jbrinker
Pre-takeoff checklist
I recently acquired the biplane my grandfather scratch built back in th 1980-1990 timeframe. It was flying as recently as this fall, but is now disassembled (wings, etc) and needs some work.
I have a similar thread over on biplaneforum.com as well, but since I've been on here longer and we have a more diverse membership, I wanted to toss this out to the community to see what thoughts ya'll might have.
Here's my initial assessment (link to google photos album at bottom)
- Belly fabric is shot. Well, the paint is SHOT, as in peeing/has peeled off in large chunks. Lots of tape, krylon, etc. on there as band-aids. Its much worse than 3 years ago when I last saw it.
- Some corrosion on two of the lower wind attach fittings (on fuse). Nothing super serious, but definitely going to need to do some overall corrosion cleanup and repainting of anything I can access.
- Wiring is corroded and probably looking at a complete rewire job.
- Has some old INOP fuel totalizer that is no longer supported (company gone). Will be removing that.
- Some gauges/instruments have seen better days. Compass esp.
- Rear seat needs something for a back, of some kind.
- Fabric on movable rudder bottom is loose, and looks to have been this way a long time.
- Engine (IO-360-B1F) is in good shape, up to date, and only 582hrs since full rebuild at PennYan. Prop is also in good shape and up to date.
- Nose Bowl is not in great shape. Its been repaired a number of times in the thin area in back of the prop and is on it's last legs.
- Wings are in good shape, with only some very minor paint cracks. No delam at all showing.
- Fabric is Ceconite 7600 system, (unfortunately) painted with "acrylic enamel with hardener" (probably DuPont Imron)
My thoughts:
I had thought "Get her back together and get flying by mid summer, doing as little as possible". Now that I've seen it I think "Well, this is a bigger job. Probably have to do fabric on the fuse. Maybe a good time to hit a lot of this other stuff on the fuselage.
Not sure if it's too big a job to take on, but thinking:
- Pull all the aluminum off the fuse and see what else might need attention. At a minimum the belly fabric has to be replaced. Might as well do the whole fuse and tail at that point.
- What method is best to clean and repaint the exposed fuselage tubing while I have it tore down? I'm thinking maybe dry ice blasting?
- Thinking Stewarts System for recover. Paint too.
- Full rewire, wiring is pretty bad.
- Maybe consider going with something like the Dynon FlightDEK-D180 to replace most of the engine and some of the existing steam gauges.
- If I go that route, and maybe even if not, thinking at least cut a new panel even if I reuse some of the existing instruments.
Or I could be totally getting ahead of myself.
-Jeff
Photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/B2d16ZG52ID2gxiC2
I have a similar thread over on biplaneforum.com as well, but since I've been on here longer and we have a more diverse membership, I wanted to toss this out to the community to see what thoughts ya'll might have.
Here's my initial assessment (link to google photos album at bottom)
- Belly fabric is shot. Well, the paint is SHOT, as in peeing/has peeled off in large chunks. Lots of tape, krylon, etc. on there as band-aids. Its much worse than 3 years ago when I last saw it.
- Some corrosion on two of the lower wind attach fittings (on fuse). Nothing super serious, but definitely going to need to do some overall corrosion cleanup and repainting of anything I can access.
- Wiring is corroded and probably looking at a complete rewire job.
- Has some old INOP fuel totalizer that is no longer supported (company gone). Will be removing that.
- Some gauges/instruments have seen better days. Compass esp.
- Rear seat needs something for a back, of some kind.
- Fabric on movable rudder bottom is loose, and looks to have been this way a long time.
- Engine (IO-360-B1F) is in good shape, up to date, and only 582hrs since full rebuild at PennYan. Prop is also in good shape and up to date.
- Nose Bowl is not in great shape. Its been repaired a number of times in the thin area in back of the prop and is on it's last legs.
- Wings are in good shape, with only some very minor paint cracks. No delam at all showing.
- Fabric is Ceconite 7600 system, (unfortunately) painted with "acrylic enamel with hardener" (probably DuPont Imron)
My thoughts:
I had thought "Get her back together and get flying by mid summer, doing as little as possible". Now that I've seen it I think "Well, this is a bigger job. Probably have to do fabric on the fuse. Maybe a good time to hit a lot of this other stuff on the fuselage.
Not sure if it's too big a job to take on, but thinking:
- Pull all the aluminum off the fuse and see what else might need attention. At a minimum the belly fabric has to be replaced. Might as well do the whole fuse and tail at that point.
- What method is best to clean and repaint the exposed fuselage tubing while I have it tore down? I'm thinking maybe dry ice blasting?
- Thinking Stewarts System for recover. Paint too.
- Full rewire, wiring is pretty bad.
- Maybe consider going with something like the Dynon FlightDEK-D180 to replace most of the engine and some of the existing steam gauges.
- If I go that route, and maybe even if not, thinking at least cut a new panel even if I reuse some of the existing instruments.
Or I could be totally getting ahead of myself.
-Jeff
Photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/B2d16ZG52ID2gxiC2
