May 02, 2024     Started fabricating the panel area - (6 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Began opening the hole in the panel for the radio/gps stack. This is a repetitive on/off process that is taking much longer than I had anticipated. The angles have to be drilled for screws to attach the brackets for said avionics.

  Apr 30, 2024     HS fairing tap - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I had to drill out 7 rivets each side in order to tap the longeron for the fairing gap seal that will attach here later on. They are tapped to 6-32.

  Apr 24, 2024     Had to set the pedal distance - (1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

I borrowed John's seat and backrest to set my rudder pedal position so I could torque this bolts down. John snapped a picture.

  Apr 18, 2024     Installed GSA28 servos into fuse&wing - (3 hours)       Category: Avionics

Per instructions, I installed the autopilot servos into the wing and fuselage. Pretty straightforward process.

  Apr 14, 2024     Avionics planning……… - (15 hours)       Category: Avionics

Spent a couple days not at the hangar, but rather buried in paper and the computer designing my wiring schematic and interconnect :(. I'm still not done with it but it's getting there. THERE IS ALOT GOING ON WITH WIRING .

  Apr 11, 2024     Drilled roll bar to fuse - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Today I spaced and drilled the roll bar to the fuselage. This went pretty smoothly. The 688 spacers were made previously. Somehow the holes were pretty darn perfect, which made the bolts just kiss the longerons which is what you want.
I did have to notch the underside of the deck in order to get into the area. The roll bar was temp installed and the canopy frame was added just to see how it would look. Pretty cool!

  Apr 09, 2024     In case you didn't know ;)       Category: Fuselage

Coming June 2024

  Apr 09, 2024     Rest of my avionics are in - (2 hours)       Category: Avionics

The reminder of my avionics arrived….. I had to trial fit them. Very rough but looks neat.

  Apr 08, 2024     Aileron trim bracket - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Worked on fabrication and installation of the aileron trim system. I screwed up and cut too much tube off the main piece, so I had to order another one. Once that was in, I drilled it into the seat ribs. What a tight area and a PITA. getting the screws in there is going to be interesting.

  Apr 03, 2024     Vertical Stab attach - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Vertical stabilizer was attached to the fuselage and to the HS. This whole tail attachment is definitely a sport where a 90 degree drill is required. The VS was aligned per the plans with respect to getting it square and canted a certain amount of degrees for p factor. The book says a 1/4” off centerline.
Once everything was set, I drilled the hole lot of rivet holes and bolt holes.

  Mar 28, 2024     Elevator pushrod - (1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

I had previously made the elevator pushrod. It was time to set it into place with the elevators attached to the HS. Set the elevator bell crank to neutral and thread the end bearings in and tighten the jam nuts. This can now be removed until later. Inserting the little elevator pushrod looks to be an impossible PITA to get in, buuuuuut I found a hack that is suppose to work. More on that next time….

  Mar 28, 2024     HS drill and install. - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Time to position and install the horizontal stabilizer. First I made the spacers that go under the front spar angle of the HS. Next was to position the stabilizer so it is equal, side to side and there is no sweep. Basically equal to the longitudinal line of the aircraft. With some careful measurements and the HS clamped in place, I drilled the outboard holes, which are very critical as they go through both supporting angles and the longerons, all of which must be centered with proper edge distance. Pilot hole to #40 first then upsize slowly from there. Since I measured carefully, the edge distance was great and I'm happy with the outcome.

Next was to slide the spacers under the front HS spar, align them and dril the holes through them. Bolt this down. Next slide 3/16 spacers under the center of the rear HS spar and drill through the thick bars at the rear. I was able to eyeball the center here and it turned out great. Put some keeper bolts in there.
Next to drill the inboard holes in the front HS spar. The measurements are on the plans.

  Mar 27, 2024     Static port install - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I received the upgraded static ports from Showplanes and installed them after drilling out the supplied vans ones. This was very easy to do and the results look great. They are identical on the outside to the vans pop rivets which is important to the overall static system readings.

I am also going to do the system a bit different than the way the plans say. I routed the flexible clear tubing up to the center of the bulkhead where both sides meet the T. From there it will run foreword with the stiffer static line. This will improved the “no water in the system, system”.

  Mar 26, 2024     Began canopy-roll bar - (6 hours)       Category: Canopy

Began working on the roll bar portion of the canopy. First up, once the canopy was squeezed in to the proper width(mine was wider than fuselage) I measured for the fore and aft holes that bolt the roll bar on. I measured, checking multiple times per the plans and for whatever reason my foreword hole would cause a major edge distance problem in the foot weldment of the roll bar. I have read of this happening to other builders and the contacted vans. Vans told them the fore/aft positioning of the roll bar is not that critical and that they could move the roll bar a bit to achieve proper edge distance. So this is the approach I am going to have to go with. Oh and I used a big old ratchet strap from HF to bring the roll bar in.

Next up was to fabricate the spacers that go under the rollbar/foreward deck so the washer/nuts have a flat spot to rest. I was able to get the foreword spacers drilled but the aft spacers are almost impossible to hold up to get drilled in such an incredibly tight space. I believe I am going to have to create a relief hole in the deck in order to get in there.

  Mar 25, 2024     Back at it….. fresh air vents. - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I made some small aluminum backing squares for the rivets to hold. Once that was complete I scuffed both the vent and skin, mixed up a small batch of pro seal and stuck the air vents on. I left them to set up/cure with clecos hold everything together. I came back 2 days later and riveted the few rivets securing the vents. Many people just use the sealant, but I opted for a couple security keeper rivets in addition to the sealant.

  Mar 12, 2024     Back on track       Category: Workshop

It's been a little bit since I did any real meaningful work since I've been moving into and arranging everything in the hangar. But with everything moved in and mostly organized, I'm back at the building. I need to go back and figure out on what I need to complete that I had to skip due to space constraints.

  Feb 29, 2024     BIG DAY!!!!!!       Category: Workshop

After 3+ years on hangar waiting lists, I received a call from the closest airport to me and they advised me that a hangar was ready to go. They asked if I still wanted it and without hesitation I said YES!!!!!! I am so happy that this popped up when it did.

So with the help my buddy Nick and his dad, we were able to move everything in a day with two trips of a 26 foot U-Haul. I am incredibly thankful for them for helping me on short notice!

The fridge is stocked :)

  Feb 28, 2024     Brake lines - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Brake lines received from ACS after a slight adjustment in length due to me having the retrofit brake pedals. I temporarily installed the lines so that I could get the clocking angle correct. Removed the pedal system after this so that I can install them permanently. Tom at ACS was phenomenal to work with!!!!!!!

  Feb 27, 2024     Panel inserts - (10 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Panel inserts arrived from send cut send, I had to learn CAD again and design the panel inserts for all the various cutouts I would have. Once I knocked the rust off, they came out great and I couldn't be happier.

  Feb 27, 2024     Sub panel - (20 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Put sub panel together and clecoed it to the fuselage. All of the small angles were drilled in place.

  Feb 26, 2024     Vinyl Wrap swatches - (1 hour)       Category: Instrument Panel

Received 3M vinyl carbon swatches to test out for the panel inserts and the rear baggage bulkhead.

  Feb 26, 2024     Custom Switches - (4 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Custom switches arrived from rocker switch pros. They look great! The panel was cut for them as well.

  Feb 15, 2024     Panel lay out - (6 hours)       Category: Instrument Panel

Started laying out the panel and deciding on where and what to put places. As for the panel inserts, I have learned how to do CAD. So I am going to design the inserts with the cutouts in CAD and send the file to Sen Cut Send. Many reiterations and I did end up adding an autopilot control head GMC507.

  Feb 06, 2024     Foreword deck mock-up - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Did a quick mock up of the foreword deck and panel. I also sat the roll bar and slider in place just for fun……. Next up is cabin systems, fuel vent lines, hoses, etc…

  Feb 03, 2024     Gear weldments - (12 hours)       Category: Fuselage

First thing to do here is to match the gear leg hole to the hole in the gear weldments and match/upsize the hole using a .311 reamer. I had to carefully sand off a little of the powder coating for a smooth fit, I also sprayed a little LPS2 for some lube.

Once that was done, I slipped the weldments into the fuselage put the bolts in and torqued them the best I could with the difficult access. One thing to note here. The bolts that are called out were too short for me (an4-12a) and I've read this on another build site or two so I was sort of expecting it. There were plenty of the next size up bolt (an4-13a) in the hardware bag. Maybe vans knows of the issue and includes them or I'll need to be ordering some bolts later on, oh well.
I put my #12 drill bit through hell drilling the 14 holes through the weldment for the an3 bolts. I also countersunk for the screws through the side fuselage.

  Jan 29, 2024     Completed flap components…. - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continued and completed the flap components. I had a bit of a binding issue with the rounded angle piece that supports the flap motor on the inside. The plans have to drill the hole before assembling the pieces together, well I guess my measurements were ever so slightly off because the bolt went in at an angle and caused a bind when tightened as well as being off center for the actual flap handle/bar bolt up. So I remade the rounded angle piece……. I recommend doing it the way I did the second time……. It's easier and made for a perfect fit.

Start by placing the rough cut to size angle piece in the flap motor cover butted up against side where the 1/4” hole was previously drilled, clamp it and match drill a 1/4” hole in the angle piece thusly making a perfectly in line hole. Now all that's left is to cut the angle to size and round it on the grinder, clamp and drill following the instructions. Took me longer to type this than doing it.

I also drilled the aft baggage flap brace, I also made certain the cross member was leveled and had to use some ratchet straps to hold in level while I drilled. I also drew edge distance lines on the brace just so I'd know I was in a good spot and it matched the plans… the dimensions are listed in the plans.

