temporary, immediate aircraft construction work.

Dave Krall CFII

Final Approach
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
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Seattle WA
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Display name:
Dave Krall CFII SEL SES, Cmcl HELI
I've had a few guys working on my tube & fabric, folding wing amphibion with good results and need more. It is in north Seattle, occuping the lower floor of a split level house & AC garage with security system in good neighborhood. Air conditioned spare bedroom and full bath on that floor available for out of towners.

Full or part time, your schedule, about 6 weeks for this project with options on 2 more to follow, I'll fly you into Seattle to get started. No experience needed, it is not difficult, and is interesting for pilots and general builders. Pay is good for someone who can read directions in manual and on websites below. I need to ramp up construction in order to launch off the water :) this summer. Reply to my email, pilotdjk@yahoo.com, if interested.

Engine is turbo intercooled 4 cylinder.
Avionics are glass and steam.
Paint is STCd waterborne, non toxic system.

PIX & construction sites:

http://www.justkitplanes.com/Highlander%20Photos.htm

Gear/floats similar to these but more heavier duty:

http://www.full-lotus.com/asap_amphib_gear.htm

Lots of PIX on this construction FORUM, these PIX look very similar to mine:

http://www.wingsforum.com/viewforum.php?f=218

This construction site is of the Escapade, which is the smaller version of the Highlander, so it's a very helpful bunch of PIX and narration, numbered at the bottom of the page.

http://www.riocreekairport.com/escapade.HTM
 
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Putting the floats on

That's cool Dave. I'm curious, on planes that can be switched from conventional gear to floats... how do you DO that?! The floats attach points are pretty high in the air. Do you have to lift the plane with a crane? Or is the aircraft lifted with jacks from wing support points?

I've always wondered (i.e., on the GlaStar or a 206 with float attach points)... do you have to take it to a special shop equipped to lift the plane into the air?
 
Re: Putting the floats on

That's cool Dave. I'm curious, on planes that can be switched from conventional gear to floats... how do you DO that?! The floats attach points are pretty high in the air. Do you have to lift the plane with a crane? Or is the aircraft lifted with jacks from wing support points?

I've always wondered (i.e., on the GlaStar or a 206 with float attach points)... do you have to take it to a special shop equipped to lift the plane into the air?

Those methods are fine, some have hoist eyes on top of the airframe too.
The wheel gear attach points, tri & conventional plus the float attach points can all be used for float rigging.
Right now, I just pick it up on one side with both hands or get a helping hand up onto bucking horses. The engine goes on in 2 weeks then it'll be another 220# up front so another additional couple of guys will do it.
 
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Where in north Seattle?
What's the pay?
What's left to do?

Tom D. in Oak Harbor
A&P-IA
 
Where in north Seattle?
What's the pay?
What's left to do?

Tom D. in Oak Harbor
A&P-IA

It's 5 minutes off the freeway in So. Lynnwood.

Pay is more than they think they deserve for the different jobs... *see next post.

There's some stainless cabeling and swaging, the Lexan skylight & windshield, the panel, making the mount/engine/redrive/prop go again after it's tested & shipped here, covering & waterborne painting, and float rigging (it's on the tail wheel gear now). Other than that stuff, it's done.
 
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I should qualify the pay further:
I'll pay them as much or more than they're making now at their skill, even with no experience at this job, plus most meals at the house or delivered if they like, plus board, and flight to & from Seattle to get started.

IOW, workers can write their own ticket.

It's 5 minutes off the freeway in So. Lynnwood.

Pay is whatever the worker thinks they deserve for the different jobs.

There's some stainless cabeling and swaging, the Lexan skylight & windshield, the panel, making the mount/engine/redrive/prop go again after it's tested & shipped here, covering & waterborne painting, and float rigging (it's on the tail wheel gear now). Other than that stuff, it's done.
 
There's some stainless cabeling and swaging, the Lexan skylight & windshield, the panel, making the mount/engine/redrive/prop go again after it's tested & shipped here, covering & waterborne painting, and float rigging (it's on the tail wheel gear now). Other than that stuff, it's done.

You have a lot of work left, are the wings on?

I wouldn't mind doing the covers for you, but I don't like the traveling there to do it. I would take me a week to do the wings, fuselage and feathers. I have final coat sprayed by an auto body shop near here.

I have all the tools and equipment to do the cables. or are you using the MS style of terminals? ( I can do Nicropress)
 
You have a lot of work left, are the wings on?

I wouldn't mind doing the covers for you, but I don't like the traveling there to do it. I would take me a week to do the wings, fuselage and feathers. I have final coat sprayed by an auto body shop near here.

