I disassembled the flap motor to install the required safety wire and cotter pin. It seems early to close anything up but I put the sides of the flap moter enclosure on. I assembled a stool with rollers that I'll use for supporting the wings when I'm ready to install them.

I read a bit further in the directions about how to install the wings and I discovered I'm not quit ready for that step yet. I need to install the bottom wing skins and plan for my wiring and pitot connections. That's what I get for having a 16 month layoff. This week has me travelling a bit so not a lot will get done.

Decisions decisions. Today I made a series of calls and ordered my finish kit and decided on a prop and ordered an engine. The engine will be a IOX-340 (that's not a typo) by America's Aircraft Engines. It will have the Silver Hawk fuel injection, vertical induction and two magnetos (no electronic ignition. I should get the engine sometime in October. I'm not in any rush but I wanted to use the 25% off coupon from LOE in 2006 (it's good for two years). The propeller (not ordered) will be a Whirlwind 200RV. I had considered the Whirlwind 151 because the three bladed prop is so sexy looking. Sex appeal isn't everything and the 9A has enough good looks as it is. Whirlwind said the 200RV will be more efficient, cheaper to operate, and with my engine selection it will probably be more reliable. So, it will be the 200RV propeller.

One interesting piece of information that others may find helpful is I paid 80% on the finish kit about 2 years ago. For the life of me I forget why I did this but it locked my position in (but not the price). Now I can send them the last $1,500 or so and they'll ship my kit. In short I don't have to wait 9 more weeks.

Today I assembled the flap motor in the housing and reinstalled it in the plane. I found it easier to do sitting in the baggage compartment and then attaching the actuator rod to the flap weldment and then inserting the bolt, spacer, and washers that mount the motor end of the unit to the housing. I tried operating the motor using a 9v battery (rather than the 12 volt it's designed for) and it worked just fine. I still need to safety wire the unit (my wire and pliers are at the airport). I should complete this task tomorrow.

I need to prime and paint the center cabin cover and reinstall those parts and then it's time to install the wings and set the incidence. Installing the wings will take two people, so it will depend on me getting some help

Photo 1: The flap motor housing installed.

I took it slow today and fit the center cabin cover (F982C) between two of the floor stiffeners and then drilled it to the stiffeners and the F601K1 firewall recess. It's nice to know I can still measure and drill. Next I installed four platenuts in the cabin cover and two platenuts in the firewall recess.

The center cabin cover and and the fuel valve cover need to be prepped and primed tomorrow, and four more platenuts installed in the fuel valve cover. After that I'll need to finish work on the flap motor and it will be on to installing the wings! I'm looking forward to that task.

Back to work today after a nearly 17 month delay. Sometimes life gets in the way. My only brother passed away last April and it really took the wind out of my sails. A number of other significant events have happened to: the birth of a grandchild, preparations for semi-retirement, and I'm getting ready to start back grad to school for the second time in a month.

Anyway, today I reviewed my notes, which were fairly detailed to see where I needed to pick up the building process. I worked on fitting the firewall recess to the center channel and looked to see what I need to do next. I'll need to complete the flap motor mounting and connections and complete the center channel (drilling a few holes and installing some plate nuts) and then it is time to mount the wings.

I am expecting to order the finish kit and my engine this week. I totally missed my goal of flying my completed aircraft to the Virginia Regional fly-in (no longer associated with the EAA) but I should have the time to finish it for next years fly-in. With a grandchild in NC I really need a way to make the commute a lot faster.

Back to work today after a nearly 17 month delay. Sometimes life gets in the way. My only brother passed away last April and it really took the wind out of my sails. A number of other significant events have happened to: the birth of a grandchild, preparations for semi-retirement, and I'm getting ready to start back grad to school for the second time in a month.

Anyway, today I reviewed my notes, which were fairly detailed to see where I needed to pick up the building process. I worked on fitting the firewall recess to the center channel and looked to see what I need to do next. I'll need to complete the flap motor mounting and connections and complete the center channel (drilling a few holes and installing some plate nuts) and then it is time to mount the wings.