With all that completed and clecoed in the plane, I celcoed the side covers in and match drilled them. They were removed, everything cleaned up, deburred and nut plates installed where instructed. This piece is completed, removed from plane until further.

Flap rods were fabricated per the plans, drill out to #3 and tapped, rod ends screwed in and stored until later.

*Note- during the fuselage build, you will notice many things that could be permanently installed are being removed and stored. This is being done because of my current situation of being hangarless and needed to do as much as I can in the basement with a normal door opening as an exit. Hopefully before I'm too old to remember I even built a plane I'll get a hangar :/. It's been 3 years and counting of being on hangar lists at 4-5 different airports. The hangar situation in this country is abysmal. -end rant

  Jan 24, 2024     Flaps - (12 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Started working on the electric flaps… to begin, I had to cut down the center bearing block, drill #10 holes in it, cut it in half and cut a 1/16th” notch in the forward bottom piece, oh and up drill the holes to a 1/4”. The flap weldment was then placed in the fuselage, fit with the side bearing blocks that were fabricated earlier. Next was to match drill the #10 holes into the the floor skin and bulkhead flange. These will apparently get nut plates. Onto the SB for the flap motor/rod. I have to drill a small hole in the top and side of the flap motor rod so that I can put some safety wire in to prevent the jam nut from turning. I tried a super small bit and it broke off, so with a ton of effort and destroying a couple bits, I finally got the holes to meet. Definitely a very dumb fix. I'm thinking possibly a lock nut that matches the rod end threads would be better but I don't know, we will see how the longevity works out, oh well it's done. The baggage floor tunnel cover also needed a notch cut to prevent it from interfering with the center bearing block. I had to fabricate many little pieces to install the flap motor within its housing cover. Those were deburred and primed…….. More to come,

  Jan 19, 2024     Began covers in the foreword fuse - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

The foreword fuel pump cover, fuel selector and plate and the heater box were constructed over about 3 days. The most tedious part was the deburring of the flanges you bend out for the heater. Oh and drilling through the floor stiffener into the covers was a total PITA as well. Even with my 90 degree drill it was near impossible. So I decided to use my 12” bit to get into the tight spot. It worked. Started at a #30 hole and upped to a 19. Once everything was drilled up and deburred, the covers went together pretty easily. There are several plate nuts to install. This is for the AFP pump and filter from Vans. The heater tabs were bent out by slipping my seamers in there and gently bending out.

Oh and you may notice, I have elected to leave the “top portion” of the fuel selector plate that you are suppose to cut off if you did not install manual elevator trim. I left this intact because I intend to potentially use it to mount USB-C charging ports and possibly the Bose mic jacks. I can always lop it off later if I want.

  Jan 17, 2024     Seats completed - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Seats have been completed, All the angle was primed with ez coat. These seats definitely took way longer than I assumed they would have.

Oh and I ordered my full interior from Lemke in Germany. A very great and easy company to deal with. I got the whole shebang, Nappa leather, perforations, seat heaters, seat ventilators, dual memory foam, carpet throughout and a tonue cover.

  Jan 05, 2024     Baggage bulkhead cover and seatbelt anchors - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Began fitting the baggage bulkhead correlated covers. The top portion has to have a 8.5 inch radius centered at a certain point that has to be cut off to fit. The rub blocks for the seatbelt anchor and the little hole in which the cable passes through was pretty simple. I used a 3/8” unibit and my bandsaw for the hole/slot. I drilled the holes from the cover into the bulkhead. These holes were also drilled for nut plates. Everything cleaned up and deburred. I wasn't able to get to the nut plate installation as I needed to go to bed for work, gotta pay for this all somehow :)
Oh and also purchased some black (5/32) clecoes to make this whole process easier.

  Jan 03, 2024     Braided teflon brake and cabin fuel hose kits       Category: Fuselage

The braided steel teflon hoses I had ordered from Aircraft Specialties arrived and boy are these things luxe. They are absolutely worth it and are basically lifetime products that are robust. Over the lifetime of the aircraft, they will probably pay for themselves with the time, money and maintenance required for the non teflon hoses.

  Jan 01, 2024     Tunnel cover pieces - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Onto fabricating the tunnel cover pieces. This comes as a single piece of z extrusion that you have to measure and cut to shape for the side portions of the tunnel cover. The top piece is a simple piece of aluminum sheet that gets spaces holes and a 1/4” bend up at one end to secure it to the forward seat covers. Primed the cover supports and was able to back rivet it together, easy peezy.

  Dec 30, 2023     Seat hinges - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Next was onto the seat hinges. This was simple to follow the plans and measure each piece to 15.5 inches long. I first drilled them to #40 and then match drilled them to #30. Cleaned up and rounded all pieces, cut the center two eye lets out and riveted them to the seat pan with 470 rivets. I had to put the seat backs in just to see what it would look like. Pretty cool indeed.

  Dec 21, 2023     Side steps - (15 hours)       Category: Fuselage

The side steps were next as this is a 7A. This was completed over a couple days. First I noted from a trial fit that I needed to remove about 1/4” of material from the length of the pipe in order for them to fit into the plane. After this it was a lot of off and on, bending and shaping. Once the many iterations were done and I was able to get the steel plate to match the curvature of the skin it was onto measuring out and drilling the holes into the steel plate. I drilled the holes first to a #40 and match drilled to the skin. Updrilled the holes to the final #30. I then had to work on the plastic blocks that secure the end to the baggage rib. Boy what a PITA this was. Trying the get the holes to line up and furthermore drill them in such a tight spot was a bit of a nightmare. Thankfully I was able to make it all come together after some significant head scratching. While I was messing with this and it took much longer than I was hoping it would, I decided to fabricate a doubler for the inside of the step. Because the step has holes on both sides of the bulkhead I made two pieces, one out of 040 sheet and the other out of 063 angle. This was pretty easy and I'm happy with the results. Hopefully it will provide some benefit, we will see. The steps were removed and stored until the plane is out of the basement. I don't believe it will go through the door with them installed. This also means I cannot install the baggage floors permanently yet, which in turn could be helpful for wiring runs.

  Dec 18, 2023     Gussets and top skins - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

The top aft skins were pretty simple although they are a bit stiff and it took a bit of force to hold it down and align the holes. I also clecoed the 656 gussets to the bulkheads but left them “free floating” over the longeron until the skins were on in order to make sure they were drilled in the proper location. Once the skins were on, I climbed in the back and clamped the gussets with C clamps. All the stiffeners and doubler plates were placed in place prior to putting the skins on. I final size drilled all the holes . The upper skin stiffeners were twisted, cut and drilled. This is a weird part in that a center line was drawn and it was just kind of a line up and drill hole by hole until it was done.

  Dec 14, 2023     Seatbelt anchors - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Before heading off to work for 48 hours, I was able to finish up the day by placing and drilling the seatbelt anchors to the longerons.

I also riveted the 729 A/B together and to the 706 but I didn't get a picture. Oh! I also drilled the hole in the elevator bell crank that will accept the pushrod for the autopilot servo.

  Dec 14, 2023     695 gussets complete - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

The 695 gussets were cleaned, debured and riveted to the longeron/firewall. I was able to squeeze all but 4 rivets here.

  Dec 11, 2023     Began positioning F-695 gussets - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Began positioning and drilling the 695 gussets to the longerons and firewall angles. I made sure that the edge distances would be great on all the pieces that had to be drilled through. I first drilled the holes to #40 and then upsized to #30. The gussets had to be sanded down a bit on the front left edge so that it fit without being catty-whompus. With both gussets drilled to #30 it was time to call it a night.

  Dec 09, 2023     F-757 Gusset and side rails - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

The 757 gussets that connect the 705 bulkhead to the longeron were prepared for a slider per the plans and drilled to the longerons at the specified locations. For the slider, the aft rivets on the 757 are flush #4 rivets.

The rivets in the side rails were very tricky to buck. The squeezer would not fit and my old trusty tungsten bar would not fit. So I had to resort to a previously used trick. I used the yoke from my squeezer and it fit well, while my hands were much more sore, the rivets set fine.

I also made some clips for the static line and countersunk the screw hole for the tank attach bracket to #10 and installed/torqued it.

Oh and I also installed and torqued the bolts that connect the lower longeron and firewall.

  Dec 08, 2023     Riveted aft deck - (1.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Aft deck riveted. Some were squeezed, some were bucked.

  Dec 06, 2023     Aft deck - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Began on the aft deck. The day previous I leveled the fuselage fore/aft, side to side. I placed the aft deck in position and checked for twist about a thousand times and another thousand times checking for all level. I used a laser level, my iPhone and a regular bubble level. All agreed, it was level without twist. Clamped that position carefully with several C clamps.

I made the spacers as per plans and taped them underneath the aft deck. I carefully began drilling the holes into the longerons, clecoing as I went while checking that I maintained no twist.

After I did the normal debur and such I began riveting the aft deck. I set a few with the squeezer and called it a night.

  Dec 05, 2023     FLIPPED THE CANOE - (1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

The day has finally come. After a few hours of banging rivets and before a late lunch, Nick and I flipped the fuselage over and took the “sitting in the cockpit” pictures. I cannot wait to actually be sitting here in a flying machine soon!

  Dec 05, 2023     Finished fuselage riveting - (6 hours) Category: Fuselage

My buddy Nick was able to make it out today, thankfully neither one of us were held at work. We finished riveting basically from the 704 foreword and the bottom skin. We flipped the “canoe” but that's going to get it own headline.

  Dec 01, 2023     3M Firewall sealant arrived - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Firewall sealant arrived from aircraft spruce. Mating surfaces were scuffed and the sealant was applied. I put a cleco in every hole and left it to set for probably quite a while into the future.

  Nov 17, 2023     Did SB00036 - (6 hours)       Category: Service B’s

Since I was waiting for my firewall sealant and also a friend to come help me finish the riveting on the fuselage I decided to spend my time wisely and do the service bulletin on the horizontal stabilizer for the elevator attach horns (SB-00036). I decided to do the whole repair because why do half of a job? So I drilled out several rivets from the top skin so that i was able to slip my squeezer yoke in. All the parts were final drilled, deburred, etc. installation was pretty simple and went really well. Everything lined up and definitely feels more strong. In my dad voice after a strong tug…”That ain't going anywhere”

  Nov 13, 2023     Began riveting side skins - (15 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I began riveting the side skins and the center section to the aft section spaced over a few days. I was able rivet a lot more than I thought id be able to. I definitely had some sore hands and abs after all this interesting position riveting. Thank god for a tungsten bucking bar.

  Nov 06, 2023     Beginning to rivet fuse - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Pretty short and simple day today beginning to rivet fuselage components together finally. The firewall gussets, support angle and center floor stiffeners were installed. Notice in the picture that the last rivet in the center floor stiffener is a pulled LP 4. I tried and tried but could not get a way to buck or squeeze this rivet. I was going to try but I decided if I screw it up which was about 90% that drilled it out would be a nightmare. So I decided to go with one pulled rivet which I'm certain won't compromise anything. Heck, lots of people attached there wing ribs to the spar with nothing but these LP's and they haven't fallen out of the sky yet.

Oh and I had to put the steps in just to check it out. The tubes will have to be ground down about a 1/4” to fit snug. Something I'm not familiar with….. a long tube problem ;)

  Nov 02, 2023     The carbon panel arrived from aerosport - (1 hour)       Category: Instrument Panel

Beautiful carbon panel and two aluminum aero vents arrived from aerosport.

  Nov 01, 2023     Completed fuselage prep after disassembly - (25 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Over the last couple of weeks I have been steadily working on the long, long list of things that I needed to complete before beginning to rivet the fuselage together for the final time. Included in this was the crap load of machine countersinks, debur all edges, dimple all holes, prime the pieces that need to be, install the 715 ribs, install the 623 and their corresponding clips and clean up all metal shavings that have found their way into the central fuselage. I also riveted the doubler plates onto the wing skin with the rivets around the inside.
The longerons were quite the undertaking to complete. Glad they are finally done.

  Oct 10, 2023     Completed fabrication - (26 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Over the last two or so weeks I completed the fabrication and match drilling of all the floor stiffeners as well as attached all the baggage stiffeners and covers layer out in the instructions. This now completes the fuselage to the point of complete disassembly, deburr , dimple, prime, etc. Not looking forward to this part, but it's necessary

I also fabricated a stiffener angle from scrap for the arm rests just as an extra insurance against deformation from myself or anyone climbing into or out of the cockpit. Accidents happens and it's best to give a little bit of support. Easy process. Note that one side of the angle had to be shortened from 3/4” to match up with the armrest flange.

  Sep 25, 2023     Rudder pedals drilled to the longeron. - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Today I drilled the #10 holes through the rudder end blocks and clamped the system into the plane. I decided on holes drilled at distances used by other builders via Dan checkoway with a slight difference at the furthest location. I decided to drill the first hole at 3 3/16th” and then 1 1/16” at each position. Turned out great we will see how it feels way down the road. I'm hopeful it's great!
To do this I marked and clamped the blocks to the longeron then removed the longeron/block clamp up from the plane and drilled it while clamped to my bench. Move the block 1 1/16” and drilled another set of holes. This went smooth without issues.

Once this was completed and the rudder system was clamped back into the fuselage I began working on the ruder bar brace and the center block. I followed the plans here, drilled the holes through the block at the dimensions listed and trimmed the brace at the dimensions listed.
I drilled holes in the brace first that attach it to the firewall angle making sure I kept the holes offset from the holes that attach the firewall and angle together so not to have interference. An extra hole was drilled through by accident but I will leave it open and it shouldn't cause any issues.
Once it was clecoed in place I clamped the center block to the brace which I drew a line down the flange at the distance shown in the plans. I centered the line in the rudder block holes and drilled. I did the for each of the 3 locations from earlier. Don't forget to put a 960-10 washer between the cut center block for spacing.
With all the positions drilled in all the blocks/longerons/brace and everything moving freely, I removed the rudder pedal system and set it in a safe place until later. I will trim the brace later to make it a bit more pretty and to save a pinch of weight.

That's it for today, off to work for another 48. Gotta pay for this fun stuff somehow.

  Sep 13, 2023     James Cowling/plenum/MK3 air in - (1 hour)       Category: Engine/Cowling

James cowling/plenum and MK3 air induction has arrived. This is very very raw and will require a significant amount of work to complete. Not 100% looking forward to this but oh well. The extra 5 knots and cool look will be worth it 😉

  Sep 12, 2023     Upgraded rudder pedals - (12 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I purchased the Risse racing upgraded rudder pedals which have a nicer look and finish. They also move the master cylinder to the back of the pedal which should do a better job at keeping the brake lines out of the way of my feet. Honestly the install was kind of a pita, but I was slowly able to get it together and mounted to the rudder bars. This took longer than I had anticipated.

  Sep 08, 2023     Tank attach bracket angles - (9 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Today I fabricated the angles that go on the inside of the fuselage for the tank attach bracket. F796B , C,D. C,D are spacers that sit under the angle. Basically I drilled the hole on the plans, clamped/held them in place and drilled. I then removed the build up and drilled the rest of the holes. This went pretty smoothly. The dimensions in the plans for this angle is for me at least a starting point. I had to install it and remove it a few times to get the fit right and edge distance as good as I could to acceptable. Lastly I up drilled the top and bottom holes to 3/16.

  Sep 06, 2023     F684 gusset and firewall mount - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Today I knocked out the F684 firewall gussets. I mounted them, clamped them and drilled them in place. This for me at least was pretty straightforward. I did have to peel the skin back so I could drill the holes into the longerons. I was able to keep the edge distances within acceptable limits and it's very tight and solid.

  Sep 03, 2023     Finish kit inventory complete - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

The finish kit inventory is complete except for 3 items all being fiberglass components that are on BO.

  Aug 25, 2023     Auxiliary and lower longerons - (11 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Began fabricating the auxiliary and lower longerons. This was fairly simple, although the joggle in one of the 713 auxiliary longerons was horrific so I opted to take page out of the RV6 build plans and attach the aft end of the longeron with an attach strip angle and a spacer. This ended up being very strong and working out well although it took more time than I wanted it to. The lower longeron was cut as per the plans, the aft end was cut angle to fit against the F704. It also required a slight outboard twist to nest with the WD602 firewall mount.

The auxiliary longerons required a small piece of angle to be cut and shaped to attach it to the firewall angle. I marked where the angle fits on the firewall angle and drilled with a 12” #40 first and then up drilled to a #30. I had to peel the skin back and drill the angle into the auxiliary longeron. Everything is tight and fits terrifically.

The lower longerons nested great so I clamped them tightly to the 602 and drilled the bolt holes at the listed measurements in the plans making sure that the edge distance is as acceptable as I could get them, I had to move the center line for the bolt holes inboard about a 1/16th to make sure edge distance is on point.

  Aug 22, 2023     Build selfie ;)       Category: Fuselage

  Aug 21, 2023     Gear weldmant through F772 - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

After cutting the template out from the plans I properly aligned it on the F772 skin and drew an outline. I. Did two different methods on either side to see which was easier. The first was to drill a single large hole and then use my dremel to cut around the outline to the second large hole. The second method was to use a step drill in the center until I got a hole close to the edges of the outline then use my Dremel to clean up the football shaped hole. I can confirm that for me at least, the second method was the easiest and worked the best.

Getting these weldmants to fit in the skin without interference took several iterations of off,on,off,on, but finally I got it and it actually turned out nicely.
Also I had to sand away a bit of the F704 flange. Be aware that there will definitely be edge distance issues with a hole on the skin and 704, but don't worry, this is apparently very normal and expected on the 7A. 5/8” hole drilled for brake line as well.

Oh and I had to stick a gear leg on just to see haha.

  Aug 20, 2023     Straps - (1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

I also made the straps that hold the F704 to the longerons. I found 4 perfect sized aluminum pieces of sheet amongst my materials. I sure hope this is what they were suppose to be used for but if not I am going to have to fabricate something from scratch later on. This was pretty straight forward and didn't take much time.

  Aug 20, 2023     Fuselage work continued - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Removed the excess amount of the longeron that was prohibiting me from getting the proper 5/8” spacing. With the spacing correct and everything measured and checked 100 times, I began drilling the firewall to the skins. This actually wasn't too difficult with a slow RPM and some boelube. After the firewall was drilled to the skin, I drilled the longeron to the upper firewall angle, making sure that the edge distance was acceptable. Make sure to use some longer AD4 rivets to keep the #30 holes aligned while drilling. I used some electrical tape to keep the rivets from popping out.

  Aug 16, 2023     Began fitting firewall - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I had a little time today to begin fitting the firewall. I will need to do a little tweaking to include a little more twist in the longerons as well as shorten the front edge one the pilot side longeron. It is interfering with the firewall angle and is not allowing the firewall to nest fully giving me the 5/8” displacement. But, I need to eat and head to bed for work. This weekend, as Mike Patey says, “Back to work”..

  Aug 15, 2023     Finish kit arrived!       Category: Fuselage

Today the finish kit arrived, well most of it. I am still missing several pieces due to back order.

  Aug 13, 2023     Bending conical bend F770 - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Figured out a plan as to how to bend the conical curve on the F770 side skins. Looking in the back of the instruction manual I was able to get some clues on how the factory did it, albeit they are horrible black and white pictures. Using a scrap piece of AA6-125 and a long angle that came with the fuselage kit (not sure what it is for yet but it was not going to be damaged, just clamped to the table plus it had a nice radius). I matched drilled. The holes in the skin to the angle. I skipped the first hole in the skin because that is what I saw in the instruction pictures. You are suppose to use your thumb to gently bend this part, I was unsure how this would work to make a 90 degree bend. I also removed a piece of the angle flange on the top side because that is what the picture showed.

So to begin I enlarged the radius between the skin and the bend slightly to about 1/8-1/4 inch to relieve stress. Next I used what I believe was a good trick and possibly key to no cracks was to use a heat gun to warm the skin and area to soften it before the bend. I haven't seen anyone else do this but I like the idea. With everything tightly clamped and heated, I put the vice grips on to the angle and began slowly but consistently bending while using my thumb to provide bending to the front area. In less than a minute the bend was complete WITHOUT CRACKS. This was a wonderful outcome and I couldn't be happier to have it done without cracks, especially knowing that a ton of builders get cracks here. The skins were trial fit to the fuselage and they were darn near spot on with just minor massaging with my hands to complete the fit. I also placed an 1/8” dowel at the bend to see if that would help, I'm honestly not sure if it did anything, but why not.

Also, ream the holes for the bend and dimple them, this will make the fit much much better and easier.

  Aug 11, 2023     Center section and aft - (20 hours)       Category: Fuselage

A few pictures I found of the center section assembly and joining it to the aft fuselage.

  Aug 10, 2023     *PHONE AND BUILD PHOTOS GONE* Category: Fuselage

So there is a gap in my build log thanks to me being an idiot in several ways. I dropped my cell phone in the Shenandoah River and it's gone forever. The other issue is all the pictures up to this point since June were on that phone and I had not backed it up to the cloud. So it's a very, very unfortunate situation. So to summarize to where i am now…..

I assembled the aft fuselage and riveted it together. I also constructed the center fuselage section and seat ribs, the crotch brackets were installed. Crow seatbelts were ordered.

The center fuselage section was fitted to the aft section which took a little bit and some fuss.

I think that summarizes the last month and a half, if I think of anything else I will add it here….

  Jun 11, 2023     706 bulkhead complete (autopilot) - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Assembled the 706 bulkhead and riveted all the holes that are suppose to get rivets per the plans(look closely at the plans). I almost forgot to locate, drill and rivet the pitch Servo mount to the bulkhead. The Garmin manual says a minimum of two rows of four rivets, so I went one more row of four rivets just to do over minimum. Rivet fan came in handy here too! 706 complete for now.

  Jun 09, 2023     706 bulkhead - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Next in the line up of bulkheads was the 706. This was a very flimsy piece to start out with. Many little intricate pieces go together here with many specifics so read the plans carefully. Especially when you got to rivet them together. I also deburred, fluted, prepped and primed the other bulkheads for later on. I wash the scuffed metal in a bath of dawn before rinsing the crap out of them drying and wiping with naphtha. The small angle at the top gets countersunk for that front plates dimples.

  Jun 08, 2023     Rudder block - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I had some time today to square up and carefully drill the rudder end blocks to the bulkhead. I used the dimensions for one hole, squared it up and drilled a small starter hole about a quarter inch deep and then took it to the drill press to drill all the way through. Worked perfectly, but we will see how perfectly when I install the rudder assembly.

  Jun 07, 2023     705 bulkhead rivet and finish. - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

With everything primed and prepared, it was time to cleco everything and rivet. This went smoothly, DONT FORGET THE FLUSH HEAD RIVET FIRST UNDER THE BOTTOM BAR. It was a fun and productive day as well as fun to be riveting again. Also a pic showing myself and the finished product.

  Jun 04, 2023     705 bulkhead - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

More work to the 705 bulkhead. Installed the seatbelt brackets. I also trimmed them after a trial cleco of the seat ribs. Honestly this was a little trickier than I thought it was going to be and the inboard right bracket came out a little crooked and will most likely have to be trimmed a bit more on the bottom later on. I also purchased a brake so that I could bend the top portion that slides under the angle. The brake made this a non event. I fully recommend buying a cheapy like I did from HF.

I also drilled the holes on the rear angle piece, I forget the part number currently. I got a little happy with the new rivet fan I purchased and drilled twice as many holes as I was suppose to(17 instead of 9). I should have skipped a hole every time, oops. I called vans and asked if this was ok and the answer was yes, it's fine, “I over engineered it and made a bit more work for myself, but it won't be a structural issue at all”. Excellent, no harm no foul, build on! Everything drilled, disassembled, deburred and primed.

  Jun 01, 2023     705 Bulkhead begin - (7 hours)       Category: Fuselage

First I had to draw a center line down the spar bar, line it up down the holes in the lower bulkhead, center it and match drill the #30 & bolt holes. Easy just time consuming.

Next was to square up the I believe they are the 605C bars and match drill them to the spar bar. Be careful on which holes to drill and the length of the pieces. It is best to wait on trimming the taper and ends until the holes are drilled so that you can verify proper edge distance.

I also cut the tiny spacer with the grain going the correct direction. The plans have you notch a tiny bit into the spacer, like 3/32x 1/64 deep, tiny. The best method for this was to use the big file with the line to cut off against a scrap piece of aluminum from the spar bar. (See photo) . This worked wonderfully and gave me a nice little notch.

Everything clecoed and aligned, I drew a centerline down the spacer piece. Aligned it in the bolt hole, clamped the crap out of the hole piece and carefully drilled through the spacer. It worked great!! That's it for today.

  May 30, 2023     Completed center section - (6 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished up work on the center section spar. Cover supports drilled to spar, holes enlarged as needed, snap bushing holes upsized and installed. The smaller cover support gets a angle stiffener on the opposite side that is flush riveted to the center section and has nut plates that the support screws into, I assume so you can easily take it off for wire runs, maintenance, etc. once everything was cleaned up, primed what was needed, items were riveted and or bolted per plans.

The two center spar sections were temporarily placed together with the spacer tubes in place to make sure it was ok. Seemed good to me, oh and btw, the spacer tubes are already made to the correct length. Look in your wing kit hardware bags.

  May 24, 2023     Firewall complete - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Not much to say on this other than the firewall was riveted together and completed. Most of them were bucked but a few lucky ones were squeezed.

  May 23, 2023     Began spar center section work - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Pulled out all the components and got to work. I had to fabricate I believ it was 633 for the control column. I chose not to cut the “extra” off to save weight. It's only like an ounce or three, so not worth it. Drew a centerline, drilled one hole per plan dimension and then back drilled the other making sure everything was square. Also drilled the shear bars 704G after putting some bolts in make confirm alignment. The front face of the shear bars had to be countersunk per plans for a 426 rivet.

I also attached (not permanent) the 610/11/12 control column pieces and figured out the proper washers needed. I think I got it close. This did take some filing and sanding to get everything to operate smoothly, much like the ailerons, it has a brass bushing with the steel rotates around. Everything disassembled and primed as needed. The control column mounts were bolted and torqued to the center section.

  May 09, 2023     Fuselage started! Firewall. - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Today the fuselage has begun. To start, I have to install, fabricate the angles that go on the cabin side of the firewall. Everything laid out and clecoed so that I know what I'm working with.

I also deburred and softened the edges of the firewall so that I don't slice my arms off.

  May 07, 2023     Push pull tubes complete (wings done for now) - (1 hour) Category: Wings

The tubes were scuffed, cleaned and primed inside and out. The ends were pop riveted on, rod ends installed.

This marks the end to the wings for now. I will fully complete them later on in a year or so.

Need to finish the wiring, wing tip install, bottom skins, connect pitot, aoa lines and install the AP roll Servo and temp probe.

  May 05, 2023     Push pull tubes - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Aileron push pull tubes cut to length and drilled. I decided to leave them a bit long until I mount the wings so that I can be sure I have the proper length. Next up, prime them inside and out then pop rivet them. After that, that should close out the wings, Atleast for right now.

  Apr 28, 2023     Propeller ordered Category: Propeller

Propeller ordered with the engine so that I could knock off the additional $1,000. This should be an excellent propeller and give terrific performance.

3 blade composite ground adjustable sensenich
Carbon spinner

  Apr 28, 2023     Engine ordered Category: Engine/Cowling

Exciting and sickening day. A new engine has been ordered. I took advantage of Vans “show special” price which saved me about 5 grand. Good grief, this thing is the price of a brand new SUV. This economy can suck it!

IO-360-M1B
Dual Pmags
40,500

  Apr 27, 2023     Flap hinge work and finish - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Once the flaps were drilled I had two options on how to retain the hinge pin so that it won't come out. I chose version two with a slight variation utilizing a screw, plate nut and pieces of hinge.

3 “eyes” were removed from the center of the hinge and the pin was split at that point. The pin was bent at 90 degrees and then again to match the angle of the flap brace to insert into the pieces of the cut hinge. The whole assembly secured to the flap brace with a #8 nut plate and screw. This worked out fantastically and am happy with the results, although the bends were a tiny bit tricky to get right. This should hold them secure and provide easy removal down the road.

I also had to countersink the flap brace to accent the dimples in the skin and keep the area flat for the hinge. No problem here, drill with hinge in place to keep the countersink bit from chattering.

