The Trailer! Part 3 - The cradle that rocked the hand!

So far my worst nightmare on this project. Also mentioned earlier, including the use of old blue Astro-turf. 

This cradle has been fighting me with tooth and nail! The tear down wasn't bad, but it was the fiberglass cradle that was driving me crazy.

The problem with the cradle was the fact that it was too narrow and compressing the fuselage at the cockpit, flatting the sides and preventing the canopy frame to close without pushing the sides of the frame in to get it closed.

To correct the problems, the cradle frame supports needed to be spread wider, and the cradle needed to be spread about an inch to two inches so the fuselage will sit comfortably.

The first hurtle to overcome was widening the cradle. I was told that if I heated the cradle to over 180 degrees, the resin will soften enough to spread the fiberglass shell.



I cut a piece of board to fit the inside width of the shell and pressed it into place. I set up two halogen shop lights to heat up the resin.

I placed a thermometer inside the shell to monitor the temperature to 180 degrees.



 While the shell was cooking, I turn my attention to correcting the dolly frame.

I sand blasted the rust and old paint


I was able to spread the uprights to the desired width without breaking the welds.








I then primed and painted the frame. But, this will change later after I find out that the shell cannot be corrected.



After days of fighting the cradle shell re-shape. (actually it was weeks!), I put the heat test to the max. The shell would not bend at 180, or 200 degrees, so I bumped it up to 300 degrees, and all it did was cook the resin, it would not bend!

So, I was left with the task of remaking the shell.



I started with the original shell, but mounted to a board with the correct spread. To prevent the polyester resin sticking to the old shape, I laid a layer of plastic on the surface.






Next a layer of peel ply nylon 

Followed by a mixed layers of glass roving ...







and chopped glass mat, which soaks up a lot of resin!





After a dozen layers or so, the thickness of the finished cradle matched the old one. I spent a couple of hours sanding and finishing the shell so it would be ready for painting and re-covering.





Now let's get back to the dolly frame.... As it turned out, the new cradle and something special modified to the dolly rail, required the dolly to be modified.

The side uprights for the rocker arms needed to be moved out to the sides for the new width of the shell, and gone are the bottom tube supports and now are angle iron. I had my good friends at Sandia Trailer do the modifications.

And of course, it all had to be repainted!




Over the summer I was looking for a replacement material for that lousy Astro-turf crap. I bought carpet, but later was told that the pile was a little too thick and it would trap soil. It wasn't until I came across the solution at a boat repair shop here in Albuquerque of all places..... Interior boat carpet The material was soft, short pile, easy to clean, and it will not trap soil like regular carpet!


It was easy to cement to the fiberglass with Dapp contact cement, since the carpet was designed for that application.


I started at the edge, And carefully rolled the carpet into place, while applying pressure to ensure an even application.






Next I measured a lip of the carpet to be rolled over the edges for extra padding and protection














I used cloths pins to hold the carpet in place while the cement cured.










Here are the results of weeks of racking ones brain and fighting psychics. .. there was a lot of cursing too!


















I hope making the mold for the replacement Horizontal stabilizer skin isn't this arduous!

Tail wheel well and the mystery hole repairs!

Again, as you might recall from the first posts of this blog, I found many areas that needed some repairs due to wear and tear over the years.

The worst by far was the groove worn into the inside of the tail wheel well from the air fill stem. It was just a matter of time before a good hard landing would break the tail wheel right out of the tail. 

This radius groove was cut by the air fill stem that was improperly mounted in the hub.


I taped the axle sleeve opening and then used a mix of fine glass cloth and cotton flocking to fill in the groove. I followed the application with a couple off layers of fine glass cloth to seal it. The final cover was peel ply nylon and the excess resin was squeegeed out.

The results... No groove!.


I removed the peel ply and then sanded off the excess resin to return the wheel well and exterior fairing to it's original shape.



The axle sleeve hole needed to be cleaned out. I test fitted the brass sleeves and axle to verify that the alignment was good.








I replaced the wheel back into the wheel well to verify the fit and if the wheel will rotate freely.





And it did!

The properly mounted inner tube and the air stem does not rub against the wheel well.










The mystery hole was first thought to have been cause by a rock striking the belly during a take-off roll, but in fact had to be caused by some repair station drilling a hole in a rib to zip tie a replacement Coax antenna cable into the fuselage.












I filled the hole with a wad of chopped glass roving and a mix of resin and cotton flock. I cover the patch with a single ply of fine glass cloth and then nylon peel ply. I used a piece of foam with plastic sheet to press the patch to the correct contour and let the resin cure.








The repair is completed and ready to sand smooth.





The odds-and-end tasks are never done!

The Trailer! Part 2 - Wing dollies, Nose and Tailwheel stop

The trailer restoration is still in the works, and the weather in New Mexico has been wetter then usual, which has slowed the cleanup of the steel framework.

While waiting for clear weather over the weekends, I have been working on cleaning up the internal peripherals. The wing dollies needed to be sandblasted, and the axles needed to be replaced so I could install better wheels.

Also the nose stop needed some serious repair and cleanup.  I created a tail wheel stop to replace the door hinge thing that was used hold the fuselage in place, and was responsible for the rudder damage. And lastly,The mid-wing supports; a completely different issue that I will address later.


So, let's start with the Nose Stop.


