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12 Jan 05        1 Hour        Cum: 367

Realized that the RCP footwells cannot be installed/removed once the consoles are finished.  So, my brother, Nelson, who is an A&P suggested I make the footwells removable by drilling out the rivets and attaching them with nutplates.  So, I removed one of the footwells and began attaching #6 nutplates.  I plan to do both sides the same to make them look symmetrical.

14 Jan 05        1 Hour        Cum: 368

The RV flyin is at Lakeland this weekend, but weather kept pilots away today.  One lonely RV today.  Removed the other footwell and installed nutplates.  Sent a note to Van's today asking about the fit of landing gear weldments.  The left one fits okay.  The right one is another story.  It just doesn't fit right and I wonder if I should buy a new one to see if it fits better.

22 Feb 05        1 Hour        Cum: 369

Very little time to work on the plane lately.  With flying, rental house problems, business taxes, and meetings in DC, there is no time left over.  Went to the shop for awhile today and inserted the aluminum tube for the pitot tube, but did little else except think about the plans and what I need to get done.  Recently ordered a diode and wig-wag module from www.periheliondesign.com and found the items to be high quality.  Based on what I've seen, I have to recommend their products.  Also, got the right main gear weldment back from Van's Aircraft.  I shipped it to them and they put it in their welding jig and found it to be slightly off.  They bent the forward brace for me and returned it.  I'll see if it fits tomorrow.

23 Feb 05        No work today

No work, but I stopped by the shop and tried the rebent main landing gear and it dropped right into place.  Amazing what a difference 1/16" made.  Guy at Van's said they put the gear in the jig and it was only off by 1/16" and they didn't think that would cause it to not fit.  It does!!  So, if you have an -8A main gear weldment that doesn't fit, ask Van's to check it in their jig.

1 Mar 05        7 Hours        Cum: 376

Well, I managed to lose the mounting plate for the ELT so I've had to make one.  It's eating up some time, but the mount will be very strong when finished.  I'm simultaneously designing a mounting bracket for the pitch autopilot servo.  I want to mount these heavy things as far aft as possible while staying at least 24" from the magnetometers.

2 Mar 05        3 Hours        Cum: 379

More work on the ELT mount.  The new mount is made of .125 angle and it is more than strong enough.  I'm looking at drilling some lightening holes to reduce weight a little.

7 Mar 05        3 Hours        Cum: 382

Made good progress today.  Had to build a cradle mounting bracket for the AP servo.  Decided to use .050 sheet and that proved to be challenging.  Making sharp bends with 050 is tough.  Anyway, the servo bracket is not as pretty as I'd like it to be, but it is functional and very strong.  Will do some lightening tomorrow.

8 Mar 05        5 Hours        Cum: 387

Completed the AP servo/ELT mounting bracket.  It's made of 3/4" square aluminum tube so it will be super strong.  I like strong things.  I drilled a lot of lightening holes with only a few minor errors.  It's difficult to clean out the inside of the square tube after drilling.  The lightening work on the bracket paid off and I'm happy with the weight of the bracket.  I mounted it in the aircraft and I'm especially pleased with the location and overall function of the servo/ELT bracket.

10 Mar 05        3 Hours        Cum: 390

Primed the AP Servo/ELT mount and installed it.   I'm pleased with the results.  Several things had to be accomplished.  The mount had to accommodate the AP servo and ELT without interfering with other things.  The servo had to mount high enough for the rudder cable to pass under it without interference and yet mount low enough to allow the servo output shaft to be centered on the elevator bellcrank with out touching the elevator push-pull tube.  That suceeded.  Both the servo ad ELT weigh 2-3 pounds each so my desire was to mount them as far aft as possible to assist with CG.  I could have mounted both of them forward of the bulkhead behind the baggage, but by placing them aft of it, I was able to lengthen the arm for the CG.  I also wanted the ELT as far left as possible and yet easily accessible for annual battery changes.  So far, so good.  Photos below show the ELT and servo as they will be installed.

