Building a Fokker D VII

[Fokker Builder]

A place to sit
1/14/18, Dangit, cold again. Here is the seat I worked on a few hours Thursday and Friday. The seat was cut out flat, bent the 5?8" flange on the bottom, then the flange was run through the shrinker to force the seat into the round. It was then clamped and riveted to the seat base. I have to do some more work like bend the upper edges backward, cover with foam, leather, and lace the edges.

The last pic I think Lori is starting to be more supportive of the plane. She got me some signage.

[planecrazzzy]

Looks like an Airplane "Banger"
.
Gotta Fly...

[Fokker Builder]

Oh so very cool. I was asked to give a presentation on the build by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter, of the World War I Historians, at the Nation Air and Space Museum, Udvar Hazy today. So very cool. Met some great people, some I have met before, and learned a great deal. I was invited back and they would like me to keep them updated.

Schwing schwing

[Fokker Builder]

1/21/18, So here is what I was working on today and a picture of a new acquisition. I started rolling the edges of the seat with a plastic body working hammer and a dolly. I have some wrinkles to work out. See in some areas the metal is being stretched and in others it is bunching up. As a fried likes to say, metal is more plasticized than people give it credit. This 2024 T-3 aluminum has already moved quite a bit at this point.



I also got in my aluminum/bronze bushing stock, 2 3/4" O.D. X 1 1/2" I.D. These bushings are going around the 2 1/8" steel axle and inside the 6"+ wide motorcycle style wheels I will be making.



The acquisition I got was a rotary cross slide table that I will use to drill hole circles for the spokes, mounting bolts for the disc brake rotor, as well as other hole circles I will have to drill.



Good to be in the shop today. Did find the start of a little rust, from the recent humid weather, on the lathe and rotary table so they are sprayed with WD 40 and the whole shop will get a good going over later this week.




Jim

[Fokker Builder]

2/9/18, Here we go pyramid plate heel treads for the cockpit floor.

[Frank Giger]

Hmmm, I'm guessing those are really rounded and easy to slide one's heel along.

In my aircraft they'd just wind up filled in with dirt and smoothed out anyway.

[Fokker Builder]

Good morning Frank,

Yeah, I am thinking those hard edges on the wooden retainers are going to get seriously abraided as well

Jim

[Fokker Builder]

2/11/18, So here is the last two days work. Most of the first extra wide spoke wheel hub for the Fokker. This would go a lot faster if not for my 85 year old, 1 hp lathe. Plus the boring bar I made worked so poorly I had an awful lot of chatter. Could be cause I made the thing almost 10" long. It was not a big surprise it didn't work so well. I found a 6" boring bar on Ebay, should be here by the 11th. In the mean time I am going to finish this wheel and drill the next hub out to 1 1/2" while I wait for the new boring bar.




Oh, by the way, this is why I bought this 5" diameter 6061 T 6 aluminum from Metal Supermarket in Beltsville, MD.

[Mark Thompson]

Looks like I am going to half to build my own wheels too. What size tire are you going to use. I need to use a antique truck tire from Lucas tire. As large motorcycle tires won't hold the weight of my plane. (Curtis 0-1) about 3,000lbs gross. tire size is supposed to be 30X6 on 20 in rim. What size rim are you going to use. How many spokes.?

[Frank Giger]

What are you going to do for rims?

I think I'm going to talk to Airdrome about larger wheels for the Noop. I just don't have any clearance for the axle.

Wife says your seat was made just like mine, only with skill.