Apr 24, 2023     Tailcone Forward Top Skin Access Panels Part 2       Category: Fuselage

Finally finished up the Access Panels on the Tailcone Forward Top Skin. Primed the inside of the skin and riveted the Reinforcing Plates into position. Then the riveted the nutplates. Finally used the supplied MS24693C48 Machine Screws for installation of the Panel.

  Mar 14, 2023     Windows!       Category: Fuselage

The windows arrived today. I ordered the Cee Bailey's window set with the Solar Gray tint. They have a good reputation for better fit as well as the tint option. The box was a little beat up but the contents appear to have arrived undamaged.

  Mar 04, 2023     Rudder Cable Vinyl Tubing       Category: Fuselage

The Air Conditioner has quite a bit of hoses in the tunnel area that have a potential to cause chafing against the rudder cables. SFSA provided some vinyl tubing. It was just a little short for both sides. I got some extra but it wasn't pre-split. I made a Tube Splitter out of a 2x4 and a razor blade. I cut an angle off the 2x4, drilled a 1/2 inch hole and then split the 2x4 in half. I inserted a razor blade and clamped it together. Passing the tubing through the hole splits the tubing lengthwise and makes nice anti-chafe protection in the tunnel.

  Nov 30, 2022     Tailcone Forward Top Skin Access Panels       Category: Fuselage

Clecoed the F-1074 Tailcone Forward Top Skin into place to get ready for match drilling the Cabin Cover. I needed to dimple and final size drill the holes on the forward edge and put a slight bend in that edge as well. I was planning on installing the access panel flange but my rivet squeezer foot pedal is still causing problems. I contacted NumatX and they will send me a new one. With the Forward Top Skin in place I can see how much easier it will be to access the Air Conditioner for service in the future. Not to mention the ease of riveting the skin into place when the time comes.

  Oct 28, 2022     Tailcone Forward Top Skin Access Panels Part 1       Category: Fuselage

Rich finally talked me into having access panels in the Tailcone Fwd Top Skin to allow access to the air-conditioner in the future. AirWard has a nice kit with two panels. One for each side. I did make one change. The nutplates supplied with the kit were MS21047L08 (K1000-08) and I substituted K1100-08's that allow space for a dimple in the skin. I plan to run a bead of Pro Seal around the doubler plate to help with water ingress. I did check the cost of a new skin before I made the first cut. The cutting went fairly well. I started with a nibler that attached to my drill motor, then a cutoff wheel on a pneumatic grinder and finally a 5 inch sander and a drum sanding wheel for the inside radius of the corners to give a nice finished edge. I also left a 1/16th inch paint gap around the edges.

  Oct 27, 2022     SECTION 35: ACCESS COVERS AND FLOOR PANELS       Category: Fuselage

I noticed that the Bolt Access Cover Plate has quite a gap along the top edge. I was concerned that it was a place for dirt to get into over time. I made a modified version of the plate that has a small bend at the top that covers gap. It was a small and easy project.

  Oct 26, 2022     Forward Fuselage       Category: Fuselage

Joe suggested that I paint the underside of the forward fuselage white. This is to facilitate installation of the avionics with easy visibility and contrast.

  Apr 02, 2022     Empenage Attach       Category: Fuselage

Bolted the elevators and rudder in place. I must say that getting the nyloc nuts set in place was more luck than technique. I think that using needle nose pliers to hold the nut while using a ratcheting wrench on the bolt side may have worked the best. Then mounted the elevator push rod and adjusted the rod end bearings using the bell crank jig. Next I threaded the Trim Cable to the Pitch Trim Cable Attachment Brackets. These are very nicely milled aluminum brackets made by IFLYRV10.com. Too bad nobody will ever see them. To check the Ray Allen trim servo operation I rigged up a battery to the switch provided with the servo. Worked very well. Then worked on rigging the trim tabs. Took some time to adjust and finally got it so that the deflection seems correct with the tabs aligned with the elevators when in the neutral position.

