This page picks up where the last page left off. Still working on the interior systems, including flaps, seats, control sticks, fuel and brake lines, etc.
Total Construction Time: 98 hours and counting
December 2, 2007 (2 hours)
Deburred the autopilot bracket and the strobe and ELT mounting bracket. Then I began work on the manual aileron trim parts, including drilling the plastic block and it's mounting bracket, plus removing a couple of nutplates from the seat ribs and adding the additional screw holes.
December 3, 2007 (2 hours)
I primed the autopilot, ELT, strobe and aileron trim brackets. Then Aaron came out and helped with riveting some nutplates and other stuff. I drill the holes in the trim lever and trim weldment for the bolt that attaches them, plus drilled and trimmed for the cotter pin that holds it to the plastic block.
December 4, 2007 (1 hour)
Finished up with the aileron trim assembly, except I had to order some 0.040" safety wire to mount the springs. Also drilled, countersunk and riveted the nutplate in the floor panel where the tunnel cover gets screwed to the floor.
December 5, 2007 (2 hours)
It's been pretty cold lately, so I worked on the fuel lines that run between the fuel filter and pump from inside the house. For each of these you need to make 180 degree bends and my tube bender only does 90 degree bends. I wasn't real happy with the first bends I made so I scrapped that piece. I picked up a set of the spring-type tube benders from the aircraft section of Lowes and the next bends were better.
December 8, 2007 (2 hours)
It was down to -7 degrees this morning outside and the garage was 17 degrees. Decided to stick with inside work, so I got most of the rest of the tubing bent for the fuel pump and filter assembly. I did scrap one more tubing section where I messed up on measurements, but otherwise they look pretty good and fit real nice. My finish kit should arrive this coming Friday!
December 9, 2007 (5 hours)
I've been avoiding finishing the fuel and brake lines for a while, but decided I needed to get these done sooner or later. I spent a lot of time trying to measure, bend and test fit each part so I didn't end up with interference between the eight different fuel and brake lines that are in this one area (can you count them all?). In the end they came out pretty good. I have one more fuel line to add, that one coming off the 90 degree elbow off the pump and running to the firewall. Normally there's a straight fitting coming off the pump, but that would interfere with the fuel line going to the selector valve. I'll credit Bret Smith with coming up with the idea of a 90 degree fitting, who confirmed with Don Rivera at AFP that this would work fine.
December 11, 2007
I received my finish kit today! This includes the canopy, cowl, engine mount, wheels, fairings and a bunch of other parts.
December 14, 2007 (2 hours)
Worked on assembling the forward section today. With the subpanel, ribs and panel in place, I decided to trim a little from the forward canopy decks, but realized I need to have the top skins on so the subpanel is positioned right before I drill them to the longerons. Cut and drilled the two angle sections that attach the panel to the top skin.
December 15, 2007 (3 hours)
Fabricated and match drilled the reinforcing plate that attaches to the inside of the center rib, then cut the stiffener angle and bent the end per the plans. The directions tell you to drill the angle to the rib, but I was concerned about getting it properly positioned. I decided to reassemble it back on the plane to make sure the front tab of the angle was positioned right on the firewall angle. Interestingly, the center rib and the firewall do not have holes for riveting and you cannot easily tell exactly where it's supposed to fit. I decided that I was best off putting the top skin on so those rivets were in good alignment before I drill anything. This also is the only way to ensure the sides of the subpanel, and thus the forward canopy decks, are positioned right.
December 16, 2007 (5 hours)
Trimmed a little more off the aft ends of the forward canopy decks to get them to fit nicely. Also match drilled a couple of holes through the center rib and the center rib stiffener angle, ensuring the front of the angle sits nicely on the firewall angle. I also remembered to match drill the holes in the top panel attachment angles I fabricated a couple days ago. Then I took the top skins off and removed the center rib and angle so I could match drill the rest of the holes easier. I also decided it was time to go ahead and drill the forward canopy deck to the longerons.
December 19, 2007 (1 hour)
Fabricated and drilled the short piece of angle that attaches the center rib to the sub-panel.
December 22, 2007 (6 hours)
Decided to fabricate the couple of short angles that attach to the forward canopy deck and have nutplates for screws that hold the panel in place. Positioning these just right is a little tough because you need the panel in place while you position the angle. Then you need to find a way to keep if from moving while you remove the panel and then drill it to the canopy deck. There's really no good way to clamp then in place, so I finally decided to break out the duct tape (who says you can't build a plane with duct tape?) to keep them in place. It actually worked pretty well, at least for something that gets nutplates later. Next I decided to match drill the top forward skin to the ribs, subpanel and firewall. With pretty much all the forward structure ready to disassemble for priming, I decided instead to finally drill and rivet the strobe power supply and ELT mounts to the J-stringers. This is a little tough due to minimal clearance for a drill but I used my shortest bit in my angle drill and they came out okay. I had to bend the mandrels on the blind rivets along the bottom so I could get my rivet puller on it. Along the top my rivet puller was too wide to get between the skin and the J-stringer flange, so I used the rivet puller that I ground down long ago for the fuel tank Z-brackets, ground the other side off, and then it was able to fit. Finally I decided to rivet the autopilot pitch servo bracket in place as well.
