2 hours.
That’s not saying it won’t come apart again. It’s currently in this state:
I think I’m not kosher on the amount of threads showing on the bolts holding the wheel pant bracket on one leg, but I can sort that out tomorrow. But I have this theory: If things are assembled with all the requisite parts, those individual parts are less likely to grow legs and wander under appliances and places of storage to hang out with the dust bunnies. It’s like the Phantom Graveyard of Lost Hardware under there, like that scene in Heavy Metal when the B-17 crash lands on the island full of derelict planes, abandoned spaceships, and zombies. But instead of zombies, I have an assortment of fasteners and other hardware.
The gear is ready to rock, but I need to get fire caulk so I can finish up the firewall installation stuff and put the engine mount on. Then I can put the plane on the gear, just for a hoot . Tailwheel’s on, why not give it a test roll?
The engine is still at Tim’s. He’s backlogged, and my engine is all torn down, waiting for inspection. I’m not in a hurry, but I am in a hurry to find out how things cost, because I need to know what my avionics package is going to look like. The way my luck runs with engines, I’ll probably have enough left over to equip 313TD at about the same level as Kern and Rinker Buck’s Piper Cub.
7:31 pm, October 16, 2010Dad /
Landing gear looks great. I looked up your airplane and it looks like the skirts don’t give you much of a soft field capability. How much spring does that gear have? doesn’t take much spread to bend a prop — OUCH! I must be missing something bcause those landing struts don’t look too solid to me. tell me about it.
3:54 am, October 17, 2010stjohn /
Those struts are 1.5″ of spring steel. They’re plenty solid. There’s also a good amount of clearance between the prop and the ground. The wheel pants might get a little beat up on a rough field, but most people don’t have too much of an issue.