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Thread: Building a Fokker D VII

  1. #121
    12/10/17, Work accomplished this week includes prepping the torque tube control horns and mount them in a welding fixture to be finished this coming week. Yesterday during the little snow storm I finished the steel bushings and keepers for all the tail feather hinges. I also made patterns for cutting the seat from 1/2" birch plywood, aluminum seat back, and a pattern for trying to make the hinges again from one piece of steel instead of using a weld on retainer strap. Oh and I turned some of the apple wood to make a new handle for the control column.
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  2. #122

    Join Date
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    Sweet! The seat is where one should fudge a bit on dimensions from the originals, and make it as wide as possible. They didn't carry handheld radios, tablets, etc., with them like we do.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  3. #123
    12/16/17, So here are some pics of what went on this week. First we have the finished torque tube with the control cable horns that were finished this week. It is actually black as of this afternoon. Next we have one of the new elevator hinges in 1.5 mm with a steel 1.5 mm bushing that will get silver soldered in place. I am liking this option better than the 2 mm hinge with a 1 mm brass bushing. And last we have a sheet metal shrinker/stretcher that I acquired this week and made a vise mount for them. Still waiting on the 4 X 8 sheet of 0.040 2024 T-3 aluminum.
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  4. #124
    12/20/17, Going to go finish the tour at NASM, Udvar Hazy Center that was cut short by a crazy woman who was trying to quit smoking 7 years ago. The restoration building has been getting moved from Greenbelt, MD to Udvar Hazy and will try to get in there as well. Next week because of cold weather forcast I will head to NASM in DC and visit with the Fokker D VII there and the Albatros D Va.
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  5. #125
    Lookie what I found today
    I went to the NASM Udvar Hazy Center today for a birthday vist. Was wandering around simply awestruck when I first got there. I was on my second pass through the WW I and early aviation area when I saw a booth title "Construction Techniques". I had relegated myself to not see anything resembling Fokker D VII till next week when I plan to go down to DC and visit the D VII and Albatros there. I happen to look up and see a D VII elevator suspended from 2 wires and a girder. I was able to deduce the hinge material was definitely not 2 mm. The ends that get squished also were smooth owing to having been pressed in a fixture. The welds were neat and minuscule actually. Man I went and asked, knowing full well I wouldn't get one, for a step ladder to get a closer look. The retired Army Air Service veteran working the information booth asked why. he was thrilled to hear that I had a spar, hinges, and control horns on my work bench just waiting for me to start assembly. I got to view into the restoration hanger and plan to go back for the open house in January when I hope to get up close and personal with the 20's era trainer that is being restored along with Flak Bait.

    A good birthday after noon
    Jim
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  6. #126
    Got my band saw today. Set up and ready to rip. Picking up black walnut, maple, and ash for a couple propellers, four wingtip bows, cockpit cutouts, and a couple tail skids
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  7. #127

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    Yea! Buying tools is oddly satisfying.

    I have to say that building an airplane and home improvement are skills that reinforce each other.

    More than once tools I bought for the airplane got used at the house to fix something.

    Other than the satisfaction of cutting one's own prop, it would seem it would be less expensive to have Culver cut one for you.
    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  8. #128
    planecrazzzy's Avatar
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    Apr 2014
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank Giger View Post
    Yea! Buying tools is oddly satisfying.

    I have to say that building an airplane and home improvement are skills that reinforce each other.

    More than once tools I bought for the airplane got used at the house to fix something.

    Other than the satisfaction of cutting one's own prop, it would seem it would be less expensive to have Culver cut one for you.

    Yeah... One less thing to worry about.
    Maybe he got a new chain saw fer Christmas too...

    Any failures STILL make good clocks,
    and more than pay for the wood used,
    Gotta Fly...

  9. #129
    DaleB's Avatar
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    Sep 2015
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    KMLE
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    Tools and materials bought "for the airplane" are almost never used exclusively for the airplane, right? I've used my bandsaw, epoxy, buffer (with 3M abrasive wheel for deburring), shears, hand seamer, etc. for various household projects. Even my rivet squeezer has come in handy for flattening out bent things. When I needed a tool to clean crud out from between our deck boards, a piece of scrap angle and my "airplane" tools produced a one-of-a-kind tool for just that. And not to get too far into the details, but the Tyvek suits, chemical resistant gloves and respirators I bought for etching, alodine treating and spraying epoxy primer came in REAL HANDY when there was a deceased, decomposing skunk under our deck.
    Measure twice, cut once...
    scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.

    Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.

  10. #130
    Yep, I've even used some of my precious aluminum sheeting to make a bejeweled light fixture for the wife's closet. Birch ply for her dads canvas paintings, welded stuff for the house, made some strutts for the wheel barrow when I blended two broken wheel barrows into one, so on and so forth. Yep, can't hold a decent man card without tooling.

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