December 31, 2007 (2 hours)
With Christmas followed by five days in New York with the family, I haven't been making much progress lately. Today I match drilled the rest of the holes in the top skins, ribs and panels.
January 5, 2008 (3 hours)
It's been awfully cold during the last week so I've avoided working in the garage. Instead I spent a lot of time working to finish my main electrical design. On Wednesday I ordered a bunch of stuff from B&C Specialty Products. By Friday a big box of switches, relays, circuit breakers, contactors, and other neat stuff arrived at my door.
It finally warmed up into the 30's today so I spent a few hours deburring and dimpling the ribs, subpanel and other parts.
January 6, 2008 (7 hours)
Got a lot done today. Finished deburring and dimpling the rest of the forward ribs, forward canopy decks and panel support angles. Next I cleaned and primed them. Afterward I went ahead and riveted all the panel mounting nutplates on. To kill a little more time I did a bunch of other miscellaneous tasks that I had to finish up. I'm waiting on a replacement center panel rib as a few of the holes were enlarged when I was drilling through the stainless steel firewall. Hopefully it will get here middle of this week.
January 7, 2008 (2 hours)
Decided it was finally time to rivet the canopy decks to the longerons so I could finally stop snagging myself on the clecos while crawling in and out of the cockpit. I could only buck a few of the rivets with any of my three bucking bars. I ended up taping up my longeron yoke which worked for most of them. There were a few remaining ones that were tight for even that, but I found I could use the end of riveting shaft for my C-frame dimpler as a bucking bar.
January 11, 2008 (2 hours)
My replacement center rib arrived yesterday so today I match drilled it, deburred, dimpled and primed it. Then I went ahead and reassembled it to the other ribs and subpanels and to the firewall.
January 12, 2008 (2 hours)
Got most of the rib and subpanel riveting done except where the subpanel attaches to the two side bulheads.
January 13, 2008 (1 hour)
Finished up riveting the subpanels to the bulkheads. Later I replaced the aileron trim levers which had some slop because I had oversized the hole a bit when I was drilling it.
March 16, 2008 (1 hour)
Pulled the rudder cables through the snap bushing on each side. I had to drill out a couple of blind rivets and a nutplate holding the baggage side walls in place in order to remove the bushings, feed the cable through, and reinsert them.
March 20, 2008 (1 hour)
Got to work building a mounting bracket for my magnetometer. Just need to add a front support angle.
March 22, 2008 (6 hours)
Spent some much needed time in the morning cleaning up the garage. Started work on the plane by drilling a 1/4" hole through the F-705 bulkhead then ran the static line from the aft fuselage to the front. Bought a brass tee fitting to replace Van's plastic one after it bent. This gave a much better fit for the static lines. I then made a handful of clips to attach the static line to the longerons. Then I took the baggage walls out and fit the rear aft skin in place and riveted all that I could on my own. Later Tracy came out and helped me finish up riveting the rear skin.
March 24, 2008 (2 hours)
Made and drilled a brace angle to support the front of the magnetometer mount. The digital level shows it's 90 degrees to the panel, which is tilted about 7 degrees forward. Then Tracy helped me rivet a couple of replacement rivets in the aft skins that had bent over the first time around. Finally I bolted the seat belt brackets and cables in the aft fuselage. Sure is a tight fit back there!
March 26, 2008 (2 hours)
Tracy helped me rivet most of the second aft skin in place this evening.
March 29, 2008 (1 hour)
I found that the bottom flange of the canopy decks interfered a little with the F-704K cap strips. Spent a little time filing the canopy decks to allow the cap strips to slide up into position. Also dimpled and clecoed the arm rests in place.
March 30, 2008 (4 hours)
Drilled the cap strips to the vertical bulkhead angles, then spent a little time deburring the edges of those, the arm rests, and a few other miscellaneous parts. Later Tracy helped me finish riveting the aft skins to the longerons, which she did a great job on.
March 31, 2008 (2 hours)
Just when we thought winter was over we get hit by another big snow storm with 6-8" predicted. I didn't let that keep me from finishing up deburring the edges of the parts I worked on yesterday, then prep and prime them.
April 3, 2008 (1 hour)
Played a bit getting the magnetometer tray riveted, then decided my angle was a little off from the 7 degree forward tilt. Did some modification to add a shim, getting it very close.
April 4, 2008 (1 hour)
Messed with the tray a little more, finally getting it permanently riveted in place. I think it's within about a half degree of the right angle. I can easily shim the magnetometer a little later to get it right on if need be.
April 5, 2008 (2 hours)
Bolted the autopilot pitch servo then safety wired it. Access is a challenge, as is getting the safety wire through the bolt heads with the autopilot flanges so close. Also did some miscellaneous stuff like adding zip tie bases in a bunch of places for tying wires up later. Then I decided to get a start on my canopy, which you can find linked to on the left menu bar.
