Darling Aircraft

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The roll over structure has been redone to accommodate the narrower canopy opening. I was able to re-work the existing o...
10/27/2021

The roll over structure has been redone to accommodate the narrower canopy opening. I was able to re-work the existing one thankfully. I little rusty on my TIG skills. 😲

I have the new trim tab fabricated. Steel wound housing solid wire Bowden cable that is typically used for tab actuation...
10/27/2021

I have the new trim tab fabricated. Steel wound housing solid wire Bowden cable that is typically used for tab actuation was very heavy at almost a pound per 6 feet! So doing some creative thinking I found housing has a linear steel wire housing like a Teleflex cable that is very stiff in compression at 4.2mm in diameter and can take a .045" to .050" solid wire core. 😃

Used a short piece of 3003 aluminum tubing as a ridged guide it works as smooth as butter and much lighter, more $ but worth it.
It originally had a fixed tab and an adjustable spring assist in the cockpit connected to a lever. It worked fine but I prefer this setup.

The housing will piggy back on the elevator control tube with some zip ties up the tail cone then over to the left side under the throttle.

Began stripping the paint on the wings. Nice to see the raw aluminum again! Shortly I'll be drilling the rivets out of t...
10/11/2021

Began stripping the paint on the wings. Nice to see the raw aluminum again! Shortly I'll be drilling the rivets out of the leading edge skin and the end ribs so the foam ribs can be sawed off of the spar. Much more complicated than it sounds!! 😲

I'll have to line bore with a hole saw the outboard ribs from the aileron bell crank so the I can pass a length of band saw blade through, then using fixed guides on both ends of the wing a friend and I will carefully saw down like a pair of coordinated lumberjacks to the spar caps.

Then a large pipe will be inserted all the way through the wing. A large mallet and a few strategic blows should fracture the small sections of un-sawed PVC foam rib remaining attached letting the D section with the majority of the ribs attached come off in one piece. The portions of the ribs left on the spar will be traced for re manufacturing then removed to expose the shear web and spars.

Once the new spar caps are in place the re-manufactured rib pieces will be bonded back onto the ribs in the D section and the whole D section then re-bonded to the spar and riveted back in place retaining the original wing geometry and rigging. "Theoretically"

This is all to give me access to beef up the spar caps for the increased weight and speed.

The original pitch trim system was a fixed tab bent for cruise with a spring bias system connected to a lever fir off cr...
10/11/2021

The original pitch trim system was a fixed tab bent for cruise with a spring bias system connected to a lever fir off cruise conditions and fuel burn off. It worked OK- but the friction on the lever pivot was always losing grip so the off case setting would wander at times. So I've have moved to an adjustable tab off the trailing edge of the elevator.

I had a Bowden wire cable that was half the length needed but it weighted almost a pound! So given I had to have twice the length to reach the cockpit I looked for alternatives for actuation. I found that quality bicycle derailleur cable housings are not spiral wound but have sheathed wires running the length of the housing as they should for precision push-pull applications, very light and only 4mm in diameter with an inner diameter of 1.2mm. So I ordered some .045" music wire which will fit the dry lubed housing perfectly, so there should be minimal hysteresis in the adjustment.😃

New horizontal spar completed and ready for installation.
10/11/2021

New horizontal spar completed and ready for installation.

The main gear legs needed to be re bent to accommodate the larger prop. Jigged them up, got out the oxy acetylene torch ...
10/02/2021

The main gear legs needed to be re bent to accommodate the larger prop. Jigged them up, got out the oxy acetylene torch and 15 minutes later they had there new dimensions. Then off the be annealed and re heat treated.

All ready for tire mounting and plumbing of the brake lines.
10/02/2021

All ready for tire mounting and plumbing of the brake lines.

Wheels got sand blasted and powder coated then a fresh cut on the lathe for the disk mounting surface. Replaced the ori...
10/02/2021

Wheels got sand blasted and powder coated then a fresh cut on the lathe for the disk mounting surface. Replaced the original gasket insulation material with some high temp Garolite. New bearings seals etc.

Still using the original brakes. They were BD5 surplus. The rotors were cracked and warped. So I had to manufacture the...
10/02/2021

Still using the original brakes. They were BD5 surplus. The rotors were cracked and warped. So I had to manufacture them from some steel blanchard ground stock. I little thicker now with a floating feature.

Have steel rudder and elevator balance weights finished machined and primed.
10/02/2021

Have steel rudder and elevator balance weights finished machined and primed.

Elevator got some shop rash when the MDF of a 20lb hanging speaker enclosure gave up and fell. The corner of it gave a h...
10/02/2021

Elevator got some shop rash when the MDF of a 20lb hanging speaker enclosure gave up and fell. The corner of it gave a hard glancing blow and left a huge dent.

Removed the tip rib then slid the elevator over a long piece of steel bar stock in the vise and gave it a few strategic wacks with a hammer and BAM! It was 90% back in shape. Then a bunch of tiny taps here and there and a wee bit of filler it's back in service.

Made new spar straps and extended their length and also added a secondary spar strap. New rivet line near root to carry ...
09/27/2021

Made new spar straps and extended their length and also added a secondary spar strap. New rivet line near root to carry the loads. Added doubler plates to stiffen the spar around the Hinge points. All sanded and Zinc primed ready for installation when the time comes. The original Stab was hollow with only tip and root ribs. Which was perfectly fine for a 147 VNE.

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858 Old Philadelphia Road STE 102
Jasper, GA
30143

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