I like that gray that the carpet is. Some sort of “textured” looking gray would look nice in my opinion. Black may get a bit warm in the summer and it will show every scratch and smudge. Just a thought. Super cool project!

Inspiring…

Thank you for sharing your journey.

G44 wrote:I like that gray that the carpet is. Some sort of “textured” looking gray would look nice in my opinion. Black may get a bit warm in the summer and it will show every scratch and smudge. Just a thought. Super cool project!

I think grey would look good as well, starting to lean that way now haha. Thanks for the opinion!

A fellow in Anchorage named Rod Shue (spelling of last name?) has rebuilt some Super Cubs in the past and some of the airplanes he did had a textured gray finish on the interior panels. The interior panels as well as the rest of the airplane looked fantastic. If someone could post or send you a picture of the interior panels you may really like the way they turned out. The texturing was as important as the color in my opinion, looked as if it hid dirt and scratches well.

asa wrote:

mtv wrote:Asa,

I realize you have a lot of work to do, but…..I HIGHLY recommend you essentially double the number of rivets in the top wing skins, or at least ones you can reach. Two friends of mine were killed in an M-7 when the top wing skins departed in flight.

In my opinion, those top skins aren’t stuck good enough.

MTV

I will look into that, but unlikely my mechanic would ever sign that off without paperwork.

This got me really curious so I googled it. I assume it’s this one?

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/40608

A very sad story, looks like the factors had already piled up against them and the wing skin was the final one. Sort of eerie, that was N5656A, my last M7 was N5656L, also on floats in AK during that time.

Yes, that’s the accident. The NTSB bought the story from the people on the river that it was blowing 80 mph there. It wasn’t. The guys in the Maule had dropped their wives on a nearby lake to scout. The wives were fairly close to the accident site, and they (one of them was a certificated pilot.) said the wind was essentially calm there. There’s no way the wind was anywhere near 80 at the accident, but the NTSB opted to take the easy out.

That Maule was the flight test airplane for certification of the M-7 series. So, it’d been through some stuff.

Nevertheless, an FAA Inspector in Fairbanks went around the FAI airport, looking at top wing skins on Maules. Almost every one had smoking rivets in top wing skins. He was told by management to shut up….80 knot winds had already been decided.

A friend essentially doubled the number of rivets in top wing skins in his M-7. IA and FAA said it was a minor. Obviously, your mileage may vary.

But, don’t buy the 80 mph wind bs in that report. Something failed in that structure, and it wasn’t caused by extreme winds.

MTV

Some vinyl came in. Went with 2" numbers. $9. Can't beat that. Also a re-make of the original maule tail logo. I like these.





Interior parts back from powdercoat. Went with a lightly textured medium gray. The cargo will be dark, yes.



Put the rear seat in to see how the upholstery would look. I knew it wouldn't match, but actually it's not as bad as I expected. It's the original tan color. With the good condition the upholstery is in, I don't see replacing it being a priority for a while. Originally I had planned to redo it all.



Hoping to move onto the skylight and boot cowls next now that the interior is complete. New windshield was expected to ship December 9th but haven't heard anything and the company is closed until the 3rd.

Those interior panels look fantastic! The seat can be done later like you say. As far as your numbers go, I see you have them in place over a ridge, maybe consider moving aft and applying them on a flat surface, just a thought. I love the original Maule logo that they made up!

Kurt

Such a great project! I just read it all from start to finish. Very inspiring. I would like to step up to a long winged Maule from my Pacer someday.

I love the strategic placement of numbers. That should keep Karen out of your business. Keep it coming.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the support. Committed to decal placement, I'm satisfied.



Started on fabricating and fitting the super skylight. This was all done with stock materials per Maule drawings. Using grey tinted acrylic, same as the patroller windows. Lots of measuring, drawing lines, removing, fitting again, taping, measuring, ad nauseum. But 3 sides are cleco'd in place. Need to turn all these clecos into nut plates tomorrow. My garage door opener is crowding the work area but still thankful for the great place to work.

Decal placement is perfect! Looks great.

Kurt

Thanks Kurt!

More work on fitting the skylight and associated fairings. Not done yet but sure does look like it could be. Didn't have enough of the same length machine screws so those should arrive in a few days and I'll wrap it up.



Installed VG's on the stabilizer. Had forgotten about these. Why didn't someone remind me to do this before I put the tail on? Would've been a lot easier on a bench instead of laying on my back. Micro sends a VERY complete kit, including tools like a sharpened pencil, masking tape, thread, gloves, xacto knife, and a tape measure. Only thing missing was alcohol for cleaning.

Asa,

In my Bearhawk, my skylight solution included 2 formers that run longitudinally and provide some structure for deformation and hold-down for the negative pressure. As you know, loss of the skylight in flight is a bad deal. Do you think your perimeter hold-down is gonna be sufficient? Never seen a skylight without some span structure.

Edit: just scrolled back and read that you followed Maule drawings for it. Is it a thicker plexi in use?

