Working on roll bar

Ok so I am trying to get this to work from my phone so I might post more stuff.

I have been working a lot on the plane but don't have time to update this so I hope having my phone do the work will help.

I have added autopilot servos, sealed the tanks, put in the static ports and am working on the roll bar now, to bad I leave for the desert on sunday again... Oh well piece by piece and one day I will be done.

Hotel Whiskey ER Tanks...

I have been thinking about this for a long time and I think I am going to push go on the extended range tanks. I want the legs but not the weight but I think in the end I will be happy with them, here are some of my concerns:
1. Weight (10#s for the life of the plane)
2. Cost ($1800!!!)
3. Will I get water in the tanks as they are going to be empty most of the time?
4. Will I use them enough to make up for the cost of the tanks?
5. Complexity / how much time does it add to the build?
6. Will there still be room in the wing tips for a archer antenna and nav/landing lights?
7. Will they change the roll rate?

You can see there are always pluses and minuses but I think in the long run having longer legs will be a good thing. I will try and call HW today and see what they say. Also I have been emailing Danny King who installed them in Doll and he is very happy with them am and recommends them.

Decisions decisions…

Wing Skins and Pitot Tube

4 Hours

Well I didn’t post last night but I got a few hours in over the last 2 nights. I counter sunk/dimple/nutplated the bottom skins to accept the pitot tube and access plate. This was the first nut plates that I have had to drill and install.


Nutplates from the top view (and a knee)


Nutplates from the bottom


Nutplates installed on the pitot mast

I have a guide for #8 nutplates but not for #6 as I was using. That meant that I used the nutplate itself as a guide. I don’t like the idea of using different sizes all over the plane but the wing access panels already use #6 and I wanted to stay as small as I could when drilling through the spar.


The cutaway in the wing skin look worst in this picture but I am very happy as tight as the fit really is.


I think this is a clean install and it even looks straight (with a refection of me too)... must be living right =)

I think everything looks pretty tight and it’s nice and smooth and now I can remove the pitot tube if I have too. Now I just need to drill the holes for the actual pitot tube and run the tube from the inboard rib to the mast then that part is done. It sometimes feels like I am moving slow but it is nice when I see that I am moving!

Oh and they are saying that we might have a bit of snow and have a late work day or even a “snow day” so keep your fingers crossed because I would love to work on the plane instead of going to work (at least on a poopy flying day)

Pitot tube and Riveting

6 hours

Ok so I spent a lot of time in the garage today but didn’t feel as productive because of the amount of time I spent thinking about how to do things. I guess that’s part of the build but it’s not as rewarding as driving rivets. Speaking of driving rivets…


I did rivet the aft side and bottom skin to F-712 (the last bulk head) today! It is really nice to see things go together and also to know that I won’t be taking them apart any more =)


I love it when a PLANE comes together ;)


I clecoed the bottom skins on so that I could see how they fix and well the fit! I did notice that I need to sand down the lapping edge to make it a little smother but it is on the bottom so not as visible as the top but every ounce of aluminum I remove the better!

I also spent considerable time trying to figure out how I was going to mount the pitot tube but I made a decision and well now there is a hole in my pretty bottom skin. The plans call for a bent piece of ¼” aluminum tube but I wanted a heated pitot tube so I needed to get that and figure out how to mount it.


I looked at a few different peoples planes online and went against how the mounting tube people said to do it. They wanted me to rivet the mast to the wing, I wanted it to be removable… So it’s now removable =) I just didn’t want that thing sticking out in the wind for the next 2 years as I am working on it, don’t know it I will ever need to remove it again but hey at least I can.

Ok well this Turkey day holiday did allow me to get a bit done, would always have liked to get more done but I am happy with the forward progress. Only 10 more building days (ok any kind of days really) till I ship out again so I hope to get some more stuff done, maybe the flap motor next…

Wing Skins - Tail Wheel Support

4 Hours on wings

3 hours on tail wheel support

Today took a lot longer than I thought it would… I started off by using a soldering iron to melt away the protective plastic that is on most all of the aluminum parts to protect them. This process was a little slow as I was going at about an inch a second and I only had about 150 FEET to go =O

Before

After

In all I think it is worth it as it does protect the skins as I am moving them around and what not, I just hope to rivet tem to the wing soon so that I will be able to call that part done.= O
After deburing all the holes in the bottom right skin I then had to dimple them. Wow another hour plus just banging away.

This is what I had to do…

Didn't take a deburing picture but that it done to EVERY HOLE too!

Dimpling with the C- Frame

Close up

Video

And as you can see there are a lot of holes that need to be dimpled. Just got one skin done last night.

Well that’s what I did on the wings today, I also worked on the Tail Wheel support. I had to do a bit of filing away to make room for the support bracket.

Here you can see what I needed to do.

Once I got everything in there (yes many many trial fits) I drilled the holes for the bolt in the forward bulkhead, and the “temp” rivets in the aft bulkhead.

I tried to paint the steal support last night but because of the temps (even in the heated garage) the paint was taking too long to dry so I let it sit over night and will give it a second coat tomorrow (well today, I was tried and didn’t post this till morning).

OK back to work!

Happy Veterans Day

8 hours

First off happy veterans day! Let me tell you how happy I am that there are so many amazing people out there defending this great nation of ours, because of them I got the chance to work on my baby today =)

I started off by drilling the right wing for the conduit that I put in the left wing yesterday. All went well and I even did a better job than yesterday till I relized as I was putting the conduit in the wing that I drilled the holes on the TOP of the ribs instead of the BOTTOM where they are supposed to be =( So I was pretty bummed but I am sure this is not the last time that I will screw something up and I hope it is just as miner as this really was.







So as I cooled off I sat in the plane and thought of the nest thing to do. I wanted to keep working on the wings but I was kinda stuck on the flap brace. The instructions are OK at best, they tell you some of the things that you need to do and not necessarily in the right order. The book tells you how to put on the bottom skins and then has another oh 3 pages of things that you need to do before you put the skins on… I know I am supposed to read everything and have a good feel of what is going on but wow some guidance would be nice.

So after much chicken or the egg debate I dimpled the bottom skin that attaches to the flap brace and flap. I then dimpled and deburred the flap brace, primed it and then go to use my pneumatic pop rivet gun to go to town on a bunch of pop rivets =)















When I was done with the flap brace Vans technical support was opened and I told them about my mistake with the conduit and they said don’t worry about it, build on! So I felt a little better and finished the right wings conduit.




I need to put in the pitot tube and I don’t have a mast/holder for it so I ordered one and I am thinking that I should order a servo for the ailerons before I close the wings as well. I just don’t know if all the servos are the same… I think I’ll call Stein tomorrow and say hi.

That’s it for now, more tomorrow… I love being home!

Back at it!

5 hours

First off I am back and so happy to be covered in aluminum shavings!!! So I got the engine in the garage now but am not ready for it yet so it’s pushed in the corner, but I can work on the wings so that’s what I did today.

I drilled the holes for the wiring conduit, I had to setup from a #30 to about 3/8” with a unibit then to 3/4” with another unibit that had a 12” extension to get through all the ribs were there is no access panel. Deburing the holes was a pain and the bit did not make the cleanest holes but I use a deremel tool and some scotch bright to make everything good again.

Then I decided that I should debur and dimple all the ribs as that needs to happen and I didn’t want the conduit to get in the way, I don’t think that it would be a problem to dimple later now that I can see it all in place.

The hardest part was getting that stupid conduit in the holes and worst threw the tightly spaced inboard ribs, it took a long time but it’s in there and I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon. Here are some pictures.

Hi my name is KC and I approve this install!

Well I’ll get the other wing tomorrow but it’s time for bed. Keep an eye for more updates as I will be back in the airplane factory!

