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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.