Fitting Aluminum Skin: (5-14)
Beginning metal work on the fuselage.
Wing Details / Fuselage Transport: (4-14)
The month of March was devoted to adding hardware to the wings and finishing details. Hinges and brackets along with the aileron push tubes were added. Sand, feel, add filler, sand most of the filler away. Feel, add filler sand, well you get the idea. You never really get finished, you just run out of … Continue reading
The Last Wings (3-14)
This month’s task was finishing the second lower wing. Experience definitely helps. Understanding the entire process gave me the ability deviate from the order of the steps in the Kimball wing kit and be more efficient. It also helped in improving the fit and finish. This was particularly true in fitting the wing walk, leading … Continue reading
Lower Wings: Leading Edge (2-14)
Hindsight tells me I should have finished the leading edges, drilling and final assembly on the smaller, simpler lower wings prior to tackling the fully continuous upper wing. As that story always goes, “too late for that now.” Finishing of both wings were accomplished within 40 hours once I got back to the task of … Continue reading
Finishing Lower Wings (1-14)
Completion of the upper wing meant a return to the lower wings. Ideally the lower wings would have been completed first, but the jig for drilling the drag wires was not available when the lowers were ready for that step. To keep working I set the lowers aside and began on the uppers. Once started … Continue reading
Upper Wing: Leading Edge (12-13)
Christmas vacation provided some extra time for a push on the upper wing. The endless task of cutting and fitting small blocks continued. For the last few weeks the wing has been upside down. It was now turned over and the top side of the tank section was constructed. This included final shaping of the … Continue reading
Upper Wing construction (11-13)
Thanksgiving provided lots of time to focus on building. The compression ribs were located and epoxied into position. Then the center section that houses a fuel tank was built. The work area in the garage was about 50 making the epoxy tough to work with. 30 seconds in the microwave every hour or so solved … Continue reading
Wing rib construction (7-13)
The box has arrived! Kevin Kimball has made building ribs very simple, accurate, and fast. Kevin provides CNC machined jigs for each style of rib. The Sitka spruce rib chords are cut and positioned into the jig. Mahogany plywood plates are epoxied and stapled at all connections. After taking my time building the first few, … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, a new Pitts 12 is born…
To celebrate Roy’s 54th birthday, we begun the journey of building our own plane from the bottom up. After stalking Barnstormers, Ebay, and TAP for months, good deals were found for the some of the more costly basic components needed for the build. With the acquisition of a Russian M14P radial engine, MT prop, landing … Continue reading
Building a Pitts 12 