Apr 25, 2015 Build Report

Another day, more done. Saturday was another interesting Hawk build day. I had a new high school student that was really interested in the project and took to it Like a duck to water. Elijah is his name. Both he and his dad helped out Saturday and we managed to get the belly edge paint removed for the pinked reinforcing tapes and most of the tape installed. I am sure he will be back, his goal in life is to be a professional pilot. Very sharp young man. I also had both Silas’s working again this weekend plus Silas’s (guess Which one’s?) Dad who is a CFI and an A/P and works at WestStar. The word just keeps getting out. So far the list of young people regularly working on the project is expanding. They are Josiah, Jake, Haley, Sterling, Parker, Anthony, Silas, and another Silas, and now Elijah plus the Mentors. Things so far are working well as they do not all show up at the same time and there is plenty to do. Next build session should be interesting in that we will need to build a temporary paint booth as we are about ready to start spraying the silver and the paint. I plan on Making a paint booth out of PVC and plastic to keep the over-spray off everything in the hanger- another project!

The engine is proceeding nicely. John C, Anthony and Pat W managed to get Ken P’s lapped valves re-installed in the cylinders, and they do not leak, they held solvent. I took the valve springs to Auto Machine Services and they let me play with their spring tester at no charge. THANKS. The springs tested to new standards and I think they were new. this allowed the springs and keepers to be installed. The case is currently being tested for clearances and alignment and hopefully it will check out. After that I am going to take the steel parts to WestStar for Magnaflux. Then we can begin final assembly. Brian took the rods to Skyways and had them reconditioned. They now have the piston pin bushing replaced, the twist and convergence checked, and the rod bearing journals honed, and they are Magnafluxed. They are certified and we have paperwork, but we are $200.00 poorer. (Cheap for all that was done, normally $100.00 per Rod. Thanks SKYWAYS.) We have paperwork on the cam and lifters, and when WestStar is finished with the Magnaflux on the metal parts, crankshaft and gears etc, we will have paperwork on them also. This engine will be basically new and could go into a certified airplane as an overhaul. We do not have an original log book for this engine, so the time will start from 0 even though some parts are not new. Times unknown. The crank, the case, the pistons, the valves, and all normal replacement parts are new. The only thing old are the cylinders and some of the gears. The cylinders are .015 oversize. The total cost so far is not bad for basically a new 0-200 engine about $3000.00.

The only other things needed are an 0-200 carburetor, mags, plugs and an alternator. Brian brought back an alternator core from Skyways,, but it is a 70 amp Prestolite (off a Cessna 150) and I do not think it will fit between the firewall and the engine. (Plus it is very heavy.) Ladd gave us an 8 amp B&C alternator, but is driven by the vacuum pump drive which is located on the front of the engine, and we do not have the vacuum pump drive gears and drive pad . Cheaper to get a new alternator. Jerry talked to the President of Champion Aerospace at Sun and Fun about a Slick mag kit and he told Jerry that Champion normally does donations at the end of the year and since this is not year end he will take it under advisement. (Keep your fingers crossed). If this does not fly, then I am going to push for an electronic ignition again to save weight. Jay Scheevel thinks this is the way to go and is looking into it. So do I, but that green stuff keeps getting in the way of rational decisions. This would definitely mean we need a reliable alternator, or E-mags which do not need anything. Again we could throw lots of money at it, if we had it. (An airplane is a large hole in the sky that sucks up money.) Some of the things we need ASAP are the correct color paint, some intake hoses and a few engine gaskets, The engine mount spacers for conical mounts (Ercoupe C-85 to 0-200 to clear cowling) and new rubber mounts, $120.00 for the spacers, and lots of time. Once the belly is painted, then it will be time for final assembly of the airframe. Things should go fairly quickly at this point, as most of the large hard parts are finished, except for the new gear bungees (my project). As to paint, I could spend money with Poly fiber or I can have Pat Trim of Hightower Suppy color match and mix some Polyurethane paint that is flexible and can be put on fabric. It would be cheaper (probably nearly free).  Pat is an old time modeler (part president of the Grand Junction Modelers) and uses it on his models, He said it would work good. ANY THOUGHTS on THIS WOULD BE APPRECIATED! I am in the hanger every Wednesday afternoon if anyone has time to work on the Hawk or I can fit to daily schedules that work – Oshkosh is coming fast!. ANYWAY THE BUILD CONTINUES!

Mar 28, 2015 Build Report

As usual Saturday was a very busy day. Several real exciting things happened.

