Structural Repair

 

Fuselage

We have a complete fuselage jig system that will allow us to build a complete fuselage from parts if necessary. This jig system is similar to the factory design repair jig but with many improvements and additions. Some of the improvements are the tail stand positioning arms and a laser alignment. One of the most important areas on the 190/195 series airplanes is that of gear leg alignment. Our rebuilds are always right on (less than .250" at the leg bottoms). That's better than new.

 

Wing and Stabilizers

We built a fully rotational wing jig with interchangeable left and right wing tooling. This has proved to be a necessity, especially for extensive rebuilds. These wings are difficult to build due to washout, or "twist"from root to tip, wingtip curvature (in both directions), and almost no access in the outboard half of the wing.

We also have stabilizer jigs but don't have to use them very often as they rarely get damaged.

Flight Controls

Flight controls are flimsy until riveted together. Once again jigs are a must have. A flat building surface will not work due to the curved trailing edge and varying skin pitch. We also recommend replacing top and bottom skins as the corrugations rarely match otherwise.

Balance is the other important and difficult part of working with flight controls. We have machined molds to cast new balance weights for all of the controls. This is necessary for two reasons. The first is that there is no good way to install the rows of cherry rivets in the old holes with the old tails still in there. Secondly we have not found a way that any of us are comfortable with to attach more weight to the existing weight. We can balance for painting also. We have done this enough we know where to balance each control anticipating prime and paint.

 

Wheel Fairings

We have a pair of hard maple bucks for repairing wheel fairings. We use these bucks to get them close before they are finished on the english wheel and planisher.

We also have the capability of making complete wheel pants that look better than the originals.

Gear Boxes

We can rebuild any gear box with a good forging. Everything else we can replace. We have an articulating machined steel jig to hold them absolutely straight while welding. Having these right is very important in these airplanes.

 

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