Apr 14, 2024     Firewall and aux longerons - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Had a couple co-workers (Sean and Josh) come up to lend a hand on the build. Finished all the extra side skin drilling into the aft section, added the 904-L straps and hung the firewall. Firewall is now drilled and I am working on the auxiliary forward section longerons and stiffeners. Adding the firewall really has it looking like it is coming together. (Things are busy outside of this build, so it may be a little slow going for a while)

  Mar 26, 2024     Longeron drilling complete - (5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Over the weekend I made the canonical bend on the side skins to meet the aft fuselage. This was a little nerve racking as others have said they cracked the skin at the front end of the bend. I think they ended up fine. Then I was a drilling machine for a couple hours to drill all the holes in the longerons I guess I really do have a lot of clecos at this point. ~153 inches each with a hole about every inch. That will be a whole lot of countersinking and dimpling!!

We have some travel coming up and I will get working on adding the firewall to finish out the forward fuselage.

  Mar 17, 2024     Moving to the garage! - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Assembly day with Chris going back to college we had to get this done. I barely could get the tail out of the basement without taking the door apart (whew!). With the longerons ready, time to start putting it all together. The fuselage gets a lot of work done upside down and will be built out to the firewall in the coming weeks. But it is looking like a recognizable structure now. Van's does a great engineering job with all the pre-punched holes that all line up. Very satisfying/reassuring to be able to just put in clecos.

  Mar 14, 2024     Bending the longerons - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Chris helped me finishing the bends on the longerons and putting on the SIL parts. We still have to do the downward bends and the twist, but that will be easy compared to these bends.

  Mar 09, 2024     Added the crotch strap tie downs - (4 hours) Category: Fuselage

I found the crotch strap kit for a 5 point harness. Since I have the parts, I might as well add them. I realized I couldn't complete this without an aviation right angle drill. I found a good used one on ebay but had to wait for it. Worked like a charm and I am sure I will need it in the future.

On to start bending the longerons!

  Feb 19, 2024     Completed the Rudder Pedal Assembly - (9 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Still waiting on warmer weather to start the big parts in the garage. So I fabricated the rudder pedals and have that ready to go. Once the forward fuselage is complete, I just will need to drill the bolt holes for the rudder pedals. I was happy to have my 82 yr old dad helping me put these together! The one picture shows my clamps to get the alignment straight on setting the pedal angles before drilling the brake cylinder holes.

  Feb 08, 2024     Completed Seatbacks and attachments - (9.25 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Completed assembly of the seatbacks and attached the hinges to the seat floors. Lots of measuring and drilling. Had one small dent right at the end. ugh. Tried rattle can paint on the seat backs as this may be my color for my cockpit. Need to see what the interior cushion colors will be to commit to painting more parts.

  Jan 29, 2024     Skipping Ahead - (2 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I don't want to work out in the garage just yet, but I want to make progress. Shannon and I went and picked parts for the seats and the rudder pedals. Those look doable in the near term. Working the seating first.

  Jan 04, 2024     Center Section Assembly - (14.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Lots of work on this one. Not sure where the time went on this entry, but a lot of fitting and fluting and such. Everything is primed and riveted. It is starting to look like a plane for sure and cockpit. Next step is to mate this with the aft fuselage. I will wait until it starts getting warmer first before moving to the garage. I think I can do some flooring and seat work in the meantime. The last pic has the flooring in place to see how it is all looking.

  Dec 09, 2023     Center Section Prep - (6.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Laid out all the seat ribs and baggage ribs, fluted and squared the flanges. Began cleco'ing the ribs and the seat back bulkhead. Attached the skin with Shannon's help and match drilled the skin. Next need to do the 623 ribs and attach the fwd 904 center wing box. It goes together quickly, but there is a lot more to do!