Last update for 2015!!  Hard to believe I've been at this almost 2 years (February).  I was hoping to be a little further ahead, but I've been fairly busy the last several months with my military retirement.  I will also be quite busy for the foreseeable future.  Next week I begin several weeks of training in Florida and on 1 February I begin training for my new job as a regional airline first officer.  Not sure when I'll get back on the RV-10...

23 DEC 15: Page 31-9 steps 3: 3 hours

Continued riveting fuse top skin – no pics.

28 DEC 15: Page 40-2 step 1, 40-3 1-3, 40-4 5, 40-5 1-4: 5.25 hours

Drilled the new flap horn that I received from Van’s.  Remembered to measure the width this time!  Installed left and right flap torque tubes.

29 DEC 15: Misc.: 2 hours

Did a few odds and ends and drilled out a few rivets on the side of the fuse top skin.  Because of the sharp bend in the skin, I put a little ‘outtie’ in the skin.  Drilled out a few of the rivets to fix the outtie and will wait for assistance to re-rivet it – I can then be very careful with the gun to ensure I don’t make another outtie in the skin.

30 DEC 15: Prime, Page 39-6 step 2, page 40-6 step 4: 4.5 hours

Primed the last remaining pieces.  Happy to say the entire airframe is primed!  There will be the occasional odds and ends, touch up, etc, but I’m pretty much done with the Akzo!!!

 Drilled a safety wire hole in the flap motor and riveted the elevator idler arm:

31 DEC 15: Page 38-10 steps 9-10, 39-5 1-4, 39-6 3, 39-8 3, 39-9 1-2, 31-10 1-4: 8.25 hours

Installed the rudder cable links to the rudder pedals, assembled the aileron pushrod assemblies:

Installed the F-1089/1090 elevator push rod assemblies.  Bolted together the F-1063 elevator idler arm bracket and F-1089/1090 elevator push rod assemblies.  Installed the F-1064/1065 aileron pushrod assemblies and the control sticks.  I can almost sit in it and pretend that it’s an airplane!

Finished riveting the forward fuse top skin and temporarily installed it to get it out of the way while I’m gone:

13 DEC 15: Torqued brake lines, installed system bracket covers: 5 hours

Finished torquing the brake lines and finished installing the covers to the systems brackets – no pics.

15 DEC 15: Page 11-6 steps 3-4, page 39-7 steps 2-4: 2 hours

Finished F-1091 elevator pushrod, final drilled and installed the WD-1010 control column – no pics.

16 DEC 15: Page 39-8, steps 1-2, 40-2 1-5: 3.25 hours

Installed the control stick base bushings and control stick bases.  Drilling flap crank to flap torque tube:

17 DEC 15: Page 40-4 step 4: 1 hour

Trimmed four F-1030 UHMW bushings – no pics.

20 DEC 15: Page 40-3 step 1, 40-4 step 1 (left), 40-2 1 (right): 2 hours

Drilling flap torque tube and flap horn:

Unfortunately…I drilled before ensuring the correct lateral spacing of the flap horn and crank.  I was hoping that the distance was within tolerance, but with a tolerance of +/- 1/32”, no such luck!  Oh well, $58 to Van’s for a new flap horn and I’ll be back in business.

21 DEC 15: Page 40-6 steps 1-3: .75 hour

Cut WD-1013J, F-1066D, and F-1066E spacers – no pics.

22 DEC 15: Page 31-9 steps 2-3: 3.5 hours

Riveted the F-1068B-L/R sub panel sides and F-1045-L/R forward fuselage ribs.  Began riveting F-1071 forward fuse top skin to the sub panel assembly:

5 DEC 15: Re-tighten parking brake fittings, paint pedals: 3.75 hours

Removed the parking brake assembly in order to tighten the fittings.  Then prepped and painted the pedals:

6 DEC 15: Re-rivet pedal brackets, page 38-3, steps 1-3: 3 hours

Well, in my last post, I showed off my pretty, painted pedals.  Unfortunately…when I went to assemble the pedals, I discovered that I assembled the pedals backwards.  The major issue was the cylinger brackets.  One of the brackets riveted back on correctly:

