Some time ago I bought a pair of second hand Vans' spats. These are the original non-pressure-recovery versions. These were drilled for fastening to some sort of mount on the inner side of the wheel and onto the axle nut on the outside. The challenge then was to fabricate some sort of mounting bracket and fasten it to the airframe in some way.
Before I could start I needed to find some way of jacking up the wheel so I could work on the axle. I found a bit of spare steel tubing of about the same diameter as the undercarriage leg. This was cut in half and some scrap plate welded on and drilled so it could be clamped to the leg. Then a bit of angle iron was welded on at an angle so that a car jack could be used to lift the wheel. This works well but marks the paint so I will have to line the inside with some rubber.
The spat mounting plate needed to be kept clear of the brake disc so 1/2"-long spacers were cut out of some steel tubing. The 1/4" bolts that secured the brake mounts were then replaced with longer ones to take the spacers. A bit of scrap aluminium was then progressively cut to fit the bolts and clear the brake caliper. The wheel was then replaced and the spat test fit. Holes were drilled in the mounting plate and the spat clecoed into place. This was then repeated for the second gear leg. The spats were positioned so that they were horizontal with the aircraft in normal flying pitch.The development mounting plates were then removed and a final version drawn up on the computer in Cambam. Then the CNC router was used to cut final versions out of some 2mm 6061-T6 aluminium sheet. Nut-plates were riveted into place for the spat mounting screws and the plates mounted in place. They will have to come off again to be painted.
AN822-4D right angle fittings were installed in the top of the brake calipers . Finally, some 1/4" soft aluminium tubing was bent and cut to make the brake pipe. The ends were flared, making sure that the AN nuts and sleeves were in place first. The brake pipe will be taped to the rear of the undercarriage leg and covered by the leg spat. The loop of pipe is to ensure that flexing of the leg will not break it.