  Mar 23, 2022     Empenage Attach       Category: Fuselage

Finished drilling the elevator horn. Then mounted the horizontal stab to the tail cone. Feeding the trim cables went fairly smooth with the lighted 24-In flex-shaft mechanical pickup tool. I fed it into the rear spar hole and grabbed the end of the cable and pulled it through. Worked very well! I got Tomoko to help out by crawling into the tail cone to set some nuts that I couldn't reach. After that I back tracked a bit and accomplished the SB-00002 to update the vertical stab bottom rudder hinge bracket and rudder stop. I had to remove the original and replace it with an updated version. A newly designed bracket and much beefier rudder stop. Had to deepen the counter sink some of the screw holes on the aft spar. Also two holes needed to be filled with AN426AD4-7 rivets that I noticed were slightly long, so I trimmed them to the correct length. Once that was complete, on to mounting the vertical stab. It included using some Permatex Anti-Seize paste on the forward bracket. It's nice to see some tail feathers on the plane. It's giving me some motivation!

  Mar 07, 2022     Finish and FWF Kit Arrival!       Category: Fuselage

The Finish and FWF Kit's arrived today! I ordered the kits 1/18/21. Over one year lead time. Just slight damage to the side of the crate. No inside damage that I could tell. They sure use a lot of paper wrapping. Among other things the kits contain the doors, front seats, engine cowling, landing gear, engine mount, etc... A few items are on backorder but they are for a later stage of the build. Inventory begins!

  Aug 19, 2021     Rudder Cables       Category: Fuselage

Ran the rudder cables. The folks a South Florida Sport Aviation provided 5/16" split clear plastic tubing to run the rudder cables inside of. I am assuming this to to provide protection to other hoses that will be located in the tunnel area. I need to get advise on how much the tubing has to cover in the tunnel area. In the tail area the cable exits the fuselage before connecting to the rudder horns. As many others have. I added fairings to cover the exit area of the cable. I elected to use flush pulled rivets. I had to call Paul Grimstad regarding how to connect the cables to the Control Approach Rudder Pedals. I would have thought by looking at it that the spade end of the cable would fit between the ends of the arms. Rich Jankowski was also a bit puzzled and we brought it to the attention of Bill Donahoe who is at the same stage of his build. Talking to Paul, he suggested using Van's method, using Clevis Pins and Castle Nuts to connect a manufactured Rudder Cable Linkage made from 1/2" wide, .050 thick 4130 steel. Now that I see this it makes sense, because I'll have to determine the linkage length once the rudder is installed.

  Jul 01, 2021     Tunnel Access Inspection Panels       Category: Fuselage

Installed two inspection access panels in the tunnel area for the fuel pump, filter and selector. Took awhile working out the combination of tools that worked best for me to accurately cut the holes. The Tunnel Access Panel Kit from AirWard is very nice with good instructions for the installation. I had to start by removing some LP4-3 rivets from the bottom edge of the floor panel. The kit came complete with all the necessary hardware. It was recommended to me to stagger the position of the openings to allow easier access to the fuel pump and filter. The holes lined up fairly well. Just some minor match drilling. Then drilled the corners with a step drill bit. I started cutting the hole with a small pneumatic reciprocating saw then trimmed it with a die grinder with a thin metal disk. I did substitute K1100-08 nutplates for the K1000-08 nutplates, as I wanted to dimple the doubler plate for the flush rivets and MS24694S4 machine screws.

  May 23, 2021     Rear Seat Floor Pans       Category: Fuselage

Finished installing the Rear Seat Area F-1016C-L/R Floor Pans. Lot's of pulled rivets. I contacted Vans and asked if a substitute pulled rivet could be used rather than the AN470AD4-4 around the edge flanges. I was informed that MSP-42 Cherry Rivets would be satisfactory as the shear strength was the same as the AN470AD4-4 rivets. This made the installation much more easy to perform solo.

  May 06, 2021     Tie Downs       Category: Fuselage

Stated to install some Anchor Point Tie Downs. I wanted some in the rear passenger area floor panels. I'll also put some in the Baggage Area. Very nice Tie Downs. Low profile when the quick release ring is removed. I elected to use Rivnuts for this installation, as finding Nutplates for 6 mm screws was difficult.

  Apr 10, 2021     Access Panels       Category: Fuselage

Made some access panels for under the rear seat pans. Possible access for VHF Comm Antennas. Made this one from scratch. Used K1100-06 nutplates, which are a little hard to find for a reasonable price. Found a vendor in Puyallup, WA that had good prices.

  Apr 07, 2021     Sec. 33 Baggage Area       Category: Fuselage

Started on Sec. 33. The Baggage Area floors are already dimpled and drilled with the Quick Build Fuse. Earlier, I had cut an access panel in each of the floor panels. I'll also make an access panel under the rear seat floors. Today I cut the Lower Rear Seat Hinges, including removing two center eyes on each hinge so as to make the hinge pins removable. This same method will be used for the baggage door hinge. Then clecoed the floors into place. Also match and final drilled the baggage door frame seal parts. I plan to run wires prior to the final riveting.

  Apr 04, 2021     Tailcone Attach       Category: Fuselage

Finally finished the tailcone attach. Got Tomoko and Sheena to help out. I think that does it for Sec. 32. It all worked out very well and I'm looking forward to moving on to the sec. 33 and the baggage compartment.

  Mar 18, 2021     Tailcone Attach       Category: Fuselage

Started to rivet the Tailcone to the Fuse today. Got my daughter and her boyfriend, Melvin to assist. Started on the bottom and back riveted most of them. Up the sides was traditional bucking bar. The bottom aft line need to be re-done as most of them just didn't turn out as nice as I was hoping for. No worries. Drill out the bad and do over. Got most done today. Hope to get back tomorrow and finish up.

  Mar 16, 2021     Baggage Door - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

With the help of Tomoko was able to finish up riveting the Baggage Door. I needed help holding the door in a position that I could shoot and buck the rivets on the door skin to the frame. The frame was more accessible for the Hinge so could squeeze those. Installed the lock and then closed up the back skin with Blind Rivets. The final step will be to mount it to the door frame but I want to modify the hinge as well.

  Mar 11, 2021     Baggage Door       Category: Fuselage

Jumped ahead a bit. Section 34, Baggage Door. Waiting for some help to rivet the Tailcone to the Fuse. So I thought that I would get to work on the Baggage Door. Match drilled and deburred and dimpled all the parts. Primed and it's pretty much ready to rivet. I purchased a lock and some door seal material. The lock latch was slightly long so used the belt sander to trim it to a better size. I need some help to help hold and stabilize the door to rivet it. I used a metal ruler with holes that I pre-drilled as a jig to drill holes in the piano hinge. Made drilling and spacing the holes very easy.

  Mar 11, 2021     Section 29 and Main Landing Gear Support       Category: Fuselage

In Section 29 and I was looking at the SL-00033 just to familiarize myself with that area. On the main landing gear mounts, I noticed that on the forward support which attaches to fwd floor skin/floor rib, the aft bolt on both left and right sides hadn't been tightened. Looking it up in the plans I could see it was backed by a nutplate so very simple to tighten and properly torque. I told a friend who took delivery of his QB fuse just a few months before me and he noticed the same loose bolts. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the cracking issue, but I sent an email to Van's to give them a head's up.

  Jan 23, 2021     Tailcone Skin Riveting - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finally got to finish riveting the aft tailcone skin. My daughter helped to buck rivets inside the tailcone. She's really got the technique down on how to buck rivets on the curved radius and if the flange isn't tight against the skin.

  Dec 05, 2020     Tailcone Skin Riveting - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Got my daughter to help buck some rivets in the tailcone.

  Oct 24, 2020     Tailcone Attach - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

First step of my Tailcone Attach. Got my wife, daughter and her boyfriend to help maneuver the tailcone into position and to cleco it into place. This is only the preliminary step to be able to match drill all the rivet holes. Then we take if off to dimple the holes before putting it back on.

