REFLECTOR: bulkhead flanges

[Douglas Holub]

The original purchaser (Reed Wakefield) was a retired Eastern Airlines pilot and a friend of Danny's. Because he was a friend, Danny let him sneak up to the front of the line to get his kit. Reed built the wings, put the plane on its gear, installed the speed brake and all of the bulkheads. He was a good craftsman-- all of his work is better than mine. Then he needed shoulder surgery and couldn't work on the plane anymore, so he sold the kit to an aircraft controller in Palmdale, CA who built the canard. (Twice, because the first time his EAA technical counselor said it wasn't good enough.) Then JFK, Jr. died in that airplane crash, and the controller's wife got spooked and made him sell the kit to me in January of 2000.

I corresponded with Mr. Wakefield soon after I got the kit. He was in his 70's then and still living in Florida. I hope he's still alive this spring so that he can see his labor of love finally flying.

One other interesting note: my wings are the original short chord wings, and they have a little dihedral. The early builders were having too much trouble putting that little kick in the wings, though, so Danny soon changed the wing to make it straight like it is today.

Doug Holub
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alex Balic 
  To: 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list' 
  Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:05 AM
  Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: bulkhead flanges


  Doug has an OLD kit- he got it from the original purchaser, who probably got it from Danny- 

  Doug is going to get the award for longest kit manufacture date to first flight date record..  J

   


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  From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Scott Baker
  Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 4:41 AM
  To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
  Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: bulkhead flanges

   

  Doug,

  I am confused by the shape of the center section spar.  It looks wider than normal and is boxed.  Is this something of your own design? Just wondering.

  SB

   

    ----- Original Message ----- 

    From: Douglas Holub 

    To: reflector at tvbf.org 

    Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1:31 PM

    Subject: REFLECTOR: bulkhead flanges

     

    Here's an idea for those of you who haven't done your strakes yet. The plans say to install those two bulkheads that go between the center section spar and the fuel bulkhead after the top of the strake has been attached. I assume the reason is to make it is easier to glass the aft side of the fuel bulkhead to the upper strake. But having the upper strake installed will definitely make it harder to glass the inboard side of those two bulkheads (the ones with the 5" access holes.) Maybe some people aren't glassing the inboard side. But I thought doing it blind through those 5" holes would be like building a ship in a bottle. So I put gray tape around the bottom of those two bulkheads and glassed the bottom halves of the inboard sides before I put the upper strake on. I can put structural adhesive on those flanges for an easy installation even with the upper strake installed. 

     

    It's not a great idea, but I think it will help a little. I'm still going to try to add a little glass to the upper halves of the inboard sides using the ship-in-a-bottle method.

     

    And here's a plug for Noel's idea about putting play dough on the tops of the fuel bulkheads when fitting them to the upper strake surface. That was a good way to gauge the distance between the bulkheads and the strake.

     

    Doug Holub


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