Jul 02, 2023     Sealed rear window - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I wasn't convinced that using the Van's "baggie method" to inject ProSeal between the turtle deck skin and the rear window would lead to anything but a mess so I bought a couple of 100 ml syringes to use. Worked Ok. Acceptable, not great. The main problem I had is I used electrical tape to protect the turtle deck aluminum skin and when you curl it according to the instructions to allow access to the screws, it actually curls over and onto the window at the two rear curves. I have one thin spot -- the curve on the pilot side -- but I'm going to leave it as is. It's fine. I kind which I'd done a better job with the filet process. I also have some adhesive and ProSeal remnant on the skin I need to get off. Can't use chemicals; bad for acrylics. I may just sand with 400+ grit. We'll see.

  Jun 27, 2023     Reinstalled window - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I've done very little work at the hangar this month because I'm trying to get other projects done before I move to the Boston area for three months to take care of my sister while she undergoes a bone marrow transplant. But while waiting for a camper renter to return, I finished polishing the edges of the rear window and then put it back on the plane, lightly securing it with the called-out hardware. I have to figure out how to shoot some ProSeal under the turtle deck before tightening up the screws. The "baggie" method sounds really messy.

  Jun 01, 2023     Finished final adjustments to rear window - (4 hours)       Category: Finishing

I ran a line of electrical tape even with the aft edge of the front part of the rollbar, but, really, the window already lined up perfectly except for a small part at the base of the right side. Used the edge scraper from ATS (expense) to bevel top and bottom edges. I sanded it down with 225, then 400, then 600 sandpaper. Then I drilled out all holes to #27 and took a deburring tool to all holes. I used the scraper to bevel top and bottom edges and sanded those with 225/400/600. I sanded out the accommodation for the fuel filler neck and sanded that. Drilled out holes in the turtle deck to #27 using a reamer and deburred. Broke the edges inward for a better fit. Cleaned it all up with mineral spirits and decided to let it dry completely before reinstalling the window (tomorrow? maybe) at which time I'll run a bead of ProSeal to keep the water out.

  May 29, 2023     Window drilled - (4.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

Finally! After about 8 months of waiting and the stars to align, the temperature hit 85 in the Twin Cities today, which is a lot better than hitting 85 in July. So our dear friend Heather -- the daughter we never had -- agreed to help with the wood-block holding as I alternately drilled #30 and #40 holes. After cutting her loose, I went back over the rollbar, reaming the #40 holes out to #26, then tapping them 6-32 and inserting a screw lightly to hold it in place. I'm not sure when I'll be back at the hangar so I didn't put the electrical tape in place to mark the trim but there's also very little trimming to be done. After that, I'll ream out the turtle skin-window holes to #27 and clean up the edges and then trim for the filler neck.

I'm very happy with how it's going and very happy to finally get it done.

  May 15, 2023     Now back to the window - (.5 hour)       Category: Finishing

The thermometer in the hangar said 80. Not sure I believe that but it was at least warm enough to move the rear window into place and try to get it positioned for drilling when I do believe it.

  Feb 15, 2023     Attached throttle lever plate - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I went to the hangar with the best of intentions to get stuff done but, alas, all I got done was adding a snap bushing to a spot on the passenger side that I'd missed, and adding the plastic plate at the base of the throttle quadrant. I tried to add the throttle cross lever but couldn't find the right nut. Or I had the right nut but it wouldn't fit. So, of course, I submittied a 20-cent order to Van's.

I pulled out the service bulletin fix kit for the exhaust, but I didn't have the printed instructions with me. So I gave up and called it an afternoon.

  Sep 09, 2022     Drilling of rear window aborted - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I had it all going: Carolie agreed to come to the hangar to help, the temperature had reached 82 degrees by noon, and I was ready to go. I used electrical tape offset from the skins by about 1/8" (more or less). I had diagrammed what order holes would be drilled and what size. And I had marked the location of holes to be drilled through the acrylic and into the rollbar.

Then I grabbed all the tools and reviewed Section 5 in the KIS, in order to have it clear in my mind exactly what we were going to do.

That's when I read the part that the "plexi bits" should not be used to ENLARGE holes once drilled. And all the holes would need to be enlarged. Van's recommends a step drill (not possible for the #36 holes) or a reamer, which I do not have.

I also had pulled out some plexi bits I bought last year that didn't have the sizes stamped on them. What size are they? Later, I would figure it out after consulting the packing slip (1 @27 and 2 #36s and 2 #40s). But by then, I still didn't have reamers which I ordered at one of those "minimum $50 order" sites (final order #75). And while I was at it I ordered cutoff disks and mandrel from Cleaveland Tools.

So we stood down and a cold front has now swept through. It might reach 90 next week on Thursday, but I've got a Twins game that evening.

Maybe this will wait until next summer. We'll see.

No shortcuts here. We do everything by the book.

  Sep 07, 2022     Fitting of rear window - (4 hours)       Category: Finishing

A hot day so did more fitting and measuring for the rear window after buying two more spring clamps to help hold it in place. I made many measurements to try to get things as even as I could and marked where the canopy meets the F-1232B-L & -R rollbar brace brackets and then started removing material after measuring the distances between the aft edge of the F-1231A-FL & -FR Roll Bar Frames. In my case it was about 5/32". This is the part where I messed up a year ago, causing me to order a new window, and it's VERY hard to get that alignment up front AND maintain the 5/16" edge distance on two screw holes immediately behind where you remove material. And I'm not sure I did this time either. If I did, it's VERY close. You're trying to keep the edge of the canopy from hitting the bracket while maintaining that edge distance AND aligning that front section as called for. Van's really should consider a different hole pattern here.

Anyway, I got everything lined up and pulled the canopy slightly forward of those brackets for a pretty perfect measurement up front, although eventually I'm going to sand that forward edge after removing material.