Finally, the servo bracket had to provide a couple of safety features.  It had to keep the servo arm from sliding out of the servo should there be a malfunction.  And it had to keep the servo from going to an overcenter position that might lock up the controls while also allowing full deflection of the elevator.  In the photos below, you can see the alignment of the servo with the bellcrank and the close fit to protect the servo arm.

22 Mar 05        3 Hours        Cum: 393

I'm working on several things simultaneously.  I need to order some rod end bearings to attach the AP servos, but I'm having poor service from Aircraft Spruce.  I wish there was another source that had as much stuff as they do.  Anyway, gotta build connectors for both servos and I'll need rod end bearings to do it.  I'd planned on getting rod end bearings with studs, but ACS doesn't have them and does not wants to help me find them.  So, I guess I switch to Van's standard rod end bearing and put a bolt all the way through to attach to the servos.  I'll probably order from Van's, but their web site is so clumsy I hate to even go there.

I also installed a 7/8" pvc down the right side from below the instrument panel to under the strobe power.  I want to keep the wires at the bottom of the fuselage aft of the strobe power to avoid interference with the magnetometers mounted high.  I was planning to put in pvc down the left side also, but it interferes with too many things.  So, I may have to accept a shorter pvc from the panel to just in front of the flap motor and then use click-bond fasteners to snug the wires to the fuselage side.  I had to really open up the console hole where the flap mechanism comes up to attach to the aft seat bulkhead.  That made it even uglier than normal so I decided I wanted a cover over it.  Spend most of the time today on designing and fitting the cover.  Not beautiful work, but satisfactory.

I'm also doing some work on the consoles.  The forward console switch panels are made and seem to fit nicely.  I'll start doing the final fitting of those panels before long.

Got Roger Moore to help me with a little riveting.  The work turned out nice.

Also ordered the interior paint.  I'm using PPG and they are matching a sample of China Blue Gray.  We'll see.  I'm debating with myself whether or not to build a small paint booth or just spray the parts and hope they don't gather too much dust.

29 Mar 05        3 Hours        Cum: 396

Prepped and Primed the new flap mechanism cover.  I'd seen a cover made to fit over the flap mechanism where it passes through the left aft armrest to attach to the rear seat bulkhead at an airshow and decided to make one myself.  The flap mechanism needs to be covered - especially after attaching the bulky flap positioning system on it.  I had to open up the console hole to allow the FPS to fit and that made the cover even more necessary.  Anyway, I'm happy with the cover results.  I also worked on making a paper template for the top of the new consoles.  That took quite a long time, but as I discovered while making the flap cover, a template can actually save time, not to mention aggravation.

30 Mar 05        3 Hours        Cum: 399

I ordered rod end bearings from Van's 10 days ago and I'm still waiting.  Ordered some things from Aircraft Spruce 2 days ago and they arrived today.  I'm changing my opinion of Aircraft Spruce.  I'd heard nothing but bad about their service, but other than an unhelpful phone order taker, their service has been quite good.  I ordered balsa wood from them with the intention of carving the wingtip landing light shape out of them and using that as the mold to overlay fiberglass.  Will also use some of it for closing the aft side of the stabilizer fiberglass wingtip.  Today's time at the shop was consumed by designing and making some .032 braces for the consoles.  I'm afraid the consoles will be weak and, thus, prone to damage.  So I'm adding at least two support braces to strengthen them - in addition to the angle braces I've already added to the RCP consoles.  Made paper templates and avoided several mistakes by doing so.  I'm happy with the braces.

Also, last night I made boxes, for trial fitting, to the dimensions of the avionics boxes that will be behind my panel.  Good thing I did because I discovered several problems I hadn't previously realized.  I insist on the panel being maintenance-friendly, so I installed a simple piano hinge on the bottom of the main panel to allow access behind the panel.  Before fitting the test boxes, the hinge looked as if it would work fine.  But, there are some clearance issues.

I reconsidered changing the hinge to drop the panel down as it swung out, but the engineering and construction was daunting.  So, I'm going to try a common drawer slide which will permit the panel to slide aft and then tilt aft.  I've seen the heavy duty drawer slides before - but now I have to find them.  It's just as well, I didn't like the panel layout being forced on me by having to place everything as low on the panel as possible so as to clear for maintenance.

