Uncovering the Port Wing

It's almost Christmas and I've stripped the fuselage to the point that I can give it an initial inspection and satisfy myself that there are no major problems, or at least nothing that wasn't expected. so I thought it was time to check the wings out. Once I've stripped the fabric from all the major components I can put my orders in for the hardware, fabric, paints and tools that I still require knowing that I should have 90+% of all the items I require for the rebuild.

Starting with the wing leading edge, I cut the fabric so that it could be peeled back over the wing. Within two minutes I remembered that the first job should have been removing the tapes and Martin Wire clips that hold the fabric on.

Note that while removing fabric I use a mask and gloves to protect against the fiber glass and dust.



The tapes were easy to remove by cutting at one end using a craft knife (single edge razor blades are also good for this) then prizing the tape away from the main fabric with a screw driver to the point that I could just pull the tape off. This reveals the wire clips.

The quality of the wire clips varied from rusted or brittle to reasonably good condition although I didn't spend too much time trying to save all the wires as I have 300 feet of new stock that will be used on the wings when they are recovered.








The first look inside the wing reveals that it is in very good condition with just a little surface rust on the compression tubes and drag wires but nothing to worry about.

The spars look fantastic with no apparent splitting along the scarfed and lamination joints. Luckily my Farther was a carpenter and joiner so he had a quick look and declared the spars OK although the final say will go to Carl, my inspector.


With all the clips removed, the fabric was rolled back over the wing. The wing was turned and the process repeated on the underside.

Before starting on the next wing I will photograph each bay in turn and all the fittings. The second wing will then be stripped and photographed before I turn my attention to the ailerons and undercarriage.

Spiders Web - The Seat Support

In all the time that I have owned IH, I've never been entirely happy with the fit of the harnesses but I could never quite put my finger on what the problem was. Each annual, when inspecting the harness for wear, It would be bunched up in one corner of the triangular attachment rather than a nice even fit along one side of the triangle.

Now that I am able to get at and remove the spiders web that is the seat support I have worked out what the problem is and I think I now know how the support should be located. So before I forget all the detail I must commit it to paper or rather html.

This is the center of the cross support tube with additional straps (not standard) which have been added by a previous owner at some point. This was probably done to stop the support from sagging. Note that the two V shaped wires are held by a U clamp and the U shaped wire on the cross tube is virtually horizontal. This prevents full and free movement of the two triangular harness attachments. This as what caused my problems during each annual.


I decided that I would remove the support and assemble it on the workbench as it should be reinstalled.

The general layout of the support consists the cross tube, a supporting wire at each end of the cross tube and two V shaped wires (one being slightly shorter but made of a larger gauge wire, this was fixed to the rear of the support on the aircraft).





Each cross tube end has a supporting wire looped around it ensuring that the supporting wire goes through the U shaped wire welded to the tube. Note that the U shaped wire now hangs below the tube so that the harness attachment is free to move above the tube.





The center of the cross tube will also have the U shaped wire now hanging below the tube. I have looped the V shaped wires through this so that they will lock in place. If anyone knows if the two V shaped wires should interlock with each other, then let me know, although I already suspect that this is the case.

The frame will now be disassembled so that it can be straightened out a little, cleaned up and repainted.

Fuel Tank and Boot Cowl

It is early December and work is progressing as quickly or as slowly as I had anticipated. The fabric is off except for the area immediately surrounding the doors, instruments and panel are out as are the seat, baggage sling and floor. The next thing I want to tackle is the main fuel tank and boot cowl and for some reason I decided to do it in that order, probably because I imagined that removing the boot cowl would be more difficult than is actually was. In hindsight remove the boot cowl first as this gives you much better access to the nuts that hold the tank in place.

Removing the tank is not difficult in itself, just disconnect all the fuel lines, undo four nuts, remove the mounting rods and hey presto, one tank removed. Of course in practice there is muck skinning of knuckles as you try to reach that inaccessible nut or your spanner slips in a confined space.

