'The Fury' or 'How I Wound Up In The Doghouse'

[Cumulo-nimbus]

Yer, I'm with you Flint. Yabberdabberdoo!

[BlackheathBloke]

Just caught up after my hols, keep up the good work!

[Flintstone]

If anyone wants to join me in kenneland here's your chance Fury For Sale

8000 Euros, open to offers but "..running but not flying...". Hmmmm, interesting. Wonder if Wilma would notice another one?

[Lowflyer 60]

Have seen the add on AFORS about the Fury and contacted the owner, it's not been flown at all by the owner or registered in Southern Ireland, it was G-BKZM in the UK and had flown then damaged on the 14th June 1990 and repaired, only paper work they have is the airframe and engine log books. I do have a foot but don't know how to upload it on here

[mick w]

One here :- http://www.abpic.co.uk/popup.php?q=1372257

[Lowflyer 60]

Yep that's the one.

[Flintstone]

Update.

Work, the curse of the drinking classes, has been getting in the way somewhat. Coupled with my need to impose a bit of budgetary control this has slowed work down a little but over the last few weeks I have actually managed to get a few things done thereby putting to bed the lie that I am an idle sod. The destruction of The Doghouse by high winds had me concerned but I used the canopy to wrap most of the fuselage and keep the elements at bay. That's 'elements' which are not to be confused with 'elephants' those being a completely different thing although I'll admit they wouldn't do my aircraft any good either. Worse than cows who eat the fabric or woodworm who would destroy the structure, moths (fabric again) or Bolivian tin weevils. Come to think of it I'm surprised aircraft stay whole for longer than five minutes given the number of nasties that are out to get them.

I've pretty much crossed everything off my 'Jobs To Do' list and yesterday we (BobM and I, nice man that he is with use of a trailer) moved the fuselage to the hangar at Nuthampstead where I'll be meeting up with Bob The Engineer (not to be confused with BobM) for a long engine run before planning the re-rigging of the wings, weighing, test flight paperwork and inshallah, Permit issue. All being well I'm planning to be airborne by the end of February.

Rubber. All my rubber needed replacing and now I've got your interest in the subject would you like to see some pictures? Here we go then. First up the original and replacement tyres. The former look like classic off-road motorcycle tyres and following some help from forumites I approached as many parts suppliers as I could, with limited success though. It seems there is little need these days for blocky tread made from rock hard rubber with the squarest profile this side of Arnold Scwarzenegger's head. The closest I could get was something similar to the new one but (get this) for an extra £100 with..........white walls!

Spot The Difference




I know they're not 'period' but they'll be good enough for Permit renewal and will be hidden from anoraks and pedants by the wings, I can live with them until I find 'proper' ones. First hedge chimp to accost me at a fly-in or show with the words "Did you know they should be three by three and a quarter Dunlop SM's?" is going to get a punch in his National Health elastoplastered specs.

Sticking (plaster, geddit?) with wheel rubber let's talk bungee. The original was at a guess over ten years old, rock hard and described by a member of the family I bought her from (the aircraft, not the family member although........no......stop........back on track) as "the same as the stuff you buy in from Halfords". "Bless her" I thought in my most patronising manner. Imagine my surprise then when the new elastic arrived from LAS and it was indeed similar right down to the hooks on the ends. Apology owed there I think.

I've managed to speak to one or two Fury owners over the last few months and questioned them in depth about their bungee arrangements. The thing about homebuilt-from-plans aircraft is that there are almost always several ways to skin a cat so not all their answers made sense to me. Then again many things don't, like serving suggestions on cornflakes and packets of biscuits. Milk on cornflakes, dunk your digestives. I don't need a bleedin' picture on the box to tell me. Anyway, I was particularly keen to know how much tension the rubber should be under when wound on and how many people were needed for the job. Only one person would commit to a reply on the first question but I'm not sure "Pull about as hard as if you were carrying a suitcase" was an exact calibration. Answers to the second ranged from three to one people and despite the latter coming from the would-be baggage handler I resolved to work out a way to do it myself. He also suggested a method of securing the ends, a reef knot and cable ties instead of the metal hooks, which gave me an idea as to how I could carry out the job single handed which went something like this... (I know this will read something like fake Ikea instructions from Daw Gee Furniture, Quandong but bear with me).

