Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

OK, from the most computer illiterate (but REALLY LUCKY this time) member.
Just double click the file on the post so it opens, then go to "file" at the top and click "Save As". Change the location to "desktop" and rename it "T strut Fairing", or whatever floats your boat. Hit save and you should find it as a Word file on your desktop.
Hank
Can't believe it worked, I was just guessing. (;f

[T.Taylor]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

I cut the required clearance in the fabric and added the reenforcement patch did some borscope checking. I intend to do more when the struts are removed this week. I also made a mirror which works pretty good except for the center section when the struts are in place... The front struts from Univair are about 1/4 inch larger than the original struts on my plane...The attachment so far looks great..see attached pictures

IS that really non-skid on the strut??, or am I viewing something ackbards, ifter al it is Christmas eve, Merry to all, T. Taylor

[whake]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

I had non-skid on the old struts...

[Robert Lees]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

Here's the fitting cover (I couldn't attach the image, so I had to embed it from my site).

[VictorBravo]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

Although the fairing in the photo is a respectable effort, it provides no protection from water and dirt at all. IMHO It should surround the fuselage fitting on at least two sides (top, front), of course allowing water to drain away under the fitting but also shielding it from water in flight and from above when parked. A full coverage teardrop fairing (like a wheel pant) with a 1/4" drain hole on the very bottom would provide more protection. A clear plastic model airplane "bubble canopy" cut to fit would allow full visual inspection, and keep out any water.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

I have the fairings that wrap around the bottom of the struts (look really nice, but I don't have them on the plane since the strut mess started). I may try modifying the fuselage fairing in the picture to flare out over that fairing doing just what you suggest. What would make it perfect is if it could be removed quick enough to look at on a preflight, like looking under the cowl. That might be pretty hard but I'm betting I can make it so I can look at it every few weeks. We get a lot of birds and mud daubers here.
ALL these fairings come off every annual, but that isn't often enough for me. I like the idea of using molded clear plastic. Got to make a master to pull one from.
Hank

[VictorBravo]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

I like the idea of using molded clear plastic. Got to make a master to pull one from.
Hank

Hank, find a clear plastic soda bottle that's the right size to fit (my guess is a 1 liter club soda bottle) , cut out about a 90 degree quadrant of it (looking from the end), then make a slice from the back that allows you to slip it on from in front of the struts.

Take a heat gun and a pair of sheet metal flanging pliers, heat the edges to bend a 90 degree flange that fits against the fabric that can be double-stick taped on, or a bunch of tiny screws and washers behind the fabric.

Mask off a window that you can look through to inspect it on every preflight, and paint the rest to match the airplane. Poke about 10 tiny drain holes in the bottom that the bugs can't get into, or cut one 1/4" hole and glue a screen inside the fairing to keep them out.

After about two or three tries you should have a decent teardrop fairing that cleans up the airflow a little, keeps the water and dirt out, and allows a straight visual inspection from above and below on every pre-flight.

If you want to get extra fancy, the clever model airplane guys make wooden plugs of the fairing/canopy/cowling they want, heat up the soda bottle plastic with a heat gun, and push the plug into the soft plastic to thermo-stretch-form their parts. Cost is next to zero, materials available 24/7, re-usable tooling, no vacuum pump or vacuform box needed. Will work on any non-complex shaped fairing that is all convex.

For whatever it may be worth, I've been planning to make up several small teardrop fairings this way to protect the tail wire junction fittings, jury strut junctions, etc. to protect against corrosion and pitting.

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

I like what Bill has suggested and have another option. Look up a local canvas shop that does tops for boats, convertibles, etc. They no doubt have some scraps or small pieces of the clear plastic window like that used on the convertible back window. It is pliable, quite clear and easy to mold around curves. It is also great to cover the openings around ailerons and not very expensive, if not free.

Carl Carson

[Robert Lees]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

[off topic] Nice to hear from you again, Bill, where have you been hiding?
[/off topic]

[VictorBravo]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

[off topic] Nice to hear from you again, Bill, where have you been hiding?
[/off topic]

(equally off topic) My wife chose the wrong day to make an offhanded comment to one of her friends, that "Oh... Bill loves talking about Taylorcrafts with his electronic friends more than he likes to actually work on it or fly it..."

Nothing like a wake-up call with a ten pound sledgehammer centered on one's ego... at one time I was a fairly "good stick" and considered myself fairly competent in some reasonably exotic aircraft. The sight of myself in the mirror as an old fart at the airport who USED to fly a lot was just too damn much.

I also had one or two of my forum posts edited with no notice or real cause, which no writer likes. I also found that I was getting far too involved with trying to solve all the world's problems, and found myself getting too emotional about certain issues.

