Tag Archives: Volksplane

Aviation

Starting the 1:4

1:4 MaterialsWell, to start things off this post is a bit late. As I mentioned in a previous post, this time of year is very busy for my wife and I. I did manage to get out and pick up some supplies. A trip to Home Depot yielded some Gorilla Glue for the frame and some Titebond III to make the laminate that I will use as a plywood substitute and thinned a little it should work well as a sealer to replace varnish on the 1:4.

After looking over the wood at HD and finding all of their lumber riddled with knots, I decided to head over to Southern Lumber. Since I was planning to use clear vertical grain Douglas fir for the aircraft build I decided to use DF for the 1:4 as well. I have heard that DF is more difficult to work with so it makes sense to experiment a little with it before buying a bunch for the full size aircraft.

WorkspaceAfter I got home I set up a little workspace at my desk and set up an area for testing the ply material layup. I cleared the space and prepared the surface, laying out some 6 mil sheeting and taping it down to the desk top. After the work surface was ready I started the first piece of the paper laminate by covering a 1′ x 2′ sheet with Titebond III. Once the glue was brushed over the entire sheet I let it set until slightly tacky to the touch, once it was ready I added the second sheet and smoothed it out, making sure any air bubbles had been worked out, you can see these steps in the pictures below.

Later in the day I checked out how things looked. I was not pleased with the results.

let it dry under a little weightmake sure glue is spread out evenly spread the glueAfter all was said and done, the end product was wrinkled, warped and in general undesirable. Thinking back to my days doing some bookbinding I remembered that glued paper products need considerable compression and dry time. I am going to experiment a little more with the laminating process. I still have hope for the it working well as a stand-in for plywood.

Next week I should have time to start the milling. I know what size pieces are included in the spruce kit so I can start with those. Once I have the lumber milled I can get started with the bulkheads. Hopefully I will have figured out the ply stock issue by then.

Till next time, blue skies and tailwinds,
~Jon

Aviation

N49FB

This week has been a little hectic and next week will without a doubt be tougher. Every year there is a world wide event the Saturday before Halloween called Thrill The World, my wife and I organize the San Jose / Silicon Valley event. As you can imagine with the event coming up on October 23rd we are rather busy getting stuff ready. Our group Grave Mistake has only a couple more dance workshops before Thrill Day. This makes for a crazy day-job schedule to go along with the fun-stuff, and that doesn’t include the aircraft project! While I will be trying to get at least a little done, buying some materials at least, doing some milling at most, this week and next are a bit tight on time.

VP tailI do have something cool to report though. You may remember on September 21st I filed for an N-number with the FAA through there online system. For those that may not know what I am talking about; the N-number is an aircrafts identification number, it is also referred to as the tail number. They said it would take up to three weeks to get the confirmation letter. I put October 13th on my calendar as a follow-up date to check back with the FAA if I had not received my confirmation letter. Being excited about the project, I checked back every so often to see if the FAA had processed my request. The website says that they update the reserved N-number database weekly, so that’s about how often I checked back. The number I submitted kept coming back as available. Until… the 12th of October! I still have not received the written confirmation but the number shows up in the database as being reserved for ME! WOOT!

As you might have guessed by the title of this post and the little addition to the header graphic, oh, and the giant VP tail to the right, my N-number for this project is N49FB Fox-trot Bravo of course for Fly Boy. If I could have gotten Fox-trot Bravo Juliet I would have, but that does not fit in the numbering convention used by the FAA so Fox Bravo it is. I just like the way the short number sounds… niner fox bravo… if just sounds cool to me. Okay, I’m getting a little too AvGeeky even for me now.

On a builders note; I mentioned in the last post about doing some work with composites on my day-job. That is progressing and I have been reading up on the process as time permits. The more I think about it the more I think I will do the cowling myself. I am still not sure about doing the turtle deck. I have seen a number of VP-1 and VP-2 examples with and without the dome called for in the plans. That is way down the line, so I’m not going to burn a whole lot of cycles on it just yet. I also need to see how fast I can re-acquire my old rusty fiberglass skills.