I have all the tools and equipment to do the cables. or are you using the MS style of terminals? ( I can do Nicropress)

The wings are set to fuselage to within 3/8" out of rig at this point and fold back to tail. Wood ribs have 1 coat of Awl grip sealer and sanded. Have custom jig for ailerons/flaps to wings.

I was going to rivet the wing fabric rather than rib stitch (concave lower wing surface) but thats just me. I've heard it's 10X faster and I saw lots of ships done very nicely that way ay AWO flyin today. What do you like in a non-Oshkosh show grade aircraft that will be beat with salt spray from day 1?

I don't know the terminology for these but they are Nicopress and I have the cheap, labor intensive, wrench down tool.

What do those auto painters charge to do the plane? I have all the Stewarts water paint so that will go on unless an immediate buyer is at hand.
 
The wings are set to fuselage to within 3/8" out of rig at this point and fold back to tail. Wood ribs have 1 coat of Awl grip sealer and sanded. Have custom jig for ailerons/flaps to wings.

I was going to rivet the wing fabric rather than rib stitch (concave lower wing surface) but thats just me. I've heard it's 10X faster and I saw lots of ships done very nicely that way ay AWO flyin today. What do you like in a non-Oshkosh show grade aircraft that will be beat with salt spray from day 1?

I don't know the terminology for these but they are Nicopress and I have the cheap, labor intensive, wrench down tool.

What do those auto painters charge to do the plane? I have all the Stewarts water paint so that will go on unless an immediate buyer is at hand.

I was at AWO flyin friday too. Did You see the beautiful green Fairchild?

I'd stitch the wings, but that is just me, stiching is more time consumping but doesn't show as much as rivets. with wood ribs, what are you going to rivet to?

Nicropress cables fittings
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/nicopress.php

MS style
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/ms21260.php
 

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Tom,

Do you have any preference of one of these over the other? I see Nicopress is much less expensive. With field experience, have you found one to be more reliable than the other?

Also, how do the MS-style fittings grip the cable? I presume it gets inserted into the end on the right in the picture at the site you linked... then what?

P.S.--Gorgeous Fairchild. Did you rebuild that one too? One of the many things I miss about the Pacific NW is the Arlington EAA show.
 
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Tom,

Do you have any preference of one of these over the other? I see Nicopress is much less expensive. With field experience, have you found one to be more reliable than the other?

Also, how do the MS-style fittings grip the cable? I presume it gets inserted into the end on the right in the picture at the site you linked... then what?

P.S.--Gorgeous Fairchild. Did you rebuild that one too? One of the many things I miss about the Pacific NW is the Arlington EAA show.

The MS style is about 1000 times stronger than the nicropress but nicropress is easy to do with hand tools. the MS style must be swaged onto the end of the cable and pass a couple inspections as to compressed size and pull strength. you must have a swager, and go/nogo gauges to do the job correctly.. I have a Marine rigging shop do mine, because there is only one MS style swager in the puget sound area and it is a hand operated one at Kenmore and they want big bucks to swage cables.

I drooled on the fairchild but didn't even reconize the name on the prop sign but it is from Idaho. and very well detaled. there were 3 other F-24s there, but they are at all the flyins I have been at in the past 5 years. this guy is new! F-24R46 = Ranger powered F-24 built in 1946.

Mine is a F-24-G = any 24 built between 1937 to 1939 with a warner engine.
 
The MS style is about 1000 times stronger than the nicropress but nicropress is easy to do with hand tools. the MS style must be swaged onto the end of the cable and pass a couple inspections as to compressed size and pull strength. you must have a swager, and go/nogo gauges to do the job correctly.. I have a Marine rigging shop do mine, because there is only one MS style swager in the puget sound area and it is a hand operated one at Kenmore and they want big bucks to swage cables.

I drooled on the fairchild but didn't even reconize the name on the prop sign but it is from Idaho. and very well detaled. there were 3 other F-24s there, but they are at all the flyins I have been at in the past 5 years. this guy is new! F-24R46 = Ranger powered F-24 built in 1946.

Mine is a F-24-G = any 24 built between 1937 to 1939 with a warner engine.


Thanks for the info, Tom!! I presume, then, that nicopress is more common in GA aircraft and homebuilts? Is there a high failure rate with Nicopress, or is it pretty reliable if done correctly?
 
The MS style is about 1000 times stronger than the nicropress but nicropress is easy to do with hand tools. the MS style must be swaged onto the end of the cable and pass a couple inspections as to compressed size and pull strength. you must have a swager, and go/nogo gauges to do the job correctly.. I have a Marine rigging shop do mine, because there is only one MS style swager in the puget sound area and it is a hand operated one at Kenmore and they want big bucks to swage cables.

