SLANE RV-12

December 13, 2009: AP Servo Brackets Installation Complete

2009-12-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

P. 39-03 & 4: Completed the AP servo bracket installation. No surprises and easy. Now back to the rest of the fuselage. Before I do, happy to report that I've rented a hangar for the RV12 at a nearby airport (12 miles away at Twin Oaks Airpark). New hangars being built and ready for move in January 1st. This will give me the room I need to mate the larger pieces, e.g. tailcone to fuselage.

December 12, 2009: Auto Pilot Install begun

2009-12-13T00:54:00.001-08:00

P. 39-02. Began installation of auto pilot today. I have not mated the tailcone with the fuselage yet, and I am glad that I didn't. It has been much easier to work on the AP install with the fuselage on it's side. I used tin snips to remove the material from the F-1215-R seat rib and then took a file to complete the hole to the right size and to smooth. Used sandpaper to finish. I'm following the post-construction directions. It was necessary to buy a 90 degree angle drill attachment for my drill. I got a set from Avery's and it worked great! On step 2, directions call for removing one nutplate rivet. This is absolutely necessary to get the bolt head to be properly inserted into the rib and through the servo doubler. All went well and tomorrow I'll move on to page 39-03.

November 15, 2009: Painting Fuselage

2009-11-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

Finished with basecoat and then did clear coat (top coat). The sherwin-williams system calls for completing top coat within 7 days of basecoat, otherwise, strip and restart! So, finished today. Next painting will include tunnel covers and roll bar. I've not connected the tailcone yet because of my small space and need to manipulate the large parts when necessary and this can be done by one person if the parts are not connected. As can be seen, I've decided not to paint the firewall.

November 14, 2009: Fuselage interior painting

2009-11-15T21:38:00.001-08:00

Completed masking, priming and painting basecoat color in fuselage interior. I like this color, but it was a challenge to paint and not have runs. Oh, well, another learning experience!

November 1, 2009: Fuselage Paint Prep

2009-11-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

Spent about 5 hours paint prepping and some priming of my interior fuselage. Still have the Fuse on it's side. Spent most of the time vacuuming, cleaning with acetone, masking and then some priming. During priming, I discovered that I had left some riveting to do on the cross brace (F-1205C), 19 rivets to be exact. Good catch. Tomorrow I'll finish priming and then on Tuesday, I'll put the base color coat on, followed by the clear coat. The SW directions call for this happen shortly after color coat, but definitely within a few days of the color coat. Consequences of not being timely is to take the color coat off and start over. :( I've taken care to mask off the firewall so as to leave it paint free. I will go ahead and paint the step plate within the fuselage, figuring that the adhesive in the non-slip pad will stick to the paint.

October 31, 2009: P. 27-05 Brake line installation

2009-10-31T21:48:00.000-07:00

P. 27-03 Pedals and Brake Lines.

No real surprises here if following the directions. I turned the fuselage on it's side so as to temporarily install the rudder pedals. This made it easier. From there, I worked on the brake lines.

I found that sliding the sleeve and nut onto the tubing, then pushing the insert as far as possible, tended to hold the sleeve in place. Then following the plans, I put the tube (with sleeve and insert in place) into boiling water for 60 seconds, did the trick. When pulled out of the water, and with force against a piece of heavy angle, the insert was pushed into place.

The only small surprise was that when clamping the main brake lines to the side of the tunnel, the pre-drilled hole was too small. I ended up using a #11 drill bit to enlarge the hole and the fit was perfect.

I then removed the pedal system, leaving the main lines in place within the tunnel, and taping off the ends of the open brake

October 13, 2009: Fuel Tank started!

2009-10-31T21:43:00.001-07:00

P. 37-02, steps 1-8. Separated fuel tank parts, deburred and attached the T-407 ring to the Fwd tank bulkhead (T-1202). Moved on to the Fwd Tank Bracket, to MCS #40 holes, rivet nutplates to the bracket.

Will continue the tank during next work session. Need to get all parts in order and prepped for sealant. Researched options for cleaning parts as per plans and settled on Alum Prep. After my purchase, I talked with Marty S and he told me he used acetone with good results. Darned it! I could of had an acetone:[

Need to buy fuel lube pipe thread sealing paste.

October 8, 2009: EAA Chapter 105 Visit

2009-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

I had hosted the EAA Chapter 105 meeting in my single car garage! Approximately 40 members in attendance and we spilled out into the condo alley. Airplane sub-assemblies on display in the alley and in the garage.

Good business meeting with a Q and A about the RV-12 afterwards. Those in attendance included Van's brothers, Jerry and Stan, not to mention a bunch of other successful builders. All inspecting my work! Comments were helpful and confidence building. "Nice workmanship" goes a long way.

September 12. 2009: P. 29-04 Upper Fuselage cont.

2009-10-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

P. 29-04 Upper Fuselage cont. Completed steps 1-7. Lots of separating, deburring and some priming. No problems here. Probably spent more time than necessary, but I took my time. Completed the panel base and have it ready for install.

Before I complete and attach the panel base to the upper fuselage, I want to decide on my paint colors. Will visit Sherwin-Williams.

September 7, 2009: P. 29-03, Fwd Upper Fuselage

2009-10-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

P. 29-03. Started the session with "smear"ing fuel tank sealant on the upper surface of the the bottom flange of the F-1201A Firewall Upper. Used a kitchen scale to mix the ratio. Everyone needs one of these scales. Put your container on the scale, reset to zero, add ingredient #1 and then #2 and mix away!

Primed mid cowl hinges nd then match drilled to the firewall spacers and side skins.

Separated and deburred instrument stack angles, stack support pieces and canopy attach doubles (F-1202M-L).

August 30, 2009: P. 27-02 Rudder Pedals

2009-10-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

P. 27-02. Plans are well written and if followed, this page went together quite well. I found that in step 3, it helped to do some filing on the WD-1206 Rudder Pedals on the end of the tubes. This facilitated sliding the WD-1211 Brake Pedal Torque Tubes on.

Then moved on to P. 27-03. Again, follow the directions and it goes together as advertised. I clamped the rudder pedals onto the workbench and took my time to line things up before drilling. I think the most challenging part of this page was getting the cotter pins in correctly and bent right.

August 13, 2009: P. 29-02 Upper Firewall Assembly

2009-10-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

P. 29-02 started and almost complete. You know, one of the challenges with the 12 is that the plans are so well written and complete, that when something is forgotten (in the plans) or assumed by Van's, it puts builders into a tailspin. For example, on 29-02, step 7 instructs builders to "dimple then rivet nutplates" to the antenna shelf. It doesn't tell you to MCS the shelf or dimple it. Also, it might make sense to delay riveting the shelf to the firewall until after p. 29-03, step 7 where you are supposed to smear firewall sealant around the perimeter of the firewall parts.

Everything went well with this page, with some headscratching on the 26" hinge (step 2). The drawings indicate that both ends of the hinge will end in eyelets. Not so. You've either got to have an eyelet on the inboard end or outboard end. I choose the outboard end. Another small challenge that I did not see until after installation is the ends of the upper fwd fuse doubler sticking out (pardon the technical terms). Had I anticipated this I would have pre-bent the ends. However, in my defense, I thought Vans had a reason for not alerting you to this. I primed the cowl hinges with 7220 and installed. Tomorrow I will complete this page by finishing steps 7, 8 and 9.

July 18, 2009: P. 24-05 Baggage Bulkhead cont.

2009-10-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

P. 24-05 steps 1-5. After dimpling and installing all nutplates (step 1) I primed the baggage bulkhead with 7220 self-etching primer. Step 2 has you flute the bulkhead to have the holes line up with the holes on the side skin (F-1270). I clecoed the bulkhead into place and did not see the need to flute to align the holes. I then riveted the bulkhead into place as per plans to rivet only to the baggage floor and baggage bulkhead. when I got to the point of installing the SB375-4 bushing, I discovered I was one bushing short of a full load. Will call Van's on Monday.

