Left Tank Closed Up HOBBS 385.5 hrs

Over the weekend I tackled those fuel tanks once again. I was determined to get at least one of them closed up and ready for a pressure test. I was successful, finishing off the left tank and starting the finish-up work on the right.

The last steps were screwing the access cover in place and sealing it up followed by the rear baffle and tank attach brackets. All went pretty well, its pretty straightforward but it was still a fair amount of work to do those tasks. I then came back later and added ProSeal to all of the shop heads on the baffle and the pull rivets on the tank brackets.

I have been letting the ProSeal cure for the last couple days so it is now ready for a pressure test. Unfortunately I am leaving town tomorrow to visit the folks out in WA and eat some of dear ol' Mom's good cookin'! So, the pressure test will have to wait 'til after turkey day.

All together now, lets chant..."no leaks...no leaks...no leaks!" We shall see...

Have a safe Thanksgiving, and as one of my builder friends, Sean told me the other day..."we've got much to be thankful for...don't we?" He's definitely right on about that.

Here is a shot of the left tank mounted on the wing (looks cool eh?). I wanted to do a fit check after I got it sealed up just to give me a warm fuzzy because there is not much I could do at this point if it didnt fit. I will tell ya I was nervous for a minute as it was a pretty tight fit. The buildup of primer on the attach brackets along with the ProSeal most likely contributed to this. So, my advice is keep it to a minimum if you are doing it like I am. But, tight is good...as my old construction boss, Buster used to say, "tight is right". :) I attached the tank and let the ProSeal dry like this overnight. Not sure if that made any difference...but thats the way I did it.

Lakota Sue HOBBS 377.5 hrs

I try to keep this blog mostly about the build process, but I also use it as a sort of journal to document what is going on in my life (or at least the significant happenings) so that I can look back at this 20 yrs from now and remember. Well, this post has nothing to do with airplanes.

Yesterday afternoon I had to put my trusty dog Lakota, and loyal companion of almost 15 yrs, down. She was named after the proud people of the Lakota Sioux, the western-most tribe of the Sioux Indians. I always have had a great respect for the Native American's of the 19th century. The name of my plane, which I have already picked out, will also reflect this 'Lakota Sioux' theme.

We were inseperable for all those years, she was literally my shadow wherever I went. You might imagine how attached a single guy and animal lover might be to his canine sidekick. She was an amazing dog and she lived a long, happy life with good health right 'til the end and I take great comfort in that fact...but even with that being said, it was still a very tough day for me. If you're a pet owner and have ever had to experience this, you'll know what I mean.

RIP old girl, you did it right and your companionship will be sorely missed..."there will be others, but never another"

How To Build Your Own Airplane HOBBS 377.5 hrs

Here is a rather amusing video posted on Bob Collins blogsite that I frequent. Enjoy and KPR!

Torque Seal Application HOBBS 377.5 hrs

In my last post I showed an application of torque seal for my aileron attach bracket. One of my readers, Pat from CA, pointed out this EAA homebuilder hints video as a good reference on how to properly apply torque seal. For those of you who dont know about this series of videos, you are certainly missing out, this is a wonderful benefit of being an EAA member with lots and lots of great information. Check it out if you havent already.

So after watching this, it appears the opinion of this gentleman is to not apply the torque seal directly to the threads. Sounds like a good idea but as an Engineer, I tend to question everything, I apologize but its my nature. My only argument against this idea is, at least in this particular case, the entire bolt/nut assembly could turn even though the nut hadn't loosened. You would see a movement/break of the torque seal but that wouldn't necessarily mean the nut was coming loose. My goal is to know if the nut, independent of the bolt, has moved. Applying it the way he instructs may or may not accomplish this. One counter-argument is, if its torqued properly, the amount of pre-load on the bolt will be sufficient to prevent the bolt/nut assembly from turning? I plan to test this theory in the shop. I will also research this more for my own sake...as for other builders, as I always say, its your butt...your call. My advice if you are uncomfortable about this is seek out someone ( EAA Tech Counselor) who is knowledgable and you trust and ask them, or do further research like I am.

By the way, many thanks to Pat for bringing this to my attention. Discussion is always a good thing. Anyone who sees something in my posts that doesn't make sense, feel free to post a comment or email me about it. As I always say, I am no expert when it comes to building airplanes, just learning as I go just like you. For me, the learning is half the fun! ;)

Flaps and Fuel Tanks HOBBS 377.5 hrs

Last week I acquired a new toy, an Apple iPad. My laptop had grown pretty old and decided to go TU so I figured, lets buy an iPad. I had heard that they were great in the cockpit, so that made it a lot easier to justify. I am still feeling out its capabilities, especially for flying, but so far it is a pretty amazing device...its a "game changer" in my opinion. So, what does that have to do with building an RV you ask? Well, I spent all of my weeknights playing with it so I didnt spend as much time working on the plane. Anyhow, I will keep you updated as to what I think about it for aviation purposes. I can tell you the free weather apps that I have downloaded are quite amazing...flight planning just got much more convenient.

This weekend, I still logged 7.5 hrs in the shop working on the fuel tanks and flaps. Yes, the fuel tanks...gosh these things will never end! :) I think I am ready to seal up the left one...attach the baffle and the access cover and then pressure test it. The right tank should follow closely behind.

Started the left flap construction. The instructions say, this is the easiest assembly on the wing. So far, I would agree with that statement. Not much to it, especially at this stage of the game...your building skills should be getting fairly advanced by now. A control surface like this is now a piece of cake...much different than when I first gazed at the elevator and stumbled through that.

Here is my fuel tank access hole, and also the place where I mistakenly installed 10-32 nut plates instead of the correct 8-32 nut plates. Click on the next pic for more detail.

Unless I am missing something obvious, this is a little confusing. Dont go by the pictorial representation of the nut plate like I did. The picture looks just like a 10-32 nut plate, but the callout correctly says 8-32 (K1000-08). I am leaving them as is, the access plate will be plenty secure on my plane. ;) So, thats why I had to order new nut plates from Van's...those buggers are about 0.50/ea so it wasnt a trivial mistake as I ended up ordering $17 worth of nut plates. doh!

And here is where all of those 10-32 nut plates went...left fuel tank attach brackets (Z brackets)

Here is a quick shot of my aileron trailing edge. I just wanted to note, I am not too proud to put pull rivets in the last hole. To try and drive a solid rivet in this small space is just silly in my opinion. I will use my filler to make that appear to be a solid rivet later on. Nobody will ever know...at least if they didnt read my blog they wouldnt. :)

Another shot of the aileron. A quick note, my policy in the shop is, torque it and immediately apply torque seal...that way you know later upon visual inspection...if its got torque seal, it indeed has been torqued...no questions asked, no mistakes.

The left flap getting assembled for the first time

Van's say you can build a jig to hold your flaps if you want, but its not necessary. Well, I thought...heck I have the materials laying around (those end pieces are on old desk that I disassembled) and it took me about 15 minutes to slap it together. Voila! Glad I did, it really helps when assembling the structure and certainly will be helpful when riveting it solo.

The continuous hinge (piano hinge) match drilled to the flap, this will attach to the wing structure later

Fabricating the attach bracket, you have to put a 6.3 deg bend in this bugger in a later step. I went too far and had to bend it back slightly. Beware, 6.3 degs is not much of an angle. You dont want to bend these things back and forth too much...it will work harden the material and it could crack, now...or worse, later.

Hole layout...

Happy Monday Morning! HOBBS 370.0 hrs

Browsing the VAF site this morning, I noticed this RV7 aerobatic video and it was pretty funny to watch. Check out the passenger's facial expressions and his headset mishap, you could probably guess this is the first aerobatics he has experienced. I personally have only done aerobatics once in my short flying career, in a 200 hp RV8, and boy was it a hoot! :) Pretty exhilerating to say the least. Enjoy your week.

Ready to Roll! HOBBS 370.0 hrs

Finished up the right aileron this weekend, as I suspected, it went much quicker than the first one. So, now my airplane is ready to roll! :) For anyone reading that is unfamiliar with aircraft design, the ailerons are control surfaces attached to the wing that, when actuated by the control stick, cause the airplane to roll about its longtitudinal axis. See the aileron wikipedia link for more detail.

Had a rather unexpected visit from one of my cousin's on sunday. He was coming through Denver and had a lengthy layover at DIA so I picked him up and we spent the afternoon tossing back a couple cold ones and talking about the old times. He and I used to tear it up pretty good when we were younger men. :)

My order of misc hardware showed up on friday from Van's...did a quick inventory, everything present and accounted for. This included my extra nut plates and some misc AN833 fittings (blue) for the ER tanks. I will still need another order to complete the ER tanks but this will get me started.