3 Apr 05        2 Hours        Cum: 401

More fitting and fine tuning of the consoles.  Determined that I needed some minor corrections to the original plan so I'm working on those.  Should have originally mounted the throttle quadrant using nutplates, but thought I could use nuts.  I knew from the beginning that I needed nutplates, so today I reworked the throttle mount and did it right.  Now the throttle can be 

removed during maintenance without dismantling the entire console.    

This console side is actually a template.  I'll use it to get exact dimensions and then make the final pieces.  The sides of the console will be one piece, but I'll have to make the console tops out of several pieces.  Deciding where to have the seams is the difficult part.

4 Apr 05        2.5 Hours        Cum: 403.5

Finally, the rod end bearings arrived from Van's.  I guess they must have had to backorder them.  One of the studded bearings was very stiff as if the ball bearings weren't in it.  I'm sending it back.  Spent most of today fitting the AP aileron servo.  Unfortunately, I have to bend over in the cockpit to install it and my back is killing me today.  So, the work was slow and aggravating.  Got it fitted and attached the linkage to see how it fits.  Turns out fairly good.  These photos show only initial fitting and not final install, so nuts, washers, etc are not all installed yet.  The right photo shows the servo attachments I made and had welded to the control column.  I didn't like other attachment methods I've seen that had a clamp around the column.  I have to enlarge the opening in the rib to permit the servo arm to pass through.  The opening in the rib will prohibit the servo from exceeding 60 degrees deflection and going over center.  However, if the aileron stops do not adequately restrict an over center situation in the other direction, then I'll need to design something to restrict travel the other way.  As soon as I get the interior paint, I'll paint the control column and install it for the last time.  Yea.

The far right photo shows the final iteration of the aileron servo to control column connection.  We opened up the hole for the servo arm so as to get closer to the maximum 60 degrees of travel.  Also moved the servo arm attachment up one hole to get the tube more parallel to the floor.  Also added a doubler around the hole cut in the floor rib.

7 Apr 05        3 Hours        Cum: 406.5

Despite a bum foot, I was able to spend a few hours in the shop - thanks to doc's prescription.  Worked on two things today - cutting the initial console top cover for the right console and finishing the pitch servo to bellcrank attachment.

The console covers are a lot of eyeballing, so I am always reluctant to get started on them.  But, the paper template was reasonably close and the cut metal turned out fairly good.  I thought it might turn out to be a template for my next iteration, but it actually fits good.  So, I may be able to use it as the final top cover.  I was able to make it from one piece of .032.  That's good except that a 4' sheet is 1/4" short at the aft end, so I'll need to rig something up to disguise the shortage.  I should be able to use the right side console top as a template for the left console and simply modify it for the throttle openings.

This looks like paper, but it's .032 with plastic sheath.  You can see the consoles will go all the way to the back of the cockpit.

It appears the AP pitch servo to elevator bellcrank attachment will work fine.  The overall length of the interconnect is about 6 1/4" long.  As well as I could check the AP servo arm movement, it appears it will have about 54 degrees deflection in both directions.  I've read recently in the internet that some guys were having trouble with their BMA autopilots because they had not allowed the desired 60 degrees of travel.  They had allowed only 30 degrees of travel and they were getting jerky movements.  The consensus was the one should get as close to the ideal 60 degrees of travel as possible.  I'm comfortable with 54 degrees.  They also recommended having the connecting rod as close to level and as close to a 90 degree angle with the servo arm as possible.  Mine are very close, so I feel good with the installation.

Rod before jam nuts installed.  Note studded rod end bearing.   Other photos show connection.

8 Apr 05        4 Hours        Cum: 410.5

Worked on several things today.  Cut out more of the under seat rib to allow the aileron servo move freely.  Clearances are good now.  Next I need to check that the servo is getting 60 degrees (or nearly so) of arm travel and ensure there is no chance of and overcenter situation.  Made slow, but good progress on the consoles.  Once I get all of the primary pieces finished, I'll make them for the other side.  I'm going to strengthen the bottom of the console side covers using lightweight angle.  I noticed in a friends RV-8A that is it easy to catch one's toe under the normal side consoles and bend them.  So, I'm building braces to help support the console frame and strengthen the structure.

