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Glasair 1 TD (SN 238) Rebuild

The project has been purchased and is now at home awaiting a little TLC. I acquired this project as parts from a flying aircraft that was deregistered for reasons listed as destroyed. The need to keep the majority of the surfaces white for skin heat reasons will be driving the paint scheme.

2/25/2007 - I was not sure I could get a complete Glasair on an 8 foot trailer. After some careful measuring and creative loading, Ken and I made the 100 mile trip without incident or damage. The CO was on location inspecting the arrival of our latest fighter asset.

3/1/2007 - The first problem to tackle will be the canopy. The project was originally built with a slider on the pilot side and a gull wing door on the copilot side. The gull wing door is missing and would need to be made. The other option would be to modify the opening and go with a dual slider arrangement. You can see from the above photos that the modifications required will not be trivial.

3/1/2007 - The existing opening is too large and the flanges are backwards for the dual slider setup.

3/5/2007 - The existing flanges have been removed and the fuselage has been positioned inverted to allow easier access for the task of building up the center canopy area and the fuselage side wall.

3/14/2007 - The first stages of correcting the cutout size. Most of the additional material added will be cut away. The next step is to recut the opening at a 45 degree angle to creat the new flanges.

4/6/2007 - The existing firewall has had many holes cut and plugged over the years. The only right solution is to make a new firewall cover and fill all unused holes from the back side.

4/6/2007 - First step was to remove all fasteners currently attached to the firewall and document locations.

4/6/2007 - A new firewall panel was cut from 301 stainless.

4/6/2007 - The cowling attach points could not easily be removed so I formed blisters over the attaching hardware to allow the firewall cover to lay flat against the existing firewall. I am sure this will cause problems in the future but I will deal with that later.

4/6/2007 - The new cover was bonded and pop riveted to the firewall. I did not rivet the area that backed up to the header tank being fearful of causing leakage issue. The bonding in this area should be good enough and if not will be addressed later. The shadows in the picture make the new cover look wrinkled. It is flat and fits very nicely.

4/6/2007 - The engine mount has been primed and installed. It will be removed in the future but sure looks good attached to the fuselage. The cowling hinge pin half are being reattached.

5/18/2007 - I have built this oven with the intent of making my own windows. Here you can see the vent holes to regulate the temperature. This oven is powered by an 80,000 btu propane forced air heater.

5/18/2007 - Here is a photo of the oven with the door open. The open area is 44 X 38. A few tests in the oven show a temperature of 330 degrees for 5 minutes is about right.

5/18/2007 - This is the mold that will be used to create the plexiglass for the copilot slider.

5/18/2007 - Here is the door frame cut from the mold. After testing the oven on scrap plexglass, it seems getting the compound curve may be more difficult than previously expected. I will next try using a female mold to form the window.

5/23/2007 - I have installed the wing to trial fit the seat back, seat pan, instrument panel, and rudder pedals.

5/23/2007 - Here is another view showing the fuselage on the wing.

6/19/2007 - The rudder petals have been removed from the forward fuselage and all previous firewall penitrations have been sealed. This area has been painted with black/grey splatter paint.

7/18/2007 - The fuselage belly and red arrow have been painted. The red has been oversprayed on the top side. The final red will not be as wide as this picture makes it look. By starting on the belly and working to the top, all of the tape lines will be on the lower edge. This should give a smooth look. I am using PPG Omni AU. The base color is a light gray with bright red accents.

7/20/2007 - Here is a picture of some engine parts. These have been painted and are awaiting assembly.

7/21/2007 - My plan was to take many more picture of the engine build process however once the STP, Oil, Permatex, and Moly grease were opened, touching the camera became a real problem. Here is a picture after the first day of assembly.

7/22/2007 - This picture show the completed engine ready for mounting to the fuselage. Total time to build the engine was about 16 hours. The two hardest tasks were taping the case halves and accessory case for painting and laying the silk thread on the case parting line. The rest was pretty easy. The smudges on the intake tubes are from my dirty hands these will wipe off.

7/22/2007 - I am still waiting for a few parts from Aero Inc. mags, ignition harness, and starter. I still haven't ordered an alternator. I was thinking of using the B&C SD-20 that mounts to the vacuum pump pad. It is a bit pricey but would fit nicely and 20 amps seems to be more than enough to power my panel and lights.

7/31/2007 - After many days of sanding taping and cleaning, the upper surface has been painted.

7/31/2007 - This shows the final lighting bolt layout. It is a little wider than originally planned. The only paint left are the stars on the verticle. These will wait until I am doing the wing stars.

8/20/2007 - It has been awhile since my last update to this site. I have made progress on the interior and engine installation along with exterior paint. The wing paint is almost complete. These are the red stars on the underside of the wing.

8/22/2007 - The elevators and rudder have been painted. This picture is showing the final unwrap of the rudder after the red hs been painted.

8/26/2007 - The tail is complete except the tailwheel fairing. Elevators have been balanced and installed. The rudder has been installed. You may notice that the alignement of the stars on the tail is tilted. This was an oversight while masking and it's too late now to fix.

9/01/2007 - The wing has been installed for the final time.

9/02/2007 - All wiring and plumbing in the wings has been removed and replaced. All torque tube assemblies have been removed, painted and reinstalled.

9/03/2007 - I ordered the Van's o360 baffle kit. The kit is going together very nicely.

9/04/2007 - This is the initial panel layout. The Dynon is offset to the left to allow room for the Dynon HS34 panel that is on backorder. The backup airspeed and altimeter will go the the right of the radio stack and the Garmin 396 will be Gizmo docked in the top of the radio stack. The panel is split into an upper and lower section. The engine controls are mounted to the top of the lower section. I will be able to mount this section and keep the upper section out of the plane to allow working room.

10/05/2007 - It has been a month since this log has been updated. Alot of details have been knocked out. The oil cooler has been mounted and ducted.

10/07/2007 - The control surfaces are installed and adjusted. Wheel pants have been painted and installed. Wingtips and position lights are installed. Canopies have been painted and installed. N-Number has been applied.

10/14/2007 - Another trial fit of the main instrument panel with the final glare shield and sub panel installed. The empty space in the radio stack is where the Garmin 396 will go. The empty space to the left of the radio stack is for the back ordered Dynon HS34 controller. The Dynon wiring harness has been routed and final electrical connections are pending.

11/15/2007 - I have finished the weight and balance. The aircraft empty weight is 1050 pounds. The tail weight is 35 pounds which puts the aircraft at the forward CG with pilot only.

11/21/2007 - I finished up the interior today. It has been awhile since I have done any sewing but the results are fine for now. The big news today is that I received my pink airworthiness certificate. There are a few small details to finish up before first flight however the end is in sight.

11/27/2007 - The upper gear leg fairings are ready for paint. I have spent the last couple of days going over every system. It is amazing the little things that keep popping up. As of today I feel it is ready to fly.

11/28/2007 - Today at 7:15 AM N238SH took to the air piloted by Bob Woolley. Bob has built and test flown several Glasairs and I was really blessed to have his experience in the cockpit for the first flight. The will conclude the build log and start the test flight phase of the project.