  Apr 20, 2023     Ailerons and flaps attached - (15 hours)       Category: Wings

Ailerons have been attached and placed in trail using the jig vans provides and a laser/straight edge on the outboard rib. To that, the flaps were hung level and equal in trail to the ailerons. Once they were in trail, the flaps were clamped and the hinge was drilled to capture that position. A gap of approximately a 1/4” was achieved between the flap and aileron. For me, edge distance was no issue on the hinge, either side. This went smoothly using the “fat rivet” procedure. It's basically putting the bottom skin clecoed on and slightly squeezing a rivet in a couple holes where the skin and flap brace meet to hold everything together until you can drill the hinge. Worked nice and smoothly.

I also installed the pvc T for the wiring.

  Mar 30, 2023     Wire purchase       Category: Avionics

Purchased most all of the wire needed for the panel and lights, etc. a few more feet will be needed in the future. More money to stein :)

  Mar 21, 2023     Weld aileron rods - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Decided to get my aileron push rods welded by a an aviation welded. This is an option given by vans in the plans. Also used rosette welds for added strength per ac43. Turned out really well.

  Mar 03, 2023     Flaps started - (24 hours)       Category: Wings

Flaps have been started, began fabricating the doubler on the inboard of the flap. Vans says this is the simplest, not necessarily the easiest control surface of the project. It was pretty straightforward but definitely involved a fair amount of head scratching to get things lined up and even trickier to figure out how to rivet them together.
I used a small 2x4 to provide some space so that I could get my hand and bucking bar into the trailing edge to rivet. Once I got the hang of it, it went pretty quickly.
When I match drilled the doubler the holes were sort of close if not in the radius which concerned me. I called vans and spoke with them and they said it won't be an issue since there is a lot holding the flap together in this spot, so no structural issue would be a problem.
I used my favorite ooops rivet for one of the plate nut holes which worked great.
The hinge was pretty simple to drill the flap side, I just lined up the center of the hinge and drilled a little further out so I could a little more “play” when it was time to drill it to the wing since I've heard some people have issues with it lining up with the aileron. This worked out great when I go to that step next.

  Mar 01, 2023     Ailerons complete - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Both ailerons are now complete. Second one went together just as the other did.

  Feb 22, 2023     Drilled/dimpled counterweight and leading edge skins - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Galvanized pipe was put in place in the leading edge skin. All the holes were drilled to #30. In order to dimple these holes you have to get creative since the normal female die will not fit in the curve. So to solve this the pipe was countersunk as per plans, placed back into the skin and clecoed. Using the “bumper” I made previously for the close quarters dimpling and the pipe as the female die. This worked extremely well and I was very happy with the results.
The pipe was removed, scuffed inside and out. The inside was scuffed with a rifle cleaning rod that had both sand paper and scotch bright installed in it then chucked in a drill. This worked great. The pipe was then cleaned and primed with rustoleum bright yellow. Color was just for the fun of it.

  Feb 16, 2023     Riveting the ailerons - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Riveted the stiffeners to the skins. Simple and lovely back rivet process. The brackets were drilled for the an3-4 bolts that will attach them to the spar. The skins were also bent in the break I made for the elevators way back during the emmpenage. Used the same I think it was an 1/8” dowel to get the correct bend radius. This worked out great and had it without pillowing.

  Feb 08, 2023     Begin ailerons - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Began assembling the ailerons after finishing cutting out allllllllllll of the stiffeners. Not really much to add here. They are pretty straight forward and it was just a matter of final hole drill, take apart, deburr, dimple, etc.

  Feb 01, 2023     Roll Servo mount - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Roll Servo mount installed and torqued in right wing.

  Jan 23, 2023     Annnddd the arduous inventory has begun       Category: Fuselage

As it says, inventory begins. Ugghhh

  Jan 17, 2023     Aileron brackets & flap/aileron braces - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

Completed the aileron brackets, riveted them to the wing. I also completed the braces and riveted them to the rear spar. I did follow advice given by others to flip the flush head rivets so the are on the outboard side. I also used flush rivets in the bottom two holes instead of just one.

  Jan 13, 2023     Pitot mast&tube install - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

I decided to mount the pitot just outboard of the bell crank as several others have done. With the instructions and other build logs, this was pretty easy. I did install a small piece of angle riveted to the adjacent rib for robustness. The hole in the bottom wing was mildly terrifying at first but somehow I got it cut and fits almost perfectly around the pitot mast. I will need to order and run the wires for the heat. It will be a simple black and red twisted pair. The pitot and AOA lines were ran as well.

  Jan 05, 2023     Fuselage kit has arrived!!       Category: Fuselage

The fuselage kit has made its way across the country and is now sitting in my impromptu plane shop. I need to find the time to inventory this beast.

  Dec 15, 2022     Placed right wing in stand and started assembly - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Right wing placed in the “jig.” All skins, leading edge and fuel tank placed in place in order to final drill all of the holes. Also began deburring the leading edge.

  Dec 14, 2022     Left wing complete(ish) - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings

My buddy Nick came over and helped me rivet the remaining rivets on the top wing skin. He did great for his first time holding the bar. Once the left wing was finished, we heaved it off of the stand and placed it in the newly built cradle in order to complete attaching the aileron, flap and etc. I also need to run wires and attach the wing tip at some point, as well as close out the bottom skins, obviously. When we flipped it over, I was actually surprised at how wide this wing actually is! Very, very cool to see.

  Dec 08, 2022     Bulk of avionics ordered - (1 hour)       Category: Avionics

Due to a leak I read, garmin is suppose to be raising prices on all avionics early in the first quarter of 2023, so I ordered a bunch of avionics that is not likely to change in the next year in order to save a bunch of money. Stein air was great to work with and I will definitely be using them to complete my order in the next year or so. Everything in and inventoried. I even got a free shirt, hat and key chain.

  Dec 03, 2022     Right wing begins - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

While I am still waiting to finish up the left wing skins, I began riveting the main ribs to the right wing front and rear spar. This went smoothly and quicker than the left.

  Dec 01, 2022     Hangar issues and a temporary fix Category: Workshop

So there is a big issue and shortage in my area with Hangar availability. My fuselage kit is suppose to be shipped at any moment and with out the ability to build it and get it out of my basement and no hangar to continue the build, I had to buy a shed to assemble the fuselage until I can get into a hangar. Hopefully a hangar will come available in the next 1-1.5 years or there will be a bigger issue. PLEASE BUILD MORE HANGARS!!!

  Nov 28, 2022     Left aileron& flap brackets - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

While I am waiting on my friend to come over and help me finish riveting the left top wing skins, I started working on the aileron and flap brackets, including the service bulletin for the extra doublers, this went together pretty quickly. The mating surfaces were primed per the plans.

  Nov 20, 2022     Right tank finished and tested - (12 hours)       Category: Wings

Right tank constructed and sealed. Leak test performed on this tank and….. wahoo, this one passed the leak test as well. Both were pressurized and sprayed with soapy water and then allowed to set for 3 days without loss of pressure. I am beyond happy and pleased that this went the way it did. On to finishing up the left wing.

  Oct 26, 2022     Left tank leak test…. - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Passed!!!! The leak test for the left tank passed without issue. Wahoo! Gave it a wash down and rinse. On to the right tank construction and test.

  Oct 21, 2022     Left tank complete - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Whew, left tank done and drying or curing you may say. What a sticky couple of weeks. Unfortunately it took a little longer than I would have liked to do one tank due to work schedule and such. The right tank should go much quicker especially since I learned a few tricks and will be more comfortable with the process.

The sealant was very very smelly and extremely sticky but with proper care, most ridiculous mess can be avoided. Make sure you wipe the tails of the rivets of sealant before you buck them(this will make a nice shop head and keep the bucking bar from sliding) and put some tape over the manufacture head before bucking. The fuel flange was a total pain to buck since I couldn't reach with the squeezer yoke I have.

Once the tape was removed after about 4-5 hours I gave a very gentle wipe down with acetone to remove extra sealant from the skins surface. This worked well. The vent line went in and was pretty straight forward and was bent to the high point easily just bending around a finger since it's quite soft aluminum, you won't crease it with care. The fuel pick up anti-rotation bracket was a total asshole to rivet because it was almost impossible to get either a bucking bar or squeezer yoke in there because of the AN nut, I'll have to figure out something else for the right tank, ugh.

Pretty much anywhere I didn't want sealant or required a fine line, I taped the area with electrical tape and this worked marvelously.
As you can see I decided to run a dedicated ground wire from the float fuel sender to the main aircraft ground bar to avoid and loops or issues, it was easy enough to do with an internal tooth washer and a ring terminal, I recommend doing it as it was almost zero extra work or time. The beads of sealant for the rear baffle went down very easily and from what I could tell very smoothly. This was accomplished by putting the mixed sealant in a pastry icing bag purchased from Amazon for very cheap( I got like 50 of them for $8 or something).
Baffle went on smoothly and I believe squeezed the sealant down like it was suppose to, Atleast it looked like others I've seen and vans video so we shall see. The next session was putting the inspection access cover on with a bead of sealant that acts as the “gasket” I again used an icing bag filled with sealant which worked great. The baffle by the way was a high speed work session that was tricky to complete before the sealant started to go off, trying to put in all the rivets and rivet them with sticky everything is quite the task. The attach brackets went on without issue using a regular pop rivet puller and the little piece of angle wedge trick(see section 5).
The access cover screws were sequentially tightened until a small bead of sealant squished out from underneath and boom I was done. Oh and the basement smells like death , Que unhappy wife face :/
I'm going to owe her an all expenses trip to the Bahamas in this thing when it's done, that's for sure. Well, now onto the right tank while the left cures for about a week or so, at that point it will be time to see if all that work created a tight leak free tank… fingers crossed, we shall see…….

