Ron's RV7 Factory

Canopy Prep Work HOBBS 1131.5 hrs

2012-02-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Just a real quick update to let you know whats been going on in the Factory lately. First off, the hours have decreased slightly now that school is back in session. I have only logged 11 hrs in each of the last two weeks. Down a little from my productive stretch over the break, but this was anticipated as my school workload came back into play.

But have no fear, we are still pressing the attack and on schedule. When I got my finishing kit, as you know, I excitedly jumped right into cutting the canopy. Now that I have that behind me, I realized I have some prep work to do before I can glue my canopy in place with SikaFlex (much more on this later). So, that has been occupying my time in the shop lately.

First order of business was to finish riveting the canopy frame together. As you can see, I haven't riveted the red anodized support brackets yet, that will come after painting.

I was playing around with panel layouts since I need to decide on a strategy so I can modify the mounting ribs behind the panel...the ones that get in the way of any glass panel you install...you'll see what I mean later.

Getting the cross support bracket behind the seats and the gussets finally riveted in place. Dont forget the two -426 rivets.

Roll bar attach brackets bolted in place...ready to receive the roll bar.

Riveted the canopy latch in place and then assembled the mechanism. As you can see I painted this side skin as the CAD interior side panel will have some access holes here and I didn't want bare alum showing.

Riveted my small attach pieces in place as I get these ready to rivet them onto the canopy frame structure.

Not sure if I previously mentioned it, but I bought some Sherwin Williams JetFlex interior paint for the cockpit. This is standard issue, satin black. It took me a handful of batches before I got the mixture right (big, paint learning curve!!) but it is now laying down pretty good. Here you can start to visualize how its going to look in the end.

And another 'to do' item is to finish up my rudder pedal assembly. First task was to paint over the factory 'off white' powder coat. Make sure you scuff up the powder coat good before doing this. I have learned that scuffing (surface prep) is crucial for good paint adhesion...don't skimp on it.

Fiat 500 Commercial HOBBS 1109.5 hrs

2012-02-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched the Super Bowl, not so much that I had a rooting interest in either of these East coast teams although I did make a friendly wager with my pop on the Giants just to make things more fun. It was an entertaining game and of course, as you know, the Giants did in fact beat the Patriots to become 2011/12 world champions. The other reason for watching, of course, were the commercials--which are sometimes better than the game.

This particular one for the Fiat 500 made me stop in my tracks with my jaw dropped much like the guy in the commercial...if you seen it, you probably know what I mean. Not just because of the stunning woman, Romanian model Catrinel Menghia, or the fact she didnt speak a word of English in the entire commercial. But it was also the colors that caught my eye...I have, from day one, the utmost confidence my airplane, in a black and red paint scheme is going to be one sexy looking gal--but probably not as sexy as Miss Menghia looked in black and red! ;) wowza, nicely done!

And for some useless trivia...here is the translation of what she had to say...

"What are you looking at?! Are you undressing me with your eyes? Poor guy, you cannot help it? Is your heart beating; is your head spinning...Do you feel lost thinking I could be yours forever?"

RV7 Video HOBBS 1109.5 hrs

2012-01-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

I saw this very good RV7 video posted on VAF...nicely done by these gentlemen...and a nice looking RV7 as well--even being a 'slider.' Enjoy...just in case, you still need inspiration to build one of these 'sports cars' of the sky. ;) Looks like a lot of fun doesnt it?

The 'Big Cut' HOBBS 1109.5 hrs

2012-01-30T09:55:00.001-07:00

Although this week's hour total was down (10 hrs), it was a grand week nonetheless. Saturday morning I successfully made the 'big cut'! To you new builders, the big cut is the cut that splits the canopy in two. It is one of the more common areas to inadvertently crack your canopy so its stressful to most builders. In addition to the added stress of doing it...it is considered one of the bigger build milestones. I started out Saturday morning with the intention of doing it Sunday...spending Saturday getting the canopy trimmed up and everything ready to go for a fresh start Sunday. But...everything went so well that I was ready before I knew it and thought..."why not today?" So, after a little bit of deliberation I jumped into it! The anticipation was off the charts...excited but nervous.

First things first...I needed to prepare the "operating table" for this delicate procedure on the patient. Plexi likes warm temps and gets cranky when its cold. My shop temp on Saturday morning was 60 degs. Some guys wont cut their canopy until they have it 80 degs in the shop...as you'll see, I think that's overkill...with a caveat. No doubt, warmth is good for the plexi...I used what I would term "local anesthesia" rather than "general anesthesia". No need to heat the entire shop...just the plexi. I drilled a clearance hole in the center of the operating table for my small space heater cord. This ended up being plenty sufficient as the plywood directed the heat directly onto the plexi...just to give you an idea, it was toasty to the touch during the cut.

Get the canopy cut close to the size you want...doesn't have to be perfect, in fact Van's says it will shift slightly after the big cut so don't final cut it to size yet. Just close enough to get a representative fit. Here is my rough cut line on the front.

Once it is trimmed up well...position it correctly fore and aft and on centerline. Double check everything...mistakes cant happen during this process.

I strapped it in place once I had my positioning correct. I marked the cut line down the center of the roll bar. Once this was done I then installed the rear canopy skin over the canopy to trace the line where the skin overlaps the canopy.

Mark this as a "no cut" line for reference....just to be safe, I also put it in red. Cutting that line by mistake would render the canopy junk!

With everything marked for cutting...carefully move the patient back to the operating table. The idea is that NOTHING moves during the cutting process. The table will take care of most of this, but other precautions should be taken. Van's instructions are very good and I followed them almost exactly. In this photo you can see I added a piece of duct tape across the bottom span of the canopy to keep it from springing out during the cut.

Duct tape is added on either side of the cut line to keep it protected from a slip. Position the canopy so that you can make the entire cut without having to reposition the canopy during the cut...this is very important to think ahead, before starting the cut, so you can achieve this.

I deviated from Van's instructions slightly here. They say you can start your cut where you want...but not in the center. I did just the opposite...I actually started at the center. The most stress in the canopy will be at the center as the sides try to spread. My thought is cut the high stress area first. But with this process, as shown, it is probably fine either way....your call. It is very important to add additional tape as you progress with your cut...this keeps the canopy in place with absolutely no stress (on the canopy...plenty of stress on you!) or movement during the cut.

Try and keep your cut line as smooth as possible...if your initial cut is rough with jagged steps, it will add stress concentrations that are undesirable...think smooth with all cuts even though you will dress the edges later. I say, dont even introduce them in the first place. Once I finished the big cut, I did the aft trim while it was still taped together...easier to work with it in this state.

Once I had the aft trimwork done, I just took a razor knife and cut my tape (which was the only thing holding the two pieces together at this point) and pow...we now have a split canopy. Let me add that all of the support tape made it so that nothing moved even when the cut was completed...that is your goal...the canopy doesn't even know it is now cut in two! :)

I finally took care of these sharp ears that overlap the canopy. These are a pain and scratch the canopy during fitting if you're not careful...I may cut these off later, but for now they stay. I opened up the hole at the end of the slit so that it could spread around the plexi better and also (although not shown in this pic) took a file to that sharp point and rounded it.

And back on the fuse (see how the "ears" fit over the canopy)...dang, this is looking good. I was pretty ecstatic at this point...I actually can't remember a time in the project that had me this excited! I was stoked!

Posing for a self portrait to mark the occasion....

For guys/gals that are considering the tinted canopy (#2514), here are some contrasted photos to show how dark the tint actually is. It really is pretty subtle...I held it up to my eyes out in the sun and it wasn't much tint, but enough. I don't think it will be any problem for VFR night flight.

Later in the night I had my traditional cigar and a couple beers and a shot of Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey to celebrate this big day (don't forget to celebrate your milestones along the way!). All in all, this cut really turned out to be a piece of cake. Be careful, work slow and follow the instructions...but really if done properly, its not a big deal. (Disclaimer: I can say that because of all the guys that went before me and passed on their experience...that is valuable for a successful outcome). So, in the end, the "Big Cut" turned out to be the "Big Easy" for me...KPR!

Cutting has Commenced! HOBBS 1103.0 hrs

2012-01-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

After re-installing my riveted canopy frame and then jacking with it for quite awhile, I was ready to throw my plexi canopy in place. Back to the canopy frame for a minute...I tell ya, that bugger was just a touch frustrating and I fear that it is a sign of things to come. I read someone's recent post on VAF where he said something along the lines, "he had a discussion with his frame, until he finally won the argument and it relented..." haha! I had a similar "discussion", it was weird, it looked good one minute..take it off, make a seemingly small tweak, reinstall and it was now way off! WTF?! So, back and forth I went until I liked how it was fitting. Once that was done...heck, lets get to it!

And here it is...some builders are pretty fond of this moment in the build--so I was also very excited to see it on the fuse for the first time. It was kind of anti-climactic for me personally. First, it was pretty difficult to get it lifted in place by myself (highly recommend you get help for this if you have it readily available...I kept waiting for that chilling 'pop' that signifies a cracked canopy!). So all along, I was kind of getting that dreaded feeling I sometimes get when I am flying...of "do I know what the heck am I doing?' And then once it was in place, as you can see, it really doesn't fit all that well initially as there is a fair amount of trimming ahead to bring it into shape. So, yeah, kinda cool...but not really that great....have no fear though, it gets much better... :)

Ok, so now I had it in place on the fuse...marked my centerline and some initial rough trim lines. It now dawned on me that I had no place to put said canopy for trim work. I pulled out the top cover of the finishing kit crate that I still had laying around (Van's sure does use good plywood for shipping crates!). I also used the same 2x2's from the crating that were wrapped in cardboard...I placed these 43" apart to hold the spread of the canopy. I think it is very important to have a good stable fixture like this to secure your canopy during cutting. This setup worked perfectly...cheap and easy too.

Again, I wrestled the canopy off the fuse and onto my newly made cutting table...and again, sweating bullets that it was going to 'crack' as I awkwardly moved it into place! As I worked more with it throughout the night, I relaxed a little...in this state, it appears to be pretty stable. Just don't add a stress riser and then move it...or all bets are off.

On that note, I recommend all builders approaching this phase to read fellow builder Bruce Swayze's account of cracking his canopy...and how easily it can happen. Kudo's to Bruce for being man enough to post this for all the world to see so we can all learn from it. There was a time during my cutting that I was tempted to reposition my canopy during a cut...and I thought of Bruce's experience and said to myself, "don't you dare"! So, thanks Bruce...if I get through this without cracking it, I owe you a beer! :)

Before I get into the cutting portion...let me add, again, this is about a $1200 part so I was a little apprehensive during this entire work session for obvious reasons. Mess this up and its a very expensive mistake.

Ok, deep breath and away we go...this was my first cut...along the front edge. As you work along, don't let the cut portion of plexi dangle behind you...use clamps to keep it in place...you guessed it, no stress risers. Let me add, the shop was only about 65 degs and I did nothing special to heat the canopy before cutting. I used Van's cutting disc supplied in the kit...cut it like butter and I would recommend it. These first cuts were really not a big deal, quite easy really...just keep the stress off the canopy as you work, your fixture should do this for you...cant emphasize that enough. After my first cuts I'm thinking this is no big deal...another 'overblown' part of the build by some builders. I'm going to try and make sure I don't get over-confident, but so far so good. We'll see if I'm still singing that tune at the end of the process...?

My centerline...if you look close, you can see some index lines about 1" apart (front and back) that I figured were indicating the center of the canopy...it came this way from the factory. Taking measurements to verify, they looked like they were indeed center. It is very difficult to know for sure though since the canopy edges are not symmetrical coming out of the mold so you have nothing consistent to measure from side to side. This will do for now...hopefully I can adjust this later if needed?

My rear trim line hand sketched...I left a strong 2" from the edge. Make sure you have the canopy is positioned very closely to where it will reside (front to back) if you are going to cut it this close. In hindsight...I maybe should have left a little more leeway to be safer?

NOW, things are starting to look fricken cool! After trimming the front and back it already it starting to take on that cool sleek look that I like so much with the tip-up canopy. Note: make sure you smooth all edges...i.e., remove all sharp edges before moving this bad boy out of your fixture. Its a little bit of a pain because in the back of your mind you know you are going to be doing more cutting later so its kind of wasted work...but you gotta do it to be safe, spend the time.

After carefully dressing the edges...I lifted it back onto the fuse...its already a little lighter, smaller and easier to move, which is helpful if you are doing this solo. Here is where I had my glorious moment...big 'RV grin' here as I stood back and looked at it! That's looking pretty sweet don't ya think??

An obligatory pose with my night's handiwork...this was an exciting work session and stage in the build.

Canopy Frame HOBBS 1099.5 hrs

2012-01-24T14:09:00.000-07:00

Logged another solid 22.0 hr week. Notice I am now just tickling 1100 hrs...wow, that was a fast 100 hrs since clocking 1000 about 6 weeks ago. This is a screenshot of my time tracking spreadsheet...I know, I'm sometimes quite anal. :) The blue line shows my weekly hour output and the red line shows my running average. As you probably know, I started this tracking 16 weeks ago when I made the prediction I would have this thing flying a year and a half from then (or by April of 2013). To do that, I plan to average 15 hrs per week until completion....this pace will yield 750 man-hrs a year....no small feat, but should get me to where I want to be. This is harder than it sounds...15 hrs is admittedly a little grueling for me...luckily I'm enjoying the work. :) But as you can see, the good news is I am right on target so far with my average.

Alright, with the anodized side canopy rails riveted in place...it was now time to tackle the canopy frame. First order of business is making some 1/8" and 7/8" spacers. I used some 1/8" alum scrap and used my old trick and cut some PVC for the larger ones.

I felt like this was kind of an important part in the project for me as I start into the canopy...so why not get a couple pics...of me! :)

Checking the curvature of the side rails...clamping the side skirt in place...the curvature looked pretty darn good right out of the box. I tweaked them ever so slightly...but not much.

Getting the roll bar/canopy piece in place...this took a little bit of doing to get it just right. This is where the 7/8" spacers reside (under the 4 clamps)

Van's says to adjust the flanges to 92.5 degs...here I am checking where I am...this was repetitive...check, remove, tweak, check, remove, adjust...etc

I got it pretty darn good...as you can see...its not easy, but important. Final adjustments will be made when the actual plexi canopy is in place but the closer you get the frame the better. Less adjustments or shims later...at least in theory. I have an aching feeling this canopy is going to be a bugger to get a nice fit. Oh well, the journey is gonna be fun...and rewarding!

I used some scrap angle and a piece of scrap 0.032 sheet to simulate the plexi and the side skirt. Oh...also, I realize I need more clamps!! I will have to make a hardware store run soon to stock up...the canopy is going to take a lot of them I'm thinking?

Getting everything lined up nicely before committing to drilling holes...lots of checking and double checking...

Alright, lets drill some metal! These are the first ones I did...through the splice plate on the other side.

After getting it drilled...you then remove the cleco-ed frame and do some more work to it to shore it up. First is to make these cheesy little wedge spacers. These are a pain. You can get an idea from this pic how mine turned out.

And this pic shows where it resides. I didn't push this baby all the way up...see the slight gap? It would have to be razor thin to get all the way in and I just didn't see the need to kill myself doing it...I almost lost a finger or two belt sanding/filing these to this point! ;)

This was one of my modifications to stiffen up the attach point for the side rail, much like I did on the canopy support roll bar....some 0.062" in this case. One of the complaints with the existing design is it tends to be floppy when lifting it from one side. I'm hoping this will help with that. It was a good idea, but my execution wasn't too stellar as you can see that the holes didn't come out centered. That is where it fit on the plane...when I had it all clamped in place and back-drilled the side rails they came out this way.