July 15, 2009: P. 24-04, Baggage Bulkheads

2009-10-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

P. 24-04 steps 1-3. Clecoed the baggage bulkheads into place after having drawn center lines on the shear clips (F-1284-R & L). I did the bottom hole first on each clip and then clecoed before drilling the top hole. I had to really pull the shear clip toward the center of the tailcone to get the centerline to view through the holes on the bulkhead. Even after significant care, I missed the centerline by a small margin, but I think it is within tolerance.

July 14, 2009: P. 24-03 roll bar continued

2009-10-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

P. 24-03 steps 1-4. Completed the roll bar bases and bolted into place on the fuselage. Then match drilled the holes through the roll bar into the bases, clecoeing after each drilled hole. Removed, deburred and primed, then reinstalled bases.

July 12, 2009: P. 24-02 Roll bar frames

2009-10-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

P. 24-02 steps 4-7. Riveted the roll bar frames (F-1231A-FL, etc.) to the roll bar straps as per figure 1. I was concerned about the possible warping of the roll bar during the process, as experienced by others. So, I fit the roll bar onto the roll bar bases and riveted while in this configuration. Then I took the completed roll bar off the bases and used a scotchbrite wheel on my cordless screwdriver to smooth the counter sunk rivets. This worked well.

RV 12 Seats

2009-07-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

My seats are here! Do you think they will match "yellow-jacket" yellow
(exterior of course)?

July 10, 2009: Static Air continued

2009-07-20T18:13:00.001-07:00

P. 10-10 step 6-10. Took care to debur the F-1210C Angle so as not to cause a deformation when riveting the top skin onto the tailcone. First clecoed skin onto tailcone and then match drilled as per step 6. Dissassembled and deburred. Then re-clecoe and rivet. also followed directions to mask over holes within 7 inches of the fwd edge of the tailcone skins.

June 29, 2009: Static Air System continued

2009-07-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

P. 10-08, step 8 and p. 10-09, steps 2-9. Things progress pretty well. Not sure about seal around static air joints, but did what plans indicated. Needed to put end of clear tubing in teapot of boiling water to soften and then slide over the joint. Moving onto p. 10-09, no problems and most of the page consists of riveting tailcone skins to frames. Routed strings for rudder control cable to be installed later.

July 4-9 Vacation in Boston!

2009-07-20T18:06:00.001-07:00

Left for a 6-day vacation to Boston to go through art museums with son Syd, wife Wendy and sister-in-law Glenda. Wendy's cousin, Clifford Ackley is one of the MFA's curators and he took vacation time to show us around and take us to many different art museums. It was an incredible experience and worth repeating down the road. Enjoyed dinner and beer at "Cheers", viewing the MFA's recent acquisition for $25 million, and paid Paul Revere's house a visit. Good times had by all!!!

June 26, 2009: Static Air System

2009-07-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

P. 10-08 step 7. Sealant arrived from Spruce Aircraft. Take care here with installing the static air system rivets. I riveted these in and fully pulled the mandrel, with the anticipated result of it breaking off. Next step was to drive out the small mandrel fragment that remains in the rivet. This was difficult. I tried a variety of methods, including backing the rivet with a wooden block to support the skin so as not to deform it. Long story short, I wrecked one of the rivets. On the other one, I used a #40 drill bit and drilled out the mandrel. So, had to go to Van's and get a rivet replacement ($ .15). So, on the remaining rivet I followed a suggestion by another builder which was to use a C-clamp to push a short piece of mandrel into the rivet hole to push out the remaining mandrel. This worked perfectly and I wish I had thought to use it for both statice source rivets!

June 20, 2009: Tailcone Continued & Seatbacks completed

2009-07-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

P. 10-10, step 1-6. Jumped ahead here because still waiting for RTV sealant. Debur F-12106 fwd skin rib. Take care here if using scotchbrite wheel. I did and the part caught on the wheel and bent. The bend was not serious and I rebent and moved on. More dimpling and nutplate installation.

Moved to section 26 to complete the seatbacks. P. 26-02, step 1-6. Initiated work on seatbacks and encounter no problems. Biggest challenge is correctly perceiving the 2-dimensional drawings and getting it right. If you just take the part and hold it up, compare it to the drawing and use common sense you'll get it. If not, use a life-line and call a friend!

June 13, 2009: Pitch/Trim Wire Install

2009-07-20T17:32:00.001-07:00

Having received the WH-P30 from Van's, I installed the pitch/trim wire. Paying attention to plans, left a 6 inches aft of the F-1211 assembly. Had Dan Benua inspect the tailcone at this point.

June 6, 2009: Attach Tail Cone Skins

2009-07-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

P. 10-06 - 10-08 (step 3) initiated and complete. This is the place where you attach tailcone skins to the frames. Nothing surprising here. I think the only change was in regard to the shear clips in step 3 on p. 10-06. The vansairforce forum had identified that the clips were reversed and so I made the change. No challenges up through p. 10-08, step 3. Also, the right side skins had a gap between skin and frame identified by others on the Van's Forum. The advice from Vans was to insert a shim between skin and frame. I did this and it made a better fit.

June 3, 2009: Trial fit HS

2009-07-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

P. 10-05 Initiated and completed. Checking the fit of the F-1211 assembly with the hinge brackets was tricky, but I got it! To make the best fit, for my project, I am using one 416 on the outside of the lefthand hinge bracket and one 416L washer on the righthand side of the hingebracket. It worked the same for the righthand hinge bracket too. Washers on each side were super glued into place. I have my doubts whether these washers will stay glue till the stabilator is installed. We'll see. In any event, I have recorded the washers used and will replace if necessary.

May 31st, 2009: Aft bulkhead in Tailcone (F-1211)

2009-07-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

P. 10-04 Initiated and completed. Fuselage Bulkhead (F-1211). Deburred parts throughout the day. I found the plans to be clear. Take care to follow the plans carefully as the rivets are many and varied. The biggest challenge of this the deburring (no big deal, just time consuming) and using the hand squeezer is some tight places. I am learning to be patient and take my time. The great thing about this building process is that you feel good when you get it right, and if you don't get as far along as you'd like at any specific time, the project will be there for you tomorrow.

May 30, 2009: Tailcone

2009-07-13T13:29:00.001-07:00

P. 10-03 Step 1, fabricate the tail skid bracket. Used the template provided in the kit and it worked perfectly. Figure 1 has direction of what to do and wehre to do it. I was not sure of the diagram that shows 5 inches long by 1 inch wide. That was because I was perceiving it incorrectly. It is a sideview of the tailskid showing where to make the tapered cut. I will prime the skid before installation. MCS required on the bulkhead doubler (F-1211B) for AN426AD4 and AN426AD3, so be sure to use the right bit. Again, I practice on scrap and then if possible use the drill press to finish on the part. This went well.

May 29, 2009: Tailcone continued

2009-07-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

P. 10-02 continued. Moved to the tailcone fuselage frames. Step 4 directs you to flute to align holes. I did not see this as necessary. However, I did try to flute to get the frames flat, without success. Stopped and communciated with John Bender and Marty Santic and they both ran into the same thing. So, not to worry. Will align holes with skin when I get to that step. Received the replacement part (F-1210C) and prepared it properly for installation. All went well.

My Dad's Birthday!

2009-07-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

89 today and going strong!!

Scott's Birthday

2009-07-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

Today is July 11, not my birthday. However, Tim and Tiffany leave for New York before my birthday and so we are celebrating today so that I have the privilege of their company. Also, Syd, Abi and Brian were here too that helped it be special too. Ackley is in Hong Kong and I'll send him the link.

Coffee at Starbucks!

2009-07-11T09:06:00.001-07:00

Wendy and took sister's (Janette) dog (Rudy) to coffee at Starbucks.
We all enjoyed ourselves!

May 25, 2009: Tailcone Started!

