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I did it again, this time it's a Pietenpol

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Posted

On the back side of the 1933 drawings, there Is an article which, in part, says, "If pilot and co-pilot do not greatly exceed one hundred and fifty pounds apiece the Pietenpol Air Camper with the Ford "A" will carry about forty pounds of camp gear without trouble." 

It would be interesting to find out how much the Ford "A" engine weighed and how much hp it had at what rpm.  I guess they are talking about the 4 cylinder engine.  I know the V8 60 hp was available in 1934 and my cousin had one in a '35 Coupe when we were in High School, and the 80 and 90 hp version came out later.

Someone wrote below the typed article, "From 'Modern Mechanix and Inventions' magazine  June 1933."

EDMO

Ed, the Ford A engine was 240 pounds when stripped down, that was before radiator, prop, etc. It produced 40 horse power. That was at around 2300 RPM if I remember correctly but I may be wrong on that end of it. I know it will fly two people well in the Pietenpol and have talked to many that have flown that way. Personally for the higher density areas I fly out west I like the idea of having more HP. I took off yesterday in a 172 and the density altitude was only 5,600'. That's quite low compared to what I'm used to out here in the desert. In the summer it's close to 8,000 every day. It sure makes a big difference in a 145 HP 172. 

Yesterday I was able to get the engine out of storage and get it hung back on the airframe. There are still a few loose ends to tie up with wiring before I can attempt to start it again. Since several of the wires were loose from the firewall and not marked I'm on my own to figure them out. There isn't much to hooking up a Subaru engine though so it shouldn't be hard once I figure out where the other end goes behind the panel. I was also able to cut and install the leather rub strips where the cables come through the fabric. I have a ton of leather I purchased years ago. I never really had anything in mind for it but got it at such a price I couldn't pass it up. Glad I had it this week though. I'll probably use some for the cockpit sides to spruce it up a bit as well. I was able to finally fit the cowling on the fuse for the first time since I purchased this poor basket case. I hadn't seen it on before so it was nice to see how it fit and how much room was around the engine. It could definitely be tighter to the engine for sure. I'll likely make a new one eventually. But that can wait until it's flying again and there are days when I want to build rather than fly. We all have those in the winter for sure. Besides this plane is 2,400 miles from where I live so I want to get it flying and usable sooner rather than later. Of course safety is paramount and I won't short cut anything just to get it flying. 

Today I spent running around getting a few odds and ends for the plane, plus I moved a bunch of my stuff out of my dad's shop and into the new shipping container I have out at our dirt strip. Now I finally have all my airplane parts in one place. At least other than the Pietenpol that's still behind the house where we're working on it. 

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Posted

Thanks for the model A engine info - that was just a little before my time!  Ha!  Ed

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Posted (edited)

Here is another plane with the same marking as the earlier Pietenpol that I posted on page 1, above - Does anyone know what the upside-down "Uncle Sam Hat" mean?  EDMO

Scan0340.jpg

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

'Hat in the ring' squadron - 94th Aero squadron from WWI - Eddie Rickenbachers squadron.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/94th_Aero_Squadron

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Posted

'Hat in the ring' squadron - 94th Aero squadron from WWI - Eddie Rickenbachers squadron.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/94th_Aero_Squadron

WOW - Great Historical Post Mark!   I never think about "Wiki" unless it is reading about "Crooked Hilliary's sneaky-mails"!    EDMO

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Posted (edited)

I knew that information, I threw the Wiki link in so you could read about it.  But,  I only knew that because I used to eat at a 94th Aero Squadron restaurant a lot.  They are all gone now, but they were great restaurants at reasonably large airports and always had a view of an active runway.  The decor was all WWI operations shack themed.   When we lived in St. Petersburg FL, there was one at KPIE, loved that place.  There was one at KSTL also, but it closed before I could try it.

Mark

 

Edited by marksires
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Posted (edited)

I knew that information, I threw the Wiki link in so you could read about it.  But,  I only knew that because I used to eat at a 94th Aero Squadron restaurant a lot.  They are all gone now, but they were great restaurants at reasonably large airports and always had a view of an active runway.  The decor was all WWI operations shack themed.   When we lived in St. Petersburg FL, there was one at KPIE, loved that place.  There was one at KSTL also, but it closed before I could try it.

Mark

 

Our EAA chapter at Smart Field, St. Charles, Missouri, used to meet at a restaurant there named "Kilroy's", next to the "Confederate Air Force" CAF hanger, before it changed to "Conformist Air Force" because some asshole PC  organization was going to sue it and the cowardly judges and stupid juries would have bankrupted it.  EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

I've been to that chapter once - the Cozy Girrrls were giving a lo-vac composite demonstration I wanted to see.  Nice field, and nice folks!

Mark

 

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Posted

We use to have a sweet restaurant like that close to me, It was called Barnstormers in Norfolk Nebraska, My wife and I would fly my little Challenger there for Sunday Brunch it was awesome right off the Runway, but I heard its all closed up, Lots a chain Restaurants around here now, Guess that's why my wife and I Love Wisconsin so much, You can always find a great Mom and Pop place to eat for a low price with way more food than you need,

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Posted

I had a 49 Jeep pickup and we replaced the engine with a 283 Chevy - Bro-in-law had International Scout with Olds engine.  The best "Sleeper" was a little Nash Metro with a 283 Chevy!   I think the Soob is just right for the Piet.   Oh, my many past discretions!   EDMO

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Posted

Since I've been out of touch with reality (no internet for over a week), I'm back to compiling the build thread of sorts. The past three weeks were full of work, the past week was just relaxing though.

In a little less than two weeks time I went from having fuse in primer to being completely painted, assembled and engine running again. Here is a quick and dirty rundown of what I did. I'm sure I'm going to miss a lot of things though:

Painted and buffed out the fuselage. Assembled tail feathers and rigged all controls to the tail. Re-rigged all cables for smooth operation. It seems they were so tight that the control stick wouldn't even smoothly move on it's own. Even worse is that you could push the control stick forward and the cable tension would keep the elevator up, meaning the weight of the elevator couldn't over come the tension....not good! installed all inspection panels after lubing all the bellcranks, pulley's, etc. Reassembled and installed gear, wheels, tires, brakes, etc. Reassembled all forward controls. Installed center wing section and cross brace cables. Installed engine, wiring, new fuel lines and figured out several issues with the wiring. Checked over every single nut, bolt, screw and fastener on the aircraft to make sure I didn't miss anything...I actually did this about four times, plus my dad did the same. It's always nice to have someone else inspect your work, even if he can't see really well :). Installed cockpit covers, throttle quadrant and reinstalled 10 year old battery. Amazingly the battery will still hold enough charge to fire off the ignition before the alternator kicks in and takes over. I'll be putting a new one in it later but this worked for test running the engine. I also built a new sight fuel gauge and many other parts, plus had to refinish some of the wood and finish other pieces that I installed. Mainly the front cockpit cowling formers/stays.

And last but certainly not least: I fired up the engine using a 2x6...yup, a 2x6 (balanced though) as a starting stick. Since it doesn't have a starting system and I'm still building the prop this was the only way to test it before putting in more time on a prop if the engine wasn't any good.

It ran as smooth as can be and is ready to go except for a new prop and a few loose ends being tied up. Sadly my stay was cut short by one day after the airlines bumped me from a flight and cause a one day delay. The difference was probably getting the wings assembled and checking everything else out before putting it away in storage again.

Here is the current pictures to give you an idea of progress.

Hopefully I'll be able to make a trip back out to Utah in the spring to build the hangar and finish the plane to flying condition. My brother is an A&P and will be doing the final inspection and condition inspection with me so we are sure it's ready to go. Then it will be time to play in the desert off our own dirt strip! Really looking forward to this aircraft.

Since it was designed in 1929 there will be a 90 year gathering of Pietenpol aircraft in Wisconsin in 2019. I'd really love to be able to take it there for the big gathering. Who knows if it will happen but that's the dream currently. The other part of owning this aircraft is that my 15 year old son is about ready to start learning to fly and he can actually reach the pedals in the front cockpit. It's something he hasn't been able to do in other aircraft. It helps that he's grown a bit too but I want to start him out with a good easy flying aircraft without all the bells and whistle. Not to mention a tailwheel to start with.

Let me know what you think.

 

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Posted

Looks nice what paint did you use

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Posted (edited)

I think that the one photo I sent to you that I thought was a Bi-wing Piet, was maybe a Spad XIII (13), since it had the right WW1 markings?  EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

Looks nice what paint did you use

TJay, I used a good high quality exterior high gloss latex house paint. I had it custom matched to the existing tail feathers and cowling color for red and the wings for the yellow. You can't see any difference in person other than the vertical stab needs one or two more coats. I'm not totally happy with it, not sure why but it just didn't fill in like the turtledeck did. If I were to do it again (latex paint), I would take more time between coats to sand down with a 220 grit quickly and also brush on about 5 coats of the primer. I think it would lay down flatter than way. It's not a show quality but it will be flying off of dirt and very easy to touch up if I pick up a rock and nick the paint a little. It can be touched up with a paint brush and sticks very well.

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Posted

I think that the one photo I sent to you that I thought was a Bi-wing Piet, was maybe a Spad XIII (13), since it had the right WW1 markings?  EDMO

Ed, not really sure but I think  you might be right. I didn't think it was a Piet at all but knew you were referring to the emblem not the the aircraft. Now I'm going to have to go look it up on Google to see what it is for sure.

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Posted

Go back up this thread where Mark posted about the squadron - I think there are some pictures of the Spad on there.  Your Piet looks Great.   EDMO

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Posted

Go back up this thread where Mark posted about the squadron - I think there are some pictures of the Spad on there.  Your Piet looks Great.   EDMO

Thanks Ed! It's not perfect but it'll do very well for the conditions and the type of flying I'm intending for it. It didn't make sense to spend the time to make a show quality plane back out of it and then fly it off of dirt and gravel and unimproved strips. That would just not make sense to me. It will rarely be seen by anyone since I'll be flying it from my own strip anyway.

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Posted

I've always like Piet Air Campers, and the Scout too! If you like the vintage parasol and biplane style you should plan a trip to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, lots of really neat old planes and they fly them every weekend.

We've got a spot like that in Missouri - They not only fly the old types, they build them right there in a factory.  EDMO

Ed, I somehow missed this post, or rather responding to it. Where are you referring to in MO that is building again? My guess would be Creve Coeur but I'm not certain of what they are doing there now days.

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Posted

Go back up this thread where Mark posted about the squadron - I think there are some pictures of the Spad on there.  Your Piet looks Great.   EDMO

Thanks Ed! It's not perfect but it'll do very well for the conditions and the type of flying I'm intending for it. It didn't make sense to spend the time to make a show quality plane back out of it and then fly it off of dirt and gravel and unimproved strips. That would just not make sense to me. It will rarely be seen by anyone since I'll be flying it from my own strip anyway.

You going to get a mail delivery contract, or do they still use pony express out ther?  EDMO

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Posted (edited)

I've always like Piet Air Campers, and the Scout too! If you like the vintage parasol and biplane style you should plan a trip to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, lots of really neat old planes and they fly them every weekend.

We've got a spot like that in Missouri - They not only fly the old types, they build them right there in a factory.  EDMO

Ed, I somehow missed this post, or rather responding to it. Where are you referring to in MO that is building again? My guess would be Creve Coeur but I'm not certain of what they are doing there now days.

OMG - Now you caught me - been reading about it in mags and cant remember what town - think Western MO - not close to me.... Someone will know or I will look it up.  I'm not rich enough for Larry Stix Creve Coeur crowd!  Ha!  EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

Go back up this thread where Mark posted about the squadron - I think there are some pictures of the Spad on there.  Your Piet looks Great.   EDMO

Thanks Ed! It's not perfect but it'll do very well for the conditions and the type of flying I'm intending for it. It didn't make sense to spend the time to make a show quality plane back out of it and then fly it off of dirt and gravel and unimproved strips. That would just not make sense to me. It will rarely be seen by anyone since I'll be flying it from my own strip anyway.

You going to get a mail delivery contract, or do they still use pony express out ther?  EDMO

The closest Pony Express station is about 50 miles from the strip, maybe I should see if I can get a delivery contract! I have to admit those guys flying mail back then were NUTS! This is certainly the type of plane that makes you reminisce about that type of flying though.

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Posted (edited)

I used to fly into Creve Coeur when it was just a field with dirt runway and Arrowhead airport was just across the fence - landed there too - I got a little education sitting in lots of Mr. Al Stix's (not Larry) old planes that were under roof near the old farmhouse - Been there once since it went to $$$$$.  Now its under the STL TCA.   Arrowhead closed when the new highway went through.  EDMO

Edited by EDMO

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Posted

Since I am still in Utah for a few days after the ferrying the Citabria out here from the factory I decided to get to work on the Pietenpol again. In October I cut, planed and glued up a HUGE oak board to make a new prop from. It's been sitting in my dad's shop waiting for me to come out and get to work on it. In the past week or so he went ahead and worked up the prop pattern than I had started the last time I was here as well.

Yesterday I spent about 2 hours just finishing up the pattern so that I could put it all on the duplicator he built a few years ago and actually get to carving the prop.

This hunk of wood probably weighed close to 75 pounds before I carved into it. It was so think and dense that his bandsaw just couldn't cut it. I ended up using a chain saw to get it to a rough basic shape. Something I never thought I would have to do for sure!

After getting it mounted in the machine the fun but back breaking work began. In the past two days I've spent 14 hours just at the duplicating table. My neck and back are totally stiff but I have a piece of wood that closely resembles a prop now. This is by far the biggest prop we've ever built. It is 80" long and has a 52 pitch. Like all my props it is my own design and I think it looks rather cool personally.

Since you all like pictures here are a few. Sorry they aren't very good, dad took them with his old phone. Better than nothing though.

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