The wing fix and tail wheel

Fixed the wing fix, and tried on the tail wheel.

Tail wheel leg

Suddenly remembered that the vertical stab cannot be removed before first removing the tail wheel leg. Drilled and reamed the hole. Got a nice fit.

Engine painted, and tail wheel solved

Painted the engine "barbecue black" with real barbecue paint. It came out really cool even though the black is almost stealthy black. I will paint the cylinders with the same paint.

On Sonexbuilders I got the all too obvious solution to the tail wheel problem. Turn the brackets around! (why didn't I think about that??) This will move the bolt holes about 10 mm up, which is just fine. With the brackets turned around, the angle also became right, according to drawings.

Tail wheel

The tail wheel mount need some modifications to get the bolt in there. The space is too small and the bolt is too far down and too long. I don't want to cut too much into the main structure. Seems there are two options.

1. Make a bolt with thread on both sides. This will be able to slip in from the side more easily
2. Make new angles with the hole further up.

I have to think some more about this, and ask what others have done. Maybe there are some much better solutions out there.

 
The engine paint. I have no idea what kind of paint stick on magnesium. All the paint available are made for cast iron, aluminium at most. Nothing really stick on aluminium without at least an etch primer, and then the primer also have to be heat resistant. VW did not paint the engines. "Barbecue Black" from the local home ware store therefore seems to be the best option after all.

Fuselage, tail wheel

I have ordered the 6 inch tail wheel assembly. It came with the engine. At first look it looks really nice, clean design and nice black anodized parts. A closer look, and I was not so sure.

The first thing was the steel horn. It has sharp edges, and when swung to one side the edges cut into the cylinder holding the tail wheel titanium spring.

The first thing I did was to remove the steel horn and trim the edges son no interference was seen. Then I painted the horn with 3 in 1 paint, so it won't rust.

Then I noticed the but holding the bolt working as the axle. Common aerospace rule of thumb say at least one thread must show, but no more than 4.

Removed it and measured the bolt. New and one size larger must be ordered, preferably with a cotter pin, because the bolt could rotate if the bearings seize up.

The titanium spring rod was way too tight fit. Lots of trimming was needed to make it fit into the tail wheel assembly. Used the bench drill to drill the holes for the AN4 bolts as square as possibly (hopefully the holes in the fuselage that I made earlier is also correct)

Then I saw something strange abut the whole design. All the vertical forces and the torsional forces from the wheel is taken up small bronze bearings. These bearing are completely exposed to the environment. If that bearing last even for one single season with normal rainy weather and mud, I would be surprised. The bearings are easy and cheap to change, and the assembly seems both solid and light, but still.

All in all, the tail wheel assembly is OK. Light and strong, but requires some modding and probably yearly maintenance (changing bearings), but time will tell. Looks very nice though.

Made the handles for the wing folding mechanism.