Building a Nieuport 11...

[Frank Giger]

Drums worked a treat! New wheels and brakes installed, but I held off on covering them.

The reason is that I also laced the new rim on the old hub, an exercise in extreme trial and error. Even with an identical wheel to use an example, it took me four complete re-do tries to figure out the right angle to the first spoke. From there I worked fairly quickly, but the afternoon was spent.

The allen wrench for the cable catch on the brakes is normally in my airplane "quick kit" that has the most common tools needed to work on stuff. I guess gnomes must have come in the night and taken it, though, as it was nowhere to be found. I played the long odds that maybe I put a tool back where it belongs with the others, but no dice. My allen set was all there except the one I needed.

My diagnosis on what went wrong on the fast taxi attempt was validated. The left brake is tight - it's a wonder it wasn't pulling me left at slower speeds.

With no way to adjust it, I packed everything up and headed home. There was no point in even a slow taxi; I'll go back tomorrow with a wrench that fits to fix it.

Saturday the weather looks amiable and I may try for an early morning try.

[Frank Giger]

For those who didn't peek, there's a post in the "First Flight" section of the forums!

A few pictures of some kinds of craftsmanship which has become somewhat standard on my beautiful aircraft:

First up is the new improved brake drums:



This actually is a huge improvement, as they can now be moved from wheel to wheel if I have another unfortunate event. With the welded plate machined out to a perfect center hole and the bolt holes drilled expertly (by someone else, of course) now the drums are dead center.

I did have to put a high spot on one of the drums to the sander. It's a machining error on the manufacturer's part, as one section was thicker than the others, making it less than perfectly round.

Tail wheels. Ug.

Okay, backing up a bit, my Aerodrome Airplanes tail wheel took a helluva beating in the loop, so I replaced it with a solid rubber one from Harbor Freight:



It looked okay mounted to the aircraft, and turned freely.



However, under load it didn't fare as well!



We found this at the edge of the runway about 30 feet from the turn-off to the taxiway. I reckon the core went to little pieces and I rode the steel down to the bushing in about 40 feet.

Because the airport is all IFR ready, the pavement is grooved - we figure that's why I lost so much steel in such a short distance.

Time for some professional parts. One of my EAA brothers donated an actual aviation tail wheel and worked up a mount to fit it, as it's wider than the old one(s).



It's a smaller gauge steel than what was originally there and proved to show some flex. I figured the mount would work well until it didn't....and it wasn't something I'd like to explore again, so another one of my EAA brothers donated a piece of steel channel that's just a tad thicker than what I had before and we chopped and drilled it.

I still have to re-cover those wheels. In giving the plane a complete look-over I couldn't help frowning at what a sad rush job I did on them.

[Frank Giger]

One of the things I'm going to need to tackle is the radio (an Icom IC-A6) issue.

Right now I'm just laying it down on the seat next to me, which means it's antenna is horizontal; my seat is aluminum and has a high edge around it, meaning I'm probably masking it regardless of orientation.

The ugly solution is to bungee it to the rear cabane that hold the upper wing, and naturally I think that's not so great. It may wind up there anyway as there isn't a lot of room to put it where I could actually do more than flip frequencies. The more elegant solution is an antenna, but that means having to learn about radio frequencies, resistance, and a bunch of other things that relate to antenna length. I always got glassy eyed in those classes back when I was in uniform, to be honest.

I somehow lost the little clip that screws into the back of the battery; if I got a new one I might be able to just clip it to the side of the seat, meaning it would be above the railing and pointed up and down. It might be the ten dollar (plus ten in shipping, no doubt) solution. Or I could build a box to hold it on the seat, which is probably a better solution. That way I could pull it out and look at it if my blind stabbing at buttons leads to confusion.

But that leads back to making an antenna. Depending on how long it would have to be, I could run it along the cabane and it would be pretty discrete. A quick check of Aircraft Spruce and they have a "windshield mount" antenna for Icom radios for 29 bucks. I'd probably come out ahead to buy one.

