Total Hours 1370
I didn't have a great two weeks off but I got a few things done on the plane.
In preparation for riveting on the top forward skin, I pulled out the two Dynons. Wow! I am really pleased at how much access this gave me behind the panel! I had been worried about how I mounted the Vertical Power unit as most people put it in horizontally but it turned out great. I can get to all my circuit wires and really just about anything between the panel and sub panel is at hand. It took about 15 minutes to remove the screens and pull the plugs. This was one reason I was worried about not going with the tip up canopy as the slider doesn't provide access to behind the panel.
Another shot thru the Dynon 10" screen hole.
This is the hole on the pilots side. You can see a hole in the sub panel where the previous owner had planned to mount some kind of round gauge.
This picture is looking from the top down thru where the top forward skin will go. Everything behind the sub panel will have to be accessed from below after the skin is riveted on. I checked and rechecked everything. I had a brake fitting on the pilots side master cylinder that showed signs of leaking. I had installed all my brake fittings with fuel lube and after some research, found this was a bad mistake. I reinstalled them all with teflon thread sealant tape and then rebled the brakes. No leaks.
Ahhh! This is what she looks life after the top forward skin was riveted up. Looks great without clecos! I riveted all I could get to by myself thru the Dynon screen holes, and by reaching under the skin and riveting the middle and then working my way out, I was able to get at least half done by myself. Then I worked on other things until my wife, Nancy, could help out and try her hand at riveting. When she got the time to help, we practiced driving some rivets until she got the hang of the rivet gun. Actually, she had driven some before but it was not in a cosmetic area like the front hood. Anyway, we took our time (I had been dreading this for quite a while) and finally got them all driven. I do not have any pictures as my main objective was to get it done. I piled pillows and cushions to lay my head on and loaded up on Aleve for pain. We had to drill a few out and redo them, but we had it finished in a few hours.
Then I went to put on the Classic Aero glare shield material I thought I had ordered with all the rest of my interior, and found out that I hadn't ordered that after all. I did order the glare shield trim. Well, I wound up painting the glare shield flat black and it looks ok. I may add some vinyl later. I trimmed the windscreen until I got it just right. I decided to drill #40 holes in the plexi and roll bar to hold the windscreen in position with clecos while I glue it with sikaflex. I got everything ready and when I opened the can of 209 primer for the Sikaflex, it had dried up! Long story short, got on the internet and ordered another can. I did find a place that sold the can for half (50) what Jamestown Distributors do at 90+ dollars. I went to work on mounting my ailerons. No big deal, I got plenty things to work on.
I want to get my control sticks, aileron control rods, and ailerons all configured so when I put the plane back together after painting, I will have the lengths and jam nuts all set. I centered the control sticks, installed the W-730 bell crank jigs, and installed the aileron pushrods. I then installed the ailerons and the W-818 pushrods. I had to build a spacer out of a 1/2" delrin rod to fit the 1/4 tubing in the aileron hinge. This spacer is perfect (I read about it on Mike Bullocks build site) for preventing the aileron from pitching more than 30 degrees from neutral. I checked it with my angle finder and it stops at 30 degrees. The 1/2" rod has to be fitted and then drilled out for the 1/4" aluminum spacer.
1/2"x1/4" Delrin spacer and 1/4" aluminum spacer.
Looks like this when installed. This is a common deviation from the plans that has proven to be trustworthy.
I lined up the ailerons with the tooling holes according to Vans plans. I used a straight edge but no pics. I set the bellcrank and control rods to line up the ailerons in the control stick neutral position. I torqued up the jam nuts and applied torque seal. I checked the wing tips and they matched up nicely. Unfortunately, as you can see in the pic above, when I lined up the flaps, the lower flap skin will not allow the flap to retract enough to line up. It lacks about 3/16". I will have to do some trimming and "joggleing" on that skin later to make it kiss the fuselage bottom.
Next, I started installing the wingtips. I will use Mike Bullocks method using hinges. Here is a link to the write up where he explains the steps. http://www.rvplane.com/pdf/WingtipHinges.pdf. This is a nice clean installation and it is probably just as economical as using platenuts. I like the clean finished look of no screws or pulled rivets.
Lots of drilling, deburring, and riveting.
I got one wingtip complete with the hinges epoxied and riveted on. I still need to build the pin retainer block and re-install the rib. I may decide to put in an additional foam rib also. Well, hopefully, I can make more progress on my next days off. Now, its back to the rig for another two week hitch!
