Elevator Horns

 

The Control Horn on each elevator are made from 20 gauge cold rolled steel.  I hammered them using a 3x Rivet Gun.  It takes about 20 minutes to hammer each of the 4 halves. Go back to the old posts for an explanation of the tools, they worked really well.  I made a new block to hammer on from the limb of an Ash tree the power company cut down.  If you look close you can see the paths of the Ash Borers that caused it to be cut.

The template for locating the Cable Attach Holes sits nicely in the corner radius.

I drew the cut outline on the inside with another template. Then I added some cut lines on this side to follow with the band saw.  

I just used a piece of 1x2 next to the blade to support the metal while sawing.

I used the nibbler around the tabs, then back to the band saw and the 1x2 for the straight cut.

I marked the center line for the 1" spar tube, then put 2 marks for the outside edge.

I used the circle template as a guide to look down and draw a cut line.

I sort of followed the same process for marking the cut for the 3/4" rib tube.  I drew the center line, then the outside tick marks.

Then I used a 3/8" thick piece of aluminum to mark where the edge of the tube cut out touches the outside of the shell half.

Then I drew the cut line curve so it forms a 3/8" radius when viewed from the end of the rib tube.

The nibbler was used to rough cut the opening, which will be finished once I weld the shells together.

The parts are ready for assembly and welding.

Building New Horizontal Tail Surfaces

For several years I kept telling my friend, Rich Wilbur, that I would make him a set of horizontal control surfaces for his WACO NINE project.  I finally decided the only way this would happen was to sell him mine, then I'd be forced to make another set for my project.

Our youngest son Wade had qualified for the World Championship IRONMAN 70.3 race in St. George, Utah, Oct. 29, 2022.  He wanted us to  babysit his 1 year old son Taylor and then we would all take a camping vacation back to Virginia.  The plan was for them to fly to the west coast so Taylor could dip his toes in the Pacific Ocean, then drive to meet us in Utah for the race.  After which we would all camp our way to the Atlantic Ocean for Taylor to dip his toes there as well, nutty but it worked.

We drove Wade's Jeep with his camper trailer to Utah with a slight detour to Colorado Springs to take the tail surface to Rich and check out his project.  The cross winds were incredible but we got there.

In September 2023 Wade raced in the IRONMAN in Augusta, Georgia,  This time we took his Sprinter Van and ran over to Peachtree City to pick up steel tubing from Aircraft Spruce.  We got everything to repair the fuselage and rebuild the tail surfaces.  I had measured the van and decided 18 foot lengths would fit.  That was a good plan but didn't account for the size of the bundle.  Even with the tubes all the way forward the back door wouldn't close.  We had to cut of almost a foot from about half the tubes and hope we didn't cut one too short.

After we got home I cut all the pieces to the lengths needed.  It was close but worked out just fine.

When I made the Tail surface welding jig, I made removeable cut outs where welds were planned.  That way I could fit everything then remove them to weld without burning the jig too much.  It worked but the panels drooped when I put them back in to layout the new pieces.  Along with the screws at the top, into the frame, I added 2 #4 sheet metal screws in the saw kerf to hold up the loose end, easy to remove and it worked.

I have a 1" diameter dolly that I used making the exhaust manifolds for the OX-5 motor.  It worked perfect for forming the spar end of the 5/16" rib tubes.

For bending the big curve in the 1/2" leading edge tube and the two 5/16" trailing edge tubes, I had made a simple tube bender from some scrap particle board.  After 16 years it had deteriorated enough it just crumbled trying to bend the 5/16" tube.  The tube touched too close to the corner of the wood.  I made a new one from some Oak, much stronger.  I glued and screwed it together like the old one and when the glue dried discovered I assembled it backwards for the direction I planned to make the bends.  The shape of the curve is from the Galvanized trash can in my attic workshop, very scientific.

Ok 1 more time, and got it right.  As it turns out the other one came in handy as well.

Starting from the inboard end of the tube the first bend just uses a small tube bender for brake lines.  I found it easier on my old fingers to clamp the tube with some blocks of wood rather than use the built in end holder.

Once the first first bend is made you just keep the tube flat on the board and slowly work the bend to the outboard end by pulling on the loose end.

I found it worked easier to clamp the first bend to the jig board with a piece of 1x3 and some quick clamps..

As I worked along I also clamped on some boards as stops to pull the tube against while working toward the free end.

After working about 3/4 of the tube from the inboard end I switched to working back from outboard end.  It takes about 83 1/2" of tubing to form this part and I had cut it to 84".  I just didn't have enough tubing to hold to keep bending the other direction.  So it turned out I needed the reversed bender.

I found I could gently pull the bend with my fingers on the left and holding the other end of the jig with my right, camera, hand.

Once I had the tube formed I clamped the spar tube with the Trailing Edge tube fitted into the end, so I could mark the finished length of the spar.  I also located the 21/32" hole in the spar for the inboard end of the T.E. tube.

Both T.E. tubes and spars ready to start clamping parts in the jig.