  Oct 04, 2022     Fuel tanks start of the sticky - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

The start of the fuel tank sealing process. Everything has been scuffed (heavily) and washed with dawn detergent and followed up with naphtha before dimpling. Immediately before the parts are slathered with the black goop, it receives another wipe down with naphtha. Oh and I used a small piece of scotch bright jammed in a hex extension chucked in a drill to scuff each rivet hole on the top of the tank just for extra adherence. This was quick and easy.

The stiffeners went it with ease and rivetted without an issue. I used a small piece of aluminum tubing to twirl around the rivet heads to incase them (per the mothership video). It worked really well. I also used my pinky to create a nice fillet around the stiffener instead of a popsicle stick or other. My finger worked really well because it kind of contours to the shape and I can apply enough pressure to push the sealant deep into any crevice as I'm going. Stiffeners in, I'm done for the day.

  Sep 28, 2022     Rivet the left leading edge to the spar - (7 hours)       Category: Tools

Time to rivet and final install the left leading edge to the spar. Whoa!! Riveting the ribs to the spar was a hell of a time, hard and very slow in order to make sure I didn't destroy something. Sticking my hands and arms into the tiny lighting holes to run a rivet gun was quite the challenge. To make this even possible with all solid rivets and the manufactured head on the leading edge rib flange, I had to use a combination of an adjustable mirror, flash lights, my cell phone and a double offset rivet set. A big issue was that the double offset constantly rotated and caused a smiley on the flange. To prevent the double offset from rotating and to hold it in the gun, I used one of man's best friends, duck tape! It's strong and flexible enough to allow the rivet set to hit like it needs to. This worked extremely well given the tight, tight quarters and completely blind riveting. Being completely blind was terrifying at first until I saw it turned out ok. You also have to turn the pressure up about 10-20 psi. All this combined gave very good results and barely any muck ups. Not completely perfect, but I'd say acceptable for sure.

Once the ribs were finally riveted to the spar I could rivet the skin to the spar with the pneumatic squeezer, which was much appreciated after the hell of previous riveting experience. The only bad/sad part is that I have to do this all over again with the right leading edge.

  Sep 20, 2022     Avionic tools in from stein       Category: Tools

All the tools I should need in order to wire the entire aircraft.

  Sep 14, 2022     Countersink spar& begin preparing skins - (12 hours)       Category: Wings

In order for the leading edge and the dimpled skins to fit nice and flat to the spar, the spar had to be countersunk for the dimple. I also deburred, both inboard and outboard top wing skins. I also lightly countersunk the end rib of the fuel tank for NAS1097 rivets to secure the reinforcement ring/nut plates. Both end ribs for the fuel tanks had to have a hole drilled for the vent as well, opened the holes up with a unibit, this location is approximate and was drilled looking at the plans. I also installed the nut plates for the fuel sender in the cover.

The wing walk doubler received the same treatment. The wing skins had to be scarfed at the joint so they could lay fairly flat with the leading edge skins. All edges were also given a slight break to make them lay flat after riveting.

As you can see, the fuel sender will have a dedicated ground with a wire ran to the main aircraft ground bar instead of grounding to the air frame. I also decided to replace the Phillips head screws with Allen cap screws for ease in the future. A ring terminal and a lock washer with inward teeth will bite in for the ground.

  Sep 12, 2022     Left leading edge rivet - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Left leading edge was deburred, dimpled and placed in the cradle to be riveted. This went smoothly. Also installed the inspection panel and the small rib for the stall warner, although I am not installing the system due to I will be installing AOA, but it's there if i ever want it. Joint strip was also riveted into place.

  Sep 08, 2022     Upgraded rudder pedals arrived       Category: Wings

Finally received the upgraded rudder pedals from Risser racing. They are fantastic looking and should provide excellent feel with differentiation of rudder/brakes. They also move the master cylinders to the rear.

  Sep 06, 2022     Repeat for the right tank… - (17 hours)       Category: Wings

Not going to post repetitive pictures, I repeated the tank prep for the right tank to get it to the same as the left tank.

  Aug 27, 2022     Fuel flange and drain - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Had a little time to devote today, so I fitted the fuel cap flange and countersunk it for the dimples. I also placed and match drilled the drain. All went smoothly. I also received a couple new tools… tubing flare and adel clamp pliers.

  Aug 26, 2022     Tank access panel - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings

So to begin we have to do “the cut”. This has notoriously been an interesting process using a fly cutter in a drill press with everything clamped very tightly and hopefully you don't lose at fingers or mangle the rib. Well, I said screw that, there has to be a better way… researching hvac stuff I found a duct hole cutter (this one by Klein tools). Found the center of the hole I needed to cut by taking the radius of 5 1/4”, measuring in from the edge I wanted and drilled a hole from the x&y access. Chucked up the tool in my air drill, clamped the rib in the vise and began the cut. I made a small error by not fully tightening the center screw which caused a small notch at first. Fixed that issue and continued the cut. THIS THING IS MONEY!!! Worth every penny, cut smoothly and basically no burs. Make sure you rotate clockwise so the little feet guide the material. Fully recommend this tool and really made this cut a complete non event.
Next was to align T708 access plate to the rib, make sure the holes would have proper edge distance and match drill the screw holes. Remove the plate and cleco the stiffener ring in in order to match drill the platenut rivet holes. I forgot to add i notched the tank attach bracket ever so slightly to allow room for the rib to skin rivets shop heads. With that, I was done for the day. More tomorrow…

  Aug 26, 2022     Tank attach brackets - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Big day of work today. I cut the stock angle to the sizes given in the plans and used a compass to draw the 1 inch radius on them. This thick angle became very hot while cutting it and sanding. It turned out very nice I believe. I also had to form the 2” section of the angle to fit into the inboard rib. An easy way to do this is to use the doubler vans gives us for the interior of the rib. Mark the center of the attach bracket and also mark the center of the doubler. Lineup the center lines, put the top curve at the top of the bracket and trace. Walaa! Cut, sand and deburr.
The instructions have us drill holes in both the bracket and doubler through the inboard rib. A rough diagram for the holes are in the plans. Following that and keeping edge distances where the should be, the holes were marked and drilled. First drilled on the bracket, then with the bracket clamped to the rib, the holes were drilled into the rib. Remove the bracket, line up and clamp the doubler and back drill the holes into that. Everything clamped together to make sure it fit appropriately. It did, Atleast for now.
Now onto the access panel…..

  Aug 21, 2022     Tank/ baffle countersink - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Tank skin completely final drilled and spanwise holes for the baffle were countersunk as per plans. I really really wanted to dimple these but it would make it difficult to place the baffle during sealing.

  Aug 20, 2022     Stiffeners&Z brackets - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished up placing and final reaming the stiffeners to the tank skin. Also prepared and finished the Z brackets which was a breeze in comparison to the past brackets.

  Aug 18, 2022     Tank stiffeners… - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

I finished the evening today with cutting the tank stiffeners, marking the angles, sanding them to size and cleaning up, rounding all the corners/edges. This went much quicker than the stiffeners on the emmpenage. Must be improving my skills….

  Aug 18, 2022     Fuel tank mock up/fit - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Today was a good, long day of fitting the fuel tank and all its pieces to the spar to make sure it aligned. The Z brackets the bolt the tank to the spar just a short time ago in the past came completely un drilled. That meant the builder had to align everything and very carefully drill the holes for the ribs and bolts. Well folks, I'm here to tell you that Vans has stepped up yet again and have begun sending ALL of these Z brackets drilled for every hole needed and not just drilled, but FINAL SIZE hole drilled. This has taken a crap ton of time and head scratching out of this particular build phase. THANK YOU SO MUCH VANS!! Z brackets were cleaned up a bit and platenuts riveted to them.

  Aug 16, 2022     Leading edge cradle and leading edge - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

I built a leading edge cradle to hold both the leading edge and fuel tanks during the construction phase. Leading was clekoed together and placed on the spar. Oooooooo, really starting to become an airplane, and damn is this thing becoming SOLID.
The joint plate strip that goes between the leading edge and the tank came attached to the tank skin, PRE-PUNCHED…. Thank you Vans!!! Everything fit together perfectly and it was nice to see that I indeed straightened the ribs correctly. All holes final size reamed here as well.

  Aug 12, 2022     Wing jig built / skeleton hung - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Over the last few days of time available I built the wing jig, leveled it and attached the left wing skeleton. Unfortunately due to space I will only be able to work on one wing at a time. The center “sag Jack” I built from left over pieces and a 1/2” threaded rod based off of a design from another build log.
The skins were put on the Skeleton and finals drilled. Both top and bottom.

  Aug 08, 2022     Conduit supports riveted - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

Conduit adel clamp supports have been primed and riveted to the main ribs.

  Aug 05, 2022     Main ribs riveted - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Pretty fun day of riveting. Main ribs final riveted to the left wing spar, front and rear. This was a little tricky due to the tight spaces but, if you use some basic blue paint on the manufactured head, tungsten bucking bar and remove the retaining spring on the gun, it comes out very nicely (set at 70psi with normal straight cup set). The last few ribs towards the tip were easily reached with the squeezer. BE EXTREMELY VIGILANT ON THE REAR SPAR WHERE THE RIBS ARE RIVETED!!! Look at the plans, some holes to the ribs will remain open to accept the aileron cap (note the small pieces of blue tape over holes on rear spar). Pretty awesome to see the skeleton complete and happy, minus nose parts. Next up I have to rivet the conduit angle to the ribs and move the assembly to the wing stand I have built( pics elsewhere).

