Starting on the tailfeathers today
'68 Citabria 7ECA Milman Spar Conversion
- Thread starter Bartman
- Start date
Tailfeathers are done!
Bruce
Well-known member
Looking good
Making progress, wings are on, tail's mostly back together, new brake pads, rebuilt master cylinders, waiting on a few misc. bits of hardware and it'll be close to done. pics as soon as I can roll it out of the hangar!
Messed up the cover for the elevator linkages probably by media blasting it at too high a pressure instead of just using paint stripper. Bought a second-hand replacement from ebay and stripped it this morning followed by polishing with Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish.
https://www.mothers.com/02_products/05100-05101.html#&slider1=21
The stuff is awesome, I always thought polishing aluminum had to be a hassle with a buffing machine and lots of supplies but it was pretty easy and quick which was nice.
![IMG_20191024_110152772[1].jpg](https://champcitabriadecathlonforums.com/data/attachments/1/1822-87a9a9f49707d5405a7ef3aad38e879e.jpg?hash=vM8cvyG_h4 "IMG_20191024_110152772[1].jpg")
https://www.mothers.com/02_products/05100-05101.html#&slider1=21
The stuff is awesome, I always thought polishing aluminum had to be a hassle with a buffing machine and lots of supplies but it was pretty easy and quick which was nice.
Last edited by a moderator:
Going to check for leaks and run the engine today.
Bruce
Well-known member
WHOO HOO getting close must be exciting as I am Seeing progress also. Let us know how your first flight goes.One of my club members handed me all these parts the other day.
Attachments
Started right up, stopped for lunch and then to the pumps to top It off. Oh my gosh, it is such a huge relief to be at this point!
Bob Turner
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2018
- Messages
- 4,053
That looks great! I am not much for scallops, but that is an absolutely gorgeous paint scheme.
Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Thanks Bob, it's been a lot of fun, stress, satisfaction, and sometimes fear all wrapped up into one! Drilling that first hole in the new spars was the hardest little hole I've ever had to put a drill to! The local shop is going to weigh it and make up a new W&B for it this week and I've got to finish the cowl and door so maybe it'll fly at the end of next week or the week after.
I'm looking at all of the RC projects I've accumulated since starting the Citabria but am thinking another full scale project might be worth considering but not sure if my IA friend will go along with it!
I'm looking at all of the RC projects I've accumulated since starting the Citabria but am thinking another full scale project might be worth considering but not sure if my IA friend will go along with it!
Prepping the door and cowl for paint, how do you attach masking tape to the foam door seal? Might have to cut along the glue line so some paper or something can be stuffed behind the foam strip.
Bruce
Well-known member
Could you give me a little guidance? I have covered the first wing and putting in the drain grommets how many did you use? next I'm trying to figure how to cut and where for the lift support hole and did you make a reinforcement around the hole in early picture there was a metal plate? the original on mine was just cut and folded back into wing and glued. I am thinking of an aluminum plate then cover with fabric reiforment but if I place it wrong well you know how that goes. Thanks for any help and pictures are very helpful thanks for all you posted already.
you don't have old fabric from the wings to use as a template? i had a local builder do the fabric on my wings, i did the spar swaps and the paint. he wanted to mount the wings and measure to mark the openings but since we couldn't do that we used the old fabric and it happened to work out. if i still have the fabric maybe i can roll it up and mail it to you? best case is to mount the wings, rig them, and mark the openings.
sorry if that isn't helpful!
with the drains i think there's one just outboard of every rib along the trailing edge. if there's liquid above the fabric, that's where it'll want to collect and drain considering the dihedral will make it run downhill before it encounters the rib and drain point. i can check when i'm back at the hangar and can look at it in person but i think there's a drain at every rib.
sorry if that isn't helpful!
with the drains i think there's one just outboard of every rib along the trailing edge. if there's liquid above the fabric, that's where it'll want to collect and drain considering the dihedral will make it run downhill before it encounters the rib and drain point. i can check when i'm back at the hangar and can look at it in person but i think there's a drain at every rib.
i think that this photo shows a drain at every rib
https://champcitabriadecathlonforums.com/attachments/img_20181031_120606426-jpg.1162/
https://champcitabriadecathlonforums.com/attachments/img_20181031_120606426-jpg.1162/
Bruce
Well-known member
Thanks for the response I did keep the old wing fabric and use that to measure my holes but I always look for advice when I’m doing these things for the first time. We will see if it’s right when I go to hang the wings in summer.
Original front stick boot vs. new ACA version. The new one snaps in.
Painted the last few parts tonight and it's scheduled to be on the scales tomorrow morning for a fresh W&B so this experience is just about done! First flight will be sometime in the next few days, I'm going to decompress for a day or two, clean the garage and take down all of the plastic, and then pick a nice day to go for a leisurely first flight. <<<Deep sigh>>>
Finally done, empty weight using scales came in 75 pounds under the old number, so frickin' happy to be done!
