Hiller UH-12C ZK-HXK

A pleasant surprise on the first day of winter 2011 was stumbling across Hiller UH-12C ZK-HXK/3 parked at Ardmore.  This classic helicopter has been on the NZ register for almost 5 years and under the ownership of a Coromandel address.

Piper PA28-181 ZK-LJI

A visitor from Taranaki at Ardmore today, 01 June, in the form of Piper PA28-181 ZK-LJI.  This aircraft recently featured in http://galonghaulnews.blogspot.com/2011/05/back-in-2008-piper-archer-n1005j-was.html when it was delivered to the Canterbury Aero Club.

During April this year the Archer changed ownership to private hands in New Plymouth.

Robinson R44 ZK-ILX

The owners of Galloway Station near Alexandra have recently taken charge of R44 Raven II ZK-HHS and it has subsequently been re-registered ZK-ILX as of mid April this year, joining another Robinson on the station, R22 ZK-HLX.

Above and below taken at Ardmore 01 June 2011

Robinson R44 ZK-HGL

Ag Ops of Kerikeri operate Robinson R44 ZK-HGL and it sports the titles of Kiwikopters, http://www.kiwikopters.co.nz/.

Interestingly though if you check out the website it now takes you to Adventure Aviation New Zealand so perhaps the titles currently displayed will soon be removed?

Above and below taken at Ardmore 01 June 2011

Fuselage Scheduled for Delivery

The fuselage is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday at 5pm. I'll have to check with our good neighbor Tim to see if he's available to help when it gets here. The crate weighs 340 lbs! I picked up two small furniture dollys at Harbor Freight so maybe that will lessen the load a little.

The fuselage is the body of the aircraft from the engine firewall to the tail with the cockpit and seats in between. I'll add some pictures of the crate when it gets here.

Finishing Fiberglass on Tail

I'm finishing up all the fiberglass on the tail. I haven't posted in a while partially because it's so messy working with fiberglass. I was nervous about getting resin on our camera and computer. Here, I've finished the bottom cap of the rudder.

Below is the last of the fiberglass tips on the empennage. It's the upper cap of the vertical stabilizer. I'm adding a resin shell to the part after adding and then sanding the lightweight filler smooth. I think of it as adding the candy shell to an M&M. The lightweight filler is too porous and won't paint well so that's why the outer layer is added.

Working On Fiberglass Tips

Here, I'm working on the fiberglass tips of the right horizontal stabilizer and elevator. I wanted to get the back side of the stabilizer tip to be concave to match the convex curve of the horn on the elevator tip. I used some of the green flower arranging foam from Hobby Lobby that I cut about 1/2" inch thick and then pushed the tip down onto it like I was cutting out cookies. The foam was only $1.77 and should be enough to do all the empennage. Plus, I didn't like the idea of buying a 4' x 8' sheet of insulation foam at Home Depot and throwing 95% of it in the trash.

I then used folded paper as a spacer taped to the elevator horn with sticky backed sandpaper on the leading edge.

I used the leading edge of the elevator horn as a sanding block to shape the green foam to the perfect concave shape with a consistent gap. Then I removed the tip and layed several layers of fiberglass over the green foam. The resin didn't stick to the foam and it was easy to chip out after it dried. I then filled the inside of the new fiberglass layups with several more reinforcing layers like shown in Vans' instructions. I can't imagine an easier or more accurate way to do this so I'll do the same with the left side and the rudder and vertical stabilizer.