Find the mid-point of the fifteen foot length of bungee and place it over the axle. Take one half of the bungee and wind it once around the axle and landing gear 'frame' to arrive back at the starting point. While keeping the bungee under tension take the other half and wind once round in the opposite direction then zip up a cable tie around both strands.

Breathe.

Repeat. Once the second cable tie is zipped up and keeping the tension cut off the first first cable tie.

Breathe. Have a cuppa. Ask self "Is this working?". Realised that it is, grin, carry on.

Repeat. Cut off the second cable tie.

When you look like running out of bungee whip the ends into a reef knot, not a granny knot, and secure the ends with as many cable ties as make you feel safe.

Old 'lastic


New 'lastic!


I did think of sealing the bungee ends with heatshrink but didn't have any the right size. No matter, I can mull it over and re-visit the job later with a gas powered soldering iron. Fret not, I have a fire extinguisher.

Four short pieces of rubber hose were replaced on the oil return lines. Pretty straightforward but a little fiddly as these are secured by hand tightened hose clips buried under the cylinders in spaces too small for my sausage fingers. In a flash of inspiration, well a sort of dull glow, I took a piece of aluminium tube and cut a slot in one end. Poking this improvised tool into the darkness in the vague direction of the clips I spun it round and round a couple of dozen times and said I'd tightened them. Nobody can see in there so they'll never know I didn't and what can possibly go wrong?

Despite a little confusion over lb/ft and lb/inches (wince) I swopped the engine mounts for new ones. (Panic not, I realised the first one was looking a bit squished early on in the piece and backed it off). Sticking with the Nobby Nomates school of mechanickery I cobbled together a lifting mechanism from an original (my 21st birthday gift from Mum and Dad) Black & Decker Workmate, a trolley jack and lump of 4X2 (that's a piece of wood for those about to accuse me of being anti-semitic again). I removed the split pins from the engine mount bolts and backed off the nuts a couple of turns then gently pumped up the jack until it was taking the weight. I then backed all of the nuts off almost fully and gently wiggled the engine from side to side until I was sure I'd get enough room to replace the mounts and bolts one at a time. The top ones were swopped easily, the bottom ones needed a little up and downery with the jack. I did feel that only one corner/pair were showing any signs of wear but was more than happy to replace them all in deference to my fillings and the engine not falling off. The glide approach I could probably cope with, it's the sudden effect on the centre of gravity that worries me.

"What happened to the tailplane struts Flintstone?!" I hear you cry. Well I thought I was going to have to strip them back to bare metal but some rubbing back to sub-Hammerite level and respraying with proper paint took care of that. The day I opted to refit the struts was right in the middle of a cold snap hence the many layers of clothing which is my way of pre-empting the fattist comments.


"Insert Part 36 Bolt Into Tab B Of Wardrobe Door"


Which brings us up to yesterday. BobM had offered to help me get the fuselage to the hangar, a favour I eagerly accepted. Although they'll need to come off to check for leaks during the engine runs I fitted the engine baffles, cowls and spinner for the seven mile road trip my reasoning being that it just wouldn't look right (I wanted the neighbours to think I'd done at least some work while I'd been lowering their property values) and knowing my luck I'd drop or tread on something while clodhopping around the trailer. Rather than faff around reversing the trailer on to the drive we reckoned it would be simpler to wheel the fuselage across the road. The entire aircraft, with wings, weighs only 710lbs but even so I thought Bob was being a bit optimistic when he suggested we lift it onto the trailer so we opted to use the ramps which, being made of thick steel checkerplate, probably weighed even more. Sliding them out almost crippled me. Next time Bob we'll go with your suggestion and lift the bl00dy thing.

