Building the new Bushbaby SAFARI

[Cloud Warrior]

How live webcam coverage of the first flight? Pay per view to get Dark Helmets debt down.

[Oupa-G]

I have been a bit quiet on the web I see that the hits are climbing towards the 36000 mark. I designed some inspection doors they were expertly designed on CAD and then transferred to ou man Simone at WaterJet and a few days later out came the beautiful parts to be assembled combined with the CamLoc fitting and a small kitchen cupboard hinge completes the assembly. All riveted together with countersunk solid rivets. This afternoon I introduced Boet to our local fastener shop and I had his mouth open. He was used to the selection of the Loeriesfontein COOP. He was complaining about the electrons that went haywire in his computer he didn't know if any smoke had escaped. Tomorrow morning we are going to have a combined effort at the paperwork. Because Bosvarkie is getting very close to being finished, and of course I would never dream about flying her without the correct paperwork. Luckily the taxi tests and the high speed runs do not need paperwork. That's all some pics of the inspection door. The frame will be epoxied in place.


Cheers Oupa-G

[johnsa]

Nice work. When will the BB Safari be finished?

[Oupa-G]

JohnSa,

The little detail is taking a lot of time but I'm at it flat-out and sooner or later the finishing touches must be finished . Luckily I'm not a procrastinator and the energy has not yet given in although I do get tired late at night. This weekend Boet was in Town and we had a good time he spent a lot of his valuable weekend time helping with the paperwork and then the maestro himself put the art touches to the nose cowling design. And Ystervark did some-more fine tuning on his software and both the 3D map and 2D map are running well. The coldstart (and we did have the cold in the Cape last week)
is working well with no problems starting , then after the warm-up the acceleration is superb . I abused the throttle with rapid movements and I could not get the engine to stall. I was trying to simulate the go-round scenario. For the paperwork they want the completed Aircraft with registration etc.in photo form. We are almost there with the paperwork they say if the paperwork and the empty weight are equal you are then just a signature and a rubber stamp short. Enclosed in the pics the Maestro at work.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

The cowlings were masked and packed in the Toyota Tazz Annatjie managed to fit 120 cubic feet into a 80 cubic feet space. The Bushbaby fraternity must be thankful for the enthusiasm of the Loeriesfontein team. Enclosed two different shark tooth designs I'm leaving the design to Boet. Enclosed the masking examples. Enjoy the pics Note the position of the pre-filter inspection door.


Cheers Oupa-G

[AndreSteyn]

Uitstekende werk mense!!!

Het die heel naweek gesit en lees aan hierdie draad, regtig iets besonders

Nogal gewonder waar Boet heen verdwyn het, nou weet ek!

Superb work guys, looking forward to the flying phase

[Oupa-G]

The site has passed the 37000 mark what a wonderful response.Busy with the radio installation , part of thaat is the installation of the solid state gyros . The bracket was designed on CAD and then WaterJetted, then on the bends I put multiple layers of masking tape this gives a better radius and it prevents toolkit damage to the aluminium. The MGL box will be mounted on foam on the center line , this gives the artificial Horizon info to the Voyager box. This bracket will be mounted below the baggage compartement.All the little details are now falling into place and eventually I must come to a situation where there are no more things to do except test flying. Enjoy the pics

Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

My SDSL line went on the Fritz, and I was off line for a week. That is why I was so quiet. Back on the air, with lots to do, I am as busy as the proverbial one legged man at an ass kicking contest.. Will post some picks tonite.

[Boet]

Work on BOS-OT no 2 progressing nicely too. Panel in, and ready to start with "the afro" Had an enjoyable afternoon with Oupa, driving around and getting into al those wonderfull "aircraft part" places!! This is getting better by the day. Oupa and Jan could not quite make up their minds about the shape of the "shark fin", but eventually I struck apon a shape that pleased both. Nice working with you guys, We are far along with painting your cowling. Tad on the cold side for spraying, but we will maak n plan. Have a nice `un.

[Oupa-G]

The installation of the solid state gyro's went well the bracket is held in place with four 3mm screws. Also I measured the center line to make sure the gyro's are on the roll axis. I have also installed the wiring of the second Eboxi and the coil on plug wiring. I'm looking forward to the paint job that Boet is doing on the cowling. Things are getting closer enjoy the pics.

Cheers Oupa-G

[Boet]

Tomorrow is spray-day. Oupa`s two little pre-filter inspection doors are in. One whole aerie fus and one wing plus all loose parts to be sprayed tomorrow. The spray-mask make me sound like Darth Vader.

[Oupa-G]

Oupa-G can't wait. Pics please .

Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

Tonight replaced the common hardware store bolts of the under carriage with high tensile bolts. As these bolts are under tension and not under shear loads I used 12.9 bolts made sure the threads are rolled ,(one can see this under 10X magnification ) I also used high tensile nuts, a detail often overlooked. There are nuts and there are nuts, just like in the human race. Vliegvark did the dual inspection of the gear bolts as they disappear under the floor boards.

When I was testing the gear to its extreme ,that was when I loaded 2 dumper truck tyres and flattened the gear to the ground , the tension on the bolts and nuts was so great that the threads pulled out of the nuts. I must say they were only of the 4.8 variety. The interesting part was when I did the test the gear came back to its original shape. I have also made up the looms from the magnetometer in the left wing-tip and the solid state gyro's. I'm marching on with the finish line looming over the horizon. With all the floor boards out it is the ideal time to bring the vacuum cleaner to clean out all the inevitable metal filings.


Cheers Oupa-G

[Oupa-G]

This evening our in house rocket scientist checked out the final wiring on the second Eboxi after running it for a while and getting the air out of the fuel lines we could switch from the one system to the other without missing a beat. We then checked the timing with the timing light to make sure that what we are programming and what we are getting is the same thing. Now a serious attempt will be made on the Afro hairstyle behind the panel. I will be crimping shortening wires lengthening etc till the cable tie phase gets moving. The final test was starting the engine without the main spark plugs connected, and that also was fine. Will post pics to-morrow. I also received the link between the transponder and the Voyager altitude encoder. I asked Greg from Flight Avionics to make the loom he had the plugs for the King KT76 , he made a stunning loom ,so professionally done, a level to strive for. So very little is left to do. We are getting closer.


Cheers Oupa-G

Ps. I see we passed the 38000 mark in hits. The thousands pass by quicker so it seems.

Boet waar is jy met die pics van die cowling?

[Boet]

Ons het eers die boot-cowl se "gap" reg gemaak, (wat Oompie te groot gesny het ), die filter inspection doors is in, en die boot cowl is wit gespuit. Ek beplan om more die geel te doen, en teen woensdag die blou. Ons sal eers teen Vrydag die onderste helfte van die bottom cowl kan wit oorsprei. Die verf moet gelos word om ordentlik droog te raak, anders bevoeter die masking tape die afwerking. Ek wil dit perfek he. Dit was baie koud laas week met baie sterk winde en baie stof wat rondgewaai het. Moeilik om te verf as die weer so lyk. Vrydag was die eerste lekker dag in n lang tyd. Het n sundowner vlug gaan maak met die Turbi, en voel nou weer pure Boet. Ek is so besig om julle ouens te help errouplyn bou, ek kry nie meer tyd om te gaan vlieg nie.