The tank is held in place by two threaded rods that pass through the tank and then through short tubes welded to the fuselage tubing. These are locked in place by nuts.
To prevent the tank vibrating, felt is trapped between the rod and the tank (this can be seen in the picture where the rod exits the tank body.
All four nuts are fairly easy to remove allowing the rods to be pulled through the tank body. The tank can then be lifted out from between the fuselage tubing (this would have been easier if the boot cowl had been removed already because I wouldn't have had to maneuver the filler neck through the boot cowl which required a little forceful help on the way).
Note that the tank should also have some felt pieces glued to the side of the tank to prevent it from vibrating against the fuselage tubing.
The boot cowl was then tackled and this turned out to be very easy, just a matter of removing a couple of dozen screws from around the boot cowl and firewall. The boot cowl was then prized off the supporting framework revealing the tubing for the first time in decades.

This revealed the first bit of corrosion on the tubing. It looks like the paint had peeled off the tubing some time ago allowing the steel tube around the engine mount to rust. I have since used an automatic center punch to test the tube and found that it left only a small mark on the tube so I don't think the corrosion is serious although I will leave the final decision to someone with more experience in these matters than myself.



This nows gives me a lot more room to work and I have since removed the 'H' frame, rudder bars, aileron pulley's and cables. These have all been bagged and tagged and put away. Although it looks as though the fuselage is stripped, there is still a lot of work to do. All the stringers need removing along with the elevator/rudder control runs and I need to clean up the tubing so that it can be visually inspected for damage/corrosion etc.
Then I can start on the wings.

Removing the Panel and instruments

I'm a little out of sequence with this post because removing the panel and instruments was the first thing I did having gotten the fuselage into the workshop. This was not because I felt that it was the right place to begin, but because fellow Taylorcraft owners, Martin and Mick needed to get a new panel made up for their Taylorcraft and they wanted to use mine as a template. Incidentally I intend to replace mine and already have a new blank panel waiting in the wings so to speak.

Start by removing the yokes, this is done by disconnecting them at the 'H' frame and pulling them through the panel holes. The panel is then removed by undoing all the screws that hold the panel to the coaming, the instruments in place and finally four screws that attach the panel to the yoke mounting frames. The panel should then just pull away to be put on one side, or in this case, go off to a sheet metal basher.


This leaves a mass(or mess) of instruments dangling by various wires and pipes which were removed one at a time and put aside for later use.










Looking at the panel, you can see why it needs replacing; more holes than a Swiss cheese and a lot less tasty. The replacement panel will feature a basic triangle of instruments (ASI, tacho, altimeter, oil pressure and temperature and ignition switch) with a panel mount radio and transponder on the L/H side of the pilot's yoke. I personally like the idea of a clean panel with no glove box on the R/H side but this may change as the interior is fitted out just because it gives more storage space.










With the panel out of the way, the top coaming was removed to give me more room to get at the instruments and newly exposed fuel tank and fuel lines. The coaming is a heavy cardboard, and I've been told that this is original. Again this is put to one side so that it can be used as a template for an aluminum replacement.

Interestingly, I found the following inscription penned on the side of the fuel tank

Re-Finished (Painted)
"71"
Install 75 HP 0 time engine
Bert L Watermann
EAGIN I44

Would this be Dahio Trotwood Airport in Dayton?

The next job to tackle is the fuel tank, or should it be the boot cowl, or the remaining fabric or .....

Removing the Panel and instruments

I'm a little out of sequence with this post because removing the panel and instruments was the first thing I did having gotten the fuselage into the workshop. This was not because I felt that it was the right place to begin, but because fellow Taylorcraft owners, Martin and Mick needed to get a new panel made up for their Taylorcraft and they wanted to use mine as a template. Incidentally I intend to replace mine and already have a new blank panel waiting in the wings so to speak. Start by removing the yokes, this is done by disconnecting them at the 'H' frame and pulling them through the panel holes. The panel is then removed by undoing all the screws that hold the panel to the coaming, the instruments in place and finally four screws that attach the panel to the yoke mounting frames. The panel should then just pull away to be put on one side.


This leaves a mess (or mass) of instruments dangling by various wires and pipes which were removed one at a time and put aside for later use.









Looking at the panel, you can see why it needs replacing; more holes than a Swiss cheese and a lot less tasty. The replacement panel will feature a basic triangle of instruments (ASI, tacho, altimeter, oil pressure and temperature and ignition switch) with a panel mount radio and transponder on the L/H side of the pilot's yoke. I personally like the idea of a clean panel with no glove box on the R/H side but this may change as the interior is fitted out just because it gives more storage space.