Consoles are starting to come together.  I've almost got the right side fitted.  The other side should be fairly easy.  Notice the curved portion of the side cover.

16 Apr 05        2 Hours        Cum: 412.5

Sun n Fun sure gets in the way of working.  I've gone to SnF every day since opening.  Volunteered with the BMA guys to help at their booth so spent a few hours there.  That was enlightening because I met a number of builders and got lots of opinions on lots of things.  Worked a while today on the consoles.  I'll keep fine tuning them until I either get them right or take off too much and start over.

19 Apr 05        3 Hours        Cum : 415.5

I asked the composite guys at SnF for advice on the fiberglass work and they suggested I use florist's foam.  Since My wife owns a florist shop, it was simple for me to get some.  But, I found the foam to be too soft to work with.  Instead, I'm using standard 3/4"  thick styrofoam from the Home Depot aviation department.  I've cut and glued together multiple pieces to build up the shape I need for the wingtip lights.  I'm using 3M spray adhesive #77 to glue the foam pieces together.  I found that styrofoam sands easily, which smoothes it for fiberglass, and provides measured changes to get the desired shape.  Later I'll lay up fiberglass over it and top of with polished sheet aluminum for reflectivity.

23 Apr 05        1 Hour        Cum: 416.5

A little more work today on the molds for the wingtip lights.  I'm guessing as I go along figuring out how to make these parts so they fit right.  Still, I think they will look good when finished.

5 May 05        1 Hour        Cum: 417.5

You can see how I spend my Cinco de Mayo.  More fine work on the consoles.  I've figured out a way to have most of the left console top cover as one piece of metal, but it takes a lot of detail work. 

6 May 05        1.5 Hours    Cum: 419

More work on the left console.  It's taking a lot of work to get the consoles the way I want them, but I think I'll be happy with the results.

19 May 05        1 Hour        Cum: 420

More work on the consoles.  Too little time this month to do much work.  We're busy in Washington lobbying Congress to pass S.65 and HR.65.

19 May 05       

Finally received the projector lenses I bought on Ebay.  The seller took 3 weeks to send them, but they are in good condition.  Cost was $95.  Now I have to buy the HID ballasts, bulbs, and bulb holders.

20 May 05        1 Hour        Cum: 421

29 May 05        1 Hour        Cum: 422

30 May 05        2 Hours        Cum: 424

After drying I trimmed the edges and the reflector actually fit good.  So, I decided to cut some scrap .032 to see how things would fit.  The .032 was partly bent and not big enough, but the prototype looked fairly good.  It will have good reflectivity.  I plan to have the strobe in front of the recog light and the position light in front of the HID landing light.

I'm going to continue with the prototype work and see how I can fit the projector lens.

The empennage fairing I ordered from Fairings, etc came some time back but I didn't post a shot of it.  Here is a photo.  The quality of the product seems very good.

16 Jun 05        7 Hours        Cum: 431

This time was spread over the past two weeks.  Most work was on the consoles.  Progress on the consoles is on track but progressing slowly.  I am happy with the way the consoles are coming along.  They are going to be almost exactly as I envisioned them.  Much of the time involved was devoted to making the left console top cover fit.  Here are photos of recent work.  Left is an overview and next shows the support brackets I've made to strengthen the consoles.  They're made from .032 and are remarkably strong.  Also shown is the small piece of .032 I had to make and fit behind the throttle.  It's mounted with three #8 SS Torx screws, as will the other console covers.  I am still considering using standard steel screws so they can be painted.  But, for now, I'll use unpainted SS screws.

This shot shows the planned wingtip lights.  This view is what the wingtip would look like if you were standing off to the side of the plane.  Building the prototype wingtip allowed me to work out some bugs.  I presently have a 4 inch reflector inboard, but I'm going to try to find one that is no larger than 3.5 inches to allow more room to install the outboard HID projector lights.  Yep, it's going to look like a Christmas tree.  I only rarely fly at night, but when that happens, I like to have lots of light.  The inboard light will be wig wags and outboard will be the HID landing lights.  The position light and strobe light will also be enclosed in the wingtip cover.  The .032 on each surface in the wingtip are intended to reflect light to increase the odds of being seen by other aircraft.  Once the .032 is polished the wingtip should increase the effect of all four lights.

