Tom & Shelly's build

[Tom&Shelly]

and then coat with about 12 coats of water based varnish.

I'm thinking 14. (Sheeeeesh! That's a lotta coats.)

Tony

Well, after 6 coats, Shelly waited 24 hours, then found it still scuffs easily and didn't handle a ceramic mug of hot water very well. I'm thinking we should try table top varnish or something like that. We will report back!

Thank you all for your votes. (Shelly tells me I shouldn't have stated my preference before asking, but then, I wasn't necessarily looking for a scientific, unbiased, survey! Heck, I'd even accept Russian interference if they wanted to pay me for it! )

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

I used sliding "crapper stall latches" on ours & they work well enough for our needs. They're stainless steel, a bit spendy, but work flawlessly. I was sitting in the stall & pondering drawer latches at work one day, when the idea just came to me... Granted, they are set at 90 degrees from their intended use, but hey, if it works, it works!

Hi Tim,

I didn't appreciate the difference between those and the cylindrical bolt latches at first (other than the obvious, D shaped bolts). I see yours have receivers that mount perpendicular to the bolt action (so parallel to the floor, the way you are using them). Another idea for us to consider--thank you!

Any issues with dirt in the receivers?

Tom

[noseoil]

No problems so far with dirt or debris in the holes, but the area stays clean when traveling & the hatch seals well enough. I had some left over bits of diamond plate from the build, so I used them to make escutcheons for the wear surface, just so there wouldn't be scratches in the plywood floor. I used a chisel in the wood galley floor & a pencil mark to make the holes first, then screwed the plates in place once the holes were cut for a snug fit. The floor there is 2 layers of 1/8" BB with a foam core, so it was easy to make the cuts. A Dremel would also work pretty well.

I was trying to come up with something clever for a latch mechanism on these sliders, but gravity seemed like the easiest solution to the problem & unless we go inverted at some point, there's been no problem ever with this system. Nothing has bounced open on dirt roads.

[bdosborn]

What happens if you stumble upon a Mig 28 and you go inverted?

[tony.latham]

What happens if you stumble upon a Mig 28 and you go inverted?

I’ve flown trail behind Tim’s tear’ as a flight of two.

There’s no MiG that can keep up with him.

And I doubt any dirt has seen his galley floor.

Tony


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Tom&Shelly]

What happens if you stumble upon a Mig 28 and you go inverted?

Think it matters whether it's a loop or an Immelmann



Tom

[tony.latham]

What happens if you stumble upon a Mig 28 and you go inverted?

Think it matters whether it's a loop or an Immelmann



Tom

I’d prefer a hammerhead stall.

T

[Tom&Shelly]

I took some scrap ply and made temporary drawer fronts this week, to check fit, alignment, etc.



good thing I did too, because it turned out I had a little error on the height of the supports on both sides, that looked innocuous enough until I saw the changing size of the gaps from the tops of the drawer fronts to the bottoms of the counter and stove cubby floor. My options were to 1) make trapezoidal drawer fronts, or b) shim the sides. OK, technically, I could also 3) ignore it, 4) start over and build a new teardrop, or 5) fly it inverted and see if things shake loose.

5 didn't work, so I went with the shims (1/8 inch shims! ). Looks okay now, I suppose. What I should have done, I now realize, was, instead of simply drawing a line on the sides of the galley and holding the supports to that line while drilling holes for the screws with the other hand, I should have taken some of the scrap ply and made some temporary braces for the supports to ensure they went in at the correct height.

Of course, I also have galley sides that come together slightly at the back



We were simply going to use trim here, but I think we may make one of those holders for commonly used items like Tony has, except instead of confining it to the back, we'll make ours L shaped. Or maybe a small spice rack that is removable to put in a bear box. (Which spices do bears like, and which repels them anyway? I could see some of those Northern bears really getting offended after trying some of our Hatch green chili spices.)

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

Oh, forgot to mention, what we are envisioning for the actual drawer fronts are 2 inch oak frames, with dowel joints, and varnished Baltic birch in the centers.

We debated where to put the handles, but finally decided to try them in a line across, about two thirds up on the smaller drawers.



That's just at the height where I don't have to bend at all, and Shelly only has to a little bit. Also it doesn't interfere with the drawers or contents (found out the hard way, half way up the smaller drawers does), and it should be a good height to lessen stress on the fronts. One of the reasons for the temporary fronts was to check appearance to see if it looks okay. Shelly says it does.

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

What happens if you stumble upon a Mig 28 and you go inverted?

Think it matters whether it's a loop or an Immelmann



Tom

I’d prefer a hammerhead stall.

T

Aren't you worried, if you don't time the rudder just right, your teardrop will go into a spin!?

Or is your teardrop rated for spin recovery?

Throttles – Idle

Rudder and Ailerons – Neutral

Stick – Abruptly full aft and hold

Rudder – Abruptly apply full rudder opposite spin direction (opposite turn needle) and hold

Stick – Abruptly full forward one turn after applying rudder

Controls – Neutral after spinning stops and recover from dive




Tom

[noseoil]

Tom, I would pull the counter, mask the edge of the side panel with tape where it meets the counter with a bit of extra tape top & bottom, paste wax the tape, put the counter back in place & then stuff the void at the gap with Bondo. You can drill small holes into the edge to let the Bondo squish & key into the edge. Once the Bondo sets up, pull the counter & clean it up on top with a belt sander, buy some scrap Formica at a counter shop nearby & laminate the top for a bullet-proof work surface. I know it's not as nice as a trash bag finish, but it's wear resistant, water repellent, heat proof (mostly, no red hot cast iron please) & easy to do. The Bondo edge will fit correctly against the side panels, the thickness of the tape on both sides will be your "slop" to slide the counter in place & a router with a flush-cut bit will pilot off the Bondo edge just fine for the finished cut.

Just trying to slow things down a bit for you & muddy the waters...

From my aircraft days.
1: "If it weren't for Bondo, you wouldn't have a job"
2: "Remember to use the tape correctly, sticky side down"
3: "We can't possible screw this up"
4: "We always get it right eventually"

[tony.latham]

Aren't you worried, if you don't time the rudder just right, your teardrop will go into a spin!?

I only spun her twice:





Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Aren't you worried, if you don't time the rudder just right, your teardrop will go into a spin!?

I only spun her twice

Nice! One of these days, I need to dig out photos of my Dad's Cessna 172 (straight tail 1956 model), scan them, and post one or two. We never spun that one. I did do it in this a few times some 35 years ago



As a wood worker I can burn my mistakes. I suspect the same is true flying a Tweet, but the owner of the aircraft was smart enough not to give me the chance! Pretty sure I would have been a lousy jet pilot!

Tom

[Tom&Shelly]

From my aircraft days.
1: "If it weren't for Bondo, you wouldn't have a job"
2: "Remember to use the tape correctly, sticky side down"
3: "We can't possible screw this up"
4: "We always get it right eventually"

I do remember the instructors telling us the Tweets were painted white at some point because the un-painted aluminum showed off all the Bondo.

#4 is my motto!

Works fine for woodworking. (For flying, it has something to do with how many aircraft you have.)

Tom

[tony.latham]

I did do it in this a few times some 35 years ago...

HOLY CRAP!!!

T