This also means that the front face of the pedals (which I thought was aft) have the shop head of the rivet on them.  I thought about drilling them all out, but really didn’t have the motivation, so I decided to keep it this was and just use the shop heads for some extra traction!  The good news is that you cannot see the unpainted side of the brackets as they are next to the cylinders:

With my retirement from the military a couple short weeks away, the delay that I am expecting on the build is getting close.  I’ve been plugging away fairly steadily on the build, but expected a delay as I transition into my civilian life, new career, etc.  The delay got a bit closer this Thursday, as I interviewed for a regional airline and was offered a February 1 class date to begin training to be a CRJ First Officer.  As a testament to how bad the regionals are struggling to find pilots (as a result of the ATP rule being implemented last summer), I received this offer without 1 hour of multi engine airplane time and only 400 ASEL, part 91 flight hours – almost all of them in my RV-7A!  With my rotor ATP and helicopter time, my RV time was enough to get an interview and offer.  I really was not looking to go the airline route, but the industry hasn’t looked this good in a long time and I feel like I need to take advantage of the hiring climate.  NO WAY would I be able to walk into jet time with 400 ASEL hours any other way.  So my last day in the military is 24 December, I begin my comm AMEL training 2 January (need 25 hours before beginning airline training), and go to Ohio 1 February to begin ground school.  After about a month of ground training, I will go to Charlotte for 6 weeks or so for simulator training.  I’ll then be sent to an ATP CTP course, so I can take my ATP AMEL written.  Wish my rotor ATP written counted, but it does not – even though much of the material will be the same – oh well.   Excited to begin my next adventure!  Ok back to the build…

11 DEC 15: Page 38-3, steps 1-3, 38-4 5-6, 38-5 1-3: 3.5 hours

Finished installing the pedals and cylinders:

Installed the pedal assembly into the forward fuselage:

12 DEC 15: Page 38-6, steps 1-3, 38-7 1-3, 38-8 1-4, 38-9 1, 38-10 2-8: 5.25 hours

Installed all of the brake lines:

Ran the rudder cables through the fuselage assembly.  This adel clamp was not too fun to install jammed inside the tail cone:

Exit from the tail cone:

Cable entry into the center tunnel:

27 NOV 15: Section 37, fuel system, page 39-3 steps 2-5: 5 hours

Flew up to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with my Dad and his wife.  Upon returning, I had my new tubing bender – works much better than the cheapo I purchased from Cleaveland:

Reworked the hard line from the filter to the pump:

Finished up by completing the F-1089 elevator pushrod:

28 NOV 15: Section 37, fuel system, page 39-4 steps 2-5: 6.5 hours

Reworked the hard line from the pump to the transducer:

Went through and torqued all the fittings using a crow’s foot.  Surprisingly, I was able to reach them all with the torque wrench.  Finished the session by making the F-1090 elevator pushrod.  Riveting the VA-101 threaded rod end:

Both pushrods complete:

24 NOV 15: Section 37, fuel system: 4.5 hours

Riveted angle to center tunnel:

Fuel pump fit into angles:

Everything fit into place.  When I remake the line from the filter to the pump, I’ll have to angle it further away from the pump cover plate as it comes quite close to the upper right mounting bolt.  I also have to adjust the angle of the line from the pump to the transducer.  Originally when I made the line, the fitting on the input side of transducer was at 3:00.  Now that it is fully installed, it ended up at 12:00 – very short line, will be tough to make those angles work, but I’ll figure something out:

16 NOV 15: Page 33-10 steps 10-12, page 35-5 step 4, page 35-9 step 3: 3 hours

Riveted the wear blocks to the baggage bulkhead corrugations, riveted the splice plate to the aft tunnel cover assembly, riveted the nutplates to the F-1015D-L/R mid cabin side covers:

17-19 NOV 15: Tunnel insulation, brake line/fuel line/pump part fabrication: 8 hours

Installed the center tunnel insulation and prepped brake/fuel line parts and fabricated brackets to mount the fuel pump/filter – no pics.

21 NOV 15: Fuel line/system fabrication: 3 hours

Spent quite a long time figuring out how to install all the center tunnel fuel system components.  Close to the final, but not quite the final configuration:

22 NOV 15: Fuel lines: 8 hours

A very long day of messing with the fuel system.  Began by fabricating mounting brackets out of angle to mount the pump on the left side of the tunnel:

I then attached the filter to the kickplate on the side of the pump:

This location will make most of the components very accessible by the access panel:

Finished the session by fabricating hard lines for the filter and transducer:

My tubing bender was not large enough, so I made this temp lines bending them around a 1.25” piece of PVC.  When the larger tubing bender arrives, I will fab the final lines.

