Wing Stand On Its Feet

About two hours spent, with DV.  And Audrey.  Some of that two hours was spent setting up the makeshift heater: a heat gun clamped to a light stand.  12/30/2011.

Waiex Christmas

Christmas gift to myself: about 20 minutes of project planning on the Waiex.  Sonex provides only hard copies of the drawings, so to really get organized I am spending time going through the drawings and distilling them into a digital bill of materials (BOM), which will help me efficiently plan out processing and assembly of the airframe kit parts.

Facing Reality

Not much has been happening on either airplane, but especially the Sonex (actually a Waiex). Part of it is the required trip to the hangar, which although pretty convenient is still proving a barrier with numerous small children in the mix.
So to shift the balance, I have set up a satellite workshop in the garage. This little offshoot of the My New Invention Heavy Industries leviathan will be dedicated solely to piece part work on the Waiex on days when I don't make it to the hangar.
One issue though: I still need to run this whole concept by Don, having run off with his drill press and stripped the main facility of key capital equipment that may be needed for the Bearhawk.

Wing Installation Fixture Hardware

Hit the depot for bolts to install the removeable legs. Maybe 20 minutes of procurement time. $17.88.

Back to the Wing Installation Fixtures

Next step: installing the legs. 10 minutes clamping up the first leg, but now I need hardware. Tomorrow.

Swamptooth Live Again

It Hurts Me Too
Big Tin Truck
The Dark End of the Street
Billy (with John on lead acoustic & backing vocal, and Jose on percussion, pictured here without me)

Wing Fixture Platforms Are Done

Maybe 30 minutes nailing up the shelves. Up next: installing legs and feet.

Saturday Progress

Forgot to post my 20 minutes of headway from yesterday. At Miramar Air Show Today.

Shelves almost done

About 70 minutes spent nailing on the deck (shelf one) and framing (shelf two).

First wing fixture shelf frame

35 minutes at lunchtime. Still have to nail down the shelf.

10 more minutes of progress on wing fixtures.

Hey, ten minutes is better than none. Also, managed to get more of the frame assembled without breaking any Varner bits.

Another Bit

10 minutes, token progress, but still managed to break another of Don's drill bits.

Framing up the wing fixture "shelf."

About 15 minutes spent on the Bearhawk after work today. Had to spend some time clearing rock and roll paraphenalia our of the work area first.

More Wing Fixture Progress

Spent about 30-45 minutes cutting pieces for the wing fixtures, Will Fischer helping.

Wing Fixture Fabrication, Day Two

Put together eight legs yesterday, and started working on the platform frame today.

Wing Fixture Progress

Building wing installation fixtures. Broke Don's 1/16 bit and then decided to forget about predrilling.

Wing Fixtures and Hangar Inspection

In the process of building fixtures for installation of the wings onto the aircraft.  Because of the lengthened main gears, the bottoms of the wings mount seven feet AGL.

The plan is to finish them tomorrow before the annual hangar inspection by the fire department.

Pondering Waiex engine choices

Sick Day

No progress on the Waiex today due to another virus brought home from 1st grade.

Waiex Days 5-6

Light progress because I am running a low grade fever.

Yesterday I stopped by the hangar and spent about 30 minutes of project management budget getting a bill of materials (BOM) started, so we have a framework to begin tracking all the fabrication tasks.

Today I spent about 0.3 hours setting up a work history log.

Waiex Tail Kit Inventory Complete

Don and I spent 1 hour completing the inventory against the plans bill of material (BOM). We did not measure total lengths of angle and hinge stock, but all types are now "in stock" at MNIHI Aircraft Works.

Day 3 - Tail Kit Inventory

1 hour and 20 minutes minutes unpacking and inventory.

Waiex Day 2

Didn't want to start without DV, so just migrated the nascent project into the hangar and recreated the on-pallet condition. Will put the wrapper back on so Don can still open his present.
Whole activity took less than an hour all told, of which only 20 minutes was touch time with the boxes. We also dragged out Gober (the compressor) and filled the tires on the station wagon.

Quandary

With the launch of a second aircraft project, it may be time to spin off the MNI Aircraft Works into a separate blog, and return Swamptooth to its original raison d'etre, music.  Hmm.

Waiex - Day 1

Yes, we have been making so much Bearhawk progress that we need a second project just to keep ourselves from overheating. The tail surface kit arrived today. Since it's Don's birthday present, better wait for him to open it. I'll give him 'til tomorrow.

Phase 2 of MNI Heavy Aircraft Industries

http://www.sonexaircraft.com/aircraft/waiex.html.

To my complete surprise and delight, Bill informed me today that he ordered the tail kit for my birthday!

Other major events today:

1) Kent, who was the first person on scene when the Bearhawk arrived, and who has been great fun to hang out with over the past year, took a large part of his day to walk us through the puzzling array of tools we received. I'm not sure that I've seen anyone in a field possess such an in-depth knowledge of almost every item in a tool kit.

2) The Great BatmobileTM vs Airplane Of Our Choosing Race was formalized after a contentious battle over terms. The opposing party, dressed in a red jacket of questionable pedigree (possibly stolen from a waiter or the recently deceased Michael Jackson) is now in a heated wager with the keepers of this blog. Stay tuned for details.

3) Discussion of the formation of MNI Party Barge, LLC, a Nevada Corporation, was entered into. This would complete our domination of air, land and sea. Not to mention sound. The discussion was tabled for a later date.

Parts from floor to ceiling

In order to claim actual physical progress, we sorted through all of the loose parts that came with the extra wings. Bill is going to begin the cataloging progress. We also have the third-most-complete wing hanging up on the north side of the rear part of the hangar. The presence of a fully functional B-17 was a bit of a weekend distraction. Hopefully this weekend will find the airport free of awesome classic airplanes.

Still Some Standing Water

Front area had dried out (except carpet), but ther was still a puddle along the wall shown here. Swept it out and adjusted the fan locations.

Hangar Flooding

Rainwater flowing along the northern edge of the hangar. Big roll of sheet aluminum standing on edge in a puddle. Moved a bunch of furniture and the drums, pulled back the carpet, swept out the standing water, and put the big shop fans along the main flow paths. Still recovering from pneumonia, so ran out of steam. I'll check back tomorrow.