2009-06-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

P. 10-02 Tailcone! Start with preparing the skins (steps 1 & 2). Breaking the edges is tricky, but like every new thing on this kit, the skill will come quickly. Take the advise on the page which has you break the bottom skin 1st (if you screw up it will be less noticeable). My bottom skin is a bit wavey to start, but I think it'll be ok. I used the cleveland breaking tool identified by Marty Santic and used on the EAA's training video (http://www.eaa.org/video/homebuilders.html?videoId=24417516001). Watch the video! It will help you. Finished deburring and breaking all skin edges and set them aside for later installation. Moved on to step 3 to flute the angle of the F-1210C angle and discovered I had flutted the wrong way:(! When I used the edging tool to take the flute out, the metal cracked. I will order replacement from Van's tomorrow.

P. 10-02 continued. Moved to the tailcone fuselage frames. Step 4 directs you to flute to align holes. I did not see this as necessary. However, I did try to flute to get the frames flat, without success. Stopped and communciated with John Bender and Marty Santic and they both ran into the same thing. So, not to worry. Will align holes with skin when I get to that step. Received the replacement part (F-1210C) and prepared it properly for installation. All went well.

P. 10-03 Step 1, fabricate the tail skid bracket. Used the template provided in the kit and it worked perfectly. Figure 1 has direction of what to do and wehre to do it. I was not sure of the diagram that shows 5 inches long by 1 inch wide. That was because I was perceiving it incorrectly. It is a sideview of the tailskid showing where to make the tapered cut. I will prime the skid before installation. MCS required on the bulkhead doubler (F-1211B) for AN426AD4 and AN426AD3, so be sure to use the right bit. Again, I practice on scrap and then if possible use the drill press to finish on the part. This went well.

May 23, 2009: HS Cont.

2009-06-01T22:59:00.001-07:00

P. 09-09 Completed HS. Installed hinges onto the HS (step 3), then prepared and installed the aft HS ribs. Step 7 requires you to "pinch" the aft edge of the aft skin to have it fit the rib properly. This means to literaly pinch the skin between thumb and fingers. I found it effective to work the length of the skin a number of times, each time giving me a bit closer fit. The final outcome was very good. Then install the skin and move to P. 09-10 to intall the upper and lower horns to the HS assembly. This went well also, torqueing the bolts to 25-30 lbs/inch. I primed the counterbalance weights. I fitted the counterbalance arm, installed the weights, but did not make the installation permanent because of storage issues. Will install later when it goes together. HS complete.

May 21, 2009: HS Skin Completion

2009-06-01T22:56:00.003-07:00

Completed skin riveting.

May 19, 2009: HS Skins

2009-06-01T22:55:00.001-07:00

P. 09-08 Fitted skins to HS skeleton. FOLLOW the directions and double check things. The directions are specific about which skin (top or bottom) should overlap the other on the aft side. I had done about half the rivets on top skin and then rechecked to be sure I had oriented things correctly. Lo & behold, I had things reversed as far as the overlap was concerned. Still time to correct, whew! I think this matters because of rain infiltration(?).

May 18, 2009: HS Cont.

2009-06-01T22:53:00.001-07:00

P. 09-07 Completed preparing the hinges having masked off the areas not to be drilled, applied the template, then using the drill press, made the holes. No problems!

May 17, 2009: P. 09-06 HS Ribs

2009-06-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

P. 09-06 continued. Step 2 is to radius the edges of the narrow ends of the ribs. I used a file to do this and took off a fair amount of material because I did not want to have the rib deform the skin when applied. (Glad I did this because it turned out very well and the fit was perfect.) Riveting the ribs to the spar required the use of the wedge tool which made it easy and without scratching the ribs.

P. 09-07. Install the HS-1213A & B hinge brackets to the spar. All went well. It is important that the HS-1210 bushings be correctly sized so that brackets retain their correct shape and distance apart.

May 15, 2009: HS Rib Clips

2009-06-01T22:47:00.001-07:00

p. 09-06. Fabricated rib clips for the HS. All went well and attached all to spar completing step 1.

May 9, 2009: Visit the RV12 Prototype

2009-06-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

Took the day off to drive to Eugene, OR to see my son, Sydney at the University of Oregon. Then he, Wendy and I went to the airport because the prototype was there for the day, giving demo flights. Also nice to hear Dave Martin give his presentation about the 12 and his building experiences with it thus far.

I digress . . .

May 10, 2009: HS Stabilitator

2009-06-01T22:37:00.000-07:00

P. 09-02 Stabilitator. Lots of final drilling of holes and machine counter sinking (MCS). Not to mention that the spars require different flush rivets, so different MCS bits. Be careful here, take your time and be sure to use the correct MCS for the rivet called out in the diagrams. I always practice on scrap material to be sure I'm using the correct bit for the rivet and that the depth of the counter sink is appropriate. Saves me a lot of bad energy! I also took significant care and labeled each hole on the spar to be MCS to be sure to apply the correct bit.

Another thing I did to save time and ease the building process was to deburr parts to the extent possible before separating them (see p. 09-02, step 9). This made it easier to use the scotchbrite wheel. Then go back to get to the parts you couldn't reach after cutting the parts apart.

Moved onto p. 09-03 and was very careful to follow directions and align parts correctly. Everything went together nicely! Good number of nutplates to install and had no problems. Long productive day.

May 2, 2009: Anti-Servo Tab

2009-06-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

P.08-02 Anti-Servo Tab (AST) installation. Working 6 hours on the AST resulted in completing this task. Everything went well and if paying attention to the plans, no real challenges. Pay attention to the hinge halves so that you end up with parts that match the plans. Measure twice, cut once. Using the eyelet template to drill holes in the hinges worked well. I used the drill press to make these holes, being careful to keep the template positioned correctly. (The template would not fit into the hings for me, so using a file, I took a little material off each notch. Be careful if you do this because you can easily take too much and then the template will not hold itself in place.)

April 30, 2009: Rudder Skin Prep

2009-06-01T22:24:00.001-07:00

P. 07-05 prepared the Rudder skin for installation. Everything went as indicated by the plans. It is good to masking tape over holes that are to be left open (the 13 holes for the fiberglass fairing) because when riveting, it is easy to forget to leave any available hole empty.

April 26, 2009: Rudder

2009-06-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

P. 07-02 Started Rudder today. Everything went well, one step at a time. Fabricated spar caps for rudder spar. These caps require match drilling, using a center line as a means to line up the part with the holes already drilled through the spar. Completed the rudder spar assembly and then moved to p. 07-03 to begin attachment of the hinge assemblies to the rudder spar.

On step 2 & 3, p. 07-03, when I riveted the main spar rib (R-1203) to the spar, the flange of the rib did not lay entirely flush with the spar, having been pushed out by the rivet. I thought that maybe the shop head of the rivet should have been on the other side, but Ken at Van's told me not to worry as long as the rib was in contact with the spar. Finished the upper hinge bracket and continued on with attaching the remaining ribs and rudder horn assembly to completion. Next will be attaching the skin.

April 25, 2009: P. 06-07 VS continued

2009-04-25T22:09:00.001-07:00

P. 06-07. Started with priming the spar and rib flanges of the VS. Having fluted the ribs and getting them to lay very flat on the table, I was surprised that they were not in perfect alignment with the skin. I didn't force fit the skin to the ribs, but I did use center punches to align the holes. This was not difficult. I followed the directions to a 'T', clecoeing the skin to the V-stab skeleton, looking for deformation of the leading edge as it pulls up against the ribs. Since I had taken considerable care to radius the narrow ends of the ribs, I was not surprised that the fit was very good. The fit of the VS-1204 fwd skin was also very good. :) All went well and I installed the upper hinge assembly, torqueing the AN3-5A bolts to 25 inch pounds. Does not seem very tight, but that is the torque value called for in the table.

April 22, 2009: P. 06-06 VS Dimpling

2009-04-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

P. 06-06 continued. Completed dimpling the VS-1204 Fwd skin as well as the VS-1201 Main skin and nut-plate attach holes. The directions unter "note:" indicate to use a smalldiameter female die. The one that came with the Avery tool kit is small enough to get the dimpling done on the nut-plates (to my relief). Then rivited the nut-plates into place on the VS-1201 main skin. Seemed like it went slow, but slow wins this race!

