My Bede BD-4C airplane needed new end covers for the flaps. These things fill a fairly large gap between the inboard end of each flap and the side of the fuselage. I needed to replace the left one because some mistakes were made in building the fuselage and it is not quite square. Although I built the end cover to specifications, it hit the fuselage. I needed to replace the right one because I dropped the wing and bent the *&^% out of the trailing edge of the cover. Fortunately, the good folks at Bede Corp provided a set of “blanks” so I had a good head start. These saved me a couple of hours of work.
Here is the new flap cover on the right wing. If you know BD-4 airplanes, you will realize that this gap is still pretty large. Because the fuselage is a bit out of square, one of these days I will have to make a custom end cover that is extra wide. Not this summer, though.
I built the left cover but have not yet riveted it to the trailing edge of the flap. The screws have been in and out so many times that the holes in the underlying wooden rib are somewhat enlarged. I need to fill them with wood glue and did not have any at the hangar. I took the photo anyway but you are not mistaken; the cover in this photo does still have a cleco and it is missing a rivet at the inboard corner.
Over the last week, I installed circuit breakers for the field wires for the alternators. These work in combination with the crowbar circuits in the B&C Aero voltage regulators to provide overvoltage protection to the plane. Should one of the alternators or regulators fail and try to drive so many volts that it would damage the radios, a circuit breaker would trip, shutting off the offending alternator.
I also installed a dual USB power outlet, giving me a place to plug in an ADS-B receiver and also charge an iPad.
You can see the circuit breakers and the USB charger at the lower, right corner of the panel in today’s photo. (Click to enlarge.)
The other big task finished up this week was the static tubing. All of the pneumatic plumbing is done and ready for a leak check. Assuming that comes out OK, the plane will be ready to sense altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, and angle-of-attack (direction the air is flowing over the wing). You can see my Pitot and Angle of Attack plumbing diagram here.
Tomorrow morning, I head for AirVenture. Although my airplane won’t come along this year, it is looking more like an airplane that it did last year, and it is actually way more complete than it appears at first blush. The big pieces for the front of the fuselage are all done and ready to be installed: doors, windows, windshield, and frontmost skins. The cowling is done, too, except for the door for checking the oil. Having all of these pieces off the plane makes it much easier to work on.
I will be at AirVenture on Wednesday and Thursday. If you will be there, too, shoot me a text or email and let’s get together.
P.S. One final bit of clarification. My plane did not produce any of those drip stains on the floor! The hangar came pre-decorated when I moved in.
