May 01, 2024     Trim Motor - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed hardware onto trim motor and then installed in elevator.

  Apr 30, 2024     Empennage Additions - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Transported elevator to the airport from garage. Fitted the horizontal stabilizer.

More superfill work on wing rivets.

  Apr 29, 2024     Rivet Filling - (4 hours) Category: Fuselage

More rivet filling on wings

  Apr 28, 2024     Rivet Filling - (5 hours) Category: Fuselage

More filling wing rivets with superfill.

  Apr 27, 2024     Rivet Filling - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Lots of rivet filling over the past two days. Finished the top/bottom of HS and elevator. Had to clean up some left over pro-seal on the right bottom wing and filled those rivets with superfill. After between 12-24 hours, used the dremel with a polishing wheel to lightly sand off the excess on each rivet without damaging the metal.

  Apr 24, 2024     Misc Fuselage - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Did the final connections of the fresh air ducts for front panel and side channels. I wanted to get this done before the panel/avionics go in to ensure clearance for everything.

Began the process of filling rivets with superfill. Experimenting with a few techniques for both filling and sanding off the excess once it has dried.

Test fit the rudder before riveting the top fiberglass piece and front skin.

  Apr 20, 2024     Panel & Avionics Arrive - (1 hour)       Category: Avionics

Received the shipment from Midwest Panel Builders with the backlit panel, antennas, avionics, wiring harness, etc. Will do an inventory over the coming days, but had to unwrap the panel to take a look. This is the new flush backlit panel MWPB is offering and it looks great.

  Apr 19, 2024     Oil Cooler & Lines - (4 hours)       Category: Engine

Added the fittings and brackets to the oil cooler. Ran the oil lines from the oil tank to the cooler, cooler to oil pump, two bottom returns to oil tank. As others have noticed there was some residual oil that drains out when removing the lower plugs so I was ready with a funnel. The left side plug is better to open first as the oil will drain out of that side that has much more access for a funnel than the right side.

  Apr 15, 2024     WIndows - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continuing to work on front and rear windows. Lots of on/off cycles with windows and doing hand block sanding to get a good fit.

  Apr 09, 2024     Left Window - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Started to cut the first window for the left front side door. I am using a dremel with cutoff wheel made for plastic materials. The cutting process creates an amazing amount of dust so there are several stops to clear some of the material from the dremel, etc. Taped the uncut window over the door opening and used a sharpie to mark a line that left plenty of margin on each side for the first cut. While cutting I used some large clamps to hold the window to limit the vibration when cutting. After the first big cut, made a few smaller cuts to sneak up on it so I don't accidentally overcut any side. The next few cuts will get the window down inside the door frame. Future cuts should go faster now that am getting used to working with the window material.