Build Article

Lanier Cap 232

Built by Brian Deis, Constructed for Brent Steele, August 2008

As with all builders, I have many techniques that I use in the construction of the plane and these are simply the ones I am comfortable with and use on a regular basis. I am happy to share those with you or the try others you may be familiar with.

WINGS

All of the surfaces are cut foam from the kit and we have to skin the foams and then add balsa on all the edges to give strength and have a plane that will last.

The build begins with the construction of the skins for all of the surfaces. This is done by selecting the 4” wide stock supplied in the kit and grading the material for use on the plane

medium hardness on the wings for strength
light grade on the tail surfaces to prevent a tail heavy plane
Contest grade on the fuse for its ability to bend and to keep the weight down.

I replaced about ½ of the wood in the kit and used my stock of wood to get the light and contest grade material on the plane. This can make a big difference in the final weight and weight is the largest variable on the performance of the plane. I weigh each sheet and match the weights from left to right wing.

The sheets are edge glued and set up flat with weight on the panels to ensure the joints are aligned. After the glue is dry, the panels are stripped of tape and sanded to 300 grit in the flat. I find this is the easiest way to get the good finish on the wings that will cover well and give the appearance I expect in the plane.

Next the foams are prepped for sheeting by installing the wing tube with supports and locating the servo and cutting the socket with hard wood supports epoxied in place. See the tips and tricks section for details on a fine way to get the servo mounts in the wing.

The skins are then coated with gorilla glue and the sheet is applied to the wing. I place it on a flat table in the top and bottom foam form and apply weight to be sure the wing is flat and the skin is pressed fully down on the foam form. I sometimes use the vacuumed bagger, but that requires a different order of steps.

After the wings are sheeted on both sides I trim them to shape and put on a balsa leading and training edge. The kit did not call for the trailing edge balsa as they just use the overlapped balsa end grain as the edge. This will not last and I always reinforce the edges with balsa. It is then trimmed to shape and the leading edge shaped to the rough configuration of the wing. Final shaping and sanding is left to just before the covering process begins.

Next the ailerons are drawn on the wings and the cuts made on the band saw. The straight edge is taped on the surface of the wing and the band saw blade contacts the straight edge as you cut the aileron out of the wing. The tips and tricks section of this site has detailed instructions on the cutting operation.

The cut edges are now lined with balsa. I use white glue so that the joint can be sanded. Tape is used to hold the balsa in position. The rough shape is now set and all the glue is allowed to dry.

While the glue is setting, I then do the matching of the wing to the fuse so that the joint will be just right. The wing tube is placed in the fuse and the wings checked for tramble. TRAMBLE -- the measurement of the wing tips relative to each other. One tip should not be ahead of or behind the other. We check this by measuring from the rear center of the fuse to the tips of the wings. A string is used to be sure the distance is the same on both sides. Adjust this until it is correct. When it is set, glue in the phenolic tube in the fuse to freeze the wing in the proper alignment.

Next, the wing and fuse joint is set up. As seen above, set the fuse up on the side and put the wing and wing tube on the plane. The ply wing root is put in place and the wing tightened down on the fuse. If there are any gaps between the wing and the fuse, they are adjusted now and the wing root plate is glued to the wing, Note the wax paper to ensure we do not glue the wing to the fuse. Do this to both wings and allow to dry.

Next I set the wing to fuse hardware. This begins by placing wood dowels ½” diameter by 2 inches into the wing root. I use two for anti-rotation pins and one additional one for holding the wing to the fuse. These holes are drilled parallel to the wing tube so that the wings will go on the plane. The dowels are then cut off and glued in the wing with epoxy for strength. I do not recommend gorilla glue for this because it foams and pushes the dowels out of the holes. Once this is done, the dowels are drilled for pins and ¼ - 20 all-thread.

