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ARCHIVED CONSTRUCTION NOTES & DIARY ENTRIES PROJECT STATUS: April 2004 Well, it's been over half a year since the last update. I'd love to report that I've finished the centre-section, but in actuality I've hardly touched it in all this time. My life definitely seems to have it's ups and downs, and unfortunately this last half year has been pretty rough for me. I decided to put the Mustang building on hold for a year or so until life seemed more stable. Anyway, things are much better now, and I'm wondering if it's time to restart. I'm torn between building and flying. I do enjoy the building, but I also want to fly, and I can see it's going to be a long time before I do that if I wait until the Mustang is finished before finishing my license. The Australian dollar is really strong at the moment so it seems an ideal time to buy another sub-kit from Mustang Aero, but I think I want to put my spare money into finishing my PPL / tailwheel / aerobatic endorsements and building up some flying experience. In the meantime I still have a lot of work remaining on the centre-section. I do seem to be a very slow builder! I've not been totally removed from aviation recently though - in fact I just returned yesterday from a 2 week around New Zealand air-race! It was an absolutely amazing experience, and is largely the reason I want to get my full license as soon as possible. It was a pure VFR race, with no GPS allowed, so I'm all practised up and ready to do my PPL navigation training I reckon! :-) I have over 1GB of pictures from the race, and I will endeavour to add a dedicated race page to this site in the near future. Interestingly, in the 61 aircraft (including one helicopter) that were in the race there were hardly any homebuilts. One Thorpe T-18 and one Falco, and that was about it. No Mustangs and somewhat surprisingly no RVs. At all. In fact I didn't see a single RV in all the time I was in NZ, despite the many airfields and aeroclubs we visitied over the course of the race.
So anyway, my intention is to continue work on the centre-section, spend money on flight training, and look at buying the gear kit and fuse or wing kit towards the end of this year. I'll try and make sure this site gets an update every month or two. PROJECT STATUS: September 2003 Making much more progress now. Trying to work on it for at least an hour every day. I have the centre-section lower skin mostly clecoed in place now. Added lots more pictures to the latest centre-section page. Click the picture at the top of the navigation bar to go to the most recent section. I've finally broken the centre-section page up into smaller sub-pages. Should be much faster to load now. PROJECT STATUS: July 2003 Finished fabricating and drilling the wing-walk stiffeners and doubler plates. Began work on the flap handle assembly. I'm now working on the nose section ribs. There was a bit of head scratching before trimming them to their final dimensions. The forward rib alignment hole on the Mustang-Aero formed ribs is not in the position specified on the plans, but appears to at least still be on the wing reference line. See the centre section construction pages for more details. I'm also starting to think about what kit section I'm going to build next, and whether I will need to build a garage / workshop before starting on it. I have updated the instruments page and the fuel page. Some of the pages on this site are getting very large and I will be trying to split the relevant sections into numerous smaller pages from now on. The centre-section page especially, is just too huge at the moment. Ah, and I've scrapped the "RG?" text from the title, since it's pretty clear I'm not going to be building retractable gear now. Maybe on my next plane? In my next life? Haha.
I have been thinking a lot about the seats however, and have finally managed to buy some second-hand C152 seats through ebay (see picture), which I think will be ideal. They are currently in transit with FedEx and should be arriving sometime next week... can't wait! They cost me US$167.50 + US$105 expidited shipping. I have no idea of the cost to get them cleaned up and repadded/recovered though - will have to wait and see. C150/152 seats seem to crop up fairly regularly on ebay - this is the third set I've seen in the last couple of months: 1: US$200.00 - dirty/torn, need recovering, includes worn
but servicable tracks, from C150. From what I've been able to find out, both 150 and 152 seats will work in the Mustang, and many other aircraft as well; they seem quite sought-after for retrofitting into Luscombes and Swifts. Much of what I learned about these seats came from this Swift site. Basically, the 152 seats have a better hinge design, are slightly wider but with a narrower track width. The 150 seat tracks are spaced about 1" farther apart, around 12.6". In some models, the pilot's seat has a height adjustment mechanism. I didn't really want this, as in the Mustang the seat simply needs to be mounted as low as possible to the centre-section floor to maximise head/canopy clearance. PROJECT STATUS: March 2003 WANTED: I need some Cessna-150 seats & tracks! I just searched ebay and found some, but the auction only had 2 minutes to go, and closed before I could make a bid! Bugger! Anyway, if anyone can help please send me an email. I don't mind if they're in the US - I can probably get Mustang Aero to hang on to them for me and have them shipped over with the fuselage kit, when I order it. Just clecoed in the seat stiffeners. Wing-walks & associated stiffeners are next on the list, along with the nose ribs. Just click on the image at the top left of the page to see where things are at. At least 2 new Mustangs have made their first flights recently! Congratulations to Mark Doble (N515MD) & Karl Utterback (MII-1820). I am totally in awe of their achievement... they are the light at the end of the (loooooong) tunnel for