30 Jun 05        6 Hours        Cum: 437

This time is spread over several days and most work was on consoles.

5 Jul 05        2 Hours        Cum: 439

More work on the consoles.  These things better be good!

6 Jul 05        3 Hours        Cum: 442

12 Jul 05        5 Hours        Cum: 447

More work on ... you guessed it ... the consoles.  But I'm getting closer.

5 Aug 05        3 Hours        Cum: 450

Working on the consoles.

9 Aug 05        4 Hours        Cum: 454

Consoles.

18 Aug 05        4 Hours        Cum: 458

Consoles.

Ordered the Whelen model 70821 wingtip strobes today from Aeroparts and Supply.  It's the fist time I've used this company for parts ordering.  I like the people, the overall concept of their company, and their prices, but their web sites leave a lot to be desired.  Perhaps they will improve it in the near future.

30 Aug 05        3 Hours        Cum: 461

Worked on the fiberglass tips for the stabilizer and on the AOA sensors.

The tips appear to need trimming to fit the stabilizer.  Without trimming, there is a 3/16" gap between the edge of the stab skin and the recessed portion of the tip.

Also, finally did more work on installing the AOA ports.  I'd been waiting to make sure I was using the correct sealant and to get nails to use with the rivet gun dimplers.  They are the ones you can buy that have a hole through the center so you can use a pop rivet gun to dimple in isolated or hard to reach places.  They don't do as good a job as a normal dimpler, so I had to use a countersink by hand to remove a slight amount of metal to make the screws sit flush.  I used Permatex Red sealant under the AOA sensors.

2 Sep 05        3 Hours        Cum: 464

Worked on front seat "ramp."  I thought it was ready to paint and install, but a quick look at the plans showed that I needed to install more nutplates and check the fit of the ramp.  So, did the initial work on that.  I need the ramp installed in order to fit other pieces.  But. everything has to come out again for painting before final install. 

Got material samples today from Classic Aero Designs.  Their prices are about 30% too high, but they make high quality seats, so I plan to purchase my seats from them.  They have agreed to slightly modify my armrests to fit the consoles.  And I really like their stick boots.

5 Sep 05        6 Hours        Cum: 470

Lots of work today.  Much of it was tedious, but needed to be done.  Spent most time on fitting the main gear weldments.  I realized that in order to properly fit the front seat ramp (F-879PP) and the Cover Support (F-8112), the main gear weldments (WD-821) had to be securely in place.  So, I bought hardware store bolts, greased them up so as to not excessively damage inside the spar mounting holes, and fitted the WD-821s.   Fortunately, Van's 1/16" adjustment of the right WD-821 was just right and, with a little coaxing, the main mounts pulled right into place.  That allowed me to drill for the AN3-6As that attach the weldment to the fuselage side.  Then, with the WD-821s in place, I was able to fit the seat ramp and the F-8112 Cover Supports.  I need to get the interior pieces all drilled and fitted so they can be painted.  I'm still debating whether or not to try painting them myself.  There is an aircraft painting company only 300 meters from my workshop, so I could easily pay them to do the painting.  For sure, I will not attempt to paint the exterior.

7 Sep 05        4 Hours        Cum: 474

A lot of opportunity to work on the plane this week.  I need to take vacation more often!

Lots more tedious work on the lower covers and supports.  Broke off a screw in a nutplate, so that ate up time that could have been used otherwise.  The left F-8112 was weakened at the narrowest place (seems as though it could be left more robust in this area) so I added a doubler made of 3/4" angle.  It is plenty strong now, but when installing the 8112s, use caution to not bend them at the narrow spot near the front of the piece.

8 Sep        4 Hours        Cum:478

Tapping the longerons and adding the nutplates to attach the mid cabin cover takes a lot of time.  I decided to make the inboard screws flat heads, so dimpling and attaching nutplates was a little more time-consuming than normal.  Still, it's done and I'm happy with the results.  Now, I can hardly wait to get out there tomorrow to do more work.  Got Christmas packages today from Aircraft Spruce, but got sheet metal screws instead of machine screws.  Gotta recheck my order.

