Intersection Fairings

The Fairing Fun continues. This is where things get a little tricky. You need to make the leg fairings parallel to the airplane while in flight. So you use a string wrapped around the fairing and attached to the step. You then make the string parallel to the aircraft on both the pitch and roll axis. Then you center the trailing edge of the leg fairing between the strings. Done! I'll admit it took a little head scratching at first, but nothing I couldn't figure out...eventually.

Dates and Times
Sun 13th -3.5hrs- Started Intersection Fairings
Mon 14th -1.25hrs- Glued tabs onto fairings with epoxy
Tues 15th -1.0hrs- Re-glued tabs onto fairings with Lord Adhesive
Wed 16th -0.75hrs- Sanded and test fitted fairing
Fri 18th -2.25hrs- Body work on fairings
Sat 19th -4.0hrs- Countersinking, sanding fairings, filling holes
Sun 20th -1.0hr- Final sanding and finished the fairings.

Total Time on Landing Gear Fairings

43.5hrs

Here is a picture of the strings lined up for positioning the leg fairing. (Note the engine sitting in the back ground!)

Once I had everything positioned correctly and clecoed in place I bisected the intersection fairing. This doesn't follow the plans. Instead I'm going to be bonding the intersection fairings to the wheel fairings. This not only looks a little better but it should make maintenance a little easier.

Here are the tabs I made. I first tried to epoxy them in place and they popped right back off. Lord Adhesive, on the other hand, worked great!

This is how the tabs will work. The small tab tucks under the back fairing skin and holds it down flush. The large tab on back fairing rests under the front fairing to prevent any wind catching under the fairing and separating it from the aircraft during flight.

I got the whole area all smoothed out and finished up. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the whole plane with the fairings on.....I know, I'm disappointed too.

Leg Fairings

The leg fairings were very easy, nothing much to say. I did make a small change in how the pin installs as shown in the pictures below. I cut the bottoms of the wheel fairings to clear the tires at about 7/8 to 1in clearance. This is more than the plans call for but will give me a bit more clearance on unimproved landing surfaces or in case of a flat or low tire. I just used a small block of wood and ran it along the tire while holding a marker on its edge. This made a perfect parallel line all the way around the tire.

Dates and Times
Wed 9th -1.0hr- Cut bottom of wheel fairings to clear the tires.
Fri 11th -7.75hrs- Fairing work, including: cutting the nose wheel leg fairing, riveting nutplates, countersinking holes, and other invariable tasks that go along with building an airplane.
Sat 12th -3.25hrs- Cut leg fairings and riveted hinges.

Riveted the hinges to the leg fairings with care to ensure I don't induce a twist in the fairing.

Used the template provided to mark the cuts.

I cut the legs a bit shorter than the plans because I wanted to be able to remove the pin from the top of the fairing and not the bottom. The upper intersection faring covers the entire area so it won't look any different than normal. But I like having the bend in the pin at the top so I know it can't vibrate down and out of the hinge and it's just enough room to remove the pin; and therefore the fairing.