I am expecting to order the finish kit and my engine this week. I totally missed my goal of flying my completed aircraft to the Virginia Regional fly-in (no longer associated with the EAA) but I should have the time to finish it for next years fly-in. With a grandchild in NC I really need a way to make the commute a lot faster.

No building for the past three days. The weather has been delightful and I decided to fly the Cherokee Thursday after work and I had so much fun I went again Friday evening. After flying I put time into figuring out what I want in my panel and that's getting both interesting and real. Real as in "happening real soon" and as in "real expensive". Saturday was a Fly-In/Drive-In picnic at Merlin (2VA3) and I took the wife and showed her how much fun landing on grass is. Oddly, she didn't share my enthusiasm for the experience. The Fly-In was great fun and I hope our chapter does it again!

Sunday after Mass I was back to building. The tasks today were a hodgepodge of things to wrap up. I did some painting on the flap housing parts. No blistering this time but my technique still needs work. Next I installed two more nutplates so I could bolt down the center block that supports the flap weldment. All three blocks are visible. They're white (HDPE) blocks; one on each end and one in the center. I had left this to do "later" and I was overdue for getting back to it. One of bolts wouldn't start after got everything back in place and I was wondering how I'd deal with this (wondering started back on the empennage when putting nutplates on there). My guess is something was interfering with the bolt lining up properly to get a grip on the nutplate. My plan was simple; take a die and rethread the nutplate. It worked like a champ.

Next, I got the F-656 gussets riveted to the longerons and bulkheads with help from my son-in-law, Dennis. He also helped as I finished bolting the landing gear weldments to the fuselage. The five bolts and one of the flush screws were easy to drill. The hole for the forward most screw was blocked by a rib. There are several solutions for extending the hole to the exterior and I choose the one that involves drilling the rib and then drilling though the starter hole in the gear mount. Alignment was perfect and now I have an extra hole in my rib. I counter sunk the screws slowly using a battery operated deburring tool. It's slow and not necessarily the best way to go (slow speed chatter?) but it got the job done. Finally, I started working on a few tasks related to the forward tunnel and getting that piece finished. The wings are next. I spent some time measuring things; they're going to be a tight fit, which I suppose is how they're supposed to fit.

I'm still proceeding slowly. Here's a photo of the right gear hole when I got it to final size. I don't know how much flex this weldment will exhibit and in what direction if someone (heaven forbid) makes a less than perfect landing. I'm guessing most of the flex will be in the actual gear leg and will be outward. The fit is pretty close to the rear. Here's a shot of both gear attach weldments in place. The silver bolts are temporary hardware store bolts and the brass bolts are the real AN hardware. Every bolt, washer, and nut is in place but none are torqued yet. Here's a close up of the left gear weldment. I expected getting the washers and nuts on the three lower bolts would exercise my patients and test my knowledge of cuss words but I was pleasantly surprised. These really long nosed plier were bought for a couple of bucks at Harbor Freight and worked like a charm to slide the washers on and then hold the nuts while I turned the bolt until the threads caught. Truly, no problem doing any of them. I still need to drill the bolts and screws that attach to the side of the fuselage.

Finally I started repainting the flap housing. With a little luck I'll finish it tomorrow.

This evening I simply worked on checking a rechecking the fit of the gear weldment. Getting some of the bolts back out is a challenge but I did it without cussing so it couldn't have been too bad. The right gear mount appears to fit well now and the left one is close. It may be OK but I think there's still a little interference but I can tell where.

At one point I installed both of the 1 7/16" spacers that hold the 704 center section halves apart at the inboard most gear mount bolt hole. The left one was a very close fit, which I'd expect. The right one was tighter than I'd have expected. I'm not sure what is causing the difference. I remeasured them and they appear to be the same length and correct. Before I do the final bolt up I want to look at this closer and triple check the fit of the weldments.

I've noticed on some other websites that the AN4-12 bolts may be short but from what I can tell they will be fine. Certainly along the top edge I expect they'll be long enough. It appears I may need a spacer on the inboard bottom bolt (between the weldment and the center section) and if so, I may need to go with a longer bolt.

