Building a Nieuport 11...

[Frank Giger]

Moar brakes!

Okay, so while the camera battery recharged, I cut the steel stock, shaped the end, sanded, primed and painted it after drilling the holes for the band brake itself and the stabilizer bar.

Then I put it all together, measured the end bit sticking out, cut and drilled the end piece to keep the wheel on.

The stabilizer bar is some half inch thick walled tubing I had left over from my pile-o-scrap. Annealed, pounded, bent, trimmed and painted.

It came out as a pretty neat installation.



There's a metal sleeve over the bolt that goes through the brake strap to keep me from crimping it!



Now if the axel moves up on the bungees, the brake post moves forward. When the brake is applied, the stabilizing arm keeps it in place, slowing the wheel without turning the axel.

I bought the sleeves for the brake wire, the brake wire, and some end stops. The dual cable brake lever for the stick comes in on Friday.

Oh, on the other wheel mount I didn't have to move a thing - it was long enough on its own.

[Frank Giger]

Instead of just a bump, how about some actual work?

One of the things I've done when working on the plane is to put the axel on blocks to keep the fuselage from rolling around and storing the wheels to the side. Unfortunately, I put them where they could get wet. The left wheel in particular took the brunt of it...



Ug. That's just terrible! The rust is surface stuff, but there's absolutely no reason to leave it there.

They make a lot of products for removing rust from chrome, but the Alabama solution from my youth when cars still had chrome on them was Coke-Cola and aluminum foil. One pours the Coke onto the rust and rubs it with the aluminum foil (I always used shiny side down).

It turns into a dark gray kind of paste as it comes up:



Then rinse and wipe away with water and a damp rag as one goes until all the rust is gone...



I did use a soft wire brush in a few places where the spokes go into the rim.

The other wheel was only spotted here and there with rust and went really fast.

Going to pick up some new tubes after I pick up my son from school. The current ones I have both have a slow leak somewhere.

[jdanneel]

Hi Frank,

quick question,

the spars on the mainwing are they 2" and 1.5" similar as in the lower wing ?

I had put the question to Robert and that's what he told me but I seem to remember from your pic's they looked both 2" on the upper wing

I am still working on my technical file for the Belgian administration and that is keeping me busy right know, and as I see you are "online" and the N11 expert ...

have fun

johan

[Frank Giger]

As supplied and labeled, both my upper spars are 2" and both lower ones are 1.5," so that's how I put them together!

The lower carry throughs to fit the lower wing into are both 1.5" as well, so I think he might have done it that way for the N11 and the other way for the N17 (which is full scale). He's only had two N11 kits go out the door AFAIK - Jeff Stiles and mine!

But he might have changed it. Robert isn't the least bit afraid of modifying the plans and designs from kit to kit! So an N11 materials supply and plans bought today might well be that way.

It's hard to say "kit" with these planes, as nothing is pre-punched or perfectly cut (except the gussets, and sometimes they need adjustment). Almost every piece needs trimmed or coped or bent in some way.

[jdanneel]

thanks !!!

I raised the same question to a guy in France who is building the same machine, and I am wondering what his answer will be ??

From the plans I got I could figure out the 2" and 1.5" for the subwing, and my plans show the front carry through as 2" as well, but then again,as you said, the plan is more or less a copy of the N17 with measurments errased and changed, and maybe that one was forgotten....

I learned a lot from your posts, and they will come in very handy once I start building, thanks for sharing this (apart from the coke and rust thing, thatone I knew, it crossed the Atlantic some 70 years ago)

enjoy

[Frank Giger]

The only way to be certain is to get ahold of the materials list....and that's a State Secret. Loads of stuff is detailed by spec in the plans, but its usually fittings. The tubing itself, including spars, isn't.

[Frank Giger]

Here's my handy-dandy super brake handle installed on the stick:



It runs down and along the floor, joined by zip ties, until it splits and runs down the gear legs, also held by zip ties:



Until the cables connect to the brakes:



As always, there's some drama to go with even such a simple task! First off, that little spacer/bushing at the rear of the brake has an allen wrench fitted bolt that is threaded in it.

I'd lost one of them. Gone. After tearing apart my work area - and I mean just tearing it apart - I had given up and looked online to see where I could get one (no place around here, from scooter repair places to bike shops, has them). They cost about a buck fifty. Shipping, even after calling and talking about sticking one in an envelope and putting a regular stamp on it, was at a minimum eleven dollars. Crazy town stuff.

I had worked up a cable stop of my own using a regular spacer and a drilled bolt. It wouldn't be pretty, but it would work until I stopped steaming about paying shipping costs and broke down and paid it any way.

But I didn't have an allen wrench that would fit the bushing thingie I had, so I bought a socket set (since I need a metric set for another project) that had the wrenches as part of it. It's one of those "36 piece complete set" briefcase deals. Anyhow, I opened up, popped out the allen wrenches, and immediately dumped all the sockets in the set on the floor. Jeepers and other bad words.

I put on the left brake and discovered that the way the handle is rigged one can't get good purchase with just one cable connected. Hmmm, if one cable fails, no brakes. I guess that's a good thing in one way - no running in circles when a cable breaks.

Sigh. Might as well pick up all those sockets I spilled all over the place. I quickly found all but one, the 4mm one. Maybe it's in the crook of the work bench, behind the L shape of the leg. Reach behind it and feel it there. Humph, figures.

But it wasn't the socket.

It was the stupid cable lock bushing I had spent hours last week looking for!

Well, that 4mm socket has gone to the tool gods in the sky - never found it after a further minor search - but I could care less. Good swap of sacrifices, building gods!

Adjusting the tension on these brakes is going to be a PITA. Right now they're too tight - there's some friction as placed - but I'll have to loosen them up all the way to remove the wheels to cover them anyway. But I know it works and it'll just be a matter of dinking with them.

[planecrazzzy]

Seeing you cable routed from in front of that tube... causes a tighter bend in the cable... more friction...and wear...

Coming from behind the tube would decrease the radius...


I found some cable guides at bike shops that helped with tight bends... they cost about $3 bucks each... I'll post some samples...

They are Teflon coated cable guides.

Gotta Fly...
JAM
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.
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[Frank Giger]

Hey, those are great! I like how they clean things up nicely, as my cables are, um, not floppy but flexing a bit and not truly fixed like I want them.

I (heart) the EAA.

[Bud K]

Great Thread, Frank. I have been looking at the Baslee designs for some time. I am looking for a project. Keep up the good work and posting pics.

Bud