Got a Heated Pitot tube

I am still in the sand box but found a heated pitot tube on ebay so I jumped on it and got a TCOed one that is more then I needed but the price was right (wish it was free but I am learning that nothing that has anything to do with an airplane is free).

I am thinking that I will cut and prepare the wing for the tube but leave it off as to make it less likely to bend/scratch/move the wing.

Other than that if anyone wants to house sit and work on the plane just let me know, she is getting lonely without me and I hate to do that to her.

Aloha

Wings – Aileron Hinge & gap seals

Today I got a lot done. First I assembled the ailerons hinge bracket. I saw on some builders sites that these come assembled but in my kit it was up to me to put this together. The aluminum was cut pretty rough so it took a bit on the scotch bright wheel to make it all pretty and smooth.



After drilling, counter sinking and deburring I prep the parts by scratching them up with a piece of scotch bright and then washing them with soapy water and set outside to dry. Once dry I whipped them down with Acetone and then primed with SEM Self-etching rattle can primer. The parts turned out really well except it was hard to counted sink one of the pieces of aluminum angle as the micro –stop would not fit.






I was able to squeeze most of the rivets and then bucked the remaining by myself.

I had some time left over so I got the aileron gap seals out, drilled, dimpled, deburred, primed (sounding repetitive) then I get them riveted on.






I was about to put the flap gap seal on but I am thinking about what I want to do with the flap hinge, I know some countersink, others dimple and some do nothing (as per Vans). Once I figure out how I will tackle that I’ll have them ready to go.

Got AOA!

Well not much progress as I am still over in the sandbox but I did get a Advance Flight System AOA setup thanks to Dan from Vansairforce.net I have had the chance to start to meet some of the amazing people in the experimental aviation side of the world and all I can say is WOW! I mean I know the world is full of awesome people that are willing to share and give a helping hand, but WOW these people are amazing! I can’t wait to become a part of such an incredible group of people.

OK well as you can see I am more then delighted to be doing what I am with the others around me cheering me on. So off to get more parts and keep moving forward on this adventure.



Here is my reading material when I have some drone time over here in the sandbox. I am about done with it, sure has some good info and neat ideas. I am glad that I am reading this before I got to far ahead as I have already got a few ideas from others.

Thinking about what to put in the wing

I did spend some of today looking at different things for the airplane. I am trying to decide on all the things that will go in the wings as I would like to be able to order up the parts and finish the wings. So far I know that I need navigation lights, strobes, landing lights, wingtip antennas, AOA system and a heated pitot tube.

I really like the idea of LED lights and I am waiting on http://www.aeroleds.com to announce their wingtip kit that includes a landing light. I really like the thought of everything fitting in the wingtips and it drawing less power. Ultimately if I can keep the power requirements low I would like a smaller (lighter) alternator and then more battery back up time.

Also I am sending an email to Advanced Flight Systems to see what they recommend for a pitot tube and if the Dynon pitot tube / AOA will work with there setup, I would guess not for the AOA. By the way did you ever think that a pitot tube http://www.steinair.com/pitot.htm would cost $520, yea welcome to the wonderful world of aviation.

Place to build

Everyone needs a place to build and I have chosen a house with a 3 car garage. I felt that if I had to pass the plane everyday that I might be more motivated to work on it instead of having to drive to the airport to work on it. I have put myself on a waiting list at the local airport, Cheyenne regional so my baby can have a home when she is finished.

My garage is nothing too fancy but it is an insulated and heated oversized 3 car garage that will be plenty big to build an RV and keep my Jeep warm at night.

Things that I need to do to finish the shop: install a compressor, build/fix workbench, buy and install some more expensive tools. I got the wing stand done with the help of Chris and now need to find a place for the fuselage.

When I get back the first thing I am going to do is put the last bit of insulation in the double car garage door as it is currently not insulated. Then the compressor and I should be up and running!