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: