The Re-Profiling of Mike Hostages
Pioneer IId Wings

Mike Hostage has been one of the more active Pioneer IId flyers. His building of the Pioneer IId started in 1988 and finally took to the air in 1994. His regular job is flying F-16's!

See his building log http://www.continuo.com/marske/pioneer/hostage/log.htm

See also his photogallery

Mike decided to upgrade the wings by having them reprofiled by the Marske Shop.

 

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Mike soaring his Pioneer IId

The Rebuilding Process:

 

April 15, 2003. Its been quite some time since the last entry.... Muggs and Mat have been away renovating his house.... it was a 3 week renovation that took two 2 1/2 months.....but there was progress in the shop. The wing tips are finished!

There it is....and they are plug in tips, which added greatly to the time to rebuild.
The plug in tips!.... now to ailerons and more sanding and finishing!

January 29, 2003

.Both wings just about ready.... just a little more filling and sanding.
A top view of the flating spoiler pulley.
The right spoiler pan being epoxied in. Cabosil has been added to fill gaps and avoid runs

January 27, 2003

Left wing ready for sanding... looking good!
The wingtip plug in at the tips fiberglassed and epoxied in
The new aileron belcrack installed

Jan 22, 2003 More filling and work on the wing tip extensions, spoilers and making the wing conform to the airfoil templates.

Putting on the aeropoxy light filler on the left wing. The right wing is nearly done..... just waiting for the wingtip extensions!
Toby making spoiler pans han 21, 2003. Note the use of plastic to cover the fiberglass and resin. No resin gets on the hands!
Long hours of sanding the right wing Jan 21, 2003
Sanding down the rear spar at the elevator
Removing the templates with a heat gun jan 20, 2003
The templates curing.
Filling the left wing airfoil templates with cabosil Jan 20, 2002

Jan 16, 2003

Mat profiling the wing with the long snading block.
Toby mixing the aeropoxy light filler.. great stuff but hard to mix!
Applying the filler, note the wing profile in the foreground and one just past the spatula.

Jan 15, 2003

Lining up the lines so thqt the floating pulley could be constructed
The new floating pulley using string to make sure of the alignment.
Email from Mike

-second coat of filler

 

-spoiler pan sample

-sawing off the old pulley to install the floating pulley

 Matt, Just about everything you propose sounds good to me! I will answer
each item below in detail, but as an overall answer I say: yes!

Mike

> Mike we have finally got your wings in the shop and are going at them
> fulltime... see the web site!
>
> When we too the wings in from the cold all of the ailerons and elevators
really
> puffed up..... I will put some small vent holes in the spars.

OK, a small pin hole should suffice. Will you be recovering them anyway?
> > Jim mentioned that you might want our wing tip extensions. If this is
the case > we will need to enlarge the plug in tube since the wingtips are
almost four feet > long.

I would definitely like to use the new tip extensions. If you need to
enlarge the plug tube, no problem, go ahead and do that. I have to retain
the plug-in wing tips due to the length of my trailer. > > I have changed
the aileron differential... I found that there was too much on > our ship
so I had to change the differential. Have you ever had proverse yaw? > I
also made a ball bearinged belcrank for the ailerons.

I have not had any complaints with the aileron differential. However, if
your change gives more or better aileron authority, I think that would be
an improvement. I definitely think the ball bearing belcrank is an
improvement, so please make that change! In the vein of improving the
smoothness of the controls, Mike mentioned how he had put grease points at
all the fuselage points where there is a bearing. Can you ask him to
remind me how he did that? I would like to incorporate that into my
fuselage this winter. > > I suggest that the aileron main belcrank be a
different shape to account for > the new differential. We have drawings
for it but have not attached it to our > ship yet.

If you guys change the aileron belcrank and feel it works OK, based upon
flight test in your Pioneer, then go ahead and change mine. If you do not
incorporate it into your ship, I would rather stay with the original
shape. > > I found no nuts on the aileron pushrods join near rib 5 on the
left wing. I would > rather have rivets here.

I'm not sure why nuts were missing on those bolts, but riveting the
pushrod is fine by me.

>
> I would like to replace the spoiler cable and pulley with a smaller one
that
> lines up better with the spoiler. See the pioneer rebuild for the new
pulley
> system. No need for an 1/8 " line here... a misinformed FAA insisted on
them
> at one time.

I presume you mean the new floating pulley you showed me. I think that
would be fine, so go ahead and make that change as well. Will I need to
modify anything in the fuselage portion of the spoiler operation? > > The
left wing bottom wing root fitting is slightly off center and close to the
> edge. Jim did a calculation and found that if you do a 18 G pull out you
may > have problems... so other than that no worry.

Since my wing root fittings align OK with my fuselage fittings, I'd rather
they stayed the way they are. Jim's calculations give my great comfort
and I will make sure to keep my maneuvering under 18 Gs! > > I would like
to fit your spoilers slightly differently with less space under the >
plate.. do you want spoiler pans? We have not found any difference yet
with > them.

Spoiler pans would be a great addition. I am not quite certain what you
mean by "less space" but if it works well on your ship then I am OK with
modifying my spoilers. Key for me was moving them to the further aft
position so I could eliminate the pitching moment caused by removing the
lower spoilers. > > Basically the wings are in good shape and just in need
of a good profiling.

The profiling job you guys did on your ship looks great and I will be very
happy to have mine brought to the same level of smoothness! Have you
looked to see how close my wings meet the actual airfoil? It is one of
those questions that has always bugged me, whether in fact I actually had
an accurate airfoil. > > So I will proceed.

Sounds great Mat, I am really looking forward to bringing the fuselage out
in the Spring and flying with you guys!

Mike
Email to Mike on condition of the wings Mike we have finally got your wings in the shop and are
going at them fulltime... see the web site!

When we too the wings in from the cold all of the ailerons
and elevators really puffed up..... I will put some small
vent holes in the spars.

Jim mentioned that you might want our wing tip extensions.
If this is the case we will need to enlarge the plug in
tube since the wingtips are almost four feet long.

I have changed the aileron differential... I found that
there was too much on our ship so I had to change the
differential. Have you ever had proverse yaw? I also made
a ball bearinged belcrank for the ailerons.

I suggest that the aileron main belcrank be a different
shape to account for the new differential. We have drawings
for it but have not attached it to our ship yet.

I found no nuts on the aileron pushrods join near rib 5 on
the left wing. I would rather have rivets here.

I would like to replace the spoiler cable and pulley with a
smaller one that lines up better with the spoiler. See the
pioneer rebuild for the new pulley system. No need for an
1/8 " line here... a misinformed FAA insisted on them at
one time.

The left wing bottom wing root fitting is slightly off
center and close to the edge. Jim did a calculation and
found that if you do a 18 G pull out you may have
problems... so other than that no worry.

I would like to fit your spoilers slightly differently with
less space under the plate.. do you want spoiler pans? We
have not found any difference yet with them.

Basically the wings are in good shape and just in need of a
good profiling.

So I will proceed.

-mat


 


The first layer of filler applied to the right wing Jan 13, 2003
The templates are carefully lifted with the use of a little heat and the airfoil outline is left
The templates are waxed then PVA'd. Epoxy and Cabosil is them sqeezed in betseen the templates and the wing to form the profiles for the airfoil.

January 07, 2002
Here we are just seeing how the airfoil templates fit. Mike had already started some filling so we roughly contoured it and we will then afix the templates to the wing and with epoxy make an outline on the wing to which we will fill with Aeropoxy filler.
The wings are thoroughly sanded to remove the fabric glue and give a good bonding surface.