The Cam came in from Aircraft Specialty. now we are nearly $650.00 shorter on funds. We had the lifters reconditioned, the Cam reground and a C-85 cam inspected and rejected, although it is repairable. That was a surprise at $45.00. It will be sold on the internet for $600.00 as a repairable cam. The fix is $500.00 and it is the rare cam.  Pat and John C dye penetrate inspected the case and cylinder heads. No cracks found, but they sure dyed our card table red, I don’t think they found any cracks on it either. The  red dye  from the table was getting on the wrong things. Pat fixed that – he cut the cover off the table. I think its called learning.

The fuselage now has fabric on the bottom of it. We getting there. I held a class on fabric work to get the builders started, as they have never seen fabric applied. The next meeting Don C has agreed to fill in for me on the fabric work, as I am going south to the bottom of the Grand Canyon the week of the 4th to the 11th. (hopefully I can walk out, I am old and fat!). Anyway we had a new worker – HALEY. She is 14 years old and was really a big help. She came on the EAA chapter 800 Weststar tour last Saturday, and must have interest as she was helping this Saturday. So Jake, Josiah, Haley, and Anthony were in charge of the fuselage cover project. They did an awesome job. I have seen professionals do a lot worse.

The weeks bad news is the Mags for the engine are now relegated to boat anchor status. Joe Logie, the head sales rep for Champion Airmotive (Slick) said do not even think about using them. They are throw away mags designed to last 800 hours over 40 years ago and are not even good as cores. He did say maybe Slick would look into taking the 4201R back as a core on a new mag. Or if we talk to Kevin Gallagher, the president of Champion Airmotive really nice, they might donate a mag kit, including plugs to our group in exchange for Slick’s name on the airplane. Particularly if we make Oshkosh. I sent him an e-mail per Joe but have not heard anything back.

The weeks good new is the HAWK Society is now an IRS recognized 501(C)3. Good Work Anne, Brian, both Johns,(C. and W.) and Kim. Now I will unleash my begging power and see if I can shake a 172 or ? donated trainer out of the air to get the kids flying. This way some can build and some can fly. The HAWK society is growing by leaps and bounds.

Hector B. dropped in Saturday and has followed our build since the beginning and was totally impressed. He has the repair facility in Glenwood Springs Colorado and is a Cub re-builder. He was breaking in the new engine on his Cessna 180 N180C (Charley)- always loved that N number!. The airplane is not bad either. I told him to stop by any Saturday for lunch. Ken usually does our lunch, but was busy on a Search and Rescue exercise with the CAP. So John C. ran to the store and got lunch then cooked it. Thanks John!

Anyway the build goes on. DID I MENTION WE ARE NOW A REAL HONEST TO GOODNESS 501(C)3?

[From Brian Miller]
All,
It is true, attached is a copy of the letter from the IRS. Now begins the real work, let’s get the discussion and committee up for the insurance! It’s getting big! Who’s going to Oshkosh?

Brian Miller

Feb 16, 2015 Correspondence

Thank you for your response. we are busy with the build and have not been to concerned with the prop, as we have been busy with everything else. We are currently re-overhauling the engine. I have no real idea what to expect out of this airplane, but here is a letter from a Hawk owner that gives you an idea of performance with a C-90. We have a lot of bush strips around here and am sure our group will be landing on them. (That is why I had the landing gear stress analyzed and designed for this by a structual engineer who worked for scaled composites and now works for ZEE AERO, google- interesting read on the internet). The airport C07 manager, Ladd is one of the main promoters of bush flying and holds several poker fly outs a year. I would like to see a propeller that is halfway between a cruse prop and a climb prop. (This is why at one point, I was looking for a ground adjustable.) We have the funds and are getting close to a trial weigh so the prop would be handy. Since the EAA will not allow us to have a flying airplane in a chapter, we have formed a 501(C)3 called High Country Aviation Workshop for Kids- and go by- Hawk Society.  Now we can take donations, in fact we are in process of having a 601 Zenith kit donated to us with an engine. Hope this kind of answers your questions. This letter was to Tom Marson he is the Hawk guru and built hawk SN-3. The prop will be paid for by EAA chapter 800.

Reply-To: Bryan Swank

As you may recall I added two 12x12x24 inch baggage compartments behind the seat. It was designed to hold 50# but with two people this puts the center of gravity(CG) at the limit of about 19″ behind the leading edge after about an 1 1/2 hr as main fuel tank empties.  Also I am not sure anyone has ever flown a Hawk with the CG this far aft — maybe you did? Anyway I wanted to be careful so I did 8 flights and progressively added gallons of water to the baggage area until I got to 19″. Since I was flying alone to get to 19″ I had to add 75# of water to the baggage area. As the flights progressed, the plane became more pitch sensitive but never seemed or acted tail heavy. I stalled the plane during each flight and it simply dropped the nose. Overall I felt like the plane flew better with an aft CG. It is hard to quantify but it seemed more docile and was easier to land.

So now I am comfortable flying at these aft CG’s. However, with two people at 400#, full fuel, and 50# baggage I am about 32# over the 1320#  Light Sport limit. Although one needs to be cautious I feel the wings are good for that much if not more. I know the factory only says gross weight is 1150# but I think that is really conservative. Kermit had 1250# on his data plate. I don’t remember what you had. In the past I have flown a 300# passenger at a gross weight of 1375# and was comfortable and it didn’t seem overloaded.

I may have mentioned before that I designed door latches so I could fly with the doors open. The magnetic latches would hold.I have flown with both door and windows open. It slows the plane down a lot but is not as turbulent in the cabin as I expected. With only one door open it is really quite. On hot days this is nice

My furthest flight was to Jonesville Virginia. It was a 2 1/2 hour flight and got me into the foothills of the Smokeys. Really pretty but you sure don’t want to have engine problems! I fly the C-90 at 2200 rpm and about 95 mph. At this condition fuel consumption is 5.4 gph.  At  2350 – 2400 rpm it flys at 110-115 mph but fuel consumption goes over 6 gph. Maybe if I just wanted to get somewhere quick it would be worth it in terms of miles per hour but it seem a lot quieter and more pleasant at 2200.

The Hawk now has 400 hours on it. If I had to pick another two place side by side high wing plane to own instead of the Hawk I am not sure what it would be. For my type of flying it is hard to beat.

Anyway I hope you are surviving your northern winter. Or maybe you escaped to the south like Kermit!

Talk to you later.

Bryan Swank


Jake and Joshua in front of Dakota Hawk #28
Two of our build young eagles
Jake and Joshua
in front of Dakota Hawk #28
We have 6 full time kids

The rest of the kids were in Delta getting Glider rides from the Grand Mesa Soaring Society. They are also a non-profit. It is the way to go.


On Mon, Feb 16, 2015 at 6:29 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Hope the project is going well. I sent an e-mail some time ago after the Chapter approved a propeller purchase from us. I need details about the Dakota performance.

Using your 0-200 at 100 hp at 2750 rpm what do you feel will be the full throttle level flight realistic airspeed? This value does not have to be what is capable but what you want the airspeed to be. Also what is the max diameter size? What name do we use for the Invoice?

After I determine the propeller size we will provide the invoice.

www.princeaircraft.com
Lonnie Prince
CEO/President
6774 Providence Street
Whitehouse, Ohio 43571
Tel. 419-877-5557
Fax 419-877-5564
[email protected]
Veteran Owned Company
Member of:
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Experimental Aircraft Association
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

Jan 10, 2015 Build Report: EAA800

Jan 10 2015 build report EAA800: Overhauling our engine
Overhauling our engine
We received the Skytec starter with strings attached: we needed to send Meyer Aviation a non cut starter shaft. They sent us their cut shaft that is needed for the Sky-tec. To do this, it was either purchase one for $25.00 from Colorado Air Parts or take our engine apart. Being very frugal (cheap) and knowing our engine had issues we decided to do the latter. And it was a good thing we did.

Jan 10 2015 build report EAA800: Overhauling our engine
Overhauling our engine
The tear down group consisted of Jerry F as the lead, Jake and Brian M, and Bill D. They surmised the cylinder hold down nuts were genuine Ace hardware nuts, and were torqued to various torques. Some had the treads pulled in the nuts and were hard to remove. This was no surprise as I found all kinds of hardware from the local hardware store on this engine. The good thing is the engine looks good on the inside. The previous builder did get carried away with some sort of build lube and also with case sealant as it ran into the case. We are going to have some serious clean up. There is some question at the end of the day about the condition of the cam shaft and lifters. They are used, the only old parts I see. The main bearings have what looks like wear but are new. They may just be polished due to turning the shaft during the time it was stored. I have not determined this yet, as they need to be cleaned. The good news is the starter gear shaft is out and will be sent to Meyer Aviation by Jerry.

Rudder pedals:
Anthony and Pat worked on the rudder pedals and Anthony learned how to shoot rivets with a rivet gun and bucking bar. He did an awesome job after much practice on a scrap piece. Pat also learned a lot, (like he will be real glad when they are finally installed. Both Pat and I have way to much time in a simple rudder pedal project). I might add I only had to re-do two rivets, which was not bad. Pat and Anthony also learned how to fix rivet boo-boo’s which is what this project is all about. Pat and Anthony are in the background in the pictures

Ray P and Kim Worked on the C-90 off the PA-11 so we can use it as a mock up and install it on the Hawk to do all the engine control, exhaust and other firewall installations while we work on the final engine.

Don C brought Bill Shepard to the hanger. Bill is one of the Red Tail pilots. He flies the P-51 for the Red Tails (Tuskegee Airmen) and was really interesting. He joined the local CAF and I think he is really impressed with our project. I will say this: I was really humbled just to meet him. He did promise to make a pass with the P-51 when he is in the area. Our runway is a little short for it. He says they are limited to no less than 4000 feet.