me! Well done guys; what an effort! PROJECT STATUS: February 2003 Working on the seat support ribs and bulkhead. Temporarily installed the control stick pitch assembly yesterday, just to see something move! :-) As usual current construction pictures can be found at the end of the centre-section construction page. Another Mustang email list member (Thanks, Jose!) has alerted me to yet another diesel aircraft engine under development! The Diesel Air DAIR-100 is currently only rated at 100hp, but they are talking about a 200hp engine for 2004. The DAIR engine is based on the Junkers Jumo engine, with 2 opposing pistons in each cylinder and twin crankshafts (where the cylinder-heads would be on a conventional engine) geared to a central output shaft. Checkout the Diesel Air website of my Engines page for more information. Exciting stuff! And Dynon Development had better get a move along with their EFIS-D10, because here comes the Grand Rapids Horizon-EFIS! It costs more, but it looks like it does more, as well. Far out, there is going to be just soooo much good stuff around when I come to buy instruments ... wow. I've realised some pages on this site can't be reached without using the javascript menu, and so the search engine spider can't index them. So I'm adding a few links here to allow the site to be crawled properly: guestbook, performance, fuel, retracts, whysite. PROJECT STATUS: January 2003 Didn't work on it much over Christmas, but am slowly making progress with the centre-section again now. I've added more pictures & notes to the centre-section construction page. I've also recently read that Jabiru have released their 8 cylinder engine into production now, first deliveries in a month or two. The specs have dropped from 6000cc & 200hp to 5100cc & 180hp @3000rpm, and it's slightly heavier than originally planned, but it still looks very good. PROJECT STATUS: December 2002 I am making some major changes to the website navigation menu (now no longer a Java applet). There may be some teething problems for a month or two. PROJECT STATUS: November 2002 Yep, believe it or not I'm STILL installing the centre-section ribs! I pulled all the ribs back out and moved the rear spar up .063 to get it in the correct position. See Mistake #3. Retrospectively that distance probably doesn't matter but I feel more comfortable with it being "right". I am working on one rib only at this point, until I feel comfortable with what I'm doing. I need to deburr the holes and edges, mark the approximate rivet locations and then flute the flanges until the rib is straight. Then I'll drill some holes and cleco it in position. And have a beer. Geez I really need to find someone who knows what they're doing to come and have a look at things. See the centre-section construction page for more info. I'm not counting of having anything done by the end of this month! I wonder if there's a perpetual award for the slowest builder? It must be about my turn to hold it I think! PROJECT STATUS: October 2002 Installing the centre-section ribs/stiffeners etc. Updated the centre-section construction page. Hoping to have all the centre-section aft ribs etc. clecoed in place by the end of this month now :-) Also added a "latest image" at the top of the navbar on the left. PROJECT STATUS: September 2002 Not a lot happenning I'm afraid. I've rough fitted one rib into the centre-section. I hadn't realised how much cutting and trimming of parts would be required. I've bought a metal-cutting bandsaw which will hopefully make the rest of the job a bit easier. I hadn't really considered that I might need a bandsaw, but now I can't see how I could do without it! The blade that came with the saw was welded poorly and wouldn't track straight and I am currently waiting on a replacement. A couple of other people on the Mustang email list are far, far ahead of me with building a 3D CAD model of the M-II so I have decided not to continue my efforts in that department for the time being. With so many other things on my plate at the moment I'm finding it hard to keep working on the plane. It is such an enormous task, I am really going to have to shift gears, psychologically, if I am to finish the airplane this decade! Currently I plan to have all the centre-section ribs clecoed in place by the end of this month. That will be a start, at least. Let's see if I can do it! PROJECT STATUS: June 2002 Built the centre-section assembly jig, main and rear spars mounted and levelled. She's a-happening! Progress is only moderate so far due to intervening birthdays, indoor aviary construction, wood-heater removal, roof tiling etc. etc. Life continues! I've been trying to wake up earlier and get a couple of hours work in each morning. This seems to be working pretty well. I've updated the centre-section construction page again, of course. I've also re-enabled the javascript to reposition the navbar on the left. This will cause a problem for people viewing this site at 800x600... time to upgrade your screen resolution to 1024x768 or higher folks! I'm back on the retractable-gear train! I ordered a set of simple retract plans from www.hinkleymall.com/retractplans.html for US$20 which aren't specifically for the M-II but are quite interesting nonetheless. And those Infinity Aerospace retracts are looking better and better by the minute, also... If only they didn't cost so much and/or the Aussie dollar wasn't so bad! My wallet would be sucked into anti-matter land if I tried to buy a set at the moment. So I'm initially ordering the video and information pack. Also check out the latest pictures of the forthcoming tandem midget at www.xu-aviation.com/tandem_midget_project.htm ... it sure looks sleek! I can't wait to see the performance figures alongside the RV-4/8 numbers! Now if this one had retracts... mmmmmm! PROJECT STATUS: May 2002 It's arrived! It's arrived! My centre-section kit is finally here! See the centre-section construction page for more