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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!