Next issue up is putting a bog standard headset over a leather helmet. Um, it doesn't work. So I need to either get Ron to write in even smaller words on how he got the plugphones to work under his headset or buy a flying helmet made for headsets. I may need to enlist my wife's help in measuring my head and plunk down an order with Pop's Leather (I've heard good things about them). In the meantime I'll probably dig out my beret and wear it instead - it will keep my bald head from sunburn and won't fly off in the wind.

While it's a WWI looking aircraft, I'm not into re-enactments. I don't really care if I ruin someone's immersion by wearing a headset.

And last is my press-to-talk switch. It's a HUGE button with velcro straps to it. I can't put it on top of the control stick because I won't have enough clearance for full movement. I could fabricate a new control stick, but that's out. The interim solution is to put the velcro straps around the first two fingers of my left hand with the button on the side. That way I just press it with my thumb. I like this because it keeps all the wires away from the controls. I may carve up a throttle knob to replace the ball I have now and put it on top.

Tomorrow morning looks like a good opportunity to give her another go around the patch.

.

[rwanttaja]

Frank, I'm currently traveling with limited online access. Getting home Wednesday, and I'll try post more stuff then.

if you go to the Fly Baby home page, click the "Index" button and scroll down to "Avionics". Youll see an entry on under-helmet headsets. That's got most of the information you'll need, although I've developed an simpler mike boom. I'll post about it here in a day or so.

Check the spec sheet for the Icom, but it almost probably has an 8 ohm speaker output. Regular aviation headset are 300 ohm, but modern ones usually work fine with the 8 ohm systems. My Flightcom Denali ANR headset works ok, but i do run the volume at max and sometimes wish my volume control went to eleven.

They do make ANR ear buds. I like my plugfones for comfort, though a Dutch Fly Baby driver swears by his ANR units.

Helmet-wise, I am still using the same helmet as for my first Fly Baby flight almost 30 years ago...but Banana Republic doesn't sell them any more. Go to the index on the Fly Baby page and look under "Comfort"...you'll find my thoughts on helmets, goggles, scarves, and flying jackets.

I'll post more when I have access to a real keyboard.

Ron Wanttaja

[Dana]

Frank, I have an Icom A24 (same as the A6 with added VOR, which I never use). It works just fine with ordinary earbuds. I use Audio Technica noise canceling earbuds under my leather helmet and a homemade boom mike (with an electret microphone element from an old computer headset) that clips to my shoulder strap, and I put the PTT switch into the end of my control stick where I push it with my thumb. (I flew a plane the other day with the stupid velcroed on PTT switch on the stick, and boy was it annoying!)

As for the antenna, get a piece of coax cable with BNC ends and a female-female BNC connector (I got them at Radio Shack). You can use your original rubber duck antenna. The cable connects to the radio, and the connector goes between the other cable end and the antenna, which you can put anywhere you want (on my Kolb it was under my knees, pointing straight down). I made a simple plastic block to hold the connector.

[Frank Giger]

LOL, I never tried normal hooking a computer headset to the radio, or normal ear buds.

[Sam Buchanan]

But that leads back to making an antenna. Depending on how long it would have to be, I could run it along the cabane and it would be pretty discrete. A quick check of Aircraft Spruce and they have a "windshield mount" antenna for Icom radios for 29 bucks. I'd probably come out ahead to buy one.
.

Frank, no need to worry about making an antenna when you can buy a 1/4 wave stainless whip for less than $25. Here is one on the bottom of my Fokker:





Search the Wag-Aero online catalog for antennas, part # C-170-000. You need coax (any length will work) with a connector to fit your radio. If your plane has a metal belly pan that will be the best location so the antenna has a good ground plane. A 1/4 wave whip will have much greater range than the rubber ducky.

[rwanttaja]

LOL, I never tried normal hooking a computer headset to the radio, or normal ear buds.