And now that I have it riveted back together...I put it back on the fuse. Next step is lowering the plexi into place for the first time...followed by my first trim cuts as I start down the long road of working the plexi into its final shape. I spent a long day Sunday getting the canopy frame done and was just too exhausted to put the plexi on yet even though I was excited to do so. I just didn't want to do it in my tired state and risk doing something stupid with that $1200 piece of plastic...so next session I will lift it into place and we'll be off and running.

This is a funny pic to me...my canopy has been sitting in my living room since I received it. This is the beauty of being a bachelor RV builder!! I can just hear a wife nagging me to move that damn thing.... ;) but its very, very faint...almost imperceptible. KPR!

Red Anodize HOBBS 1082.5 hrs

2012-01-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

Friday afternoon, on my way home from work, I swung by the anodizing shop to pick up my parts. I was downright giddy to see how they all turned out. Upon first inspection, my excitement fell away with a thud. Let me explain...

I was quite disappointed in the job the shop did. There were several areas of dark color....it almost looked like when I do alodine and don't rinse the parts properly. And the color itself looked more like plum or maroon than bright red--although that may not be under their control. They claimed the dark spots were because of the Alclad...I'm not buying it, if that was the case, all of them would be consistent and they weren't. On top of the fact, I removed all of the Alclad on the cosmetic surfaces...to be honest, I don't think they really knew what Alclad was judging by their questions. I just think their QA was shoddy. My business is worth $100 to them...chump change in the grand scheme of things. And yes...I realize I could've thrown a fit...bitched and moaned about it until they fixed it, but thats really not my style for something so petty. I'd just rather be pleasant than a jackass, the world could use more pleasantness I think. :)

After the initial disappointment wore off...and I got them home, they started to grow on me...maybe they weren't 'THAT' bad?? Bottom line is, I really don't have much desire (time, effort) to have them redo them...I can live with them as they are...it will add to the character of my plane, it was never intended to perfect and its not like it looks horrible. Take a look for yourself, see what you think...is my disappointment overblown?

As you can see, from a distance and quick glance...they look pretty good...not so bad huh?

But when you look closer, you see the dark areas I mentioned...these parts were the worst of the bunch. On the bright side...and yes, there is always a bright side, its 'artistic'...kinda gives it a 'rustic' look eh? :) Ok, maybe I'm reaching...

You can see it here on the edges...click to enlarge

The good news is the rudder pedal parts came out almost perfect...was happy with these.

And after some careful riveting...I had four fully riveted rudder pedals ready for install...cool eh? I will probably be afraid to put my feet on them later for fear of messing them up, but whatever...onward.

I bought some black UHMW tape from Grainger for a few odds and ends on the plane. Does that look like a roll of 5 yds?? Its a little pricy, but you can get it in black if you desire...most places, including Van's sells it only in a translucent color...that turns yellow in the sun.

So, my first application was to add it to the angle attach brackets for the canopy side latch. Just stick it in place and then trim to fit with an exacto knife.

I cut out these holes for the washers...but later removed the washers as I didn't like the size of the rather large gap and how it felt when I rotated the lever--grinding metal to metal. Sliding on just the UHMW tape was much better so I think I will leave the washers (spacers) out.

And the sub-assembly ready for riveting...well, pretty much (I need to work out details on how the spring attaches to the bolt which wasn't clear in the instructions)...I will say the action of the mechanism is very good as it snaps in place convincingly. I really felt like I got my money's worth with this after market product...much, much nicer than the spartan stock version IMHO.

And now, the moment I've been waiting for...riveting these bad boys in place...again, carefully as to not mar the surface with the rivet gun. I used rivet tape and it worked fine...not a big deal. Again I sealed these for water leakage before riveting them in place...although I didnt use ProSeal this time as I wasn't in the mood to mix up a batch, I used the same paint-able silicone I used on the static ports (and later for the antenna's), should do the same task...much easier.

If you look closely at this pic, you can see that I had to drill out all of the pop rivets holding the side spar caps on. I needed to do this to access the rivets directly above them on the side canopy rails. I just got out of sequence here because I was waiting on getting my canopy rails anodized. They were easy enough to drill out...just a waste of time and money...certainly far from the worst thing that has happened on the build so far.

I will note that there were at least two or three rivets on each side that were...how should I say...lets go with...'a bugger' to get to. I could think of some much more colorful words to use, and I actually did use a few of them in the shop...but hey, this is a family site so I'll leave it to your imagination. ;) In the end, I ended up getting pretty clever to buck them and all is well now. I used the end of a 7/16" dia stainless steel rod on one and a 1/4" steel plate for the others that I had laying around the shop. Keep in mind, if you're clever...and you are...there are a lot of things laying around the shop that can be used as a bucking bar in a pinch.

And lastly, I saved some of the 'blue death' to wrap them for protection while I work on the canopy. This was satisfying to get done as it starts to take its final shape...now onward to that canopy frame!

Red Tails HOBBS 1082.5 hrs

2012-01-23T10:07:00.003-07:00

Saturday night I organized a group outing to go watch the new Lucas film, Red Tails, about the Tuskegee Airmen (TA). I jokingly called it a 'hangar movie night' without the hangar. In attendance were Bryan Raley (RV8 empennage) and his son Adam, Gary and Carolyn Zilik (1600 hr flying RV6A), Sean Thomas (RV7 empennage...recently ordered his wings!) and his girlfriend Diana along with prospective RV8 builder Scott Taylor (who contacted me through VAF...nice meeting you Scott!).

All in all, I think everyone in our group enjoyed the movie and the evening...the theatre was packed, which was surprising and cool to see (second grossing movie of the weekend at 19 million). I enjoyed it as well but would only call it good--unfortunately, not great. Let me add, its pretty difficult for a pilot that is passionate about aviation, WWII fighter pilots and the P-51D not to like this movie and see it on the big screen.

****spoiler alert---dont read further if you havent yet seen it and want to be surprised******

My only complaints were the storyline didn't evolve much and was a little shallow and predictable (guess who dies in the end?), the villain was cartoonish and the conflict between the hero was left undeveloped, the love story a little unbelievable (I know, I know...who cares about the love story!!??), a couple of the CGI flying scenes showed an air combat maneuver (Cobra maneuver) that is aerodynamically impossible for these planes...but hey, its Hollywood...and the casual movie-goer wouldn't even be aware of this impossibility so I can let that go. There were some historical inconsistency as well, the TA actually flew the P-51C model, rather than the P-51D model which was shown in the movie. I cant complain though...the 'D' model is much sexier!

On the plus side, at least half the movie was flying scenes...so plenty of flying action, which is never a bad thing for a pilot to consume. Even though a lot of them were CGI, they were very realistic. Cuba Gooding, Jr. is one of my favorite actors and I liked him in this. Even with my minor gripes, I would recommend it. I would just say, sit back and enjoy it and dont overanalyze it like I did! Topping it all off, as usual, the company was great...thanks for coming out guys/gals!

Lastly...I do like the color of choice of the Tuskegee airmen...in case you werent aware, 'Red' is where its at! The color red is associated with lust, passion, love, beauty, and danger.

Red Anodize Prep HOBBS 1082.5 hrs

2012-01-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

Fellow RV7A builder Bruce Swayze, someone I have actually never met face to face, and is mutual friends with the Zilik's and Mills's, gave me this idea. I am doing a red anodize finish on not only my rudder pedals, but also my canopy side rails, upper canopy support brackets, along with a few other misc parts. Bruce was great, answering all of my questions as I fired them off to him by email several months ago. I've said it before, but again I'll say, it sure is nice to have great people willing to share their time and expertise for other builders. You will find a lot of the "pay it forward" mentality with most builders. This is a great hobby with some fantastic people involved.

The thinking behind this strategy is, I will have a red paint scheme...I've always liked the look of anodizing...it has good wear characteristics...and if I don't like the way it turns out (doubtful) I can always paint over it and I would just be out the cost of the anodizing...not the worst thing. I will post more on this later when I get the parts back from the anodizer...just an update that I took my parts in Monday afternoon. So, hopefully later this week I will get them back...I'm pretty stoked about this, cant wait to see how they come out!

I had my mind made up that red anodizing was the way I wanted to go for the reasons already stated. My only dilemma was...what do I do with the surface to prep it? Usually you will see parts "timesaved", which gives it a nice uniform grained look. Its kinda like using a big belt sander on the surface...purely for cosmetic reasons. Since my parts were already formed (i.e. not flat sheet metal), timesaving probably isn't viable for me. Bruce just left his untouched and he said it looked good, but that any defect in the surface will definitely show. So...I thought, why not "DA" (using a Dual Action orbital sander) the surface...that will give them a uniform appearance and kinda looks cool to me with the swirls...should catch the light for a exotic appearance. So, that's what I did...and it sure looks cool to me...we'll see how it translates to the red anodize finish?

I got the parts prepped and then put a new sanding disc in the sander so it would look uniform for all pieces. After sanding for awhile, the paper loses its bite and has a very subtle, different look which I wanted to avoid...it starts to look more matte. So, keep a fresh piece of sandpaper in your sander...swap out often to keep it consistent.

Remember, you can click on the photos to enlarge them...wadda ya think? Will that dog hunt?? ;) (haha....some 'good ol' boy' humor from my past)

Again, I am a nervous wreck...as I dropped off this box of parts to the Anodizer, I felt like I was dropping off my kids at the baby sitter. Please, please take care of my babies and return them safe and sound and in one piece!! haha! And dont lose any of them! Later this week we'll see the results...cant wait!

Canopy Latch HOBBS 1077.5 hrs

2012-01-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here we are, after another productive week...I'm starting to make a habit out of this....progress has been excellent lately. ;) With the three day weekend (MLK day) I had an extra day to work on the plane. I've been a ball of energy and enthusiasm lately. I keep saying it, and it bares repeating, I am really enjoying this stage of the build...finally starting to do some actual finishing work, building mechanisms, etc...a lot of excitement for sure.

This week I tackled installing some of the features used for the canopy latching mechanism. As you probably know if you're been reading along, I decided to buy an after market latch from JDAir. I have no regrets on this purchase, good product and good customer service.

These are the brackets that will hold my struts in place. I started fabrication of these but didn't get completely finished. I just need to locate the attach points and I should be good to go...that can wait.

Shifting my focus to the canopy latch. Here you can see the process of fabricating the attach angle brackets that will hold my latch in place. One is done...

For the other, I just did a mirror image and traced the cutout and match drilled the holes. I will note that the 1" diameter hole probably isn't required for both top and bottom brackets (omit the bottom) although I think the plans say to do both. Not a big deal, with side panels it wont be seen on my plane...but it would save you a little work. I will just consider it a weight reduction! :)

I picked up this 1" diameter rotary file at the fly market at OSH last year. It was used and cost me a couple bucks. It was very useful for this little project of adding the 1" cutout and earned its keep already. Handy tool to have in the tool box.

Here you can see the sub-assembly taking shape. This will rivet to the inside of the fuselage. JDAir has .pdf installation drawings on their site for this...and let me add, they are nicely done. My only gripe was that the "full scale" 1:1 template was not actually full scale when I printed it out. Not sure why? Maybe some scaling issues when it was converted to a .pdf. This template is supposed to be used to properly place your cutouts for the latch. It would have been nice to have, but I worked around it...very, very carefully.

Here is the aforementioned cutout layout. I checked everything very carefully...double checked...verified...measured not twice but several times before committing to cutting metal. Yeah, I was a nervous wreck! You just don't "replace" a fuse side skin at this point in the build. It is imperative that there are no mistakes. I could patch a screwup I suppose...but man, I sure didn't want to go down that path.

The cutting into my beautiful fuse skin begins....oh boy! Are we having fun yet! Err on the side of cutting the opening smaller and then open it up gently with a file so you can sneak up on your finish dimensions. Keep doing sanity fit-checks to make sure you are in the right location and have the right size.

Take a jewelers file to smooth out your opening...gratuitious FAA shot.... ;)

Now that the hole is cut, I have my latch sub-assembly clamped in place. Since the template wasn't working for me, my strategy was to cut the holes for the latch first. Position the sub-assembly precisely inside the openings and then match drill the rivet holes for the attach angles. Worked well. Did I mention to be careful....? Work slowly and deliberately....

Coming together...I still had some very subtle filing to do for me to be happy, but this was pretty close to done in this pic. You can also see I have now drilled my rivet holes. All in all, it came out pretty darn good. It doesn't look like it was machined--it does have a hand-crafted look to it, but I'm ok with that. These are the things that make your plane your own...not a machine's. One other note, realize that your reveals (gaps) will need to account for paint thickness so don't make them too tight.

This is the powder coated hooks that will secure the canopy when the latch is actuated. The plans say to "bend" the hooks if necessary to get them to line up with your access holes. I didn't like this strategy...seemed kinda hokey. First of all, they were pretty darn close with no modification. One side was getting hung up though. My strategy was to file the leading edges to remove the sharp points. By doing this, you eliminate catch points. Worked slick. I'll paint that exposed area later.

Putting it all together before cutting the attachment alum rod (seen in pic below) to length and then tapping both ends.

And the finished product...this was cool, being a Mechanical Engineer, I really enjoyed the Engineering involved in the mechanism and the linkages. And the best part is it worked like a charm! This was a satisfying bit of work...and also one that I am glad to have behind me, it was a little nerve wracking as I mentioned.

Interior Baggage Compartment Lighting HOBBS 1061.5 hrs

2012-01-10T13:10:00.005-07:00

Spent a little bit of time installing LED lights--baggage compartment 'dome' light and a map light that I got from Stein in my last order. Although I am a big fan of LED lights (low cost, low power draw and they last forever) I wasn't overly impressed with the light output of these two guys. It'll be fine for what they need to do.

I'm still fiddling with this and how it will look, but you can see I fabricated a cover for the structural member. This cover isn't included in the kit.

I bought this AC DC switching power supply about a month ago just for stuff like this. This was another great tip from fellow RV7 builder Sean Blair. I hooked this puppy up to my lights and fired 'em up for a test run. Worked great!

Shielded, 3 conductor wire I ordered from Stein for my tail/wing strobes. Does this look like $65 worth of wire?? :) Expensive stuff, but worth it so you don't get EMI in your system.

Aft Fuse Skin HOBBS 1061.5 hrs

2012-01-09T08:14:00.002-07:00

This weekend, I tackled getting the aft fuselage skin riveted in place. I made sure I had everything attended to in that area (static ports and routing, wire routing for the tail strobe, etc) of the fuse and figured it wouldn't hinder me to rivet it now. I also wanted to get this riveted so I could do finishing work on my empennage fairing as the cleco's were in the way. So, here are some pics...

Before I get to the aft fuse skin...here are a few shots of my work on the forward canopy structure. After bending the flanges that I showed in a previous post, it was now time to add flanges to the lightening holes....a little more tricky. After considering more creative (ie, complicated) ways to do this, I ended up doing it exactly how Van's suggested....very simple, but effective, as you can see. Just cut a 1/4" notch in a piece of scrap wood and bend them carefully by hand. In this pic, you can see a before and after shot. I liked how this came out. I just took it slow and easy and was very deliberate. Don't try and bend it in one pass...I typically did two to three gradual passes to get the full bend angle I wanted.

When I was doing this task, it dawned on me how much I enjoy stuff like this. Things in the build that you have to do by hand...it takes a steady touch, concentration and some genuine workmanship to get good results. All of which are right up my alley. I also noticed, muck like my Dad, that I had my tongue hanging out while I deep in concentration!! haha! I had to laugh when I noticed this...but hey, Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player who ever lived, did it too! Anyhow, when I thought about it...whenever my tongue is hanging out, I am very much enjoying myself...lost in the moment. From here on out, it'll be known as the "tongue factor"! ;)

Now that the flanges were done and I got them match drilled and cleco-ed, I shifted to fabricating the little attachment pieces.