Zzz wrote:Asa,

In my Bearhawk, my skylight solution included 2 formers that run longitudinally and provide some structure for deformation and hold-down for the negative pressure. As you know, loss of the skylight in flight is a bad deal. Do you think your perimeter hold-down is gonna be sufficient? Never seen a skylight without some span structure.

Edit: just scrolled back and read that you followed Maule drawings for it. Is it a thicker plexi in use?

I’ve thought about this a lot. It seems like a massive area that is unsupported compared to almost every other airplane manufacturer with similar size skylights. The skylight is standard 0.118” plexi and is built per the maule drawings. I’m convincing myself that since maule produces so many of them and it hasn’t been an issue… it’s not an issue. But I feel the same way as you.

Seems like it would’ve been easy for them to add vertical supports from the “V” of tubes below the skylight to make two single point supports.

asa wrote:

Zzz wrote:Asa,

In my Bearhawk, my skylight solution included 2 formers that run longitudinally and provide some structure for deformation and hold-down for the negative pressure. As you know, loss of the skylight in flight is a bad deal. Do you think your perimeter hold-down is gonna be sufficient? Never seen a skylight without some span structure.

Edit: just scrolled back and read that you followed Maule drawings for it. Is it a thicker plexi in use?

I’ve thought about this a lot. It seems like a massive area that is unsupported compared to almost every other airplane manufacturer with similar size skylights. The skylight is standard 0.118” plexi and is built per the maule drawings. I’m convincing myself that since maule produces so many of them and it hasn’t been an issue… it’s not an issue. But I feel the same way as you.

Seems like it would’ve been easy for them to add vertical supports from the “V” of tubes below the skylight to make two single point supports.

Looking at your pics more, I think the sauce is in the sheer number of fasteners.

Zzz wrote:
Looking at your pics more, I think the sauce is in the sheer number of fasteners.

It’s a maule. It’s not about engineering. It’s about southern charm.

Whenever I finish your bearhawk, maybe I’ll remove those supports…….


……


……

Ending the year with electrical success. Called my Dad in to stand menacingly in the corner with a fire extinguisher so I could power the old girl up finally. Added power incrementally as I tested and probed with a multimeter so make sure it was getting distributed correctly. Sure enough, it all worked.



Only hiccup I found was that on all 4 mic jacks I swapped the wires for the PTT and MicLo meaning my intercom did not work at all when I tested with headsets. I looked at the diagram and it made sense - I had been reading the jack diagram backwards in terms of which was ring and which was tip. Found this issue in about 7 minutes, could have been hours. Praise be, moving on.

Time to celebrate New Years, no more airplane work until 2023.

asa wrote:Ending the year with electrical success. Called my Dad in to stand menacingly in the corner with a fire extinguisher so I could power the old girl up finally. Added power incrementally as I tested and probed with a multimeter so make sure it was getting distributed correctly. Sure enough, it all worked.



Only hiccup I found was that on all 4 mic jacks I swapped the wires for the PTT and MicLo meaning my intercom did not work at all when I tested with headsets. I looked at the diagram and it made sense - I had been reading the jack diagram backwards in terms of which was ring and which was tip. Found this issue in about 7 minutes, could have been hours. Praise be, moving on.

Time to celebrate New Years, no more airplane work until 2023.

I REALLY like that instrument panel…..well, except for the vernier throttle… .

Very nice, logical layout for a VFR plane.

MTV

Thanks! The more people that comment on the vernier throttle, the more I like it!

Cargo door is done. Back door is fitted and parts are all fabbed but needs final assembly and paint. Front doors are just beginning and are cause for hating life. There are two types of maule patroller door constructions. On one the plexi is held in by being riveted-through with the skin. The other, the plexi is sandwiched with small angles. I went with the former for the back door. It's not as great for plexi longevity but it's simpler and has more open glass area. Basically the door is all plexi with a surround of aluminum.





Front door frame/hinge fitting. This is the worst part.

Well I spent more time than I'd like to admit chasing down some intercom interference/noise. Did a continuity pinout check of the harness again, tested the headset jack harnesses for ground loops, unpinned each connector input to see which input was bringing in the interference. Turns out that my battery voltage had just dropped below the minimum for the internal noise filtering to work. Hooked up to a beefier battery charger and it all worked great. Jokes on me. But at least I know now and it's fixed. Wanted to make sure I got all that sorted out before I rivet on the boot cowl and glareshield.

Took the boot cowls I rough cut/fit back in the spring and did another test fit, made final revisions, deburr, etc.





I decided to use oratex on the boot cowls rather than match paint. So I prepped and primered them and started the oratex process. Left side came out great! Glue is drying on right side and I'll iron it on tomorrow hopefully. Inside faces will be painted flat black.





Built the inside frame for the boot cowl window. Did it a single piece instead of 4 angles, I think it turned out great. Will get black paint.



Leading edge protective tape on the horizontal/elevator