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Thread: Building a Nieuport 11...

  1. #901

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    Try number two on the cooler mount!

    With the last one a beautiful failure, I tried again, making it larger. My reduced 35 degree angle turned out to be much closer to the original 45, though.



    And done.



    Of note is four things here:

    1) Steel is doubled up. I have no idea if this is going to be an improvement or not; my thinking is that it's going to half my chance of a catastrophic failure before detection.

    2) Rubber grommet at the engine mounting points, with washers on both sides larger than the holes. This is to hopefully reduce the vibration on the piece, and if the rubber fails, at least the mount won't fall off the engine.

    3) One can't see it, but there is a steel plate under the oil cooler itself holding things together. My first installation had the nuts going just to the cooler itself and it's soft metal. Now it will have to think of a different way to fail. I also put in two more bolts to even out the load on everything.

    4) The baffling material on the cooler between the mount and the strip underneath isn't there to prevent vibration as much as it is to reduce the friction between the steel mount and the steel strip against the cooler.

    Oddly enough, when I enlarged my mount measurements and bent them, I came pretty close to what was there originally.

    Everything ran great and no leaks.

    For those wondering where I get my engineering inspiration, note the decal.

    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  2. #902

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
    For those wondering where I get my engineering inspiration, note the decal.

    We do what we must, because we can. Looks good.

  3. #903

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    And remember the first pillar of Aperture Science:

    Pillar one: Science without results is just witchcraft.


    I actually toyed with putting the logos of all the "bad" fictional companies on the aircraft (Umbrella Corporation, etc.), but thought it might look too cluttered.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  4. #904

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    I put three rivets up the front on both sides.

    Funny story with that. John is a mechanic on the airfield, who only works on special consignment. John is the kind of guy that gets sent plane tickets to work on DC-3 engines in Scandinavia.

    The only reason John even speaks to me is A) he's a decent human being, and B) his little dachshund took a liking to me immediately, and there is no higher character reference than that.

    The reason he wasn't speaking to me before that was that I built and fly a "damned home built" with "a damned VW." And while I know profanity is discouraged here, those were his kind words on the matter.

    Anyhow, John stopped by the hangar to say hello and looked at my new oil cooler mount and gave it a better than passing grade.

    This was just before I put in the rivets, and I told him I was going to run three 1/8" rivets "about here" on the side plates.

    "Well, yeah, of course you'd put them a quarter of an inch away from the edge."

    * blink *

    "Oh, good grief,"* he sighed, "One always takes four times the diameter of the rivet when placing them from an edge."

    * blink *

    "Because that's the industry standard."

    "I thought I'd put them there because That Looked About Right."



    [Many censored words and accusations about the nature of my parent's relationship when I was born]

    Anyhow, I flew yesterday and today. Yesterday's flight was about an hour an a half, and today's just under half an hour.

    Everything ran splendidly. Indeed, yesterday's flight was almost surreal in beauty and ease.

    Naturally, since it would be entirely scientific to only test one thing at a time, I did the other thing. I attempted a nice three point landing. Pulled it off pretty good, too!

    Today's flight was a third thing thrown in.

    I've been really wimpy on climbing out. Lazy. So today I got the nose up and shot for what I hoped for was around 500 fpm. Incredibly, I hit the number with no means of measuring it fairly consistently!

    The weather was okay - a hot day in Alabama with some bumpiness - but the clouds in the distance were working up to be thunderstorms and could start dumping rain like crazy at any minute. While I was well clear of any chance of rain, the wind they would produce was not on the schedule.

    So I turned around and landed.

    I lined up, got her how I wanted her (even used the center line and everything!), and began to slowly flare her. I hit the stall in a perfect three point posture - about a foot above the runway. So it was one quick bounce and then back on all three, still straight down the runway.

    Neat.

    Here's the CloudAhoy data of today's flight for fun.

    http://www.cloudahoy.com/debrief/?key=U7grdD7nUzQeTI

    * He actually said "Good grief."
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  5. #905

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    I'll never be asked by EAA to make a "Hints for Homebuilders" video...

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gm9bkpsAi5U
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  6. #906

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    Jul 2011
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    Frank, That video was a treat. It's refreshing to see good honest, not over-produced, presentation by a small team that was clearly enjoying the process.

  7. #907

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    Thanks!

    Part Two...



    Best. Thumbnail. Ever.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  8. #908

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    Part 2.5, where I get diverted and improve the gun mounts:

    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  9. #909

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    Note the use of solid planning:


    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  10. #910

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    Getting more work done, but it's not done.

    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

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