Blame it on @asa

I am 14 months and 11 days into my Bearhawk Companion QB Kit build

I will post some photos so there will be some “progress” to endure.

Some different iterations of the lower doors

Let’s skip to some covering

This looks awesome! Thank you for posting. Building a bearhawk (probably 4 place for my needs) is in my future. All those new parts look amazing compared to fixing up old ones. Also the blue oratex looks like it hides blemishes better than the silver.

Fuselage

Skip to the panel and some more recent stuff. Only finished the avionics trays today

Engine stuff…. Vetterman Exhaust

Thanks @asa

Yesterday and today were spent sanding down window edges in anticipation of painting and then final window installation.

As noted above, I finished the avionics trays today, I had to wait on the 2” scat tube for the “air conditioning” from the Naca vents as I had to create some relief on the tray for the tubing.




There ya go, a very loose build photo log, but it kinda shows progress chronologically

To date I have logged just under 675 hours, and to be honest, that is theoretically only actual hands on in the hanger. But I figure I am shy a lot of hours in my daily estimations. And who knows how many hundreds of hours planning, researching and “shopping online for the correct parts.

Looks great!

I was hoping someone on here would talk about building a BH Companion. Thanks for answering my silent call! I'll be watching this space closely for more updates. I really like the ruggedness of the BH family of planes compared to other homebuilts. I have a natural bias towards steel tube airframes. I've seen the aftermath of a steel tubed Maule that went into the trees and a Cessna taildragger that went into the trees. The steel tube framework seemed to preserve the space around the cockpit better than stressed skin construction. I don't want to get into a verbal battle over which design can handle abuse better, I'm just stating my own personal bias. From that, I'm really anxious to see this come together and to hear about how it flies. Have you chosen an engine yet?

@Flyhound

I have an O-360 angle valve that is 200hp. It is gonna spin a Sensenich 82” GA STOL prop.

My plane’s mission is to take me into remote fishing spots as well as have fun in central Utah in the backcountry

Used aluminum angle and leftover fuel tube to secure the oil cooler to the firewall

Working my way through the wiring process
On the 3rd version of stick wiring, but all set now, just need to add the connectors
AP Server harness is laid out, just need to finalize the exact routing so the D-Sub can be attached
Left avionics tray is all set with items “permanently” attached (nutplates) and ready for the tray to be final attached
Engine monitor harnesses are plugged in and through the tray ready for the firewall pass through
Horizontal stabilizer inspection covers are all final fitted and ready for paint

Still working on wiring: Cut hole in floorboard under right seat to all the routing of the PTT wires from the control stick to pass down and forward as well as the AP Servo wires to pass up to the servos. Installed the Servos in the brackets and secured with safety wire.

Made covers with slots for the trim actuating lever that comes out of the bottom of horizontal stabilizer






Laid out the wire routing for the PTT wires from the control sticks, connected the wires to the male deutsch connectors, triple shrink wrapped the wires as the transition from the clear tubing to the deutsch connectors. No photo, but I safety wired the connection to the roll servo bracket.

This is cool to see and your work looks excellent! Please keep the updates coming.

flyingzebra wrote:This is cool to see and your work looks excellent! Please keep the updates coming.

Thanks, I think the finish line is just over the 2nd horizon

Finish the wiring on the AP Servo harness by connecting the harness from the ACM to the D-Sub that connects to the servo D-Subs done a few days ago.

After weeks of procrastination… Used flat aluminum 1/16” to create a window frame to sandwich the window. Top swing up doors were fairly easy, bottom door was much more difficult with lots of angles. I did the top two and the bottom left door