April 20, 2009: P. 06-06. V-Stab Skeleton

2009-04-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

P. 06-06 step 1-4 complete. No surprises here. Used nibbler to removed hatched areas and followed with a file to make smooth. Went to scotchbright wheel to complete edging. I did some of the #19 final-drilling on the drill press, but due to tight corners did the remaining with portable electric.

April 18, 2009: Vertical Stab continued

2009-04-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

P. 06-05 completed. Step #1 is to radius the edges at the narrow end of the VS-1205 tip rib, etc. This took time, but went well. I carefully clamped the rib in the vise and then used a file to get the tips radiused. I'm not sure if I filed off enough, but I was pretty aggressive about taking the corners off, careful to leave about 1/4 inch around rivet holes. I think this went well but will trial fit parts to determine if I need to take more off. Moved on to fluting the ribs, which also was straight forward and easily done. Step #3 was to begin reviting ribs to spar, as well as nut-plates (see step 3 & 4). The diagram in Fig. 2 is hard to see in the right angle. However, by looking at fig. 3, as well as photos posted on builder's blogs, it is all discernible. Completed the V-Stab Skeleton Assembly. Next entry will cover install of skins.

April 16, 2009: P 06-04 Vertical Stab Rear Spar

2009-04-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

P. 06-04 VS rear spar continued. Started MCS holes called out. Cannot overemphasize need to establish MCS depth on scrap material. I'm not good enough yet to 'eyeball' the depth and get it right, so I test first and then move to the part.

April 14, 2009: Vertical Stab Upper & Lower Spar Caps

2009-04-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

Moved on to p. 06-03 to begin work on upper and lower spar caps. I separated the parts (upper & lower) using the 'nibbler' and then used the vixon file to trim the VS-1212A-R. This worked well, it taking time and not in hurry. I am proud of the result.

Used a sharpie to draw the reference line on VS-1212B-R & L. I have what I thought was a fine point sharpie. Not so. The line I get is medium and this creates a challenge as you use the reference line. Hard to know exactly what edge you should use, so take care. Will shop for a fine point in the future. Having taken the care I mentioned, I was able to be accurate with reference line and when match drilling later, I was happy that I was careful.

Clamped upper & lower spar caps to VS-1203 Rear Spar and followed steps to match drill the #30, #40 and #12 holes. I was able to do this on the drill press and I believe the helped do a better job in keeping the holes perpendicular. I needed to clamp a 2x4 onto the drill press platform to make this work and I am happy with the results. I did miss 4 #12 holes and 6 #40 holes at the one end of the spar, but caught it later and came back to finish the job.

Finished match drilling and then deburred holes.

April 12, 2009: P. 06-02 Vertical Stab

2009-04-21T22:46:00.003-07:00

P. 06-02 VS hinge bracket preparation and assembly. Took care to separate and deburr VS-1210 brackets and spacers (VS-1211A&B). Having read tips in the forum, after match drilling and deburring, squeezed rivets in several passes. First setting the rivet with light pressure, just enough to set it in place and moved to next until all were stable in place. Checked that the bearing could still move freely at each squeezed. After about 5 passes, rivets were done and bearing still free.

April 5, 2009: Roll Bar Assembly

2009-04-21T22:40:00.001-07:00

P. 24-02 Started working on the roll bar assembly. Took care to identify the parts correctly. Reading the forum, I learned that others were having difficulty maintaining the correct separation distance between the base legs. When they fitted to the fuselage it worked but when taking it off the base contracts. I clecoed all the parts together and then final-drill #30. Doing this, I left the roll bar assembly on the fuselage as long as possible to do the match drilling so as to maintain the base leg separation. Just about ran out of the #40 clecoeds but it worked.

Completed match-drilling all #30 holes on roll-bar without problems. Clecoed as I went and when done, fitted back onto structure to see if base legs fit. They did! Stopped here to move to Vertical Stabilizer.

April 4, 2009: P. 23-08 Lower Cowl Hinges

2009-04-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

P. 23-08 Started creating the hinges for the Lower Cowl. I made real mistakes here using the wrong hinge material (AN257-P2 instead of AN257-P3). Felt dumb to say the least. Don't know what I was thinking but the P2 is narrow and fitting it to the firewall wasn't working well (clue #1), and getting the actual notches to line up correctly so that there was enough material to match drill holes was very problematic (clue #2). I did clamp and match-drill here and the holes were just barely on the hinge material. Called Marty and then figured out that I used the wrong hinge material. Will call Vans and order replacement hinge as well as firewall spacer. Wasted day!

April 4, 2009: P. 23-07 Vent Brackets

2009-04-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

P. 23-07 initiated. Prepared the vent brackets by separating the parts and deburring.

Following the instructions I clecoed the parts together for the vent bracket to final-drill #40 holes in common. Then step #3 calls for MCS the holes in the vent doors. I established correct depth on scrap material and then drilled the vent doors. Step #4 is to file the slot smooth in the F-1087A & B so that the door can be opened and closed smoothly. This went well. Yet to be determined if the door will be smoothly opened after installation.

This is where step #5 has you final drill #30 holes in common on the door parts. After doing the left door as described in the directions, using a block of wood to hold the tabs of the F-1086A & B in place (which worked with effort), I decided to final drill #30 the right side at the bench. The F-1086A & B are very thin (fragile) and when drilling on the bench, the drill bit caught the edge of the part and tore the aluminum in 2 in a blink of the eye. #$%%##$!!! I'll call Vans tomorrow and order a new part!

The new part came on 4/9/09 and spent an hour completing p. 23-07.

March 20, 2009: Fuselage skins continued

2009-04-21T22:22:00.001-07:00

P. 23-06 continued. Removed fuselage side skins, deburred skins and longeron. The fit of the skins to the longerons was good. Removed the tab from the skin called out in fig. 1, and then followed directions to "break" the bottom and aft edge of side skins. This worked well using the tool identified by Marty Santic.

Reassembled side skins to fuselage and riveted in place. 1st taped holes that do not receive a rivet. Also fabricated the F-1256 skin stiffeners and riveted in place. Some of the 9 hours reported here were included in preping the side skins.

March 17, 2009: P. 23-06 Fuselage Side Skins Continued

2009-04-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

P. 23-06. Clecoed the fuselage side skins to the fuselage and worked on the left side skin, match drilling #30 holes along the longeron. This went well, but it was difficult to hold the drill perpendicular and steady so as not to elongate the holes. I thought this went pretty well (although later I did see where the drill bit had some slight elongation, not enough to change rivets but one can see that a few holes are not perfectly round).

March 15, 2009: P. 23-03, 04 & 05 Fuselage Skins

2009-04-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

Page 23-03. After completing the fuel lines, I've returned to the fuselage skins. Step #1 tells you to MCS the top face of the F1205B roll bar plates. It calls for 5 holes to be #30, 120 degrees. I did this, but later, on page 23-06, figure 1 says to put CS4-4 rivets into 2 holes, one of which has been MSC and one has not. I went ahead and MCS the 2nd hole, making a total of 6 holes that are MSC. No surprises on p. 23-03 and onto p. 23-04.

P. 23-05 went well making the spar cutouts, not using the snips but the nibbler. Then used files and sand paper to clean up the sides for the wing spar penetration holes. Take care to make one skin the right fuselage side and the other the left. I didn't screw this up, but it would be very easy to create 2 left sides or 2 right sides.

March 14, 2009: Safety Wire & Return Fuel Line

2009-04-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

The safety wire and pliers came yesterday and after studying the EAA Video (http://www.eaa.org/video/homebuilders.html?videoId=11670888001) I moved fwd with the safetywire. The video was very good and the job went without a hitch.

Finished the Fuel Return Line and it was tough to get the correct length going from the fuselage bulkhead bracket up to the lower face of the F-1201B. I ended making 2 cuts to get it right. The end-product is a tube that is not as neat and straight as I would like, but I'm going to call it good. You can see from the photo that I've taped over the flaperon mixer arm to protect the fuel line. The space is tight and I did not want to scrape the tubing.

