Bent on biking

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Bikes4 Comments

I recently purchased a recumbent bike on eBay. My goal was to save some money on the commute to work and to get in better shape. I went with a recumbent bike because, well, shall we say my seat was very uncomfortable on the old mountain bike. Very old mountain bike. Like 25 years old. The new bike is a Rans Rocket short wheelbase recumbent.

I actually rode the Rocket to work today and I learned a lesson about recumbent bikes, they REALLY work your legs hard. You see, on a standard bicycle you can stand on the pedals and use your body weight to help pedal when your legs get tired. You can do this on a recumbent because your legs are in front of you. You must use your legs completely when starting or when pedaling.

It’s a 12 mile round trip to work and when coming home, no matter which way I turn it’s always into the wind! So I’ve got quite the workout when I do ride the bike. I’m going to start out just once or twice a week until my legs start cooperating. With gas prices the way they are and couple that with the fact that I’m not getting younger; there may be a lot of biking in my future.

Finally ready for paint

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV-4Leave a comment

Well I wasn’t able to meet the schedule for painting my plane.  I had a severe head cold all week and just was not able to complete the work in time.  I finished up the remainder of the work today and the plane is now ready for paint.  I have a few more minor tweaks that I should complete next Friday and be ready to fly it to Yerington, NV next Saturday.

 

Days until paint: 7

Please pray for me

On By The Flying DutchmanIn FaithLeave a comment

I don’t normally ask for prayer but I’ll make an exception this time because no one normally reads my blog.  I am 7 days away from having to take my plane over to Nevada to be painted.  However, I’ve come down with a bad cold.  Please pray that God would heal me in time to make the original paint date.

Days until paint: 7

Top deck installed

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV-4Leave a comment

I have fabricated a new top deck.  This is the portion of the upper fuselage just forward of the canopy.  I have aligned and mounted the wheel pants as well.  Tomorrow I will stop by the airport and remove the flaps to bring them home to bend the flap fairing radius a little more.  They rub on the bottom of the top wing skin right now and that will scratch the paint.  I also still need to add some screws to the wing tips.  If I don’t get around to it I will just have to save that until we remove the tips for painting at the paint shop.

Days until paint: 10

New panel installed

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV-4Leave a comment

I just have a few minor nits to complete on my panel.  I have to mount an ventilation duct and that’s about it for the panel.  All that’s left now is to install the new top deck just forward of the panel.  I hope to get that done this Saturday and be ready to move on to the wheel pants and fiberglass work.

Days until paint: 18

Rans bush tail wheel grease

On By The Flying DutchmanIn Rans S-6ES CoyoteLeave a comment

There was a question on the Yahoo group RANSflyers recently about a tailwheel that would not swivel freely.  I advised the pilot to check the pin within the swivel assembly of the tailwheel.  He then contacted Matco who advised him that the tailwheels are not pre-greased prior to delivery.  So remember to grease your tailwheels when you get them.  Here’s a link to a drawing of the tailwheel.

Wheel pants ready to mount on gear legs

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV-4Leave a comment

I’ve finished putting the pressure recover wheel pants together.  There’s not much work involved there other than some trimming and installing nutplates.  I am hoping to finish up my instrument panel on Friday, and then start on mounting the wheel pants on Saturday.

Days until paint: 31

Instrument panel all cut out

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV-4Leave a comment

I finished my new instrument panel, now all that remains is to install it in the RV-4 and reinstall all the instruments.  I’ll have to re-route on of my fresh-air vents but other than that it should go back in the plane relatively quickly.  I’ve also begun working on the wheel pants (covers.)  I hope to install these this weekend.

Days until paint: 33

Panel work

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV-4Leave a comment

Yesterday I removed my instrument panel from the RV-4. Today I drilled out all the “stuff” that was attached to the instrument panel and will now use it as a template to cut out my new instrument panel. Why am I doing all this? I need to fix a gap that was in the old instrument panel, the best way to do it is to create a new panel. I’ll start cutting tomorrow and try to take some pictures.

The following items still need to be accomplished:

Wheel pants
Flaps adjusted
Instrument panel installed
Front deck installed
Canopy installed
Velcro installed on seats
Gear legs strengthened
Some plate nuts repaired

Days until paint: 39

On toward the goal

On By The Flying DutchmanIn RV-4Leave a comment

I made some small steps toward selling the RV-4. I reworked the canopy hinge that connects the canopy to the fuselage. There were some hinge eyes broken off so I drilled out those sections of hinge and replaced them. The next steps are to rework the instrument panel and top deck, install the wheel pants (covers), and finally do some over all clean up on the fiberglass around the plane. It doesn’t sound like much work but I will have to really use my time wisely to get this done by my scheduled appointment with the paint shop.

Days until paint: 41