Man In Black Projects

Before building the flaps and ailerons, the skin needs to be bent in the front similar to the rudder and horizontal stabilizer. Then we installed the ribs inside Insert the forward spar and Cleco the hinges on Full view of temporary Cleco just to get a sense of the part Then we rivet the hinges…

First step is to pressure test the tank, which means we need to seal all the holes, including the big one up top for the fuel cap. For the sight gauge holes, we slip on the sight gauge tube partway just to seal them The pressure test will be very low pressure. Less than 1PSI….

First step is to cut a 3″ hole after tracing the opening in the skin Hole is cut but there is some debris inside that will need to be vacuumed out with the shopvac Then we drill the holes for the site gauges and aft fuel withdrawal line Then we install the fittings in the…

Having finished the wing frames, it is time to put the skins on… First we Cleco the upper skin and stringers in place (making sure the wing is level and true and there is no twist) After double checking that the wing is leveled and true, then we transfer drill and Cleco the skin to…

For building the wing, we are start with the frame assembly and make sure everything is good before skinning. First we Cleco everything together (fuel tank added just for getting a sense of placement) Assembled the flap and aileron bellcranks We built these wooden frames for supporting the skin pieces for primer. Currently has only…

Cleco the elevator trim tab When Clecoing the other side, we raise it on 2×4’s Fully riveted trim tab Cleco in a rod to bend the leading edge of the skin Bending the skin Skin clecoed on to frame with trim tab resting in place Added the hinges for the trim tab, with nut rivet…

The horizontal stabilizer is larger and slightly more involved than the vertical stabilizer, but still looks fairly straightforward if we can be careful enough following the instructions exactly. First we need to spray primer all the aluminum pieces Then we Cleco the frame. The frame is put on pieces of wooden 2×4 for this and…

frame is assembled… the middle two nose ribs are perpendicular to the spar while the upper and lower ones are level to the ground putting Clecos on the skin finished Clecos vertical stabilizer is leveled with support shims (maybe under the Clecos wasn’t the best idea, but it seemed relatively stable and the digital level…

Step one in building most kit airplanes appears to be building the rudder. This is the easiest part to build, not too big and not too complex. But step zero is to inventory everything and layout the workspace… We suspended the large pieces from the rafters to make space for building. After that, the instructions…

Rans S-21 Outbound N441LH at EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh (Photo by Lestocq, Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International) In 2020 and 2021, I began exploring building an airplane from a kit. This is something I dreamed of doing since I was a teenager, and I finally decided to do it. After exploring a number…