The flap has been covered.

The flap hinges up to ease transition into and out of the cock pit.

Here is the fabrication of the Stabilizer. Notice how the tubes neck down this is to maintain strength while saving weight.

Fabricating more structure to give the stabilizer its shape.

A look from the other end of the stabilizer. Notice that the whole Stabilizer has been drawn out on the paper for proper tube alignment.

Here is one of the wing attach fittings getting welded up. Two 1/4 inch plates make for a half inch plate that is super strong.

Here is the whole fitting bolted together ready to be fit on to the fueslage and welded.

Here is the fitting being welded onto the right hand side of the fuselage.

Heres the Rudder pedals being fabricated.

The finished rudder pedals with finished brake pedals now ready for fitting and installation into the fuselage.

Rudder pedals installed with new fittings into the fuselage.

The Bulldog finally on its gear.

Looking at the right hand gear from the landing gear pivot points inside the fuselage

Looking from the rear at the Bulldog finally up on its gear.

Here the instrument panel for the bulldog laid out on the bench

This is what you will see when you are sitting in the fuselage. The instrument panel looks really good in the fuselage.

The gear installed on the bulldog. Axles are next.

Shock strut attach points.

Landing gear pivot point.

This is where the axles will get welded on.

Taping the ailerons.

Final shrink of the tapes.

After measuring and marking and triangulating the fuselage is ready for test fit

After Fabrication, cutting and welding the left hand gear is finished and ready for mating to fuselage.

Right hand gear installed in proper place ready for left hand gear to be mated to fuselage

Left hand gear mated to the fueslage and welded in place.

Welding of the left hand drag strut. The drag strut keeps the gear from walking fore and aft.

Forming the steel wrap plate on the left hand drag stut.

The wheel and brake assembly is a four puck from a Cessna 421 which should give the Bulldog the proper braking power and ground handling. The torque plate gets welded to the axel stub for the brake attachment.

Finished torque plates.

Here we are welding the bottom attach pivot point of the right hand shock strut.

After welding of pivot point test fit of shock strut to make sure proper bolt hole alignment

With fabrication of the right hand gear as far as we can go assembly of the left hand gear has begun.

Welding begins on the left hand gear box beam.

Progress continues on the landing gear for the Hall Bulldog. Drew has continued the fabrication work on the box frame for the landing gear and we now have one stout leg for the Bulldog!

With one leg nearly complete, there is still a lot of work to be done on the gear. Besides the second leg, there is still the issue of adding the drag strut which will attach to the back of the main gear at the front end and attach to the rear pivot point which is just in front of the cockpit. The drag strut is important to add strength to the gear, in particular to prevent the gear from ‘walking’ back during taxiing.

Continue reading »More Progress On Hall Bulldog Landing Gear

It’s been a while since we’ve had any updates on the Bulldog project and apologies for the lack of progress reports. Despite the lack of updates here on the website, work has been continuing on the airplane. The latest efforts have focused on the landing gear, one of the more complex fabrication jobs on the airplane.

Because there are no exact drawings of the original Bulldog as it was originally designed by Bob Hall, much of the work being done to recreate the airplane has to come from different sources. A lot of what is known about the design comes from drawings that were made by Vern Clements who had been in contact with Hall and used extensive photographs of the original. Jim was able to get copies of the master prints that he made and has used them extensively. But the drawings aren’t perfect.

Continue reading »Hall Bulldog Landing Gear Fabrication Begins