The canopy wants to slide around, especially when you clamp the sides in place to push up the rear part of the window. I got it mostly OK; not perfect, though, which is what I was going for.

It will be hot again tomorrow, so I'll try drilling. Carolie will come over for a few hours in the daytime to hold the wood block as I drill. And old friend Heather (who is not actually old) will stop by in the evening. The sequence of drilling demands care.

I've got to doublecheck to make sure I have all the correctly sized drill bits for plastic.

#40
#30
#36
#27

  Sep 06, 2022     Installed gear leg covers. Started fit of rear window - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I haven't done much at the hangar because I've been letting the ProSeal on the gear leg covers cure. But I installed them in this session. Tight fit but does the job. It turn out I did have the mirror version of the left one correct. Also I found the F-12105A that was missing (I just made a new one). It was in one of the trays. I tossed it in the scrap metal box.

I then started fitting the rear window by calculating the midpoint and drawing a line and lining it up with rivet lines. I didn't do much more than that but a cursory series of measurements tells me it's pretty close to where I want it.

My order of 200 LP4-3 pop rivets came in. Hard to believe I've gone through two boxes of them.

  Aug 30, 2022     More gear leg covers. This time with ProSeal - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I used the templates provided on Page 38iS/U-25 to cut out two F-01275Js and two F-12105Bs, the rubber seals. I drilled the holes, then machine countersunk the nutplate attach rivet holes in the F-12105A, then attached the nutplates. I repeated for the second F-12105A placing the nutplates on the opposite side.

One thing. I only had one F-12105A so I made a second one out of some scrap aluminum.

I used fuel tank sealant to bond the F-01275J to the F-01275H-L to produce the Bottom Left Main Gear Seal Assembly. I then bonded the F-12105B to the F-12105A to produce the Top Left Main Gear Assembly.

I made the remaining parts to produce mirrored versions for the other side. I'm pretty sure I got one or both wrong. We'll see after the ProSeal cures.

  Aug 28, 2022     Gear leg cover prep and fit - (.5 hour)       Category: Finishing

One of the things that's interesting about the RV-12iS instructions compared to the old RV-7A book is few things have a name anymore. Take this example from 38iS/U-10:

"Slide the WD-01214-L-1 & -R-1 through the F-01273-L-1 & -R-1, and attach them to the WD-1215-L & -R as shown"

Everything is a number.

Here's the next step.

"Separate the F-01275G-1 into left and right parts by removing the shaded areas shown in Figure 2."

Sure. But what the heck is it? Well, it's a cover that goes underneath the gear leg. "Gear leg cover" would work. More and more I find myself having to look up what numbers are.

Take the next step for example:

"Rivet the F-01275G-L-1 to the F-01273-L-1, and F-01276-1 using the rivets called out in Figure 3. The bent flange is positioned on top of the F-01276-1."

Personally, I'd rather "rivet the gear leg cover. to the side skins. Slide the gear leg cover under the bottom skin."

But that's just me.

Anyway I did that today.

  Aug 27, 2022     Attached flaperon controls - (.3 hour)       Category: Finishing

I slid the WD-01214-L-1 & -R-1 (which has been sitting under my workbench for a couple of years) through the F-01273-L-1 & -R-1, and attach them to the WD-1215-L & -R. I torqued the _bolt_ down to about 27 inch pounds and it didn't feel like there were any threads showing on the nut and it's impossible to get in there to see with the naked eye, so I took several photographs of both sides and confirmed there are threads showing.

I want to get started on that rear window but it's cooled down and I'm thinking it might not be a bad idea to wait until next summer. We'll see. Certainly for the canopy.

I'm also thinking I should install the servos for the autopilot before continuing as there's a good chance I'll have to remove stuff I'm just putting together.

  Aug 25, 2022     Catastrophe averted - (5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I have one of the older tailcones and in those, the inspection hole for the fuel valve area (here you can drain and check for water) is not precut; you have to do it yourself with a template and some dimensions Van's supplies. I did that last winter and added nutplates in the proper location. While riveting the tailcone to the fuselage and, specifically, the pair of lines of rivets on the bottom, I noticed one of the nutplate was DIRECTLY below the fuel line; possibly within 1/16" of an inch. Surely a screw there would puncture the line and the vibration alone with the nutplate would do the same. Then the engine stop. Shocking.

So I drilled out the nutplate. I couldn't do a standard rivet removal because to tap the rivet out of the hole after the rivet broke off would make the nutplate contact the fuel line. I put a piece of scrap between the nutplate and fuel line and then drilled the #40 rivets to a #30 hole so as to remove all of the rivet. Yes I have three empty holes now - which will be covered by the inspection plate -- but it sure beats an emergency landing. I'll add another nutplate .

Meanwhile, I started the day by match drilling the two holes in each F-01207C-L-1 & -R-1 Baggage Bulkhead into the F-1284-L & -R Shear Clips then riveted them on both sides.

Then I Clecoed the F-01273-L-1 in place and repeated and mirror for the F-01273-R-1.

I Final-Drilled #19 the two holes in the F-01270A-1 and underlying F-01270-L-1 that are called out and repeated for the right side.

And finally -- and this took all day -- I riveted in place the F-01273-L-1 & -R-1 using the rivets called out and riveted all remaining open holes associated with joining the tailcone to the fuselage .

There are only a few LP4--3 rivets left but I think that's just about it for the airframe.

  Aug 24, 2022     Riveted top skins - (4 hours)       Category: Finishing

Four hours of boring riveted and getting things lined up right. Because of primer -- I think -- i had to use a #30 reamer to clean out the holes but it came out fine. I was a little concerned about the center row of rivets at the very top because the holes in the underlying rollbar brace are quite large. I checked to confirm but I suspected the reason is it's not riveted to the rollbar brace but the holes allow the unpulled rivet to go in.

