If you have been following my progress building a Bede BD-4C airplane for awhile, you might have been wondering where I have been and why I have not posted anything for several months. Frankly, I hit a terribly frustrating phase and have been too discouraged to write about it. I finally got past it, though, so […]
Mitsubishi i-MiEV Mileage
Shortly after we picked up our Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, I bought a Kill-A-Watt meter, so that I could measure the amount of energy that goes into charging the car’s battery. I know that I pay 11¢ per killowatt-hour so this allows me the calculate the cost of running the car. I am intentionally measuring […]
No No No Vibrations
I have been driving our new Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car almost exclusively since we got it, two weeks ago. I still grin like a fool as I glide virtually silently from a stop up to cruising speed. I grin even more when I lift my foot off of the accelerator pedal and the gauge on […]
Our New Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Car
We just bought a Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car and boy-oh-boy is it fun! This little gem drives “just like a car,” costs about 3 cents per mile to run, has four doors (plus a hatchback), and is surprisingly spacious. Believe it or not, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV is the “big” car in our family, being 10 […]
How I Chose to Build a Bede BD-4C
Several people have asked me how I chose to build a Bede BD-4C airplane instead of any number of more common planes. The questions come in three forms, all of which read like “How did you decide to build this plane?” but, when taken in context, sound more like: Are you nuts? How can you […]
Read-Only Python Properties
Following onto yesterday’s post about Python Properties and @property, there is a neat little trick to create a read-only property of a Python class. All you have to do is omit the setter. This Hero class has a read-write property “name” class Hero(object): def __init__(self, **kwargs): self.name = kwargs[‘name’] @property def name(self): return ‘%s %s’ % […]
Python Properties and @property
My son pointed me at PyCharm and, while poking through it’s built-in “intentions,” I discovered Python’s @property decorator, which led me to learn more about the Pythonic way to handle class properties. Unlike Java and C++, Python encourages you to create public class attributes (a/k/a properties). Here is an example: class Hero(object): def __init__(self, **kwargs): […]
A Graceful Exit from the Syria Trap
President Obama is in a tight spot. On the one hand, he wants to appear strong and follow through on his “red line” statement. On the other hand, he wants to appear strong and not knuckle under to Congress’ disapproval of military action in Syria. The only choices being discussed are: a) Attack Syria, or […]
Wings On. Wings Off.
June 29, 2013 was a perfect day for putting the wings on my Bede BD-4C airplane for the first time. “With a little help from my friends” and family, we carried the wings out of the garage, rolled the fuselage out into the sunshine, and then installed the wings. Here is a shot of the […]
The Flight Not Taken
Let’s talk about a road not taken, less romantic than Frost’s. … Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost My phone rang one night and I answered to hear Sven’s voice. He was training to get his pilot’s […]
Wing Root Gussets
The main spar of the Bede BD-4 is a 6 inch diameter aluminum tube. This is, literally, the piece from which the entire airplane hangs as the wings fly through the air. As you can imagine, it is kind of vital that the fuselage be well attached to the spar. Here is a photo of […]
Ailerons & Flaps Complete
I finished the right wing aileron of my Bede BD-4C airplane tonight. Both ailerons and both flaps are now complete. Here (again) are the flap and aileron for the left wing: And here, in its debut appearance, are the flap and aileron for the right wing: Eventually, there will be a lead counterweight attached to […]
Test Fitting the Left Aileron
Bonus photo: With the aileron ribs bolted to the torque tube, I did a test installation of the aileron on the left wing of my Bede BD-4C. Wonder of wonders, it fit perfectly with no side-to-side wobbling and no trouble installing the last bracket. 🙂 After confirming that the ribs were exactly the right distance […]
Left Aileron
I am starting on the left aileron for my airplane. On the Bede BD-4C, the ailerons are operated by 10 foot long torque tubes which run from the fuselage, through the flaps, all the way to the wing tips. Here is a picture of the torque tube for the left wing with the aileron ribs […]
All Four Flap Pieces Built
Check out this photo of the outer half of the flap for the left wing of my Bede BD-4C airplane. (You can click on it to see it larger, as with any other photo.) You may think that this photo looks just like the ones that I posted on May 20 or perhaps even the […]
Bede BD-4C Flaps
At long last, I am doing something large that actually looks like an airplane part! 😀 I am making the flaps for my Bede BD-4C airplane. The wings are 10 feet wide; the flaps are made of two 40 inch wide halves and the aileron is another 40 inches. To make each half of the flap, […]
8 Years, 600 Posts
I am bemused to realize that I started this blog a little over eight years ago and this is my 600th posting. I remember being nervous back then, wondering if I would be able to find anything to write about. I made a commitment to try it for 90 days and then decide whether to […]
Bede BD-4C Wing with Brackets
Last night I installed the outer aileron support bracket on the right wing of my Bede BD-4C. Here is a bonus photo with all of the brackets labeled so you can see what all I have been babbling about for the last couple of weeks. Click on the picture to see a larger version. The […]
Aileron Support Brackets
Having completed the mid-flap support brackets on the wings of my Bede BD-4C airplane, I continued working along the wing to the inboard aileron support bracket, which supports the outboard end of the flap and the inboard end of the aileron, and then to the outboard aileron support bracket. The outboard bracket was easy; it […]
Mid-Flap Assembly
The original wing design for the Bede BD-4 used a one-piece flap, about seven feet long. The new metal wing on my Bede BD-4C airplane uses a two-piece flap, with each half being about 3.5 feet wide. The ribs at the ends of each half are tied together with a pair of 1/4 inch steel […]
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