spell check won't fix that, the word is spelled correctly, just not the correct spelling for the context. I do get your point though.

Tim

What a beautiful airplane you have built for yourself!

I keep coming back to your thread every couple of months to get inspiration on how to proceed with my airplane and it was really nice to see your 170 out of the garage. Replacing those skins really paid off in the looks department! Speaking of skins, I have a couple of them that I would like to replace. I was wondering how you did yours?

Also, how'd you make your jig? I've been trying to find a Cessna airframe jig, and the closest (literally) I can get is going to Wipaire down the street and using theirs. That would get prohibitively expensive VERY quickly. I'm trying to save up for an engine upgrade, and having someone else do this for me would kill that dream. Besides, what kind of future A+P would I be if I couldn't do this myself??

Replacing one skin on a straight fuselage doesn't require a jig.
Since it's not bent, you can take measurements before and after to ensure nothing twisted but it's really hard to twist a fuselage with one skin off (or even two)

Duplicating a skin is fairly easy so long as the pattern skin is not damaged.
Hold it in place over the new skin with some clecos and trace with a fineline sharpie.


You can cut 2024-T3 up to 0.040 with a hook knife like this.
0.040 is the upper limit and is easier on a bandsaw. 0.032 can be done all day and look like factory parts.
Draw the knife along the line until you have a deep groove. If you do it right, you should have long cuttings like it was spun off a lathe.
Once it's deep enough, you can work it back and forth and crack it like drywall.
Run a file to smooth and dress the edge.




Either work with a straight edge or the pattern directly.



Before starting anything like this, have some good long productive conversations with your IA as it is a major repair that he will need to file a 337 on.
Also, it's a really good idea to do your first couple skins assisting an accomplished tin man. It looks easy, it's really not.
Then there is riveting. Its one thing to shoot a few practice rivets in a bench vice, it's a whole other to shoot them on a fuselage.

That's a really cool technique with the hook blade.

How are you forming the belly & top skins to the curve of the fuselage? Are you starting in one corner, clecoing it and moving your way to the other side one rivet line at a time? 32thou really isn't too thick and I can imagine that it is pliable enough to do that.

My IA is the one who feels a little more comfortable with the idea of using a jig, especially since I'll be getting a new door sill. IF someone were to convince me to reskin the entire thing, I feel like that would be a good case to use a jig. Talk about a labor of love and another couple more years doing this whole ground lover/Cirrus pilot routine...

pilotryan wrote:That's a really cool technique with the hook blade.

How are you forming the belly & top skins to the curve of the fuselage? Are you starting in one corner, clecoing it and moving your way to the other side one rivet line at a time? 32thou really isn't too thick and I can imagine that it is pliable enough to do that.

My IA is the one who feels a little more comfortable with the idea of using a jig, especially since I'll be getting a new door sill. IF someone were to convince me to reskin the entire thing, I feel like that would be a good case to use a jig. Talk about a labor of love and another couple more years doing this whole ground lover/Cirrus pilot routine...

0.032 is a lot tougher than you think. You’ll need a slip roller or other way to curve the skins.

A door sill is a different thing than a panel skin. Lots of opportunities to move something.
When I did this, it was just the fuselage. No tail,motor,wings...nothing. So it was much easier to support and work with. Your IA is the one calling the shots, not someone on the internet who did it differently.

Bagarre wrote:She's out of the garage. So, that's good...

Not many posts lately but everything is done except for polishing the wings and figuring out how things go back together.

Amazing work David

So is it done yet?

asa wrote:So is it done yet?

Not quite. Too busy being a d!ck I guess.

Wings are back with new skins and STOL cuff installed.
Had to polish the tops, paint the bottoms, install lights and tips...
Not much more work to do but with the pandemic, it will be months before I can assemble.

Sportsman with solid rivets?

daedaluscan wrote:Sportsman with solid rivets?

Aint that neat?

I had Airframe Components in Indiana re-skin the top surfaces as well as install the STOL cuff. Since they had it all opened up, they were able to shoot solid rivets in the whole thing. They also did the right wing landing light.

These guys do really, really nice work too. I was worried about farming that much out but it looks like a factory job. Couldn't be happier with them and will be sure to send any other wing/control surface work their way.

http://www.airframecomponents.com/

Wow, that sure looks nice!

Kurt

Very nice!