  Aug 16, 2022     Routed new fuel valve cable - (.5 hour)       Category: Finishing

I probably could have used the old cable but I was unsure of whether it was significantly damaged when it came apart the other day but probably doesn't cut it. So the new one came and I threaded it back to the tailcone. Haven't made the connection yet. It travels, as near as I can tell, in the same bushings that the air data tubing does so I'm a little concerned about chafing, particularly where it exits the baggage bulkhead and loops around the fuel pump. We'll see.

  Aug 14, 2022     Connected ADHRS - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I connected the 9-pin connector to the GMU 11 magnetometer now that the tail is on. Then trimmed the static tube and connected it and the AOA tubing to the GSU 25 and then measured and cut the remnant static line to make the "Garmin aft pitot tub" and ran that to the front of the plane. I think I'll probably have to shorten the static line because it seems too long right now but I can do that later. I should probably mount the ADS-B IN receiver.

  Aug 13, 2022     Tail cone goes on       Category: Finishing

At this point, there were too many things that depended on the tail cone to be in place to ignore any longer. There was a growing chance that something would be done incorrectly or not at all. So Carolie came over to the hangar and she did the wiggling while I made sure the skins slipped under the baggage bulkhead but above the bottom and side skins. Easy because I test fit everything last September.

I then fit the two seat belt brackets and riveted them in place, making sure to capture the spine of the baggage bulkhead with the two forward holes on each side.

  Oct 05, 2021     Cotter pins in wheel axles - (.1 hour) Category: Finishing

You can't just buy one cotter pin from MATCO . Your order has to be at least $10. Cotter pins go for 21 cents each. Add another $10 for shipping. 48 cotter pins bought. Two used.

  Sep 15, 2021     Starting over on rear window Category: Finishing

There should have been enough edge distance on those two center holes by the notches in the rear window. But there wasn't. I had taken too much off. I ordered a new window and I'll tackle it when the warmth returns next year.

  Sep 13, 2021     Cut notches in rear window - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

The cellphone said 74. The thermometer in the hangar said 79 and the car thermometer said 81, so I figured I could get away with drilling holes and using the Dremel to make the cutouts to accommodate the rollbar support brace, the idea being to drill the corners of the notch to make up the radius and then use the Dremel to cut out the notch and knock off the corners.

I used a Dremel sanding drum for initial shaping and then sanded with 220, 320, 400 and 600 grit sandpaper.

Then I refit the window. My once concern is the forward hole -- #2 on the plans -- has an edge distance problem because of the cutout. I've sent Van's the details as follows::

"The instructions had me notching the window to accommodate F-1232B-L & R, the inboard most hole on each side as indicated by #2 on figure 1 is either not going to have window material underneath it or is not going to be able to accommodate the 5/16" edge distance warning on page 38iS/U-12 (right after step 10).

"I can't -- and don't want to -- pull the window back because the front edge nicely aligns with the aft edge of the front of the rollbar per 38iS/U-12 step 8.

"Guidance?"

We'll see what they say. I fiddled around with the fit, making some concessions for edge distance issues, and clamped it while awaiting Van's guidance.

Patrick and I will originally going to drill this on Thursday, because it's supposed to be warm. But I don't have the right size Plexiglass drill bits. You need a #40, #36, #30, and a #27 and I only have the ones I got from Avery Tools when I built the 7A and they are fractional sizes of 1/8" and up. So I've ordered bits. Hopefully they'll get here soon before the last of the summer weather is gone until next year.

I still have to think about whether I want to drill this with the tail cone clecoed on. Is it possible that there'll be a slight alignment change when I rivet the tail cone on?

[Update from Tony Kirk:]

The front edge of the window should not align with the aft edge of the F-1231A-FL & -FR at this stage, it should be forward of the rollbar front halves aft edges, where you get the measurement (38iSU-12 Step 8) to determine how deep to make the notches for the F-1232B-L & -R (plus 1/32) in Step 7. After notching the window to fit perfectly around the F-1232Bs (be precise with your marking and trimming!) you should still have enough material for the screw holes (yellow below), and the forward edge of the window should be very close to the proper position. Also be sure to read Page 13 Steps 4-8 for final trimming of the forward edge of the window.

  Sep 10, 2021     More rear window fitting - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I was waiting for a camper rental to come pick it up so I stopped and bought about $80 worth of clamps and clamped the window to the rollbar as instructed. Then I marked the point where the window hits the two reinforcements in the back, and then measured at several points, the distance between the aft edge of the front of the rollbar and the front edge of the window. Eventually, the window is intended to be even 1/32" aft of that point to mate properly with the canopy.

My measurements were weird. It was about 5/32nds at the base on the right side, pretty consistent up through the top and then on the left side it descended to about 9/32nds to about 1/2" on the lower left side. But, whatever.

Then I removed the window. I need to take off 3/32nds (the lowest of the distances) plus 1/32 according to the instructions. So I need to remove 1/8" from the notches. Not sure How I'll do that yet. Probably drilling holes and a cutoff wheel.

  Sep 07, 2021     Fit rear window - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I dug out the window, which has been sitting in a crate for a couple of years and gave it a test fitting. I marked the edge distance along the turtle skin and adjusted the window to be even. It fits pretty well.

  Aug 10, 2021     Doing stuff I already did - (3 hours)       Category: Finishing

With a long wait for the avionics kit, I'm puttering around redoing stuff I wasn't all that happy with the first time around.

I had used EZ Turn on the fittings into the fuel tank and although there was a time when that was acceptable practice, Van's now says don't use Fuel Lube and EZ Turn is pretty much fuel lube. So I removed the fuel tank and cleaned the outside of that up and polished it a bit, then removed the two fittings and cleaned them, and reinstalled them using Permatex 2.