Assuming your A6 is the same as my A5, there are two ways to work the interface. You can buy Icom's headset adaptor, or you can build your own.

If you use the commercial adaptor, you'll need a 1/4" plug to a 1/8" plug adaptor.
Consumer headsets often come with them, but they're available for a couple bucks.

Aircraft Spruce sells a complete mike boom assembly for that side of it.

For the DIY solution, see the avionics solution section on the Fly Baby page, and click the panel-mounted handheld article.


Ron Wanttaja

[Dana]

LOL, I never tried normal hooking a computer headset to the radio, or normal ear buds.

I didn't directly hook it up. I made an adapter harness to plug into the Icom, connecting to the PTT on the stick, with two jacks, one for the microphone (just the microphone element came from the computer headset, but it's a standard electret mike), and one for the earbuds.

[rwanttaja]

Assuming your A6 is the same as my A5, there are two ways to work the interface. You can buy Icom's headset adaptor, or you can build your own.

Well, now that I'm home, I see that's not the case. The A6 uses a different style headset adaptor. It's a two-jack system, and (nicely) the headset jack seems to be a standard 1/8 jack. However, I notice my A14 (which uses the same adaptor as the A6) only gives me right channel output. Not sure why, but it would be easy to fix and/or do a work-around.

I didn't directly hook it up. I made an adapter harness to plug into the Icom, connecting to the PTT on the stick, with two jacks, one for the microphone (just the microphone element came from the computer headset, but it's a standard electret mike), and one for the earbuds.

I'm half surprised this worked, as the standard for an aviation microphone is a bit goofy; it needs to emulate an old carbon mike. However, Icom sells the same basic radio to a variety of markets; it's likely that its designed to work with a straight electret mike.

The other drawback is that the computer microphone won't be the noise-cancelling type. Depending on the environment, that may not matter. Depending on how drafty the cockpit is, one might need a foam muff, too.

This is a picture of the latest microphone boom I built:

(This photo was taken without the mike muff, to show the parts better).
The microphone element is a Pilot PA-7X from ACS ($60), and I used a U-173/U connector (ACS, $4) to mount the microphone. The connector is only $2, but buy a batch since the small pins can wander.

The "Flex boom" is from a "USB lamp"...Amazon has them for $2 to $10, there's enough flex material for two headsets. The flex boom jams inside the connector and gets epoxied from both sides prior to wiring the unit.

The main structure is 14-gauge ROMEX cable. It's designed to go over the top of the ears and dip BELOW the main part of the head, just above the neck.

The wiring from the U-173 Connector to the other end of the ROMEX was thin stranded wire taken from an Ethernet cable. It's probably about 28 gauge...it's small enough to fit inside the flex tube. The flex tube does come with wire, but it won't be long enough to go all the way around the frame. You can run the main cable nearer the ear, if you wish. Cover the whole thing with shrink tube.

For the main cable I used...two-conductor shielded RCA cable, like you use to connect your speakers to your home stereo. It's cheap...bought 24 feet for about $10.

The connector at the end might throw some people...it's not a standard mike plug, it's a 1/8" JACK. One of my goals was to don the microphone (and ear buds) outside the cockpit, don my helmet, and THEN climb in. But a standard headset cord can trip you up, climbing onto the wing and into the cockpit.

So I rig my headset mike cable and the ear bud cable to only hang to just above my waist. The airplane has an extension cable plugged into the radio; it ends in a 1/8" jack (for the plug from the ear buds) and a 1/8" plug (to plug into the microphone). Since the mike and the ear buds connect to opposite genders, there's no danger of plugging in the wrong way.

The plug and socket on the end of the extension are tie-wrapped to a precision plastic clamp that clips to my shoulder harness. Oh, all right, it's one of those bag clips for keeping your Fritos from going stale....

Anyway, it works pretty well. Don the headset and helmet, climb in, and plug into the extension cable. Just like an F-15 pilot.

Again, most of the technical details can be found at:

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/h_headset.html

Ron Wanttaja