BC 65 upper wood parts

[Pat M]

Hey all, Pat Mcnee here, I'm new to the forum and in progress of restoring a 1939 BC65 N24098 serial #1633. Unfortunately the 4 ea top wood pieces/supports above the cabin were missing with the project so no pattern's, I can probably fab the side one's by pictures but the fwd one the windshield attaches to should be close as I'm fabricating a new boot cowl and have a new windshield to trim/install. Question is does anyone have dimensions/drawings for the fwd and aft ones? Thanks in advance for any info you guy's have on this, i searched in the forum and couldn't find anything.

[Robert Lees]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Hi Pat,

Firstly welcome!

I think the front wood piece you mean is the one that sits on top of the front spar carry-through tube? As in the wood piece at the top of this photo:



I made a new one for my Taylorcraft, and there is a very remote possibility I have the original somewhere, you'd be welcome to have it as a pattern if I can find it. Admittedly it's from a post-war BC12D, but they can't be that different.

Now when you mention the other one above the rear spar carry-through tube...are you talking about having a full skylight? I'm not sure if BC65's had those, so there may never have been one in the first place, because the fabric went from the top of the windscreen all the way back to the fin. Putting my full skylight in, I had to weld some tabs on the rear spar carry-through to take the front ends of the two top fuselage stringers.

Have you got any pictures of what you have?

Rob

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

I guess it is getting time for me to drag out all the damaged parts from the 45 and make some drawings (I bought my 45 up-side-down with the "roof" caved in, but it had a factory skylight with two triangular windows). You WILL need to build the side pieces to match your wing since each plane I looked at was just a bit different. I will try and dig the parts out tomorrow. Might as well, the weather here is WAY too bad to go work on the 41 anyway. ;-)

Hank

[Pat M]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Hey thanks for the reply Robert,
Yes, its the 2 wood part that spans the top of the front and rear spar carry-through tubes, from the looks of your attachment pic the front and aft wood has a contour (higher in the center) and that is exactly what i would need to reference as far as dimensions to fab em. As far as the side wood pieces, i would just put on the wings and match that contour. I have thought of adding a skylight, there is a 1940 on the taylorcraft foundation site that has a 337 for one. I ordered the disk records for my aircraft from the FAA website and it never had one from the factory or had one installed later. So yeah, if you find your old ones and can measure them I would be grateful, I'm not sure if a pre or postwar are the same but it would be a good starting point.
Thanks again for the info Robert, when i figure out how to add an attachment i'll do that.

Pat

[Pat M]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Hank, and thanks in advance for the help, If you can measure yours that would definitely help me fabricate them. I'll try to post some pics as i go along of the restoration.

you guys are awesome! the weather is really mild up here in Washington compared to back east so stay safe on the road...

[3Dreaming]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

There is no wood piece for the rear spar carry through, unless you are going to install a sky light. The original would have had the 2 top stringers attached to the forward piece at the winddhield.

[Pat M]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

yes, 3dreaming your right, i was looking at Roberts BC12D pic and got confused, yeah my 39 never had wood at the rear spar or skylight, at least not referenced in the records anyway.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Mine was put in at the factory. ALL of the wood (except the stringers) had the same burn marks from a dull circular saw blade and there was no indication any rebuild was done at any time. I was told by a guy who worked at the factory after the war that there were two planes that were built right after the war in 45 using a lot of parts they still had and they did a lot of experimenting with new ideas like dual brakes and a skylight. Both were on my plane. He said there wasn't enough interest in the brakes to make them standard so they went to a kit to add them (bolt in) and teh two triangle skylight was dropped because it was too complex and there were less good wood workers right after the war. The first two photos are of a model I did to see what the colors would look like but show the configuration of the triangle skylights.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

This is the remains of the skylight after I removed it. There are more wood pieces at the airport but they are pretty busted up. I am using them for patterns but they certainly aren't airworthy! The remains of orange fabric are the front part of the skylight. There are some damaged edge pieces for the windscreen in the photos as well.
One thing I have noticed when you compare a 41, 45 and 46 planes is the wood over the top longerons may NOT be the same from plane to plane. The top front cross piece (that holds the windshield top and trim indicator) are very close, but the side pieces seem to have been trimmed to match the root wing ribs. There was no wood cross member on my plane that touched the fabric (I have got to look at the wood pieces to see if there was a spreader to hold the side pieces apart and in place, it sure would make sense to have one).

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Another minor difference is that my plane was a "Deluxe" and had a full headliner. The sides of the original headliner were retained by a set of curved wires (between the door top and the top glass). You can see the wires in these photos.
Teh triangle skylights provided great viability but didn't turn the cockpit into a furnace. They also added some extra headroom. I do plan to add some small Velcro strips around the edges so I can put in a fabric shade and stick it in place if I can't find some UV filtering plexi like the Sailplane guys have. That stuff is GREAT!

Hank

[N96337]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Welcome to the forum Pat M! I used to live in Ferndale/Bellingham area, and worked in Burlington and Snohomish.
John

[Pearson]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Pat,

If you get down to southern Washington, I would be happy to let you look at my project plane.

[Leenicklas]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

I have a front top piece off of a 46 BC12-D. It is in two pieces, but can be "placed" back together so that you can get dimensions and hole placements. Don't know if that is the same as the piece off of an older model. Lee Nicklas

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

Can you trace it on a piece of paper and I will see of it fits on my bare 45 fuselage.

Hank

[Leenicklas]

Re: BC 65 upper wood parts

I'll do it later today. Where do I mail it?