Scale Wendell Hostetler 30% PA-28 Cherokee Build

[TonyHallo]

Dro's on mill and lathe. Nice....

Love them, never look at the dials any more.

 

[TonyHallo]

The plans indicate that the sides from the firewall back to the third member get filled with 1/4" balsa sheet. I decided to use scrap balsa from the scrap drawer to do this so there is a bunch of small pieces of various sizes, just using up scrap material to the extent possible. Added the five ribs to the fuselage section that supports the sheeting. Tomorrow hope to start adding the longitudinal stringers for the bottom sheeting.

 

[dhal22]

Balsa! Lite ply!

 

[TonyHallo]

No lite ply yet, the sides are 1/16" birch ply and the firewall is 3/8" birch, the rest is balsa. More filling the sides with 1/4" balsa today.

 

[Snoopy1]

Just a question why 1/4 inch. That will add a lot of weight surely 1/8 or 3/32 would do the trick or am I missing something.

 

[TonyHallo]

That is what the plans call for, probably a rectal pluck on Wendell's part. It was rather flimsy before the the balsa sheet was added. I would image it is standard for his designs. This is my first build using Hosteler plans.
I have all the sheets fitted and now gluing both sides equally to prevent warping. One the sides are done will start to fit the 1/8" x 1/2" stringers that

 

[TonyHallo]

While waiting for glue to dry decided to have a look at the nose wheel which I will need before I close up the bottom. The plans show Sierra hardware but I bought Robarts. I had 1/2" Robostruts on the original Cherokee and they held up very well over the 7 years of flying. I didn't care for the steerable nose wheel shown and decided to order a fixed style fork strut for the nose and make my own bearing. I ordered 2" x2" UHMW Slippery Polyethylene bar from McMaster Carr. I will turn this into the bearing mount. I also need to replace the wheel yoke with a longer one, currently the torque arms end up inside the wheel pant, need about 1/2" more length. Not sure which way I will go, just scab pieces on the existing yoke or make a new yoke and weld in on. Everything is inside the pant so no one will see if I decide to scab it.
Bonus question, anyone know what the two little tubes welded on above the torque arm are for? I have need for them on the build.

 

[WMcNabb]

While waiting for glue to dry decided to have a look at the nose wheel which I will need before I close up the bottom. The plans show Sierra hardware but I bought Robarts. I had 1/2" Robostruts on the original Cherokee and they held up very well over the 7 years of flying. I didn't care for the steerable nose wheel shown and decided to order a fixed style fork strut for the nose and make my own bearing. I ordered 2" x2" UHMW Slippery Polyethylene bar from McMaster Carr. I will turn this into the bearing mount. I also need to replace the wheel yoke with a longer one, currently the torque arms end up inside the wheel pant, need about 1/2" more length. Not sure which way I will go, just scab pieces on the existing yoke or make a new yoke and weld in on. Everything is inside the pant so no one will see if I decide to scab it.
Bonus question, anyone know what the two little tubes welded on above the torque arm are for? I have need for them on the build.

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Bonus answer - at first I thought it was mounting a landing light, but it’s in the cowl of the Cherokee. So no clue, unfortunately.

 

[dhal22]

No lite ply yet, the sides are 1/16" birch ply and the firewall is 3/8" birch, the rest is balsa. More filling the sides with 1/4" balsa today.

Any wood makes me happy. Balsa, birch, ply........

 

[MarkY]

Bonus question, anyone know what the two little tubes welded on above the torque arm are for? I have need for them on the build.


Don't know either, maybe as a place for some sort of re-enforcement bars, see pic. (Hope I did this correctly, my first time!)

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