Chapter 13:  Nose section!                                       Next  Home  Previous
                                                                                                       


In this section  the NG-30 bulkheads are fabricated and installed on the front of F-22 and the nose retract system is installed along with the nose strut and wheel assembly. Then the nose sides are installed and glassed, rudder pedals installed and finally the nose top is closed out and doors installed for access to the  compartments for and aft of F-0. I also installed my landing lights in the nose so that became part of this chapter, and I fabricated my own Velocity style hanging pedals .

            


Here you see I used the  low-vac method again used to form the NG-30's, I completely missed the recommendation from Nat in the newsletter to make a radius on the inside corner of the NG-30. Instead  I added 1 ply of UND to each side of each NG-30.

Now the Wilhemlson nose lift is installed, I bought the whole works from Jack including the auto retract and tapered timken bearings for the strut.  I found these felt seals and will use them to keep dirt out of the bearing and the grease in. 

Now the sides and floor are fitted to the tub, shaped to contour and glassed.

 



Here you see the Rudder pedals I built, they are copied from Velocity pedals. You can also see the hard points and master cylinder anchor system I using. I have fit both master cylinders on the port side under the pilots feet so I have no "wind up" issues. The bearing mounts are Delrin and the whole system is very smooth. I really don't know yet if this is an improvement, but I did not want the rudder tubes on the floor.  I mounted the pedals as far forward as I could, this and the seat back installed 1" aft makes for a good fit for me. I would not want any less room than I have now. BTW Dale Rogers supplied the sliders for the master cylinders.

    Ok, here's how I spent 2 weeks vacation. I decided I wanted gear doors, the problem was I could not make the "screen door" spring system work well, and with the "foot" that comes with the nose lift (lower right)  the doors have to be timed correctly to close after the nose gear but not behind the foot! Tricky problem. I tried to copy what Skip Schneider did with his, I interpreted his scheme wrong and came up with a similar but different solution. It works well but I'm not sure it was worth the trouble. Although Peter Garrison in a recent "Technicalities" article found gear doors do make a significant reduction in flat plate area on his "Melmoth II". The gear doors will be rebuilt using Carbon fiber to eliminate the need for the foam core stiffeners on the doors.  In the lower left pic you can see the little aluminum ramp that rides on the rollers of the mechanism. Simple enough, again not sure it was worth the trouble.

    

Well back onto the nose again. The nose top, Canard cover and Canopy top were contoured using templates lofted from an aluminum strraight edge laid over the major parts. This worked very well at getting the basic contour started. I have installed the PIAA driving lights and installed the pitot tube and static port.  I also installed the nose door using "J" hinges, and installed a flange to support the door and door seal. I used a simple minature cam lock to secure the door, it's recessed. I'm trying to figure a way to unlock the canopy thru this door now, I have a couple of ideas ... As of Feb 2008 I'm about done with the nose, I need to paint the inside and then glass on the top yet. April 2008....DONE! Finally! Also have figured out how to latch the canopy thru the door and will post that here when I finish it.

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