FAA Photo-Ailerons HOBBS 394.0 hrs

I forgot to upload this self-protrait when I finished the ailerons. This, so the good ol' Federal government, knows I actually built my plane. If you read my blog you know how I feel about this silliness, but it could be worse...we do have great freedoms in our wonderful country, especially when it comes to aviation.

Ready to Roll! HOBBS 370.0 hrs

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

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

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

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

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

Right Aileron HOBBS 363.0 hrs

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

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

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

Shampoo HOBBS 361.5 hrs

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

Aileron Trailing Edge HOBBS 359.5 hrs

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

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

Productive Weekend HOBBS 358.0 hrs

Happy Halloween 2010! It was a productive weekend in the factory, the best I've had in awhile. Its kind of ironic, I was invited to two parties this weekend and turned them both down because I have been feeling a little under the weather. What a great oppurtunity to spend some quality time with the "Aluminum Mistress!" This thing aint gonna build itself after all. :) I spent 10 total hrs pluggin' away at the left aileron and the right fuel tank. Except for a 10-32 nut plate, the left aileron is done (need to order some more from Van's). And the bulk of the right fuel tank is now done. It was a lot of work, but very satisfying to see some good progress.

I had heard that as you progress in the build, Van's kind of stops 'holding your hand' and leaves more and more of the details up to the builder. Well, with the aileron I started to see this transition. I had to fill in the blanks with a few things on this sub assembly. That slowed me down a little and caused some head scratching and even a couple minor mistakes. The right aileron will go much quicker now that I know the process. Here are some pics for the weekend's work....

All interior parts acid etched, alodined and primed...you know the drill by now

Stiffeners back riveted into place, these babies really do a great job stiffening up the structure

All stiffeners are numbered and marked so that they go in their correct location where they were match drilled

One of the many fit checks...cleco it together, match drill, check fit and plan your assembly order

A shot of the nose rib interior structure with the water pipe counterbalance

Be sure to follow the instructions here, blind rivet the counterbalance pipe FIRST before riveting to the main spar...ask me how I know?

Van's was kind of vague about how to get these countersinks in the leading edge for the counterbalance. From what I could tell, they just said to install the blind flathead rivets and they would pull the material into a dimple?? I cleco-ed the counterbalance pipe (which has machine countersinks) in place, then took my dimple die...inserted it in the hole and smacked it with a soft mallet. Worked slick.

The result, a pretty flush flathead rivet considering where it is located. I can live with this.

Attach bracket in place for fit check, all systems go!

And there ya have it, an aileron. I gotta add the nut plate and tweak the trailing edge but other than that, its done.

And a shot of my right fuel tank...spent about five hours on it sunday. All interior ribs and one end rib done. Still have to install the capacitance plates, vent tube, end rib, access cover and the baffle/attach brackets but the hard part is over.

Aileron Work HOBBS 346.5 hrs

Spent the weekend working on the right aileron. Cut and dimpled the stiffeners, match drilled the assembly, deburring, etc. I still have some dimpling and edge prep to do. Almost ready to prime all interior parts and then it will be time for final assembly and riveting.

Took a friend of mine, Evonne, for her first small airplane ride on saturday afternoon. I rented the DA-20 (pictured) for a 1.1 hr flight sightseeing over the city. I was a little worried we were going to have a bumpy flight as the winds were howling down the runway at 23 kts, which isn't all that unusual at BJC. But it really wasnt bad once airborne, pretty smooth actually and the fall colors were popping. Another satisfied customer, she had a blast and thanked me several times! Always fun to take people for their first ride.