If the cheap hardware store bolts are any indication, the top 7/16" close tolerance bolts will fit snuggly and the bottom ones may be really tight fits.

I will have photos when the weldments are in place.

How many trips does it take to Home Depot to buy 2 spark plugs? If you guessed three and one to Lowes you're right. My 30 minute lawn mower tune up took 2.5 hours and I never could get the damn oil filter off. It's positioned so you can't get a filter wrench on readily and when you do there's about 10 degrees to work with turning it and the wrench will slide or twist but it won't turn the filter. I finally decided the old filter *looked* just fine on the outside and it would serve a bit longer. I didn't go in the shop in the greatest of moods.

The first thing I did was attack the flap motor housing with methyl chloride to get the paint off. Two coats got 98% of it and then I washed the parts in clean water and then scrubbed them in hot soapy water and let them dry outside for about 6 hours. Maybe I'll reprime them tomorrow. Next I looked at my gear weldments and decided I better drill the 5/16" hole (who makes a 0.311" bit as called for - 5/16 is 0.3125" which is pretty close. All the numbered and letter bits are further off). So I wrestled the weldments out of their semi-close positions and mounted the gear legs in them and drilled them. I oiled and scrubbed all the bare metal and then re-read the directions for installing the weldments. Its one line - basically saying install them per the drawings. I'd asked about trimming the F904 flange on VAF board and got mixed answers and had decided I'd call Van's Monday morning. Someone said the instructions OK'd trimming the flange. The instructions are one sentance long and don't even mention the flange. I took another long look at the drawings and off in the corner I saw a note that showed the bottom skin with the hole cut and the flange intruding (no gear weldment) and there was a note that the F-904 flange needed to be trimmed for the weldment to fit. My error for not thoroughly reading the plans. About 10 minutes with a Dremel tool and a carbide bit made short work of the flange. I just opened it up to match the hole in the skin. Voila', the weldments appeared to fit. I'm going to take a better look tomorrow and if I still like the looks of things I'm going to bolt those puppies in place. Other that doing a little more priming, that was the total of my day.

What a frustrating day. I had high hopes for progress this weekend but almost everything I did, starting out with painting set me back. The paint on the flap motor enclosure blistered for the second time. The primer had gone on beautifully but the finish coat had some flaws (wrinkles and blisters). I'd fixed wrinkes before by sanding out the flaws, priming again, and then painting. This time it fixed the wrinkles but it blistered worse. Today was my second attempt to fix it and it was making matters worse.

I spent about an hour trying to fit the gear mounts without trimming the 904 flanges. This just added frustration to an otherwise irritating build session. Somedays are best spent drinking beer or fishing. I gave up beer for lent and the fish are not biting well yet, so I decided to try another task. The F-656 gussets needed to be deburred and primed - finally, a task completed without a screw up. The top skins needed to be dimpled and primed and I got both of them dimpled and primed one and decided to call it quits. No joy in the shop today.

It was a short night so I tried to do a couple of simple things. I started by applying the finish paint to the flap housing. I have no idea what the problem was but I got a lot of wrinkling so I'll be sanding and redoing the work. Next I went to work trying to fit the right gear weldment. It appears this is going to take some time as the part fits against the sides of three parts (fuselage side, bottom, and the center section of the main spar) and fits just inside two other parts (a rib and a stiffener). Its difficult to see exactly where the interference is and what each change will do to the fit of the weldment. My plan is to go slow and get a good fit.

Riveted all the flap motor housing parts together and install a myriad of platenuts on both the flap motor housing and the center of the rear seat floors. I did a little more priming and I'm ready to do the finish paint on these parts (except the side panels). I still need to install the motor and connect it to the flap actuator weldment.

I test fitted both gear leg attachments. There's significant interference at this point. I marked what I thought would need to be ground off (bottom skin mostly but some center section flange on the left gear mount). Considering I wasn't working particularly sharp today I decided to call it an evening and look at it tomorrow or Friday and see about grinding it then.

It appears that I'll be fitting the wings this weekend. My guess is Sunday afternoon. I don't want to rush the job of fitting the gear leg attachment points and there are a dozen or more small tasks that can be completed plus the aft top skins still need to be dimpled and primed. And, the grass is growing so I need to get the lawn mower ready for the grass cutting season - new plugs, filters (oil, fuel, and air) and an oil change.