Thats it for now.

Blue skies and tailwinds,
~Jon

Aviation, Projects

Materials

Got out this morning and did another material sourcing run. It didn’t go as well as I had hopped, but that’s okay. I have made some solid decisions on materials and can now start buying what I need for the 1:4 scale project, as well as buying materials for the full scale airplane. Full steam ahead!

Full Scale

First and foremost, I’ve been able to source a majority of wood products locally. However, it looks as though I will have to run with one of the regular aviation suppliers for the 1/16″ plywood. I can find 1/4″ and 1/8″ but that’s as thin as local suppliers carry. 1/4″ AA marine is relatively easy to find, 1/8″ is tougher, 1/16″ is nearly impossible in any grade.

I found a local source for aircraft cables of the mechanical control variety; not electrical, which I suppose would be obvious to anyone who has been reading this blog since I don’t plan on installing an electrical system in the airplane. It looks like Orchard Supply carries aircraft cable as a regular item.

A local supplier for composite materials is TAP Plastics. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be particularly difficult getting some of the composite supplies locally. They don’t have all of the right fabrics, but they do have some. I am not sure about the resin and epoxy they stock, but for the basic materials to work with them, well those they have in spades. I will check out the chemical stuff later when I get to a point that I actually need to think about composites.

1:4 scale

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that I will need to manufacture the ply products I need. The lumber is readily available, ply products on the other hand… With the full scale ply sizes being 1/4″, 1/8″, and 1/16″ the 1:4 sizes are 1/16″, 1/32″, and 1/64″ respectively. As I said earlier in this post, it is tough if not impossible to find ply this thin anywhere locally. So, I have resigned myself to the arduous task of manufacturing a replacement material.

At this point I think it will be a laminated paper product. Layers of a a heavy water-color paper should do nicely, maybe a 25 sheet pad. With any luck the end product will be moderately stiff ply-board in the appropriate thicknesses. In 1:4 scale a 4’x8′ sheet of plywood is only 1’x2′ so it shouldn’t be difficult to find the paper stock large enough. I was thinking of using Gorilla Glue as the laminating adhesive mainly because it is very strong and you can use water to thin it for spreading a very thin layer evenly across the surfaces of the laminates. I was hoping to avoid this but ya gotta do, what ya gotta do.

Composites

In truth the only composite parts that I would need to build are the engine cowling and the turtle-deck faring which isn’t even a required part, though, I must admit, I am definitely warming up to the idea.

The EAA Chapter 62 meeting I mentioned in the last post got me thinking about composite materials and processes. I haven’t done any fiberglass work in a long time but that is going to change with a day-job project that I recently started. It has some fiberglass work that needs to be done, so I figured I could brush up on those skills and maybe put some of the new techniques into action.

I purchased a book on fiberglass repair and construction to refresh the old gray matter on the subject. It has nothing to do with aviation but it is all about the basic skills for fabrication and repair in the medium. The book was published in 1988 so some things might be a little different or out of date material-wise, but the skills should transfer reasonably well.

Till next time, blue skies and tail winds,
~FlyBoyJon

Aviation, Projects

Aircraft Grade

Greetings Aeronauts,

This week has been interesting. In Monday’s post I talked about getting a copy of the VP-2 plans and the idea of building both the VP-1 and the VP-2 in 1:4 scale to compare the plans. Looks like I will begin working on an airframe sometime next week. I am really looking forward to start actually building. This weekend is jammed with Grave Mistake workshops and the Step Out: Walk to fight diabetes 5k that my wife and I participate in every year along with some friends.

Throughout the week I have been interacting with the great people in the Volksplane Yahoo Group and the fine folks at Oshkosh 365. I got several replies when I asked for some advice on adhesives for wood aircraft. The plans call for Aerolite which does not appear to be readily available. For the most part I got a lot of thumbs up for T-88. Other suggestions included, Aerodux which is a Resorcinol Formaldehyde Adhesive like Cascophen, and West System Epoxy. I am not sure which one I will go with but I am leaning toward the T-88. I need to get the MSDS for each of them as well as take a look at volume, weight, coverage, and relative strength comparisons, and yes, the cost comparison, too.