23 NOV 15: Disassembled fuel system, prime, page 36-3 steps 2-6, page 36-4 1-2: 7.5 hours

Primed the fuel pump mounting parts and a few remaining pieces:

Removed all the fuel system components and final installed the center tunnel insulation and brake lines:

Brake lines from tunnel to gear mount:

8 NOV 15: Page 35-3 1(left), redo page 34-4 5-9, page 34-5 5-7, page 34-6 1-3: 8.5 hours

Finished riveting right passenger seat floor in place.  Redid the baggage door frame.  Lock assembly installed:

Match-drilled the holes of the F-1058 hinge frame into the F-1060 hinge.  Spacing looks pretty good:

I wanted to get the hinge as flush as possible to the fuselage skin.  Looks pretty good:

9 NOV 15: Page 34-6 steps 5-7, 35-2 5 (left), 35-3 1-2, 35-4 2: 10.5 hours

Attached baggage door assembly and striker plate.  Riveted left passenger floor and seat pan in place – no pics.

12 NOV 15: Page 33-10 steps 1-3: 3 hours

Match drilled, dimpled, and installed nutplates to the F-1006A/B/C bulkheads – no pics.

13 NOV 15 Page 33-10 steps 5-9, paint prep: 3 hours

Match-drilled #30 the holes of the F-6114B/C wear blocks into the F-1006F/E baggage bulkheads:

Prepped parts for paint.  These are interior pieces that have already been primed.  I scuffed the primer coat in preparation to paint them with the interior urethane paint:

14 NOV 15: Installed parking brake mount, paint: 4.75 hours

I initially decided not to install the Matco parking break because I had heard about problems with the module leaking.  I heard they changed the module, so I decided to bite the bullet and install it.  Even though there have been very few times over the past several hundred hours in my 7A that I had the need for a parking brake, when you need one and don’t have one, well…  Mount installed to the firewall:

Interior covers painted with the medium-stone urethane to match the interior color.  This is about it for priming/painting of airframe parts:

15 NOV 15: Wiring, page 34-7 steps 4-5, page 35-3 step 4: 5.25 hours

My friend Mike (Gulfstream A&P/-14 builder) came over and gave me a crash course in wiring techniques.  May seem dumb for such a simple task, but from someone who has NO experience doing any electrical wiring outside of some shoddy crimp/soldering work around the garage, it was a huge sense of accomplishment splicing these light wires and soldering the switch connections for the baggage lights.  Aft end:

Finished product installed:

Finished the evening by installing the F-1081 left baggage cover:

4 NOV 15: Page 39-3 step 1, 39-4 step 2, redo baggage frame:  3 hours

Cut the elevator forward and mid pushrods.  Drilled holes for baggage compartment lights.  I’m installing two LED lights and a small switch:

Redid the baggage frame.  Redrilled and ready to prime:

6 NOV 15: Page 35-2 steps 3-5, Prekote, Prime: 9 hours

Dimpled passenger floor pans.  MANY thanks to friend and fellow RV-10 builder, Mike Jimenez, who recommended only installing the pesky floor pans once – not in and out, due to them being very difficult to insert/remove.  I also enlarged the forward openings slightly based on his recommendation.  Used a couple pieces of scrap .020 to cover the belt anchors – made the installation a snap:

Spent the rest of the work session priming my final pieces remaining.  The only metal remaining are the wing fairings.  Everything else is primed and ready to go!

7 NOV 15: Page 11-8 step 8, 11-9 steps 1-5, page 35-2 step 5 (right), 35-3 1(right): 7.25 hours

Riveted together the trim mount bracket assembly.  Installed the elevator trim cables:

Finished riveting the right passenger floor pan in place.  Pretty awesome to be sitting inside the plane!

Riveting the aft flange of the floor pan:

Riveted the F-1024-R seat pan into place.  Right side pax seat and floor all installed:

Ordered some rubber grommets from aircraft spruce.  They were a perfect fit for the bulkhead holes and the inner diameter was the perfect size for the conduit: