Well, so much for keeping my blog up to date - 90 days since the last update!! Not a whole lot of work over the past several months, but below is what has happened. I'd like to say I will be making more regular updates, but I'm in for another build/blog delay - just like last year. I'll explain in a separate post.
28 AUG 16: Page 43-5 step 1, fiberglass practice: 6.5 hours
No pics
29 AUG 16: Page 43-5 steps 1-4, page 41-7 steps 2-4: 5.5 hours
No pics
30 AUG 16: Page 43-5 steps 4-5, page 43-6 steps 1-4, page 43-7
steps 1-7: 4.5 hours
No pics
31 AUG 16: Page 43-7 step 8: 1 hour
No pics
7 SEP 16: Page 43-7 step 8, page 43-8 steps 1-3, tailcone VHF
doubler: 3.25hours
Countersunk all the #12 and #19 holes in the cabin
top:
11 SEP 16: VHF doubler: 3.5hours
Finished the antenna for the #2 comm antenna. Doubler riveted to the top skin:
Antenna as it will be placed once final installed:
19 SEP 16: Page 41-7 step 1, page 45-2 step 1: 3.5hours
Fabricated the cowl attach shims. Marked the outside perimeter and window
flanges of the C-1002A-L/R cabin door outer shells in preparation for trimming. I’ve had this tool since I started building
and never got to use it…until now… Did a
good job for this purpose:
26 SEP 16: Page 45-2 step 1: 2.5 hours
Trimmed the outside perimeter and window flange of
the C-1002A-L/R cabin door outer shells.
Fiberglass fun!
27 SEP 16: Page 45-2 steps 1-2, page 43-3 steps 2-4: 4.5 hours
Finished trimming the outside perimeter and window
flanges of the C-1002A-L/R outer shells and the C-1002B-L/R inner shells. Trimmed and sanded the canopy top – so much
fiberglass fun!
12 OCT 16: Redo upper fuse, page 31-2 steps 4-5, page 31-3 1-3,
page 31-4 1-2: 3.5 hours
I was never happy with the quality of my upper fuse –
the only metal work in the entire plane that had a few blemishes. I decided that I didn’t want to spent
(hopefully) the rest of my life walking to my plane and seeing the blemishes,
so I decided to replace this:
With this:
16 OCT 16: Page 31-2 step 3, debur, page 31-4 step 4: 3 hours
Fabricated the F-1003D/E panel attach flanges, deburred
all the panel pieces, clecoed the panel structure together:
17 OCT 16: Tested repaired tank: 2.5 hours
I think I’ve probably had the tank off for a year
now – very glad to get the repair behind me.
Did the balloon check and also sprayed the tank thoroughly with a leak
detector - basically fancy soapy water. I’ll
take the tank back out to the hangar (where the wings are being stored and wait
a bit (cooler weather) before installing the tank back on the spar:
18 OCT 16: Page 31-2 steps 1-2, page 31-5 steps 1-2: 2.5 hours
Fabricated the F-1044C spacer and the F-1044B angle:
7 NOV 16: Replace flanges on upper fuse L/R ribs: 2.25 hours
I had an odd alignment issue with the upper fuse –
the left and right rib flanges didn’t line up with the holes in the firewall
once everything was riveted together. A
call to Van’s had them scratching their heads – said they saw the same misalignment
in pieces in the warehouse. Their advice
was to get some angle and make some new flanges, so that’s what I did:
13 NOV 16: New upper fuse: 1.5 hours
The culprit of the original outies are marked in red
in the pic – the corner of the flanges.
I taped a steel ruler along the flanges to see how much shimming will be
needed to get a nice curve:
18/19 NOV 16: New upper fuse: 3.75 hours
A bit tedious, but the shimming seems to be doing
the job! Hopefully the marks will not
reappear once riveted:
20 NOV 16: Page 31-6 steps 1-4, page 31-7 step 1: 2.5 hours
Match drilling the new upper fuse assembly – no pics.
21 NOV 16: Prekote / prime upper fuse parts: 6 hours
Been quite a while since I messed with the Prekote /
Akzo routine. Guess what? I didn’t miss it!! All the new upper fuse parts – next step is
to put it together; the fun part!
22 NOV 16: Page 31-3 steps 1-3, page 31-7 steps 1-5, page 31-8 steps
1-6: 5 hours
Putting together all the new upper fuse parts. New flanges riveted on the L/R ribs:
23 NOV 16: Page 31-8 steps 7-15, page 31-9 steps 1-2: 8.5 hours
Continued riveting the upper fuse structure
together. Center section:
A little awkward to rivet on the bench – hard to
keep it from moving – so a stuck a piece of PVC through the ribs and clamped it
onto my work bench. Worked really well –
much easier to rivet when the work piece isn’t dancing all over the place.
26 NOV 16: New upper fuse: 1.5 hours
Continued work assembling the upper fuse structure –
no pics.
27 NOV 16: Page 31-9 step 3, installed fans in glare shield, put
cabin top back on: 12 hours
Marathon day, but got a lot done! I riveted the upper fuse skin to the
sub-structure. I had a friend help with
the last upper fuse, but shot this one by myself. It was very slow going – lots of awkward
angle to shoot and buck, but I got great results. I then mounted two computer fans into the top
skin that will serve to circulate hot air from the avionics bay and will also
serve as windshield defrost – the fit was good:
I am so glad I decided to redo the upper fuse. My results were much better this time – looks
great, and now matched the very nice build quality of the rest of the airframe!
Now that the new upper fuse is complete, I can now
get back to forward progress – fiberglass work!! I ended the night by putting the cabin top
back on. Next up will be to trim the windows
and window openings, fit the Aerosport overhead console, finish the inside of
cabin top, and continue work on the doors:
