New clipwing rebuild

[gmackay]

Re: New clipwing rebuild

Tom,
I really like the doors on your clip wing. Are those original doors with cutouts, or are they built from scratch?

Also, how's the flight tests coming along?

[3Dreaming]

Re: New clipwing rebuild

Tom,
I really like the doors on your clip wing. Are those original doors with cutouts, or are they built from scratch?

Also, how's the flight tests coming along?

It just has a door on the right side. It is built up from 1/2" square steel. It is a bit on the heavy side. I think the pre war door with a plexiglass panel would be the best set up in my mind.
I have 2 hours on it now, and it is flying good. Just need to adjust the rudder spring tension some more. Some warmer weather would be nice for the test flying also. Tom

[Vasey fan]

Re: New clipwing rebuild

Well had it on the scales this morning, and was a little dumb struck by the results. It shows an empty weight of 830. The last weight and balance for this airplane showed a empty weight of 770. I don't know how we could have added that much weight.
Our start up this afternoon didn't go to well either. We had a small pinhole in the fuel tank. It's really frustrating because we had the tank leak tested before it was put in the airplane. We'll get it fixed and back in there next week.

Here is a list of items from the back of the 337 when the wings were modified.
1. Shortened front and rear spars by 30" at inboard end and 12" at tip end.

2. All existing ribs (except one) were used by decreasing the rib spacing from 15" to 11" (Approximate average).

3. Length of outboard compression bay was shortened to match existing bays.

4.Additional reinforcing plates of 3/8" spruce added to rear face of the front spar, and to the front face of the rear spar in the area of the fittings. 48" in length.

5.New strut attach fittings fabricated from .065" 4130 steel.

6. Butt fittings adapted from original strut fittings. Birch reinforcing plates added to butt end of both spars.

7. Replaced .012" 1/4 hard Alum. leading edge with .016" 2024 t3 Alum. and extended to front spar.

8.Used existing tip bow, aileron bellcrank, andaileron hinges.

9. Shortened aileron at outboard end 12" to match wing. relocated outboard aileron hinge point.

That is all that is listed on the 337. During the restoration we added a second set of tail brace wires. We also changed the fuse strut fitting angle (it had unchanged fittings). The control system is all cables as Dennis mentioned. We also installed a Christian inverted oil system.

I was just re-reading this, thinking about the shortened outboard drag bay and noticed the 3/8 ply(?). Is that a typo? 3/16 seems more likely, if it is 3/8 wouldn't that require shortening the compression tubes, etc?

Now that spring is almost here, have you flown it more? Love to hear about it.

[3Dreaming]

Re: New clipwing rebuild

I was just re-reading this, thinking about the shortened outboard drag bay and noticed the 3/8 ply(?). Is that a typo? 3/16 seems more likely, if it is 3/8 wouldn't that require shortening the compression tubes, etc?

Now that spring is almost here, have you flown it more? Love to hear about it.

Yes the thickness was 3/8", but not ply it was spruce. Some fittings had to be changed, but that is the way it was done. I wish I had more time to fly it. I hope to get another 2-3 hours on it real soon. We are almost done with a ferry fuel system for it. The weather has been really windy here, and I've been spending a bunch of time Cub hunting. I finally bought a Cub this past weekend to use for sport pilot and tail wheel training