The Canadian HM-8 Replica Project
by
- 2004 March 2
- André Létourneau worked a lot during the week. The turtle deck is plywood covered and so is one side of the vertical rudder. The fuselage looks great, like a modern sculpture.
- Claude Martin and myself varnished the inside of the fuselage.
- Paul Fournier keeps adjusting the hardware, brackets, controls, etc (long and accurate job)
- Decisions are made:
The fuselage will be totally varnished, mahogany color, like a boat. The wings and tail will be painted white. The front fuselage turtledeck and the front roundness will be made of brushed aluminum.
I did not realize from the beginning the difficulty to find proper spoke wheels, looking like 1930 wheels.
For a few weeks, I now lurk around junkyards (beneath the snow), garages and bicycle shops. I also dig about into piles of specialized magazines.
I alert HMS, Pou-guide and Foxpapa. The problem of the HM-8 wheels becomes an international concern.
A light at the end of the tunnel on Thursday 4: A nice lady in a bicycle shop tells me that the kind of wheels I need can only be found on hose-race sulkies.
I immediately rush to Trois-Rivières' race-course field and, looking at some sulkies, it seems to me that she could be right, if the weight and the axle diameter are OK.
A groom who is stabling horses gives me the phone number of a sulkies supplier who sets an appointment for next Monday. I keep my fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, a call from André Létourneau tells me that he is short of plywood for the spar's walls. He also asks for instruction about the orientation of plywood fibers for the horizontal walls. Pierre Mignet and Hans Engels give me the proper information in just a few hours.
My daughter Pascale, having to make shopping in Trois-Rivières purchases the sheet of plywood.
- 2004 March 8
I pick up the sulky wheels in Trois-Rivières... Beautiful and cheap stuff, stainless steel. No risk of rust. Outside tire diameter 22 ½". The drawings on the book are rather 20", but it should look about the same. The spokes and the tires give a fine look of vintage aircraft.
- 2004 March 10 and 11
Two busy days finalizing a busy beginning of week for André Létourneau and Paul Fournier.
Main jobs done this week:
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-Cabane and control bar adjustment
-Scarf-sanding and gluing of the spar walls
-Gluing the 4 spar caps on the spar vertical walls after inserting spar reinforcements pieces
-Assembling and gluing the spar vertical walls after inserting the diaphragms
-Gluing the spar lower wall
- 2004 March 16 (my marriage anniversary)
Gerry de Grobois and Pierre
Gingue fly to
They place the engine on the top of the front fuselage. Everything seems to fit.
Gerry decides what changes have to be made on the air intake and the exhaust...
- 2004 March 17
A full day devoted to the difficult job of inserting blind nuts inside the spar and adjusting the spar hardware. Claude Martin develops a special technique to screw on the bolts in hidden places. After careful checking in the afternoon, we give André Létourneau the go-ahead to close the spar.
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- 2004 March 18
I purchase in Trois-Rivières an extra sheet of 1.5 mm thick plywood needed for the wing D-cell.
- 2004 March 24.
Paul Fournier shows us the beautiful aluminum gas tank he made at home during the week. This tank is going to be enclosed in the wing D-Cell.
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