details. PROJECT STATUS: April 2002 My Centre-Section kit is in transit, due to arrive in Australia on the 26th of this month. Waiting, waiting... PROJECT STATUS: March 2002 Still waiting for my centre-section kit to be shipped to Australia. I understand it's being picked up from Mustang Aeronautics on the 25th. Also found out about an amazingly cheap new EFIS soon to be released - check it out here: http://dynondevelopment.com. A pity it's so small looking. Updated the instrumentation page with a new panel layout. PROJECT STATUS: February 2002 The centre-section kit has been ordered! I've also bought a lot more tools from ATS (bucking bars) and Avery (everything else), including one of those neat-o little 3600rpm Sioux air-drills and a pneumatic rivet squeezer. Show me the rivets; I'm ready!! The shipping quote from C&H Freight to get all this to Australia by sea is about AUD$1K + $150 for insurance on AUD$10K. Added a couple more "thoughts about" pages on retractable gear and the M-II vs RV7 debate. PROJECT STATUS: January 2002 Hrm, what? I was building an airplane wasn't I? Remembered to build airplane. Website completely overhauled. In the process of ordering the M-II Centre-Section kit. Ordering more tools from Avery, to be sent to Mustang Aeronautics for inclusion in the kit-shipment to Australia. Cringing at the exchange rate. PREVIOUS MAIN PAGE DIARY TEXT Basically this is just me waffling on about stuff. Ahem. Well I had to do something before I really started building didn't I? I decided this 'diary' was largely redundant because I was copying all the information to other places on the site anyway. If I wrote about something I learned while building the flap, it should go on the flap construction page, not here. So the homepage from now on will just have a brief description of the project's current status. Or that's the plan, anyway! Time to stop learning about website design and start learning about aircraft construction, methinks! 02/01/09 Big site upgrade in progress to remove the html frames and to start using styles. Things probably won't work very well for the next couple of days... sorry! 01/08/10 Wow - first entry for a long time! Haven't really done much more since April I'm afraid. Sigh; where are my priorities eh? But the project will go on! I have moved my office upstairs which leaves the entire downstairs area of the house free for building. Hey - the clock's ticked over past midnight.. it's my birthday! :-) Oh yeah, I managed my first unassisted landing in Dad's Mustang a couple of weeks ago! I found it much easier trying to 3-point it rather than wheel it on like Dad does. The main problem I had initially was flaring too high - the viewpoint is much lower than in a Cessna! Jabiru have their 8cyl/200hp engine up and running, installing in a Supermarine Spitfire kit and developing a firewall-forward package for the RV-6. Sounds promising. I noticed that the Spitfire employs electrically operated retractable landing gear... and although it is lighter than the M-II I wonder if it could be adapted... 01/04/16 Added to flap construction and instruments. Need more tools! Argh! 01/04/09 Hmm.. have realised I need a rivet cutter. Don't seem to have enough AN470AD4-4 rivets in the flap kit, so I'm going to cut down some -5s. Ordered a cutter from Angel Aircraft ($44+$10 shipping + GST = small choking noise!). I've also added a "For Family & Friends" page, with a bit of more personal recent life-happenings. Hmm.. I need a plane so I can go visit all the rellies, spread out around the country! 01/04/02 Yeah! First rivets are in place! Added more pics to the flap construction page. Learned a few things about etching / alodining / priming on the weekend.. hmm..! 01/03/16 Whoo!! Dad flew down yesterday and I was able to get an hour of circuits with him in JAB. Haha, I now have about 1.5 hours of attempted landings in a Mustang. I still can't land the tricky little critter entirely by myself, but I felt it was an improvement over the last time I had a go - at least I felt reasonably confident taxiing this time! I think that at my current skill-level I could land it and walk (or maybe limp) away, but the plane would have a very good chance of being seriously bent, off the runway, facing the wrong direction and possibly upside down.... but it feels possible! Hmm.. tail-wheel models were never this hard to control..??? 01/03/14 Found an online panel designer page at http://sonexlinks.com/panelbuilder. Had a play with it and updated the instruments page with the results. 01/03/03 Yay! Finally found the website for the SMA SR305 diesel engine, which I previously knew as the Moraine-Renault MR200. Updated the Engines and Links pages. 01/02/28 Okay! Went flying last weekend, for the first time since Christmas! I need a couple of hours dual time in the Club's C172 before they will let me loose in it by myself, and I did 0.9 hours last Sunday. A *lot* heavier in the controls than the C152 I have done all my training in previously. Also; my corrosion-proofing and priming plans were changed on the spot last night, when I visited the owner of a local metalwork fabrication company, who started building a Zenith Zodiac CH601 aircraft about 6 months ago, under the Australian Ultralight Federation (AUF) rules. It hardly seems at ultralight, as it cruises at over 100kts, but.. it meets the weight and stall speed requirements. He's building his plane from the plans only, but has made an awful lot more progress than I have, that's for sure! He has the centre section completed and both wings framed up, almost ready for skinning. But the big discovery for me was that he has enormous 6 metre long acid-etching (alumiprep) and chromating (alodine) tanks at his factory, which he uses to chromate just about everything, including entire wing-skins! I told him I'd see him out there soon, with a wheelbarrow load of aluminium Mustang parts! So my anti-corrosion process for internal parts will now be: 1.
