I finished up the horizontal stabilator (for awhile) on Thursday with a whoop of joy and a grin that lasted for hours. Drilling and riveting the static skin to the right end went quickly and without a hitch, since all of the processes that I used for the left end were still fresh in my […]

Red letter day on my Bede BD-4C airplane project. I have riveted the skins to the left end of the horizontal stabilator! It has taken lots of time to get to this point, building the ribs that go inside the skins, cutting the skins, fitting everything, measuring measuring measuring…. But it all payed off tonight […]

Today is a Red Letter Day. I have assembled the anti-servo tab, my first BD-4C part! It is comprised of the HS-6 skin, with four HS-7 ribs inside it, and two TS-16 brackets on the bottom (outside). The rod for adjusting the anti-servo tab will attach to the brackets. I fitted the two HS-7 ribs to […]

Having ruined two HS-7 ribs last night, tonight’s task was to rebuild them and drill them properly. The trick, which several good friends from EAA chapter 32 pointed out to me, is to draw a line down the middle of the flange on the rib. Then I can assure that the line is visible through […]

I have spent the last three sessions (spaced out over more than a week, since rehearsals for Nunsense took priority over the BD-4C for awhile) building the brackets which will attach the push-pull rod to the anti-servo tab on the trailing edge of the horizontal stabilator. If that’s all gobble-de-gook, never mind. Just read on and […]

Santa Claus, in the guise of Roger the UPS Man, brought me two big boxes of Bede BD-4C pieces on Friday so I was finally able to start construction of my plane. I quickly learned that there is a world of difference between assembling pre-made parts, which I had done in September when I spent […]

Friday morning was set aside for installing the skin on the inboard end of the right wing, which includes the fuel tank. There were a few prep steps remaining because we simply ran out of time on Thursday afternoon. First, I shortened the fuel pickup line and drilled a new fuel strainer in the end. […]

Steve and Rob are slave drivers and, I have to admit, I like it that way. With two of them, a whole airplane in front of us, and only a couple of days of my time to spend at Bede Corp., they have kept me more than busy. Yesterday was for big stuff, assembling the […]

I spent the day at Bede Corp, helping construct the wings of my Bede BD-4C. For a complete newbie like me, it was quite the experience and I sure learned a lot. For instance, assembling the wings is pretty straightforward if you have done it before and have all of the jigs, clamps, and tools readily at hand. […]