May 06, 2020     Mounting flight surfaces and pressure testing wings - (15 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Picked up and transported ailerons and flaps to shop. Mounted ailerons and flaps. Completed all wiring quick-connect plugs for wingtips. Wings are pretty much ready for wingtip mounting and then they will be done.

Previously, I tried to mount the capacitive fuel senders on the wing. Princeton made them up wrong. I sent for replacements. Princeton was great about fixing the problem.

Got the new senders. The holes in the nutplates are smaller than the princeton holes. Installed them using proseal - hoping I would not get a leak. Waited a day to leak test. Right wing is solid - no leaks. Left wing, not so much. Leaks at 3 of the 5 screw holes in the senders. Pulled the screws and put pretty heavy coats of proseal around the threads. Reset the screws. Will re-pressure test w/balloon tomorrow. Hopefully, the leaks will be cured this time.

  May 06, 2020     Working on baggage door and misc. nutplates - (4 hours) Category: Fuselage

No photos - continuing work to clean up fuselage. Put remaining nutplates behind baggage bulkhead. Made up all the parts of the baggage door. Realized I did not have the lock for the baggage door, and could not complete the assembly. Ordered locks from Vans.

  Apr 28, 2020     Wings - finishing details - (24 hours)       Category: Wings

I have been buttoning up the wings. Cut the leading edge holes for the landing lights, installed lights and lenses. Installed wing tip lenses. Did final detailing on the wingtips to make them ready to hang. Test fit flaps and ailerons - everything fit well. Attempted to install Princeton Capacitive fuel senders - failure - manufacturers defect. They are making me new ones.

  Apr 14, 2020     Bottom skins - left wing - (10 hours)       Category: Wings

Installed the big lower skin on the left wing. Both wings are done.

Based on my collective experience on the '9 and now the '10 - I hate this job the most.

I did it alone - just awful!

  Apr 14, 2020     Nutplate installation3 - (03 hours) Category: Fuselage

No photo today. Installed nutplates along main tunnel and in baggage bulkhead.

  Apr 10, 2020     baggage floors, seats floors, wiring harnesses - (16 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Pulled wiring harnesses from panel to tailcone. Cleaned up conduit. Riveted down baggage floor. Installed nutplates in tunnel and along base of the the rear baggage bulkhead. Continuing to detail the baggage area.

  Apr 10, 2020     Bottom skin on the right wing - (12 hours)       Category: Wings

Riveted the bottom skin on the right wing. In building the airplane, this is the task I hate the most. Working alone, these are impossible to do well. I used CherryMax 3214-4-02 blind rivets for the aft spar, and a few others that were impossible to reach.

  Mar 30, 2020     Getting ready to skin the wings       Category: Wings

Installed all servos, wiring, pushrods, etc for wings. Getting ready to put bottom skins on.

  Mar 30, 2020     Installing systems - (24 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continue install of rudder system, wiring harnesses, bellcrank and control rods. Starting fuel system

  Mar 11, 2020     Installed rudder cables, bellcrank and push rod - (3.9 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed pushrod, bellcrank and rudder cables.