Another question I had was about Certified Aircraft Grade Lumber. It looks like there ain’t no such animal. In short, your aircraft lumber supplier checks the material to make sure it meets the standards of Aircraft Grade, those standards being MIL-S-6073 Military Specification, Spruce, Aircraft, MIL-P-6070B Military Specification, Plywood and Veneer Aircraft Flat Panel, ANC-18 Design of Wood Aircraft Structures, and of course the standards set in AC-43.13 1B Maintenance & 2B Alterations Aircraft Inspection, Repair & Alterations. They inspect the material, stamp it, and price it accordingly. It is not a federally recognized certification, it is a voluntary compliance to Military Specifications set back when the military used wood aircraft, with a little updating now and then. Don’t take that to mean that I think it’s all hokum; I don’t. The standards are there because they are appropriate to the application. If you are not sure how to grade lumber or are not sure if you can determine compliance reliably, buy lumber from someone who can make those assurances!

While Sitka Spruce is the de facto aircraft lumber, it is not the only species used. The main factor in choosing wood other than structural strength is grain, vertical grain (VG) to be precise. A VG Clear Douglas Fir (DF) is one of the closest quality woods to Sitka Spruce, in fact it is stronger than the spruce in most respects. The drawback with DF is its weight; DF runs about 26% higher in weight than Sitka. In this aircraft, a majority of the structural weight is in the plywood and not the lumber, so the impact on gross weight using DF instead if Sitka should not be that much. Without an electrical system, using minimal instruments, and other weight saving details like single occupant controls, I think the trade-off in favor of structural strength is reasonable, even wise, not to mention that as a Pocket-Change Builder I can’t overlook the cost of DF being significantly lower than Sitka. Having a supplier less than 20 minutes away doesn’t hurt.

Most likely I will end up going with the VP-2 airframe. It is intended for a higher gross weight and a higher useful weight. With two occupants taking up 170 pounds each, that gives me 340 pounds to work with as a single pilot. While I won’t need all of that, I sure as heck am not under 200, nor have I been since 6th grade. I wrestled in the 220 class in Jr High. The extra airframe strength and the VP-2 load capacity provide a significant safety margin over the VP-1 design which is why I am leaning in that direction.

Something fun thing to add to this week was my first EAA Chapter meeting. There are two chapters here in San Jose with a couple of others less than an hour away giving me a lot to chose from as far as finding a good fit. Thursday night was Chapter 62’s monthly meeting. I am not sure if I am going to join 62 yet, but I did have a good time there. The chapter is more of a flying and activities chapter than a building chapter. As it turned out, last night was a great night for me to go to a meeting there because the speaker was Zeke Smith, author of Advanced Composite Techniques.

Zeke demonstrated his process for vacuum forming a leading edge to be used on an an ultralite project. The end product has a thin outer skin and foam strengthening with plenty of room for similarly light ribs. I was amazed at the strength of the leading edge without any support and the incredibly light weight. If I was working on a composite project I would be buying this book right now. I may still get it for this project to use his techniques to form the engine cowling and turtle deck of the VP. That might even give me more weight advantage for the DF…

Only slightly off topic, I can easily see myself building a composite VP-2. In fact I can see some of the layups for Zeke’s vacuum process in my head now. To quote Red Leader Stay on target.

For anyone interested in helping out the FlyBoy, I need to get a print copy of AC-43.13 1B/2B. Contributions to the Pocket-Change Builder’s Fund are always greatly appreciated.

Until next time, blue skies and tailwinds,
~FlyBoyJon

Aviation

VP-1 or VP-2?