Since this kit already had holes in the fuse, I am trying to use them and that calls for a little different plan for setting the anti-rotation pins. Set the pins in the wing and slide it on the fuse. When I set the incidence, I glued temporary blocks on the fuse under the wing trailing edge to align the wing.

I drill the hard points to take the two ¼” pins and one ¼-20 threaded rod. These will lock the wing in place and the bolt will allow the wings to be tightened on the fuse. There are many ways to hold the wings on the plane and this is the one that works for me. It is simple to assemble the plane and it will hold the wings on very nicely. Once the wing is done as shown above, I put it on the fuse and the pins slide through the holes in the fuse. The holes are too big to locate the wings properly, so I cut blocks and drill holes the size of the pins. With the wing in position, I slide the blocks over the pins and secure them to the fuse. This completes the attachment of the wings to the fuse and the setting of the incidence to .1 degrees from the datum line.

The wings are now complete and I sand them with 220 and then 320 paper to prep for covering. The imperfections are now filled and only a final sanding is left before covering begins.

TAIL SURFACES

The tail surfaces get the same treatment as the wings in that they are foam and must go through the process of skinning and having all the trim wood applied.

Once the trim is on, the surfaces are shaped and aligned to each other. The lines for taper are drawn and the hinges are put in place. Rough shaping is then completed and the hard points are put in place. I use hard points everywhere there is hardware passing through balsa. This extends the life of the airframe and gives better ability to tighten the fasteners. The surfaces are sanded to 320 grit and prepared for covering.

CONSTRUCITON OF THE FUSE

The fuse is constructed of laser cut formers and ply sides for strength. This part of the plane is over designed and I add lightning holes in much of the structure to take weight out of the plane.

The fuse construction is normal for this sort of plane and all the parts fit together very well. It is set over the plans to be sure it is straight and squares are used to be sure the sides are straight. The sides and the motor box are then joined together and the fuse bottom is put in place

The Turtle deck and front deck are sized and put in place to complete the rough build on the fuse.

The hatch allows access to the equipment and is often a place where the plane fails. The hatch nd canopy is light and can be hard to hold to the plane. My system will prevent any problems with the hatch.

We begin by making hardwood dowels that are drilled and countersunk to allow the head of the 6-24 bolt to be flush with the side of the plane. These are next glued into the sides of the fuse in the position the safety bolts will take. The ears on the hatch are now put in place so that they align with the bolts. A blind nut is then put on the inside of the ear so that the bolts will not wear out

Next, I began the motor mounting. The engine in this plane will be the DL 50 cc and I measured the distance from the back of the spinner to the end of the mounting standoffs. This dimension is applied to the drawing so that I could establish the position of the firewall so that the cowl will fit properly. The motor mounts are applied to the firewall and the holes drilled on the drill press. The firewall is then glued in place and the triangle stock is glued in the corners to increase the strength of the joints. I will also peg the joint with dowels.

The motor is then mounted on the firewall. The plans call for no right thrust and no down-thrust. While I am suspicious about the right thrust, the cowl is also not set up for any thrust so for the build, I am going with the design. After it is flown, there might be a fiberglass cowl and the right thrust can be allowed at that time.

The wings are now set on the fuse as noted earlier and the position is confirmed.

The tail assembly is next and after the dry fit shown above, the stab is glued in place on the saddle constructed to fit under the surface. The faring is unusual on this plan and it takes time to construct. Some models leave this area square and just cover as best they can.

I prefer to make the faring and have the tail perform in the air and look nice. This means blocking the area in with wood and then shaping it to fit the contour of the fuse. Above, you see the rough faring in place and there will be sanding and filling before covering begins. In addition, I will drill a rod from the bottom of the fuse into the rudder to add strength to the assembly. The rudder taper is now set and the hinges cut and aligned. The servo openings are in and lined with hard wood to be sure they will stay in place.

The landing gear plate is then measured and the blind nuts set in position to hold the gear. These blind nuts are screwed in place with servo screws and there is no chance they will ever come loose or give you any problems.