March 8, 2009: P. 28-04: Fuel Line continued

2009-04-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Page 28-04. The measuring and bending of the tubing is tricky. I measure using Van's lengths e.g. step 1. Unroll and cut 40.5 inches of tubing. I rolled out 41 inches and cut at that length. The bends are a bit bigger than I think Van's is able to do, and that's one reason a little extra length is good. I took my time on this page and things went well. I think I'll go back and take the fittings apart and use a "putty" type pipe sealer, instead of the sealant tape I did use. The tape might work just fine, but I heard from Marty that the gunky stuff is recommended. Might call Van's next week to get their opinion.

Moved on to page 28-05 and completed the 'flo-scan' installation complete with fittings. Moved on to the gascolator and completed except for the safety wire. Wire did not come with the kit and safetywire pliers were not included in the recommended tool list. So, I ordered wire from Van's and pliers from Avery. Did not complete step 2 on this page but will return to it when the wire and pliers get delivered. Completed everything else on page 28-05 and then moved on to 28-06.

Worked on the fuel return line and completed. Again, I cut the tube longer than called for. This led to a challenge because at the last stages of installation, I had much too much line and had a hard time judging how much to cut. I did complete the line going around the pump and affixed to the fuel line with the Pads you make from the EA HOSE H175. This part went well and I think I'm within tolerances to make the fittings work when it comes to connecting the tubes to the fuel tank. Ended the day without ending the page!

RV-12: This is what I mean, this is where I'm going, rising to the top!

2009-04-12T13:30:00.001-07:00

March 1, 2009: Fuel System Install Begun

2009-03-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

Taking the advise of others, I moved to the fuel system in section 28 before proceeding with the fuselage side skins to have better access. Installing the fluid fittings onto the fuel pump and buiding the handle assembly went well following the directions. Take care to read the "red knob" directions and drill as per the supplied instructions. I almost skipped this part and was devising my own method when I thought to look again. Installing the fuel valve bracket went okay with the help of Wendy who held the bracket in place as I clecoed it from the bottom. Then onto the next infamous page on bending fuel lines. I resisted putting in an advanced tubing replacement order. Following the advice of Joe Gores (http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=39944), the intial bending went well and that's where I stopped for the day. I posted a question on the forum seeking input from other builders about how to torque in close quarters and how much flare do you flare.

February 28, 2009: LONGERONS Continued!

2009-03-01T20:20:00.001-08:00

Page 22-02 continues! Deburred canopy decks. Then used a piece of scrap .025 thick aluminum to simulate the side skin and clamped the deck to the longergons. Matched drilled through the deck into the longerons. To keep the drill perpendicular, I monitored the reflection of the drill bit which should appear straight, if it is perpendicular. Dan Benua gave me this tip and it works well. I then took things apart, primed the longerons and left them to dry.

Now here's the question. Step 4 tells you to produce a curve that matches the canopy deck template "within a sixteenth of an inch. I did this, but when using the scrap aluminum to simulate the side skin, I see that the deck overhangs the skin by the 1/16 inch mentioned earlier. I hope this is within tolerance. I'm going to call Van's tomorrow to ask. My plan is to take a vixon file and shave off the excess overhang.

February 22, 2009: LONGERONS!!! *#$&%#@!!!

2009-03-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

The longerons are nothing if not frustrating. I think I'm growing neurons though and that's a good thing! I started by marking the "end of the twist", start of the curve, etc. as well as the curve section with 1 inch incremental marks. This helped immensely! I used the Marty Santic method to open the angle 5.4 degrees. That is to say, take a scrap piece of angle, place it over the longeron portion to be opened and hit it hard with a hammer. This worked well. Then twist the end of the longeron 2.7 degrees. I used a level of sorts that shows degrees. I twisted until it displayed approximately the 2.7 and moved onto curving the longerons. The 1st was the Left longeron and I overbent it. From there is was pure frustration. I finally got it to where it was passable, then began the right longeron. I know I grew dendrites on this job because the 2nd longeron went much faster and easier than the first. My advice is to use a vise, put the longeron under a "pre-load" and whack it at the point where it enters the vise. Don't over-do this part. If you didn't whack it hard enough, you can always revisit this, inch by bloody inch. After 9 hours, I quit for the day.

February 16, 2009: Longerons Begun!

2009-03-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

I spent one hour going back to any nut or bolt for which I either knew I didn't torque or wasn't sure and torqued as per recommended pound inches. Then, one of the EAA Chapter Technical Counselors, Dan Benua, came by to check on a couple of rivets I was uneasy about. He said they were fine, but let's drill one out so that I knew how to do this re-rivet using a gun and bucking bar. This went pretty well due to his expertise and the tools he brought (12" #40 drill, bucking bar, offset gun, etc.). After Dan left, I started on page 23-02, the well-known "LONGERON". Many have entered and not as many have emerged. I took the better part of an hour measuring and cutting the bar to length, and getting everything I will need to complete this part of the building process.

February 15, 2009: Page 23-04, Step 4

2009-03-01T20:01:00.001-08:00

Following tip by Jetguy (Van's forum post on 1/30/09) I went ahead to 23-04, step 3, and riveted the F-1202E (R & L) before attaching the fwd lower fuse assembly to the mid-fuse. I'm glad I did because it is tight quarters to do in after the fuse assembly is in place. Then fitted and riveted the fwd fuse assembly into place.

February 14, 2009: Flo-scan bracket

2009-03-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Page 22-05 completed various tasks (install nutplates, final-drilling, and attach the Flo-scan mount bracket.

February 11, 2009: Completed Page 22-03

2009-03-01T19:54:00.000-08:00

Completed page 22-03. Made a quick run to VANs to pick up some proseal. Talked with technician and he sold me the firewall sealant to use instead. I applied it to the same spots as indicated in the plans prior to the revision. Hope this is okay! Seemed like quite the waste in that you can see the size of the $17 tube, and the job only required about 20% of it, tops.

February 10, 2009: Page 22-03 Cont.

2009-03-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

Fabricated the F-1201L bracket (3 times!) on Page 22-03. The 1st two were less than acceptable because I had difficulty match drilling the holes through the firewall and keeping the bracket snug against the tunnel rib. Must keep in mind that not only is the task to build a plane, but to learn a great deal about it along the way.

February 8, 2009: Section 22 (continued!)

2009-02-08T21:22:00.001-08:00

Page 22-02, step 13 called for riveting nutplates to the fwd side of the firewall bottom (F-1201C) at the "Return Line Clamp" location.

Step 14 was the tricky enlargement of the hole betw the gascolator attach holes (see Fig. 4). Directions call for drawing cross hairs to be sure that you center and keep centered while using the unibit to enlarge the hole to 9/16. I drew the cross hairs and then applied the unibit. I thought I was starting to drift so I stoped and drilled a pilot #40 hole, then tried the unibit again. This time I stayed on task and ended with a good result.

At this point, I went ahead and riveted the 8 holes (CS4-4) through the bulkhead into the engine mount brackets.

Page 22-03:
Step 1-2, Fabricating the "rudder pedal support channels" and dimpling holes and nutplate holes. This was a surprise to me because I would have thought that with material this thick, Van's would have you MCS. Dimple I did and it worked well.

Step 3, dimple then rivet nutplates to the F-1201B firewall shelf and F-1257 rudder pedal support channels. Be careful here. There are some switch-ups in both the type of nutplate and the rivets to attach them. I used AD3-3.5 six times when the plans call for AD3-4. Not a big difference, but I started the recovery process and drilled about half of them back out, replacing with correct rivet. I'll finish this redo tomorrow.

February 7, 2009: Section 22 (Continued)

2009-02-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Page 22-02, step 10 was very easy and fairly quick. The hardest part about making the F-1201U spacers was finding the material! The directions note that you "curve parts slightly by hand in the following steps for a better fit." I did this, but didn't find it necessary to make much of a curve.

