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:

Made a doubler for the #2 VHF comm antenna that I will be putting on the tail cone just aft of 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: