FTG Car Show & Aircraft Display HOBBS: 120.0 hrs

Onward to the left elevator! This sub-assembly is chewing up the hours. I ended up logging 10.0 hrs on the project this weekend, by far my highest weekend total in quite some time. I actually hadnt intended to spend that much time on the plane as I had other chores to do, but gosh, it has been a lot of fun doing this part of the plane and I just became engrossed in it. The chores can wait. ;) I am progressing along, but because of the complexity and a little less than explicit instructions in the plans, it is taking a little longer than previous sub-assemblies. I bent my elevator trim tab this weekend with...all together now...mixed results!! Sound familiar?? :) It was a little tricky at first but I got the hang of it pretty quickly. Pics and a detailed description in the next post.

Saturday I made the 10 min drive from my house out to Front Range Airport (FTG) for an annual car show and aircraft display. I have been to this for the last three years and it is mostly a small affair and more about the cars than the airplanes. This year though, they had quite a few more cars on display, someone said 500? Not sure about that, but noticeably bigger. They also had some flying displays this year, some light aerobatics by a Sukhoi and flyby's. Nothing too elaborate, but hey, it was free and a good way to get out of the shop for an hour or two.

As I was looking at the airplanes on display...the usual stuff...Remos, Pipers, Glastars, Carbon Cubs, Cessnas, Maule's, a couple warbirds, etc., I came across a really nice looking RV parked on the ramp. It happened to be the only RV out there which was rather surprising, and low and behold it was an RV7...and upon closer inspection, very nicely done construction. I also really liked the paint job, as you can see from the pics, it looks pretty snazzy. I snapped several pics on my iPhone and then the owner, Ron Davis, came up and we ended up talking RV's for about 30 minutes. Funny how RV owners and builders can talk for hours about their planes! ;) Nice guy, flies for United, and absolutely loves his RV. He also got his paint job done locally...so I was quizzing him about the details of that. Always nice to see planes out flying and talk to the owners about building...inspiration to keep chuggin' along!

Right Elevator Finished! HOBBS: 110.0 hrs

Lately quite a few things have been competing for my time this summer and taking away from building time. No complaints though, it has been a fun summer and the wing kit will be waiting on funds anyhow so there really is no hurry at this point. But, with all that being said, I have recently got back into build mode and realized how much I had been missing it. It really is a great way to spend free time, it gets the gears turning...the mind working and the hands busy!

Did I mention Band Aids are a key element in any good shop!! :) I have a knack for getting small cuts and scrapes as I work. Every project has to have a little blood, sweat and tears to make it your own!

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, the right elevator is essentially done. I have a couple missing rivets on the trailing edge that I couldnt reach with any of my bucking bars. I think I am going to order a 'no die' thin edge yoke for the squeezer and I will revisit this later. I think this will solve my ongoing trailing edge riveting issues I keep running into. It runs about $125...always about money, but hey, its a tool...you cant go wrong investing in tools. Take care of them and they will last a lifetime, or if need be, sell 'em for and you almost get what you paid for 'em. No worries when it comes to tool purchases.

The right elevator construction was mostly a non-issue since it is just more of the same skills and construction I have been doing all along on the empennage. The only new task was using my new homemade 2x6 break to bend the trailing edge. Then I tweaked it with my hand seamers to get a nice crisp edge. All in all it turned out pretty good, my only complaint was rolling the leading edge. Because there was slightly less room to work with, the seam didnt turn out quite as tight as did the rudder. I wont lose too much sleep since it wont be visible on the finished airplane.

I have now started the left elevator and this HOBBS figure represents some of the time spent on that task. I can already see that the left elevator with the trim tab and electric trim is by far the most complicated assembly of the empennage, and for that reason, I have found this the most enjoyable. More on this on the next blog entry.

A view of the lead weight used for counterbalancing the elevator. I will adjust the weight of this later in the project after paint.


This is the control arm 'horn', this will attach the right and left elevator together so that they move as one unit.

A good view of the 'shop head' side of some rivets holding on the reinforcing plate and a platenut. This is where the elevator will attach to the horizontal stabilizer.

And a view of the 'factory head' side of the same parts....
Here you can see some 'monster' tape (like duct tape but stronger) I used it to hold the seam closed while bling riveting. I used some RTV inside the seam for a little extra holding power, not sure if this did much good. It wasnt in the plans and I hadnt seen anyone else do it, but it was an idea I came up with and I thought it was worth a try and couldnt hurt anything.

And here ya go, another sub-assembly in the books!!! Only one more to go for the empennage! Progress is being made... :)

Young Eagles HOBBS: 100.0 hrs

Currently working on the right elevator, which is mostly done. I have a couple of those pesky rivets near the trailing edge that arent installed yet. I will probably just do like I have in previous examples and just substitute blind rivets in these locations rather than drive and buck rivets in such a tight space. Since I will be blending my fiberglass tips into the skins, the blind rivets will be covered anyway. I will post pics in the next blog entry.

And a small woo hoo!! I have reached 100 hrs on the project!!! Long ways to go. :)


This weekend I was invited to help out with a Young Eagles event at FTG. My friend Scott Mills (RV9A) tipped me off to this event and asked if I wanted to help. Young Eagles is an EAA sanctioned event where pilots volunteer their time and aircraft to take children for airplane rides. The goal is to promote aviation to the younger generation--the next generation of pilots. EAA set out with the goal of flying 1,000,000 children. They have easily surpassed this milestone and are still clicking along as strong as ever. Actor Harrison Ford is the chairman. I really am a fan of this program as I think, sadly, too many kids never get this oppurtunity and I have always wanted to attend one and volunteer my time. I hope to someday participate with my plane when its finished.

It was a real kick! The children were attending some kind of aviation summer camp sponsored by our local museum, "Wings Over the Rockies". There were about 30 kids ranging in age from about 8 to 12 yrs old. And for almost all of them, this would be their first small airplane ride. One set of parents told me their son hadn't slept at all the previous night because he was so excited! That's priceless in my opinion. My job was to assist with the ground crew. I would safely escort the parents from the terminal out to the ramp where their child was just returning from their flight...which was a perfect front row seat! Of course, the parents were all out there camera in hand to snap photos of the 'ear-to-ear' smiles on their little faces as the prop spun down and they exited the aircraft. It was great to watch and I received many thank you's from parents and grandparents as well! I commonly heard the phrase, "I cant believe you guys do this...it is so nice". Thats pretty cool to hear, even though it wasnt my plane or AvGas that was being donated. :)

I asked all of the kids in my informal post-flight briefing how they like it and it was almost the same for everyone...'Awesome!', "Cool!", "loved it!". I was able to witness their eyes light up and listen to them describe to their parents how they got to actually take the stick and fly! The pilots sure seemed to do a great job with getting them involved in the flight, hats off to them.

I was impressed with the overall setup and organization of the event. Rudy Kniese of local EAA chapter 301 was in charge of running the deal and did a very nice job, it was a smooth and safe operation. All of the kids got a personalized computer printed certificate with their name on it, signed by the pilot and of course Harrison Ford. It was pretty funny to watch one of the kids jump up and down with joy that he got, not the pilot's signature as you might expect, but Harrison Ford's!! haha! Finally an 'official' photo was taken with their plane and pilot. On top of all that, they also got complimentary logbooks and some aviation education software donated by Sporty's to take home. EAA has done a great job with this program and I am happy my membership fees help support this.

Of course, after everything was over with the Young Eagles, it was flying time for the big kids! Scott, Gary Zilik (RV6A) and I flew up to Greeley for lunch and then the customary fuel stop at Platte Valley for some cheap 'go juice'. After we got back to the hangar we sat around and had a few beers and did some hangar flying. I helped Scott wipe off the thousands of bugs we picked up while flying and then I had to skeedaddle...I had Rockies-Cubs tickets for later that evening. What a great day!!!

Here is a shot taken with my iPhone as Scott taxied his RV9A by with his first Young Eagle of the day.

Pause for Oshkosh!! HOBBS: 95.0 hrs

I havent done much work on the project in the last couple weeks. Part of the reason was the planning and buildup for the annual pilgrimage to Oshkosh, WI for AirVenture 2009. This was my third trip to Oshkosh and Samira's first, and once again, it didnt disappoint. Its really hard to describe the magic of attending Oshkosh, all I have to say is if you like aviation you have to do it at least once. It is like 'Disneyland' for aviation enthusiasts. The largest and greatest celebration of General Aviation in the world. Approximately 650,000 people attend every year along with 10,000 planes flying in from all over the world. 30,000 people camp right on the showgrounds at Camp Scholler, and we were among them.

Highlights included getting to see the brand new Airbus 380 and 'White Knight Two', the launch aircraft for 'Spaceship One' which is the civilian space vehicle. We also attended the comedian/ventriloquist Jeff Dunham show the last night we were there at theatre in the woods, he was quite good and the place was jam packed. Estimates put the crowd at 10,000+. The weather was cooler than previous trips I have made with daytime temps only in the mid to upper 70's and getting downright chilly at night. I actually enjoyed the cooler temps most of the time but I do wish I would have brought a sweatshirt or light jacket for the evenings. Our first full day was a day of almost non-stop rain...we had rain gear and did our best not to let it slow us down but by the end of the day, I was worn out by it. Thankfully the next day was gorgeous so all was forgotten. Other than that one day, the weather was pretty good. They had a little better food this year, we ate at a new place called the 'Vintage Cafe' a couple of times. I actually had a pretty darn good steak dinner there one night. And low and behold, finally some alcohol was served. After 6:00 they also served beer and wine. We shared a botttle of wine one night, which was also pretty tasty.

It was a nice pause to attend Oshkosh, definitely stoked the fire to return home and pound those rivets!! I cant wait until the day I can fly my plane there, wow, that'll be quite amazing. Each time I saw one of the RV's take off and depart the area, I told Samira, a little piece of my heart goes with each one as I wish it was me up there. Being on the ground at Oshkosh is torture for someone who longs for the sky!

It didnt get any better than sitting outside in great weather, watching warbirds fly overhead, eating a good steak, drinking a bottle of wine and having a beautiful woman to share it all with. Pinch me!!! :) I am truly living the dream!

Samira did great and we shared a lot of laughs over the course of 5 days, bless her heart she never complained once...when time after time (in the rain no doubt!) I said lets go look at this airplane or lets go browse through this aviation hardware tent. Hats off to her for being such a trooper!! :) I will have to do something nice for her for putting up with my aviation obsession.

Ultralights flying directly over our camp every morning and evening, cool stuff!

Our 'home' for five days...

If I were ever lucky enough to have two airplanes, this would be my second steed! CubCrafters Super Sport Cub. Hey, a guy can dream cant he?

Statues near the museum.

A Salem, OR based RV, my birthplace...very pretty plane!

The Van's tent...

My first trip to the seaplane base, very pretty area.

My first choice for an engine, the 210hp IO-390. Sure is purdy!

An award winning RV7 on floats, very nicely done...and it was for sale!

Posing for a pic at the new entrance...

The famous 'brown arch'...

Self portrait in camp, having a bottle of wine

Two beauties....aaaaw

Our last nightcap at SOS Bros 'BeerVenture'...we stumbled across this tent bar right near the museum on the outskirts of the showgrounds. Live bands every night, big fire and alcohol which is not sold on site except after 6:00 at one location.