  Jul 28, 2022     Wing wire conduit fab - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings

I have decided to use PVC conduit in each wing to run the wiring for the wing tips, pitot heat, etc. So I have to find a way to run and secure the conduit. What better way to do this than what's in AC 43 for certified aircraft? Is it the lightest and quickest way? No, but it's a proven way. Anyway, I am am riveting a small lightweight 1/8” thick piece of angle to the main wing rib and securing an adel clamp to that with proper AN3 hardware. It is insanely strong and secure. Two 470 rivets to secure the angle will suffice.

  Jul 24, 2022     Ribs complete - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Well I have finally reached the end of the line for preparing the ribs. Now to attach them to the front and rear spars, final drill and deburr them. I also attach the nose ribs to do the same. Whoooaaaa looking like a wing!

  Jul 15, 2022     Uggghhhhhhhh - (20 hours)       Category: Wings

Update to the ribs ……. Finally completed deburring them. Horrendous process of repetition. I will admit that the laser cut parts probably shaved a considerable amount of time from the process. Now onto flange straightening and fluting every rib. With work and such, I'm guessing another week from beginning wing skeleton construction.

  Jul 06, 2022     THE RIBS - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Time to start the ribs…. Noooo, not the tasty ones that smoke for a few hours , but the ones that give the wing it's shape and form/strength. I now have to deburr, flute, straighten and get into all the nooks and crannies of these ribs to make sure they are nice and smooth. An easy but tedious task. Hopefully, it won't take much more than a week, haha.

  Jul 06, 2022     Aileron spars complete - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

With everything dimpled that needed to be dimpled it was time to study the plans in detail to make sure I tape off the correct holes that were not going to receive rivets right now and would be riveted later on and to put the correct rivet sizes in the correct locations. As done before, everything clecoed up and the enjoyment of watching the -4 rivets squeeze with the squeezer. This went smoothly and all of the rivets were able to be reached with the squeezer. As you can see, I dimpled the tip doubler at the outermost holes. The instructions say to countersink here, but after seeing a few others confirm there is no issue with dimpling instead of countersinking, that is the path I chose since the sandwiched material is much stronger than a countersink, especially in the .040 aluminum.Next up is a part I'm not completely looking forward to……

  Jul 02, 2022     Spar doublers F&E/Final drill fork - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

Spent the first part of this beautiful Americas birthday weekend clamping, match drilling the center and tip spar doublers, as well as deburring the holes. I also traced the the aileron push rod hole that had to be cut out. Not sure why this part isn't match holed and precut, but I assume it's part of what goes into the 51%. Either way, it was pretty simple and fun to really fabricate a piece. Between a step drill and the little sanding wheels chucked up in the dremel, it was a fairly quick job.

Due to the scuffing that happened when cutting out that hole, I decided to just scuff up the whole doubler and the corresponding section on the spar for priming. Pretty much at the same time I clecoed the fork and doubler to final reem them to #30. I also final reemed the skin attach holes to #40 since you won't be able to get to them once the fork is installed. They will get dimpled as well, next….

  Jun 30, 2022     Aileron spar construction start - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

On to the aileron spars. First was to deburr these long sombitches and check the plans to mark the correct orientation. Then onto the doublers. The 707 G&D have to be trimmed for the RV 7. The amount to trim is very little, we are talking 30 seconds and sixteenths here. The dimensions are actually located on plans page 38, which you have to access online via your vans profile. I tried to leave just a tiny pinch extra material here because I wanted to make sure (hopefully) not to have a edge distance problem later on.

Everything in this section deburred, orientation marked and trim made. The 707 F&E doublers are un-drilled and have to be placed appropriately on the rear spar before they can be match drilled. The smaller one aligns with the outboard edge of the spar and the bigger center doubler is per the plans 50 3/4 inches from the outboard edge of the spar.

  Jun 27, 2022     Finish tie down and bell crank brackets - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Now that the brackets are primed, I drilled and installed the nut plates. This was easy and straightforward with the squeezer. Now I mounted them to the spar with the associated hardware, installed the aileron bell crank brackets. The bolts were torqued to 25 inlb. After everything was torqued, I put some identification paint goop to keep track of if anything moves or becomes un-torqued. With that, the tie down is complete. Next…..

  Jun 23, 2022     Tie down bracket cont'd - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Now I mount the tie down bracket and the spacers to the wing spar, check several times to make sure that the orientation is correct and back drill the bracket using the holes in the spar with a #12 bit. Nothing too tricky here, just make sure you drill straight .

Disassemble all the parts, mark them and the orientation, deburr everything, countersink the spacers on the side that will face the spar, clean and prepare for priming. I also used the tape trick to hold the spacers in place for drilling.

  Jun 21, 2022     Tie down fabrication - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

First step was to cut out the AEX to the require dimensions in the plans and cut the 1 inch hole. I tried a 1 inch hole saw here and I did not have good luck, i don't know how I screwed it up, but I almost trashed one of the pieces. So I decided to run to harbor freight and buy a 1 inch step drill. This worked perfectly and quickly, I actually decided to cut the hole to 7/8 because I wanted a little more material and it's only lightening holes.

Next I tapped the hole and trimmed the AEX. Drilled the reference hole to align the AEX.

  Jun 13, 2022     K1000-4 platenuts (f-704g) - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

Checked several times to see the proper orientation of the K1000-4 platenuts for the 704-G bar on the spar. Squeezer worked great here. Easy peezy. Just had to countersink for the flush rivets.

  Jun 10, 2022     Countersink/prime/access panels - (11 hours)       Category: Wings

Now that all the nut plates are installed, it is time to countersink for the big ol #8 screw/dimple from the tank skin. This was pretty straightforward as the #30 cutter fit well In the nut plate and kept nice concentric holes, just like vans said. It's almost like they have done this before ;). The wing access panel nutplates also got countersunk after all the #8's were done. Gosh I think that was like 400 freaking holes to countersink, sheesh. Once that was complete, time to spot prime all the open metal countersunk holes. I made a little “jig” to spray primer into the holes ( just a slightly bigger hole cut in a piece of small cardboard with tape on it so the cardboard didn't get soggy from the primer). Worked well and made the job speedy. Ohhh, and to clean/roughen the holes I came up with a little tool to make it speedy as well. I have a video, but it won't load on this site sadly, but I took a screen shot of the video. It's a hex drill extension bit with some maroon scotch bright jammed into the end. Worked grrrrreat! I also deburred, upsized and dimpled the wing access panels.

  Jun 01, 2022     Tank attach nut plates - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

Began the actual “wing build process” which came with a touch of trepidation, I mean each spar is like 3 grand. Yes, the directions are pretty straight forward as compared to the empennage directions, they basically just say attach tank attach nut plates. So you have to ream the holes, deburr them and countersink for the #40 nut plate rivets.

Now we must squeeze them….. but wait, the first few nutplates are angled(cattywompass) so I could not get a squeezer in there well enough so that I didn't half squeeze the shop head. So I had to buck them, which is ok because I like bucking. It was a total pita. Thankfully there are only 5 or 6 and I only had to buck the ones closest to the spar web.

  May 20, 2022     Inventory…Inventory….Inventory - (15 hours)       Category: Wings

Boxes opened, unpacked and inventoried. Whew this has taken a long time over about 2 weeks. Vans packages this stuff so well, they even constructed little standoffs for bailing twine to tie to. I celebrated our anniversary for a few days as well. Finally everything put away on shelves and cleaned up after the unpack fest…. Time to build!!

  May 19, 2022     WINGS ARE HERE! - (1 hour)       Category: Wings

They have arrived!! Shipped via ABF and not a touch of damage during the complete across country shipping. Excellent experience. The wife and I had to carry these 200 pound boxes into the house. Not bad.

  May 11, 2022     Countersinking tips and finish       Category: Wings

I had to countersink the cover for the tinnerman washers and the lip for flush nutplate rivets. I didn't want to use a metal countersink because the fiberglass would pretty much ruin it and dull it almost instantly. I remembered reading about an abrasive 100 degree countersink cutter awhile ago, so I started searching. I found it! The permagrit 100 degree countersink. I searched high and low for a supplier in the US, but no joy. I ordered it from Perma Grit in the UK. Shipping wasn't bad and didn't take very long either, I think about 5-6 days. Wow is this thing worth every penny of the 25 bucks it cost. Beautiful countersinks over and over. I opted for the “no nipple” because I wanted the ability to countersink different diameter holes, which worked out well. If you are even thinking about countersinking fiberglass, just get it!! Anywho, I installed the washers, nut plates and screws. Closed everything up and boy does it look good. It's a lot of screws, but it definitely will not come off haha. Oh and what a surprise, Vans just emailed me and told me the wings will be here in a week!!!!! Way ahead of schedule.

  May 05, 2022     Wing tip continued work       Category: Wings

Next I marked the spot to drill each whole, spaced equally around the inspection panel. I ordered some platenuts, stainless screws, tinnerman washers and some platenut cherry rivets. Maintained edge distance and checked the inside lip for edge distance before I drilled with my caliper. Drilled through the access cover first, then placed it in place, secured it tightly with tape and match drilled into the lip of the wingtip. * the aluminum strips are not installed yet. Next I removed the cover plate and set the aluminum reinforcements in place, held securely with cleco clamps. Drilled into the strips, removed, deburred, scuffed and primed one side since I scratched the heck out of it while cutting them on the bandsaw. Ready to install everything now….

