Amorphous M7/M6 Rebuild Project

[krautman67]

Congratulations to you Asa!

You now get to enjoy your very meticulous work. I got a chuckle out of all the precautions you took during your rebuild, I did the same. You are clearly no stranger to this work, and it shows. I just gave our 1976 M5 the “45 year once-over”. New interior, door latches, pop-out windows, firewall, seatbelts and other items it needed. I did not recover it, don’t think I’ll need that till after I retire. This aircraft has been in the family since new, always stored inside. In 46 years of flying it, it has NEVER let us down, NEVER gone mechanical. Just one flat main gear tire, and the odd low battery. You know every corner of your aircraft, it will give you many years of fun. This forum is full of helpful people with a TON of Maule knowledge, makes owning a Maule that much more fun, an cheaper to operate! Ours was out of service for two years doing this work and finding a new prop, can’t believe how much I missed it. Time to go flying!!

Carl

[asa]

Congratulations to you Asa!

You now get to enjoy your very meticulous work. I got a chuckle out of all the precautions you took during your rebuild, I did the same. You are clearly no stranger to this work, and it shows. I just gave our 1976 M5 the “45 year once-over”. New interior, door latches, pop-out windows, firewall, seatbelts and other items it needed. I did not recover it, don’t think I’ll need that till after I retire. This aircraft has been in the family since new, always stored inside. In 46 years of flying it, it has NEVER let us down, NEVER gone mechanical. Just one flat main gear tire, and the odd low battery. You know every corner of your aircraft, it will give you many years of fun. This forum is full of helpful people with a TON of Maule knowledge, makes owning a Maule that much more fun, an cheaper to operate! Ours was out of service for two years doing this work and finding a new prop, can’t believe how much I missed it. Time to go flying!!

Carl

Thanks! Sounds like you have a great plane as well. This forum has been invaluable for the project. Without this forum, my IA, and the Maule drawing disk, I 100% could not have pulled this off.

I feel like I've worked out most of the kinks after about 12 hours of flying so I decided to take a few days and paint the cowl.







The black is plasti-dip out of a rattle can. Will it hold up to airspeed and heat? Will I be happy with it? No idea. My tacoma wheels have had a coat of plastidip on them for 3 years and 35k miles, they look pretty good.

[gdflys]

It’s looking great. Not a bad match at all.

[asa]

A little update after a few months. I have about 60 hours on it and it’s flying great! Back in April I flew it up to Alaska where it will live for the summer.

[whittakerw]

It looks good in the wild. The wings actually tie it all together pretty well. Stop on through southern CA on your way home if you want to take a detour.

[asa]

Update, still maulin

[gdflys]

Some amazing adventures you and the Maule are having. What a playground.

[drak130]

Stunning! Love that both you and the Maule are doing what you were made to do! Good to see that hard work and attention to detail does pay off.

[wtxdragger]

Asa, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I truly believe it's time you started another rebuild.

[Jayson v Schalkwyk]

What's happened to all the photos?

On my side its just showing an icon, not the actual photo.

[asa]

Finished the summer in Alaska out strong then my girlfriend and I flew the M6 down to the lower 48 via the trench route. It now resides in a T hangar in a dry climate with the engine pickled. Sorry, everyone, the lower 48 flying just ain’t worth the cost of gas.

Til next time
-asa

[Kirk]

Wondering how you like the SCS Featherweight Carpet? You have a good test season on it now.

Did you overlap the edges and just use adhesive there or on the surface also?

Seems like a very thin carpet might stretch and bunch if not adhered to the surface?

Kirk

[asa]

Wondering how you like the SCS Featherweight Carpet? You have a good test season on it now.

Did you overlap the edges and just use adhesive there or on the surface also?

Seems like a very thin carpet might stretch and bunch if not adhered to the surface?

Kirk

Featherweight carpet is great, would do it again. Just completed the annual and after vacuuming the carpet looked new. Kept all that pesky sand out of the belly as well.

On each of the floorboard sections i used spray adhesive over the entire area and also wrapped the edges, about 1” or so around the perimeter on the back side. I stapled that as I pulled it tight. On the large rear floorboard, I had some places that were not adhered due to it taking so long to put in place after spraying adhesive so I just stapled those few places from the top side afterward. If you use your finger to scratch the carpet around the staple, it disappears. The featherweight carpet is really light but still about 0.25” thick and does not stretch at all really.

[Kirk]

Wondering how you like the SCS Featherweight Carpet? You have a good test season on it now.

Did you overlap the edges and just use adhesive there or on the surface also?

Seems like a very thin carpet might stretch and bunch if not adhered to the surface?

Kirk

Featherweight carpet is great, would do it again. Just completed the annual and after vacuuming the carpet looked new. Kept all that pesky sand out of the belly as well.

On each of the floorboard sections i used spray adhesive over the entire area and also wrapped the edges, about 1” or so around the perimeter on the back side. I stapled that as I pulled it tight. On the large rear floorboard, I had some places that were not adhered due to it taking so long to put in place after spraying adhesive so I just stapled those few places from the top side afterward. If you use your finger to scratch the carpet around the staple, it disappears. The featherweight carpet is really light but still about 0.25” thick and does not stretch at all really.

Sounds like just what I’m looking for. I agree about the advantage of sand capture, though I am toying with the idea of covering the 2nd panel back that goes around the yoke with Loncoin. It would be a good spot to help heels slide when working the rudder pedals and would be durable in a high wear area. I think I could get the join tight enough to keep sand from filtering down.

Still in the concept stage. Probably shouldn’t be overthinking it. My old panels are getting pretty rough. Back panel is way thicker than 1/4”. Existing carpet is thick, heavy, plush, stained, worn and of uncertain provenance. So, I might actually do something about it this year.

Kirk

[Andy Young]

If you still have a fabric belly (which all but a few do) keeping the sand out is a really good idea. I’ve seen the fabric on at least a few bellies split right down the middle due to a combination of oil contamination (from leaking oleos) and sand incursion between the belly stringer and the fabric. The oil/sand combination makes an excellent abrasive paste, and the drumming of the belly by prop wash helps it saw right through the fabric under the stringer.

If the floor panels are sized such that the carpet folded around the edges sits tightly against the side panels and tightly between panels, that helps reduce sand incursion immensely. I’ve also seen people use no carpet and seal the sides and floor joints with gorilla tape. This has to be removed or cut each year to allow access for annual inspection and cleaning (vacuuming out whatever sand does get in is important) but it does work, and it’s light.