Disassembled what I had put together for the flap housing, drilled the hole in the flap extender arm for the safety wire (the trick is to remove the jam nut, then mark the starting spot on the flat and drill slowly). I then prepped and primed the parts and began installing platenuts.

I am starting to run out of parts in the fuselage kit. Van's said they'd be shipping my finishing kit toward the end of this month (12 weeks not 8 weeks as advertised - no problem though). They also want a release because I'm using an O-360 cowling (to allow for the fuel injection, not because my engine is bigger) and I'm not getting the spinner. Sounds like lawyer issues to me.

The Virginia EAA Fly-In was moved from October at Dinwiddie field to June at Suffolk. There won't be a Fly-In this year so my goal now is to fly my RV-9A to the 2008 Fly-In.

It was a shorter work day than I had hoped for. After church and a quick breakfast I changed clothes and went to work. I made or finished making the F-766C plate, F-766B angle, F-785B attach angle, the F-766D spacer, and the F-767 attach plate. For the most part I skimmed the directions and worked off the plans. By now its pretty easy to figure out how to assemble complex parts so everything fits well and looks like the drawings. I did find a discrepancy between drawing 33 and the photos included with the flap instructions (not the manual). It has to do with the placement of the F-766D spacer. I went with the plans. I also noted that I believe Van's included an incorrect bolt and when I attach the flap motor I have a 1/4- 3/8 inch gap under the castle nut. I'm pretty sure the correct AN bolt would have been close or correct. Nothing is riveted but most everything other than the nut plates has been drilled in place and the F-748 tunnel cover has been notched. I'm still scratching my head over how to drill the safety wire hole in the flap motor extension arm. My guess is I'll need to remove the rod end bearing and the jam nut and then figure out how to clamp the part to my drill press to get the hole at the correct angle.

Photo 1: This just shows the flap motor housing more or less in place. All the little parts I was building are inside somewhere.

Today started off with finishing (or nearly so) the riveting of the aft seat floors. I then removed the top skins to prep them (deburr, dimple, and prime) and spent an hour removing the blue plastic. I'm getting very weary of pealing the blue plastic off every part. I fit the forward seat floors. Next I finished fitting the tunnel cover supports and cover, riveted the parts together, primed and finish painted the part. I was pleased with the fit.

I then began a new task by installing the flap actuator weldment. The RV-9 has electric flaps as a standard item. The motor is in an enclosure between the seats. There are a lot of parts associated with the flap weldment and a good many of them need to be made. I studied the plans and the parts and it appears fairly straight forward. I'm probably missing something.

Photo 1: Tunnel cover and supports after final paint.
Photo 2: Flap weldment in place.
Photo 3: Shin protectors for the steps. They have not been a problem yet but I can see where they could be.

I got off to a slow start today. My first task was to replace a section of air hose that had burst on me twice. Cheap Goodyear material from Harbor freight. I spent 30 bucks and got better quality at Home Depot. Getting the fittings on without a leak took more time than I'm willing to admit. However, the Home Depot connector ($2.79) certainly feels a lot better than the Harbor Freight equivalent and it hardly leaks any air when switching tools. On to work.

I finished priming and painting the seats and aft seat floors. Riveted the seats together and riveted the hinge material to the aft floors. Eventually I even riveted one floor in place. Also prepped, primed and installed platenuts on the fuel valve plate (F-983A) and installed it.

Midway through all this I called Van's about a problem I've been worrying over. A few weeks ago I installed the shoulder harness anchors and misread the plans (it was the last thing I was going to do and I should have stopped before drilling as I knew something was wrong). I drilled a 3/8" hole where I should have drilled a 1/4" hole. Anywhere but in the longeron and I doubt that I would have given it much thought (not that I've done this before) but the longerons are a serious part of the structure. The loss of 1/8" of material in most places wouldn't matter. Looking at it, the hole had plenty of edge distance and looked OK to my eye. Joe at Van's gave me the standard Van's advice - "Doesn't sound like a problem to me, keep on building." I'm starting to trust my eye a little more.