I drooled on the fairchild but didn't even reconize the name on the prop sign but it is from Idaho. and very well detaled. there were 3 other F-24s there, but they are at all the flyins I have been at in the past 5 years. this guy is new! F-24R46 = Ranger powered F-24 built in 1946.

Mine is a F-24-G = any 24 built between 1937 to 1939 with a warner engine.

Unfortunately I missed your FA due to a case of tunnel vision for Highlanders ...of which there were none found! Maybe I'll go back on Sat. if the scouts report a sighting. I'd like to see completed turtle deck hatch, boot cowl, lexan to window & door hinge pins joining, and some other things.

Have heard of 1/8" riveting into the 5 ply wood of the rib after drilling a small hole which serves as a backtacking alignment. I think I'd marine seal the inside of the drilled hole too, then tape over & seal. If I do it that way it will be because of the saved time so long as it's strong enough without undue compromise. If somebody else wants to rib stitch, that will probably be OK with me too, certainly stronger ultimately.

Also rigging the vert fin & rudder to detach quickly with 2 small, marine snap shackles on the cables and pins through the tubes and probly clevis pins on the pairs of flying wires, R & L. Getting rid of that yard sticking up in the air calls for a much easier hangaring/shop situation, especially rolling into it on its amphibion gear.

I can have a driver or myself pick you up at PAE if we do any work over here. And I'm considering the logistics of trucking the pieces back & forth to your place which although do-able, is less interesting for me right now because I like to see what's going on & how it's done.
 
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Thanks for the info, Tom!! I presume, then, that nicopress is more common in GA aircraft and homebuilts? Is there a high failure rate with Nicopress, or is it pretty reliable if done correctly?

Almost every control cable failure I've seen is nicropress swage. I understand the Stearman they lost the other day was a cable failure, bet it was a nicropress.
 
I would do something like this in a heartbeat if I hadn't already set my normal life aside for the past month and a half with this Able Flight project. I've got to get back to my regular students now before they forget I exist and get too attached to my substitute, and before my boss starts to wonder whether I still work here. Ugh, what timing... phooey. :(

I've helped build three planes, worked in maintenance & avionics, know just enough to be dangerous ;), and normally have a flexible schedule (except now). Any projects in my slow winter season, please advise!
 
I would do something like this in a heartbeat if I hadn't already set my normal life aside for the past month and a half with this Able Flight project. I've got to get back to my regular students now before they forget I exist and get too attached to my substitute, and before my boss starts to wonder whether I still work here. Ugh, what timing... phooey. :(

I've helped build three planes, worked in maintenance & avionics, know just enough to be dangerous ;), and normally have a flexible schedule (except now). Any projects in my slow winter season, please advise!

Thanks.
Rattle my cage this winter. I'm looking at titanium rod for this amphibion's main gear axle right now (winter conversion project) and titanium snap shackles for the quick mount rudder cables. New engine PIX just came in too.
 
Almost every control cable failure I've seen is nicropress swage. I understand the Stearman they lost the other day was a cable failure, bet it was a nicropress.

What about using an additional nicopress sleeve in tandem with the primary one? I've seen applications use this and it makes sense to me. Then, there's guys that say the second nicopress doesn't hold anything, to which I would say, it doesn't hold anything until the primary one may start to slip.

When you see nicopress systems fail, how do they fail, and is it those with just the primary sleeve?
 
What about using an additional nicopress sleeve in tandem with the primary one? I've seen applications use this and it makes sense to me. Then, there's guys that say the second nicopress doesn't hold anything, to which I would say, it doesn't hold anything until the primary one may start to slip.

When you see nicopress systems fail, how do they fail, and is it those with just the primary sleeve?

Its a case of application and proper use of the tool. most of the failures I see are not swaged completely. or they were overloaded.
 
Its a case of application and proper use of the tool. most of the failures I see are not swaged completely. or they were overloaded.
What I have seen is every failure has been the result of operator error. Wrong tool, wrong technique, wrong pressure, etc. Solution is right tool and right pressure with right size for the wire gauge.
 
Dave, I have a very good friend who may be interested but couldn't start untill September. Would you still be interested with that time frame?

Chris
 
Dave, I have a very good friend who may be interested but couldn't start untill September. Would you still be interested with that time frame?

Chris

Right now I've got 2 full time workers, one soon going on vacation for 3 weeks, to be replaced by the other. If all continues well, I'll be launching off the water in late August.

If something disrupts the above, I'll need someone right away so, I'd like to chat with your friend just in case (pilotdjk@yahoo.com). Also, a few other aircraft assembly projects are in line to start this winter.

Thanks for asking, Chris.
 
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