Step 11, was good and move fwd smoothly. Placing the spacer in the right place and carefully putting the F-12118 Cowl Attach Plates over it relies on this friction fit to hold it in place.

Step 12 depends on the friction fit while you match-drill #30 holes through the spacers and cowl attach plates, although one spacer was a wee bit out from where I wanted it. (I'm probably the only one that will ever notice this). In the photo you will notice that I wrote MCS on the cowl attach plate. I did this to ensure that I MCS on the proper side of the plate.

I was not moving at the speed of light and this all took me about 3 hours (bother terrapin).

February 4, 2009: Section 22 (Continued)

2009-02-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

Page 22-02, step 7 was completed. Fabricated the F-1288 Cooler Stiffner by removing excess material from the angle bar and deburred.

Step 8, Riveted the cooler stiffner and nutplates to the firewall bottom.

Step 9 was a bit confusing because it is difficult to tell in figure 4 what the perspective is. I thought I was looking at the inside of the tunnel assembly. Checking the forum where Mich48041 (http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=36239) identifies this "optical illusion" and points out that you are looking up from underneath, looking at the bottom. This helped! On to step 10 on Saturday.

February 1, 2009: Section 22 (continued)

2009-02-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

Page 22-02, step 4. Final-drill #30 the WE-1204 Engine Mount Brackets to the tunnel ribs and then rivet these brackets to the rib. This went without incident.

Step 5, MCS #30 holes in fwd flange of F-1217A-L & R tunnel ribs. This too went smoothly.

Step 6, rivet the tunnel ribs to the fwd fuse skin and then cleco to this assembly the F-1201C firewall bottom & F-1271-L & R fwd fuse corner skin.

I don't show the corner skins attached, but I did add them after taking the pictures for that day. Van's has crammed alot of things onto this one page. I'll move to step 7 tomorrow (2/4/09).

January 31, 2009: Infamous Section 22!

2009-02-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

Pg. 22-02, Steps 1-3. Very confusing section! I was pre-warned, and I'm sure this helped but still challenging. (Note to self: make sure you check for updates each day that you work on plane. I thought I had the most current, but did not. Fortunately, I was not at the updated section yet which is on pg. 22-03.) On step 2, plans have you MCS nutplate attach holes on sloped flange of F-1217A-L & R (no problem), MCS all nutplate attach holes on F-1272 Fwd Fuse skin flush on the bottom side (I thought no problem), then MCS upper most hole in F-1288 cooler stiffener (again, no problem). There are holes on the F-1272 at the fwd edge, as well as further aft on the bottom skin. I've not done the holes aft. Step 3 has you dimple the nutplates, but this seems wrong because you've already MCS the holes. Also, this step calls for riveting the nutplates to the F-1217A-L & R, as per the callouts in Feg. 1. This callout cannot be seen, or maybe I'm blind! I'll give this section more thought and go to the forum (again) to see if I can figure it out.

January 25, 2009: Step floors, attaching F-1207B bulkhead...

2009-02-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Pg. 21-19, Installing the step floors into place. The most challenging part of this page was reaching through the lightening holes (step 4) to rivet the nutplates into place. After a few trials on each nutplate, I would get lucky and hit the mark. They say even blind squirrels find nuts sometimes! Installation of the floors, the F-1048 facet pump bracket all went without incident. I'm getting good at nutplate fabrication/installation.

Moved to pg 21-20 (last page of this section) to install 6 "systems block studs." Wendy helped me with this because it is impossible for one person to turn the screw and hold the nut. To prep for this, I put oil on each stud and screwed the nut on each, up to the stud head, then took it off. I'm glad I did this because without the oil I think I would have ruined the stud head (philips). As it was, this went very well. I used the electric drill to screw the bolt into the nut, which Wendy held in place using vice grips.

January 24, 2009: Riveting step attach angles, nutplates, etc.

2009-02-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

Pg. 21-18, Riveting the Step Attach Angles, corner skins and installation of nuteplates/snap bushings. All went well with riveting bulkhead attach angles, etc. I'm still a bit uncomfortable with using the correct torque on the bolts but will continue my study of this and asking for advice along the way. Using the table provided by Van's and torqued the step bolts to 60 inch pounds.

Installation of the bushings came next, followed by work on the step floors (pg. 21-19, steps 1-2).

January 23, 2009: Step Attach Angles

2009-02-01T10:38:00.002-08:00

Pg. 21-17, step 7-9 went well. I am taking a lot of time, but finding that since this is not a race, I'm better off this way. On step 8, the directions call for you to make the step pad horizontal, however, make sure the "the inbd. Top corner of the step is to remain even with or below the beginning of the radius of the F-1202F bulkhead." What's the radius of the bulkhead? I was scratching my head on this one, but the drawings are clear and having Wendy read the directions too, it became clear. So, the pad looked horizontal and the top corner was just below the curve of the flange on the top of bulkhead, and I did my drilliing and things worked out well. After all holes were drilled, I took things apart and primed the F-1236A-L & B-L.

January 23, 2009: Step Attach Angles & Match-Drilling

2009-02-01T10:38:00.001-08:00

January 23, 2009: Step Attach Angles

2009-02-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2009: Step Attach Angles and Nutplate Bracket

2009-02-01T10:34:00.001-08:00

On this Saturday, I spent 4.5 hours on the plane, pg. 21-16 & 17, riveting the bottom skin and stiffeners into place. No problems here, just keep at it!

Then, moved onto step 1 on page 21-17 and this went well for a time. I read the directions carefully but not carefully enough. The plans call for you to separate the F-1236 Step Attach Angles and then step 2 calls for trimming "2" of the attach angles. Things were going so well and I was so engrossed in doing a good job with trimming, deburring, etc. that I did all 4 attach angles. FRUSTRATINGLY dumb mistake. (Monday, I went to Van's and bought more angle. Once I recovered my calm, I went on to make the nutplate brackets and MCS as called out.

January 17, 2009: Step Attach Angles and Nutplate Bracket

2009-02-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

January 15, 2009: Bottom Stiffeners & Nutplates & Bottom Skin...

2009-02-01T10:19:00.001-08:00

Separated F-1204Z bottom stiffeners and F-1268A-E Doublers without incident. Be sure to mark the doublers to facilitate their correct placement. I used the nibbler that Jim Cone mentioned and it works very well to separate parts.

After this fabrication work, moved on to page 21-16 and completed the dimpling and attachment of nutplates around access holes. Step 3 on that page calls for breaking the edges along both sides for the F-1276 bottom skin. For this, I used the tool pictured, available from Avery.

January 15, 2009: Bottom Stiffeners & Nutplates & Bottom Skin...

2009-02-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

January 12-14, 2009: Fuselage Corner Skins

2009-01-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

pg. 21-15 Attaching the corner skins presented no challenge. I dd tape the holes that were not to be riveted. Then moved onto the F-1274-R & L fuselage corner skins, again without problems.

January 11, 2009: Control Column, Step Ribs & Snap Busings

2009-01-11T21:41:00.001-08:00

Today was spent on pg. 21-14. I installed the control column using tweezers! That's right, tweezers. It's a tight fit getting into the area to slide the bolt through, along with the appropriate washers. Following the directions which suggested using tape to hold the washers, I improvised a bit and taped the washers together (2 side by side, two sets per bolt) and used tweezers to position the washers while sliding the bolt into place. Worked Great!

Then moved onto step 2, more dimpling and deburring, to install the step ribs (pg. 21-14). All went well and the ribs are installed. Next, prepared the F-1202F bulkhead, clecoed into place (DO NOT RIVET).

Now, here is where it got interesting. The next step, step 7, calls for installing snap businging on bulkheads. One problemo, Bulkhead F-1204A is missing one hole and another is undersized. On the forum, JTE identified this back in December, but I did not remember it for when I got to this stage. I'm going to write to Van's and get a reply, in writing, so that I can include the reply in my builder's log. Then, onto the curve skins!