Unfortunately when I was torquing the fuel line, I put a gash in the line. So I removed it. I'm not sure how I put that initial bend in the line, given that it starts 21/32" from a flared end, but it sure wasn't with a tubing bender. The Van's instructions says to flare the tank end, then bend, then insert the sleeve and nut from the end. Nope, that doesn't work. A sleeve will never fit over a 38 degree bend.

I'm guessing I flared and put the sleeve and nut on, then used spring benders, holding the tank end in place, probably in a vice. We'll see. I had to order new tubing.

I also removed 8 nutplates I'd installed in the lower instrument panel frame. At the time, I'd intended to install a single Garmin screen and the instructions say not to put the nutplates in if you're using a second screen. My mother's estate was settled and I got a very small check, just enough to add the second screen. So I removed the nutplates.

Some aluminum material arrived so I made a new inspection cover for the fuel quickdrain and match drilled the holes, installed the nutplates and called it a day on that lingering project.

And the cotter pin arrived so I could install it in the castle nut on the passenger side heater flap. I'm not sure I got the set screw tight enough so I'll recheck that.

There are a few other things I'd like to fix. One is a pop rivet that set wrong in one of the wings.

I'm generally thinking of going ahead and attaching the tail assembly to the mid fuselage, even though a few wires from the avionics need to be run down to the baggage bulkhead.

Convince me that I should wait.

  Oct 23, 2020     Attached oil door to top cowling - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

The days have grown cold and snow is on the ground in Minnesota so I've evacuated all the things at the hangar that can freeze over the here-too-soon winter. I'd hoped to do some priming with the good stuff before we shut down for the winter but it's too late. So I had to use rattle can primer on the oil door after Alumiprep and Alodining it.

It came out fine.

The only thing I've got to figure out is how to get these retaining rings on the locks.

I think I'll move on now to the service bulletin on the trim/stabiliator motor assembly.

  Oct 15, 2020     Finished inlets and added heat shield - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I put some Super Fil in for the final transition on the inlets and sanded it off today and it came out OK.

I also added the heat shield to the bottom cowling - the area around the air inlet is a little ugly -- and put a thin coat of epoxy around the edges.

I also final torqued the attach bolts for the propeller hub.

  Oct 13, 2020     Sanded NACA and airbox - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I can't say I'm particularly happy with Van's method of transitioning the vents to the cowling with the packing tape method. It created kind of a mess and it took a crap ton of sanding to get it to the point where today I mixed up some super fill to ease the transition.

  Oct 12, 2020     Bonded air box and NACA vent to bottom cowling - (3 hours)       Category: Finishing

I trimmed both the filtered air box and the NACA vent along the scribe lines, then marked a center line on both and on the fuselage cutouts. I fit both, using a straight edge (the trusty 6" steel ruler) to align them more or less properly. I sanded the area of the bottom cowl where both would be bonded, did likewise to the two units, cleaned with rubbing alcohol, mixed up some epoxy and flox and bonded both to the bottom cowling.

Then I added some epoxy to the gaps from the outside, and put packing tape over them per the instructions. Once cured, I'll sand a nice transition from both.

I then put the top cowling back on until the epoxy has cured.

  Oct 11, 2020     Prepped filtered air box - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I've been working on the camper for the last few weeks, taking down the canvas and repairing rotted wood in the rear beam so I haven't done much on the plane other than occasionally filling in and smoothing over the gaps on the cooling fins and NACA vent on the top cowling. It's almost perfect but not quite yet. All in good time.

But I went to the hangar today and cut the big hole hole out of the filtered air vent housing and then, using the reinforcing plate, match drilled the attachment holes and then, using the nutplate jig (one of my best purchases when I was building the RV-7A), drilled attach holes and then riveted on nutplates.

Felt good to be working on things again.

Oh, also, my first grandchild -- Dexter Michael Collins -- was born on October 2, 2020 in the evening.

  Sep 13, 2020     Bonded NACA vent to top cowling - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I cut out the NACA vent which is installed on the top cowling and cools the electronic fuse box on the firewall as near as I can tell.

It's basically the same process as with the cooling fins.

I checked to be sure it doesn't interfere with the fusebox/voltage regulator (plenty of clearance), drilled holes, sanded and cleaned the area to be bonded, then mixed up some epoxy and flox and stuck it in place.

  Sep 12, 2020     Filled gaps between cowling and vents - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I went a tad off script from the instructions, which next call for the builder to use epoxy and flox to fill the cleco holes that held the vents on and also fill in the whole that the angle positioner on the nose was clecoed into that held the cowling at the right height in relation to the spinner plate.

At some point, I'm told the instructions suggest you add filler to the gaps to create a "one piece" look on the top cowling, so I figured I'd just do it now for kicks before bonding in the NACA vent next.

This time, I used glass bubbles rather than flox because it sands a little easier. I used electrical tape to mask off the edges and then added the filler.

A day or so later I took them off and sanded first with #80 grit. There's still a little depression and this really calls for SuperFil, which is really easy to sand and work with. But my containers are expired (I bought them in 2013, according to the date I'd scribbled on the bottom of both containers) so I've ordered some from Aircraft Spruce.

In the meantime,I guess I'll get started on that NACA vent next.

  Sep 07, 2020     Epoxied cooling vents to top cowling - (.5 hour)       Category: Finishing

Picked up the camper from Wm. O'Brien State Park, the last rental of the season. And as long as I was at the hangar, I mixed up epoxy an flox and attached the cooling vents to the top cowling.

  Sep 06, 2020     Cut out the cooling fins - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I had to use a Dremel tool to cut the holes out of the molded cooling fins that fit in the cutouts on the left and right side of the top cowling. Then cut the flanges on each so they were 1" wide from the joggles and fit them onto the cowling. I had to slighly sand a few corners but they fit pretty well.

Then I drilled 9 holes in each one, fit it back on the top cowling and taped it down, and match drilled the holes.

Tomorrow, I'll mix up some epoxy/flog and bond them into place.