Here they are cleco-ed in place...looking good. Some dimpling, edge/hole prep and sanding and these should be done...ready to send to the anodize shop before I rivet them in place.

Ok, now, finally the aft fuse skin. As with most (but not all) of my fuse skins, I am using ProSeal on the overlapping joints. Just for added water and air sealing and also contributing to a better structural joint and less vibration...not really needed, but just a nice touch for my airplane. Mind you, I didn't ProSeal the seams on the bottom of the fuse...I actually want those to leak water if possible. I have recently read about guys putting drain holes in the bottom of the fuse...It certainly makes sense but I need to research this further (I dont think Van's recommends it?) before I commit to drilling holes in my fuse. Drain holes or not...I would rather keep water from entering my fuse if possible, so that's why I did the ProSeal here.

And, after some laborious solo riveting...stretching, grunting, sweating...I got 'em all but these three rivets on each side. The seat belt attachment bracket resides right there and the bolts were getting in the way. I think I will just remove the bolts...rivet it and then rebolt it back in...I'll do that later, this will work for now.

Now that the skin is riveted in place I shifted my attention back to my empennage fairing. I mixed up a batch of 'flox', added some to the inside of the fairing in areas where I needed to close up some of the bigger gaps. This will give me nice a precise fit tailored exactly to the shape of my aircraft...I will do this again with some West systems fairing mixture (micro will also work) for the finishing touches. By the way, I do have clear box tape protecting the skins....hopefully it will peel right off when I remove the fairing for sanding.

Mounting My Tires HOBBS 1050.5 hrs

2012-01-06T14:52:00.001-07:00

Like a little kid...I wanted to mount my tires, even though I wasn't really near being ready to put the plane on its gear. I figured this would be a fun little side project.

After some deliberation, I decided to go with a little bit larger tires than the stock 500x5's that Van's suggests. I wanted a little extra tire surface and diameter for the occasional foray into a grass strip (like Johnson Creek in Idaho...its on my aviation bucket list) or even better control on asphalt. I realize the RV's aren't Super Cub's but I have heard the taildraggers do just fine on grass strips...and I plan to use that utility. In addition, I want added diameter which translates to added stopping power. [Edit 01/09/12: After thinking about this statement, its true, but not in this application. The larger diameter must occur at the source of braking. So to get added braking power, I would need to increase the wheel diameter to a 600x6] With my ER tanks, I want all the advantages I can get for a possible aborted takeoff fully loaded. I already upgraded my brake calipers so this fits into my strategy nicely.

I first thought about putting 600x6's on but my research showed that I would have to modify the axle to do this. I really didn't want to be modifying things if I didn't have to.

Searching the VAF archives, I found several instances of guys putting a metric size tire on with good results, 380x150/15x600. The cool thing about these is they are a direct drop-in replacement. Use the same 5.0 in wheels and tubes, but you get 1.0 or 1.5in (??...these measure 15"...not sure about the 500x5's...some say they are 13.5"...some say 14.0"...I, of course don't have one to measure to verify this) increase in diameter and 1.0in increase in width. And they only add 1.5lbs for the pair (I have not verified this either, just going off another builders notes). So, to me, for my intended mission...this is kind of a no-brainer. It all depends on what your mission is for your plane.

As with almost everything on this project...I had to do some research...to educate myself. I had never mounted aircraft tires before or even seen it done. Figured it couldn't be that tough...right? It wasn't, but the research was helpful. And now I can check this off the list of things I now know about...best thing about building one of these is the education you get along the way. I really enjoy that aspect.

So, first thing I learned...the red dot should line up with the valve stem...

Add talc to the inside of the tire so the tube will easily slide and not bind or pinch. I don't know if they sell something specifically for this, but I figured good ol' baby powder would work just fine as the ingredients say "talc, fragrance". I tried to find a non-scented version...but no joy. Now my airplane smells like a babies bottom! ;) And let me say, it worked just as advertised...the tube easily slid into position when partially inflated.

And there ya go...I threw some air in them, torqued/finalized the bolts (90 in-lbs) and set them off to the side for another day. Although I'm not ready to put it on its gear yet, the time will be here sooner rather than later. That will be a fun day!

Oh, one last thing, I also need to pack the bearings later with Aeroshell 22 grease...they only come with light grease for shipping.

Forward Canopy HOBBS 1050.5 hrs

2012-01-05T08:26:00.001-07:00

So, once I got the finishing kit inventoried and stored...it seemed logical to dig right into it...I can finish my empennage fairing later! ;) I have to admit, my excitement level was pretty high. A lot of builders say that fitting the canopy is the absolute worst part of the project. I'm not sure if I will agree by the end, but for right now, I am pretty jazzed about this part of the build.

Simply put, its the part of the plane where you can really put your signature on your build...a nicely done canopy is the hallmark of good craftmanship in my opinion and I don't expect it to be easy. In addition, this is the enclosure for the occupants so making it look nice is vital since my passengers and myself will be staring at it for many, many flight hours.

I had four days of vacation left after visiting my folks in WA for the holidays and I really wanted to take a big bite out of the project in that time. Mission Accomplished (seen the new version of this movie over the weekend by the way...and really enjoyed it. The building scene where Cruise is jumping around on a rope 130 stories up made my palms sweaty!). I logged 25.5 hrs in four days...easily my best four day solo stretch yet, and the most since my Dad came out to help my with the wings. I have to admit, it was a little exhausting though...working on it everyday. I was ready for a break yesterday.

Getting started on the forward panel area, I started by riveting my seal flanges in place. A rubber seal will attach to these...this area is the #1 area for water leakage into the cockpit. I am already thinking of ways to improve this.

A little unrelated, but I ordered some longer AN3 bolts for my rudder pedal mounts and had them shipped with the finishing kit. Since I am doing a 3/4" raised false floor...it just didn't feel right when I was playing around in the cockpit with my feet on the pedals so I am going to raise the rudder pedals 3/4" to accommodate for this. I'll do this later...I need to make some spacers first.

Just getting started with fitting my forward canopy skin. Looking cool eh? At this point in the instructions it talks about installing this approx. 100 times before you are done!! ouch! A guy takes notice of a comment like that... :) On the bright side, I already have about 5 of those 100 completed over the weekend!

Release pins for the jettison mechanism. You have to cut the threads off these boys and taper the ends...be careful not to cut them a smidge too short, its easy to do...ask me how I know? Err on the long side...

My jettison mechanism taking shape...I was pretty proud of this until I did a fit check.

Read this detail drawing carefully...the length dimensions for C-621 and C-622 are to the hole centers...NOT the length of the rod. I cut mine wrong so each one is 1/2" too short! dangit! Not paying attention...I should know better, since these are the critical dimensions, it is dimensioned properly...I just missed it. I have some more on order...luckily they're cheap.

As you get ready to match drill through the skin into the round rod in the weldment, I recommend you clamp the support bracket like I did here...they don't say to do it, but it makes good sense.

Here you can see I am getting everything ready so I can drill the hinge brackets. It says to do a 0.020-0.032" reveal between the skins...of course I chose a nice tight 0.020". Looked real nice in this pic...but after I drilled the brackets, to my aggravation, it opened up!! The fun begins...proper fitting is going to be tough I can see. I'll worry about this later, might be a way to hide the larger gap? I have some ideas. Not sure I have any advice as I don't really know why it happened or if this is common?

In this photo you can see I have riveted the splice plate in place. I threw in four extra rivets on the return flange for extra strength. I couldn't understand why Van's didn't do this?? Well, now I know...later you will add some support pieces in that location (see pics in this post at the end). So, don't try to be clever like I did...its not a big deal but kind of a pain.

I used my strap here to get a nice tight fit with the forward canopy assembly before drilling the hinges. Van's says to use duct tape...I thought this worked much better and would recommend it.

Press in brass bushings...Van's recommend a reamer for these holes, which would've been nice. I didn't have one and wasn't going to buy one for just this, so I just just used a regular drill bit. Consequently, they weren't a press fit...I used some RTV to keep them in place.

This was the first shot of my canopy open after drilling the hinge brackets...cool.

Support brackets on the forward canopy. These are new for the RV7's from what I can tell...the 6's didn't have them. I really like this addition...they add some real stiffness to the frame, look cool, and were pretty fun to fabricate. You have to bend these flanges first...more on these later, as I am only part of the way done with them in this pic.

Finishing Kit Arrives! HOBBS 1025.0 hrs

2012-01-03T08:37:00.002-07:00

I received notification from Van's that my finish kit was scheduled to ship the week of Dec. 12th. I never heard anything before I left to visit the folks on Dec. 23rd for the holidays. This was definitely out of character for Van's...all of my kits have shipped right on schedule. I called Van's and found out it had shipped a little late and should be here by Jan. 3rd. I came home from my trip to WA on Dec. 29th and was looking forward to having four full days before heading back to work to crank away on the project. But with the expected arrival of Jan. 3rd, I wouldn't have the finishing kit to tear into...bummer. I was really winding down on the fuse (except for the wing mating) so I was going to be hard pressed to stay busy for four full days.

But, low and behold, Christmas came once more...I got a call the morning of Dec. 30th, about 8am, from the shipping company. They had my crate and wanted to know if I would be home to receive it...I emphatically said, "absolutely...be here all day". My crate arrived about 45 mins later...fricken cool!!!

It wasn't the same delivery driver I had for the previous crates...so I had to train the new guy. He was a little worried by how large the crate was...and it was big...the biggest one yet. But I broke out my furniture dollies, we lowered it down with the lift gate and wheeled it to the garage. I felt like I was an old pro at this by now. I remember how stressed I was about the first ones...how we were going to move them, etc.

I always love the comments I get from the uninitiated, this time was no different. He see's "airplane parts" on the crate and asks if it is a RC aircraft? I say, "no...full size." Then he says, "like an ultra-light?" Nope again, a real live aluminum aircraft that flies at 200mph! He seems astonished when I say that. He takes a peek at the fuselage and wings in the garage and says, "wow, that's way more project than I would ever tackle". I just grinned and didn't say a word as my chest swelled...it is a pretty cool thing to be an aircraft builder, not many people can say that, be proud. So many average folks just cant wrap their head around this hobby of ours.

I have to admit, it was exciting and bittersweet to get this crate. I realized it was the last crate in the project. I've come a long way and I can feel it winding down already, even though I still have lots to do to get it flying. I am already bracing for, "what now?" once I finish this puppy. It has been my life for 2 1/2 yrs now and will exceed 4 yrs by the time I am done. That will be a big void to fill...

I cringed a little when I seen these 2x2's wrapped in cardboard clamping my canopy in place. I just knew there were going to be scratches on it! :) Nope, Van's knows what they are doing...looked pristine when I uncrated it.

As I mentioned previously, I special ordered the lightly "tinted" canopy directly from Van's. You just have to specifically ask for it as they don't advertise it in the catalog...and sign an affidavit since technically it is illegal in the production world. Ask for tint 2514 if you want to go this route.

Kinda crazy how they pack this all in there. This was what lay underneath the canopy. I deleted the cowl since I am going with the Sam James cowl. Consequently the crate was pretty empty...kind of a buzz kill really.

And here are the packages of misc small parts and hardware. Even though there wasn't much to this kit, it still took me about 4 hrs to inventory (everything accounted for once again) and store it.

Lastly, here is the lightweight tailwheel I ordered to replace the stock version. In addition to the weight savings, its a fully contained greaseless bearing, so no grease zirk to spray grease all over the place like the stock version.

A New Year HOBBS 1025.0 hrs

2011-12-31T19:46:00.001-07:00

Even with all the depressing crap that has been going on in the world with the economy, 2011 was a pretty darn good year for me. As you know I made a lot of progress on the project and feel like 2012 is going to be even better as I close in on completing this project. Hopefully your year was also a good one. Happy holidays and here's to looking forward to another great year. We are truly fortunate. My friends Scott and Gary loaded up their wives and planes and headed to Las Vegas for the weekend...always inspiring to me to finish....oh, how I cant wait for the day I can take flight with them on their RV adventures. In honor of their flight to Vegas...I included a photo of ol' sin city...a place I once called home.

On a seperate note, happy birthday to my deal ol' Dad! Yep, a new years eve baby...I wont mention his age or he'd probably kill me...happy birthday just the same pop!

Empennage Fairing HOBBS 1025.0 hrs

2011-12-23T07:45:00.002-07:00

I decided to go with an after market empennage fairing from Fairings-etc. Although I am happy with the product, a valid argument could be made to just stick with the Van's version. In the old days, the Van's version was notorious for not fitting well...I think that has improved? I also wanted to wrap my empannage fairing around the bottom side for a more professional clean look. My version cost about $250 plus $60 in shipping...versus about $105 for the Van's version if I remember right? Anyhow...its your call. Here are some pics of the fairing as I get it fit to my fuse and emp.

What it looks like out of the box...pretty nice fit, but you have to do some trim to fit exercises.

I attached some box tape and then drew some 1"x1" squares for reference...with these I can get a symmetrical trim job. The tape will also help when I do the fill work to get a nice fit.

It comes in three pieces but I chose to bond the two lower pieces to the top so its all one piece.

Here you can see a flox and cloth layup in the transition attachment area. I will continue with trim work as well as adding filler so that it seals up all the gaps...its gonna be a tight fit so I don't have to use many fasteners. Stay tuned as I work this puppy into shape.

ELT Strategy HOBBS 1025.0 hrs

2011-12-23T07:42:00.002-07:00

In my effort to get the details of the rear fuselage tied up so I can start riveting on the top skins, one of the items I needed to cross off was the ELT. I knew I was going to need to ramp up on some wiring supplies in the near future. Stein has a wiring kit that I was considering purchasing as I knew it would satisfy pretty much everything I would need. Since I had already purchased some electrical tools and knew that because I plan to install a Vertical Power system I wouldn't need as much wiring. So I pared down the kit somewhat to tailor it to what I thought I would need. While I was at it, I figured I would browse through Stein's web store for other items. I ended up getting his Ameri-King ELT along with some LED cockpit lighting.

I saw the ELT for $200 and thought, wow, that's a really good price so I jumped on it. Well, after it showed up and I was halfway through the install it dawned on me that I had unwittingly bought an "older" style 121.5MHz ELT! Since 2009, satellites no longer monitor 121.5, only ground based systems. Dang, that was not my intention...I wanted the newer 406MHz. So I was faced with a dilemma...send it back for a refund or install it anyway, its still legal after all.

Sending things back is a pain because you get whacked with shipping costs AGAIN! At this point in the build, I am getting worn out by shipping costs. And I had already started the install which included filing a couple sharp edges on the mounting bracket and up sizing the mounting holes. I wouldn't feel comfortable sending it back to Stein with mods like that.

So, of course, I turned to VAF to do some research to see what others have done. I found quite a few instances where the strategy was to install the cheapest 121.5 MHz ELT to be legal and then supplement it with a PLB and/or a tracking device like SPoT or APRS device. Quite a few pilots share my philosophy that I don't trust these ELT's with my life...very few accident reports I read ever have them working as planned. They either don't activate in a crash or are not effective. Since I had planned on a PLB and a tracker anyway, this made sense to me.

I have installed the 121.5MHz (I'm sure my friend Bryan Raley, a SAR pilot for CAP, is going to chastise me for this decision!! haha). If I had it do over again I would buy the 406MHz, but since I have this in hand I'll install it...knowing full well, that I will probably have to swap it out later and lose my $200 and have an orange paper weight. Maybe the new ones will come down in price by then?...I couldn't find one less than $700!! Tell me, why in the world those are so much more expensive?? Are the electronics much different? Ever feel like you get gouged in this aviation world?? PITA!