9 Sep 05        3.5 Hours        Cum:481.5

Cut a cover out of .025 for the battery compartment.  It fits nicely.  I need to order some type of latches for it.  Fashioned a stiffener for the aft end of it.  I'll add two more stiffeners.

10 Sep 05        4 Hours        Cum 485.5

Four hours to install four nutplates.  Nuff said.

13 Sep 05        2.5 Hours        Cum: 488

Worked on fitting the weldments for the RCP rudder pedals.  I've realized that Van's designed the rudder pedals at a certain angle so the pedal shaft would clear the mid cabin covers.  I adjusted the angle of the pedals by changing the brackets.  I needed the change because my feet aren't long enough to reach the pedals without lifting my feet off the floor and lowering them reduces the chance of the passengers shoes hitting the bottom of the consoles.  So, for my particular situation, the change is needed.  Now, however, I will have to use longer, possibly high tensile, bolts to attach the pedals to the swivel arm that attaches to the rudder cable.  The problem is solvable.

Got several shipments today.  Screws from microfasteners.com and a sample kit of EL lamps (electro luminescent) from MKS (www.quantaflex.com).  The EL kit is especially helpful.  I've been able to experiment with backlighting panels and I'm leaning heavily toward using EL to backlight the entire panel.  Also, I think I'll use it for flood lighting the consoles.  Photos of the EL lighting are in the Ideas section.  I'll still use LEDs for the map lights and baggage lights because the LEDs produce more light.  Also, found out I won the bidding for four sets of Hartwell latches (flush) on Ebay for about $5.50/pair, including shipping.  I need a pair of latches for the battery compartment cover mentioned above but I was unsure of the depth of grip I needed.  So, I bought four pairs of different grip depths.  For that price, I can toss them on the shelf for the time I need latches.  Hopefully they're not junk.  I've been wanting a pneumatic rivet squeezer but I'm not willing to pay the $4-500 asking price for most of them, so I bid on an Ebay auction and we'll see if I get my squeezer.

14 Sep        2 Hours        Cum: 490

Got the rudder pedal swivel arm upper mounts riveted to the longerons on both sides.  That was a task because the rivets are AN470-4-6 so they pushed the limit of my hand squeezer.  Another reason I need the pneumatic squeezer.

15 Sep        2 Hours        Cum: 492

Added a stiffener to the floor where the cut was made to make the floors removable.  It was a little weak, so a stiffener was prudent.  Spent another hour thinking - that was the hardest work.

The stiffener and the removable floors are found in the Ideas Section.

16 Sep        4 Hours        Cum: 496

Added nutplates to bulkhead between cockpit floor and aft baggage floor.  The flap weldment was rubbing on the floor and now with the nutplates installed, I can pull down the floor to keep it from rubbing while adding strength and rigidity.  Also a bit more console work.

30 Sep 05        4 Hours        Cum: 500

The main battery will be in the lower front baggage.  I want a flat floor across the width of the baggage compartment, so I'm designing a removable panel to fit over the battery.  I'm planning Hartwell latches to make the panel easily removable.

15 Oct 05        4 Hours        Cum: 504

Got the Hartwell latches from Ebay, but I've decided to not use them.  Too much work to install them with only moderate return on investment.  Decided to use screws in nutplates instead.  Much simpler and easier solution.  You can see the photos on the Ideas Page.

31 Oct 05    4 Hours    Cum: 508

1 Nov 05        2 Hours        Cum: 510

3 Nov 05        2 Hours        Cum: 512

7 Nov 05        4 Hours        Cum: 516

More work on the right wing fitting the aileron gap seal.

