Aryana wrote:
I’m sure you’re sorry you asked now!

Not at all!

I'm impressed by people like John and I always think, "where do they find the time?".

Keep the posts coming. I have minimal time in Citabrias but you have renewed my interest. I might have to put one on my wish list.

With new metal spar wings that's a bonus. I helped install Milman spars once and it does cure the AD's and wing wagging in turbulence.

That video does show one of their a nasty habits...the tailwheel likes to eat the rudder and shimmy especially if landed tail first or suddenly dropped:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7qf_6p ... e=youtu.be

There's suggested intervention for shimmy:
http://www.airframesalaska.com/v/vspfil ... ention.pdf

The tail spring can repeatedly flex during training and eventually take on a new shape. Replacement or shimming at the tail post can correct that. Some ops reshape the lower rudder after repeated munching. A Scout tailspring can be installed that's stiffer but that lowers 3-point AOA .

Gary

Yeah, the tailwheel geometry is all wrong. Probably from a million landings in the rental fleet. We’re planning on a fresh Scott 3200 with all new springs to restore the caster.

kg wrote:

Aryana wrote:
I’m sure you’re sorry you asked now!

Not at all!

I'm impressed by people like John and I always think, "where do they find the time?".

Keep the posts coming. I have minimal time in Citabrias but you have renewed my interest. I might have to put one on my wish list.

John is retired, so that helps!

Removed the aft wood floor boards and the last of the fabric on the bottom of the fuselage.



Then we towed it to the wash rack and gave it a good bath.









A couple aviatrix friends stopped by and checked out the project.



Then we towed it out into the sun to dry off. It was a warm winter day here. Maybe 70/72F in the sun.





Once it was nice and dry, back into the hangar it went. We put some padding on the top of the vertical stab and let the tail raise up to the ceiling. This makes it much more comfortable to work on the fuselage.







The engine and firewall forward area cleaned up really well. The ugly and beat up baffling needs to go...





It’s already starting to look a lot better just with all the dirt washed off.



The lower wooden stringers all stained and gross from dirt and water.







A couple wooden formers completely broken at the bottom attach points.





The next step is to remove all the wood. We’ll do it as a one piece cocoon (excluding the bottom stringers).

This is not only a nice reference during reassembly of the new wood, but it also looks pretty cool hanging from the ceiling of the hangar once the project is done.

Somebody was mentioning drain grommets on the belly. Mine has these, don’t know if it was part of the seaplane kit (extra corrosion paint on the tubing). Yeah, I’m on this thread because I’ll be doing fabric real soon.

Wood came off intact as planned.

Looks like something out of the Smithsonian museum of natural history.

It does have a freaky creature look to it.

Forgot to post these pics of the fuselage sans (most of) the wood.

I'll be following with great interest, as I have a '65 7ECA with what is apparently the original fabric still on it. My IA says "We're probably going to have to replace it before too much longer," so I've been looking at all the various solutions possible. I kind of like the lower-gloss finish, since I'm never able to keep my plane as "shiny clean" as some folks do. (My hangar leaks like a sieve, and it is dustier inside than out. If it weren't for the UV and hail protection, I wouldn't bother!)

In any case, I plan to use Oratex on my Bearhawk Patrol, so getting in a "practice" run before starting on the Patrol (my "forever" airplane) might be a good thing!

Glad to have you aboard JP256.

Today we worked on removing the last of the wood stringers on the bottom of the fuselage and started removing the control cables and rudder pedals and linkages.

This is an awesome thread, Arash. That thing was super skunky. I had no idea those wood formers lurked in the 7ECA. Do they use the same thing in GCBCs? Was the 7ECA produced up until the late 90's and continued to use original construction techniques from Bellanca?

Glad you like it Zane.

Yes, that construction method with wooden formers and stringers on the steel tube fuselage is pretty consistent (at least on the planes I’ve seen taken apart) from the Aeronca 7AC/11AC starting in the 1930’s through to the ACA 8KCAB produced new today.

This is fun to watch! I flew a high TT 7GCAA around for a few years that had been completely rebuilt from the frame up. It was like flying a new airplane! Looking forward to watching the process and seeing the final product!

Here”s the one I flew:



Eventually traded it for a Stearman!

CW

Very cool. Thanks for following! [emoji1360]

very cool. My first plane was a 7eca. Great flying aircraft. Will enjoy this build as well.

Thanks soaringhiggy, glad to have ya aboard here!

Removed the tailwheel and leaf springs, and started addressing the issues on the fuselage steel tubing.



Starting from the back, working our way forward using maroon scotchbrite to knock off any surface rust and inspecting every inch of every weld and tube.



Tube on the left is done, right one is what we start with before some elbow grease.



After a little careful work, the gross stuff comes off and you have nice metal.





Bushings in the hinges for the tail feathers need special attention.



This is tedious work, but makes all the difference for a nice result at the end.

Great thread. I have hundreds of hours droning along at low altitude in a 7ECA on powerline patrol. It was my first flying job in 1973. My dad had three 7ECA's on pipeline and powerline patrol contracts in the late '60's to '84 when he retired. Our oldest 7ECA was an O-200 powered bird and I think it was about one hundred pounds lighter than the Lyc. powered ones.

All that fuselage rebuild and wood work you're doing I'm also doing on my Champ. Family heirloom from 1961. Its interrupting my Bearhawk Patrol project but it keeps me away from bar stools and other worthless activities. I'm retired so every day is saturday for me.
I think your dad's SD II was built in Bay City ,MI if its the same airplane. Not many painted like that with that particular engine.

Sorry for the long winded post, looking forward to your progress.

I think you’re right on the SD II. I remember it being built by a guy in MI.

Thanks for following along and sharing your stories/history. Good luck with your Champ, we love the 7AC and it’s simplicity.