The photo above shows the plate in place with epoxy.

THE COVERING PROCESS

The covering will be white, blue and green in the pattern shown at the beginning of this document. I begin with the wings, and the covering is applied to the underside of the wings and then the top. This layout has lots of colors and many cuts on the covering.

I find it best to lay out the joints in the covering on the wings and stab in advance and then cover to the lines. As you can see on the photo, the lines are easy to cover to and the black striping will be used later over the joints so I can cover without any overlap. This gives a nice smooth job of the covering.

The covering continues on the wings and ailerons and upon completion, the trim striping is applied and the ailerons are hinged on the wing. The wings were then complete and the covering proceeds to the fuse beginning with the tail surfaces.

The tail area is next and the rudder and stab are covered. The fuse is done from the top down as there are three colors and this will make the joints line up the best.

BUILDING AND PAINTING THE COWL

After the covering is on the plane we can work on the cowl and set up the final engine items. As you can see above, the lower ½ of the ABS cowl is positioned on the ring. The ring is bolted to the firewall and cut to be indented 1/32 from the exterior of the plane. I use servo screws through the lower cowl and into the cowl ring. This allows me to fit and trim the cowl lower until it fits well and the front lines up with the spinner back. This will take several fittings and is worth the work if it comes out well. When the lower is in position, I work on the upper to get it in position. The good joint with the airframe and match to the lower are the two priority items.

In order to take off the cowl. I made an extender for the allen wrench so that you can get to the bolts. You can see that there are 4 bolts and the tool allows you to get in to the bolts with ease

The cowl upper is fitted and glued to the cowl ring and to the lower ½. The ABS is thin so I use more ABS material to double the inside of the joints. The initial glue is done with CA and then the reinforcement of the joints is done with gorilla glue. As you can see in the photo, the joint between the upper and the lower is very rough and I rely on bond-o to make the area clean and smooth. Since I am not a body and bond-o expert, this takes several applications and lots of sanding to get the cowl ready to paint.

The joint is laid out and the white is painted followed by the turquoise and it is all allowed to dry. Final striping produces the cowl ready to go on the plane.

This color matched paint gives a nice look to the plane since the canopy is painted to give a clean line to the cockpit.

INSTALL ELECTRONICS

The electronics begin with extenders for all the servo wires so that there are no plugs to fail later.

You can see that the splices are soldered and then shrink tubing to secure the splice. Each servo plugs into the fly board and extenders are not used in the plane. The servos are then mounted into the hard mounts installed earlier and lock-tite is used on all bolts. Once all the servos are in place, the surfaces are hinged and great care is taken to get all the surfaces aligned and moving to the full extent of the tapers.

With the surfaces in place and the servos mounted, I set about making all the links. The process is:

Power up the servo and ensure the trim is centered on the transmitter, sub trim is 0, and atv is at 140
Mount the arm in the proper position with the ball link attached in the second hole out from the end.
Screw the control end down on the control rod from the surface so that it is a comfortable distance from the surface
Cut a length of 4-40 rod that will attach between the control horn and the ball link ( be sure to allow room for adjustment)
Cut a length of c/f tubing equal to 75% of the 4-40 rod and slide it over the rod
Attach the rod to the control horn and the ball link
Adjust the length to center the surface
Use ca to glue the c/f tube to the center of the rod

The internal install is the final phase of the equipment setup. The switches are mounted in the bottom of the equipment compartment per the wishes of the owner. In order to make sure the switches were mounted correctly, hardwood rails were installed in the floor and these rails were also used to hold the fly-board. All the wires make up to the board so the positioning of the board is worth some thought.

The batteries were placed in a convenient location, but were not mounted down. The plane was assembled and put on the balancer to check the CG for the first time. The CG was one inch behind the perfect location on the first check, so the batteries were moved forward and the second check was only ¼” behind the target. Additional battery movement put the CG right on the center of the zone shown by Lanier. This will be a good beginning position and as we fly the plane, other moves will likely be made.