With the panel out of the way, the top coaming was removed to give me more room to get at the instruments and newly exposed fuel tank and fuel lines. The coaming is a heavy cardboard, and I've been told that this is original. Again this is put to one side so that it can be used as a template for an aluminum replacement.

Spot the difference

December already and I'm still stripping fabric off the fuselage and removing interior components. On Saturday the main fuel tank was removed along with the last of the cockpit instruments and fuel lines (unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me to the workshop so there are no photographs to accompany an article (I'll put something together for the next posting and discuss removing the instruments and floor).

For Sunday I decided I needed to tidy up the workshop a bit. The problem with disassembling the aircraft is that you end up with a pile of bits scattered all over the workshop and if you're not careful it gets out of control. To begin with I've added a bit of extra storage curtesy of two shelf brackets so that I can put some of the timber, additional lighting units and wing bands up out of the way. This has cleared some of the floor.

Next, I've put more tools up onto the tool tidy at the nd of the workshop. Most of these tools had been lying around on the shelving, taking up space where I want to store any components taken off the aeroplane. This has given me plenty of storage space so that I can start to bag and tag the components (instruments, interior parts, fuel line fittings etc) as I take them off. Once they are tagged and bagged they are put onto the shelves where they will be stored until required.

Some of the stored parts will not be reused in the rebuild, but are saved so that I can use them as templates when re-manufacturing later.

So here are the Spot the difference, before and after pictures

Fabric Removal - The Fuselage

Having removed the skylight, I started to tackle the main part of the fuselage by removing the fabric. The hope is that this will be removed in one piece (or as near as) so that I can use the fabric as a template later on when recovering. This may sound unnecessary but I forgot to measure up where the rudder cables exit the fuselage before cutting the fabric off, but I should still be able to get a fairly accurate measurement from the remains.

The tools required were just a Stanley knife, stout gloves and a mask. Razorback, being glass fiber is nasty stuff, and I had already got a rash from cutting small bits of fabric when transporting the aircraft to the workshop (once bitten, twice shy).

I started by cutting down the center of the fuselage top deck and then peeling the fabric off the sides, taking care not to scratch any of the tubes underneath with the knife blade.

An initial inspection of the tubing revealed very little , if any, corrosion on the upper longerons but the lower longerons are covered in dirt and grime accumulated over the years so I won't be able to see the corrosion until this is all removed and the tubes cleaned.

One interesting point I noticed was a kink in the starboard top longeron at one of the weld clusters which isn't mirrored on the port side. I've been told this may be due to weld 'shrinkage' or due to a deliberate outward curve on the tubes which will disappear when the fabric is shrunk on. If anyone else has any thoughts, let me know.




I wasn't surprised to find that spaces between the inner and outer fabric layers above the doors and around the D windows had been filled with an expanding foam; I already knew it was there, but I was keen to remove it and check that it hadn't trapped any moisture, potentially causing corrosion in the tubing.

So far it seems I may have gotten away with no corrosion in these areas.

What was surprising was the condition of the woodwork around the doors and skylight frame. Once it is all cleaned up a lot of it may be re-usable.

The D window frames are substantial and my plan at the moment is to replace them with smaller D windows. The top of the window will be in line with the top of the door, while the bottom edge will follow the line of the diagonal tube which runs from the back of the seat to the roof.

I still have the fabric around the port side door and window to remove and I need to remove the fabric from the bottom of the fuselage. When that is complete I can finish removing the boot cowl, clean up the fuselage tubes, inspect them for obvious corrosion and then look at stripping and inspecting the wings.

Removing the Skylight

One of the first jobs tackled was the removal of the skylight as this would give me a little more elbow room while removing the interior. This was a fairly easy exercise but helps to illustrate some of the issues that lead me to wanting to undertake the restoration.

Firstly I removed the tapes that surrounded the edges of the skylight. This revealed the first surprise - the skylight was riveted down in places - to what I'm not sure yet.

I could also see that the skylight appeared to be glued down as well.









