Art Zemon's Blog Posts

I am coming down the home stretch on getting my Bede BD-4C airplane ready for its airworthiness inspection. Over the last week, I have taken advantage of some unusually warm weather to wrap up quite a list of tasks: Met with Clint (my A&P) to test run the engine with the cowling on. We also […]

I completed two tasks on my Bede BD-4C airplane this week: the oil door and the induction air tubing. Oil Door I fabricated an oil door in the cowling of my Bede BD-4C. Unlike cars, airplanes do not have hoods which can be popped open. The cowling is typically secured on with Camlock or DZUS […]

I fabricated a pair of small brackets which support the weight of the instrument panel in my Bede BD-4C airplane, solving the problem that I identified on November 8. The panel is now rock solid and the rivet holes in the fuselage skins line up perfectly. My original idea was to run braces from the […]

Despite spending a week in tech rehearsal for Act Two Theatre’s production of Annie the Musical, I got a lot done on my Bede BD-4C airplane. First, I figured out a problem with the last pieces of the fuselage skin. Then I installed the wing tips, fabricated a couple of brackets, and installed the data […]

I installed a cabin heater in my Bede BD-4C airplane this week. I did take the super easy route, simply dumping hot air into the cabin by the copilot’s feet. If that is insufficient, I will add some ducting later. It is a simple system. Take some air from the plenum, Route that air past […]

I was despairing of ever being able to say this but I can finally write that the baffling and plenum of my Bede BD-4C airplane are done. 😀 The saga began back in the spring with Rich taking point. I picked up the job in September and wrote about the first couple of weeks of work […]

I have spent all of my time in September working on the baffling for the air cooled Lycoming IO-360 engine in my Bede BD-4C airplane. Well, to be more precise, I spent most of September’s evenings and Sunday’s on the baffling. I do have a job and a wife, both of which require significantly larger […]

Despite a trip to AirVenture immediately followed by a trip to New Jersey and my need to actually work for a living, I got a good chunk of stuff done on my Bede BD-4C airplane over the last month. I am making progress toward having a flying airplane. EAA Technical Counselor Inspection Gale, my EAA technical […]

Last night, I finished adjusting the trim on my Bede BD-4C airplane. Pitch (nose up / nose down) on the BD-4 is controlled by a horizontal stabilator. The trim operates an anti-servo tab on the back edge of the stabilator. (See my post Anti-Servo WHAT? Horizontal Stabil-WHERE? for a description of that techno-babble.) The trim mechanism […]

Quick bonus post: Back on June 24, I wrote that I had had to remount the aileron counterweight arms (see Bede BD-4C Aileron Counterweights and Wings and Control Stick Grips and Headset Jacks and, if you want to go even farther back in time, see Ailerons & Flaps Complete from 2013). Back on July 8, I trimmed […]

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 […]

Six years ago, I installed the two weldments for the horizontal stabilator on the tail of my Bede BD-4C airplane. Take a look at Getting Closer to the Tail for photos. Four years ago, with help from Steve at BedeCorp, I fixed a problem with one of the weldments that holds the horizontal stabilator. You can […]

I taxied my Bede BD-4C airplane Tuesday, for the first time 😀 It was a nice way to wrap up a week that included a fuel leak and a couple of dents. All are repairable but thoroughly aggravating. (“Can you say, ‘Obscenity?’ Sure ya can.”)

This post has a long title because I continue to crank through the punch list of tasks that I need to complete before I can fly my Bede BD-4C airplane. There are so many little tasks that I am using a Trello board to track them. You can see it here: N2468Z Zemon BD-4C. In […]

Over the last month, I have worked several small(ish) tasks on my Bede BD-4C airplane project. Unfortunately, I am behind schedule enough that the plane will not make it to AirVenture 2018, but definitely look for it in the summer of 2019. The oldest task, not yet reported here, was fabricating an air filter box. […]

Draw a big red circle around today on the calendar. For the first time, I ran the engine on my Bede BD-4C airplane for several minutes! Everything worked pretty well. Here is a photo of the engine instruments. From left to right, you are seeing: EGT = exhaust gas temperature. #1 cylinder is 1,060° F. […]