Solo Mt Flight HOBBS 1025.0 hrs

2011-12-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

If you read my blog regularly, you'll know that I did a Mountain Flying checkout (flying and ground school) this summer. My flying consisted of two trips with my instructor, one to Granby and then another to Leadville. I had wanted to get a third one in before summer ended, but finances prevented that...airplane parts to buy. ;) So, last weekend, it was one of those glorious Colorado mornings that I love...fresh snow, crisp air, skies of baby blue, not a cloud in the sky and no wind. Winds aloft were favorable...12 kts from the west, so I figured for my monthly flight...why not cruise up to Granby and back? Its a short flight, about 35 mins in the old Citabria, pretty simple...and only one pass to cross, Rollins. It would be a good flight for my first solo mountain flight.

My backyard...the Rocky Mountains. If you look close you will see Winter Park ski resort in the center of this photo.

Coming over Rollins pass, the altimeter was reading about 13,500 ft MSL at this point. Our "hills" are big out here.

If you click on this photo to enlarge it and look closely, you will see a hot air balloon that had just launched. Pretty cool.

And this was on the return trip over the pass. All in all, it was a great flight. I was admittedly a little nervous being my first solo over the rocks, but except for a few pockets of light turbulence, it was nice and smooth.

I always do a personal debrief of my flights and think about the mistakes I made (there are always some...yet to have a perfect flight) and try to learn something from every flight. On this flight I want to share something...I realize it will make me look like a bonehead, but that's ok if you learn from it.

As I was climbing up to Rollins pass I made a little mistake...let me elaborate. Boulder airport sits at just about 5300 MSL and I needed claw my way over the Flatirons to 13,500 MSL to clear the pass in short order. With the westerly winds that are common, you are almost always climbing into the wind which doesn't help. As I was approaching the pass I noticed the plane wasn't climbing like I thought it should...being solo, light headwind and nice chilly air the ol' Citabria should be biting into the air quite well...but it wasn't? I leaned my mixture to make sure I was getting maximum HP but the climb was still agonizingly slow. Slow enough that I started to formulate a turn back plan if I needed it. I finally got to my target altitude for a safe crossing, but none too soon, and didnt think much more about it as I descended into the Granby valley.

After I landed in Granby...taxied back (recommended one way in, one way out for inexperienced mt pilots...which I certainly am!), I then closed my flight plan on my cell phone. As I prepared for takeoff and did my pre takeoff checklist I noticed that my carb heat had been on the whole flight...since I left Boulder!! Shoot! No wonder the ol' girl couldn't climb worth a hoot!? Somehow I missed that when I did my pre takeoff checklist in Boulder. Grr, aggravating...

And one last parting shot..not related to the flight. About a month ago we had some huge winds, 90 mph gusts were recorded if I remember right. Boulder has wind events like this a handful of times every year so its not that uncommon as the winds swoop down over the Rockies onto the plains. Well, I guess this is what happens when you don't tie down your airplane properly!!! I have seen this old Cessna 150 out at the airport since I started flying here...not sure how much it was flown, but as you can see...its flying life may be over? D'oh!

Flaps & Ailerons 1008.5 hrs

2011-12-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

Finally getting around to mounting my ailerons and flaps, not sure I had a good reason for not doing this earlier? For some reason I just skipped over it when I built the wings? I think I was just excited to get started on the fuse?? ;)

Anyhow, easy enough to do it now as I get ready to mount my wings on the fuse. These kinds of tasks in the project are really fun and satisfying for me. Deburring, match drilling, edge prep, primer, etc, I could really do without, but attaching control surfaces is a hoot. And as simple as this was, it took me about 8 hours to do...kinda slow I realize, but I was being very careful to not make a mistake.

The instructions say to lay the wing on a table to do this, not only do I think that isn't necessary, I think it may actually work better doing it while they are in the wing cradle...which is how I did it.

You will soon learn that attaching control surfaces is a tight quarters exercise. I HIGHLY recommend you get a telescoping magnet (shown in picture) and some washer wrenches. I couldn't have done this without either of those. I found that the only way to attach the connecting rod to the bell crank was to do that one first...as shown, its just too tight to get in there after the fact.

You have to fabricate some spacers for these, that coupled with washers and nuts, completes the assembly. I want to add, there was a recent posting on VAF about the proper way to attach rod end bearings. I didn't realize that some builders are confused by this. There is a bearing inside the rod-end...so make sure you torque your nuts down, they should not be left loose. They do not need to be loose to rotate freely...the bearing will take care of that. Always, always, always torque your nuts. I haven't finalize these yet because I know I will have to remove them later.

Aileron attached...looking good!

Don't forget this handy little piece of alum, its a jig to use so that you can get the bell crank in a "neutral" position.

Here it is in place, this is where having the wing in this orientation helps. The weight (gravity) put the aileron bell crank in its proper position. Keep in mind, this bracket only gets the proper position for the bell crank...not the aileron, I'll explain in a minute.

Once I got the aileron attached, the flap was next...you have to match drill the continuous hinge to the wing. So, here you can see I used a straight edge (yard stick) to get a nice fit before drilling. You also need to have 1/4" gap between the two...and keep it square. Check...and double check before committing to drilling.

There are two approaches for your hinge pins on the flaps. Use one full length piece and drill an access hole (in the aileron I think?) or cut the pin basically in half so you can remove them from the center. Van's has endorsed the split version and I think its the way most builders do it now. In this pic you can see how I fastened the two halves...once again, not my idea, but really clever. Just cut two eyelets off some scrap hinge...add a nutplate and some through holes. I will probably trim the ends a little shorter later...they don't need to be that long. I was really happy with the way this came out...kudo's to the guy who came up with it...unfortunately I cant remember his name off the top of my head.

I mentioned getting the bell crank in its neutral position earlier...to get the aileron in its neutral position (they are not automatically the same) you need to make a jig...I think it was in the plans on the wing jig page? Its just a straight line between tooling holes in the end rib and the aileron. To get the aileron and the bell crank synced up...you need to adjust your rod-end bearings on the connecting rod. Once I got his right, I torqued the lock nuts and finalized it...I don't think that should move again now that its set? So, in conclusion...not too difficult to do and a fun project to tackle.

Aileron Trim & Crotch Strap HOBBS 1008.5 hrs

2011-12-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

I decided to tackle my aileron trim install (or most of it) while I still had reasonable access. Its a Ray Allen servo motor much like (maybe the same one?) as the elevator trim. So, since I was familiar with that install, this one was pretty simple.

You get a nice drawing and instructions included with the kit. You can also see the pile of parts you start with...lets have some fun eh?!

Here you can see it taking shape...cotter pins are just holding things in place for now. I will disassemble it and prime it before setting those.

This is where it mounts to the seat ribs. I wont be able to complete the install until later when I put the sticks in and finish up the details with that. For now, I will just set it off to the side. You can see in this pic that you have to drill out some nutplates...if you read this beforehand...don't install those two. Save ya some effort later.

On to the seat belts...or more specifically the crotch straps. These don't have the right diameter hole for the AN4 bolt that attaches them. Some guys press a couple washers into that hole to create a 1/2" through hole. I don't have an arbor press and trying to do that with pliers or a vice is dang near impossible...I tried! So, the other option is just drill a new 1/4" dia hole. Not only was this much easier, it fits nicer in the bracket as well. I like the way this came out.

You can see how it resides in the brackets. I really find this whole design kind of weak...you have this heavy duty steel bracket attached to a double-stitched seat belt harness, and all of that is attached to two thin pieces of alum sheet metal. What do you think is the weak link here? That alum will go before any of the other components in a crash scenario. The only justifications I can think of are #1, its a crotch strap, a 'nice to have'..not a 'must have'...a four point harness is plenty sufficient I think. Second, maybe its specifically designed for this to break loose at a certain 'G' threshold...maybe just slow you down? Think about it...maybe that thing remaining intact is not the most desirable thing, at least not for us male pilots/passengers?? ;) Anyhow, that's the design and I didn't feel like altering it...so there ya go.

Finalizing my static routing...took out some of the adel clamps, moved the junction above the seat belt attach brackets so it doesn't interfere. I added two adel clamps where the 'keeper' rivets reside...that was kind of a pain but works well. I then added some protection (shrink tube and wire protector) where the static line crosses over the longeron. This line vibrating against the longeron during flight could cause some wear and failure. Not sure about this solution though...I could also just add an adel clamp there, but I would like to avoid drilling into the structural longeron if possible. Or maybe I am just worrying about nothing?? Still pondering....

Broke out my Andair fuel pump for some test fitting. This seems to be a nice piece of hardware (ignoring my earlier statement about not doing business with Andair in the future...I would just buy directly from ACS. They have some good products, I just don't care for their customer service.) Its more pricy than the AFP version that Van's sells, but I think it is also smaller, which is nice.

Nice install instructions are available on the Andair website...when you order this from ACS, be sure to order the fuel filter and maybe a gascolator at the same time. ACS has package deals to include all of these...I didnt get either out of pure ignorance of what I needed. Still learning... At the very least get the fuel filter.

And the start of my center console ideas...just using some cardboard to do some preliminary layout right now. Still plenty of thought that needs to be done ahead of time...I will tell you I plan to mostly copy Jon Clement's center console since he did such a great job with his.

Finishing Kit HOBBS 1008.5 hrs

2011-12-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

Ah, behold, the wonderful canary 'yellow letter'...if you're building one of these along with me, you know the joy you get when you see one of these babies come in the mail from Van's. Second only to the day the crate actually arrives. Only builders of aircraft get to have 'Christmas' multiple times on days other than December 25th. :) As you can see, my delivery week has arrived, although I haven't been contacted by the shipping company yet for a delivery 'day'...I'm pretty excited to get this thing in my hands.

My personal goal was to cross the 1000 hr mark and be done, or almost done, with the fuse by the time this arrived. I am tracking pretty close to my goals....1000 hrs? check...wow, 1000 hrs...that looks nice, I remember when I finished the empennage how far away 1000 hrs seemed but here I am...great feeling. Fuse done? not quite, but really all I have left is mounting the wings, top skins and some odds and ends so I'm fairly close. It takes some doing to plan the arrival of these kits so you are ready for them but they also aren't sitting in the corner taking up valuable shop space before you need them. Or worse yet, you have to stop working to wait for delivery...so arriving sooner is better than later.

Let me add, I naively thought, hey, this is my finish kit...my LAST sub-kit in the procession...woohoo! Hmm, wrong...I recently realized I need to also purchase a firewall forward (FWF) kit as well. I don't really know why Van's kind of glosses over this when they publish kit prices...marketing maybe? The FWF kit is $3500...its not trivial and absolutely necessary for a flying airplane so don't be like me...factor it in from the start. Yes, I realize Van's does mention that their kit prices don't include this...but it just seems like it should clearly be listed in the kit list...no? Oh well, complaining about spending more money...isn't that a builders second (or third) favorite hobby?? Anyhow, getting there...things are progressing nicely!

Antenna Install HOBBS 995.5 hrs

2011-12-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Last week I made some good progress with several different tasks. Once again, as I mentioned in previous posts, having fun...

I noticed in my drawing set a print showing the mounting of the Odyssey battery box on the firewall...well, after checking the inventory I also noticed that this wasn't part of my fuselage kit. It is an "extra" kit that you have to order from Van's. So, in a knee jerk reaction, I ordered one. Later I realized that it is part of the FWF kit that Van's sells...I could've saved some shipping costs...oh well. Its a pretty easy install...cut some lightening holes in it and drill some holes in the firewall...easy peasy.

Back to my master cylinders...I had to install the NPT fittings in them. I actually had to do research on exactly what NPT fittings are and how they work....more education. I started thinking I could just use my fuel lube on the threads. After some research on VAF, I found out...don't use that, it will leak. Using teflon tape on fuel lines is a definite "no no", but some builders use it on the brake lines. If you do, just be very careful for the same reasons as for the fuel lines...it can get lodged in the line if not careful. A better process is using a thread sealant especially designed for the job. I used Permatex, bought it at the local auto part store. You can order a more expensive Loctite version but I couldn't find any locally...and I'm frankly getting a little tired of shipping costs.

I bought my antenna's from Delta Pop Aviation on a recommendation from my friend Sean Blair. Good product, good price and excellent customer service. Owner Don Pansier sent me a very informative email explaining where and how to mount the antenna's as he also has a -7.

I watched the "Hints for Homebuilders" video about installing antenna's, really cant say enough good things about these videos...such a great resource that we have at our disposal for free. Well done EAA! Really not much to this...you will notice my doublers are a little more substantial than they show but otherwise, nothing to it. I bought two Comm antenna's and one transponder...this pic shows the blade type transponder antenna.

I chose to mount my Comm antenna's behind the main spar...Don recommended just in front or behind the spar. I read somewhere that you should have 36" between the transponder and Comm...but not sure if that is a hard fast rule? I did achieve the 36" spacing however....just in case. You can see that I also riveted my doubler in place for added strength, I used CS pop rivets just for ease of installation.

Here is shot of the two Comm antenna's mounted on the bottom side of the fuse. I removed them after fitting so that I can keep them protected...I will re-install and seal them later.

Speaking of sealing them...this is what I will use...a paintable silicone as recommended on the hints for homebuilders video. ProSeal will also work.

I mounted the transponder just behind the firewall in the center. It will be a nice short run of Coax straight up the firewall.

Access hole cut in the center panel.

While I was down there installing the transponder antenna I decided to also install my fuel tank vents I got from JD Air. I used the same silicone to seal these. The red index line gives me a reference for a square installation so I am parallel to the wind stream. I like these...they look nice.

Tragic Accident HOBBS 976.0 hrs

2011-12-06T08:55:00.001-07:00

A non RV-related topic, but I thought it was important...I seen this news report and of course, being a pilot, it piqued my interest to read more about it. All I can say is wow....how tragic. Prop accidents are quite rare, but they do happen.

I used to work for Continental Airlines at Stapleton Airport here in Denver (yeah...remember Stapleton Airport?) back in the early 90's. I worked the night shift for Continental Express on the ramp...all turbo-props back then. Because of this, it was pounded into our heads to be very cognizant of the spinning props for the obvious safety reasons. I learned it is very easy to not see the prop arc when its dark and you're not paying close attention (especially with your hearing protection in place and you're tired). So I am keenly aware of how darkness can make this kind of situation difficult.

Of course, if you are a pilot...you are probably thinking its all the pilot's fault in this instance--how could he be soooo stupid??! Well, although, as we all know, as PIC he is ultimately responsible for his passengers...lets think about how easily this could happen if we let our guard down and dont excercise good judgement. At least to someone like me....let me share a personal story with you.

When I was a brand new (yes, even more 'green' than I am now) pilot. I took a friend for a ride in the Diamond 20. I had picked him up at the Longmont airport (KLMO)...a short flight from my home airport (KBJC). After we landed back at Longmont after a long day of flying, it was getting dark and being in a hurry I asked him if he didn't mind exiting while the engine was still running so I didn't have to shut down and restart. I even carefully briefed him to step to the rear of the aircraft upon exiting thinking I was being careful.

Well, as I cracked the tip-up canopy open...it was clearly evident the prop wash, even at idle, was certainly too much to handle for this kind of exit. I was then forced to shut down the engine and he exited and I didn't really think twice about it. It wasn't until later, when I replayed the flight in my mind as I often do as a sort of mental debrief, that it dawned on me how truly stupid that idea was, and how oblivious I was to the fact. Let me explain.

