Hi all,
Im very glad to find this forum. My name is Josh and me and my buddy Pete are rebuilding a series III together. I have a million questions to ask and I hope to put up a web site soon to document the process. I once rebuilt a Kawasaki ZX11 using a forum like this and found more help than i could have imagined. Met some great people too. You guys seem pretty tight knit and im sure I can learn much from your collective experiences.
Heres where she stands- Both wings need to be rebuilt and covered, Its been sitting for probably 10 years so im guessing the engines(185s) need to be torn down? Rebuilt? Decarboned?
Well, wings first I guess. I'd like to make new ribs. Some are broken some have been poorly repaired and they all have a lousy old coat of crackled latex, Mostly the reinforcing tape has degraded on them and is very loose.
Here are the first of many questions to come-
1. Does any one either make and sell new ribs or does anyone have full size templates that can be aquired? (I'm sure I could trace the old ones but I would hate to even be a LITTLE bit off from the original.)
2. Is there a special or preferred styrofoam to use for ribs?
3. Does any one sell capstrip material that comes with the proper angles in the edges?
4. Whats the best adhesive to use for the capstrips?
5. There is a 3m tape to use for the reinforcement?
Also, my right spar box assembly is crushed. The previous owner bought another crashed wing for parts but I have one concern- The rivet holes in the D-cell arent going to line up exactly with the rivet holes in the used spar box assembly. Re- drilling the used spar box is going to remove even more material and perhaps even enlarge the pre-existing holes. Possibly weakening the whole assembly.
Does any one see a serious problem in this scenario? I have not tried to match the pieces yet but its pretty unlikly they will line up. Should I add rivets? Put a strip over the old holes first? Or just drill new holes and it will be plenty strong?
Well thats where I want to start anyway. I'm confident that I can handle the restoration. Ive spent the last month reading every bit of info on the net. I have a million more questions about redrives and props and of course Tedlar but first things first.
Thank very much in advance for your insight. I would not be nearly so confident in this project had I just recieved my Lazair in kit form. My hats off to you guys that built this plane yourselves. I fell into this by mistake and I'm very excited to learn what a unique and proven history the Lazair has. I could not have chosen better!!
Thanks again,
Josh