TailWheel idea.

I wanted to put a Stinker/Model 12 tailwheel mount on this plane with a locking tailwheel.
This plane has had reinforcements welded into the inside of the lower horizontal tubes joining the Fin post. It would be a lot of work to duplicate the setup.I remembered the locking tailwheel I got off of Ebay afew months ago was a Haigh adapter type anyway. I stopped by Team Oracle's hangar and and looked at Sean's showplane and borrowed that idea. it's a combo Haigh/model12 Stinker mount. I tacked it into place ,but still have to add the pinch bolt roid to it. It's held in place by a -6 bolt and the pinch tube that lines it up. I'll also have to have a metal wedge machined to go under the front of the tailwheel spring about where the old leafpring sat.

Another upgrade to the Tail

A lot of S1-S' dont have a leading edge support tube. I ordered the tubes for an S1-T from Aviat."OUCH" 200$ plus each" I'll make some duplicates out of Streamline tubing before I mount the factory ones. I welded a roid onto the stab. I installed a flat strap just in front of the flying wire mount on the lower part of the fuse.It's not quite as clean as the Steen mount but it' will work just as well.I have been warned not to snap my flying plane real hard as it does not have this upgrade yet. the photo shows the roid just MIG tacked in.

Doing Some finish welding

I fabbed up the up the lower X-brace diagonals today .Got everything tacked in place. I started in on the finish TIG welding .This photo is of the the bottom of the fuse. All of the tubing that is black is the replacement chrome moly.I have to clean up the rudder pedal mounts that were removed from the damaged tubing,then weld them in.I also have to weld the Flying wire mounts up and install those. Iam contemplating changing/upgrading the gascolator so it doesn't hang out the bottom and will be recessed instead. The electric boost/ fuel pump mount needs to be revised also. That and a couple of tabs for the locking tailwheel and we'll be off to the sandblasters1

RV Gear almost Done

I've been busy flying jumpers and working on the KingAir for the last 7 days.I had to day off to catch up on some welding.
Here's a photo of the RV-3 gear assembly I built from plans.I still have to weld on the lower pinch bolt assemblys to it.I will then weld it to the engine mount.

Fix the fuse first and get it on its gear again

Being a fiscally limited aviator, I was up against the wall $ wise on what to do with the gear...The plane came with a Grove gear,It's bent but repairable by Grove for the tune of 500$ plus freight both ways..I priced the parts to do the RV-3 type setup and decided to go with that setup.I already have a builder# from Van's from a very slow moving RV-4 project, so obtaining the RV gear legs wasn't a problem.I emailed Bret Davenport on the east coast for some diagrams and a material list.He sent me a very detailed PDF on what I needed to know.In the previous post's photos ,you can see that the engine mount has the tubes cut out waiting for the sockets.I fabbed up the sockets and cut the crossmember tubes I welded up the sockets and they are now at a machine shop getting the thru holes drilled in them. They will be done next week.
Tonite I cut the 5/8 tube mounts for the rudder pedals off of the old center diagonals witha hacksaw, further grinding will be required for the install of these. Here's a photo of the old center section.

What's up with this wrecked plane?What does it need to be made into a flying airplane?

Well, looking at the EBAY photos initially , my first guess was for sure it needed lower longerons and maybe diagonals also.
Bottom wings are toast... spars have major splits/ cracks in them.
Fuselage longerons were taco-ed from the Grove gear taking a pretty good hit.
Jeanie got the plane home from Colorado , we unloaded it into my hangar at Salinas Municipal...
Tha next day my AP/IA buddy Jay came over to the hangar and we dug into the plane like madmen disassembling it in about 6 hours.
We got the bare fuse on sawhorses ,broke out a hacksaw and begun to straighten with a long bar.
The fuse is now in the garage with replacement tubes tacked in place

What am I trying to accomplish here?

I already have a beautiful, flying Pitts S1-S..Why another? Well ,My primary Pitts I feel is too pristine to modify.It has a 3200 rpm heli O-320 in it.
I have been intrigued by the Wolfpitts ever since I saw photos of it.I don't want to hack my plane, so I bought a rebuildable wrecked S1-s off of EBAY to make into A Wolfpitts type plane.Since the age of 11 when my grandfather taught me how to weld with oxy/acetylene,metal fabrication has been one of my favorite activities and creative outlets.I quit racing Nascar/IMCA modifieds that I built myself in 2000(Too OLD to continue successfully) Since I've learned how to fly and reached the level where i have a COOL pilot job(skydiving) I've turned my focus to building this really cool Wolf type plane.

I got this from the Biplane forum...
I ordered some 4130 tubing from Online metals.com
I may just hack the leading edge from the stock rudder that came with the plane.
First i will try forming the wrap-around tabs that mount to the finpost from new metal..
I'm just to picky to not have stuff that's close to perfectly done
That's the difference between custom and just "built"