So, I put in a $270 Van's order before the New Year...the rivets, some misc hardware to stock up and parts I will need for the ER tanks. So, while I wait for that order to come in next week...in the meantime I am doing odds and ends. But, staying plenty busy, still lots to be done...this has been my most productive week in quite some time...right around 20 hrs this week.
On a personal note, been cold as heck out here in Denver, we had -25 degs with the wind chill on new years eve! So staying warm in the shop (garage) has been a little bit of a challenge...but not too bad since my garage is insulated and I have a heater vent piped in. Went out to FTG new years day morning and went flying with Scott for a little while...had breakfast with the guys and Caroline.
Its funny to me how your life changes when you are building one of these. Where most 'normal' people look forward to a holiday weekend to do 'fun' stuff...I now look forward to the extra hours I can put into the airplane! :) I am cranking along with this four day weekend...very productive and its not over yet.
The cutout template supplied with my SafeAir pitot mast I bought at OSH this year. I plan on having an IFR bird at some point, so a heated pitot is in order for me.
Template in place...notice my "square" reference line to help keep it straight. I probably should have drawn it down the centerline of the cutout in hindsight...but it worked.
Here you can see I used a unibit to drill out most of the area I need to remove, followed by some work with the cutoff wheel, this helps temendously and is easy to do.
If I havent mentioned it already...a dremel tool is a must have for the shop, I use mine quite a bit. I recently discovered one of these rotary cutting bits like the one shown (I know...I'm slow!). Cuts through the aluminum like butter...not sure how I got by without it. They come in different diameters, this one is 1/4". This is what I used to clean up my cutout. Just be careful...one slip and you might be ordering a new skin! ;)
And the finished product, came out pretty good. I will most likely ProSeal the gaps when I install it. Probably not needed but I think it will give it a nice finished look and keep the water out. I will put this off to the side until I am ready to rivet on this bottom skin. SafeAir says it should take about 90 mins to accomplish this task...I dont think it took near that long, pretty straightforward.
Inspection covers..dimpled, deburred...ready to rock and roll.
Splice plates for the fuel tank attachment...dimpled, deburred, nutplates installed...I later threw a coat of primer on them.
For the splice plates, I had to create a "modified" set of dimple dies since the dimples are so close together for the nutplates. I had anticipated the need for these (almost every builder has a set of these) so I bought a cheap set at OSH this year just for this purpose. I finally got around to modifying them on the belt sander...worked pretty slick.
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