If you've ever flown in a DA-20 you'll know that because of the moto-glider inspired long, slender wings, the cockpit sits pretty far forward of the wings compared to most planes. With this configuration, it offers great downward visibility for a low wing plane in flight...part of why I love flying it. But, a by-product of this configuration, you enter/exit the cockpit on a foot rest forward of the leading edge of the wing. For those of you not familiar with a DA-20...paint that mental image for a second...you exit the cockpit in between the prop and the leading edge of the wing!!! Are you kidding me??! What in the world was I thinking to even suggest that to my passenger? One slip of his foot and he would have fallen right into a spinning propeller and I would be that "stupid" pilot you are reading about. I could make plenty of excuses...it was a long day (4 hrs of flying), I was tired, I was in a hurry to get the flight finished, etc. None of that really matters...I used horribly bad judgement on that day and learned a valuable lesson..luckily without anyone getting hurt.

My message to you is, without preaching, just use good judgement when you are the PIC...it can happen, even to you. If in doubt, shut down the engine...especially at night with a 'non-pilot' passenger. Nobody should have to live with the guilt and regret that this pilot will have for the rest of his life.

Forward Fuse Work HOBBS 976.0 hrs

2011-12-02T09:31:00.001-07:00

With this post, I am finally caught up. If you've been paying attention, the project HOBBS meter has been spiraling upward at a rather dizzying rate lately. I have logged 20.0 and 23.5 hrs the last two weeks, respectively. That's pretty good for me...as you know, I am attempting to average 15 hrs/week so this is outstanding progress and I'm thrilled. I am on a quest to get this baby flying!

I feel like the project feel is evolving, transforming into a seemingly never-ending task list of things to get done...much more systems, planning, research, routing and layout related. I have a funny feeling it will feel this way from here on out. Instead of following a very rote task list that was prevalent during the airframe construction, it now becomes lots and lots of little tasks to do that never seem to get finished entirely. Many times, you can't complete them since you have to wait for some other task to be completed later. Its rather frustrating to do all the prep work and fitting...get it ready for riveting, only for the plans to say...now set it off to the side and wait before final riveting later! d'oh!...that stings a little to read...lets get this puppy done dangit. :) I know..."patience grasshopper." In light of this, you probably noticed I am jumping around quite a bit now.

But, with all that being said. The last half of the fuse activity has been by far the most fun I have had so far on the project. I quite literally just get lost in the task at hand sometimes for hours. Outside my shop (garage), the world could be coming to an end and I wouldn't know or care. I enjoy those days...to escape into my own little world, devoid of the daily stress of life, finances, work and reality. Who needs yoga and meditation to relieve stress, quiet the mind and relax...just build an airplane! Therapy at its best....

So, back to the forward fuse. I put off some of the labor intensive projects ahead on this. Namely, cutting the many relief cuts in the angle alum to fit the contour of the instrument panel and sub-panel. I was kind of dreading this but it turned out to not be that bad and in the end, quite a lot of fun to do. I was pretty amazed at how well the angle's fit the contour once the relief cuts were added...pretty neat construction concept.

Here is the start of my static line routing and two ports on the side of the fuse. The plans say to use tie-wraps to secure the lines to the bulkhead...and that would work just fine, but I just like the more professional look of these adel clamps. I may take a couple of them out though as this is a little overkill to have that many.

And here is a shot of the entire tailfeathers mounted...the rudder being the last piece of the puzzle. It may look ugly with that wash primer and filler on it (I recently purchased some gray filler primer and I'll fix that shortly)...but to me, it was a thing of beauty to see it all installed for the first time on the fuse. Its looking more and more like an airplane every day!! KPR!

SkyView ADAHRS Tray HOBBS 965.0 hrs

2011-12-01T08:25:00.001-07:00

In preparation for the finishing kit arriving shortly, I am on a mission to get as many details as possible done in the aft fuselage so I can close it up with the top skins. I can't start doing canopy work until I do. So, one of my first tasks was a mounting tray for my SkyView ADAHRS units.

If you're like me and new to this whole glass cockpit world, your first question has to be...what the heck is an ADAHRS unit?? ADAHRS stands for "Air Data and Heading Reference System." An integrated flight instrument system that combines the functions of an air data computer (the AD short for ADC) and an Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) into one unit. I would describe it as the brains of the PFD. It uses MEMS sensor technology to accurately measure inertial, magnetic, and air data [Dynon SkyView Installation Manual]. So it takes the place of the old school gyro's used in steam intruments, and then some. It needs to be mounted within 1 deg of level on all three axes and at least 1' away from anything magnetic...2' or more is better.

Here is my design...although unique to me, it was heavily leveraged from several designs I seen on VAF. I cant comment enough on how nice it is to be able to see how others have done it. It really helps to see that so you can refine the design as desired. This was constructed from scrap material I had in the shop...namely leftover baffle material from my ER tanks.

And riveted in place just aft of the baggage bulkhead. I'm already thinking I should have biased it to the rear a little more to allow more room for my pneumatic plumbing later. It might be a little cramped?

As you can see, I made it large enough to accomodate two ADAHRS modules for redundancy. I was happy with how this little project came out. Once again, a lot of fun creating things ad lib...but time consuming.

30,000 Pageviews!! HOBBS 952.5 hrs

2011-11-29T09:54:00.001-07:00

Real quick...I noticed I just went over 30,000 pageviews since I started this blogsite...wow! I never would've guessed when I started this. Thanks for reading along, I hope it is halfway entertaining for you. :)

Canopy Frame HOBBS 952.5 hrs

2011-11-29T08:45:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I spent a fair chunk of time working on the canopy frame. Its quite a little bit of a time consuming project but I really enjoyed this task. It was exciting to see the canopy shape start to take hold. I also did some custom mods that I am learning I personally really get a kick out of. Putting my 'fingerprints' on the build is very gratifying to me. As much as I enjoy it however...it does add time to the build so choose your mods carefully.

Lots of match drilling in this sub-assembly...which is the time consuming part. There are two 0.063" strips that attach the two halves and Van's originally sent me the lower one cut too short from the factory (at least I think it was their mistake?...I don't remember cutting that piece). They were very gracious to send me another one and even picked up the shipping cost--no questions asked. Great customer service that Van's is known for.

So...I wanted to strengthen the canopy frame as part of my custom mods. My friend Sean Blair told me about a flipped RV where the canopy frame was a mangled mess. Luckily the pilot survived but it got me thinking. This canopy frame is intended to protect the occupants in the event of an accident. Of course I realize this can't protect you from everything but stronger is certainly better....within reason, low cost and low weight are also important.

In this pic, you can see...because of the mistake by Van's mentioned above, I now had some extra 0.063" material laying around. Hmmm, how about using that to double up on the lower ends of the frame?? Voila...nice idea, I think....

Here you can see them cleco-ed in place.

Since those added pieces only covered the lower end of the frame I want to add some strength to the radii as well. Here I added (again with scrap) some stiffeners to the corners, which I riveted in later. I think this was only 0.025" so it wasn't very significant...something thicker would be stronger of course, but this is what I had so I used it.

Here I am carefully doing layout work, squaring things up before match drilling to the fuse...you don't want to mess up when you get this late in the build. I cant just throw away an entire fuselage now can I??! ;)

Attach angle brackets getting ready for match drilling...man, these buggers were a pain to cut to size, they are beefy at 0.1875" thick, glad to have it behind me.

Test fitting on the fuse...looking pretty cool eh?!

And another one of my mods. I didn't like the way the attach brackets were exposed (click on pic above to see what I mean)...just didn't look finished to me, too utilitarian for me. So I fab-ed up a couple of cover plates (I'm getting pretty good at this) that will not only cover up the attach brackets but also add a little extra strength to the attach point structure in the process. Again...low cost (scrap) and lightweight. It remains to be seen if this mod causes me issues with the canopy install, I scoured the canopy plans to check and I think I'm ok...but I can always remove them later if they do. I do like the look of them, they turned out nice....

Here it is riveted in place...as you can see, my canopy frame is finish painted flat black (more on this later). I later painted over the rivets to cover them...even though I think they look kinda cool contrasted with the black.

If you have a three legged stool and strengthen two of the legs...you darn sure better not ignore the third or you aren't doing much good! So...my 'third leg' on the canopy structure was the connecting piece back to the aft fuse. As you can see, I added two angle pieces to stiffen this puppy up. Here you can see them riveted in place and tied into the aft fuse connecting plate.

These parts have been sprayed with self-etching wash primer since I would be finish painting them. That wash primer is really thin, watery stuff...it doesn't spray well for me, comes out splotchy as you can see.

Let me add, just because I made these mods doesnt mean that the design is flawed. In aircraft design, adding strength always comes at a premium of either weight or cost (exotic materials). Van's designed this plane exactly as he saw fit, to compromise between cost and weight so I understand the thinking. I'm ok with a little added weight, some guys arent and thats ok too...its your call, neither is wrong.

Andair Throttle Quadrant HOBBS 932.5 hrs

2011-11-29T07:57:00.001-07:00

Trying to get caught up on my posts...been real busy building an airplane lately, making great progress. Much more on that later....

I ordered and received my throttle quadrant from Andair. I'm just going to come right out with it...I wasn't too impressed and am thinking this was a mistake for several reasons. If you're thinking of going this route...hopefully my input will help you make a much more informed decision than I.

Why did I choose this quadrant?....mainly two reasons, I like having the flap control on the throttle, with the idea that my VP-X system will disable them when operating above flap speed in case I accidentally bump them in cruise flight. Second, I want my mixture to be vernier style on the panel. I don't see any valid reason it needs to be co-located with the throttle and prop control. Mainly because a vernier control adds more precise adjustment for fine mixture tuning. Lastly, most competition aerobatic planes have this configuration so its not unprecedented...go peek your head in an Extra sometime and you'll see what I mean.

Ok, now what I don't like and am slightly aggravated about.

1. Andair claims they use this in an RV6...not sure how they manage it with such tight quarters and the movement of the stick. My first look at it and I see interference with my stick. I need to explore this further but it doesn't look promising.
2. The quality of the product is not up to my standards. The aluminum face has surface blemishes all over it. Not what I expect for the price of the product they are shipping.
3. I ordered directly from Andair, then realized that Aircraft Spruce is a US distributor. I emailed Andair about returning it and they said, "sure, but there is a 30% restocking fee." Sorry, but that is total BS! On a $265 quadrant...that's approx. $85...plus shipping back to England...for nothing, money flushed down the toilet. Very aggravating. That's their way of saying, we'll take it back but we really want to discourage you from taking your money back. Horrible customer service in my opinion, they should stand behind their product much better than that. They wont get my future business, I can promise you that.
4. Because the throttle handle is so short, the flap buttons arent easily accessible by your thumb. I can work around this since I wont be accessing those buttons very often. Being a design Engineer by day, this, in my opinion is not a well thought out ergonomic design.

Let me add, I dont bash vendors lightly. As someone that aspires to one day start my own business...I know how careless remarks can hurt a business so I make darn sure I dont do it recklessly. I thoroughly thought this through before committing it to my blog for all the world to see and stand behind my comments.

So, bottom line...we'll see if I can make it work or need to ship it back and get whacked with the steep fees, stay tuned....I'll know more as I start doing layout work for my center console design.

Rudder Pedals HOBBS 932.5 hrs

2011-11-21T07:05:00.001-07:00

I'm way behind in my blog posts...I've been more focused on actually working on the project lately rather than writing about it. Sometimes I get in that mood, I'm sure you can understand that sentiment. ;) There have been previous builders that have issues with the rudder pedal design binding/sticking when the brakes are pressed. Some think it is the Matco master cylinders that cause the problem and just add a return spring to them. The other thought is that the design, as is, might also be contributing. The plans call for two separate bolts to attach the rudder pedal to the bracket. Since you cant tighten them down (they act as pivot points) and they are independent of each other, you can easily get binding if its not done just right. One of the workarounds is to buy extra long bolts to span all the way across...definitely a more fundamentally sound design but those bolts run about $28 EACH, so almost $60 per set...plus shipping. So, I thought I can do this cheaper. Anyhow, here are some pics of my rudder pedal solution. Let me add, this is not my design idea--someone clever did this long before me.

First step, make a run to McGuckins hardware store in Boulder...absolutely LOVE this place, they are an old school hardware store...they have everything. Home Depot...not so much. I find these stainless steel rods, 3/16" for the rudder pedals and a 7/16" version that I will use to make homemade drift pins for my wing mating (more on that later). The 3/16" versions were $1.99 each...nice.

Getting the Grove master cylinders mounted in place.

I use a steel rule to set the brake pedals slightly biased forward for mounting. Not too big a deal to be exact because the Grove master cylinders are adjustable.

Here you can see the MC's in place and also my stainless steel rod design, looking good.

And here is a closeup of my solution, cotter pins have not been set yet as I still need to take this apart for anodizing and final riveting. You can see I used 1/8" nylon washers, regular washer and cotter pins on each side. I really like the way this came out...and it cost me around five dollars per brake pedal.

Moving on to the front deck, you have to add a slight bend to this part....several brackets to fabricate...some match drilling through the skin to some support brackets, etc. I will probably add access holes/covers (right about where my blue cleco bucket is sitting) for access to the area behind the panel later. Its a common modification for many builders these days.

If you're going to cleco the panel in place...you just GOTTA play a little bit! haha! Here you can see an idea of a panel (unlikely I'll go this route). It was just kind of neat to 'see' what things might look like down the road.

And, as you can see, I am jumping around quite a bit on several sub-projects...revisiting the flap motor assembly. I bolted this puppy in place, installed my cotter pin (don't forget that).

Finalized the lock nut....safety wire per Van's AD will also be added during final assembly.

And a parting shot...although I have been crawling in and out of the cockpit for a while now, here is my first actual picture of me sitting in the pilot's seat, kind of a builders tradition...having a beer admiring my handy work after a productive day.

AWOL..... HOBBS 923.0 hrs

2011-11-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Its been awhile, sorry about that. I was out of town on a week long business trip to Wichita, KS and I've been working hard on my final project for my Project Management class. The good news, is I'm almost done with my school project (Nov. 14th) and holidays are coming...which means, you guessed it...more time to work on the plane.

Since my last post, I have received quite a few goodies as I start procuring the detailed equipment for my plane.

Bonaco brake line upgrade in "electric" red...sweet looking huh?! And beyond the looks, nicely fabricated, good quality stuff, this upgrade was an easy one for me. Well worth the $235 I paid. Good people to deal with too...customer service was excellent.

Received my 5 point Crow harnesses with the rotary 'Kam' buckle. I ordered these without pads and am in the planning stages of having custom ones made to match my interior. More on this later. I was quite impressed with the quality of these and the action of the Kam buckle...now, keep in mind, I haven't seen a pair of Hookers up close but there is no way they are twice as nice as these...and that's what Hookers cost. My two sets from Crow were $290...Hookers are about $750 for a set I believe? I mentioned the brake line upgrade as being money well spent...these also were money well spent. (Get your mind out of the gutter..not actual 'hookers' but Hooker brand harnesses! :)) I usually complain about not getting my money's worth with aircraft parts but I absolutely feel like these are worth every penny I paid for them. Also had good service from Fred Crow himself, always appreciate that.

Grove wheels, brakes, master cylinders and reservoir....arrived well packaged as you can see.

Reservoir...definitely an upgrade over the stock version...needed? Probably not...

Brake caliper..nice looking piece of hardware.

Master cylinder...these are also impressive looking, and adjustable which is a nice feature.

Wheels...these puppies are the deluxe, dual piston versions, this setup will give me extra braking power on the order of 205,000 ft-lbs of Kinetic Energy. I wanted this extra 'oomph' for the added takeoff fuel weight of my ER tanks. In the event of an aborted takeoff, I will have added stopping power...the trick will be keeping the tail down when I'm standing on the brakes! ;) And again, give a shout out to the friendly folks over at Grove...customer service was top notch.

www.groveaircraft.com

New Items HOBBS 913.0 hrs

2011-10-28T15:09:00.000-06:00

Received some misc parts I had ordered recently. Always fun to get airplane stuff. These items came from JD Air and Avery Tools. Both great vendors, easy to work with and a well deserved reputation for good customer service.

