September 28 and October 05, 2025
       A few new bolts
                      and we're in bidness...
                      (spelled incorrectly on purpose)

Whoa! It's been about five years since I last worked on these puppies. Doesn't seem THAT long ago. I'm combining two visits to BIG ASS BIRD into one post. Why? Cause I can. AND... this free version of the BBEdit is such a pain working with it as far as placing images and creating links, if I don't make the post as soon as I get back home (or the next day or two) and I go back out to work on the BIRD again... it's just easier to make this one post. Now that I have the Alienware PC for THE FLYING LIZARD drone business, I'll upload the DeltaCAD and the Dream Weaver onto it and be back in bidness (spell wrong again on poipose)

Remembered that I needed a new bolt for the MATCO brakes. Something happened with the threads on the one and I wasn't about to force a damaged 2 dollar bolt into a $1200.00 brake (or whatever the brake cost). Actually bought nine of them. Marking them as such so that I'll have spares for the brakes. The shipping costs more than the 9 bolts. Anywho...

Threaded the bolt onto the brake and it's ready for action. And... Following up on the brake "repair", I decided to mount the wheels to the two tread-bear tires I got from Whitey (the airplane one, not my beer drinking and football watching buddy). Tas easy to mount both and they're ready to be attached to the front landing gear.

Side Note: It's been awhile since I've been active in working on BIG ASS BIRD, and writing posts... and my post are just kinda BORING! DAMN! Need to get a little bit of energy back into this! Second Anywho... Wheels are ready for mounting so I'm ready to lift the BIRD up to attach the landing gear and then mount the wheels. Not so fast little fella.

The Upper Wing Center Section is still mounted onto the fuselage which makes it a BEAR for me to lift up. So... I'm walking the front of the fuselage at station 0.0 by placing a 4" 2x4 under the port side, then the starboard side, then the port side, then the... Up as many pieces of 2x4's I could go. Then positioning the "dead man" that I have underneath to support it at the height I was able to raise it to. Not near high enough for me to attach the landing gear and the wheels/tires.

That was about all I could do at the moment (Saturday, September 28). The next week out at the airport there was a BIG PUSH to get the hangar cleaned up and presentable for EAA Chapter 515's visit to see BIG ASS BIRD. Nothing done on BIG ASS BIRD other than wiping off the dust that had settled on her over the past few months. I attached a lot of the parts and pieces that I had made and set a few of the others in place to give the members a feel for what it looks lie (turtledeck all in place, positioned the windshield in place, seat pan and seat back for the pilot snapped in place, etc etc etc.) Tuesday night and about 15 people came out to see BIG ASS BIRD. From what I saw they were pretty impressed. Not that many scratch-built experimental airplanes are being built nowadays.

Next week another visit out to the airport to put in a few more hours on her and then I'm off to Mexico City for three weeks.

More to come...