Scotchbrite the surface of alclad parts to slightly texture the surface Obviously, I have updated the corrosion page! I've done some test engraving with my modified engraver bit, and the results look perfectly satisfactory. Nice little bead-indents with no sharp edges or breaks anywhere. 01/02/24 Added a little explanation on the Why the Website? page. I have finally obtained an impact type engraver, and will experiment with different shaped tips this weekend to see if I can safely mark aluminium parts with it. 01/02/04 Nothing much. Just changed flap construction page layout a little. I'm waiting to get a vibrating engraver (beading, not cutting) to mark all the parts with before cleaning/etching/priming them. Bit of an excuse, I know, but I can't afford the next (centre-section) kit yet anyway, so there's no rush to finish this one. 01/01/19 Added a Java based navigation menu applet in the navbar on the left. If your browser doesn't support the Java runtime environment, I'm afraid you aren't going to be able to navigate around this site very easily. Sorry. I've been flying my electric Zagi model a bit the last few days - I had forgotten how fun it is! I would like someone else around here to build one also, so we can have aerial combat competitions! I'll try and add a picture of the Zagi (a virtually indestructible flying wing) to the radio control page soon. I'll do more on the Mustang soon, I promise!! 01/01/12 Updated the flap construction page. 01/01/10 More deburring, dimpling and countersinking, updated the flap construction page, tools page. 01/01/08 Started working on the flap again, deburring and dimpling, updated the flap construction page. 01/01/04 Added to the Instruments & Avionics page. 00/12/16 Not a great deal happening, just fixing up some problems with the "Why a Mustang?" page. Got some Alumiprep and Alodine from Aviall in Victoria a few days ago... I really need to get stuck into it again - things have been too busy at work the last couple of weeks :( 00/12/03 I passed my GFPT this morning! Yeah! Whoo-hoo! I also managed to borrow some cans of Tempo Zinc-Chromate primer last week, so I'm ready to go again with the flap. I'm not going to be able to put off the riveting for much longer :) 00/11/26 I have the flap all disassembled again now. Trying to find a source of Zinc Chromate primer so I can stick it all back together. Made a few tweaks to this site to hopefully make it view better in various browsers. Also, the Dynacam engine now appears to be in production for US$30,000. Their website has certainly had a facelift, and has a good picture of the engine on the home page. Check it out. 00/11/18 Yay!! Drilled the last hole in the flap kit tonight!! More pics on the flap construction page. Now the only things left to do are disassemble, deburr, dimple, countersink, clean, prime and (eek) rivet together! I'm guessing I'm about halfway there! Still, it looks like part of a plane and I'm happy :) 00/11/17 Added more to the flap construction page. Nose ribs are in place now. 00/11/15 All the stiffeners are in place; nose-ribs and rolling the leading edge of the upper skin tonight hopefully. Starting to wonder about the wisdom of installing retractable gear. Rather against the KISS principle, and also the weight issue... maybe I should go in the other direction and use "lighter-than-standard" fixed aluminium gear? I wonder about the possibility of retro-fitting retractable gear after first building it with fixed gear? This would give a definitive, measurable speed increase to show if it was worth it (or not!)...? Added the Mind-It button to the navbar. If you click it you get to enter your email address and receive a notification whenever I change this page. It's a very handy free service - I use it to monitor most of the new engine sites etc. 00/11/13 Rolling along now - a couple of hours each night and things are really happening. I've been working on the bottom skin stiffeners tonight. I've located them and drilled them onto the skin, and now have to cut the long chamfer on their trailing ends to clear the top skin. I can't do it with my straight snips because the lower flange is too close, and I'd wake up my house-mates if I charged forth with the dremel cut-off wheel. I think I'll buy some left & right handed snips tomorrow, as they seem like the correct tools to use, and I'm sure I will be needing them later on anyway. The Mustang Aero site is starting to get a few more interesting sections - specifically the FAQ section. I'm looking forward to the "Is retractable gear available?" question being answered! I also noticed that this site is now listed on the builder's websites page, so in case you've come from there I've added some quick links above to get back to the Mustang Aero site quickly ... after you browse around here first of course! I'm also starting to update the M-II Costs page with some actual figures for comparison with my initial estimates. 00/11/07 Finally things are starting to move along. I made more progress on the flap this last weekend than in the four months prior! Now I have something together that at least looks like part of an airplane it makes the end goal seem more achievable. I'm taking lots of photos as I go, and will be keeping the flap construction page as up-to-date as I can. Go check it out to see where I'm up to! I now have the 20 hours required for the GFPT and had a pre-test check on the weekend. Everything went okay and with any luck I'll be able to do the test this week sometime and take passengers next weekend! The milestones are falling...! 