Badland Part 103 Pilots and Builders Forum

I haven't posted in a few weeks ... family and just too darn hot ... 107 outside and near 100 with the big fan in the shop.

(1) Peer was good enough to explain that the little spigot tiny hose fitting on the plastic 90 degree cylinder head coolant fitting is NOT an overflow drain. He has his clamped off. I sure wish I'd have thought this through (it really makes sense). This is where all of my expensive cooling fluid has been thrown from the engine. I now have it clamped off but I do use a 60cc syringe to top off the system from his fitting.

(2) Since the spigot fiasco has spewed expensive Evans Coolant Fluid all over the particle board bed of my converted boat trailer it was looking terrible and appears that the 2 coats of Thompson's Water seal did not do such a good sealing job, I decided to install additional decking on the trailer. I used 3/16" ply sheathing (on sale at HomeDepot) and a gallon of Olympic water seal; coating BOTH sides of the material with 3 coats.


(3) With the heat and my grandson/helper back off to college, my trips to Caddo Mills airstrip are more limited, so I decided to try taxing around small sections of my 3.25 acre property. As can be seen in the trailer pictures, I have the tounge of the trailer on a small furniture dolly. After careful measurements I found that I had enough space to turn the trailer around 180 degrees so that I can open the hangar door and roll the beast off into the yard. I also have a small electric winch mounted to the hangar wall to aid in getting the beast back on the trailer by myself. I hope to give the operations a try next week ... will post results.

Awesome Kurt.

I also can agree on the heat issue. We don't get as high of temps as Texas here in Florida, but the humidity makes it as unpleasant.

Nice pics and work, and to see you back on the forum.

I have inherited two helpers. One from each side (neighbors kids) of my home. The problem is, I do mean kids! I think it's the neighbors attempts at turning me into a part time child sitter! Both the boys are still in the single digit age bracket! Good kids and I wish I had their energy!

Todd

My 1st project was a Bowers' FyBaby ... all wood, 65 Franklin. I had worked for a year to get the fuselage together when the neighbors moved in with two young boys. I had it up on saw-horses in the open 2 car garage (Alvin, TX) and had just drawn the aft sides together at the rudder post. The audience watched and finally piped in: " How long you been working on that canoe Mister?" Crushed, I immediately started on the landing gear.

Much later, at 95% complete (cover and paint remaining), Hurricane Katrina put it somewhere in the Gulf or Lake Pontchartain. Ever try to fill out FEMA insurance loss forms on a homebuilt aircraft hobby project with all the receipts and build logs gone? I think they sorted me more on my scuba gear.

ksatter26 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 1:19 pm My 1st project was a Bowers' FyBaby ... all wood, 65 Franklin. I had worked for a year to get the fuselage together when the neighbors moved in with two young boys. I had it up on saw-horses in the open 2 car garage (Alvin, TX) and had just drawn the aft sides together at the rudder post. The audience watched and finally piped in: " How long you been working on that canoe Mister?" Crushed, I immediately started on the landing gear.

Much later, at 95% complete (cover and paint remaining), Hurricane Katrina put it somewhere in the Gulf or Lake Pontchartain. Ever try to fill out FEMA insurance loss forms on a homebuilt aircraft hobby project with all the receipts and build logs gone? I think they sorted me more on my scuba gear.

Funny about the canoe, bummer about the plane ending up destroyed. Government forms....yeah, I've had plenty of experience with them, and they are all broken. My pole barn doesn't have front or rear doors, so I'm going to have to get that taken care of. The barn sets front/back in north/south direction - prevailing winds, especially during storms. I don't need to see my F5 partly built rolling across the yard after departing the barn during a storm!

Todd

Hey Kurt, good to hear you are no longer pumping that liquid gold all over the hangar floor. Looking forward to seeing the results of the next taxi test for sure.

If you end up using that wall mounted winch to pull the bird back onto the trailer, make sure you have the trailer REALLY well chocked. (Ask me how I know.)

And, as Todd said, funny about the canoe, and at the same time not at all funny. Of course, by the time Katrina hit you were probably wishing it WAS a canoe. Seriously, though, that must have been heartbreaking. It's one thing to lose something you are fond of; quite another to lose something you yourself built...

That was my 1st project and had more moving van miles on it than many commercial A/C have flying ... Started in Alvin, TX ... moved to Reading, PA (sat in a storage locker for a couple of years ... moved to Raleigh, NC where some work got done in a rented garage ... moved to Santa Clara, CA and another storage facility for a couple of years while I traveled the world ... finally to New Orleans where I had it just about done before Katrina.

I then built a MiniMAX 1103R while teaching at Louisiana Tech (access to the ME Department shops) ... finished it here in TX ... Got it off the ground with the 23HP Hirth ... way too windy ... purchased by a guy in Wisconsin who, last I heard,was converting it to a tricycle gear.

I have a Zenith 701 with the 110 HP Honda Fitt (Viking) engine about complete when I lost my Medical. Chris to the rescue.

ksatter26 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 19, 2024 1:19 pm I have a Zenith 701 with the 110 HP Honda Fitt (Viking) engine about complete when I lost my Medical. Chris to the rescue.

The really cool part is that maybe it was meant to be this way - after Barry posted about how well his F3 fly's, I'm sure you're going to be very pleased once you get into the air with your bird. Chris certainly has a great design.

Todd