Denver Neighborhood

The street as seen from Patty's house in Denver

Near Home in the Upper Arkansas River Valley

The photo that shows Buffalo Peaks was taken several years ago. The snowy one was taken just days ago. The haybales were photographed very recently, and the trees a while ago.

Pier in Fog, San Simeon, California

We had slept (uncomfortably) in the car very near San Simeon, and in the morning we walked out by the pier  there. The one that's right below the Hearst Castle, which we didn't visit.

California Coastal Drive

A drive down Highway 1 in California yielded these photos. It's a spectacular way to go! Not fast, but spectacular.

Early Snowfall

Our first good snow of the season is falling as I type. The grasses in my yard are still standing tall, so the snow is sticking onto them, as in this photo taken by my woodpile this morning.

Tool Too Fat

The tool pictured earlier with which to reach down inside the Sinus flaperon tubes turned out to be too fat. It wouldn't fit into the tube that already had the tip riveted on. I needed a new plan quickly, and I made a skinny tool for each side (one side needs a 5 mm hex key whereas the other needs a 4 mm hex wrench). And they worked! Patty and I each manipulated one from either side of the fuselage this afternoon and got the bolt/nut in place!

At first, I thought about using lots of blue Permatex (threadlocker like Loctite) but realized we'd have to unscrew this bolt and nut while mounting the wings, in order to mark and drill the side where the tip is not yet riveted on. So no threadlocker until then!

Photos and descriptions of the tools I made will follow soon.

Flaperon Bracket

This assembly, at the top middle of the bulkhead behind the seats, mounts the two pieces of tubing that extend left and right into the wing roots, to work the flaperons. It looks simple--just four bolts. But it has to be installed correctly, or one tube will stick out farther than the other. We shouldn't have to bear asymmetry, should we?

It's not as easy as it looks. It mounts off center so you have to try both pieces of tubing to get it where it needs to be.  It's not particularly easy to drill the holes but fortunately I'd bought a long drill bit in the appropriate size--5 mm.

The two openings in the gray bulkhead are for levers attached to the ends of the two tubes. The levers connect rather ingeniously to control linkages that come from the dual control sticks and from the flap lever between the seats. The bolt between the two tubes also goes through the hole in the flaperon bracket.

Making a Tool

I need a long wrench--actually two long wrenches--to reach a bolt and nut that will join two pieces of tubing end to end. I'll have to reach inside the tubes from both ends. I was able to buy a set of wrench extenders. To make another, I bought the socket wrench, an adapter, and a long dowel. I filed the end of the dowel down to a square (roughly) to fit inside the wrench adapter. It'll at least work to get the nut in place. When I tighten it, it'll be with some thread locker applied. Maybe by then I'll have found a metal shaft that I will be able to turn harder.