Next I removed all the screws that held the skylight to the wood formers around the rear of the skylight and at the front where it overlaps the windscreen. The windscreen and skylight also appear to be glued together.





Using a screwdriver I gently part the skylight from the frame. The glue turns out to be silicone sealant. I definitely won't be using silicone when the skylight goes back in as it's not in the spirit of a vintage airplane.





Separating the windscreen and skylight was more difficult and the windscreen unfortunately succumbed in the process. The Plexiglas at the top had become very brittle probably due to the action of UV light over the years and broke while being separated.
Thankfully, I had made the decision to replace the windscreen after a flight into sun one evening. Although the windscreen looked to be in good condition, it was not good enough to last another 20-25 years so I would have to replace it sooner or later.

This is the resulting mess after the skylight was removed.

The new skylight will be smaller, terminating one bay forward of the existing skylight. This is partly because of the saving in weight but mainly because the additional area serves no useful purpose. It doesn't increase the rearward view at all and in summer helps to create an uncomfortable greenhouse for the pilot and passenger.

Transporting IH to the workshop

The day after the wings were removed, we tackled the job of transporting the fuselage off to the workshop. Ray Scrobie had made his trailer available for the day which although it was designed to carry a Jabiru, was just big enough to take the Taylorcraft so long as the undercarriage was removed.

Removal of the undercarriage meant disconnecting the brakes (courtesy of a pair if side cutters) and the removal of the bungee cords. We managed to remove the lighter cords with the bungee tool but the heavier cords put up much stiffer (sic) resistance and had to be cut off.




The resulting fuselage is much easier to handle. You don't realize just how heavy the undercarriage is until it is removed especially with the wheels on.






Holes were cut in the fabric and the straps passed through and tied firmly onto the trailer. Don't do this after the aircraft has been recovered though.






Rob and Ray helped manhandle the aircraft into the workshop which turns out to be a snug but manageable size for the project

Dismantling IH - The Wings

A week after IHs last flight I started to dismantle her and get her ready to transport over to my workshop. Like most mechanical things, the taking apart bit is fairly easy if you are prepared, so the first task was to arrange:

1. A gang of helpers on call to help lift the wings.
2. A hoist so that we could pull the engine off.
3. Basic tools (spanners, screwdrivers, hammer etc).
4. AN3, AN4 & AN5 bolts which are used to drive out the existing wing and strut attachment bolts.
5. Jerry can for draining fuel out of the wing tanks.
6. Wing supports.

Preparation

With this in place, the fuel was drained from the wing tanks so that they could be disconnected. I had to cut the fabric above the doors a dig out a lot of foam from inside the cockpit to expose the fuel lines. At some point in the past, the wing roots and interior around the baggage area had been filled with foam, possibly as sound insulation or to prevent drafts. One thing I will have to inspect for is moisture trapped by the foam causing the tubes underneath to corrode.


The aileron cables were then disconnected inside the cockpit and the static and dynamic pitot tubes cut so that there was nothing connecting the wings to the fuselage.

I removed the ailerons to make the wing lighter and to prevent them from being damaged during wing removal and transport. and the jury struts, which is required before the lift struts are removed.


The wing bands and fairings around the top of the undercarriage were then removed to expose the wing and strut attachment bolts. These bolts were then replaced with quick release pins which would make the job of removing the wings quick and easy. The pins are just mild steel rod, bent through 90 degrees at one end making them easy to pull out when required.



Actually removing the wings requires 5 people (4 at a push). A good trick is to remember to keep the engine on the airframe while removing the wings. It looks odd, but you can take a wing off leaving the other wing unsupported AS LONG AS THE ENGINE IS ON.

Removing the Wings
One person should support the wing at the tip while two people remove and support the lift struts at the wing attachment points. A forth person can then remove the pin at the fuselage/strut attachment point and the struts can be put to one side.

Two people can now take the weight of the wing near it's root on the front and trailing edge while the two quick release pins that hold the wing to the fuselage are pulled. The wing can now be laid on the ground. This is then repeated on the other wing.

The removal of the two wings took less than 10 minutes with minimum fuss and effort.


The wings were then placed in a cradle ready for transport and I continued the dismantling process with the engine and tail feathers.



