Building a Nieuport 11...

[Frank Giger]

New and vexing issue - there's not enough space between the upper wing and the fuel tank to allow fueling from the truck at the airport. Not a problem at my own field, where I use a hand crank and a hose from a can, but if I'm out and about and need fuel, I'll be out of luck.

This can't be a unique problem, and I'm sure they make an adapter I could put on the end of a standard fuel nozzle, but terminology is stumping me. In the Army we referred to the flexible metal nozzles that fit into Jerry cans after the male appendage of a donkey in a universal manner. But there is no way I'm going to Google that term!

Little help?

[Dana]

New and vexing issue - there's not enough space between the upper wing and the fuel tank to allow fueling from the truck at the airport.

I have the same problem on my Starduster. The standard aircraft nozzle will just barely go in, but at an angle which makes it splash and spill if I'm not careful and go slow. An adapter would be a nice thing.

[CHICAGORANDY]

Would it be possible to cut a length of appropriately shaped auto radiator hose for the odd off home base fuel fill? Just spit-balling here.

[martymayes]

12" of rubber hose has always worked. Fits over the fueling nozzle on one end and into the fuel tank on the other.

[Dana]

Static could be a concern, though, without the metal fuel nozzle touching the metal fuel tank neck.

[bookmaker]

If the grounding cable is properly connected from the fueling truck/ station, the nozzle need not touch the rim of the tank for static suppression.

[bookmaker]

Frank, what about making a short 45 degree L out of PVC pipe and a 45 degree elbow? If you can find a size that will slip over the standard nozzle snugly, that would be best. You could carry this in the plane with you. Or the rubber tube idea, especially a piece that has a nice natural curve to it.

[Sam Buchanan]

1. If you want to be able to pull the radio out of the airplane to use it at fly-ins, you might not want to use the battery eliminator. That would mean you'd have to carry the battery pack with you (anyway) and switch it out when you took the radio out of the plane.

2. One thing that's very nice is having the jacks for the headset solidly mounted in the panel or a side panel. Beats having the floppy adaptors hanging around, and makes neat cord runs easy.

<snip>

4. As has been mentioned, "headset adapters" for handhelds handle the ELECTRICAL connection, but the impedances are off for the headphone portion. Most aviation headsets work, but they lose about 6 dB of sound energy. You can boost the sound volume by using a headset with 8-ohm speakers. I've got an expanded version of the Kitplanes article at:

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

Ron Wanttaja

I have a Yaesu handheld in the Fokker D.VII wannabe. It clips to a simple bracket via the belt clip on the back of the radio and feeds an external 1/4 wave antenna on the belly of the plane. I rigged up an audio transformer per Ron's article to drastically increase headset volume. The transformer is wired to hard-mounted jacks that take all the stress off the Yaesu headset adapter. While wiring the audio adapter I pulled out the transmit lead and put a push-to-talk switch on the control stick.

I still use the radio rechargeable battery because it will go an entire summer on 2-3 charges. I routinely hear traffic pattern chatter at an airport 100 miles away and the locals say the radio transmits nicely.

Please excuse the low-quality phone photo...

[Frank Giger]

Very sleek!

I suppose that my Icom batteries may not be up to snuff, as they go dead very much on their own over a couple of weeks.

[rwanttaja]

I suppose that my Icom batteries may not be up to snuff, as they go dead very much on their own over a couple of weeks.

What's the chemistry of the batteries? Older Icoms came with nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries, which tend to not retain their charge. Nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) is better. The Icom I got a couple years back has Lithium-Ion. It *really* holds a charge.

The chemistry will be noted on the battery pack, though you'll have to remove it from the radio to see it.

Ron Wanttaja