dle's Oz Build

[Cherrybark]

Maybe I should check and see if there is a date on the SuperFill containers. I guess I shouldn't describe it as crumbly but, even when new, it never really flowed or spread nicely. Now around four months old, stored in a air conditioned environment. Spreads more like a dry wall spackling than a smooth cake icing. First experience with the product and I assumed that was just the way it performed.

[jrevens]

Carl, I'm surprised you find SuperFill dry and crumbly. Maybe your SuperFill is too old and dried out? I find it plenty wet and very easy to use and feather out. In fact, if applied too thick it will tend to sag somewhat before it sets up. I also find it much easier to sand and work down to a feather edge than epoxy finishing resins-they are too hard and tough. Just my experience.

I agree 100% with you, Jim. I really like SuperFill.

[Esser]

I'm a huge fan of SuperFil. I just ordered more today! Great to work with. Wet your finger with Alcohol and you can get super close to your final shape before sanding.

[David47]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I'll look for something similar to Superfil as a filler here in Aus. It'd be nice to have a neatly finished joint, even though it won't be seen after covering. A workmanship thing.

[efwd]

Well, Im with Carl. I love the finish but try using a plastic spatula to smooth it onto your surface and it will roll and crack open as you move across it. Its not like working with Icing on a cake. I had to apply and build it up to considerably thicker than the finish depth and then knock it down with the sander. Easy enough but your wasting a bit.
Eddie

[colospace]

I'm in the SuperFil is great stuff camp. In my experience it spreads well although I prefer to use a metal putty knife rather than the plastic spreaders (partially due to them being stiffer). If it wants to "roll" after a few minutes of working, you can wet the blade/spatula with a little IPA. If applied too thick, it will want to sag. It would probably be best to apply multiple thinner coats in that case, but I never seem to have the patience for that. On thicker applications, I have often let it set up for awhile and then use a finger or spatula wetted with IPA to work out the sag. It seems to sand most easily shortly after "cure" and gets a bit harder after several weeks.

[David47]

Worked on the empennage area exclusively this weekend. There’s a lot of work in the back end and it was time to temporarily assemble everything together to do an initial fit assessment, particularly the gap between the fixed fin and rudder. As it turned out, setting the rudder hinge bearings in accordance with the manual has given a consistent gap down the length of the fin/rudder interface. Haven’t measured it yet but it looks to be around 3/16” or so. Would be interested to know what others have measured theirs at. I haven't bonded the fibre glass fin TE and rudder LE yet so some adjustment is still possible. I’m holding off on cutting the rudder stop arms at this stage, on advice from folks on this site, until after fabric covering. I can understand why now having fitted things up.

I attached the lower struts to the horizontal stab., levelled up the fuselage and then measured from fin tip to a common point on LH and RH sides, per manual instructions, to ensure the fixed stab. was exactly level. Managed to get within 1/16” side to side first time around. More A… than class.

When installing the horizontal stab. actuator, there was interference between the bottom of the actuator and the welded support rod directly below. A photo shows the witness mark, so I needed to file away part of the lower clevis on the actuator to gain clearance (note one washer stayed nicely in place, held by grease). Also, my lifelong friend Terry came by this weekend and sorted an issue that’s been bugging me for a bit, and that was how to tie off the aft end of the two side stringers. I originally lock wired the tubes from one side to the other, and then lock wired them to the adjacent tubes. (see photo). My problem was that over time those wires would start to cut through into the tubes. So he came up with the idea of using some left over angle from the tailplane access cover attach angles, flattening it out and riveting to each tube stringer. Works really well. A blob of Hysol should keep it in place.

Ross and Gayle Rynehart came by this weekend to have a look at the progress. One thing we discussed was the amount of friction in the elevator circuit. I noticed that when I married up the elevator to the stabiliser, it was necessary to prise the elevator spar a bit to fit it up. That will undoubtedly give rise to some of the problem, but I’m going to do a full check of potential friction points throughout the entire circuit. When we uncoupled to the elevator drive rod, there was some friction in elevator movement, but some of that will disappear when I grease the joints. I suspect there’s more in the control system elsewhere so I’ll start chasing that through next weekend. Anyone have the same issue and if so, what was the main source ?. Would be interested to know.

Photos follow.

[jiott]

I initially had a lot of friction from the big nylon bearing on the control column assembly.Had to work it down until the friction was minimal when the bolts were tightened.

[Esser]

Mine was the same as Jims

[Cherrybark]

Same situation with friction on the nylon rudder pedal bearings after the assembly was bolted down. Tackled the problem by "coloring" the bearings with a black permanent marker. Then assemble, bolt and torque into place, and move the rudder pedals a few times to wear away the marker. Remove, dissemble, sand, repeat. Didn't remove much material each pass because I didn't want the bearings to be sloppy, so this takes awhile. In the end the rudder pedal motion was beautifully smooth. Use traditional, non nyloc nuts during the steps or replace with new.