Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: Kip and Beth Gardner
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Project UpdateI started building the fuselage in early November and have it all together including turtledeck and am finishing up work on seats. Floor is on, of course.I haven't put the plywood skins on front sides of fuselage yet as I followed somebody else's example of leaving it off until the seats and controls are allfigured out and installed -- makes for easier access. Control stick assembly is next along with landing gear. Hope to cut out steel fitings this week and have it on gear before long. Will post some pics one of these days...Meanwhile it is supposed to be 54 degrees today here in the American Siberia (Wis.) and so I'm thinking about that Model A engine out in the garage. Needs to be totally rebuilt for aircraft use and warm weather makes it easy to mess around in the garage...By the way, the plans call for spruce for landing gear legs/struts (straight axle) -- is this what most use? Regards,Fred B.________________________________________________________________________________ Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2005 09:56:38 -0500

Original Posted By: owner-pietenpol-list-server(at)matronics.com
Spruce is what I used, Fred. The spruce struts were the only part of theundercarriage that wasn't damaged during my recent forced landing. Mine arelaminated of 1/4" thick pieces of spruce, bonded with resorcinol glue. Oneadvantage of the laminations (in addition to greatly increased strength andresistance to splitting) is the laminations give you a handy guide to usewhen sanding down the airfoil shape on the struts.Jack PhillipsFinishing the repairs to the right aileron today-----Original Message-----