00/10/20 Okay. The tools from Avery arrived last week, so I'm back in the business again. The tools took about a week to get here. I decided to buy the two most important groups of tools in the table I made. They totalled US$250, so about $500, but it ended up costing almost another $300 in shipping and import fees!! That was a bit of a shock. But anyway, at least I can continue building now. I passed the PPL exam okay, and I'm now just an hour away from my GFPT. Unfortunately the weather has not been cooperating lately though, and I haven't been for a fly for a few weeks now :( Hopefully tomorrow morning will change that however. I read on the RV mailing-list today that Jabiru are designing a new 8-cylinder, 105kg (231 lb), 180hp@2700rpm / 200hp@3000rpm version of their (Australian made) engine, with the RV aircraft as the target market. There is nothing on their website as yet, but it's definitely happening and could be available in 12 months or so. 00/10/02 Last week I had to countersink the 3/32 holes in the flap hinge and filler strips. Unfortunately the 3/32 piloted countersink that was in the tools borrowed from Eddie has the pilot broken off. Since there weren't that many holes to do, I thought I'd try using the non-piloted deburring countersink in my el-cheapo battery drill. It didn't take me long to realise that this wasn't going to work. Without the pilot, the countersink chatters impressively, and I ended up with holes that were square, triangular, flower shaped, star shaped... in fact just about every shape except round! Some even looked like they had serrations especially design to slice rivets in half :) So I need the proper tool before continuing. Angel aircraft has been a bit confusing to deal with, so I'm now thinking of ordering some stuff from Avery Tools in the US. I made up a little spreadsheet of all the tools I would like and then sorted them by priority to come up with a table I've added to the tools page. 00/09/15 The PPL exam felt like it went okay. Hopefully I've passed, anyway! Have been working on making this site a bit more Netscape friendly while I wait to get some more .020 Aluminium from which to make another flap skin :( 00/09/13 My PPL exam is tonight. Having a break from the study updating this site a bit. Making some changes to reflect my new "single" status and added a heap of pictures to the About Me page etc... I'm feeling extra enthusiastic about flying at the moment; looking forward to the "Hey Dad, can I borrow the plane?" milestone! <grin> 00/09/08 I've now got 10 hours dual and 2.6 hours solo in my log book. Slowly getting there; about another 7 hours to my GFPT if I keep learning well. I did some 3 turn spins with my instructor in the C152 this afternoon - fun stuff! Except it takes almost forever to get to altitude in the little Cessna... sure am looking forward to 2000fpm climb rates in the Mustang! And on that subject, after my construction efforts last night I am adding a Stupid Mistakes page to the construction menu. Feel free not to look at it though! Ahem. 00/08/27 Added some more thoughts and links to the corrosion page. 00/08/22 Unfortunately there has not been much progress happening. About a month ago my wife unexpectedly left me, and so my life has been in some turmoil since. Work has also been extremely busy over the past few weeks, although this is probably a good thing. I am starting to get things together again, and hopefully will begin making more progress on the plane soon. Flying lessons are coming along nicely, and I've knocked up a couple of hours of solo circuits in the aero-club's C152. Yesterday I drove up to Wynyard to watch and help with the annual on dad's Mustang. It was very interesting to see it with all the cowling and access covers off and to be able to crawl around inside the fuselage and behind the instrument panel. There is certainly a lot more to building these planes than merely riveting aluminium together! 00/07/19 I did some more shopping today... :) I finally got hold of one of the 3M CP-7AM Scotchbrite wheels that Van's recommends for building the RVs. I'm not sure how the crowd I bought it through (Blackwoods) worked out the price, but it cost me $27 which is pretty good compared against about US$45 that the overseas suppliers list it at! Interestingly, they had the coarse version of the same wheel in stock for nearly $120... hmm. 3M CP-7AM 6" Scotchbrite wheel - $27 00/07/11 Dad flew down from King Island yesterday and this morning he took me for some circuits in JAB. Yeah!! This was the first time I have really flown JAB other than in a straight line to wherever the GPS says to go :) Boy is this plane different than the C152 I'm learning to fly in! It's been a couple of months since I did my first solo in the 152 but I haven't done any flying since then, while waiting for my medical. The 152 takes ages to complete a circuit, but allows plenty of time to think about what comes next. In Dad's M-II it all happens pretty fast, that's for sure. Everything seems about twice as fast, especially the upwind climbout... it felt like mere seconds between leaving the ground and being at circuit height! The speed felt good though, and once in the air it was just fantastic. The visibility and view of the circuit area is wonderful compared with the high-wing Cessna. Takeoffs were pretty interesting but I felt reasonably comfortable; just have to remember to be smooth on the throttle and stay on top of the rudder controls. But landing - geez! No way could I land that thing! Final was fine (although flaps are supposed to slow planes down aren't they!??), and the higher (than a 152) approach speed didn't worry me, but actually putting it on the ground is totally different to what I'm used to, and I had no hope! I'd be about ready to flare, and Dad would push on the stick to wheel it on. His wheel, then my wheel, push more to keep the little tailwheel off, more, more, more, then brakes, and finally the tail comes down and it feels only then like we've stopped actually flying. What a long, drawn out trauma inducing experience! It all felt totally weird to me and I can see I have many, many hours ahead before coming to terms with these little tail-draggers. What a fantastic challenge though, eh? I really want to be able to fly this type of plane well. And I still definitely want to build the tailwheel version. I feel that if I built a tri-gear version I would be defacing the airplane design and also that I'd be missing out on something intangibly wonderful and powerful. I have a reinforced respect for all those little tail-dragger pilots out there. 