Custom canopy latch from JD Air...this appears to be a cast aluminum part with some post operation machining. It will need some finish work, I am planning to red anodize it once I clean it up.

Fuel tank vent fairings. I am very pleased with these...good quality and they have an alternate air path machined into them. Vans specifies just using a fitting cut at a 45 deg angle and pro-sealing a bug screen on them. Probably works just fine...these just 'class' up the plane a little bit.

I bought a set of washer wrenches from Avery. I knew I would need these for installing the control sticks...guys that have them in the toolbox swear by them.

Tailwheel link and control arm, also from JD Air. There are several companies out there that do an aftermarket control link and I think they are all pretty similar. I like the quality on this one, a little pricy though.

Rudder cable fairings. You can make your own...but these seemed like a no brainer to add on as I needed to order some other stuff from Avery anyhow.

Rudder pedal extensions from JD Air...again, nice quality here. Being the idiot I am...I only ordered one set however. I forgot to order a set for the co-pilot side...whoops.

A follow up on a previous post when I couldn't find any material for the seat belt cable wear blocks...well I found 'em...in the package with the seat belt cable. d'oh! Oh well, my homemade version were just as good...now I have an extra set for when the other ones need replacing.

Lots of Progress HOBBS 907.0 hrs

2011-10-25T10:47:00.000-06:00

Really cooking along with progress lately sling-shotting past 900 hrs on the project HOBBS...next stop 1000! Here are lots of pics...

Fuel tank vent line...this was a heckuva lot of fun to do. Lots of bends...the hardest ones being where it goes around the rudder cable. This isn't perfect and not as pretty as some I have seen, but I was proud of the fact I did both sides on my first attempt.

I added these mounting tabs to my false floors.

3/4" sound/vibration matting cut and in place for a test fit of the completed floors.

And there ya go...installed, looks pretty cool. I get a lot of satisfaction over seeing something I did from scratch...even something as simple as this. ;)

Here you can see where that afore mentioned mounting tab is located

Remember in a previous post when I said...I don't know how the heck you are supposed to get a bucking bar in to do this rivet?? And I just gave up and put a pull rivet instead? Well, while I was visiting Sean...I mentioned this to him and he said, you aren't supposed to rivet the attach angle in place until after you rivet the skin. I thought...I remember the instructions saying that...hmm, head scratching as I was confused? I get back and look at my project....and had one of those, "golly, I am stupid!" moments....read on to see why I said that.

In this pic, you can see...sure enough, I actually DID follow the plans and left this mounting bracket cleco-ed in place...just needed to remove it to get access to the rivet. Such an idiot that I didn't even notice this when I looked at it before. Sometimes you just don't see obvious things after looking at something for hours and hours. I will remember that when it comes time to look my plane over before the first flight....its a good lesson.

Fixed...I feel better now...thanks Sean....

On to mounting the tail feathers...this is gonna be fun...and nerve wracking at the same time!

First order of business is drilling the elevator control arms...nice and square. I think I was successful...I followed Van's instructions to the letter.

I did my own thing here (I am not recommending this, this is a deviation from the plans...proceed at your own risk). It calls out two small spacers here for each side. I decided to span the entire width, and also add a mounting bolt in the center.

In this shot, you can see my custom spacer bolted in place with five rather than four bolts

I still need to get my VS primed...as soon as I am done fitting it I will get this taken care of

Gotta cut 5/8" off the bottom here...not really sure why they just don't cut this to length at the factory??

Cutting and fabricating the elevator push/pull control rods, nothing to it...easy, peasy. Don't forget to prime the insides

Test fitting the control rods...very cool, everything moves as smooth as silk!

Make sure you remember to offset the VS 1/4" to the left when mounting it to the fuse...yup, the VS is NOT straight...by design. This is an aircraft design technique to help offset the left turning tendency of the airplane. There are various ways to do this, this is just one version.

Installing the rudder cables...as you can see, the cable doesn't actually fit in the -625 bushings!! I scratched my head for a while on this one. Then I read Jason Beaver's blog and learned you just need to remove them, force the cable through (yes, it will go with some coaxing) and then re-install.

Canopy Frame HOBBS 888.5 hrs

2011-10-25T09:36:00.002-06:00

Here are some pics from last week's progress...I'm a little behind posting these. The next step in the instructions is mounting the wings. Since that will take two or three helpers and some rearranging in the shop I am putting this off for now until I can coordinate this. So, you'll notice I am out of sequence on most of these upcoming items. Shouldn't be a problem as they really aren't inter-related to each other at this point.

Doing the layout for the canopy frame. I came up with this as my spacing of rivets for the outer flange. Yours may vary depending on your starting/ending points...so don't just copy my figure without doing your calculations.

Match drilled in place...looking good. Although, at this point I realized that my inner strap came from the factory too short. d'oh! So, I will put this effort on pause while I contact Van's and get the right one ordered.

Getting my center panel ready for priming. Bent the heater louvers as instructed...kind of a pain, luckily its not very thick material.

I almost forgot, I had to add a cutout to my false floor panel for my fuel tank vents. I match drilled these from the bottom skin...sure doesn't look like it does it?? Kinda off for some reason? Oh well, you'll never see it when the carpet is installed later.

Finish Kit On Order! HOBBS 888.5 hrs

2011-10-21T13:49:00.003-06:00

Just a quick update today so I can get caught up. Been working on various things on the fuse this week and last weekend, lots of little items to cross off the 'to do' list. I'll post pics of my progress in my next entry. I've been kind of 'obsessed' with the project lately...exciting times.

Since I got back from my trip to visit Sean's project I have been ordering quite a few items that I need to keep plugging along. I also just ordered my finish kit today! So, in approx. 8 weeks I should have my fourth and final sub-kit. Wow, what a journey from that first order when I bought the empennage kit and had no idea what I was getting into...I've come a long way. Have a good weekend....I'll be in the shop, how about you? ;)

Meadow Lake Trip HOBBS 877.5 hrs

2011-10-18T15:08:00.000-06:00

Boulder Flatirons

"Paint if you will, a picture..." (I know, I know...cheesy 80's "Prince" reference...sorry).

I wake up Saturday morning bright and early like usual these days. Grind and brew up some fresh coffee and bounce on out to the shop to start in on the "aluminum mistress." I spend four fun, productive hours working on the plane (more in my next post on what I accomplished). Around 11:00am...I shut down the factory for the day and head upstairs for a quick shower. Alas, the fun had just begun for I had other things on the agenda for this Saturday afternoon.

I drive out to Boulder Municipal airport (KBDU) for a date with the Citabria and ultimately a rendezvous with fellow RV7 builder Sean Blair. I had decided to fly 72 nautical miles down to Meadow Lake (KFLY) airport near Colorado Springs to visit Sean's project and see his new airplane parts he received from Van's. Yep, he just took delivery of his finish kit so I was keen to see that up close and personal since I am just about ready to order my own.

I knew it was going to be a very scenic flight since the fall colors are bursting right now. I was not disappointed. What I didn't expect was the fact that Sean and I spent so much time talking RV's that my return flight was many hours later as I launched just before sunset headed back home. So, not only did I get the great fall colors on the way down but the unexpected bonus was an amazing sunset flight back.

After I found my way to KFLY...first time flying there. To be polite, I enter on the 45 for a left downwind for runway 15 instead of a straight in approach...I see the windsock on short final, slight right crosswind. Of course, there is Sean standing next to his truck at one of the taxiways next to the runway snapping pics. And sure enough, I bounce my 3 pointer right in front of him!! :) Nice huh? He says he didn't see the bounce...I think he was being kind?

We head over to a nearby restaurant/bar and grab some lunch and proceed to talk non-stop about RV's and our projects. From there, we make the trek to Sean's house. I gotta say, upon arrival I was impressed, very nice house, a first class build and shop setup. You can certainly tell Sean does quality work...his neatness and attention to detail put me to shame!

Here are some pics from the trip out....

My 3 point arrival...

Here is Sean's tinted canopy...special ordered from Van's. I really like this and plan to do the same on my canopy. I really don't understand why more builders don't go this route? Its gonna look slick and should be cooler! And its such a subtle tint, I'm not at all worried about night flight visibility.

Sean's immaculately clean shop and nice looking wings!! I just wanted to go home and clean my shop after seeing his. ;)

My trusty steed waiting patiently for me to take her home...it was so cool to finally go somewhere in the plane instead of staying in the pattern doing touch and goes. An airplane is made for travel darnit!

Taxiing out for departure into the setting sun...after roughly 6 hrs of talking aviation and RV's...loved every minute of it. Thanks Sean!

Sorry, but there is nothing quite like seeing the sun set over the Rockies...from altitude!! I gotta tell ya...days like this make me feel so fortunate to be a pilot...I was thinking it was pretty much a perfect day as my wheels chirped under me upon touching down back at Boulder. As I tied her down for the night and slowly walked to my car, I couldnt help but smile reflecting on the day behind me.

False Floors HOBBS 877.5 hrs

2011-10-11T08:26:00.002-06:00

I really kicked butt this weekend on the project....logging a whopping 15.5 hrs! My best solo weekend so far. Not really sure what got into me, beyond the fact that...the girlfriend was busy, the weather was rainy and I am enjoying this part of the project quite a bit. All of that I guess contributed to me spending pretty much all of my weekend working on the project...including cranking away on it at 4am on Sunday morning!

I suppose one other thing may have had something to do with my burst of enthusiasm is I have now targeted being done and flying in a year and a half...so my birthday month of April, 2013. There it is in black and white for the world to see! haha! And I've had more than one person say they dont think I will be able to pull it off...hmm, maybe they're right, but it sounds like a challenge to me. ;)
I do believe its a realistic goal, if not a challenge...I plan to average 15 hrs a week and if I can do that, I will be right around 1985 hrs by April. Since Van's estimates 1600 hrs to build one of these in a generic sense, with my custom mods, I am guessing right around 2000 hrs for my airplane. Not sure if I can pull this off, but I plan to give it a helluva try! So...follow along, as I try and get this puppy flying by April 2013!!

Finished pop-riveting the baggage floors with my new pneumatic rivet puller (thanks again Mike!)...worked slick! Also, as you can see, finished up the two extra compartment doors, adding cam locks. Looking good eh?

Here's a little trick I stumbled upon while doing the pop-rivets...use a magnet to pick up the scrap ends, much easier than picking them up one at a time with your fingers.

With the baggage area now done, I wanted to move to the forward fuse area and finish it up and install my false floors. First order of business was finally getting around to match drilling these support gussets. I looked everywhere in the plans, but couldn't find any instructions about how or when to do this? Maybe I just missed it? So, after some consideration, I just tackled it and did it my own way.

Here's my procedure. I first match drilled through the skins with the gussets removed. I then installed the gussets by bolting them in place to the spar carry through. I just used the 1/4" bolts for this task and skipped the big 7/16" bolts--but you need to snug it up tight for a proper fit before match drilling. Once I had it snug, I marked the hole (green dot) closest to the spar carry through. I then removed it...measured to the center of my hole marking and extended a centerline on that dimension (red line).

Once I had my centerline laid out, I reinstalled it...again snugging it up to the spar carry through. Kind of a pain installing it multiple times, using Boelube on the bolts helps. Now I looked through my holes to line up the centerline and match drilled the gusset. This keeps a consistent edge distance. Worked well.

Here is is in place...the bolts are just loosely inserted for now. I think I will need to have remove them to get the 1/4" bolts into the wing spar so for now I will just leave them like this.

With that task checked off, now it was time to start devising a strategy for my false floors. I have decided to add this modification to my build. The floors as Van's designed them are just one sheet of aluminum between you and the airstream, and more importantly the exhaust pulses. Very minimal, but also light and cheap...that is Van's mantra with the design. The CAD interior apparently does have a soundproofing mat attached to their carpet, but I wanted something a little more substantial. A lot of guys have done this mod and were very happy with the results citing a much more comfortable cockpit environment. It eliminates the sound from the exhaust pulses and also eliminates hot spots on the floor that tend to warm the feet. This contributes to less pilot fatigue on long cross country flights as well. Of course, with any mod, you have to consider that you are adding weight, cost and labor to the mix.

I ordered some 3/4" soundproofing foam from ACS. This is aircraft grade foam with FAA approved fire ratings. It also does not absorb moisture. Take the fire rating for what its worth...its better than non-FAA approved foam, but although I didn't test it, my guess is it will burn if exposed to the right environment. So, if you do this mod, weigh this information accordingly and do your own personal risk assessment. Right now I am leaning toward a different strategy about engine fires that I will discuss later. There has been a lot of discussion about this topic on VAF if you're interested in reading more. I went with 3/4" thick foam because it fits nicely into the space between the 3/4" angle aluminum support braces. In addition to the sound improvement, I believe this will add some crash protection to the occupants, with the added floor and angle pieces it will be structurally stronger.

Here I have cut a couple pieces for a fit check...looks good, I like this setup. As you can see, I am keeping the Van's supplied center cover in this design scheme. My center console desing will attach to this later in some fashion...still TBD.

In this photo you can see my added 3/4" x 3/4" x 0.063" aluminum angle (4 of them). I plan to attach these extra pieces directly to the existing ones. The center two will be screwed into nut-plates in the center cover so they all can be removed for inspection and wiring. The other two will be pop-riveted in place.

Now, to make the floor panel pattern. For this I used cardboard that I had kept from the Van's crates. I always keep stuff like this around for just such purposes, works great for layout. Much easier to get a fit with cardboard than alum sheet. Cheaper too if you screw up. Once I get it just right I will obviously transfer this to the sheet metal.

My first sub-floor panel in place...really liked the way this came out. Because we have a almost perfectly symmetrical plane...I was able to essentially use the same pattern for both sides just by flipping them over. That was nice.

After getting the first one just right, I transferred it to the second one and cut it out. Here they are side by side to give you an idea of my overall pattern. I used 0.040" sheet for this...might be a little overkill, but some guys actually go with 0.063" which I personally think is way too heavy.

With the sub-floors cut to size, I laid them in place, did some layout and then match drilled into the angle alum. I then removed the angle alum, opened up the holes and added #8 nut plates. I will use the same flathead screws that are used on the fuel tanks.

And voila, here is one screwed in place...looks pretty hot. I will add one more attach point and call it good. More on this later. Note, I may have to move my rudder pedals up 3/4" to accommodate this false floor. I'll decided this later.

Moving on to the canopy support for a change of pace. Just getting started with this. I am debating adding some structural strength to this sub-assembly. It provides roll over protection to the occupants and I've heard stories of it not being up to the task in some cases. If I can add some structure without adding a lot of weight and resources I will do it.

And lastly, here is my added angle alum support riveted into place. You can also see the flap assembly cleco-ed in place...still got a few details to do on that to finish it up.

Steve Jobs HOBBS 862.0 hrs

2011-10-10T10:55:00.003-06:00

Just a quick note on the passing of Apple Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs last week at the age of 56. I don't believe in idolizing anyone because no one is perfect, and that is certainly true of Steve Jobs, he had his flaws like we all do. But, perfect or not, I do find people like Steve Jobs very inspiring.

If you cant live your life with passion, whats the point? As he once said, "we must find something we love". You can say what you want about Steve Jobs, but you can never argue about his passion for what he loved to do. That is an important lesson to remember...live your life with passion, whatever it may be. I have been fortunate to have a few passions in my life and obviously my current one is aviation. I am grateful for these passions in life....many live their entire lives without any, and that is too bad.

