The Bede BD-4C airplane has a whole bunch of hardware inside the back end of the fuselage. The two rudder cables (one from each rudder pedal) are attached to a steel bellcrank. The bellcrank operates the front end of a push-pull rod (the back end of which is attached to a control horn on the bottom […]
Fabricating the BD-4C Dorsal Fin
In our last episode, our intrepid BD- had built a bending brake but been forced out of his airplane factory by the sweltering St. Louis summer heat. Once the temperature dropped, I was able to make the bend for the middle of the BD-4C dorsal fin and then cut it to shape, ready to have the flanges […]
Sheet Metal Bending Brake for Dorsal and Ventral Fins
I made a little progress on my Bede BD-4C airplane this week, though it is not photogenic enough to show here. I made two small steel plates which will attach the tail skid to the fuselage. They are drilled and clecoed in place, waiting for the welder to bend the ½ inch 4130 steel tube into […]
Straightened the Crooked Tail
I discovered a serious problem with my Bede BD-4C airplane as I was getting ready to install the top fuselage skin: the horizontal part of the tail was crooked. Specifically, the copilot’s side of the tail was about three inches higher (above the floor) than the pilot’s side. I did some careful measuring and figured out that the […]
Bede BD-4C Wingtips
The wingtips for my Bede BD-4C airplane arrived today, a very nice surprise since I have been having a hellish time getting the horizontal stabilator attached parallel to the wing spar. Here are pictures, in gorgeous carbon fiber. I am dearly looking forward to the day when I can attach these to the wings.
Making an Inspection Port
After spending much time and effort to properly create the large fuselage skins for my Bede BD-4C airplane, you would think that I would want to keep them nice and whole. You would think wrong. Two of them needed large holes cut into them. The top skin needed a hole for the vertical stabilizer’s spar […]
Bottom Fuselage Skins Bonded
Big weekend: I have bonded the first fuselage skins onto my Bede BD-4C airplane. I painted 3M Scotch-Weld #10 Contact Adhesive onto both the skin and the fuselage angles and then “just” stuck the two together. Here are a few photos. There is actually more adhesive on the plane than is visible in the pictures. The […]
More Fuselage Skin
The rear part of the fuselage of the Bede BD-4C airplane that I am building is about 11 feet long. There are eight pieces of skin which cover it. The aft-most pieces are 0.016 inches thick and about 7.5 feet long. The four pieces farther forward are 0.020 inches thick about 3.5 feet long. I […]
Installing Lift Reserve
As you know, if you are a citizen of the universe, I am building a Bede BD-4C airplane and I have been writing about the process here on my blog for the last couple of years. Today I am going to write about something that few aviators, and even fewer homebuilders, write about. I am […]
Progress on the Fuselage Skin
I have made a bunch of progress on the first piece of fuselage skin for my Bede BD-4C airplane. This is the piece on the top of the fuselage, at the rear. It sits under the vertical stabilizer so, no surprise, I got to cut a hole in the skin for the stabilizer’s spar to […]
Cut the First Skin
Tonight, I screwed up my courage and made a diagonal cut along a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of aluminum. This is the first piece of fuselage skin for my Bede BD-4C airplane.
Horizontal Tail on Bede BD-4C
Big day today. I attached the horizontal stabilator (horizontal tail) to my Bede BD-4C fuselage for the first time. Check out the video:
Wings Fit
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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