January 10, 2009: F-1203A Bulkhead (cont.)

2009-01-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

Staying on pg. 21-11 I started this Saturday's building extravanza on step 3. I spent about 4 hours on steps 3-5. It was at least twice as long as necessary because I didn't pay enough attention to which side of the bulkhead to install the Control Column Mount Assemblies and started right off putting the first one on the wrong side. If that wasn't enough, I had used the wedge tool to put the rivets in, and the shanks broke off a good 1/4 inch above the rivet. Correcting this mistake was problematic. To make things even worse, I also had installed the nutplates which were even more challenging to remove. PAY ATTENTION!!! This misstep cost me time and degraded the quality of the build a bit.

Moving on to pg. 21-12 was good. No significant challenges, but again, pay attention to what the plans call out in terms of where to dimple. I took the advice of others and taped off those nutplate holes that were NOT to be dimpled. The challenge on this page is how to position the bulkhead so that you can use the hand squeezer to make the dimples.

Pg. 21-13 is prett straight forward, but I was careful and took plenty of time to read & re-read the riveting instructions. Be sure not to rivet the F-1253 L & R. You will need to work the control column through this location and will need to bend this part of the way to make the fit. On step 5 the plans indicate to final drill the 3/8 inch hole to 1/2 inch. I did this on the drill-press using the uni-bit and it went well. Be sure to do the FORWARD hole as identified.

One question came up in my mind when I got to riveting the seat ramp floors to the F-1215 seat ribs. Some of the ribs that had dimpled holes on the upper flange did not need the dimple as the plans call out using a LP4-3 rivet. Oh well, I hope this is correct.

Finished the night by inserting the control column through the lightening holes. This took a bit of maneuvering, but with gentle persistence it went into place. Tomorrow I'll pick up on pg. 21-14.

January 9, 2009: F-1203A Bulkhead (cont.)

2009-01-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

Pg. 21-10: F-1203A Bulkhead
I picked up from the last session on step 6 with the final drilling of 4 bulkhead holes as called out in "detail A." Using the uni-bit on the drill press worked great here and resulted in round correctly spaced holes. The tricky part was step 7. The hole that had "hatched area" to be removed with "dike/wire cutters", neither of which I had. So, I used snips to carefully make cuts in the hatched areas and was able to snip away a little at a time. The I used a file to finish. Wanting to be sure I had the hole correct, I read ahead in the plans to locate what was intended to go through the hole so I could use it to check size of hole. Unfortunately, I could not find a future reference to this hole (must be in the finishing kit section). Machine counter sinking of holes went fwd smoothly.

I primed the non-alcad F-1203C stub spar receptacle with the self-etching rattle can primer from NAPA.

Step 10 has you final drill #30 any holes in the process of putting the stub spar receptacle assembly together if the holes are too tight. I found that if I clecoed the parts together and then insterted a hole punch in the hole (like Jim Cones use of an awl) to sort of "wiggle" around, helped line up all the holes. No final drilling was necessary to make the parts fit.

I then moved to step 1 on p. 21-11, separating the 2 F-1203E Bulkhead Doublers and deburred. Before quiting for the night I installed these on the bulkhead, being sure to put them on the appropriate side of the bulkhead (very important!).

January 7, 2009: Stub Spar Assembly and F-1203A Bulkhead

2009-01-11T12:15:00.000-08:00

Worked on F-1203A bulkhead and final drilling holes to 7/16 & 3/4. This went very well using the "step" drill and the drillpress to do the job. Holes turned out uniform and appropriately placed. Next I removed metal on the final large hole (see p. 21-10, step 7). I used the tin snips to remove some of the material and filed the rest. The result is good, but cannot be certain it is perfectly circular, but it looks like it. I read ahead in the plans to see what will go through this hole so that I could test it, but could not find anything. This may be something in the finishing kit. I also prepared the F-1203C Stub Spar Receptacles, deburring and filing to create a close fit to the rounded ends of the stub spar assemblies. Then primed this part.

January 6, 2009: Bulkhead Caps, Rollers and Control Column

2009-01-06T22:27:00.001-08:00

I started the evening build on page 21-09 and completed steps 2-5 in about an hour. As usual, the deburring took about 1/3 of this time. Riveting the bulkhead caps in place was straight forward. I took the advice of others and taped over the holes that were NOT to receive a rivet. I think this is a good strategy compared to using a marker.

Installation of the rollers (step 5) was also easy. The only question I have is how much to torque the bolt. I took care here so as not to strip the nut plate as well as making sure that the roller still rolled. (I don't know, but I think the nutplate has a natural tendency to act as a locknut.)

Then after dinner, I completed steps 1- 3 on page 21-10. At least 20 minutes of the time was spent scratching my head to figure out what was called for in terms of MCS the rivet holes. (I'm learning a lot here but loosing hair!) Deburring was thorough to be sure the parts matched and fit well. My biggest challenge was counter sinking the rivet holes. Before MCS the actual part, I test the depth on scrap material. Still, sometimes the countersink is too deep, while other times it is perfect with no change in the cage.

January 5, 2009: Completion of the Seat Floor Assemblies

2009-01-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

I spent about 2.5 hours tonight on the seat floor assemblies and all went well. The close-in hand rivet squeezer is a must for riveting the seat ribs to the bulk head. I also used the wedge tool I fabricated following other's example, e.g. Jim Cone, Rudy, etc.

Tomorrow I will move on to working the right bulkhead cap and roller on page 21-09.

January 3-4, 2009: Mid Fuse Ribs & Bottom Skins

2009-01-05T22:26:00.000-08:00

The photos on this entry may be in reverse order. I prepared all the seat rib assemblies, involving dimpling, installing platenuts, etc. All went well till I got to page 21-05, step 12, and began installing the flaperon mixer bracket. It was here that I discovered that I had put the mixer together incorrectly. Fortunately I discovered this before riveting or doing any damage. The image on the left shows the incorrect assembly.

I didn't trust that I had installed the rear spar recepticle correctly so the photo shows that I tested the fit by taking the assembly to the wing and testing the fit. It fit very well so I am happy.

All went well after this. It was tricky on page 21-06, step 7 with cutting the seatback hinge. Thankfully I had kept up Van's forum and found a caution there to measure an extra .5 inch so that I made the cut at 10.5 inches instead of 10. This allows for the hinge to be identical to the one depicted on this page. My screw-up here was in removing the center 2 eyelets on each hinge. I tried to cut these with a hacksaw, but there was not enough space for the blade. I then went to the bandsaw, but because my blade is too coarse, I strayed off and made a mistake with the cut. I ended up using my scotchbrite wheel and this worked the best.

We had snow over Christmas and all our fantastic adult children were home for the Holidays (sounds like a song coming on!). The snowy house picture is our Christmas card and also helps explain why I was away from the RV-12 for the better part of 2 weeks.

The plans are very clear and with thorough reading (and re-reading) one should not have a problem here.

December 10-17, 2008: Baggage Floor, Ribs & Seat Belt Attach Lugs

2008-12-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

Over the course of the 7 days, I completed pages 21-02 through 21-04 in about 15 hours. No big challenges, just taking time to read the directions muliple times and then consult again when I start each step. I bought the "snips" recommended by Jim Cone and they have been very handy to have, saving time on the separation of parts. The only parts I primed on these pages were the baggage ribs (then only the mating surfaces) and the F-1206C (rear spar receptacles). The rear spar receptacles take a lot of deburring and since I envision these parts seeing lots of action with the installing and removing of the wings, I thought it best to prime. Everything on these pages went together without problems.

December 2, 2008: Baggage Floors

2008-12-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

Next process complete starts on p. 21-02 and is about attaching the baggage floor skins to the center section aft bulkhead. This was quite the deal! 1st, having drilled the holes at some angle approaching 90 degrees created problems because the baggage floor skin fits better the closer the hole is to the 90 degrees. I needed to match drill a place or 2 (or 3) to make allow the rivets to go through. The challenge then became how to squeeze these rivets with little space to do so. I split a rivet and had to drill it out and redo. There are a couple more that I need to replace tomorrow. I'm trying to do this as per plans and the suggested tool list, which has you use a hand squeezer rather than a bucking bar and air gun. I found this all to work better by standing the bulkhead on its side with the baggage floors jutting up. This all took a long time (8 hours) over the course of 2 days.

