Making Your Own Ribs
Making ribs is a simple process not requiring more than what is found in a standard wood shop. You will need a oak form...
Tips for GlaStar Waterline Marking
Water level: When marking your waterline on the fuselage or leveling it to install the gear, don't use S-H's string method. Make a water...
White Powders of Fiberglass Construction
Every Glasair and GlaStar kit contains plastic bags of the white powders (guaranteed to raise the suspicions of any DEA agent!) that we know...
Sportsman Control Stick Installation
Q&A
Q (Dennis Vanatta): Installing the sticks is one of those things which it seems needs to be right the first time, since there’s no...
Trimming Doors
I installed one of my doors today and I found a method that helped mark the door for trimming. I’m not sure if someone...
Shearweb Installation Tips
C/C inter-bulkhead shearweb: If you follow the manual when doing the C/D inter-bulkhead shearweb, you won't have any picnic when placing the DBM side...
Wheel Bearings
I was concerned about the salty sand we landed on in Baja corroding my wheels, so I rinsed them off and went flying, but...
Wing Support Jig
If you are ready to attach the wings to the cage no doubt you’ve done some thinking about how you are going to support...
Switching from Hartzell Blended Airfoil to a Trailblazer Propeller
I changed the propeller on my Sportsman from a 74” Hartzell Blended Airfoil (HC-C2YR-1BFP/F7497) to 76” Trailblazer composite (HC-C2YR-1NX/NG8301-7X1).
These are my learnings and first...
Trimming a Wing Skin in 5 Minutes or Less
Here is how we trim wing skins at R&D Technical Services. Get your work table ready:
Purchase a 1-1/4” x 1-1/4” x 1/8” piece of...