Jun 06, 2023     New Rear Fuselage Cover - Final Fit - (.75 hour)       Category: Fuselage

Added 1/4 inch plywood to fill gap between the seat back and the fuselage cover. Final fitting, sanding, and rounding of edges on newly constructed rear fuselage cover. Looks MUCH better.

  Jun 06, 2023     Building New Rear Fuselage Cover - (1.4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

My problem was created by three factors. 1. My seat back slipped a bit during glueing and is not 100% perpendicular to the fuselage sides. 2. The seat back isn't set far enough aft. 3. Primary issue... Is that the kit is sent with CNC cut corners. These need to be filed square! When I constructed the rudder/elevator assembly the did not fully seat due to the rounded slots. This has caused the tail assembly to sit aft by approximately 1/4 inch.

The three issues above cause the distance between the front of the seat back and the forward edge of the elevator to be 11 7/8", this created a significant gap for the rear fuselage.

Obtained a 12" x 12" piece of 3/8 inch plywood from WoodCraft in Cincinnati. Although the wood looks amazing, it is fairly brittle and hard to work with. That and the piece came at 11 7/8" x 11 7/8 inches. Juuuuuuussssttt enough. Not happy but it will work.

$15.07 in plywood from WoodCraft.

After MUCH sizing, filing, and sanding it fits... Still need to finish sanding and rounding sides.

  Jun 04, 2023     Temporary Fit/Installation of Wings / Drilled Dowel Bolt - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Installed wings with countersink screws, trimmed edges to match rails. Drilled 1/4 inch holes in wings and fuselage cross support for the 1/4" x 2" metal dowel bolt.

Note - Instructions say to remove the fuselage cross piece while fitting the wings. You do have to remove the cross piece to drill the 1/4 inch hole, but because I have not yet installed the instrument panel it was critical to clamp the fuselage in the position where the cross member would be to ensure that the wings aligned properly.

Finally looking like an airplane!

  Jun 03, 2023     Sanded Wing Leading edges - (4.3 hours)       Category: Wings

Fitted, clamped and then sanded, with an orbital sander, the right wing leading edge. What a pain! After fitting the wing, I clamped it into place. I then assumed that I would need to take the wing off due for stability, so I sanded the root to match the fuselage cross piece. I was actually able to sand the rest of the wing while still clamped in, but it was very hard to match the contour "working your way down" on the wing.

For the left wing, I again fit in place, and clamped. This time I acted like a "pass" grinder, sanding the full length of the leading edge with the same angle and pressure each pass. This gave a much better edge.

Both wings took exactly the same amount of time at 2h10m each, but the second one was much more enjoyable to do with a better result.

  Jun 02, 2023     Installed Firewall / Nose Supports / Nose Mount - (1.25 hours)       Category: Firewall

Fit and steamer installed firewall. Glued and screwed into place. Installed nose supports and nose mount.

  Jun 01, 2023     Install Fuselage Right/Left Side Support Rails - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Fit, cut, left and right support rails. Glued and clamped. After rails dried, installed under rail pieces, glued and clamped.

Sanded rails and slots to fit wings in place and level with cross fuselage support.

  May 30, 2023     Sanded Trailing Edges & Installed Wing Doublers - (1.25 hours)       Category: Wings

Sanded the trailing edges of the wing doublers and glued to wings.

  May 30, 2023     Mount Tail Reinforcement & Tailwheel - (.75 hour)       Category: Empennage

Glued and installed tailwheel reinforcement, and tailwheel.

  May 30, 2023     Sanded Tail Dowel Flush - (.25 hour)       Category: Empennage

Sanded Tail dowel flush to sides.

  May 29, 2023     Bell Crank Support Installation & Doweled Stern - (1.25 hours)       Category: Empennage

Sand fitted and installed Bell Crank Support with Barb's assistance. Installed 1/2 inch dowel for tail wheel support through stern.

Note - Had to use Dremel to cut slot in the back of the seat support. I missed cutting this prior to the installation of the seat back. Don't make this mistake again!