Bagarre wrote:I had Airframe Components in Indiana re-skin the top surfaces as well as install the STOL cuff. Since they had it all opened up, they were able to shoot solid rivets in the whole thing. They also did the right wing landing light.
These guys do really, really nice work too. I was worried about farming that much out but it looks like a factory job. Couldn't be happier with them and will be sure to send any other wing/control surface work their way.
http://www.airframecomponents.com/

There's 3 important factors: quality of work, reasonable pricing, timeliness (aka good, cheap, & quick).
It's my experience that you can usually get two out of three.
There's a pretty good wing/control surfaces guy near me, but it seems like everything takes forever with him.
How'd your outfit stack up in that regard?

hotrod180 wrote:

Bagarre wrote:I had Airframe Components in Indiana re-skin the top surfaces as well as install the STOL cuff. Since they had it all opened up, they were able to shoot solid rivets in the whole thing. They also did the right wing landing light.
These guys do really, really nice work too. I was worried about farming that much out but it looks like a factory job. Couldn't be happier with them and will be sure to send any other wing/control surface work their way.
http://www.airframecomponents.com/

There's 3 important factors: quality of work, reasonable pricing, timeliness (aka good, cheap, & quick).
It's my experience that you can usually get two out of three.
There's a pretty good wing/control surfaces guy near me, but it seems like everything takes forever with him.
How'd your outfit stack up in that regard?

This was my fear as well. Fast, accurate or cheap....pick two.

I'm happy to say, these guys were 2 1/2 out of three. Not cheap but very reasonably priced.

The numbers they gave me seemed reasonable for the work I was asking to be done.
And they just did a bunch of extras "since they were in there" without inflating the price.
Turn around was three weeks for top re-skins, stol cuff install (all solid rivets) flap tracks, and a few other bits like pulling the wires, adding heated pitot, right wing landing light, fuel tank chafe strips, new aileron counterweights.... I was really impressed with how thorough they were.

They also give a 10% discount if you pay cash. Which is always nice.

Bagarre wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:

Bagarre wrote:I had Airframe Components in Indiana re-skin the top surfaces as well as install the STOL cuff. Since they had it all opened up, they were able to shoot solid rivets in the whole thing. They also did the right wing landing light.
These guys do really, really nice work too. I was worried about farming that much out but it looks like a factory job. Couldn't be happier with them and will be sure to send any other wing/control surface work their way.
http://www.airframecomponents.com/

There's 3 important factors: quality of work, reasonable pricing, timeliness (aka good, cheap, & quick).
It's my experience that you can usually get two out of three.
There's a pretty good wing/control surfaces guy near me, but it seems like everything takes forever with him.
How'd your outfit stack up in that regard?

This was my fear as well. Fast, accurate or cheap....pick two.

I'm happy to say, these guys were 2 1/2 out of three. Not cheap but very reasonably priced.

The numbers they gave me seemed reasonable for the work I was asking to be done.
And they just did a bunch of extras "since they were in there" without inflating the price.
Turn around was three weeks for top re-skins, stol cuff install (all solid rivets) flap tracks, and a few other bits like pulling the wires, adding heated pitot, right wing landing light, fuel tank chafe strips, new aileron counterweights.... I was really impressed with how thorough they were.

They also give a 10% discount if you pay cash. Which is always nice.

For all that work, that is an AMAZING completion time.....seriously.

MTV

mtv wrote:

Bagarre wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:

Bagarre wrote:I had Airframe Components in Indiana re-skin the top surfaces as well as install the STOL cuff. Since they had it all opened up, they were able to shoot solid rivets in the whole thing. They also did the right wing landing light.
These guys do really, really nice work too. I was worried about farming that much out but it looks like a factory job. Couldn't be happier with them and will be sure to send any other wing/control surface work their way.
http://www.airframecomponents.com/

There's 3 important factors: quality of work, reasonable pricing, timeliness (aka good, cheap, & quick).
It's my experience that you can usually get two out of three.
There's a pretty good wing/control surfaces guy near me, but it seems like everything takes forever with him.
How'd your outfit stack up in that regard?

This was my fear as well. Fast, accurate or cheap....pick two.

I'm happy to say, these guys were 2 1/2 out of three. Not cheap but very reasonably priced.

The numbers they gave me seemed reasonable for the work I was asking to be done.
And they just did a bunch of extras "since they were in there" without inflating the price.
Turn around was three weeks for top re-skins, stol cuff install (all solid rivets) flap tracks, and a few other bits like pulling the wires, adding heated pitot, right wing landing light, fuel tank chafe strips, new aileron counterweights.... I was really impressed with how thorough they were.

They also give a 10% discount if you pay cash. Which is always nice.

For all that work, that is an AMAZING completion time.....seriously.

MTV

Had to double check the dates. I dropped them off January 30th and got an email February 28th that they were done and ready for pickup. So, 4 weeks. Still fast.

They have 4 universal wing jigs and I think 6 or 8 flight control jigs so they can work on a lot of product at once.

No new photos but wings, control surfaces and miscellaneous airplane bits are loaded in the uHaul.
Tomorrow afternoon, will be the first time in 4 years that the entire airplane will be in the same state.
Not the same place yet tho. The bottoms of the wings still need to be painted at my dad's shop.
But everything else will be in a hangar waiting to be assembled...which will be next week.

What gear legs do you have on it?

jugheadF15 wrote:What gear legs do you have on it?

I have 180 legs. The non-wheels-forward type.

But if you mean in the photos, those are chopped down 172 legs to make moving around the shop easier.

Really a dick move to post in this thread without any pictures