All in all it, was a really good session, And the build goes on.

Jan 7, 2015 Build Report

We are moving along. We are installing the engine controls, but have hit a snag in that the carburetor we have is a Marvel Schebler MA3-A and we need an MA3SPA the difference is the MA3SPA has an accelerator pump, and the MA3-A does not. The MA3SPA is the carb on a Cessna 150 and using it we can get by without a Manuel primer. [It requires] Just a couple of jabs on the throttle.

The engine has its own set of problems, in that we need to have the cam reground and the lifters rebuilt. [It was rebuilt using] a lot of regular hardware bolts and nuts, plus [the rebuilder] did not rebush and T and C the rods. I hope Weststar will MAGNAFLUX all the steel parts. We will have to get new rod bolts. I bet we put at least $1000.00+ in the engine before we get it running what with the carb and parts issues. Now its back to scrounging parts. Don C brought a VCR tape in on how to overhaul a O-200.

Pat, Bill and Jake are working on the dual brakes. This has been a real head scratchier. But they have the geometry figured out and it will have working brakes soon. They used my Cessna 150 parts manual. Between it and Jerry’s 150 they figured out how to rig them so the rudder pedal stays the same (vertical) throughout their full for and aft positions. Lowell Mannery flew in from Delta and gave us some valuable input on brakes. Thanks Lowell (He was more than surprised about what we have accomplished with the build).

This Saturday most of the kids went to Delta to get free glider rides. they have been invited by the Grand Mesa Soaring Society. So our work session was only adults. Boy were the kids missed. They came back all smiles and the adults that went also got rides. This has been more than a build. It is an educational experience for all. I will say this, all the participants in this project can hardly wait for Saturday to roll around. Me included. This has become more than a build, it is a social club, and you never know what will transpire. Each week is different.

We had a HAWK society directors meeting after the work session and went over the paperwork so we can present it to HAWK Society members to be voted on after the normal February EAA meeting. This meeting is important as it is to start setting policies, dues and other things for the HAWK SOCIETY. Brian and John Caldwell submitted the paper work for the 501C3 apparently if we do not give out more than $50,000 in donation receipts and do not have over $250,000 in assets we can file for a smaller filing fee of $400.00 versus the $800.00 that we were originally looking at. After 3 years the restrictions are lifted. Or we can pay the difference and have unlimited donations at any time. The only problem is the time frame it takes to get a Non Profit status out of our Government. Apparently Congress has cut funding for Obamacare, and the Lois Learner fiasco has not helped so the IRS is making everyone wait a long time for non-profit status. The Grand Mesa Soaring society apparently waited 9 months for their non-profit to be born.

It is funny how things keep coming out of the woodwork. We need a light weight alternator and in talking to one of the chapter members, he thinks he has one for an 0-200 that he is not going to use. [He] also [has] an engine monitor, and lifters for the engine. Lowell offered us some hardware and a carb airbox, if it will fit. It is really amazing what is available by just asking. Also I just got word from Brian that Ralph Mulford has offered to oversee our rod T@C, if he can get help as he is getting up in age. (Did I say Ralph is one of the best engine machinists I know of. He still has his shop – Precision Machine, in his back yard. But only does what he wants, He used to do all the aircraft engine machine work for Wegner Aircraft, and Monach Aviation- Now West star. He also did all the machine work and balanced most of the best racing engines around including mine back in the day. I never had an engine problem, As a side light, he was one of the original founders of Air Methods, the Helicopter ambulance company used by hospitals all over the US. Ralph a very accomplished pilot in his own right and has owned various airplanes. A true gentleman).
And the build continues.
*****
A quick note about Don Wegner!

Wegner Aircraft was owned by Don Wegner. I started working for him in 1965 and it is where I got my A/P- IA. Don was absolutely the best mechanic I ever saw. He had lots of STC’s and could fix anything.
In WWII he was a Sea Bee in the Pacific and repaired pilots wrist watches flown in to him from all over the war theater. He was proud of the fact he never failed to get the watch back to the correct person. He used Benzene which is a known brain cancer causing agent and he knew it. He died from a brain tumor. He would not work on anything with benzene if anyone was around.

The man was totally amazing but his family life was a mess, and he stayed at the airport all day and late into the night. His boy was as good a mechanic and was really talented but experimented with all drugs and spent most of his life in prison, he passed away in prison. I wish I had learned more from Don. I learned to TIG weld fixing boat props from him, and sheet metal repairing wrecked airplanes for him. I also rebuilt engine accessories for him. He made all his own special tooling and equipment. Our shop was a hoot. OSHA would have had a fit. Nothing had guards on it and we all survived..