Also dimpled the wing skin and fitted the inspection plate

8 Nov 05        5 Hours        Cum: 521

Gotta get that wing done.  There is a definite order to building the quickbuild wings.  When they arrive all skins are installed except the lower outboard.  So, for those who are starting on the QB wings, you need to attach the aileron brackets, mark the rib centerlines, and cleco the skin to the wing using the prepunched holes.  Align the prepunched holes with the centerline marked on the ribs (you can reach under the skin to move the ribs slightly if needed).  Drill and cleco the skin to the ribs.  Remove the skin and debur and dimple the wing skin and ribs.  Put the wing skin on again to fit the outboard inspection cover to the wing skin.  I used #6 screws to hold the inspection plate in place on the spar and drilled the #8 screws.  After drilling for the nutplates, I deburred, dimpled and attached the nutplates.  Regarding the nutplates, I've been doing them slightly wrong.  For these, I recommend you not dimple for the rivets - only for the screws.  Countersink for the rivets and the nutplate will fit much better.  Fit the aileron gap seal to the rear spar, drill, scotchbrite, prime and install.  With the skin clecoed in place, hang the aileron so that you can align the trailing edges of the aileron and flap and set the spacing between flap and aileron.  Clamp the flap hinge and flap brace in position and hang the flap on the hinge.  Align the trailing edge and set the spacing.  Mark the location of the hinge.  Pull the flap hinge pin and reclamp the flap brace and hinge to the bottom skin.  Drill and cleco the flap hinge to the wing skin and flap brace.  Remove the brace to debur, scotchbrite and prime.  Rivet the brace in place.  Some of the rivets will have to be blind rivets.

15 Nov 05        4 Hours        Cum: 525

More work on the right wing.  Nelson and I got the flap brace fitted and the flap hinge and brace drilled to the bottom skin.  The Van's-made flap and aileron have lined up perfectly on the QB wings.  The QB is really the way to go.  Removed the flap brace, dimpled, scotchbrited, and primed.  It's ready for installation tomorrow.  The bottom skin is forced to bend slightly away from the flap brace when installed.  The flap brace installation went much smoother this time than for the left wing.  On the wing, Nelson suggested we fit the flap, then remove it and clamp the brace and hinge in place for drilling.  Much easier than drilling with the flap actually hanging on the wing - as I did the first time.

17 Nov 05        4 Hours        Cum 529

Nelson got the flap brace riveted and we did some planning for the battery mountings.

22 Nov 05        2 Hours        Cum: 531

Mostly thinking today.  Accomplished aileron turnbuckle install and setting aileron to neutral position.  Discussed next steps and console work to be done.

23 Nov 05        3 Hours        Cum: 534

Nelson worked on the consoles.  Finishing them is the next logical step.  The side panels are almost finished now.  We're close to the point where we will have to paint the interior parts.  It would be nice to paint them all at once in order to match the finish as much as possible.

28 Nov 05        4 Hours        Cum: 538

Got the console sides fitted and match drilled the right side to the frame.  We had to solve numerous small problems with fitting the console sides, but they are coming together nicely.  Tomorrow we'll fit the left side and then we can start working on the circuit breaker tray and arm rests.

1 Dec 05        2 Hours        Cum: 540

More work on fitting the consoles.  Also worked on building a battery tray for the aft battery.  Still need to make one for the front.

2 Dec 05        3 Hours        Cum: 543

The consoles are coming together nicely!  We added some lightweight angle to the bottom of the console sides to strengthen and protect against accidental damage.  See the Ideas Page for photos.

3 Dec 05        4 Hours        Cum: 547

Began fitting the circuit breaker tray to the right armrest console.  There were a number of minor decisions that had to be made, but it seems to be working out nice.

4 Dec 05        4 Hours        Cum: 551

Finished fitting the CB tray to the right console.  After some minor hiccups, it fit as planned.  Some of the tray flanges had to be trimmed back to allow clearance for nutplates on the console frame.  The CB tray finally fit into place and we got it drilled in assembly and the nutplates installed on the CB tray.  The tray is designed so it stays in place when the console skins are removed.  The skins can be completely removed for maintenance.  Initially, I was a bit concerned about cutting through the flange of Van's original armrest, but after making the cut and screwing the CB tray into place, it is much stronger than the original armrest.

16 Dec 05        5 Hours        Cum 556

Actually, Nelson has been doing quite a bit of work over the past two weeks while I've been recovering from minor surgery.  His work is not reflected in the total time.  But, he wanted to wait until we could work and make decisions together, so his work was thus limited to a few hours.