Decisions decisions… I purchased the VP-1 plans set last week and acquired a set of VP-2 plans this weekend, now I have to make a decision between the designs. Which one should I build? I am estimating the VP-2 would cost between 5% and 7% more for the materials. I don’t think there would be much of a difference in the build time. The gross-weight bump and the extra seat are certainly good reasons to lean in the direction of the VP-2, but ultimately the decision needs to be a combination of practicality, mission, and my own comprehension of the plans. If one set of plans proves to be significantly more difficult than the other for some reason, that will affect the decision as well.

Evans Volksplane VP-1The idea of building a scale model before starting construction of the full scale plane had come up in a previous post. Now it looks like that might be the best way to decide between the two designs. If I build both of the aircraft as scale models first, that should give me a better parts list and I could evaluate the difference in material costs more accurately. It will also give me more insight in the build process for both airplanes.

Cost estimates for a 1:4 scale model of the VP-1 came out to about $45. Building two 1:4 scale models should come in less that $60. A question more important than cost is 1:4 or 1:8 scale. The 1:8 scale becomes problematic as the smaller plywood sizes in that scale would have to be balsa wood, which would increase the cost significantly, or be laminated paper stock, adding a lot of time in material fabrication. The idea with doing the models is to decrease the overall time and address problems with fabrication, not create materials and a whole new set of issues. Another problem with the 1:8 scale is hardware. In 1:4 scale I shouldn’t have a problem locating scale hardware.

Evans Volksplane VP-2With 1:4 scale the only real problem is that the product is on the large side. For the VP-1 we are talking about a 6′ wingspan, 4’6″ long, and a 1’3″ wide tail. The tail being the widest part of the structure with the wings detached. The VP-2 has a 6’9″ wingspan, is 4’9¾” long, with a 2′ wide tail. These are some big model airplanes and the only thing they are missing is the engine and maybe the rigging.

In the end I know that building the scale models is going to help save me a lot of time in the long run. I also know that the 1:4 scale makes more sense for dealing with potential build problems. With the models I don’t have to worry about Aircraft Grade materials and I can devote my time to building rather than sourcing. I also think that the models will give me a better estimate of the build process, and allow me to modify my build order and schedule.

It’s hard to say what direction things will take. I have my own ideas about the build process, when things will happen, how they will happen and all of that. No matter how much I plan, since I haven’t done this before, I just don’t know the path things will take.

Till next time, blue skies and tail winds,
~FlyBoyJon

Aviation, Projects

Plans in Hands

The workshopThursday was a pretty good day. First off, I managed to get down to the workshop and finish cleaning up. I remodeled the shop about a month a go and have been moving everything back in ever since. Because it is such a small space it has taken a lot longer than I had hoped it would to get everything organized and stowed. There are still a few containers that need some sorting, and I need to add a couple more of those small-parts bins, but all-in-all it is a usable space once again.

When I did the remodel I included an internet connection for parts look-ups, ordering, reference materials, and to have some audio visual stuff available. One thing I haven’t gotten around to just yet has been the installation of ventilation fans. It is a really small space and it gets hot in there really fast. Besides, if I am going to use any resins, do any soldering, blah blah blah, it would be a good idea if I had some air-flow.

A package? For me?On Tuesday I placed an order with Aircraft Spruce for some stickers, a patch, and… my set of Volksplane VP-I plans. My wife and I had something going on Thursday night which just happened to be when I was expecting Mr. UPS Man to come by with my package containing the plans. I was hoping that he would come early so I could take the plans with me, but time was growing short and we were about to head out. I was writing a note to authorize my son to accept the package for me when low and behold, who should appear? Mr. UPS Man! Package in hand, we were out the door in a couple of minutes.

My wife and I run a group called Grave Mistake. The group participates in the annual “Thrill The World” world-wide simultaneous Thriller dance event. My wife teaches the Thriller dance and I take care of the audio as well as manage the web and back office stuff for the group. So while she was teaching Thursday’s dance workshop, I was reading; well flipping through. I perused my way through the “VP-I Volksplane Plans and Pilot’s Handbook” and the “Evans Lightplane Designer’s Handbook” before the workshop ended.