May 4, 2008 (1 hour)
After taking a couple of weeks to rivet the wing bottom skins, I'm back at the fuselage. I painted the interior sides of the upper skins, baggage bulkhead and skin stiffeners. Later I riveted the stiffeners to the skin.
My current plan is to finish up the electrical as well as mount my wings over the month of May, then I can get working on the canopy. Aaron helped me rearrange the garage and move my fuselage more towards the center in prep for mounting the wings.
May 5, 2008 (2 hours)
Bought some 7/16" x 5" bolts to use for temporarily mounting the wings, then ground the threads off. I also trimmed the rear spar bar sticking out each side of the fuselage a little. I think I'm still about an 1/8" too long, so I'll likely need to do a little more. Finally I added the threaded rod ends to the long aileron push tubes and adjusted them to get the right end-to-end length.
May 8, 2008 (1 hour)
Aaron helped me mount the right wing for the first time! I'll have to take it off to trim a little off of the rear spar bars to get rid of a little forward sweep, but otherwise it seems to fit okay so far.
May 9, 2008 (2 hours)
Aaron helped me mount the left wing today. We measured the sweep and found it to be about 7/8" forward at each wingtip. We took each wing off and I trimmed about 1/8" off each of the rear spar bars sticking out from the fuselage. This reduced it to about 1/2", so tomorrow I'll probably trim another 1/8" and it should be close enough. I'll also work on checking the incidence and flap fit and maybe drill the rear spar bolt hole. With both wings on it's looking more and more like it might fly some day.
May 10, 2008 (1 hour)
Took the wings back off, trimmed another 1/8" off the rear spar bars, put them back on and now I have less than 1/8" sweep aft at each wingtip. Aaron and I also triangulated the wingtips to a point on the rear fuse and it shows my wings are perfectly perpendicular to the fuselage. Next I'll work on getting the incidence right and I should be ready to drill the bolt hole for the rear spar.
May 13, 2008 (3 hours)
By moving the wingtips slightly I was able to virtually eliminate any sweep. I then got to work adjusting the height of the rear spars to get the incidence just right using a wood block and level as shown in the picture. I double checked all my measurements and decided I was ready to drill the bolt holes in the rear spars. I carefully marked a box which ensured I have the required 5/8" edge distance to all edges. I drilled a #30 hole in a small piece of oak using my drill press. I then drilled a shallow divot in the center of my guide box which allowed me to then insert a drill bit through the block of wood to align it with the desired hole location. Once it was clamped in place I drilled all the way through the rear spar bars, ending up with a perfectly perpendicular hole. Finally I stepped up through a number of different drill sizes and drilled the final hole with a undersized 5/16" reamer. Sure is a lot of work for two holes, but it's a really good feeling to have this step behind me!
May 14, 2008 (1 hour)
Cut the two tank attach angles that will mount to the side of the fuselage.
May 15, 2008 (1 hour)
Installed the flaps and ailerons.
May 18, 2008 (1 hour)
Worked on the aileron pushrod attachment by cutting the two screws to length and making the spacers that fit over the screws.
May 25, 2008 (2 hours)
Cut the flap pushrods shorter to get the right length and inserted the rod ends and into the end of the flap. Then I cut the hole in the side and bottom of the fuselage and test fit the rod. I slowly enlarged the hole until I could get the flap fully raised without the rod or rod end hitting the sides of the hole. Then I adjusted the upper rod end to get the right length and bolted it. I was able to run the flap motor up and down and measured 30.9 degrees of travel, which is about what Van's says it should be. Even better, the trailing edge of my aileron and flap line up nicely when the aileron is set in the neutral position and the inboard end of the flap is nice and tight to the bottom of the fuselage skin..
May 26, 2008 (5 hours)
Got the second flap pushrod hole cut in the fuselage. Then I spent a lot of time adjusting all the push rods to get the control stick, ailerons and flaps aligned just right. One thing I found is that if your control stick isn't vertical when you adjust the long pushrods, your ailerons won't be neutral when the stick is. In the end, with the ailerons neutral, I was able to get the flaps snug to the bottom of the fuselage and the wingtip trailing edge aligned well.
May 28, 2008 (1 hour)
Used a large rubber mallet to bend one of the legs 2.7 degrees per the plans. Then I clamped the fuel tank attach brackets in place and drilled the two bolt holes through from the fuselage, then drilled the bolt holes through the tank-mounted bracket and the fuselage mounted one.
May 30, 2008 (1 hour)
Made my own little strap duplicator then used it to match drill the holes through the bottom fuselage skin aligned with the holes in the bottom wing skin.
May 31, 2008 (3 hours)
This morning I drilled the screw holes for the wing root fairings through the inboard wing and tank ribs and bottom skin. Aaron helped me take the wings back off and put them back in the cradle. The next time they go on should be permanently. My shop was a disaster so I took some time cleaning the garage.
For those following my progress, I'm jumping around a lot, including work on the Electrical System as well as the Canopy.