00/07/08 I'm putting together my first list of tools to buy from Angel Aircraft. ATS don't sell the 3M CP-7AM scotchbrite wheel that all the RV tool suppliers recommend for edge deburring, so I'm trying to source one locally. Interestingly, the CP-7AM is supposedly for Cutting & Polishing, and 3M actually have a different product they recommend for deburring aerospace components. Sigh... it's all so confusing! And just now, looking through the Avery Tools catalogue, it is very tempting to order straight from them rather than ATS/Angel Aircraft. It just seems easier to select things out of the Avery catalogue. The shipping cost would be pretty scary though, I'm sure. Maybe I should wait. Do all of the flap kit by hand the hard way with minimum tools and then get the Avery stuff sent over with the next kit shipment from Mustang Aeronautics? The more I think about it the more sense this makes. Plus it leaves me a little more money at the moment to continue flying lessons... yep, that decides it. What am I thinking anyway? I'm being a baby! If I have enough of the "right" tools do I expect the aircraft to miraculously self-assemble itself? Even with virtually no tools I've got it easy - this is a kit of largely pre-formed components! So... it must be time to go and sand some more flap rib edges... 00/07/06 Whoo-Hoo! My medical certificate finally arrived today! Now I can get some legal lessons again! I take a blood anti-coagulant because of a sub-clavian clot and stenting procedure I had a few years ago, and it's taken two or three months for CASA to digest all the information. But it appears to be all sorted out now, valid for 4 years with no restrictions other than optical. I've been filing and sanding smooth the flap nose ribs this evening. I'm sure there must be a better way; it's taking me ages! They're such fiddly little things, it feels like I'm building models again! I'm looking forward to some bigger parts, and getting a scotchbrite wheel for the grinder. 00/07/02 Today I decided that if I wait until I have all the tools I would like, I might never get around to building anything, let alone finish the project! And after all, this is only the flap we're talking about here. If things aren't quite perfect it's not going to matter that much, and if it turns out decidedly dodgy I can always build another one. So I'm treating this flap as a learning experience in preparation for more serious things such as the centre-section. With this in mind, I went down to a local hardware store and bought some straight cutting metal snips, a couple of small round files, a file brush, some emery paper, a little flap-disk for a hand drill (they didn't have any scotchbrite products), a few plastic handi-clamps and an automatic centrepunch. Total cost AUD$73.50. The centrepunch felt like it was built to mark hardened steel! It was way too strong and I had to pull it apart and cut the driving spring shorter. And shorter again. Now it rattles a bit, but feels about right. I'd never heard of these gadgets until embarking on this project, so it was interesting to finally get one and see how they work... snazzy :) So now I'm ready to cut the flap hinge, smooth the edges & radii on all the flap ribs and drill some holes! I'm just going to use my el-cheapo battery-drill and the short little #40 bit until I get a decent pneumatic drill and set of bits. It's only a flap, it's only a flap... 00/06/24 Updated the Tools page. Added some text and included picture of pneumatic wing skin dimpling. 00/06/23 Added the Walter Lom & Wilksch Aeromotive engines. Added a few links, including Infinity Aerospace who make cool stick grips and now also retractable gear for some of the composite canards like the Long-EZ. Their retracts look pretty nice; emailed them about the possibility of using them or some variation in a Mustang-II. The canard retracts cost US$4,200. Pretty expensive, but includes all the electronics and hydraulics to make it go. I guess it's very unlikely that they'll fit straight into a Mustang, but where there's a will there's a way, or so they say... :) 00/06/20 Updated the Instruments page. 00/06/18 Updated the Engines page. 00/06/17 Updated the Links page. Also received a letter back from the SAAA acknowledging my BAP registration. They have yet to assign me a Technical Counselor - I hope there is someone local here in Tasmania who can perform this task, or it could make things rather expensive... 00/06/15 Updated the Why a Mustang? page. 00/06/09 Updated the Why Build? page. 00/06/08 Updated the Why fly? page. More information on the SAAA's Builders Assistance Program was in this month's AirSport magazine, and I've now faxed in the registration form, indicating my intent to build under this program. I've done some searching of the EAA site looking for M-II and retractable gear info. and come up with the following list of Sport Aviation articles:
I have heard on the Mustang list that Johnny Thompson is something of a master of M-II retracts, so the last two articles could be enlightening. I'm trying to find someone local with the relevant SA magazines, but failing that I will order the individual articles from the EAA. I'm also compiling a list of books I would like to get hold of. I found most of these at www.buildersbooks.com. I think I'll create a separate "resources" page to put all this sort of info in... sometime.