Eventually, I'll mix up some glass bubbles and epoxy and fill in the gaps to create a one-piece look.

  Sep 02, 2020     Cowling closeout - (3 hours) Category: Finishing

I added the cowling closeout bracket and attached the lower plate to it. The circular cutout hit the gear leg (remember: this is a new gear leg because of a service bulletin) so I moved it back and drilled a new hole and cut off the aft end a little bit to make it rest flush with the aft end of the lower cowling.

Then I match drilled the 8 holes, removed it and added nutplates to the cowling closeout plate.

It's a little off center, so I added two layers of 9 oz fiberglass to provide a little extra strength.

I had already added the two nutplates on each corner from a previous instruction, but I had to drill all four out to match drill those holes to the lower cowling. Then I reinstalled the nutplates in that location.

  Sep 01, 2020     Completed riveting cowling hinges - (3.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I finished the open holes on the top cowling, then removed the clecoes, countersunk the fiberglass and riveted those holes. I tested fitting it back on the plane and there was no distortion of any hinge material.

So I tackled the bottom cowling and completed that and refit that and it looks really great.

I then completed -- as much as the instructions allow anyway -- the oil filler door. The instructions have you put a washer on the bottom of the camlocs in place of the thin lock washers that usually go on there but I found I couldn't get the camloc to turn in the housing so I removed them.

Then I dug out the parts of the open/close mechanism, prepped the parts, assembled, and match drilled them to the cowling. There was a little interference with cowling material so I removed a small amount to allow the door to open and close freely. Looks great.

I then checked where the bent portion of the hinge pins for the aft bottom cowling hit the firewall and put blue RTV there to prevent any chafing.

  Aug 31, 2020     Start riveting cowling hinges - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

The fiberglass came out just fine, especially the corner I was hoping to clean it up so I stripped off the peel play and did a little bit of sanding. Then I added the nutplates to the front of the top cowling and the two places where the hinge pin tab is locked down.

Then I reattached the hinges and used every other hole for a cleco, countersunk the holes and started riveting.

Looks good. Lots more to go.

  Aug 30, 2020     Fiberglassing work on cowling - (2 hours) Category: Finishing

I had to go out to the hangar to wait for the camper to come home from a rental so I did some fiberglassing reinforcement around the area where the nutplates are to be installed.

And I didn't like the corner on the right side so I put a little piece back and added several layers of glass over it.

I also cut out the oil cooler door and fit it and drilled the holes for the camlocs.

  Aug 29, 2020     Drilled the side hinges to the top cowling - (3 hours)       Category: Finishing

It's been a few days without a dizzy spell (knock on wood) so I felt comfortable taking on the task of drilling the horizontal side hinges to the top cowling.

I taped the two cowling halves together after rechecking the fit, Then drilled one at a time, alternating side to side, attempting to keep a 1/32" gap, which, for the most part, I have with the exception of a few places where it's 1/16" and a few places where I need to sand a little bit to open up the gap.

I was very pleased with how it's come out so far. The exception on the rear corners where the top and bottom meet. There's nothing to support the top cowling in that spot. And the hinge pin tends to push the top cowling out a little bit. So when drilling, I pulled the pin out slightly. I could probably cut the pin size down, or try to bend it into the curve a little bit, which, unfortunately, also might make it more difficult to put it in. I'll see what other people do.

The front right part where the hinge pin tab is needs work. I took out too much on the corner so I'll be putting a little fiberglass back.

Then I drilled the six holes in the front out to full size -- #19. Before putting nutplates in, I'm going to reinforce that area with a little more fiberglass.

Then I took the top and bottom off, marked all the hinges, and deburred all the holes in all hinges.

  Aug 28, 2020     Prepared to drill side hinges to top cowling - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I had to go to the hangar to clean and dispatch the camper to a renter for the weekend so I did a little work on the cowling. Notching a cutout for the hinge pin tabs in the top cowling. I don't really like the look of this because you have to take a pretty good size notch out of the top canopy to be able to pull the pin straight out. But I did it. Whatever. I didn't want a Bronze Lindy anyway.

Then I measured 9/16" up from the bottom of the top cowling to mark rivet holes for the top hinge, removed the cowling and drilled the holes in the cowling, then put it back on.

I decided to match drill into the hinge material on another day.

  Aug 25, 2020     Drilled side hinges to bottom cowling - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I wasn't going to do any airplane work at the hangar today; I was just going to start cleaning out the camper for its final rental of the season. Besides, I need to remake the left side side hinge and my order from Van's hasn't come yet.

Turns out, though, I found some P3 hinge material that was 24" in length. Whaaat? How??? The side hinge is 23 inches.

Well, OK, can't pass that up.

So I fit both sides and then drilled the holes one inch apart. Funny thing, though. The instructions show 22 holes. I don't see how that's possible on a 23 inch hinge in which the first hole is 1/4" from the edge.

Anyway, I put 23 holes in there, then fit the hinge pin so it would sit flush. I put the top cowling back on and marked the location of the hinge pin. In the next session I'll remove a little material from the upper cowl to compensate for the pin.

  Aug 23, 2020     Drilled aft edges to hinges - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I drilled the marked holes in the bottom cowling, then reinstalled the cowling and checked the fit, and taped it to the fuselage. I then removed the top cowling and drilled the holes through the hinges.

The next step is to attach the horizontal pins but I noticed in the plan I made a mistake with the left side. The forward-most part of the bottom cowl hinge should have an eyelet. Mine doesn't.

I doubt in the long run it'll make a difference but there's really no reason for me not to order another piece of hinge and do it right.

  Aug 22, 2020     Preparing to drill holes for hinges - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

After a bad week last week, I felt a little bit better this week, but still couldn't do much at the hangar and limited my work sessions to about an hour.

I started on the horizontal sides of the cowling, first marking a line and then sanding and trimming down to it and repeating the process. It's a little bit like herding cats because there are so many areas where gaps can open when you think you have one closed.

But I got it pretty good -- not Bronze Lindy good -- but pretty good. Then I taped everything down and marked rivet lines for the two vertical aft sections. The spacing of the rivets didn't quite work out to perfect in consideration of the two ends being 1/4" in from the end of the hinge, but it should look fine.

Next, I'll drill the holes in the bottom cowling for the hinge attach rivets.

  Aug 13, 2020     Trimmed aft sides of cowling - (5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I've been out of action for the last 10 days or so, my health issues have not been kind and I didn't really feel that great today but needed to go to the hangar just to relax if nothing else. Jim Pedersen, my hangar neighbor, stopped over to inform me that he could tell by my color that I wasn't feeling well.

So armed with that morale booster, I plunged ahead, continuing to slowly trim the aft portion of the bottom cowling to try to get it to mate up with the top fitting. I deal in 1/32's of an inch at a time so it's lot of putting on and taking off.

If you look at my last post, you'll see a pretty big gap between the top and bottom at the rearest most portion. I had calculated -- guessed, really -- that as I trimmed and sanded the bottom corner and then the sides, that gap would close. I was right.

Van's sort of hints at this in the instructions but does not completely say it. So if you're not careful, you'll draw a line all along the rear side of the bottom cowling, slice it off, sand it to the line, fit it to the cowling, and be horrified by the big honking gaps you've got. You just can't do it that way; something I learned on the first airplane I built, when I ended up producing The Cowling Chronicles on YouTube, which, I'm happy to say, I still get comments on.

But the instructions have really improved in the last 10 or so years. Still, a few pieces of advice are necessary.

Getting the very bottom corner and underside flush is the most important thing and when you originally do it, you'll have a big gap there and you just have to ignore it. once the bottom and bottom corner fits flush to the skin, you can draw an initial reference line, using the masking/painters tape at 22/32ds. But you don't want to sand to that line yet because something else is going to happen: As you sand closer and closer to that line (again, assuming you've got the bottom sitting perfectly flush), that reference line is actually going to move farther away.

There's no getting around it it. You have to take the cowling off, sand a straight edge partway up, put the cowling back on, redraw the reference line (or at least check it), take the cowling off and repeat the process. As you make the aft edge fit flush, working from the bottom on up, you just keep taking it off and putting it on. Both sides, because what you do on one side, is also going to show up on the other side. That's just the nature of cowling work.

On the RV-12iS, you also have to trim a small horizontal section to the aft edge, before continuing up the side. That's the shelf where the electronic fusebox sits.

But this is where you have to finish that first section before you can start on the horizontal section. As you do, that reference line you may have drawn at the same time you drew the vertical reference line on the bottom cowling, is actually going to move lower. So if you hack off a section based on that original line, you're not only going to have a big gap on that horizontal edge, you're going to have a big gap in the one area you're trying to close one: the side edge between the top and bottom cowling, and you can kiss your Bronze Lindy goodbye.

These kits have evolved so much in the last few years that you're really just assembling more than traditional building. But this is one area where you simply must adopt a builder's mentality and go slow, be patience, and work in small, small increments.

At the end of the day, it came out fine. I checked everything again with a wrap-around laser to be sure it was even.

And I felt pretty good about that.

Oh, one more tip. Buy a crapton of Gorilla tape.

  Aug 03, 2020     Drilled top cowl and starting bottom cowling - (3 hours)       Category: Finishing

Satisfied with the fit, I removed the top cowling and drilled #40 holes then returned it to the plane, made sure everything fit, made a support block to keep the hinge tight to the cowling and drilled the hinges using the holes in the cowling as a guide. After every five holes, I blew air in there to remove any chips etc.

Once that was done it was time to fit the bottom cowling. I made another spacer for the spinner back plate to be sure the bottom of the cowling also had a 3/16" gap. Then raised it into place. The fit was awful as these things usually are. The area around the nose was OK, not great, but OK. I will plan on laying up some epoxy in the future to smooth everything out.

I drilled holes in the front to hold the thing in place, then removed material on both aft bottom corners to raise it slightly and get the thing to sit flush on the corners and bottom.

That closed up a pretty big gap on the left side but it's too early to put material back and recut anything. I still have to take material off the side and that will help close it slightly and then we'll just have to see. With these cowlings, you do a little nipping here, and it'll show up somewhere else.

I might suggest leaving 1/4" from the scribe line on the horizontal sides of the bottom cowlting rather than the 1/8" that the instructions call out.

All in all, things are looking good.

  Aug 02, 2020     More trimming and fitting of the top cowling - (3 hours)       Category: Finishing

I picked up some two-sided tape from Home Depot so I could secure the spacer blocks behind the rear spinner plate, confirmng that I will have a 3/8 gap behind the spinner. Then started fitting the top cowling and aligning it.

I didn't really like the Vans method of lining up the RV-12is cowling laterally prior to drilling hinge holes, which involves dropping plumb bobs from the front corners to a level, marking points on the corners and on the level, then measuring the distance between the two marks.

If both sides are the same, it's laterally aligned.

And that's fine.

I like the cowl sitting naturally on the hinges and lining up nicely around the spinner plate, then using a laser level to establish a centerline of the cowling that matches the centerline of the prop hub and aircraft centerline.

Those corners you sand to the scribe line and if you're off then you're going to be off laterally.

I also find comparing the back corners in relation to the top of the lowermost hinge, provides additional reference.

When sanding the aft edges, get the top and middle to fit with no gap, then the side bottoms. The reference line on the bottom corners changes slightly as the top drops into place .

Once I was satisfied with the fit -- no gaps -- I marked 9/16" from the forward edge of the fuselage skin, and then marked a rivet line, with rivets every 1" starting 1/4" from the edge of a hinge.