Photo 1: The seats riveted together and set in place.
Photo 2: Me riveting the piano hinge to one of the seat floors.

My day started out unexpectedly poorly. I needed to have blood drawn for some routine tests. Thanks to our highly deficient medical system this 10 minute procedure typically takes 2 hours. Sometimes more, if you're not one of the first 2 or 3 people in line. How I hate LabCorp, let me count the ways. When I got done my car had a flat tire. It was 11:30 am and in 3.5 hours I had gotten blood drawn and replaced a tire on my car. I decided this was a sign that I shouldn't work and should take annual leave and work on my plane. If the logic isn't clear, don't worry about it. It made sense this morning.

My son-in-law was interested in helping so I had him disassemble the seats and scuff the parts for priming and painting while I worked on a couple of fitting issues with the forward seat floors and marked and drilled the tunnel cover supports. Boring and time consuming work but the paint is drying and hopefully I'll be ready to start final assembly on Friday. We also assembled the F-982E Access Plate to the F-982D Heat Baffle to the F-981C Center Cabin Cover.

Tonight was a mish-mash of tasks. I finished making the F-741A left and right tunnel cover supports but did not drill in place. I'm thinking there might be a way to do this with a right angle drill attachment and someone holding the part. I have help coming over tomorrow night. I bent the F-741B tunnel cover and it looks like it'll fit well. I was thinking about attaching the wings, which is coming up soon and I pullled out the F-996A's which had not been bent yet. Dwg 38 shows a 2.7 degree bend. I've been pondering an elegant way to do this precisely. Tonight I changed tactics and mounted the parts in my really big Harbor Freight vise and walloped the crap out of them with a dead blow mallet and then measured the bend with the Smart Tool. I think I've got it within 0.1 degrees. Finally I started fiddling with the gear mounts. They fit tight and I expect I'll need to do some relief work on the holes I put in the bottom skin. The main interference seems to be the web on the spar center section.

 

It's been close to a month since I made an entry here. Until now I had been almost religious about updating the site when I did work. Hopefully I'll find my religion again because this is too much work, eventhough I did keep pretty darn good notes. The fact is I've been making a lot of progress and I've been more interested in keeping the momentum going than making entries here.

I finished installing the baggage compartment floors, which allowed me to put the last few platenuts on the rear of the panels where they attach to the F-706 bulkhead. Leaning over the fuselage with all the clecos sticking out of the longeron is painful. I'm just guessing but I'd figure I spent more than 2 hours bent over fitting the two side panels and riveting them (or screwing the forward panel) and getting the upper and lower F-706 bulkhead on. Though I might whine, it looked really good.

I finished the evening by cutting the F-741A brackets. I'll need to trim and drill these parts to fit next.

Photo 1: The baggage compartment mostly done.
Photo 2: The cockpit current status.

Today started out with double checking my layout on the passenger seat parts. I figured things might go a little faster now that I'd done one seat and knew what I was doing. Things probably would have gone a little faster if I hadn't checked my brain out before entering the shop. The pax seat is done and I'm satisfied it's safe and durable but I'm pretty sure it weighs less than the pilot's seat. I've decided to call the extra holes lightening holes and I'm trying to forget the whole frustrating mess.

I also finished up the painting on the baggage compartment parts and started installing the baggage compartment floors. I also installed (finally) the wear blocks on the bulkheads.

After double checking the layout I drilled and deburred the pilot seat. It amazed me that this took nearly four hours of constant work. I have also been working on painting and sanding and repainting the baggage compartment parts.

Photo 1: Your's truly finally sitting in the cockpit. I can't deny the "RV grin" but I really didn't make any airplane noises.

My son-in-law Dennis came over and we riveted the steps on. I was tired and figured this was enough for the evening. Now I can get serious with the baggage compartment.

Before I quite last night I had a hunch I was too tired to be laying things out. This morning a little rubbing alcohol had the parts clean in a hurry and with a fresh mind, laying them out right was a snap. I basically finished making the seat parts for both seats and most of it marked.