00/06/07 I've been waiting to hear back from Angel Aircraft about buying tools. In the meantime, seeing as I can't make much progress on the actual plane I thought I'd spend a little time building this web site. This is my first real excursion into the world of html, so I'm having an interesting time! I even had to use some javascript to get those dropdown menus in the navbar working. Would you believe, it has taken the best part two (long) evenings to get just them working properly, even though they are actually very simple now that I know how to do it! I changed from a table of links to the dropdown menus because the page was too tall to view below about 1280x1024 resolution. It now fits well into 1024x768. If you have any questions or suggestions about this site, or things you would like to see on it, please let me know. 00/05/29 00/05/30 Engine Lycoming O-320 150hp MUSTANG-II ENGINE CHOICESENGINE POWER COST (OEM) TBO REBUILD 00/05/27 A big new hardware store opened today here in Launceston. They were advertising lots of opening specials and so my son Jade and I went to check it out. We came away with some #30 drill bits (finally) and a set of ear-muffs. When we got home I tried driving some more rivets, this time in the correct sized hole, but they still looked awful! I was somewhat discouraged by this until I decided to pretend I had the proper AN470 set in the gun and drive the rivet from the manufactured head side and buck the rivet tail, as is normal practise. What a difference! Nice straight rivets easy as pie! Of course the flush rivet set flattened the heads somewhat, but apart from that they were great. And oh so much easier to drive! Even 5 year-old Jade could drive nice looking rivets if I held the bucking bar for him. I will definitely be waiting to get a proper AN470 type rivet set before attacking the flap kit with the gun. The 2X gun seemed to drive the 1/8" AN470-4 rivets perfectly well. MUSTANG-II CORROSION PREVENTION CONSIDERATIONSWell. This seems to be a very much debated and rather volatile subject. Searching through the hundreds of rv-list posts on primers and corrosion unearthed the following materials, methods and issues that need consideration: Alclad, Alodine, Zinc Chromate, Self Etching Primers, Epoxy Primers 00/05/26 I’m also thinking about gear (retract) and fuel options (how much, weight, where, inverted pickup etc). MUSTANG-II FUEL OPTIONS
I don’t feel that wingtip tanks suit the Mustang, as they must surely increase parasitic drag, reduce cruise speed and limit aerobatic abilities. They also seem like a lot of bother for a very small amount of fuel. Similarly with the C/S aux tanks – too much weight and hassle and expense for minimal increase in capacity. Both the header tank options mount between the instrument panel and the firewall. The large header tank (as in the original M-II design) does not provide much room for instruments and avionics behind the panel. Some builders have had to move the panel forward several inches and have still reported it being a tight squeeze. I am not really keen on having so much fuel in the cockpit with me. I have not read any actual statistics or investigations on the matter but I think an emergency/crash landing or in-flight engine fire would be more dangerous with a fuel tank directly ahead of the pilot and behind the engine like this. On the other hand this tank position (being on the aircraft centre-line) is good for aerobatics. I’m not sure how to put an inverted fuel system in the header tank, but I am sure there must be some traditional method as this is a common fuel location for many aircraft. The leading edge wet wing option holds more fuel than either header-tank, and the weight of the fuel being supported by the wing itself reduces the in-flight stress on the wing attachment. However wet-wings are probably not a good choice for aerobatics due to the increased moment of inertia and the possibility of fuel starvation in uncoordinated maneuvers (when all the fuel sloshes away from the pickup toward the wingtip). This would also happen during inverted flight, unless some sort of one-way-valve/trapdoor arrangement was put in place to temporarily trap fuel in the first rib bay or so. Wet wings would be harder to build than simply slapping in a header tank, and in low wing aircraft require an electric fuel pump to backup and initially prime the engine driven pump. I was initially thinking to go with the leading edge wet wings and the smaller header tank. I could use the header tank for aerobatics, yet be able to leave it empty at other times. I don’t know how this line of thought would work in reality though, as I think that more accidents and fatalities arise due to lack of fuel in-flight than from fuel fires. It is probably safer simply to have as much fuel as possible, no matter where it is located. So… my current thinking is to go for both wet wing options, plus the smaller header tank. This would provide 135+105+45 = 285 litres = 75gal = 200kg of Avgas. This is a lot heavier than the original header tank fuel load of 67kg, and will have a big impact on the all-up-weight and max payload with full fuel, but should provide a good range for cross-country / inter-continental (I hope!) flying. Let’s see: 285 litres / 35 litres/hr = 8 hours. 