Here are two of my favorite quotes by Steve Jobs, especially the first one which resonates with my philosophy on life and is essentially my mantra. I believe we all have a terminal illness, we are all going to die--dont waste the precious time that you have.

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

How does this relate to building an airplane in your garage? Well...its simple, it inspires me to do something great, to get off the couch, to do something I love with my time on earth because it is limited. Use your time wisely, for me, one of those things is building an airplane in my garage.

Last Decisions HOBBS 862.0 hrs

2011-10-07T15:16:00.001-06:00

This week and next I will be making a concerted effort to make the last decisions about what I am putting into my airplane. The reason being, is it's now time to order my last sub-kit...the finishing kit, wow, that seems strange to say. To do that, I need to nail down which engine I plan to go with...and which style, horizontal or vertical induction (more on this later), propeller choice, canopy and cowl. Along with anything that I plan to upgrade from the Van's stock parts so I can have it deleted.

Sean Blair just got his finish kit from Van's so I'm going to rent the Citabria next weekend and fly down to Meadow Lake (Colorado Springs) to check it out. He got a special tinted canopy that I also plan to go with, so I want to see what that baby looks like up close and personal before making my final decision. I've been meaning to visit Sean's project for awhile now, so I'll get that accomplished as well.

Since everything in life revolves around scarce resources...more specifically limited monetary resources, to accomplish this I had to start making a list and adding real prices to everything. Up til this point, I have been bouncing ballpark figures around in my head but haven't officially wrote anything down. So, I started an Equipment spreadsheet to track everything going into the plane...still working on it, but its a pretty big list. It has been an interesting exercise, and one I probably should've done sooner. Because, of course, I am over-budget...fairly significantly! d'oh! :) I am working on bringing this back into shape though, I'll get there. What I have on my list right now is my dream airplane...might have to leave some things out to get it where I need it to be. Its all a process, you have to start somewhere. More on this later...have a good weekend, KPR!

More Flap Actuator Work HOBBS 856.5 hrs

2011-10-03T08:03:00.000-06:00

Since I spent all day Saturday getting ready for the BBQ, I didn't get as much time on the project as I was hoping. I did progress on the flap actuator assembly and some detail work in the baggage compartment however. Its getting real close to being finished up.

Since I left out the parts that are used to adjust the seat incline. Friends Scott and Gary never use theirs and since I have long legs for a 5'9" guy I don't anticipate moving the seat forward as I want all the leg room I can get. But...that leaves the horizontal cross piece with a row of pre-punched holes in it and also a little weak in structure for my taste. So, I am adding a piece of angle alum underneath to stiffen it up. More pics on this later.

Parts primed and riveted

Finishing up my oil/tool/misc compartments I added to the baggage area. I just bought some cheap cam locks from Home Depot to secure them. Do I need to lock them? Probably not...but now I have the option.

Aviation BBQ HOBBS 848.0 hrs

2011-10-03T07:53:00.000-06:00

Saturday night I had a get together at my house to show off the project and talk RV's, drink some cold beer, eat some mouth watering food and share great conversation. Unfortunately, with my hosting duties consuming all of my time, I forgot to take any pictures of the event. We BBQ-ed beef and chicken skewers marinated in a hot and spicy sauce and had plenty of side dishes to supplement the main course including my homemade potato salad. It was a tasty affair.

I had a fire in the backyard fire pit and we spent most of the time outside enjoying the mid-80-degree temps and wonderful extended summer we are having out here in the Mile High city...gorgeous weather. It really was a nice evening...all told, 15 people showed up for the extravaganza.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with cooking (Rusty) and food prep and brought something to contribute to the gathering. Special thanks to Mike and Aneta for buying me a pneumatic rivet puller for the shop! Very cool....gonna use this on my baggage compartment floors real soon.

Here is a list of attendees...thanks to everyone for coming out!

Mike and Aneta Rettig (Empennage, RV10) (+2...brought along their neighbors and I forgot their names?)
Scott and Deb Mills (Flying, RV9A)
Gary and Carolyn Zilik (Flying, RV6A)
Sean Blair (Fuselage, RV7) ....all the way up from Colorado Springs!
Coy Rhoades
Bryan Raley (Empennage, RV8 or 8A)
Rusty and Rhoda Atkins
Scott and Amber Bacom

Electric Flap Assembly HOBBS 848.0 hrs

2011-09-27T07:40:00.001-06:00

I spent some time this weekend working on the electric flap motor actuator assembly. This resides in between and behind the two seats. Its been a fun sub-assembly to put together.

I bought this digital level a few months ago...and it sure is handy to have in the shop, wish I would've bought it sooner.

Squaring up the mounting angle bracket for the vertical support piece so I can match drill it to the tunnel cover.

There was a very slight bow in the horizontal support that is behind the seats, I wanted to get this straight before match drilling it. A minor detail, but important to me.

Here you can see the welded steel flap actuator in place. The electric motor will attach to this in the center and then each side will have a 5/16" diameter flap push rod linkage that moves the flaps up and down.

A pic of the electric motor as I match drill the mounting brackets that I fabricated. This is the piece that will sit in between the seats. The motor assembly seems like a nice piece of hardware.

Here's a shot of the side covers cleco-ed in place and match drilled. If you look closely, you will see they dont look straight...apparently thats the way they are designed to fit? Not sure why?

Bee Movie HOBBS 841.0 hrs

2011-09-27T07:23:00.001-06:00

Saturday night we had a movie night out at the Mills/Zilik hangar. It was a sub sandwich platter for dinner with homemade salsa from yours truly on the side. For this particular rendition of movie night, we decided to do an animated movie for the kids, Bee Movie...of course, it still had to have some aviation theme to it. As you can see from this screenshot...it satisfied that aspect just fine. Thanks to everyone who pitched in to make it happen...especially the Mills' and Zilik's!

Deb, Caroline and Brenda socializing before dinner...

Mr. Zilik looking slim and trim, in fighting shape! Gary has been getting into triathlons lately as a new hobby and has really got himself in good shape...nice job Gary!

Scott (G-dad) discussing his chalk work with his grandson 'Kota

Dinner is served!

Great Colorado sunset on our walk over to Chuck's hangar to see his new RV10

I really love the way the tip up's look...

End of Summer HOBBS 841.0 hrs

2011-09-21T08:10:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow officially marks the last day of summer, so it caused me to reflect on what I've been able to get done...both on the project and personally the last three months. I had a few goals in mind coming into summer that I wanted to get checked off and was largely successful. Although I knew I wasn't going to be done with the fuselage by now, I did want to get substantially into it...I think I accomplished that, I estimate I am about 2/3 of the way done.

On a personal note, I finally installed a fence in my backyard...that was nice as it was something I have been putting off for several summers now, and yes, I frequently think about what I could've bought for the airplane with that money!! ;)

And then there was the flying part...I became a tailwheel pilot, and that was VERY cool...the highlight of the summer for me. In addition, I attended a mountain flying ground school and made two mountain flights to Granby and Leadville to get a "mountain flying" signoff in my logbook. All in all, some good training, I learned a ton...I feel like I am a much better pilot because of it. I hope your summer was just as good or better!

Ok, back to the project status...still dinking with the baggage compartment. I need to have Deb help me do some riveting on the bottom skin before I finish this up...so for now it will wait for that effort. So, to keep moving I switched gears to the aft deck and finished that up...I was a little behind in the checklist in getting that done. After that, I moved to the flap assembly...and am just getting into that now. Here are some pics...

I realized I almost screwed this baggage panel up when I match drilled it. Make sure you cleco it in place along the bottom BEFORE match drilling it to the bulkhead. The bottom cleco's will properly place it nice and straight. I didn't do that and my panel is just slightly crooked, hardly noticable...luckily it lined up enough to install it ok. Just a silly oversight on my part.

Here is a pic of one of my hidden compartments...looking good. I haven't selected a latching mechanism yet...I want something I can lock up, so I need to research some options...I'm thinking about a cam lock of some kind. I'll do that later.

The plans call out for some 'wear blocks' for the seat belt cable as it goes through the corrugated panel. I could not find the material for these things anywhere in my pile of parts...!! Not sure where they could be? So I had a piece of 1/8" nylon sheet laying around and used that...it'll work just dandy, although 3/16" thickness probably would've been better.

The plans say to use pull rivets to secure these in place. Something about the description of 'wear blocks' made me want to install screws/nuts instead. If I have to swap these out a couple years from now, I'd rather have screws than drill out rivets...weight addition is minimal.

On to the aft deck...need to fabricate a couple spacers out of 1/8" sheet.

In place for a test fit before match drilling and priming...

And the finished product after riveting...now that looks HOT doesn't it? I know...I'm a dork! ;)

If you look closely you can see where, in my attempt to use the rivet squeezer in this tight space, I dinged the edge of the aft deck in a couple places. I broke out one of my small files and dressed these just like you would a ding in your prop blade. Its imperative to eliminate any sharp edges that are stress risers...cracks will form if not.

Now to the flap assembly. I spent a good half hour just studying this drawing to get a feel for how the assembly goes together....its kind of a 'busy' drawing. I started by cutting to size, notching, drilling and then finally cutting in half the center bearing shown here.

Be careful here...the plans say this is a 'full scale' detail view for this attach bracket...but as you can see, its not...3" doesn't translate to 4"...at least not in the math I learned. :) The 4" dimension is correct, as are all of the dimensions....its just 3/4 scale rather than full scale. Not a big deal...momentary confusion is all.

And here you can see a properly done full scale view...just lay that puppy right on the drawing and it should match up exactly. Always look for that 'full scale' note on detail views...it is kind of handy when they do that for you.

Here I am...Saturday night...watching a little college football and having a beer after a productive 6 hr work day. Sometimes I just like to hang out in the shop when I'm done and admire my handiwork...gotta enjoy the journey...once again, I know, I'm a dork! But I bet you can relate... :)

Around the World in an RV7 Documentary HOBBS 831.0 hrs

2011-09-16T15:30:00.000-06:00

I am frequently asked by people who dont know anything about general aviation, "how far can you fly that airplane you are building?" When I tell them some have flown an airplane like this around the world...they look at me kinda puzzled and say "really?". Yup...take a look at this DVD trailer...all in an RV7 just like mine. It will fly as far as your dreams and imagination will take it! Have a good weekend. KPR!

Citabria Solo! HOBBS 831.0 hrs

2011-09-16T13:53:00.002-06:00

My 'girl' awaiting our first date...

Today is the four year anniversary of my first solo, what an exciting day that was, and certainly one I wont ever forget. As luck would have it, today...I also soloed the Citabria! Kinda sweet how the timing of that worked out...I always try to take a flight on my anniversary date, but this one was extra special because of the circumstances.

I think most pilots would agree...although I love taking people for rides and have mostly enjoyed my instructors, there is something simply magical about being in the airplane alone...its like finally getting your best girl alone--just you and her, exploring the sky together. Very therapeutic...

As for the project, been plenty busy with other stuff this week so I have only logged a few hours. Still tying up the baggage compartment details...match drilling into the bulkhead and installing nutplates.

Baggage Compartment HOBBS 828.5 hrs

2011-09-12T08:03:00.000-06:00

Had a very good week in the shop...logging 18 hrs on the project, not bad considering it was a shortened holiday week. Lately its been one of those times in the project when I cant wait to get back out there and make more progress. Its exciting to see things really coming together on the fuselage and its looking more and more finished with every work session. I have to keep my enthusiasm in check however, since I know I still have a long ways to go. But...I am still enjoying it. :) And on a side note, I also finally signed up for a satellite radio subscription...and now have a sound dock in the shop...enjoying that little perk too.

Fitting the top/aft fuse skins...sure does look cool...I told my girlfriend, these curves are only second to yours! That's a sexy looking airplane! ;) As cool as this is, the plans say to fit them...remove, dimple, deburr and then set them aside until later. There is no hurry to riveting these in place since they just make it harder to get into the aft fuse. Although, there shouldn't be much I have to do back there...wire routing, static line and the servo motor (which I don't have yet). I'll get those items knocked out shortly so I can rivet these bad boys in place.

Moving onto the baggage compartment and bulkhead...and taking care of the details there. This lower corrugated panel is straightforward, just match drill it to the bulkhead. I'll add nutplates later.

The top corrugated panel is a little different however...you have to radius the corners at 8 1/2". I have a drafting compass, but it doesn't go as large as 8 1/2"...so this task left me pondering things for a second. How will I create the radius? I don't have a nice 8 1/2" coffee can laying around. ;) Probably many ways to do this if you use your imagination. I first sketched out some rough guidelines with my ruler. Then I fashioned a piece of string at 8 1/2" and drew a nice radius outline with my sharpie...I used to do this little trick back in my carpentry days, with a steady hand and some practice, it works fine for a somewhat non-precise radius such as this...it doesn't have to be perfect. I just wanted it to look nice and professional...

Rough trimming...for a last minute, sanity/fit check on the plane before cutting to final size.

And voila...turned out real nice, once I filed down the edges and deburred it, as you can see it had the professional look I was hoping for.

And here it is cleco-ed in place...also notice I added the notches for the seat belt cables that run to the aft fuselage. I still need to add some wear blocks to this panel...next session.

Working on the details of my two oil/tool/misc hidden compartments under the baggage floor. Not quite there yet on these but I'm getting there.

And here I bounced around a little bit in tasks--tying up some loose ends. I riveted the arm rests and the cap strips in place. The plans aren't real clear about when to do a lot of this stuff...so you just have to be real careful that it isn't going to severely inhibit installing other items later before riveting. By doing these now, I don't think it will effect anything later...we'll see how it goes...

Its Official! HOBBS 810.5 hrs

2011-09-07T10:07:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon, after work, on a rare drizzly overcast day here in Boulder I went around the pattern 8 times in exactly one hour of flying time with my instructor Lyn in the backseat of the Citabria. And with that, I have now flown off my 15 hrs required for solo flight in the Citabria! I also got signed off for my tailwheel endorsement as the last formality. I expect Lyn would've signed me off long ago but since I couldn't fly solo for insurance reasons, we saved the signoff until the end. Either way, it was pretty cool...I am now officially a tailwheel pilot and I have to admit it feels pretty darn good! My choice to go with an RV7 has been completely and absolutely justified in my mind...tailwheel flying is a ton of fun to this ol' boy!

It was fitting that my last hour was easily my best hour. We practiced short field techniques, every landing was whisper smooth, and it was a kick in the pants. Days like that are what keep us pilots coming back for more. I was able to plop that plane down softly and get stopped before reaching the first taxiway on Rwy 26 at Boulder. Not sure exactly how far that is?...but as we went around the pattern we took a look from our lofty perch at 1000' and lets just say it wasn't much real estate...it looked like a postage stamp. Felt quite a bit of pride in my piloting skills when I seen it from above--of course with an assist from the airplane design and the 5 knot headwind.

Looking back on my training...wow, it was a steep learning curve and I cant help but think I've come a long way since that first flight. I still remember hoisting the tail on that first takeoff roll and watching with horror as the nose of the airplane veered to the left like it was a possessed predator chasing some imaginary prey off the side of the runway. As I was flying yesterday, I couldn't help but think how docile things have become...whats the big deal, the airplane now wants to track straight down the runway centerline all by itself, like an obedient horse with blinders on. Who learned...me? or did the airplane just magically decide to cooperate? ;)

The airplane no longer has a mind of its own, it now is an extension of my mind...and that's cool! It should be the aspiration of every pilot to be 'one' with his/her airplane, its not easy, and for maybe the first time I feel that way. I highly recommend tailwheel training to all pilots if you want to improve your piloting skills...I promise you, whatever your views are on this topic of tailwheel vs. tri-gear, it will make you a better pilot.

