Badland Part 103 Pilots and Builders Forum

The replacement for Polini's miss-manufactured prop nut was in my pkg of goodies from Chris so I was able to do a trial mount of the beautiful, extremely light, carbon-fiber E-prop. This will allow me to take more accurate measurements for mounting/trimming the nice bubble cowling.


I also have the starboard wing in place supported at the tip via my Harbor Freight roller shop stands sitting on the old IKEA table. The trial mount process was almost flawless. Swinging the root end into the fuselage mounts supported via the engine hoist. I did a guesstimate on the tip heights and once I took the basic measurements I found that the sweep was exactly zero degrees and the dihedral was spot on as well. I had to only make one slight adjustment to get the 5/8" washout at the rear spar. The starboard wing was ready for adjusting the lift strut legs into position for final length measurements in less than an hour. The process took several days on the port wing, so I guess it really. was a good educational exercise.


The plan is to trim the lift strut legs to length then install the inserts and secure the upper spar lift strut mounts (epoxy and rivets). With that done I can do the jury strut work. Hopefully that goes as well as the initial starboard wing process ... once again with the education provided by the port wing process. I can finish up by adding the butt (Badland) rib to finish the basic A/C structure.

Cowling and windscreen work all remain to complete the basic bird ... Disassembly, covering, re-assembly and attention to rigging detail will follow. Have I missed anything?

It doesn't sound like you missed anything. As for the upper strut mounts, you haven't epoxied and riveted them into place yet? Double check your manual, but as I recall, I had them already mounted before I trimmed and fit the struts themselves. As I recall, there is a pre-determined measurement for the location of the strut mounts. On the other hand, the struts have several ways to adjust the length, starting with the trimming of the strut itself. From there the rod end bearing can be adjusted, and the final adjustment might be the placement of the washers to either side of the rod end bearing. (Take this with a grain of salt, as it's been some time since I hung my wings.)

Nice to hear that the prop nuts finally arrived! The Polini prop is a pretty little bit of kit, isn't it? I'm looking forward to the first engine start. It also might benefit me if you could tell me what static RPM you are attaining at that time. Different engine from mine, but I am looking for some idea where mine should be. (I has started a different thread regarding my tuning woes, but am still looking for any pertinent information relating to this.)