Once we had it on the trailer, facing backwards, Bob realised that all the weight (engine) was aft so we'd need the aircraft facing forward. In a fine example of lateral thinking he suggested we just spin it around the main wheels which is how he ended up taking the tail into the bushes saying "No pictures!" when I whipped out my phone.



About here somewhere there should be a picture of the aircraft going in to the hangar but to be honest it was raining, gusty and we were hanging out for an all day breakfast at the Silver Ball cafe so we put it away quickly and bogged off. Turned out the cafe was closed and Bob needed a wee so we headed off to our respective homes with my promise of buying breakfast another day being whisked eastward at 25 knots gusting 40.

Next report should see the wings on.

[mick w]

I am looking forward to the day I see her " out & about " , and can see myself giving her a good DI .

[Monocock]

There's nothing worse than being in the middle of milking a cow when it runs off.




It's great that it's coming along so well and that flying it is planned so soon. I hope you'll be bringing her along to various fly-ins in the Spring/Summer?

[anglianav8r]

Excellent progress in the teeth of natures defiance. Well done !

Ah, the joys of permit aircraft. Exploring the little variations between aircraft that were seemingly made to an identical spec.

Eventual colour scheme? something like an RAF Hawker Hind dare we hope?

[Flintstone]

Eventual colour scheme? something like an RAF Hawker Hind dare we hope?

Wash yer mouth out! The colour scheme stays

Mono, just the sort of comment I'd expect from a pervy wurzel. Actually I think I was demonstrating the operation of my long-gone chest expander. The one that used to trap my chest hairs in the springs.

mick. Yup, I intend to attend a few events providing I can blow the dust off my VFR navigation in time.

[anglianav8r]

"I intend to attend a few events providing I can blow the dust off my VFR navigation in time."

Pah! hardly a taxing matter, just go IFR ( I Follow Roads ) and read the road signs.

As for colour schemes, don't worry, mine is even more hideous [G-MYGR]

[Flintstone]

... mine is even more hideous

Errrr, are you saying my aircraft is hideous?

[anglianav8r]

No, I was referring to colour scheme. The Fury was inspired by the inter wars Hawker biplanes and looks the dogz doodahs in an RAF 1920s scheme.

As for mine, a plain all over yellow instead of that hideous purple & yellow would be an improvement. Although I'm leaning more towards a silver/yellow combination, but not in a patchwork rendition of something resembling the cheap plastic toys of my youth (Woolworths). In the meantime, I just revel in the joy of flying her.

[Flintstone]

Engine run-up day today. She started on the second swing of the prop and ran for about fifteen minutes before ummmmm, running out of fuel Knew I'd forgotten to take something with me. Mag drops were fine though (and so they should be after me shelling out for two rebuilds) and after warming up a full power run saw 2100 rpm. We knew that was low but with no cowls or intake duct and being static it was to be expected. I'm off to find the engine manual to see what it should be. Having fitted the cowls I can do another run then decide if the mixture needs adjustment (throttle throw is 100%). Oil T&P was fine if a little on the cool side but again that's down to the lack of cowls.

All work thus far was checked and found satisfactory so we can sign it off. One thing we did note was that the moving propeller is completely invisible. I'd planned to rub it down and re-varnish so yellow tips might be a good idea while I'm there. Looks like that spare can I thought I'd overordered will come in handy then. One other thing that came from today was just how cold it is in that cockpit from the propwash alone. I'm going to need a sensible helmet, mask, scarf, snood, parka, thermal shreddies, goggles and gloves if I'm serious about getting airborne outside what laughingly passes for summer.

So now I'm waiting to hear when the wings can go on. Peter (who de-rigged the aircraft three years ago) and Bob are both busy but I'm hoping we can get together in the next week or so before my next tour of work starts. Starting to get just a little excited