Steamboat Springs Air Fest HOBBS 810.5 hrs

2011-09-06T08:41:00.003-06:00

My girlfriend Deb, posing with a nice looking RV7

Over the holiday weekend, I spent it in Steamboat Springs, CO and had a wonderful time...weather was simply perfect as was the company. Its become sort of a tradition for me the last three Labor Day weekends to spend it in Steamboat. One reason is that Steamboat has long been my favorite Colorado mountain resort area since I moved here 18 yrs ago...but also because they have an 'Air Fest' every year during that weekend. Its not much...rather small, mostly just static displays, airplane rides in a Stearman, C-47 and a Piper Cub (I did the Cub ride a few years ago) and some fly-by's but hey...its airplanes! And there were 3 local RV guys that were doing some nice formation fly-by's including a 'missing man'...the group consisted of a real nice looking blue/polished RV8, an RV6 and a -4. Here are a few pics of a pretty nice looking RV7 on static display...not sure of the owner?

A well appointed panel...nice clean layout

I keep taking photos of the CAD interior package that I plan to put in my seven...here you can see the side panels and rear bulkhead covers.

A lot of builders are doing really nice seals on their windscreens...either with ProSeal or Sika, here is a great example...looks very professional.

This looks like an added air scoop...'Sam James'-style...interesting.

Left Skin Complete HOBBS 810.5 hrs

2011-09-06T08:24:00.000-06:00

I spent the weekend in the mountains, or the bulk of it so I didn't get much time with the 'mistress.' I also got to see a few RV's over the weekend....more on that later. But, I did however finish up the left side in short order on Monday...about 4 hrs start to finish including the ProSeal...compared to about 6 hrs for the right side. After getting that done, I completely cleaned and organized the shop and hosed it out...it needed it and I wanted to free up some room as things are getting cozy in my small two car garage. I feel like this is sort of a transitionary period in the project. The metal work is coming to a close...all that's left is the top fuselage skins. I am a long ways from being done mind you, but airframe metal work is winding down.

I spent some time tying up some loose ends...riveted these bulkhead gussets and the remainder of the rivets in the aft side skins up to the longerons...leaving the top row empty for the top skin overlap coming later.

And an obligatory shot of the left side skin essentially complete...looking good!

Firewall gusset...always like how a nice row of rivets look...

I had to put a pop rivet in this location...click to enlarge. I'm not sure if I missed a note in the plans that would allow me to put a solid rivet here but there was no way I could get a bucking bar in there as it is. You may want to read up on this area if you hope to avoid this on your plane. I will do a cosmetic fill job later and hopefully you wont even know its a pop rivet...build on!

Right Skin Complete HOBBS 805.5 hrs

2011-09-01T08:22:00.001-06:00

Through several somewhat short work sessions, I finally got the right foreward side skin riveted in place. Its a little slow going when you are riveting by yourself, so this skin took me longer to do than I expected. But except for the slow pace, it wasnt bad at all to do solo...no crazy reaching, grunting or groaning. And gosh, it is so cool to see it riveted. Its feeling more and more like an airplane every day now. I keep wondering when it will be ready for me to sit in it for the first time. After I riveted that first side skin I check the rigidity of the structure...wow, its plenty stiff already! The way these lightweight, flimsy aluminum parts come together to make a super rigid structure is so cool to the Engineer in me. Aircraft design is fascinating.

I have now moved on to the left side, got it dimpled, prepped, deburred and removed the blue plastic in preparation for riveting. I expect this one to go much faster than the right side, as with everything on this project...once you've done it once, the second time always goes so much smoother. Shoot, if I built another RV, I could probably have it flying in a year! ;) ok...maybe not.

Here you can see, I have the skin in place for a last fit-check. I wanted to make sure everything was accounted for, things that would be difficult or impossible to do after the skin was in place...holes for rudder cables...access holes for fuel lines...all holes dimpled that need it...etc. After this was complete, I pulled it off...mixed up a batch of ProSeal, scuffed and cleaned the appropriate surfaces and then applied it to all overlapping seams and then re cleco-ed it in place. As I said, it took a few work sessions to get all the riveting done.

Here is a shot of it just about 98% complete. Isnt that 'purdy'?? A nice smooth, riveted skin is oh so satisfying. Dont forget to leave some of the holes open for the overlapping top skins and also hinge attach areas for the engine cowl, which I'll attend to later.

I started on the left side as shown here. Rivet this stiffener piece as called out in the plans. It says to leave the two bottom holes open for pop rivets...I only see the need to leave one open...not two, the other one can take a solid rivet. Doing these rivets at this stage does two things, #1-you cant get to the back side of these rivets once the skin is in place and #2, it holds it in place so you can install it much easier.

And a last parting shot. I have the left skin cleco-ed on for a test fit. It all looks good, next work session I will start riveting this bad boy in place!

First Side Skin HOBBS 797.0 hrs

2011-08-26T08:24:00.001-06:00

Quick status update: last night I tackled the right side skin and got it just about halfway riveted in place. I can easily do almost all of the side skins solo...the wrap around corner on the bottom may need another set of hands. Of course, I ProSealed the seams again so that adds some time and a little bit of anguish...I forgot how much I enjoyed ProSeal. :) Sorry no pics, I was too busy riveting...

Re-rivet HOBBS 794.0 hrs

2011-08-24T08:05:00.001-06:00

Last night I inspected all of my rivets from my last riveting session. I couldn't help but think I must have been smoking dope while I did that riveting! I'm embarrassed to say it was a poor performance. So, I spent some time carefully drilling out the 20-25 bad ones and redoing them. Problem solved. :)

I then proceeded to test fit the first side skin...the right side. I wanted to get one last look, make sure I had everything done before riveting. Good thing I did too, since there are a few small items I need to attend to. But I'll get those taken care of and the next session should be a riveting session as the first side skin is riveted in place. Cant wait.

Yoga...RV Style HOBBS 792.0 hrs

2011-08-22T08:58:00.003-06:00

I had a very productive and fun weekend working on the project. Sandwiched around the Front Range Airport open house (FTG) and a nice visit with Gary, Scott and Deb out at the hangar. The fuselage is starting to come together and its pretty exciting to finally start riveting big pieces together. It is taking shape...although I keep having this feeling of dread that I am missing something on the "laundry list"...Van's does not define these little tasks very well so you are kind of on your own.

As I mentioned before, doing this solo, I am skipping around in sequence a little. I did all of my prep work with the 'canoe' right side up. Now, as I get ready to rivet the bottom skins on...I flipped it over. Much easier to rivet the bottom skins like this.

Added this clearance hole to the gear attach gussets for a rubber grommet. The fuel line will enter the fuse here.

I added these bolts while I still had good acess...bottoms and side skins removed. After I got done, I inspected these...and I think the bolts are too long for this application. The plans say -5 (5/8") length...I may add another washer because I think the nut is bottoming out on the shoulder?? Van's does a great job with these kits...but always double check things, sometimes things arent quite right.

Here you can see I have applied ProSeal to my bottom skin joints. Yes...ProSeal...ugh! haha! I wanted to get a good watertight seal on the overlapping joints and also want to seal up the firewall from fumes entering the cockpit. The watertight seal might be overkill...but I figured it cant hurt.

Dont forget to machine coutersink these rivets where the floor stiffener angles attach.

Getting ready to rivet...solo...this is gonna be a task

Doing this bottom skin solo was tough. I almost threw in the towel trying to reach the rivets right in the center...my arms just didnt seem to stretch that far. Especially holding a rivet gun and bucking bar. But...somehow, I tried again and was able to get to them...just barely. I probably looked like an idiot while doing it though as I was in some pretty wierd positions to make it happen...paint this picture in your mind...legs spread wide apart, squatting, reaching, face pinned against the side and grunting. haha! Not pretty! Although I've never done yoga before, I couldnt help but think...who needs yoga when you are building an RV!!! I'm actually feeling it a little bit today, muscles are a little sore. ;)

Cleco's slowly being replaced by rivets...looking good! So cool to see a riveted skin, love it! On a different topic...If you look close in this pic, you can see that the lap joint between the mid fuse and the aft fuse is the wrong orientation. I overlapped them wrong. Doh! Dangit, that hacked me off when I finally noticed it last night. After some pondering, I have made the decision to leave it as is, I am too far along to change it now...structurally it is fine and it shouldnt cause any ripple effects that I can see. If you were looking for a blog about how to build a 'perfect' airplane...you came to the wrong place. As I always say, it is little things like this that make the plane all mine...they add character and are things I will laugh about later. ;)

One of my builder friends, Steve McGirr, gave me this idea to "autograph" your plane. Cool idea, this is my first one and it will be hidden by the side skin. I plan to let anyone that helps do the same.

Spinning My Wheels! HOBBS 778.0 hrs

2011-08-16T08:23:00.003-06:00

I took the weekend off from the project to spend it in the mountains at my friend EJ's cabin near Grand Lake (Thanks EJ!). Had a great time, I feel so lucky to live in this beautiful state and have the Rocky Mountains as my playground.

So, last night I was anxious to get back out in the shop and spend some time with my 'mistress'. I am at a point in the project where I am on the verge of some exciting developments. Namely, starting to rivet the fuselage together. But, alas, I keep finding little things that I inadvertently missed or just postponed until I could get better access...all items that need to be attended to before I can start riveting.

Most of them are no big deal. But there was one that caused me some anguish. I forgot to dimple my match drilled holes in the aft fuselage assembly when I had it apart the first time!! dang! I briefly thought about machine-countersinking them...yeah I know, the lazy way out. But...this is part of my transformation as a builder and a person. If I were building a deck on the patio, I probably would take the short cut or at least I would've in the past...but this being an airplane that my life depends on...gotta back up and do it right even if it kinda sucks. This area--where the aft fuse connects to the mid fuse--is an important part of the structure and I felt it needed to be done properly. So...back apart it came, I also had to drill out a couple rivets in the baggage bulkhead to accomplish this.

There are days in the shop where you are working hard, grunting it out, and really not having much fun because it feels like you are just spinning your wheels and not seeing any progress. Last night was one of those nights. You just gotta grind through them...they are inevitable and are obstacles to a flying airplane that must be overcome. I spent a fair amount of the evening dinking with this, got through it...the aft fuse is now dimpled properly and re-clecoed back together. Next step...riveting the bottom. I will now flip the 'canoe' over upside down like Van's suggests to do the bottom rivets.

Match drilling the plastic blocks that hold the rudder pedals. I couldn't access these with the side skins on, so I did it at this stage (side skins removed)...much easier. I have long legs for a 5'9" guy so they will probably be in the far forward position for me...but I did add some extra holes for adjustment just in case...not sure why really, but I did.

I wanted to do something with my firewall...leaving it bare metal is probably the right thing to do because just about any paint you put on it will cook off during a hot engine fire. As a compromise...I did paint it, but I used this flame proof paint I bought from Aircraft Spruce. Supposed to be effective up to 1200 degs F. An engine fire can get much hotter than that, but alum will start melting around there so I will have much bigger problems than paint fumes if I have an engine fire that is that far out of control and I'm still in the air. The rivets and cross members will be melting since they are alum.

Scuff up the surfaces and clean them with acetone...

Not sure how I like this stuff...it doesn't seem very durable, especially compared to my Akzo Nobel primer. It's mostly cosmetic though, it shouldn't have any wear to speak of so hopefully it wont matter how durable it is. Some guys also put a thermal shield/blanket over this on the cockpit side.

Here are a couple pics of the row of rivets that I forgot to dimple...what a pain! (btw, that's overspray you see on the side skin...the product of trying to paint in a small area and being sloppy about it...doh! not to worry it will be covered/removed by the painter later.)

Puttin' 'er Back Together HOBBS 773.0 hrs

2011-08-10T07:37:00.002-06:00

Now that the priming has been done, I have been busy reassembling the fuselage. I realized I still had a few 'laundry list' items to check off, so I am getting those done. Soon, riveting will commence.

On another note, every year a guy that goes by the moniker "Slick" does an Oshkosh video that is always top notch...I have posted a couple of his previous years on here as well. Here is his 2011 rendition....enjoy!

Popeye Forearms HOBBS 771.0 hrs

2011-08-08T07:33:00.000-06:00

It was a productive weekend in the shop...logged 11 hrs. I dismantled the fuse to get it ready for prep, deburr, primer. After getting everything taken apart, I had to tackle the task of machine countersinking all the holes in the longerons. Holy moly, that was a lot of holes...someone on another blog said he thought there was about 200 holes per longeron...not sure? but let me tell you there is a lot of them! By the time I was done, I felt like I had popeye forearms! :) Once that task was complete, along with general edge debur and scuffing of parts I was ready to paint. I primed a big batch of parts, including the longerons.

I then set about fabricating a couple of fuselage stands. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on this. As I've become a more seasoned builder, my philosophy has changed. I used to put a lot of time, money and effort into these stands. Now, I just do the minimum necessary to get the job done. The airplane is the focus, not the elaborate stands. Spend the time on the airplane.

Finally, I started to reassemble the fuse for the final time. Soon, it will be riveted in place...I'm excited to tackle that step.

Filing edges...at this point in the project, you should have your edge deburr process down to a science. I've spent many hours doing this.

My very basic fuse stand...throw on a little foam for protection...I also added a couple gussets for strength later. This was leftover lumber from my wing stands.

Oshkosh Video HOBBS 760.0 hrs

2011-08-05T10:25:00.001-06:00

Here is a cool Oshkosh video from this year in case you missed it. Have a great weekend!

Fuselage Laundry List HOBBS 760.0 hrs

2011-08-05T07:58:00.000-06:00

Now that I am back from OSH, I am filled with motivation so I've been trying to squeeze in as much build time as I can in my busy summer schedule. Van's mentions there is a 'laundry list' of items to attend to on the fuse before disassembling it for deburring and priming. So, I think I got 'em all covered and have started the disassemble...kind of a drag to see it come apart after all that work. There is a lot of deburring/prep work and priming ahead of me but once that is done...it'll come together for riveting. The metal work on the airframe is winding down amazingly. Lots more to do before it flies, but the bulk of it wont be metal work...wiring, lots of misc details and composite work mostly.

You may have noticed that I am doing this a little different than Van's says in the plans...they say to have your fuse upside down, not sure why at this point? Maybe when I get to riveting it will be helpful...but right now this would be a pain to work on upside down. Anyway, here is a shot of me test fitting the rudder pedal structure.

I need to drill a few sets of holes for the rudder pedals to allow for adjustment. I have pretty long legs for a 5'9" guy so I expect I will have them set all the way back but I also want adjustability built in. Just in case I ever sell it?

I haven't decided how to drill these mounting holes just yet...maybe do it before I assemble the side skin? Access is very limited. Also, pay attention...these plastic mounting blocks are not symmetrical...they are machined to fit the curve of the fuse so there is a 'left' and a 'right'.

Test fitting the panel structure...not sure why, just because...

Test fitting the cover panels and fuel selector bracket (which I wont use). I'm trying to formulate my mounting strategy for my center console and false floor. I have an idea how its going to go...but I'll figure this out later.

Match drilling these gussets...I still need to add a square hole in these.

Seat belt attach brackets...I wanted to get all of my holes drilled in the longerons before disassembling for countersinking and primer. I am jumping ahead in the plans with these steps..shouldn't be a problem however.

I cleco-ed on the top skin so I could get an idea how these gusset brackets would be oriented before match drilling them. Pretty much just drill them parallel with the longerons and you'll be fine. It really is cool to see how this baby comes together...looking more and more like an airplane all the time!

Here is my misc hardware I brought back from OSH. Does this look like $150 of hardware?? sheesh! Oh well, this isn't stuff you can get at Home Depot so its nice to have some extra on hand.