  Apr 11, 2022     Started making reinforcements       Category: Wings

After a long wait to do something that had to do with building this plane, it was great to get back to it. Began making reinforcements out of .o20 aluminum sheet for the #6 platenuts. I used blue painters tape and a sharp utility knife to capture and transfer the patterns to the aluminum sheet. This worked out really well. Cut the patterns out on the bandsaw, deburred and finished them.

  Apr 05, 2022     Zip Tips arrived!!       Category: Wings

The zip tips III arrived after much anticipation. They looked fantastic and were extremely bright. They also will save loads of time and headaches for exterior lighting as these cover everything I need.

  Nov 09, 2021     Rolled LE and FINISH - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Leading edges were rolled ( what a complete pain in the a$$, if I never have to roll another leading edge it will be too soon) I made a rolling tool I saw on VAF. It worked really well except I think the pipe was too big, I'm not sure why they used this size, but I would change the OD to 3/4” or a touch less next time. The rod end bearings were installed to the prescribed depth and the elevators were hung. WOW, it legitimately looks and acts like an airplane piece. Unbelievably the elevators balanced pretty much spot on. I did have a slight rub on the inboard side of the elevator at the last degree or two up, which was pretty simple to fix with a little seamer bending. Well after a few months, it is complete except for the obvious fiberglass and drilling the horns, but that will be later. I have really enjoyed building so far and I am very excited to receive my wings but vans is way behind, so hopefully soon. I purposely drug my feet a little towards the end of the emp kit in hopes the wing kit would arrive, but it hasn't happened. So that's it until the wing kit arrives, hopefully in a month or two.

  Oct 29, 2021     Attached trim tab - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Attached trim tab to the elevator, drilled and riveted trim hinge. This was somewhat tricky, do make sure you use a straight edge (aluminum angle or similar) to align the TE of the elevator to the trim tab. Also the plans say to leave a minimum 3/32” gap between the inboard edge of the elevator and the outboard edge of the trim tab. To easily accomplish this I bought some cheap tile spacers. Make sure the gap is at 3/32 when the tab hinge is pushed as close as it will go( the slop in the hinge side to side) After completely attaching and riveting , everything moved freely and looked good to me.

  Oct 18, 2021     Trim tab assembly and rivet - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Assembling the trim tab went pretty smoothly, it was a bit of putting it together and seeing how to sequence the riveting so that it came out correctly and I was able to as many regular rivets as possible. I assume doing it this way, using the riblets, is a whole lot easier and less of a headache than trying to bend the tabs up and down in a slippery jig. I am happy with this and would not think about doing it again. The trim control horn had rivets that would go through the riblet as well so I to account for that. For the rivets I could not do with traditional rivets I used MK319-BS pops. I was able to get the squeezer equipped with the longeron yoke around the trim tab spar in order to rivet it to the bottom of the skin. I also affixed the tab to the elevator with the hinge as a test fit.

  Oct 12, 2021     Closing up the left elevator& beginning trim tab completion - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

With the trailing edge bent correctly or as close to perfect as I could get them, it was time to rivet the left elevator together. This went pretty smoothly and easily as everything was reached with the squeezer. As before I had the FAA inspection Ferret check the work, which passed. Next was to move onto the trim tab which as you may have read earlier is going to go together a little bit different because of the riblets I fabricated. So I had to stray away from the assembly instructions for this part.

  Oct 06, 2021     Left elevator riblet and trim servo - (5.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

So that I don't have to worry about destroying my elevator or trim tab, I have chosen to fabricate riblets instead of attempting to bend the tabs. This went together fairly easily. It is a bit tight, so I'm sure I will be using MK319 rivets in a couple of the holes. All in all that location should be significantly stronger due to the riblet, not to mention easier. Lots of other builders have done this before me with lots of success. I also worked on drilling the trim servo to the cover plate, dimpling the holes etc. The front two holes (closest to the notch) had to be countersunk in order for those rivets not to interfere with the servo when installed. I decided to use the NAS rivets with the small head for those two rivets so that I didn't get a knife edge with the countersink. I also smashed those rivets just a smidge past “perfectly set” for clearance. Servo installed and nylon nuts tightened.

  Sep 25, 2021     Right elevator complete - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Right elevator completed. All rivets placed, everything was able to be squeezed except for the aforementioned 4, 426 rivets. Obviously ill have to roll the leading edge, install the control rods and do the fiberglass. Speaking off rolling the leading edge, I took a screen shot of a “tool” that was made and posted on VAF. I'm going to try it and see how it works.

  Sep 16, 2021     *****Right elevator flush rivets under horn******* - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

I deviated from the plans here where they tell you to countersink E 702 spar for the flush head rivets that go under the elevator horn for the E709 rib. I even had a discussion with vans technical support and they agreed that dimpling these holes would be acceptable and he actually stated that it would be a better idea to dimple instead of removing material. I will say dimpling the 709 rib would have been almost impossible without the close quarters dimple die set that you use with a rivet puller. You will have to buck these rivets because a squeezer wouldn't fit into that curve. In the end it worked out well and I believe much better than the original instructions.

  Sep 06, 2021     Right elevator skeleton/end ribs - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

I assembled the right elevator skeleton, including getting the E703-E704 connected and clecoed to the E713 skin. Boy, what a dooooosy getting the 713 holes to line up with the rib holes, this took way way longer than it should have. The 714 lead weight was drilled and countersunk. Skin final ream, debarred and dimpled.

  Sep 03, 2021     Bending the elevators - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

Went to lowes and got the straightest 2x6x10 I could. Its nice that the price of lumbar has come down. I built the bending brake and bent the elevators so that there was no bulge or bow. I think I got them pretty close, but I will make finer adjustments once everything is clecos together. After reading some things on line, I went with an 1/8” dowel rod to get the appropriate radius. Seemed to work well. I didn't really have much of an issue bending the edges, they went pretty smoothly and easily.

  Aug 18, 2021     Elevator trim reinforcement plate - (1.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

The trim plate was final drilled to the skin. Plate nuts were riveted on. I deviated from the plans and went with a small countersink for NAS rivets with the smaller head instead of dimpling the reinforcement plate and plate nuts, which is light years easier.

  Aug 17, 2021     Elevator stiffeners - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Spent some time cutting, shaping, deburring all of the elevator stiffeners. Quite the task, but it went smoothly and was easy. I then fitted the stiffeners to the corresponding elevator and final drilled them.

  Aug 16, 2021     Rolling the rudder leading edge - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Started rolling the leading edge with a Libman broom handle. It was working well until I got several blisters on my hands. I was able to get all of one side and the top portion completely rolled before I had to leave it for a few days and let my hands heal. Ugh, this damn rudder….. on to the elevator until I can get back to this.

  Aug 10, 2021     Trailing edge time - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

I started the trailing edge by taping the 3M tape to both sides of the wedge and leaving it to cure. I then followed the directions in section 5 and thankfully got it so the tape was stuck to both skins and the wedge. I then clecoed everything to a piece of aluminum angle that was previously drilled and let it set for about 4 days to cure (4 days because I had other things going on). I removed the angle, double flush riveted according to section 5 and using the angled dies from Cleveland for the pneumatic squeezer. Maybe not perfect but I think it will work. Onto the leading edge.

  Aug 04, 2021     Rudder skins on - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Time to rivet the skins to the spar and the skins to the counterbalance box. This went well. Although I forgot the top 3 (on each side) of the top of the spar before I blind riveted the top rib on. Grrr this rudder has been a total pain in the a$$ from the start, I will be happy when its over. After consulting with tech and double checking with them, they best plan was to drill out the LP4-3 and rivet those missing rivets . They were pretty tricky to get to to buck since I only have the 3” yoke, but came out very well. Time to rivet this thing up and be done with this part. On too the trailing edge riveting…… ohhhhhh boy I'm sure that will be a joy.

  Jul 30, 2021     Rivet the rudder skeleton time - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Not much to say here other than I riveted the rudder skeleton together. Some of the 470 rivets I had to use a mixture of the squeezer and bucking. The counter balance “box” was riveted and notches were cut in the lead weight to make room for the shop heads. The nut plate strip was riveted and it came out very nicely. I went down to lowes and bought a drimmel drill bit cutter to notch it out. Worked well. Maybe removed a touch too much, but it should be ok. ** After cutting this I stumbled upon a tip with these led weights I will be trying on the elevators. That is just to squash the lead into shape instead of removing material.

  Jul 25, 2021     New TE wedge in - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

After a couple weeks waiting for this part to arrive, it was time to tackle this again. In order to do this right this time, I purchased the single flute countersink cutter from Cleveland tool and did an extensive amount of research and practice. I kind of did this in two parts. First I used the 3 flute cutter on one side of the wedge in the drill press running at 300 rpm. I then flipped the piece over in the jig and used the single flute cutter in order to avoid chatter. I also needed to have the cutter pilot up against one of the edges in the jig so that it would not wobble around. After very slow and methodical cutting, I was left with a piece that is cut clean and looks good. What a pain.

  Jul 15, 2021     The TE wedge…. - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

So now it was time to countersink the dreaded trailing edge wedge. I did this using the jig I purchased from Cleveland tool. This did not turn out very well. I sent Vans tech a picture to make sure it was acceptable and it was not. So, I had to reorder my first part, a new trailing edge wedge. 50 bucks after the part and shipping, as well as a 2 week wait. Bummer! The issue was I may have went too deep as to try and have the skin lay flush against the wedge. Vans says this will result in a too deep countersink. They sent me a diagram to illustrate this. The other issue is the 3 flute countersink cutter chatters quite a bit when the material gets so thin.