The internal wiring is now mounted down and the batteries were padded and mounted with zip ties. All the equipment is tested to be sure it operates as planned and the internal systems are ready for the engine test.

WHEEL PANTS

The wheel pants are first glued into one assembly for each side. The hole for the shaft is then drilled being careful to have one left and one right.

The axles are mounted on the landing gear and the wheels drilled to fit the axle. (5/16” in this case). The length of the axle is set to be just short of hitting the outside of the pant as shown below

There are blocks of ¼” ply on both sides of the inside of the wheel pant. These blocks are shaped to fit inside and then glued on with epoxy.

The assembly is shown below and the blocks on the inside of the pants hold the shaft to give long life to the assembly

Next the gear is drilled for the 6-32 bolt that will lock each pant in place. The gear is then mounted and the wheel pants put in position so that they are level with the ground when the plane is on the three wheels. The hole is then drilled through the block ( and not through the wheel – tried that and it turned out badly). The blind nut is then set in place in the block and the assembly is ready for paint and final assembly with lock-tite to be sure it will not come off later on.

ENGINE TEST

Before the test, the ignition battery shorted against the cells and destroyed some of the wiring between the battery and the ignition module. Repairs were made and a fresh battery was put in place. All tests of the system were rerun and all looked good

With the cowl off of the plane, we set the plane up on the test stand and attempted to run. The choke did not draw fuel into the engine and we adjusted the choke to give better seal. We operated the choke to ensure there was fuel in the engine and reset in the test stand.

We later discovered that the gas proof tubing used in the fuel system failed and the engine could not draw fuel without getting air in the line. All the tubing in the system was replaced and the engine ran up to spec
Prop     20 x 10 wood
Max RPM 6300
Min RPM     1750
Gas mix   30 to 1 Amsoil

With the engine test complete, the plane was ready for final checks and first flight.

[Download this article]

