Building a Nieuport 11...

[Sam Buchanan]

I might add that if airspeed indication needs to be slightly tweaked with the pitot-static mast set-up, it is easily accomplished by slipping an o-ring over the static tube and gradually adjusting its location until airspeed is dialed in. But I didn't find that necessary with either of my installations.

[martymayes]

the o-ring or metal washer is one of the best speed mods for the money in aviation. Of course, it doesn't really do anything but neither do many of the high $$$ speed mods.

[Dana]

I suppose I could move the static line a third time; but I'm not optimistic.

I'd check the ASI with a manometer first. Probably it's OK but no point messing with static locations until you're sure.

[Frank Giger]

Well, I'm calling her flight worthy, though there are a few things left.



I did a bunch of taxi tests with the brakes, using actual testing methodology:

I took temp readings of the brake drums using an IR thermometer from cold (okay, that's relative, in the hanger, in shade, they were 88 degrees).

To see if there was drag on them (the wheels spin freely when lifted from the ground, but there's some flexing of the wheels with the weight of the plane on them moving over ground), I taxied about 500 yards at a normal taxi speed and let her roll to a stop after killing the engine. Twenty degree increase on the left drum, ten on the right. Slight squeak at the end of the roll.

Stopping required no adjustment of the tailwheel to stay straight.

500 feet taxi at normal speed, hard braking at the end, bringing me to the halt with the engine off in about 20 feet. Thirty degree increase on the left, twenty five on the right.

Braking required no adjustment of the tailwheel to stay straight.

1,000 feet faster taxi, brakes used once to slow, full brakes at the end with the engine at idle. She managed to stop in about fifty feet ( ), with some noise. Oddly enough, thirty-five degrees temp increase on left drum, thirty on the right. I'd of thought it would be higher.

Last test, after the drums cooled a bit, was holding from the start. She'll hold firm from idle to about an eighth of increase. After that, she'll roll - but not real well, and it's a gradual grabbing and not locking up though all the throttle I was willing to give her (about half). As expected, she did want to go left, but only a little.

One of the guys watching all this foolery brought up a good point after I got done: the drum is on the outside of the pads. As they heat up they expand away from the pads. In the band brakes, it was the other way - as the drum heated and expanded, it was into the band, actually increasing brake efficiency.

Small repairs to the gun - "heat shroud" replaced with a new bit of PVC pipe, new barrel to extend from it fabricated from a bit of spare tubing, crack in magazine glued and re-painted (it's not invisible). Everything re-painted, in fact, and I set it up to dry before I it gets put back together.

I have a small amount of oil leaking from around where the prop hub goes into the engine. This is really weird, as the spinner cup and the seal in front of it should make this pretty much a spot for casual oil. Then again, this is the first time I've really cranked up the RPM's since rebuilding her, and I need to check oil levels. I may have a bit too much in, as I had to add to account for the huge oil cooler.

In the VW, to really check the oil level one has to lift the tail to get the oil pan level.

Oh, and the airspeed indicator. As mentioned, it's wrong - reading 10 MPH too fast - and fixed it by moving the static port to the rear of the fuselage. Or I could pull out the pitot tube/static probe combo thingie and mount that...but I'm kind of enamored with the idea of the mechanical paddle-on-music-wire ASI that Rick Bennett came up with and will dink with that. Or just learn to live without one.

So it's now down to waiting for weather, a nice calm morning and a ground crew to start all over back at Flight Number One. My plan is the same as it was back then - go up, fly a close pattern, land.

But I got to say I got a huge thrill pushing the throttle forward and feeling the aircraft around me. If the winds hadn't been pushing, I'd of gone up yesterday.

[Fokker Builder]

Yeah buddy

[Floatsflyer]

Good luck Frank, second time's the charm.

[Frank Giger]

I had to go out to the airport as part of helping one of my EAA brothers move airplane parts (get a pickup truck if one wants friends, I always said) to his hangar, and got a few things done.

Gun assembled and new tubing supports made and painted. Bought a Loverboy CD out of the bargain bin and just danced around waiting for paint to dry.

My vane airspeed indicator (Mark I) looks to be a qualified success. The vane is a bit too large and she's reading too far too soon. I could replace the wire with something beefier, but I think I'll just trim the vane down a bit and see if that works out better.

Just waiting for my schedule, my ground crew's schedule, and the weather to all align. I'm treating it as Flight #1 all over again, after all.

[cub builder]

Way to go Frank! It looks great! I assume it will make it into the air this weekend. Best of luck with it.

-Cub Builder

[Frank Giger]

Support crew scheduled for the morning at first light; Lord willing we'll go around the patch.

[Frank Giger]

Battery is toast - something is seriously wrong with it, so I removed it.

Good news - it demonstrated its defect in front of the hangar at start-up. So no flight. Which means it didn't crap out while in flight (electronic ignition).

Bad news - it's toast. Battery charger gave an error message when I hooked it up. Zero volts across the posts. Zero amps. Yet the battery was hot. Pulled it at 0800 and the darned thing was still hot at 1100, so there must be something wrong with the cells inside shorting with each other.

Good news - it's a motorcycle battery. Very inexpensive when viewed through the lens of aviation prices.

Bad news - with Irma working its way up Florida, going into Georgia and then making a fish hook into Alabama, it might be two weeks before the weather is amiable to flying again.