Today we made good progress on the battery mounts.  We've decided to use the Odyssey PC680MJ and we're integrating the steel metal jacket of the battery into the mounting bracket of the battery and the result is a neat, clean, very strong, but light weight way to mount the batteries.  One of my concerns was to insure the batteries would be secure in the event of a crash.  We've tested the front mount to over 14 positive Gs while only clecoed together!.  The aft battery is sitting on the baggage ribs and will sustain even higher positive Gs.  I'm confident that in a crash the batteries will be secure.

I'm considering the Classic Aero Designs seats for my plane but I needed to see how they make their armrest.  So, I asked Luke at Classic to send me an example of their armrests so I could plan for mounting them.  He was nice enough to do that even though he and his wife were having their first child.  Once things settled a bit, he got it in the mail and it arrived today.  I can now start some planning for the armrests.

17 Dec 05        4 Hours        Cum 560

More progress today on the battery mounts.  We got that aft battery mount completed and it is on the shelf ready for installation.  We also made good progress on the main (forward) battery mount.  Photos showing our designs follow.

The forward battery mount requires a little bit more effort.  Even though it's not required, we wanted to mount the forward battery upright and level.  So, that meant we had to make an angled fitting for the outboard side to attach to the longeron.  We wanted to bring the battery up off the floor for ease of access and to permit running wiring under the battery.  We decided to pick up three of the screws in the F-899 for the battery mount and add an attachment to the outboard longeron.

21 Dec 05        3 Hours        Cum: 563

22 Dec 05        4 Hours        Cum: 567

The shipment from Aircraft Spruce arrived today so we were able to complete the work on the battery mounts.  The front mount turned out very nice and super strong.  The starter contactor came in the shipment and we mounted it on the battery mount also.  As of now it looks like the only contactor planned is the one for the starter.

23 Dec 05        3 Hours        Cum: 570

Completed the work necessary for the rudder pedal extensions.  I think I'll polish them and then attach to the pedals.  Also, got a good start on the mounting bracket for the two manual battery switches.

25 Dec 05        4 Hours        Cum: 574

Got the battery switches mounted today.  I'm using manual battery switches instead of contactors to connect the batteries to the buses.  They are lighter and simple as dirt.  There are several brands available, but I settled on the Tempo switches (marine) because they are better built.  The key (which I may not use due to its color) has a brass insert instead of plastic, the studs are copper, and there are four attachment points instead of two on other switches.

26 Dec 05        3 Hours        Cum: 577

Today we focused on planning for electrical work.  We conceptually designed the wiring and secured some conduit that will house part of the wiring.  We did clean up work on several projects and made a prototype switch panel for fitting and planning.

27 Dec 05        4 Hours        Cum: 581

Did some clean up work on the side consoles and primed them.  Also, lots of thinking and planning.  Drove over to GLC Engraving to discuss the panel plastic overlays.  Got a few things resolved.

29 Dec 05        4 Hours        Cum: 585

Today was to be the day for mounting the wings and setting the incidence.  But, as we got started we realized we had not prepared well enough for the wing hanging event.  I needed to make two parts for the fuel tank to fuselage attachment brackets.  Also, we had to do some intense study of the plans to fully understand what needed to be accomplished.

I had to call Van's today and got to, once again, experience their condescending attitude.  I don't know why they have to be such snots about helping builders.  I wonder if Van hires only employees who meet their strict requirements for smart ass attitudes?  Anyway, we did not get the wings attached today, but we got everything ready so we can do it tomorrow.

30 Dec 05        6 Hours        Cum: 591

Today we started about 1030 and worked until the mosquitoes were swarming after dark.  We did take a long lunch break.  We got the wings hung today and they measured from the wingtips to the tail within 3/32" of each other.  The plumb bobs all hung in a line and the carefully measured incidence angle came out right on.  We drilled the aft spar which sets the incidence angle.  We also drilled the forward fuel tank attachment brackets (those were tough), and drilled the fuselage skin overlap on the wings so #8 nutplates can be added.  We got the left wing completely finished and we had to take it off so we could close the garage door.  We'll finish up the right wing next and hang the ailerons for fitting.