Home About Brian Dream Your Airplane Gallery The Workshop Build Articles Tips and Tricks Services Offered Kit Construction ARF Construction Scratch Builds Crash Rebuilds Rescue Builds Contact	Build Article Lanier Cap 232 Built by Brian Deis, Constructed for Brent Steele, August 2008 As with all builders, I have many techniques that I use in the construction of the plane and these are simply the ones I am comfortable with and use on a regular basis. I am happy to share those with you or the try others you may be familiar with. WINGS All of the surfaces are cut foam from the kit and we have to skin the foams and then add balsa on all the edges to give strength and have a plane that will last. The build begins with the construction of the skins for all of the surfaces. This is done by selecting the 4” wide stock supplied in the kit and grading the material for use on the plane medium hardness on the wings for strength light grade on the tail surfaces to prevent a tail heavy plane Contest grade on the fuse for its ability to bend and to keep the weight down. I replaced about ½ of the wood in the kit and used my stock of wood to get the light and contest grade material on the plane. This can make a big difference in the final weight and weight is the largest variable on the performance of the plane. I weigh each sheet and match the weights from left to right wing. . The sheets are edge glued and set up flat with weight on the panels to ensure the joints are aligned. After the glue is dry, the panels are stripped of tape and sanded to 300 grit in the flat. I find this is the easiest way to get the good finish on the wings that will cover well and give the appearance I expect in the plane. Next the foams are prepped for sheeting by installing the wing tube with supports and locating the servo and cutting the socket with hard wood supports epoxied in place. See the tips and tricks section for details on a fine way to get the servo mounts in the wing. The skins are then coated with gorilla glue and the sheet is applied to the wing. I place it on a flat table in the top and bottom foam form and apply weight to be sure the wing is flat and the skin is pressed fully down on the foam form. I sometimes use the vacuumed bagger, but that requires a different order of steps. After the wings are sheeted on both sides I trim them to shape and put on a balsa leading and training edge. The kit did not call for the trailing edge balsa as they just use the overlapped balsa end grain as the edge. This will not last and I always reinforce the edges with balsa. It is then trimmed to shape and the leading edge shaped to the rough configuration of the wing. Final shaping and sanding is left to just before the covering process begins. Next the ailerons are drawn on the wings and the cuts made on the band saw. The straight edge is taped on the surface of the wing and the band saw blade contacts the straight edge as you cut the aileron out of the wing. The tips and tricks section of this site has detailed instructions on the cutting operation. The cut edges are now lined with balsa. I use white glue so that the joint can be sanded. Tape is used to hold the balsa in position. The rough shape is now set and all the glue is allowed to dry. While the glue is setting, I then do the matching of the wing to the fuse so that the joint will be just right. The wing tube is placed in the fuse and the wings checked for tramble. TRAMBLE -- the measurement of the wing tips relative to each other. One tip should not be ahead of or behind the other. We check this by measuring from the rear center of the fuse to the tips of the wings. A string is used to be sure the distance is the same on both sides. Adjust this until it is correct. When it is set, glue in the phenolic tube in the fuse to freeze the wing in the proper alignment. Next, the wing and fuse joint is set up. As seen above, set the fuse up on the side and put the wing and wing tube on the plane. The ply wing root is put in place and the wing tightened down on the fuse. If there are any gaps between the wing and the fuse, they are adjusted now and the wing root plate is glued to the wing, Note the wax paper to ensure we do not glue the wing to the fuse. Do this to both wings and allow to dry. Next I set the wing to fuse hardware. This begins by placing wood dowels ½” diameter by 2 inches into the wing root. I use two for anti-rotation pins and one additional one for holding the wing to the fuse. These holes are drilled parallel to the wing tube so that the wings will go on the plane. The dowels are then cut off and glued in the wing with epoxy for strength. I do not recommend gorilla glue for this because it foams and pushes the dowels out of the holes. Once this is done, the dowels are drilled for pins and ¼ - 20 all-thread. Since this kit already had holes in the fuse, I am trying to use them and that calls for a little different plan for setting the anti-rotation pins. Set the pins in the wing and slide it on the fuse. When I set the incidence, I glued temporary blocks on the fuse under the wing trailing edge to align the wing. I drill the hard points to take the two ¼” pins and one ¼-20 threaded rod. These will lock the wing in place and the bolt will allow the wings to be tightened on the fuse. There are many ways to hold the wings on the plane and this is the one that works for me. It is simple to assemble the plane and it will hold the wings on very nicely. Once the wing is done as shown above, I put it on the fuse and the pins slide through the holes in the fuse. The holes are too big to locate the wings properly, so I cut blocks and drill holes the size of the pins. With the wing in position, I