In short, I made a decision to be more like an average forum lurker and occasional poster... and less time trying to be some kind of a comic book hero helping humanity fight off equally cartoonish villains and inept bureaucracies

Last but not least, I've become infatuated with an ugly little airplane called the Zenair CH-701 STOL, with which I can do things that would be inappropriate and disrespectful to do with a pre-war T-craft. I do NOT plan on selling my T-craft, just (hopefully) scratchbuilding the CH-701 on the cheap to do some off-field and more risky types of STOL flying. The T-craft has been used as a STOL airplane long before I came around, but the experts would certainly agree that there are some deficiencies in the airplane that make it less capable of real off-road work (needs more precise glidepath control,needs better speed control during landing, no high-lift devices, etc)

Sorry about being off-topic and giving more personal detail than asked.

But if it ever becomes truly necessary or needed, just shine a big searchlight on the clouds over Gotham City with the silhouette of a Taylorcraft, and I'll stick my head out of my little cave and do what I can.

[flyguy]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

I'm thinking modeling clay form around the fitting then fiberglass over. Remove glass, remove clay, trim, UV proof, paint, put on with screws into aluminium held down under fabric over. Seal with gasket material/sealer.

Or, leave open like it has been for the last 3 years and just fly the plane. LOL.
DC

[Larry Lyons]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

OK, not being real well versed in the legalities of putting fairings on a Certified plane, I plan on (way in the future after a several year rebuild) making and putting on some very well researched fairings at all the attach points, wing and strut, landing gear and fuselage, wheel pant and gear, close control surface gaps, etc. Another words clean her up as best I can with out having to change the total design. A lot of work but so what, I need something to do in my shop anyway after the rebuild and I think it will surprise us with the speed gains to be had. I am always surprised with what the Reno guys can do to a standard plane with a few modest changes. The one place I do not know a lot about is air inlet and exhaust around the cowling. There was a good article in Sport Aviation a short time back about that and I can see it will take some work and study but I have time to study as I rebuild.

[VictorBravo]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

OK, not being real well versed in the legalities of putting fairings on a Certified plane,

close control surface gaps, etc.

The one place I do not know a lot about is air inlet and exhaust around the cowling.

FAR 43 allows an owner/pilot to install or remove non-structural and non-flight-critical fairings. Worst possible case scenario, your IA can sign this off as a minor alteration. If called to answer for your audacity, throw their own book at them, specifically their recent "best practices for aging aircraft" pamphlet. Position these fairings as "protective covers to prevent water, dirt and pitting", and then say you faired them in so as NOT to create changes or disturbances in air flow in that area (that's what you will mostly be doing anyway... disabuse yourself of the idea you will gain 10 MPH).

DO NOT just close off the gap between the wing an aileron. It is a slot that is designed to be there for low speed control.

The rudder and elevator gaps, have at it with glee... so long as you do not create a situation where the seal could jam the controls. There is no laminar flow there, so you are 99% concerned with sealing the gap and 1% concerned with parasite drag. Bottom line... pick the right tape and tape up the gaps without the tape stretching when the control surfaces move.

Inlet and exhaust in the cowling, be very careful. I have months of personal experience with this, recently (like yesterday)

The Taylorcraft system is a marginal design that is very difficult to improve on, without making several changes. The problem is that the cowling is too tight on the engine, and the cylinders are too close to the prop flange, and those big smiling triangular inlets are in the wrong place, and the exit is all wrong, and there's no room to make a decent "inlet diffuser", and on and on.

IMHO the air should go in at the bottom of the nose bowl, upwards through the cylinders, then out the top or the sides of the cowl, not the bottom. This would certainly be a major project from a paperwork AND a tin-bashing standpoint. For what my opinion is worth, get a banged up, cracked, ugly set of cowlings and modify them, don't screw up a rare nice set of T-craft cowlings. Once you prove out your new cooling system (updraft, downdraft, water spray, whatever) then you can approach the FAA with whatever data you have. If they say OK, then you can play with it some more. If they say no, put your old cowl back on.

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

The word document works fine, Dave is refering to a photo he is trying to add. I will go to the airport today and see what I have over there. I have a cover plate from Dave they are nice and fit up under the gear fairing and surround the strut fitting.

[T.Taylor]

Re: Fuselage strut fitting - FAA Airworthiness Concern Sheet (merged)

Hi Bill, just a question, does this mean you'll get rid of you signature line, Friends don't let friends fly nosewheel aircraft???
scratchbuilding the CH-701 on the cheap,
Happy New Year, and it is always good to read your posts, T.