VP-I plans and HandbookThe plans are on 8.5″ x 11″ sheets in a comb-bound volume. Everything is there but a lot of it is crowded on to the sheets and doesn’t seem to be organized in what I would consider a logical order. Looking at the plans a little closer now that I am home, I am thinking I need to make some copies and lay everything out so I can look at it all with my Big Picture eyes. I might need to do some blow-up prints too. I will definitely need a couple of working copies to make notes on.

While my wife and I were driving to the dance workshop I was talking with her about possibly building a 1:4 or 1:8 scale model using veneer sheets and pine. At 1:4 scale I might be able to build it from one (1) or two (2) sheets, and two (2) or three (3) pine 2″ x 4″s. Looking at the plans, I’m thinking it might be a really good idea. If nothing else it will be a good way get really familiar with the plans, and if I screw something up it wont cost me hundreds of dollars. Another good thing about building the model is that it will give me a better idea what materials will be needed for jigs, fixtures, and tooling. By building a model I should be able to prevent time and money consuming problems, and I will have a better understanding of the airplane over all. I will also end up with a really cool scale model to boot!

Looks like I have some planning and shop-office stuff to get done. I need to come up with a task list and sub-budget for the model. I think I might need to build a bench-top frame for my RotoZip tool to use it as a router/cutter for the model. I have some 1/4 and 1/2 particle board, some cheap 1/4 plywood, and some Masonite available, and lots miscellaneous hardware. That should get me started. The next two weeks are really full, but I will find some time to get some work done and report back to you.

Until next time, blue skies and tail winds.
~FlyBoyJon

Aviation, Projects

Flyboys

One of my favorite movies is Flyboys (2006) by Tony Bill. Some of my favorite scenes in the movie are the ones where the pilots gather in the Ready Room, aka the pub. They celebrate their successes and remember their losses in a way that many non-pilots can’t truly understand.

Viper (Tom Skarret’s character in Top Gun) said it best: “A good pilot is compelled to always evaluate what’s happened, so he can apply what he has learned.” From outside the aviation world it may seem as though pilots are obsessed with death and accidents, and very callus about these situations. In one sense we are; from the day we start flight training, we are constantly exposed to aviation accident reports. Like most pilots with a few hundred hours, I know pilots who have died in an airplane, or been involved in a reportable event. More often than not the cause of the crash or event was Pilot Error.

Pilot Error seems to be the NTSB’s favorite phrase in accident reports, it appears in almost all of them. Sadly, it’s a legitimate statement in those reports far more often than not. This is why we read the reports; if that guy did it, I might do it, too. I have to pay attention to that. A well educated aviator might push the limits, but they know exactly where those limits are and how they affect the situation.

I am still in the planing phase of my aircraft build project but I am thinking about the Flight Testing phase. Before I can develop a Flight Test Program I need to have a good understanding of the Volksplane’s flight characteristics from other builders and pilots. I plan on asking a lot of questions on the boards and lists but if I want to ask intelligent and directed questions I need to know what to ask. My first stop in researching flight characteristics is the NTSB Aviation Accident Database.

According to the FAA’s Registration Database there are approximately 512 Volksplane variants currently registered in the U.S. Since the plans for the aircraft were made available in 1969 there have been 45 Volksplane accidents; 17 none/minor injury, 19 serious injury, 9 fatalities, they break down by decade as follows.

  2000 1990 1980 1970
Fatal 1 2 2 4
Non Fatal 2 4 9 21

Not all data fields add up numerically, mainly because the NTSB’s data in not always complete so keep that in mind before you pull out that calculator. In the case of our accident pilots only 44 were reported with a certificate status, 38 had a pilot certificate and 5 did not. I broke down pilot age into three groups. The under 30 set included 8 pilots, in the 31-49 group we found our majority with 22, the over 50 group claimed 12.