Fuselage Turtle Deck

 The turtle deck is the assembly of stringers which round the top of the fuselage behind the pilot cockpit.  This picture was taken in the WACO factory 28 June 1926, within days of my plane leaving the factory.  They have a lot of planes being assembled.  There are some of the turtle decks hanging on the far wall.

On the plane in the bottom left, there are some little blocks of wood at the forward ends of some of the stringers.  When I first saw these on my plane I thought they were a repair, but there they are, in the factory, in the exact same positions. More on these later.

The turtle deck on my plane is damaged a little but not bad for something that's 98 years old.

It's really pretty simple.  There are 11 stringers, 3 plywood formers, a spruce former at the aft end, and a piece of plywood covering the forward end.  The pilot seat looks like it rubs on it, but the seat actually hits the cross tube .

The light color spot is from a mud dauber nest, hangar rash.

An interesting little item is the hole in the lower right corner, behind the pilot.  I have a newspaper article from 1929 when they wired the plane with position lights powered by a dry cell battery. They flew it in the dark of night.  Braver than me.

The guy on the left is Benson Spangler, 2nd owner.  His son, Benson, let me handle the goggles dangling from his hand.  The other fellow is "Shorty" Nelson, the 1st owner

The trim piece along the edge of the cockpit is a piece of Hide-A-Tack welting, also call Tack Hidem.  Because of all the Model A Fords, it's still available.  It gets tacked on through the sewn gap in the middle and covers the tacks holding the fabric covering in place.

The front plywood cover piece is flush with the top of the stringers, which all stick up 1/8" above the formers.

The coolest thing I discovered when I got the fuselage in 1996 was the factory Construction Number 264 written in pencil on the back of the plywood cover piece.  The official serial number was stamped 1/8" high on the leading edge of the right hand flying wire fitting, which was welded to the lower longeron.  That's about a foot in front of where my fuselage was sawn in half.  It appears the factory wrote the number on the turtle deck of all the planes, where it was more easily seen by t he workers.  That fancy font style was only used for the drawing numbers on the oldest drawings.  Because of that hand written number I was able to get the records from the FAA and track down the son of the last owner.  I also talked to the fellow who cut off the front of the fuselage with a hacksaw, in 1939.  In the end I have lots of evidence that this really is fuselage number 264.

The bigger blocks of wood between the stringers were added in 1931 so they could install a WACO TEN headrest.  I don't plan to reinstall it.

The slim stringer former is notched to hold the stringers, which don't continue into the full plywood cover.  All the plywood is 3 ply 3/16" Mahogany.  The former is nailed to the front plywood cover from the aft side.

So here are those little wood blocks.  They provide places to install wood screws to attach the cockpit cowling

The blocks are each nailed to the former with 2 long aircraft nails.  There is no evidence of glue used anywhere on the turtle deck.  The blocks are hand shaped on the top so they don't poke out under the fabric covering.

The ends of the second former originally rested on  the top of the upper longerons.

The 3rd former is also plywood and rested on the longerons.

None of the formers were placed such that they were centered on the cross tubes.

You can see more clearly here that there are 3 different stringer shapes.  The center one is 3/4" x 1/2" so the fabric panels on each side were tacked to this stringer.  The 2 outer stringers are 3/4" x 3/8".  The others are all 3/4" x 1/4".  All stringers are spruce with a 3/8" radius on the upper edge.

All stringers are attached to the formers with a diagonal nail into the plywood.

The 4th (aft) former is made of 5/8" thick spruce.  The 2 side stringers are tipped at 30 degrees.  The rest are vertical.

This former was not attached.  The others were screwed to little steel tabs.  The 2nd and 3rd formers hold the stringers such that they put about a 1/2" sag in the stringers helping to hold the aft end down.  I used a straight line in this area of my 1927 photo of the plane and the sag is really there.

There are 2 little blocks of 5/8" square spruce on the bottom of this former to hold it from moving sideways.

The stringers are tapered for the last 6", to a height of 5/8", flush with the former.

There are 6 tabs for mounting the plywood formers, welded to the upper longerons.  They are made of .050" steel, 3/4" x 1-1/4".  They have a curved bottom to fit the 1" dia. longerons and are welded only on the aft side.

They are all tipped toward each other.  For the 1st former they are tipped so the holes are 29-1/2" center to center, and located 1/4" forward of the aft edge of the cross tube.

For the 2nd former the tabs are tipped so the holes are 23" center to center, and located 1/4" forward of the forward edge of the cross tube.

For the 3rd former the tabs are tipped so the holes are 17" center to center, and located 3/8" forward of the forward edge of the cross tube.

I've taken the turtle deck off the fuselage and have it downstairs in our embroidery shop.  I really didn't understand how long this thing is.  It's 1-1/2" short of 7 feet.

I've modeled the forward and aft formers in CAD and I'm working on the middle 2 formers.  When I'm done I'll have drawings for all the parts.  Then I'll start making parts.