Sunday, October 30, 2016

Busy Few Weeks

These last few weeks have seen great progress.

The horizontal stabilizer is complete less the rear spar; waiting for the rear spar to be primed before installation. The vertical stabilizer is ready to be primed, then riveted.

 I had a tech counselor visit and reviewed my work to date; all is well. We went for a quick flight in his RV9; it flies really well and seems to yearn to be in the sky.

The tech counselor showed me his tungsten bucking bar, and I now own one too. This is a must have tool in my opinion, especially for the front rivets in the horizontal stab. I would recommend buying the smaller bar, something like the 1/2" x 1/2" x 4" for less than $100. I got a slightly the larger one and it seems a little over kill for the tail feathers, but will probably be good for the beefier fuselage and wing rivets.

In addition to finishing the horizontal stab and making good progress on the vertical stab, I picked up the wing kit from the factory. I also picked up Proseal for the rudder and the locking gas caps. I would like to have the wings started before the New Year.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

More steps

This weekend, I was able to complete the right side of the horizontal stabilizer. And the local high school celebrated with fireworks.





This was a major riveting sessions. I wish I would have bought a tungsten bucking bar for the nose ribs; it is really hard getting in there; those rivets aren't pretty but acceptable because I had to make do with the bars I had. I tried using a big chisel and other thin steel objects, but they just didn't have the mass to buck. It can be done with the standard bucking bars, but just takes time and yoga.

This kit is very precisely made; if the holes are off by a few thousandths of an inch, then something is wrong. The skin needed some clearance filing around the front spar brackets. Otherwise the skin would have been right up against the brackets. This could produce a squeak in flight, or worse, be a start for skin cracking. A few swipes of a jeweler file relieved the skin a few hundredths of an inch. 

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

First Rivets

I managed to rivet my first part, the horizontal stabilizer's front spar. I think it came out pretty well, but we will see what the local EAA
tech counselor thinks about it.

Primer woes

As I complete the horizontal stab dimpling and prepping for assembly, I was hit with the imfamous primer plaque.

My plan was to use rattle can primer on the horizontal stabilizer because there are holes in the rear spar and water can get in when parked. Since primer is not required, I figure simple rattle can would be adequate without the hassle of the two part stuff. Boy was I wrong. The rattle can went on fine and hardened up Ok after a week, but any hint of a chemical nearby and it curled up and was useless.

In addition, when priming the spars, a few drops of sweat got under the primer and got trapped there. Of course this will stay forever since the primer seals out, and seals in, moisture. Come to find out this leads to corrision problems. So I had to go over the spars and remove the primer where moisture got trapped. Then during touch up, the old primer reacted and a mess was made. I was able to get the front spars acceptable, but the rear spars required stripping the primer off completely.

For the priming, I think the only way to go is two part primer. The factory recommended Sherwin Williams s60g2 was out of stock; but I will wait and reprime the rear spars with this two part primer. It is more work, but the rear spar seems to be the most exposed to the elements.
Lesson learned: learn from others, do what others have had success with. In this case two part primer

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Better Builder

I dont think I am very good at building yet because I am just starting this journey. But I took a day off from building and went surfing with my daughter. It was fun. Towards the end of our session, the waves started walling up and I got rolled in two waves. It is an interesting feeling, being in a ball underwater, trying to keep from getting dorked in the head, waiting for the board leash to pull tight so you know the board is away from you. When I got out, I noticed what once was a straight leash now had a knot; still cant explain how I tied a knot in a leash while it  was on my foot and attached to the board. So I guess I am a better builder than surfer; not saying much for my building skills.







While last week I was able to get the spars for the horizontal stab countersunk. This was the first real test of my building and machining skills and came out good. I was also able to prime the skins, ribs, and miscellaneous brackets. The forward attach brackets are 6061 aluminum and need to be primed. Since I am using rattle can primer, I went ahead and top coated these in white paint to provide proper corrosion prevention.

The FAA likes to see a few pictures during the build with the builder in the picture, so here you go. I am sure when I am flying, in (cough) years, I will look exactly the same.

Paraphrasing a smart man: slow, steady progress is still progress.