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1956 Cessna 182

Man its hard to show progress on this build. I managed to get the LH side skin on. The wing nut cleco usage seemed to help the skin lay down. On this side everything is fully sealed. Everything in primer is new or has been blasted.

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In typical fashion I decided it was a good time to get the panel out. Cant believe I did not do this sooner, loads of room to work.
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WaterH said:
Times two. Are you working alone? Sheet metal work is so much easier with a helper, even if it’s just a kid.
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I brought the wife in to shoot on the skins but otherwise alone.

I decided to replace the bottom skin in this area. It has a large dent that is in limits but also has some erosion on a pm edge that needs repair. Figured I might as well just replace it all.
 
Blueleader said:
Does this mean you've decided to go with conventional gear?
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Yes. I am on the lookout for the donor parts. There are some absurdly expensive parts required. If I can get my hands on some loaners though I could make most of them.

The other option is buying a fuselage to rob them from. There are currently no east coast offerings though.
 
Started on the replacement belly skin. Same old story, drill old rivets, clean and paint. I had consdiered a repair on this skid but it did not seem worthwhile for the amount of damage. The skin behind this skin will also get replaced with thicker skin for the taildragger conversion.

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When I tried to flatten out the belly skin to copy it it clearly had some shaping built-in. it would not lay flat on the table.

A friend of mine in town has an English wheel and decided to give it a try re-creating the skin. Seem to go surprisingly well. The Harbor freight wheel though really needs polished rollers for doing aluminum like this.

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I had the panel in the previous post going along pretty well. Was nearly completed with it when I misdrilled it. :homer:

Take 2. I spent quite a bit more time working with this one on the English wheel. Very cool tool would like to buy my own sometime. Through a lot more trial and error and bending things around various poles in the shop I got the panel so that it fits just about perfectly. i spent nearly an entire afternoon drilling it. Its now complete. I ran out of time last night before I got a chance to get it painted.

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I’ve played with English wheels. One thing I’ve found is you can screw up a piece of metal just as easy as make it the way you want.

Carry on.
 
If I was wanting to get into building a plane, what are your thoughts on doing an rv14?
 
Clemson13 said:
If I was wanting to get into building a plane, what are your thoughts on doing an rv14?
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I can't speak from a pilots/flight perspective but from a building/mechanical perspective Vans do a decent well supported kit available in various states of readiness. If you've never done any aviation work I'd highly recommend doing plenty of research or take some classes, AC43.13-1B is essential reading. There's no such thing as "near enough" when it comes to aircraft (well not if you want to live). I also hope your prepared for the cost because even cheap in aviation will still be a shock to the system :laughing:
 
Donk said:
I also hope your prepared for the cost because even cheap in aviation will still be a shock to the system :laughing:
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Like the old saying goes "the two things that make an airplane fly is airspeed and money".

I worked in the GA world for almost 15yrs and it was amazing how many people bought airplanes, flew them for a few months, then they sat there for years in a field or under an astroport and eventually were sold or repossessed.
 
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Slander said:
Like the old saying goes "the two things that make an airplane fly is airspeed and money".

I worked in the GA world for almost 15yrs and it was amazing how many people bought airplanes, flew them for a few months, then they sat there for years in a field or under an astroport and eventually were sold or repossessed.
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It's the $20-$30k+ for engine overhauls that usually get people. Or it gets to its annual and it turns out they're been sold an absolutely rotten bag of shite and the bill to set it all straight is eye-watering :laughing:
 
Slander said:
Like the old saying goes "the two things that make an airplane fly is airspeed and money".

I worked in the GA world for almost 15yrs and it was amazing how many people bought airplanes, flew them for a few months, then they sat there for years in a field or under an astroport and eventually were sold or repossessed.
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Just like RVs/boats/travel trailers/truck campers etc.

Donk said:
It's the $20-$30k+ for engine overhauls that usually get people. Or it gets to its annual and it turns out they're been sold an absolutely rotten bag of shite and the bill to set it all straight is eye-watering :laughing:
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I've seen that more often than not.😬
 
CDA 455 II said:
Just like RVs/boats/travel trailers/truck campers etc.