November 23, 2008: Center Section Bulkhead

2008-11-23T19:44:00.003-08:00

Beginning on page 20-02, read and re-read directions to avoid mistakes. My 1st surprise was the softness of the CCR-264SS-3-2 rivets. Seems to be brass and when applying them with the rivet gun, there is a soft "clunk" and not the hard "thunk" I'm accustomed to with the alum. rivets.

Installing the retainer blocks went well. Again, needed to decypher the plans to determine which bolt was which, because several different sizes come in the bag. One can measure the bolts to identify (which I did not) or one can identify the bolts through a process of elimination. This worked but concerns me that it will eventually result in a mistake. I need to learn the sizing system to be able to identify parts through measurement.

Everything went well, including the match-drilling of the aft bulkhead to the center section. Some slight elongation of a hole here or there, but not much. My biggest challenge was to maintain a 90 degree angle of the bit to the work. After I finished up the riveting part of this assembly, I discovered that even with my attention to detail, the holes still were not at 90 degree angles, but it did work out.

On the machine countersink work, I was careful to set the tool to the right depth and tested on scrap material before moving to the center section. This worked well.

Some errors in the directions on page 20-04. On step 2, the plans refer to diagram #1, and I think they mean diagram #2. There have been other small things like this, but if you take your time and read several times, you will figure it out. I'm about half way through step 2 on this page and will try to finish tomorrow.

Saturday, November 21, 2008: Begin Fuselage

2008-11-23T19:44:00.001-08:00

Started the fuselage kit today. Center Section Bulkhead, page 20-02. I spent time deburring parts and staging hardware for this section. Nutplates K1000-3 and K1000-08 came from Van's in the same bag and I needed to take some time to figure out which was which (there was a 3rd nut plate bag, with the biggest. Therein lies the clue.) Everything ready to begin in the morning!

November 16-21, 2008: Flaperons Compete. 161 hours to complete wings

2008-11-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

Over the course of a week, I applied the flaperon skins to the ribs. This went smoothly. The drilling I had done on the counterbalance pipe gave me pause. The pre-drilling punching that I had done to ensure that the drill bit didn't "walk" out of the proper spot created the equivalent of a machine countersink and it looks like it when the skins are riveted at that point. I hope the photo will show this. Other than that the only challenge was again, the match-drilling through the skin into the noseribs. The lesson I learned here was to recognize when I'm tired and stop for the day. The result of not stopping was poor technique. I didn't start the match-drilling with a #40 and the result was elongated holes. I judged the holes to be outside the limits of tolerance and so made another trip to Van's to pick up another nose skin and do over. The do-over went well and the flaperons are now complete. Tomorrow, I will start on the fuselage.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008: Flaperon Internal Structure

2008-11-22T12:21:00.001-08:00

P. 18-05 of the plans call for completion of the flaperon internal structure. It is true that the actuation bracket (A1207) has the outboard rivets tucked in close to the perpendicular part of the anglebar. I believe the squeezing went o.k. No problems installing the pivot brakets or the counterbalance pipe.

Tuesday, November 7, 2008: Deburring Flaperon Ribs

2008-11-22T12:14:00.001-08:00

Since I had visited my veteran dad (WWII) over the weekend, I took this holiday and spent some of it deburring the flaperon ribs. Since having no garage at my Astoria, OR house, I took my bench grinder (with scotchbrite wheel) with me and worked in the living room. No surprises, just keep at this routine monotonous task till all ribs were completely smooth.

Friday, November 7, 2008: Picked Up Fuselage Kit

2008-11-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Picked up the fuselage kit from Van's. My son Tim helped by driving his van and loading up the parts as I was distracted by taking photos of Van's RV-12.

You can see from the photos the actuation bracket fit under the wing, some wing-tip colse-out and hand-hold details. The 12 had just come back from a short flight as they were testing some modifications. I talked a bit to one of the VAN's guys and he told me that the auto-pilot and lights options were built in. When I asked about how one would attach lights, he said that they were working on how that would go and that I would not have to remove wing parts to install. Not sure if I got that right, but hoping that adding lights won't pose a big deal.

The one photo I didn't get was of the fuel door. I was concerned as the paint in this region was deteriorating from the gas contacting the paint.

The fuselage kit fit easily into the back of the toyota van. There are lots of parts to this kit! Will do inventory at home this weekend. You can see my son and driver Tim, do his imitation of, of, of, well I don't know who!

November 2-15, 2008: Drilling the Counterbalance

2008-11-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

I've never worked with metal before and this whole building experience is new to me. As such, drilling the counterbalance stainless steel pipe proved to be a challenge. I had read Marty's (http://martysrv12.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-09-28T19%3A46%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7) blog as well as others (e.g. Jerry (http://jerryg150rv12.blogspot.com/), but still had trouble getting it right. Match-drilling the most outboard and inboard holes went well, which was about the last thing over the next few days that did! On page 18-03 the plans (step 5) call for you to match-drill through the skins into the stainless-steel. I knew from reading Marty's and Jerry's blogs that this could likely result in elongated holes in the skin. I decided to only drill long enough to mark the spot, disassemble and finish in the drillpress. This didn't work too well, due more to my learning curve I think than to the actual method. 2nd attempt after rotation of the pipe and starting over, I marked the spots needing to be drilled with my trusty ole sharpie and then disassembled the pipe from the skin, going to the drill press to drill the holes. I started with the #40 size with the notion to enlarge to a #30. The challenge was to drill the hole without having the bit drift, which it did. Not precise enough. Wising up a bit, I then went for the 3rd attempt, but started with significant punch marks to guide the drill. Success! You can bet the right flaperon went better.

From there to p. 18-04 where you are called to complete the Actuation brackets and match-drill them and the pivot brackets to the flaperon spar. I found it helpful to clamp the 1207 to the spar AND use a #10 bolt to attach to the inboard nose rib which was cleoed to the spar. On the 1207 actuation bracket, the most outboard holes are up tight against the perpendicular part of the barket and I anticipate a challenge in squeezing the rivet, but will go there when I get there (how's that for deep!).

Saturday November 1, 2008: Flaperon Actuation & Pivot Brackets

2008-11-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

Wings complete and now on to the flaperons! Don't let the long interlude fool you, I spent time in between 10/18 and 11/1 working on page 18-02 getting the actuation bracket (A1207-L & R) and the pivot bracket (A1206) correctly manufactured. I had to make a visit to Van's to pick up additional AA6-125x1.5x2x10 because of my lack of precision in placing the pivot hole. Now, I don't know if I was being too much of a perfectionist or not, but I didn't want to be flying at 6,000 ABG and wonder if the flaperon was correctly manufactured/assembled.

So, I have 2 sets of actuation brackets, one of which is a better fit. The pivot brackets went well. I followed the example of Marty Santic (http://martysrv12.blogspot.com/2008/09/continuing-with-flaperon.html) who had consulted Jim Cone, etc. (It's a builder's community!) Using the drill press I enlarged the hole as per diagram directions on 18-02, step 2, and then while still in the drill press, put the tap into the press and rotated by hand to ensure that it went in straight. After a number of rotations, I removed the bracket and completed tapping with the bracket in the vice. This worked quite well. All parts then deburred and primed using the Napa 7220 rattle can.

Saturday, October 18, 2008: Wing tip close-out

2008-10-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

Tim and Tiffany came over and after I made them breakfast, Tim and I worked on the final stage of right wing tip. Everything went together well and the trailing edge of the wing tip was parallel to the wing. The only problem was that I read and re-read the plans so many times that I didn't pay close attention the final time and used the #3 rivet instead of the #4 as called out. I may go back and drill out the 6 rivets this covers and replace. I think it would make for a tighter fit.