahe...

Bruce_L

Today was landing gear work day. I opted for the cabane spring type gear and the larger ribbed tires. This should help out on rough grass fields and also allow for more prop diameter capability. I got one gear leg mounted. The alignment of the holes is pretty good. Chris has jigs for everything. I d...

Bruce_L

When I picked up my kit in March 2023, I planned on starting my build right away. As usual life got in the way and all kinds of issues got in the way. Then about 2 weeks ago, a pilot friend of mine located a vacant hangar less than 30 minutes from my home. I rented it immediately and hauled all my p...

Bruce_L

As far as training goes, I have zero training but have found a local CFI that has a 172 and a Citabria. Did an orientation flight in a 150 many years ago and did good. I think the Citabria may help me build up some taildragger skills. My main weakness is that I dont have any muscle memory with danci...

Bruce_L

So my build has been put on hold as I am moving all my stuff to a new location. Basically was storing my plane remotely until I got my shop area at home ready. All I have done so far is applied polyurethane to the wood on the wings. We have a lot of humidity here in South Mississippi and dont need a...

Bruce_L

Yeah Craig, Chris did a great job with the crating. My trailer bounced for over 1200 miles from some pretty rough 2 lane roads I encountered on the trip home. When I opened the crate here, everything was secure and perfect. The Polini box you saw in the pile of my stuff was an older box Chris packed...

Bruce_L

Got all the wood sealed on both wings. Used Miniwax Polyurethane, and it dried really quick too. I sanded a slight radius on the outside edges of the outermost rib flat capstrips so as to eliminate a sharp 90 degree edge that will be prone to damage when folding wings or just moving the plane around...

Bruce_L

Sounds to me like all the hard work really paid off. Good motivation for all of us who are much earlier in our builds. When/where can we see a video? Your plane looks great on the taxiway.

Bruce_L

What a great accomplishmernt. 254 pounds complete with the 303, and all the additional weight of the cooling system.
I lreally like the picture of the folded wings inside your trailer. Hope you post more pictures soon.

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