Thanks to the team, John (my Dad), Rob (Mr Taylorcraft UK) Lees, Mick Medland and Martin Hickin.

October 2007 - IHs Last Flight

Sunday 28th October at 16:10, having waited all day for the stormy weather to pass through, the wind suddenly dropped, the rain moved away to the north east of the airfield and I was able to push IH out of the hangar for her 'official' last flight before rebuild.

A number of people had gathered to witness the flight and take photographs and video of the occasion so I obliged with a couple of passes by the tower. The weather was perfectly still and IH flew hands off around the circuit controlled by rudder and trim alone. The last landing on runway 33 was thankfully one of my better ones.

The only time it actually hit me that this was THE last flight was when shutting down at the end of the flight and I'll admit to having a lump in my throat jut this once.

Following the flight, we gathered to conduct the time honored ceremony of cutting the fabric to mark the official start of the project followed by a few drinks.

The next steps would be stripping the aircraft down ready for transport to the workshop and sending the engine off for long term inhibiting.

2006 - Searching for premesis

Back in 2006 it was obvious that the main stumbling block was going to be finding somewhere to use as a workshop. There was no space at home and I didn't fancy using space at the local airfield as there would be too many distractions especially during the summer on a nice flying day. I tried advertising in the local Post Office's with no luck, then by chance I noticed that one of our local farmers was advertising a small workshop for rent.

It turned out that the workshop was unsuitable, being too small for my needs, but he did know of another farmer who had a barn converted into workshop space, and he was looking for tenants. A visit quickly followed and a gentleman's agreement struck. The barn would need some attention before it was ready to take IH so I set myself a budget and a timescale of 1 year to equip and setup the workshop.

The barn/workshop had been used as a dumping ground by a previous tenant so my first job was to clear the area an assess what I had.








Having cleared the space, I sealed and painted the floor white using a proprietary floor paint. This would give a better reflective surface making the workshop brighter as well as easier to clean.

It also keeps the concrete dust down.

The shelving was surplus to requirements at work so I acquired it free of charge. Once assembled, I screwed it to the wall for safety.


I gradually added a workbench, extra lighting, compressor and other tooling that would be required.

The compressor is a 3hp electrically driven (single phase) compressor with a 150 ltr receiver. This will be used to power a small bead blasting cabinet and my spaying equipment.

Each bay in the workshop is lit by two double fluorescent lighting units and I have additional free standing units which can be arranged around any work.

The workbench is 8' x 3' and stand elbow high for ease of work.

During October 2007 I started to put a frame around the workshop to keep the dust out and so that I could spay without affecting the rest of the work place. This is a simple 2"x1" frame with plastic sheeting stapled to it. Each frame is 2.4m long and can be removed in seconds to open up the area.

So by the end of October 2007, I was ready to move IH into the workshop.

2005 - A Germ of an Idea

I have owned and operated G-BRIH since August 1998 having persuaded her (I maintain that all aircraft are feminine) previous owner that he needed to sell her, and I was the person he was going to sell to. His subsequent pleadings for me to sell her back fell on deaf ears.

Since 1998, I have modified IH by swapping the Continental A65-8 engine for a C85-8 engine, a fairly painless process except for a sharp pain in the wallet every now and again. This completely changed the aircraft from a slightly overweight, underpowered but adequate machine into one that just leapt into the skies and said let's go have fun.

To help save weight I also removed an extended baggage compartment and after re-weighing had managed to lose 30 lbs in weight. This still meant that IH's empty weight was around 865 lbs which is heavy for this type of aircraft, some examples being between 800 - 820 lbs.

Looking back in the aircraft log books also reveals that the fabric (Razorback; fibreglass) has been on the aircraft for over 35 years and although it is in good condition (well it's almost indestructible) I think it's time that I checked out what is going on underneath.

Soooo.. back in 1987 or there abouts the decision was made to restore IH. The timing was based on finances and when Rob Lees (Mr Taylorcraft UK) finished restoring his aircraft G-BREY. Then I could nick all his expertise and jigs. What I didn't have was anywhere to carry out a restoration. Rob has used his house as a workshop but I didn't have that option, nor did I have a garden big enough to plant an oversize garden shed and call it a workshop.

Having got the germ of an idea - the hunt was on for a premesis.