slide the blocks over the pins and secure them to the fuse. This completes the attachment of the wings to the fuse and the setting of the incidence to .1 degrees from the datum line. The wings are now complete and I sand them with 220 and then 320 paper to prep for covering. The imperfections are now filled and only a final sanding is left before covering begins. TAIL SURFACES The tail surfaces get the same treatment as the wings in that they are foam and must go through the process of skinning and having all the trim wood applied. Once the trim is on, the surfaces are shaped and aligned to each other. The lines for taper are drawn and the hinges are put in place. Rough shaping is then completed and the hard points are put in place. I use hard points everywhere there is hardware passing through balsa. This extends the life of the airframe and gives better ability to tighten the fasteners. The surfaces are sanded to 320 grit and prepared for covering. CONSTRUCITON OF THE FUSE The fuse is constructed of laser cut formers and ply sides for strength. This part of the plane is over designed and I add lightning holes in much of the structure to take weight out of the plane. The fuse construction is normal for this sort of plane and all the parts fit together very well. It is set over the plans to be sure it is straight and squares are used to be sure the sides are straight. The sides and the motor box are then joined together and the fuse bottom is put in place The Turtle deck and front deck are sized and put in place to complete the rough build on the fuse. The hatch allows access to the equipment and is often a place where the plane fails. The hatch nd canopy is light and can be hard to hold to the plane. My system will prevent any problems with the hatch. We begin by making hardwood dowels that are drilled and countersunk to allow the head of the 6-24 bolt to be flush with the side of the plane. These are next glued into the sides of the fuse in the position the safety bolts will take. The ears on the hatch are now put in place so that they align with the bolts. A blind nut is then put on the inside of the ear so that the bolts will not wear out Next, I began the motor mounting. The engine in this plane will be the DL 50 cc and I measured the distance from the back of the spinner to the end of the mounting standoffs. This dimension is applied to the drawing so that I could establish the position of the firewall so that the cowl will fit properly. The motor mounts are applied to the firewall and the holes drilled on the drill press. The firewall is then glued in place and the triangle stock is glued in the corners to increase the strength of the joints. I will also peg the joint with dowels. The motor is then mounted on the firewall. The plans call for no right thrust and no down-thrust. While I am suspicious about the right thrust, the cowl is also not set up for any thrust so for the build, I am going with the design. After it is flown, there might be a fiberglass cowl and the right thrust can be allowed at that time. The wings are now set on the fuse as noted earlier and the position is confirmed. The tail assembly is next and after the dry fit shown above, the stab is glued in place on the saddle constructed to fit under the surface. The faring is unusual on this plan and it takes time to construct. Some models leave this area square and just cover as best they can. I prefer to make the faring and have the tail perform in the air and look nice. This means blocking the area in with wood and then shaping it to fit the contour of the fuse. Above, you see the rough faring in place and there will be sanding and filling before covering begins. In addition, I will drill a rod from the bottom of the fuse into the rudder to add strength to the assembly. The rudder taper is now set and the hinges cut and aligned. The servo openings are in and lined with hard wood to be sure they will stay in place. The landing gear plate is then measured and the blind nuts set in position to hold the gear. These blind nuts are screwed in place with servo screws and there is no chance they will ever come loose or give you any problems. The photo above shows the plate in place with epoxy. THE COVERING PROCESS The covering will be white, blue and green in the pattern shown at the beginning of this document. I begin with the wings, and the covering is applied to the underside of the wings and then the top. This layout has lots of colors and many cuts on the covering. I find it best to lay out the joints in the covering on the wings and stab in advance and then cover to the lines. As you can see on the photo, the lines are easy to cover to and the black striping will be used later over the joints so I can cover without any overlap. This gives a nice smooth job of the covering. The covering continues on the wings and ailerons and upon completion, the trim striping is applied and the ailerons are hinged on the wing. The wings were then complete and the covering proceeds to the fuse beginning with the tail surfaces. The tail area is next and the rudder and stab are covered. The fuse is done from the top down as there are three colors and this will make the joints line up the best. BUILDING AND PAINTING THE COWL After the covering is on the plane we can work on the cowl and set up the final engine items. As you can see above, the lower ½ of the ABS cowl is positioned on the ring. The ring is bolted to the firewall and cut to be indented 1/32 from the exterior of the plane. I use servo screws through the lower cowl and into the cowl ring. This allows me to fit and trim the cowl lower until it fits well and the front lines up with the spinner back. This