Next step is to remove the cowling and drill the holes, make some sort of support block while match drilling things.

  Aug 01, 2020     Spacers for spinner back plate - (1.5 hours) Category: Finishing

I had put the blue reference line tape over the top flange of the forward fuselage and then realized I needed to reinstall the top skin to firm everything up. As long as I was doing that, I put some black adhesive where the previous adhesive stuck too much to the top skin when making the waterproof seal in an earlier step. Results were mixed when I took it off today; it hadn't cured thoroughly and was sticking too much to the top skin.

Anyway, I reinstalled the top skin and put the tape on.

Then I made the spacer blocks that go against the flange of the back spinner plate.

The instructions are a little misleading and SEEM to suggest that you want 1/2" plywood or equivalent to make the the spacer. You don't. You want 3/4" plywood.

That creates a somewhat less than 3/8" gap between the spinner plate and the cowling (because 3/4" plywood is actually somewhat less than 3/4"). So I put a strip or two of monster tape on the spinner and then the spacer comes out closer to 3/8" from the spinner web as instructed.

I stopped, however, because I need some two-sided tape to hold the spacers in place.

BTW, I got the new sockets for the broken wire in the HICB connector, but I had to order new butt splices to crimp them together. Soldering is no good.

  Jul 30, 2020     Finished cowling cutouts - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I didn't have a lot of time today because Carolie and I are going up to Stillwater to get out of the house. But I was able to finish the cutouts, all of which were on the bottom cowling. Dare I say they came out perfect? They came out perfect.

Then I removed some material to get the area behind the spinner plate to fit better. I think I want to take off a little bit more on the bottom and then I can reinforce the backside with some cloth and epoxy. Which reminds me: I need to order some peel ply.

  Jul 28, 2020     Canopy trimming - (6 hours)       Category: Finishing

First, I found a source for the square pins that I need to repair the wire in one of the Rotax fittings.

For future reference, this from Rotax:

The Male PIN is a Molex 019417-0048 (18-22awg)
The Mating Female SOCKET would be a Molex 019420-0002
- - -
HIC-B, Pin 10, Powers the Lane "B" warning lamp.
22awg will be more than fine for the few MiliAmps carried by that circuit.


---------------------------------------------------------------

So while waiting for new sockets to show up, I pressed on with the cowling work.

I traced all the scribe lines on the top and bottom, then, using a Dremel tool and a cutoff wheel, I started trimming. Parts of the bottom cowl don't get trimmed to the scribe line -- 1/8" off it -- and I catalogued all of the trimmed off pieces just as I did when building N614EF. You never know.

I don't know how people do this without a Dremel tool. I can keep sanding to a minimum by cutting very close to the scribe line. Had to buy some more cutting wheels but most of it is done; I still have a couple of cutouts to do in the bottom cowling.

  Apr 19, 2019     Brake fluid added - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I used the old RC airplane pump method to push brake fluid into both lines (where's the plastic cover on the Zerkes fitting go?). There are a couple of bubbles but I'll push those out later. Tested brakes -- geez, could it be easier to do this by yourself? Push pedal with hand, put foot on tire -- and they work fine.

  Mar 24, 2019     Brake lines - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I'm combining all the work sessions -- and by "work session" I actually mean walking into the hangar and turning around because it's too damn cold -- in this post. I installed the brake lines which took longer than I should have, first of all, because I screwed up the main brake line connections and had to order new fittings just to get the stupid ferule and compression ring.

To me, those main lines as called out seem too long. I took off about four or five inches and then attached them. Finger tight and one full turn on the nut.

Then I made up the aluminum brake lines -- I hear the latest RV-12iS has the brake lines embedded in the leg, which must be nice -- and attached them. Getting to torque up the fitting at the main connection was difficult. Eventually I bought a universal swivel for the socket set and, with a crows foot, was able to get it torqued up.

Then I used zip ties to hold the main lines in place.Boy, there sure isn't a lot of room between those lines and the control tubes.

  Dec 16, 2018     Finished main wheel assembly - (4 hours) Category: Finishing

Now that I know what I'm doing, I quickly assembled the other main gear tire/wheel/tube and the Aeroshell 22 arrived so I greased up the four bearings. These are a little different than the RV-7A because there's a rubber seal.I'm not convinced the Handy Packer got grease where it needed to go. I've ordered a small needle that MATCO sells to inject the grease inside the roller bearing area so I'll eventually repack them before first flight.

I only got four of the AN509-516 bolts for attaching the doubler plate so I have to get four more. Unfortunately, Van's doesn't list these on their site so I've got to hurry up and wait.

  Dec 01, 2018     Main wheel and tire installation - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I'm only going to admit to this once. The reason the wheel wasn't coming apart is because I had it on the workbench. It couldn't come apart.

And was able to easily get the tire stem through the side hole and down through the main wheel. Then reinstalled the hub and installed the tube and wheel into the tire.

The air filler I'm using doesn't seem to like this valve so I'm going to bring the bicycle pump over to the hangar.

In the meantime, I've ordered Aeroshell 22 grease to grease up the wheel bearings.

  Dec 01, 2018     Tired - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

Started to assemble the wheels and tires and tubes. The nosewheel went together easy; that's pretty much like the RV-7A.

The mains, not so much. It took awhile just to figure out how to get them disassembled. The instructions -- or rather the figure that accompanies the lack of instructions -- isn't very good because the valve stem placement is a mystery. There's a slot on the side of hub, and I'm starting to think it points down rather than up because you can't square it up.

I shall noodle upon it some more. And maybe even read the MATCO manual.

  Nov 24, 2018     Attached engine mount - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I used a step drill to drill the hole in the firewall, widening the hole to 3/8", then used a step drill to finish it through the engine mount bracket. I gave up halfway through, though, and went to Ace Hardware to buy a new step drill and 3/8 bit and finished it off. Then I did the other side and deburred the holes as bestI could.