Let’s take a look at total pilot in command (PIC) hours and hours in type.

  ≤50 ≤100 ≤250 ≤500 ≥500
TTL Hrs 1 4 11 8 19
 
  ≤5 ≤25 ≤50 ≥50  
In Type 24 9 4 5  

Yes, that’s right. A couple of our intrepid certificateless pilots had reported over 100 hours.

A majority of the reports involved a loss of control in the air, 25, with several on the ground, 16. One (1) incident was due to weather and one (1) was due to a propeller failure.

18 incidences involved some kind of power failure, 8 from unknown causes, 10 from fuel issues, 5 of which were caused by fuel starvation, 2 of those from just old fashioned running out of gas.

There were 15 incidents of builders not installing parts, installing parts wrong, ground testing with known problems that ended up as unintentional in-flight problems.

Most of the mechanical stuff and incidents of pilots without certificates occurred in the 70s. The disturbing part is pilots with low total times and no time in type are more common in recent decades. It seems as though we have gotten better in the building part but more impatient about getting the bird in the air.

My conclusions from this basic data are that as a builder it is of the utmost importance to take your time and check everything thrice. As a test pilot, take your time, inspect everything, understand the flight characteristics of the aircraft, expected and otherwise, be current, in type if possible, and take each step of the test flight program with absolute attention to detail. Considering every flight as a test flight up to 100 hours is not a bad idea ether. There was only one incident over 100 hours. Attention to detail and planning could have prevented all of the 45 incidents with possible exceptions for 2 of them.

Did I learn anything I didn’t know? No. Did taking the time to do the research make me think a bit more about how to prevent failures and what might go wrong? You betcha! Will my standards in the build process be better than if I had not taken the time to do this research? Probably. How about flight testing standards? Yeah. I think I will be less ambitious with the test flight schedule.

Until next time, blue skies and tail winds,
~FlyBoyJon

BTW Just in case you are wondering, I have been known as FlyBoyJon since 2003.

Aviation, Projects

Thank you Mr. UPS Man

Greetings Intrepid Aeronauts!

Less than an hour ago our regular UPS delivery guy came by with a package for lill’-o’ll-me. It was the Amateur-Built Certification Kit (ABC Kit) I ordered last week from EAA. This makes my second delivery on the project this week. I feel like I am off to a good start.

Much of this week has been getting myself organized and geared up. I like to document projects early on in the planning planing phase, so one of the first things I did on Monday was order log books for the project: airframe, engine, and propeller from Wicks. I wanted to have them well in advance so I could take a look at what all was included in the log books. Also because I should have a log book available once the engine and propeller are sourced. Now I know what information is of particular importance. They got here on Thursday along with a shiny new Wicks catalog, which I looked over cover-to-cover.

To prove what an AvDork I am, I used the FAA’s online N-Number reservation page and reserved one. I don’t want to post the number until I get a confirmation from the FAA (which will be 1 to 3 weeks), but you can be sure I will post is as soon as that happens.

A bunch of time this week has been spent searching out information on Volksplanes and amateur-built aircraft construction in general. I download a lot of ACs, manuals, and other documents from the FAA, so I needed to check and make sure I had current releases of them. Good thing I checked too. The last time I downloaded AC 20-27 Certification and Operation of Amateur-Built Aircraft it was 20-27F, the current edition is AC 20-27G. Since this is one of the ACs on the list of stuff the FAA wants you to know, I read the new version cover-to-cover finishing it Tuesday night a little after midnight.

Another AC I am re-reading is AC 90-89A Amateur-Built Aircraft and Ultralight Flight Testing Manual. I hadn’t read this one in over a year so I picked it up and started again. Tonight though, I am going to read through the EAA ABC Kit.

The next purchase on the list is the Plans Set from Evans Aircraft. I’m not sure how soon, but I am hoping to order it before the end of the month.

I think I’m going to call this a short post tonight, I just wanted to bring the log up-to-date.

Until then, blue skies and tail-winds,
~FlyBoyJon