Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Posted: **Mon Apr 22, 2024 10:00 am**

Back from visiting my sisters and mother. I planed the doublers on the lower right longeron this morning. Time to glue up the lower left.

Posted: **Mon Apr 22, 2024 5:46 pm**

Glued up the lower left longeron doublers today.

Posted: **Mon Apr 22, 2024 6:27 pm**

Nice work, Richard. I'm a machinist, not a woodworker, but have been learning about hand planes on this Piet project. It's strangely satisfying watching a chip roll of them.

Posted: **Tue Apr 23, 2024 5:20 pm**

The rear splices are complete. Station piece and pulling them together at the tail post next.

Posted: **Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:24 pm**

Richard; do you plan to refit the tailspring and other fittings that require holes back there before varnishing the wood?

-Oscar

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:10 pm**

Oscar. Yes I do plan on drilling before refinishing. I still have a drill guide, made out of 1" key stock, that I made for the longeron repair from 5 years ago.

Posted: **Wed Apr 24, 2024 10:13 pm**

Station piece, diagonal and doublers. Late night glue up.

Posted: **Sat Apr 27, 2024 10:02 am**

I glued in the old tailpost last night. Gussets next.

Posted: **Sat Apr 27, 2024 11:32 am**

Posted: **Sat Apr 27, 2024 12:21 pm**

Looks like an airplane, from nose to tail.

-Oscar

Posted: **Sun Apr 28, 2024 6:25 am**

Good as new..

Posted: **Sun Apr 28, 2024 11:22 am**

Posted: **Mon Apr 29, 2024 9:18 am**

The tail reconstruction is finished except for fairing strips and holes for the fittings.

Posted: **Mon Apr 29, 2024 10:19 am**

That's gotta be a great feeling, Richard. I know it was a great feeling for me every time I completed a subassembly back when I was making repairs to my Air Camper. Patience and determination will eventually win the day.

-Oscar

Posted: **Wed May 08, 2024 8:40 pm**

The holes for the forward tailwheel brackets are drilled.

Posted: **Mon May 20, 2024 3:40 pm**

Since I moved the upper seat back aft 3-1/2" I was able to reuse the diagonal brace behind the seat back by re-cutting to the new angles. I still need to install the forward gusset.

Posted: **Mon May 20, 2024 5:53 pm**

One piece at a time.. attaboy!

Posted: **Mon May 20, 2024 10:22 pm**

Well crap...., while marking up the longerons for cuts for the splices, I found a crack in the lower left one, right where I wanted to do the splice. Always something. Time for another inspection for additional damage I might have missed and to re-evaluate the splice location on the lower left longeron.

Posted: **Tue May 21, 2024 11:28 pm**

Good eyes. I'm glad you caught the crack now and not when it might matter later. It seems you're doing this just right!

Cheers, Ken

Posted: **Thu May 23, 2024 8:04 am**

The first two splices cut.

Posted: **Thu May 23, 2024 3:24 pm**

Wish I had thought of that nifty scarfing jig. It's nice when you have the working room for nice jigs and clamps and planes and spokeshaves to work with! It seems like anytime I need to make repairs to something, I have to work with small tools and work by eyeball in very tight spaces.

-Oscar

Posted: **Thu May 23, 2024 8:25 pm**

What did you use to get rid of the biggest part of the scarf?

Posted: **Fri May 24, 2024 7:27 am**

On my first try, back on one of the tail longerons, I tried a saws all and chisels. It was practically uncontrollable. Vibration and catching the wood it jumped all over the place.

Now I use a small draw knife I bought at Rocklers. It takes 3 to 5 minutes to cut down to just shy of the guide, then I finish with a block plane.

Posted: **Fri May 24, 2024 9:04 am**

Alrighty, now! Thanks for that..

Posted: **Sat May 25, 2024 5:29 pm**

All four fuselage forward longerons scarphed. Now to do the repair pieces.

Posted: **Sun May 26, 2024 2:58 pm**

Inquiring minds want to know.. did you just run the plane down the steel jig?

Posted: **Sun May 26, 2024 4:39 pm**

After cutting close with the draw knife, yes.

Posted: **Tue May 28, 2024 10:32 am**

Thanks again..

Posted: **Tue May 28, 2024 5:29 pm**

The four pieces for the front of the fuselage are ready to be glued on.

Posted: **Wed May 29, 2024 11:59 am**

The bottom longerons are gluing.

Posted: **Thu May 30, 2024 12:26 pm**

The two upper longerons are gluing.

Posted: **Thu Jun 13, 2024 7:22 am**

It's been a while since I could work on the Piet. Yesterday I glued in one piece of the left rear cabane station.

Posted: **Thu Jun 13, 2024 12:40 pm**

Richard: even the pyramids were built one stone at a time, and so it is with building an Air Camper. You can't rush this stuff and if you do it right the first time, you'll only have to do it once

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR

Posted: **Thu Jun 13, 2024 6:50 pm**

Opposite side gluing

Posted: **Sun Jun 16, 2024 3:10 pm**

Gluing in diagonals.

Posted: **Tue Jun 18, 2024 11:48 am**

Posted: **Thu Jun 20, 2024 8:45 am**

Bending a longeron. It dropped 2-1/8" at the end overnight. 6 lbs of weight hanging on the end.

Posted: **Fri Jun 21, 2024 2:45 pm**

Posted: **Sun Jun 23, 2024 3:08 pm**

Up to the firewall on the left side.

Posted: **Wed Jun 26, 2024 3:03 pm**

The side trusses are done. Time for inside gussets and station cross pieces.

Posted: **Wed Jun 26, 2024 3:08 pm**

Yes, I was going to ask, "Would you like gussets with that framing sir?"

-Oscar

Posted: **Mon Aug 05, 2024 5:24 pm**

I hadn't worked on the Piet since the third week of June, due to my wife's memorial and my general lack of desire to do anything. But today I started cutting inside gussets. The one shown, inside lower right, has a long one. The gussets for the longeron splice and the station came so close together I decided to combine then. It'll be the same way on the opposite lower longeron.

Posted: **Tue Aug 06, 2024 10:41 am**

After the clamps and final shaping.

Posted: **Tue Aug 06, 2024 1:13 pm**

Thanks for the pix! I know sometimes you don't think anyone cares when you don't get any response. This stuff is valuable info.

Posted: **Tue Aug 06, 2024 3:27 pm**

I check daily to see what the latest work is looking like.

-Oscar

Posted: **Wed Aug 07, 2024 7:15 pm**

Left lower longeron splice and station.

Posted: **Sun Aug 25, 2024 5:28 pm**

Lots of family crap going on, getting in the way of Piet rebuild time
I have managed to get some of the blocking for the landing gear/lift strut fittings started.

Posted: **Thu Aug 29, 2024 1:26 pm**

Posted: **Sat Aug 31, 2024 2:02 pm**

I was out at the hanger taking some measurements on the wing. I found something interesting. When Ken built the wing, he did the compression struts in the middle of the wing different. Instead of offsetting the struts with the 1/4" plywood to clear the bottom of the wing fabric, he cut a curve, like the lower center section pieces, flipped the cut out piece over and glued it to the top of the strut.

Posted: **Mon Sep 09, 2024 10:43 am**

And yet another example of how the simple things are often the most elegant. Very nice detail.

-Oscar

Brodhead Pietenpol Association

N34KP's rebuild

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