I installed the bolts through the engine mount bracket and then attached the engine mount. It fit fine.

I found the castle nuts but couldn't find the washers called out, so I used some old 610 washers from the previous build for a temporary installation to get the lay of the land. Then added the castle nuts.

I need to get a clarification as to whether these are torqued down for tension and, if so, what the callout is because my AC 43.13 does not indicate a torque for castle nuts.

That firewall has a lot of flex in it still.

  Nov 23, 2018     Flap motor - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I riveted the flap motor assembly bracket together and screwed it in place. Then attached the motor housing to it and to the aft end of the flap pushrod assembly. I had to leave one washer (the thinnest one) off the attachment point and use a slightly smaller cotter pin to get the castle nut to spin on enough to allow it to slip into place.

This completes Section 32 (Controls). Next: Landing gear and engine mount.

  Nov 22, 2018     Attached flap assembly control tubes - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I was a little confused because when I added the rod end bearings to the control tube ends (with jam nuts, of course), they came up too long. I even sent a note to Van's. As it turned out, the marks I'd made on the worktable to measure the center hole to center hole distance was an inch too short.

Duh.

Anyway, on Thanksgiving morning, I attached the control tubes to the mixture brackets in the cabin and then installed the brackets on the rod end bearings on the rib near the most rear bulkhead and then attached the tubes to those brackets.

Lots of washer and scraped-knuckle fun

  Nov 18, 2018     Riveted control arms and primed tube - (.5 hour)       Category: Finishing

Had a few minutes so stopped in to rivet the rod end males to the control tubes. Then primed it up.

  Nov 17, 2018     Drilled rod end bearing males to control tubes - (1 hour) Category: Finishing

Each end of the control rods has four holes drilled into them and into the male housing for the rod end bearings. Then you're supposed to draw lines so you can remove the housing and deburr and reinstall them properly.

The problem is the housing fits VERY tightly to the tube and once you drill, it's near impossible to remove them. So I deburred as best I could without removing them (the rattle you hear in one of the tubes is a broken deburring bit)

  Nov 12, 2018     Bolted control rods to flap control mechanism - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

I was curious why the two rod end bearings are bolted in the mixture arm. Usually you see bolts inserted from the top so that if a nut should drop. Gravity at least keeps the bolt in place.

These two arms basically tie the two control arms together and make them work as one. And they're inserted from the bottom. So if you were to lose the nuts (even if it was on the bottom), that arm is going to fall away anyway.

But, unless they both happened to fall out at the same time, you could always just grab the other yoke.

Anyway, after that was done, I inserted the two yokes and bolted them to the appropriate rods, again with the dastardly little steel washers.

Much blood was shed.

Anyway, I can jump in and make airplane noises now, I suppose.

  Nov 10, 2018     Tapped control rods - (3 hours)       Category: Finishing

I had to wait a few days because I buggered up the drilling (to a #3) the small tubes that need to be tapped for the two small control arms wiith rod-end bearings. Once Van's sent replacement, I quickly cut to size, drilled and taped each end and installed with all the fun little washers.z

Rough on the knuckles, man.

  Nov 04, 2018     Begin yoke installation - (3 hours)       Category: Finishing

I cut and deburred and riveted the brackets that go ahead of the bulkhead that fits under your knees. Then

  Nov 03, 2018     Crontrol yoke bracket housing - (2 hours)       Category: Finishing

I cut and trimmed the plastic that holds the control rods to the ribs and bolted them in place. Then installed the flaperon pushrod et.

  Oct 28, 2018     Installed pulleys - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

The mystery was solved after some head scratching. It turns out that when I inserted the bolt into the bushing, I did not actually capture the bushing. So it was sitting up by itself above the bolt. Tough to see in this area. So I dismantled everything and reinstalled the bolt through the bushing, then installed the pulleys.

I have to admit, this area where the two cables cross over each other bothers me just a bit. But I went back and looked at the plans, and they do show that crossover.

  Oct 27, 2018     Cable routing - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I routed the "C" and "E" cables as directed but ran into a problem after attaching them to the control column (and securing them a directed).

There's a pulley-- two pulleys, actually -- that sit on an AN-14A bolt just above a cable control bushing. But I could not get the center hole in the pulleys to allign with the bolt hole. It was hitting the control bushing.

I've sent a note off to support and I'll make another run at it today to see if I'm missing anything.

  Oct 21, 2018     Added clamps to rudder cables - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

After stringing the rudder cables through the various snap bushings, and setting the plastic shield against the aft edge of the center, I added six DG-6 Adel clamps to hold everything in place.

  Oct 20, 2018     Started working on flap mechanism - (.5 hour)       Category: Finishing

Separated and primed parts and then riveted bearing housing to each. The plans only call out specifically one rod end bearing on the flap push tube so I stopped to hear from Van's support on which part number goes in the other end of the threaded tube.

(Update: The other end is connected to a rod end bearing that is already welded to the flap mechanism. )

Today is our 36th wedding anniversary .

  Oct 14, 2018     Installed control column - (1.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I installed the control column and it has absolutely no play in it once the washers were installed and the bolts torqued down. Then I ran the rudder cables through the forward fuselage. Will attach them to the pedal mechanism in the next work session.

  Oct 08, 2018     Prepped control rod and made support brackets - (2.5 hours)       Category: Finishing

I deburred all the pieces of the support brackets for the control rod and riveted together after priming, then riveted to the ribs as called for. I drilled out the 3/8" and 1/4" holes as directed.

  Apr 09, 2018     Finishing kit arrived - (1 hour)       Category: Finishing

Sean and I quickly found that two guys can't lift a 313 pound crate so we guided it onto the rolling workbench and moved it into the hangar.

Initial inspection showed everything arrived in great shape.

Then we had an enjoyable lunch at Applebee's.