I've seen that more often than not.😬
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That's why I'm thinking of building my own plane (experimental) instead of buying one. I'd be afraid of buying a piece of shit but I trust myself to build things meticulously
 
Donk said:
It's the $20-$30k+ for engine overhauls that usually get people. Or it gets to its annual and it turns out they're been sold an absolutely rotten bag of shite and the bill to set it all straight is eye-watering :laughing:
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Someone at our airport last year bought a 172 and had the mechanic replace an antenna for some reason. When he wento to pull the antenna the whole top panel between the wings came off. Found out too late the skins were all corroded from the inside and barely holding on.
 
Clemson13 said:
That's why I'm thinking of building my own plane (experimental) instead of buying one. I'd be afraid of buying a piece of shit but I trust myself to build things meticulously
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Good point.

Even planes in 'good shape' can have small cracks/fractures in the structure that's covered by skin and inaccessible with no access panels.
 
Donk said:
It's the $20-$30k+ for engine overhauls that usually get people. Or it gets to its annual and it turns out they're been sold an absolutely rotten bag of shite and the bill to set it all straight is eye-watering :laughing:
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I don’t think I could imagine having to pay somebody to work on mine. Some of the costs that I read about on the pilot groups are staggering and are hardly justified from my mechanic standpoint. It seems most pilots judge a mechanic by how much crap he/she can point out thats wrong.

The idea that something can be worn but it’s still serviceable seems to be fading fast.

I’m starting a new job late next month. I’m hoping in the long run it’s gonna let me have a lot more time for this another projects.
 
Bacho said:
I don’t think I could imagine having to pay somebody to work on mine. Some of the costs that I read about on the pilot groups are staggering and are hardly justified from my mechanic standpoint. It seems most pilots judge a mechanic by how much crap he/she can point out thats wrong.

The idea that something can be worn but it’s still serviceable seems to be fading fast.

I’m starting a new job late next month. I’m hoping in the long run it’s gonna let me have a lot more time for this another projects.
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Still in the Gville area or moving elsewhere?
 
Bacho said:
I don’t think I could imagine having to pay somebody to work on mine. Some of the costs that I read about on the pilot groups are staggering and are hardly justified from my mechanic standpoint. It seems most pilots judge a mechanic by how much crap he/she can point out thats wrong.

The idea that something can be worn but it’s still serviceable seems to be fading fast.
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Its not the labor that is expensive on this stuff. We charge less than 20k of labor on engines that cost 200-300k. Thats at 125 an hour, about the same or even less than most auto shops around.
 
dentedsub said:
Its not the labor that is expensive on this stuff. We charge less than 20k of labor on engines that cost 200-300k. Thats at 125 an hour, about the same or even less than most auto shops around.
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It’s a bit of everything.


Clemson13 said:
Still in the Gville area or moving elsewhere?
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New job is at the Columbia airport. Probably commuting initially and then moving.
 
Bacho said:
I don’t think I could imagine having to pay somebody to work on mine. Some of the costs that I read about on the pilot groups are staggering and are hardly justified from my mechanic standpoint. It seems most pilots judge a mechanic by how much crap he/she can point out thats wrong.

The idea that something can be worn but it’s still serviceable seems to be fading fast.
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When I flew commercially, my company use to replace anything that got to less than 8 hours at night. Their reasoning, We could fly eight hours the next day. That logic is very expensive, but it’s great for me when I’m not paying for it. If I was paying, I would use every hour.
 
WaterH said:
When I flew commercially, my company use to replace anything that got to less than 8 hours at night. Their reasoning, We could fly eight hours the next day. That logic is very expensive, but it’s great for me when I’m not paying for it. If I was paying, I would use every hour.
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Expensive is relative to cost of the part and it's life vs losing 8hrs of flying revenue. We also threw hours away if it was meant the part got changed during planned down time rather than the aircraft being pulled out of service for a single lifed item.
 
I might’ve covered this before. There’s a lot of pretty cool tools around which don’t seem to appear outside of the aviation structure industry. One is these 90 degree and 45 degree drills. There’s also a whole line of very specialized ones called pancake drills. Anyways the set that I was borrowing I had to return, and it turns out my eBay purchases were absolute junk. Bearings are worn out in the end causing wobbles. Time to try again. New ones are pretty costly.

Anyways was able to make some very minor progress this week. Up under the tunnel there is attachment points for the rudder bars and brakes. An area that is very hard to reach when all the skin is back on. I’ve installed nut plates in these locations to make future service in here much easier.

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That little drill looks like it'd be the cat's pajamas for broken exhaust manifold bolts, my 90 degree drill is a tank compared to that.
 
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