  Oct 02, 2020     Step Installation       Category: Fuselage

Installed the Steps and Inspection Panels in the Baggage Compartment Floors. Drilled Pilot Holes for a socket access point in the bottom of the Fuse and the Baggage Compartment Floors above the securing bolts. Then used a step drill bit to enlarge to 3/4". I'm using a plastic plug to seal the bottom hole.

  Sep 28, 2020     Powder Coated Parts       Category: Fuselage

Got some parts powder coated today by Tim Plasek of Spring Powder Coating. Lives in my neighborhood just around the corner and works from his garage. Does really nice work. Even showed me a textured coating that has me thinking of other areas that I might consider using power coating.

  Sep 12, 2020     BAGGAGE FLOOR ANGLES       Category: Fuselage

Got up to the hangar today for just a little bit. I've been needing an extra hand to buck the rivets on the BAGGAGE FLOOR ANGLES. Got Tomoko to come out and help. Was able to use the "Special Bucking Bar" for the tight area between a rib and the skin. Also filled 4 holes where the Fuel Flow Transducer Bracket was. I intend to mount the "little red box" transducer on the engine, so the bracket inside the tunnel wasn't needed. So we filled the holes with rivets.

  Jul 30, 2020     QB Fuse       Category: Fuselage

Finished riveting the FWD floor panels. All pulled rivets and the pneumatic riveter worked well. Now I have to figure how to rivet the Baggage Door Shims. I'll most likely need some assistance. The Special Bucking Bar may help in reaching into the narrow area at the forward end.

  Jul 23, 2020     QB Fuse       Category: Fuselage

Worked on the MID SEAT RAIL SUPPORTS . The flanges required some small trimming. Then riveted the parts together. Plans say to set aside for later installation. Removed the Fuel Flow Transducer Bracket. The location I'm planning is mounted on the engine, so this will not be needed. I'll have to fill those holes in the bottom skin. Removed the baggage door. Then dimpled and clecoed the the baggage door shims in place. Continuing along, I started to rivet the forward floor skins using pulled rivets. I found that removing the UPPER FORWARD FUSELAGE ASSEMBLY helped to gain easy access. It had to come off anyway. Holes for the CS4-4 rivets were already drilled and dimpled. But the LP4-3s will need to be final drilled.

  Jul 19, 2020     QB Fuse       Category: Fuselage

Started going through the plans vs what was accomplished in the QB Fuse. The floor boards were temporarily pop-riveted in place, so I removed them to gain access below. Found some random unmarked aluminum pieces taped to the Steps, so had to search the plans to find them. Turns out they are shims used below the baggage door. Now I have to figure how to rivet these shims in place. I was hoping to leave the baggage door in place to give the Fuse some rigidity until the tail cone was attached, but I probably will have to cut it out. It looks like enlisting some help and using the Empennage Bucking Bar will be needed to get in the tight area by the side skin and baggage floor ribs. I was looking at installing the Steps. They have been primed and seem ready for paint. I will probably decide to Powder Coat them. Also, the plans call for AN3-20A bolts to pin the steps in place. I could not find these bolts in any bag or even on the inventory list. I'll look again but in any event I placed an order for them.

  Jan 21, 2020     Inventory       Category: Fuselage

Did the inventory on the QB Fuse Kit. No omissions that I could find. Couldn't believe they put AN426AD3-3.5 and AN426AD3-4 rivets in the same little bag. Really??? The Screw gauge was helpful in sorting hardware as well.

  Jan 16, 2020     Fuse Arrival       Category: Fuselage

Today the QB Fuse arrived! Todd at Stewart Transport and Eric the driver did a fantastic job. What an excellent service they provide. The crane arrangement in the truck is very impressive. I made a Fuse Stand out of some wooden saw horses, 2x6's and caster wheels I got at Lowe's. It made it very easy to get the Fuse from the truck into the garage.