When I removed the original stop from the trailer, I cut off the upper supports, since they weren't needed and were over-kill to begin with.




I sandblasted the steel, and took it to Sandia Trailer to have a forward brace welded to the existing stop.





I repainted the finished steel with a zinc chromate primer to retard corrosion.










The stand was finished with red DCC polyurethane enamel, and the open edges were capped with plastic handrail end caps.












The next mess was the old nose cover. The inside sheepskin fabric was yellow and old, and needed to be removed. The contact cement was so old that it dried out, and the fabric peeled out easily.


The original fiberglass work was rough. But I new that I could clean it up without remaking a new cone cover.







I used the same polyester resin that was used on the original, but I added cotton filler to the resin to thicken it up, and filled the gaps. I then sanded the shape smooth. I sprayed the cone with primer to see how the work was progressing and to identify any other holes I missed.







After the cone was refinished, I used the same Red DCC paint that I used on the stand to add the finishing touch.  It was finally smooth and glossy!








I could not find any padding material with the same density as the original, but after washing the original cloth in the washer, it came out looking like new!
I used DAP contact cement to glued the original sheepskin fabric back in the cone.
 

And here is the finished nose stop!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I decided to install a tail wheel cup in the trailer, to avoid any future damage to the rudder like what happened before. I made a foam mold and sealed it with filler and paint.





Here is a photo of the nearly completed mold.









And here is the completed fiberglass tail wheel stop cup for the trailer. I gave the cup a few coats of the DCC Gray paint to protect the fiberglass finish.



The next project was to clean up the wing dolly. The pins used to hold the wing spars in the dollies were rusty. I used phosphoric acid to clean off the corrosion and old paint. I then used a stainless steel brush to get the rust out of any crevices.


The results are bright and shiny pins.







 I repainted the handles only, and then coated them with a red grip rubber used on the handles of pliers and other hand tools.






The wing dollies were a mess. The felt on the spar box just feel off with little effort to remove them.

The wheels were welded on and I had to cut them off before I could sand blast the metal. I found replacement wheels that were the same size as the original wheels.









I sand blasted both dollies, and then had new axles welded on.







I used the same DCC red paint on the dolly's and then added the wheels.



You really need to keep an eye on these dollies with these scooter wheels! They really want to roll!













I just need to add new felt padding to complete the dolly restoration.

The next two sub-projects will be a nightmare!  The Fuselage cradle, and the Mid-wing supports!

Oh Thrill!

Sand and sand, and not a beach in sight! Part 4 - The things you will find!... Yuck!

The last wing finally gets finished, after a few months of funky weather.

I won't bore you with the details, but the grueling removal of the gelcoat is finished.

All that is left is the minor repair work and the modification to to the wing tips before they are painted this spring!






Now that both wings await the repair work, and Fall is upon us, I figured that next best plan of action is to get them cleaned out inside and seal all of the openings to protect them any addition dust contamination.

This was a good plan, because, while I was working on the right wing, I noticed a dark mass between the two air brake boxes in the mid-wing.

It looked like a nest.

With the help from my wife, I was able to vacuum grapple the mass, and to my surprise, it was a mouse nest!

I have no clue how long that was in there, but it had to be some time ago.


There was much material floating around in the wing including twigs and leaves from the busy little fellow. I had to shake the wing a little to get the debris in reach of the vacuum.

So, that concludes this portion of the restoration.

Next is the repair work and painting!

Flash for the Pan - or a smooth seat for the pants

It has been a while since I have had the time to update this blog.

The trailer episode is still in production, so I decided to give you all an update on the seat pan saga!





So, as you might recall from the earlier post, the seat pan was covered in canvas.







The canvas peeled off easy enough, but the old glue was like rubber cement.

After the glue residue was thoroughly removed using the 3M adhesive remover, It became apparent of the amount of repair there was done to the seat pan using automotive polyester resin.






These old repairs needed to be sanded away and repaired using the proper epoxy resin,







There were some really cancerous looking areas that had to be cut out.







The airbrake notch was the worst, and almost a half of an inch had to be removed before any repair work could be started. (notice the inside lip with the cracked filling.)






After many hours of sanding. the seat pan was prepared for the repairs






I used aluminum tape, per Robert Mudds recommendations to cover any holes I wanted to fill, such as the old screw holes, which were widened and oblong after many years of ware. Also the sharpened opening on the right side for the seat belt loop, and the ware out repair on the airbrake notch.





After the holes were filled with resin and flocking, I covered the bottom with a single ply of 7725 cloth for support.

I re-drilled out the holes, I re-sanded the surface and cleaned for priming and painting










Here is the finished seat pan














Ready to be installed into the cockpit.... The seat back is even nastier!



The question  I was asked by Robert after all was said and done was... "what was the new weight of the seat pan.





So.. here are the results of the seat pan weigh in.

The original weight with the canvas was approx 5lbs

After removing the canvas, glue, and old polyester resin, and the finishing clean up, the pan weight was 2.3 lbs

After adding the repairs and single ply of 7725, added primer and paint. the finished weight is 3.5 lbs.

And roberts closing comments were... "Good on you. Extrapolated over the entire glider that is a huge weight reduction....dream on."

Dream on I will!

 ......  Now back to that trailer!

If the weather will give me a break!