AZ Bearhawk

I had originally started cutting the door hinge slots in the right boot cowl side.  I didn’t like the fit so I decided to use pasteboard to make a new one.

I found this little contraption at Lowes.  It’s basically an upside down mounted jigsaw with a table.  Brilliant!

Doing it first in pasteboard makes is so much easier to get an exact fit!

I took quite a bit of time making exactly certain that I like how everything fit before drilling any holes.

Since the top has that removable panel designed to mount flush, I attached these reinforcing strips to the seems.  You can’t see it from this picture, but the far side is bent at a 90 degree angle to provide stability.

It’s starting to look more like an airplane!

November and December turned out to be extremely busy months.  Several unplanned things took me away for extended periods of time.  So I wasn’t able to do much work on the plane during those months.

Today I started more work on the boot cowl assembly.  The logical place to start is at the bottom with the tunnel.

They manual says that it’s intended to go on the bottom (outside) of the firewall flange, however it’s preferred to go on top (inside) of that flange.  Mine happened to fit very well on top.  Excellent!

Today I started work on the sheet metal that will make up the entire boot cowl assembly.  I began with the side panels under the doors.  These are optional as their not portrayed in the plans.  However, they provide a nice transition to the bottom skins and allow for a nice place to attach strut and gear fairings.

I made the bulkhead out of tape and cardboard first.  This worked out very well!

I used my new Jig Saw to cut out the aluminum from the cardboard outline.  I love it when a plan comes together!

The rudder cables were rubbing a little on the rear seat frame so fabricating some fairleads was in order.

I’m still a rather novice welder.  I only took a single course at Oshkosh this year to learn how.  However, I was fairly happy with how the fairleads turned out!   I clamped them in place, welded them, sanded, primed and epoxy painted.

The aluminum stringers arrived and the girls and I made quick work of installing them.  I decided to install them with pop rivets which made the install go very quick.

The Grove brake reservoir mounted high on the firewall within easy reach for servicing.

All the flexible lines installed very easily.  The articulate without binding.  Perfect!

Here you can see all the brake and fuel lines installed.

Flexible lines going to the gear legs.

 

I fashioned a mount for the parking break and attached it to the firewall.  It’s lower than the reservoir but high enough to give the flexible tubing enough length to articulate.

I really like the idea of a piston holding the front cargo door open.  They’re quite proud of the TSO’d version, so I found this one at an online dealer for 1/10 the cost.

I welded a nut to the door for the piston stud.  After sanding, priming and paining, it turned out great!