Removing the canard

Big day, major surgery, I finally removed the broken canard.  Would you call that a canardodectomy?  I tell you what, that sucker didn't come out without a fight.

First, I leveled the airplane then made templates to establish the flight level condition.  These will be critical to get the proper alignment when I install the new canard.

Making the first cut, with Mr. Sawzall.

After a couple of hours of wrangling it's finally breaking loose.  We had to take an hour off because I accidentally cut through the main fuel tank supply line.  there was about a gallon and a half of fuel left in the tank, so we had to wait for it to drain and dry out.

Smiling on the outside - crying on the inside.

It's out.  Pretty sad, really, for a hunk of Styrofoam and fiberglass..  A couple hundred people had their feet rest on the passenger's side when I gave them rides.  Only one set of feet on the pilot's side.

More Detail on Making Wheel Pants.

In the Quickie Aircraft plans, they have you make the wheel pants as a couple of straight-sided items, as seen her in Paul Fisher's beaut.

Air doesn't like to flow in a straight line around an object. There has been a lot of work done on pressure recovery wheel pants, and I thought it would be a good idea to take a clue from the guys working in this area.

So, the problem becomes, how to make a pressure recovery type pant with our little birds that use the pant itself to support the weight of the aircraft?  For the shape, I went to a set of RV-7 wheel pants and tried to emulate that shape. The way I approached it, was to build the interior of the plant per QAC plans. That way I knew it'd be structurally sound.  Once the slab sides are complete, I would build up the outside of the pant for the improved aerodynamics.  This would be a great place to use a wind tunnel and scale models, but unfortunately, that's not my bailiwick.

Again, I started out making the regular wheel pant structure, including the brakes and axle hard points.  I then fitted the wheel in place.  The brake calipers will be buried in the foam for the time being.

Next, using two part expandable foam, I glue Styrofoam scraps all over the wheel pant, giving it a slightly unaerodynamic shape. The idea is to build up enough for carving.

Now using a couple of templates as a guide, I get out my trusty Milwaukee Sawzall and start whittling away at it. I try to go slow and slice off a little at a time. Just like carving a turkey.  Keep your broom and trash can handy.

Here are a couple of videos showing more about my Sawszall art carving methods.

Part 1

After flipping the canard onto it's back, here is Part 2.

Sam - Put Your Pants On!

I've been making some progress getting the new wheel pants fabricated and installed. First, I made the hot wire templates and installed on a block of foam. (As always, click on the photo to see the detail.)

Two cores are cut out, left and right.

Plywood hard points are installed in a 1/4" piece of white foam.  These hard points are reinforced with extra layers of glass.  The one in the center is for the axle, the one at the left is to mount the brake caliper.

I rigged up a simple vacuum bag setup which did a nice job of pulling the foam flat and sucking out excess epoxy.

Here, one of the wheel pant covers has been attached to the foam core. A similar cover is attached to the other side of the pant core.

The trick is to properly line up the wheel pants to give the proper toe-out and camber. I used David Gall's white paper to establish the proper numbers.  We took a cheap laser pointer and taped it to a tripod and first set it up so it would shoot through both wheel pants. That established our baseline.

Then we mounted a board at the center point of the canard and drilled a hole which was our target, again using David Gall's numbers.

Target board.

Once we were satisfied with the position, we used epoxy micro to lock it in place.  We used a hot glue gun and stirring sticks to hold everything in place until it cured.

 Major assistance was provided by Jerry Marstall and Pat McGuire.

 Now we're getting somewhere. a couple of days later the axle, wheel and brake caliper are installed.

 

Bill Hunter was kind enough to come over and help me flip the canard. The next major jobs will be carving and final glassing of the wheel pants, to a nice aerodynamic shape.

 While Jerry was here he directed fabrication of the collapsible Quickie Tail Cradle. This will greatly simplify tail removal.  Wish I had this 20 years ago.

Will I make to Oshkosh?  Stay tuned.