10
The Canadian HM-8 Replica
Project--Page 10
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- 2004 July 21 (continued)
Gerry hand props the Praga, helped by Paul Fournier and Yvon Clément, who hold in turn a provisional tank on their head (the real tank is embedded in the wing's leading edge)
Jean-Pierre Gagnon sits in the fuselage and takes over the controls.
The classical ceremony of the engine hand propping starts.
In the beginning, the engine shows his disapproval to be awaken bluntly, but he soon acknowledges Gerry as his master and after less than half an hour, the Praga coughs up and finally runs smoothly enough for a 65 years old engine. Jean-Pierre's engine's expertise helps finding the best tuning. The mixture is still rich, but Gerry, who should fly the HM-8 in Brodhead, is optimistic to get a smooth running.
André Saint-Pierre who is dealing with old engines for years, and always finds what the other people don't, discovers that the oil piping system, which should lubricate the valves, is missing. That could have caused a problem after a certain time of running. Gerry will remedy this situation before the flight tests.
Thank you, André!
Gerry shows Paul Fournier some oil leakage in the carb and air inlet and asks him to modify the air inlet.
They also decide to shorten the exhaust pipes to prevent vibrations which could be excessive.
All these modifications should be made for Wednesday August 4th. (Meanwhile, some members of the group will go to Oshkosh and attend the EAA convention.)
- 2004 July 26
After seeing the photographs of the day, one of the HMS members sends us an email:
"HM-8 is beautiful, tail paint job especially".
It is great to be so kindly and warmly supported by our HMS colleagues.
Their support all along the passed year helped keeping the spirits of the team high during the construction period of time.
I receive a phone call from the History channel. They should come to see the HM-8 and interview us next Tuesday.
Another call from Patrick Campbell who is building from scratch a replica of the Blériot XI in the workshop of the Heritage Museum of Ste-Anne de Bellevue, West of Montreal. He will come on Wednesday, August 4, to visit the HM-8 before it leaves for the States.
The museum team plans to bring their Blériot to Rheims ( France ) in 2009 to fly on the occasion of the centennial of the first aviation meeting. The HMS Blériot XI should fly there also. Another exciting project.
Passing through the airport for a flight with the Balerit, I meet Maurice Mc Duff, a fellow member of our club, owner of a beautiful Cessna 140. Maurice is a professional truck driver and he confirms a previous discussion: He accepts with pleasure and has his boss' agreement to drive the HM-8 to Brodhead in August.
The other solution would be to tow the HM-8 in a glider trailer, but, so far, my investigations to find a trailer which I could borrowed or rent have been negative in spite of the active and friendly help of Neill Graham from our club who is also involved in a glider club organization in Hawksbury. I keep trying getting in touch with the Champlain soaring club which is supposed to own 2 trailers, as indicated by Neill. As I do not succeed getting them on the phone, André Létourneau, who lives in Ste-Hyacinthe, just a few miles from the Champlain soaring club airport, in St-Dominique. André will see if a trailer is available, if our HM-8 could fit in it, and what kind of truck is needed for towing.
Another call of the History channel: The interview is again postponed to Tuesday, August 10.
If the truck solution is chosen, the loading and transportation of the HM-8 would consequently occur on Tuesday August 10, right after the TV interview.
Jean-Pierre Gagnon and Paul Fournier would load the "avionnette" in the trailer (helped, of course, by the rest of the team), would drive to Brodhead and would unload and assemble the HM-8 at its final destination.
Gerry should also be in Brodhead to put the finishing touch to the engine tune-up, especially to the valves lubrication system (he already collected the tubing links commonly called banjos)
- 2004 July 28
André is back from Oshkosh . He was there just 3 days, too many people and too much dust, he says! But we know that he loves attending the EAA convention every year.
He visited the soaring club. No way to use one of their trailers for the HM-8. They are not wide enough for the chord of the HM-8 wing.
Too bad, in one way, but we also feel relieved, as we know that the truck will be much safer for the plane.
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