Airdrome Aeroplanes Nieuport 17

[bookmaker]

June was a busy month and other than the trip to pick up the cowl, no work on the N17. I have since completed the bracket attachments on the upper wing ribs. I then moved on to forming the lower wing ribs.

Before starting on the lower ribs, I had to test the fit of my propeller to the engine hub. Nice.



Then on to the lower ribs. Since I changed the profile (thinner) I had to fiddle with the bend of the upper ribs as I could not find a single bend on the fixture that would do what I wanted. A little tweaking of each part was required. But they came out nice.



Then to cut the shape on the nose.







Then I built the fixtures for attaching the brackets that tie the ribs to the spars. At this point I have not cut the tails of the ribs.



Today is office work day again, so little or no work today.

I need to set up the drill fixture to cut the tails to fit 1/2" tubing. Also I have not yet made the L brackets, so I have to do that next. Then I will attach one set of brackets and check it against the actual spars for correct spacing before attaching the remainder.

Dale

[bookmaker]

Took a break from trimming the ends and brought one lower wing structure from the hangar to set the rib spacing.



Also laid out the tip lines per the Rosendaal drawings.



I was having problems with drilling the arc in the tail of the rib. 1/2" step drill through 1/2" tubing wanted to catch just as the cut finished. This evening, I changed the blocks to oak and made them snug. I used a step bit with about 10 steps (max 1/2") at high speed in the drill press. Finally, I made the final cut through real slow and stopped the bit before I let it back up. Worked real good.





Phew, the north Florida heat and humidity are killers.

Dale

[Frank Giger]

Very nice.

So, is the shop apron to catch the sweat coming off your glasses or the face shield?

(building airplanes Down South is so much fun in the summertime!)

[bookmaker]

The temperature and humidity here in the Florida have been stifling the last couple weeks, but I have braved a little time in the shop.

All of the lower wing rib sets have been fit with the spar attachment brackets:



Trial fit:



I made one set with tabs pointing left and one set with tabs pointing right. All are clearing obstacles except the one just outside the inner compression strut. It had to be trimmed:



Then it was on to forming the wing tip bows:




Mirror image for the other tip:



Lovely assistant holding tips for comparison:



Next is to form the rear spar tips to a taper down to the 1/2" tip bow.

Dale

[bookmaker]

After a lot of sweat, moaning, groaning and some pain, one wing tip is basically attached.







Here is the end result of raking my arm against the pointy end of a 1/2" drill bit. 3" long by about 1/8" deep slice. Nice sharp drill bit. I don't recommend trying this.



Dale

[eiclan]

After a lot of sweat, moaning, groaning and some pain, one wing tip is basically attached.







Here is the end result of raking my arm against the pointy end of a 1/2" drill bit. 3" long by about 1/8" deep slice. Nice sharp drill bit. I don't recommend tan inspector .



Dale

In relation to the heat; my family lives in Perth Western Australia and about 15 years ago my brother finished a Glasair and you can imagine the heat in the middle summer here,in an aluminium shed. The civil aviation authority gave him a temp range inside of which he could work the fiberglass. So took him 9 years.He was lucky in that he had an inspector living next door. Slick machine but. Cheers Ross

[bookmaker]

G'day eiclan. Thanks for looking in. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was.

At least working with the aluminum, heat is not a concern with the material. It is not so much the actual temperature here, it is the humidity level at the temperature. It is just stifling.

ps: I've never been to Australia, but it's on my bucket list.

Dale

[eiclan]

Pop over mate ,nice weather with 300 sunny days,on average, a year. Bring the aerplane you will love it. Cheers Ross

[bookmaker]

I sent the material and drawing to my dad to machine the aileron blocks.



He found it best to cut the holes by turning on his lathe.

Photos of progress:

[bookmaker]

Meanwhile, Rose and I started attaching ribs on the lower right wing:





The rear plates were not attached top the rear spar until I was comfortable with the straightness of the trailing edge. So far about 1/2 of the ribs have been attached to the rear spar.





I need to fabricate the plates to attach the trailing edge to the tails of the ribs.

Dale