8 hours x 180 knots = 1440M = 1655m = 2665km. I’m not too sure how realistic the fuel burn and cruise speed figures are, but it sounds nice! Hmm… just another thought: 135+105+95 = 335 liters = 88 gal = 238kg, 9.5hr, 3165km MUSTANG-II WEIGHT CONSIDERATIONSOkay, all this fuel weighs a fair bit, so I’m wondering what the component weight breakdown of this aircraft is likely to be. A light M-II weights about 450kg (1000lb) empty, with an aerobatic gross weight of 610kg (1350lb) and a utility gross of 725kg (1600lb). Some builders in the US have specified their planes with a max gross of 815kg (1800lb). The 450kg empty weight is typical (I think) of an aircraft with the large header tank, a Lycoming O-320 engine with a fixed pitch wooden prop and light VFR instrumentation. I am hoping to use one of the new Jet-A burning compression ignition "diesel" engines, which will hopefully (fingers crossed) be available by the time I have completed the airframe. The two most likely candidates are the Moraine/Renault MR200 air/oil-cooled, turbocharged 4-stroke, 200hp engine and the NASA/Continental water-cooled, turbocharged 2-stroke GAP engine, also 200hp. I believe that both of these engines will weigh slightly less than their current day equivalent, which would be a Lycoming IO-360, and that they will require a new, engine specific, constant speed propeller.
Maybe I am going a bit overboard with the fuel? I wonder where the CG would end up in the various possible configurations? The heavy-ish engine with constant speed prop and forward fuselage mounted header tank may require rear fuselage mounted battery to bring the CG into range? How does one work all this out before building it? 00/05/23 I found an Australian supplier of aircraft tools: Angel Aircraft. I’m going to send them my desired tool list and see what they have. Pneumatic squeezers seem very attractive at this point! 00/05/20 Andrew Biner has some clecos - I wonder where he got them from? I must ask. Also must see if I can borrow his "Aircraft Sheet Metal" book, and/or one of his Tony Bingelis books. Just about the first step in the M-II flap instructions is to deburr and smooth the edges of all the aluminium parts with a file or emery-paper. I can't imagine a file being very convenient and I don't have any emery paper. Is this where most people use a grinder and scotchbright wheel? Or do they use a belt sander? Or..? There is so much really basic stuff that I don't understand yet. This is the list of tools I have come up with after looking at lots of recommended tool lists (mostly for RVs) on the net, tool suppliers’ tool-kits, reading other builder’s construction notes etc. MUSTANG-II CONSTRUCTION TOOLS
AIR TOOLS POWER TOOLS BENCH EQUIPMENT HAND TOOLS MEASUREMENT TOOLS DRILLING TOOLS CLAMPING TOOLS RIVETING ATTACHMENTS 00/05/12 00/05/05 00/04/29 00/04/13 00/04/11 00/03/?? MUSTANG-II ESTIMATED BUILDING COST BREAKDOWN
00/03/12 00/03/?? 00/02/28 Mustang-II stall speed – solo – 48 knots / 55mph There’s not as much difference as I initially thought, and I think that a light, well built M-II could just about hold it’s own against an RV6 in the landing length departments. Maybe I’m a bit too hopeful? I guess I just like the Mustang-II better. Ultimately, I need to like the airplane I build, so I think it’s going to be the M-II. 00/02/27 00/02/26 00/02/22 Mustang Aeronautics does not supply a "finish kit" like Van’s does, instead supplying the finishing items separately. I imagine I would probably make some of the fiberglass parts myself rather than buying them from MA, but to get an idea of the costs I compiled the following table (disconnect your financial common sense before continuing…): MUSTANG-II vs RV6 COST COMPARISON
MUSTANG-II PERFORMANCE & DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS
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Things have been pretty busy at home and work lately and I
haven't been able to get much actual construction done, so I'm still at the
wing-walk stiffener stage.