Piper PA28-140 project in parallel with four other light aircraft models.
Watching all of these with great interest Fraser.
Gordon
Thanks Gordon. I will promise to keep moving along.
Fraser
cherry wood
I mostly do high-wing aircraft but find the Cherokee an interesting subject. I have a Musketeer in 1/32.
Lou
Upper side of the ailerons and flap done on the piper wing using my rib marking fixture. The glue for the lines was mixed 3:1 glue with water.
Odd thing about pa28's. The skins on the flight controls were either raised stiffener forms or the mirror of that with the stiffener formed as a hollow on the skin. You may even see aircraft with ailerons one way and the flaps the other way. The discussion goes on about the way it should be.
Nicely done Fraser.
Lou
Thanks Lou.
The fin of the PA 28 has indented stiffeners as in the ailerons and flaps. The hinge line of the rudder is swept back and the stiffeners do not cross the hinges at 90 degrees. They are at an angle to it so I measured the angle with an adjustable bevel gauge to set the fin in the fixture correctly.
Looks like a bit of overkill, but it is fun to do. I guess I could have lay the fin part over a cut copy of the fin to align it correctly. Next time😜
There is always a work around.
Lou
Fraser,
Love your work on these models.
All looking great.
Gordon
Primed. All flying stabilator is primed and then I forgot to add the ribbing. So I will correct that issue and post pic when done. Seemed to be a bit too smooth😄
Ribbing added to the stab.
A problem with the inset stiffeners is that the stab sits pretty much level fore and aft when parked. Because of that water will collect in the hollows and it can freeze in place. With a balanced flight control this can definitely be a problem and extra care was needed to check each hollow for ice even if the aircraft looked clean in the cold months.
Nice to hear some personal info on your projects.
Lou
Vertical fin and stabilizer flight control stiffeners marked out, fuselage filled and all parts primed. Major parts mocked up together.
Next is to mount empennage and cut the wings to fit.
Nicely done.
Lou
Christmas rush is over for now...
Separated the wing valves and drilled holes for the mounting pins.
img 4337 dremel horizontal drilling fixture that makes getting angled (or straight) holes done.
img 4378 .032 brass pins at wing root
img 4379 show how the pins build in the dihedral
img 4385 transfer pins installed into drilled root. They will be used to mark the corresponding holes on the fuselage. The pins are 0.032 brass approx 1/4" long with a solder blob shaped into a point. Used like doweling pins.
img 4386 drilling holes into fuselage side using transfer marks.
img4387 wings pinned. Dihedral is set.
img 4393 and 4393 Vert fin drilled same as the wing. The drilling device helps drilling a .032 hole in the 3/32" thick fin without blowing out the side. Although the holes are not exactly on the fin centre, the fin is held in alignment in place and then the holes are transferred to the fuselage.
Now to the other four models.
Fantastic Cherokee. I could never get the dihedral to set correctly, hence, I always do a one piece wing.
Lou
It is interesting how much the dihedral of the wings changes the look of the aircraft. It always a moment of truth when I cut the wings apart.
Fraser
Well Done Fraser.
Gordon
wings and tails glued.
Love the assembly line.
Lou
Joints cleaned up and first round of filler. The Piper required the least amount of filler so far.
Made this entry in the Cessna 140A project. oooops.
Here is the Piper in the proper place
Major filling done and cooling inlets and carb inlet carved. The Cherokee had a rather more rounded nose than the other aircraft I'm building. The close up picture do show more finessed cleanup of the inlets is in order. But, consider the hole for the prop is only .062" in diameter.
Her are some pictures ofd the Piper gear build up.
Both main gears and nose struts are air-oil oleos. They are build up in a similar manor with scissor links and axel with the nose gear having a fork fitting for the wheel.
I discovered that inserting a .032" wire into a .125 copper tube and squaring it flat it gave a good approximation of a faired strut. So prior to squashing the tube I also inserted a .020" wire flattened to fit inside the tube nest to the .032 " strut. Then with a squash, they were effectively swagged together.
Next I drilled the axle from .062" wire and slipped it over the lower strut and bent and cut the "scissor" link to space the axel down. I held the assembly in a small vice and let the axel dangle toward. It is also not 90 degrees to the strut but at a shallow angle for when the strut is installed to the wing, the axel runs level but the strut is canted due to the dihedral.
Flux and small solder blobs added to the key points and the pass of the torch flam and all is done.
The nose gear is pretty much the same except for the fork formed from a small piece of sheet brass.
Moving along nicely.
Lou
I enjoy the added challenge I always seem to give myself.