will take several fittings and is worth the work if it comes out well. When the lower is in position, I work on the upper to get it in position. The good joint with the airframe and match to the lower are the two priority items. In order to take off the cowl. I made an extender for the allen wrench so that you can get to the bolts. You can see that there are 4 bolts and the tool allows you to get in to the bolts with ease The cowl upper is fitted and glued to the cowl ring and to the lower ½. The ABS is thin so I use more ABS material to double the inside of the joints. The initial glue is done with CA and then the reinforcement of the joints is done with gorilla glue. As you can see in the photo, the joint between the upper and the lower is very rough and I rely on bond-o to make the area clean and smooth. Since I am not a body and bond-o expert, this takes several applications and lots of sanding to get the cowl ready to paint. The joint is laid out and the white is painted followed by the turquoise and it is all allowed to dry. Final striping produces the cowl ready to go on the plane. This color matched paint gives a nice look to the plane since the canopy is painted to give a clean line to the cockpit. INSTALL ELECTRONICS The electronics begin with extenders for all the servo wires so that there are no plugs to fail later. You can see that the splices are soldered and then shrink tubing to secure the splice. Each servo plugs into the fly board and extenders are not used in the plane. The servos are then mounted into the hard mounts installed earlier and lock-tite is used on all bolts. Once all the servos are in place, the surfaces are hinged and great care is taken to get all the surfaces aligned and moving to the full extent of the tapers. With the surfaces in place and the servos mounted, I set about making all the links. The process is: Power up the servo and ensure the trim is centered on the transmitter, sub trim is 0, and atv is at 140 Mount the arm in the proper position with the ball link attached in the second hole out from the end. Screw the control end down on the control rod from the surface so that it is a comfortable distance from the surface Cut a length of 4-40 rod that will attach between the control horn and the ball link ( be sure to allow room for adjustment) Cut a length of c/f tubing equal to 75% of the 4-40 rod and slide it over the rod Attach the rod to the control horn and the ball link Adjust the length to center the surface Use ca to glue the c/f tube to the center of the rod The internal install is the final phase of the equipment setup. The switches are mounted in the bottom of the equipment compartment per the wishes of the owner. In order to make sure the switches were mounted correctly, hardwood rails were installed in the floor and these rails were also used to hold the fly-board. All the wires make up to the board so the positioning of the board is worth some thought. The batteries were placed in a convenient location, but were not mounted down. The plane was assembled and put on the balancer to check the CG for the first time. The CG was one inch behind the perfect location on the first check, so the batteries were moved forward and the second check was only ¼” behind the target. Additional battery movement put the CG right on the center of the zone shown by Lanier. This will be a good beginning position and as we fly the plane, other moves will likely be made. The internal wiring is now mounted down and the batteries were padded and mounted with zip ties. All the equipment is tested to be sure it operates as planned and the internal systems are ready for the engine test. WHEEL PANTS The wheel pants are first glued into one assembly for each side. The hole for the shaft is then drilled being careful to have one left and one right. The axles are mounted on the landing gear and the wheels drilled to fit the axle. (5/16” in this case). The length of the axle is set to be just short of hitting the outside of the pant as shown below There are blocks of ¼” ply on both sides of the inside of the wheel pant. These blocks are shaped to fit inside and then glued on with epoxy. The assembly is shown below and the blocks on the inside of the pants hold the shaft to give long life to the assembly Next the gear is drilled for the 6-32 bolt that will lock each pant in place. The gear is then mounted and the wheel pants put in position so that they are level with the ground when the plane is on the three wheels. The hole is then drilled through the block ( and not through the wheel – tried that and it turned out badly). The blind nut is then set in place in the block and the assembly is ready for paint and final assembly with lock-tite to be sure it will not come off later on. ENGINE TEST Before the test, the ignition battery shorted against the cells and destroyed some of the wiring between the battery and the ignition module. Repairs were made and a fresh battery was put in place. All tests of the system were rerun and all looked good With the cowl off of the plane, we set the plane up on the test stand and attempted to run. The choke did not draw fuel into the engine and we adjusted the choke to give better seal. We operated the choke to ensure there was fuel in the engine and reset in the test stand. We later discovered that the gas proof tubing used in the fuel system failed and the engine could not draw fuel without getting air in the line. All the tubing in the system was replaced and the engine ran up to spec Prop 20 x 10 wood Max RPM 6300 Min RPM 1750 Gas mix 30 to 1 Amsoil With the engine test complete, the plane was ready for final checks and first flight. [Download this article]