Here is what the aileron looks like before closing it up. The bottom side (visible) has CS blind rivets and the top side uses -426 rivets. So, you have to reach your hand and bucking bar into the enclosure to buck the -426 rivets and then the last step being to close it up with the blind rivets. Its really not all that bad if you just take it nice and slow and having a small tungsten bucking bar certainly is desirable. I did this completely solo as well, a helping hand might be nice if you have it, but its definitely possible to do it alone.

On a previous post I showed an 'after' picture of the trailing edge...and forgot to post a 'before' picture. So here ya go, this is what the trailing edge looked like before I tweaked it. You can see how the edge is rounded and falls away from the straight edge. Thats not desirable and is why we tweak it to straighten it up.

Aurora HOBBS 363.0 hrs

http://www.vansairforce.com/

http://www.vansairforce.com/


Here is another fine looking -7 from Doug Reeve's Van's Airforce for those of you who dont frequent the site. Brian Carroll is the proud owner/builder and her name is 'Aurora'...nice job Brian and congratulations. Must be a heckuva feeling to finally have an airworthy airplane instead of a pile of aluminum. This is ironic, my mom's name is Aurore, but she is often called Aurora so I'm definitely liking the choice of name.

Right Aileron HOBBS 363.0 hrs

Got another work session in last night on the right aileron, its clicking along nicely. I think I have worked on the plane six nights in a row now...on a nice roll. The streak will end tonight though, I have to attend class at CU.

Once you've built the left, its pretty easy to do the right one from memory. Its pretty interesting to see how the workmanship goes up the second time around...at least for me. Its so difficult to do a task for the first time ever and do it well. Try and think of anything in your life you did really well the first time? So as always, aim for perfection, but dont be too hard on yourself if you miss the mark on the first go 'round. A safe plane is what we're shooting for first and foremost...anything beyond that is gravy in my opinion.

One thing I wanted to note to other builders...when I was peeling off the blue plastic on the left aileron, the force of pulling the plastic put very slight 'kinks or buckles' in the leading edge of the skin. I was much more careful on the right one and it came out a lot nicer, nice and smooth...just beware, it doesn't take much. Again, purely cosmetic, but if you can avoid it.

Shampoo HOBBS 361.5 hrs

Building a symmetrical airplane is much like shampooing your hair...lather, rinse, repeat. I spent a couple hours on the right aileron and the right fuel tank tonight...and I somehow had to wonder, havent I seen this movie before? ;) Groundhog day. No pics, you've already seen 'em! KPR!

Aileron Trailing Edge HOBBS 359.5 hrs

Got a quick work session in last night. Tweaked my aileron trailing edge into shape and then started installing the capacitance plates and vent line into the right tank. The aileron trailing edge is kind of important so that you have it nice and crisp and not rounded. Otherwise you may have a 'heavy wing' when you fly. I got this tip from Paul Dye on the VAF site. I was happy with the results, kudos to Paul. My only recommendation is take it slow and easy and sneak up on it, if you bend it too far you cant bend it back. Aluminum, unlike steel (which can handle a tighter bend radius), is not as forgiving of minimum bend radius before it starts to crack, so keep this in mind. Too tight is not good. When you are done, you should be able to lay a straight edge over the surface and see...you guessed it, a nice straight edge. I didnt include a 'before' shot...but it was not straight before tweaking so mission accomplished.

On a seperate note, I went to the Van's website last night to order my nut plates. I thought, while I am at it, I will restock some of my misc hardware and buy some extra AN833 fittings for my ER tanks at the same time. Shoot, when all was said and done I had a $118 hardware order!!! Yikes, building airplanes is not cheap! I suppose most readers already know that, but it never ceases to amaze me how it adds up.

Nice Looking -7 HOBBS 358.0 hrs

Here is an RV7 that I like, some of the paint scheme is similar to ideas I have for mine. This photo was taken from Doug Reeves VAF website as the October wallpaper. I dont know who the owner is, but my guess, from the photo credit is a Mr. Dave Welsh (or maybe he was just the photographer?). Nicely done, splendid looking bird whoever the owner is.

http://www.vansairforce.com/