I spent more time working with those seat back braces and making the F-337B angls for the seats. Each of the heavy angle stock needs to be relieved on the lower end so a piece of piano hinge can fit between the aluminum seat back and the angle. I'm sure there's a simple, easy, and quick way to do this. What ever it is it escaped me. I used the 3M wheel, the grinder, and a belt sander at different times trying to remove the material. Fortunately, the results won't be visible but they're satisfactory. I also started cutting piano hinge. Marriage must agree with me because I didn't cuss, rant, or rave when I made a particularly stupid cut. It was a matter of miss-measuring and outsmarting myself. Instead of saying ugly things about someone's dog I figured a way to salvage the part. I'll show you later (maybe). To wrap up, I started laying things out for the seats and figuring how to drill the parts efficiently.

I started by priming the wear blocks and washers and then I began painting the baggage compartment components. Based on a suggestion by another RV-9A pilot I went to the Aviation Paint section at Wal-Mart and found some textured speckle paint (Carribean Sand was the color) and a light primer for it. I'm not sure whether I'd recommend this or not. It looks good, in my opinion but it took some work to get an even color and it was easy to apply to much. When the paint is applied to heavy it runs and cracks when it dries. I sanded quite a few mistakes out before I was happy with the results. While the paint dried I riveted the platenuts to the F-706 bulkhead and I fit the F-724 aft seat floors and drillen them in place.

For a week I've been eyeing the seats and trying to understand the drawings. I got my courage up and cut the side seat angles and layed out cuts for the F-638 seat back brace. The side seat angles are cut from 0.125 (i.e., heavy) angle material and Van's gives you about 3/4" more than you need, so there isn't room to err. I did fine - it's just a matter of cutting to length and then measuring for a few simple cuts. I even made 2 right and 2 left pieces (perfect for two seats).

I finished laying out the F-652 bulkhead for cutting. Cut the piece and then drilled it in place. It really makes a difference having a back to baggage compartment. Finished drilling the F-751 bulkhead (cover) then deburred and primed both the upper and lower bulkheads. Next I spent what seemed like an eternity bent over the fuselage locating platenuts on the F-706 bulkhead. These platenuts let you screw the upper and lower bulkheads on so they're removable for maintenance (or installing a fly rod holder). Finally, I made the F6114 B&C (two each) wear blocks and the 8 0.5x0.5 inch washers. The wear blocks protect mostly the lower bulkhead but also the upper from wear. The wear blocks surround the cable that holds the shoulder harnesses where they pass through the bulkheads. Making washers seemed like busy work but they're easy. They may have taken 10 minutes to make but when I started I'm guessing they would have taken more than an hour to make. Maybe I'm learning something.

I spent most of the evening fitting the F-752 lower bulkhead and drilling it to the F-706 bulkhead and then started laying out the cuts needed for the F-652 upper bulkhead.

Completed mounting the steps. Bending the steel plate to fit the curve wasn't a big deal. I heated one step with a torch and beat the other into submission without heat. If I was doing it over again, I probably wouldn't heat the part. The steel gets real soft when you heat it but the steel is soft enough that heating isn't necessary. If you're a builder reading this, I don't think it matters whether you heat or not. Laying the holes out was pretty easy. Pay attention to the second row of rivets back and be sure it lines up with rib behind it. I had to shift the row a bit. None of the 5 rivets in the step interfered with the three rivets in rib but I was sure one was going to. I'd decided not to worry about it if it did. Next I primed and painted to steps black. The look good clecoed on. Finally, I installed the baggage compartment floors, drilled them in place and deburred.

While planning all this I decided that I'd paint my baggage compartment, to the extent I can, before installing the parts.

Started off making the F707B clip, drilled it in place, deburred, prepared it for paint, primed and installed it. Next I fit the F-611 ribs. The trick seems to be starting at the bottom, drilling the holes where the part fits and then bending and twisting (mostly twisting, it turns out) to fit a bit higher, then drill, cleco, observe, remove, twist and bend, and repeat until you get to the end. Next I drilled the F-750 aft baggage side covers in place and prepped them for paint. Finally I started on the steps. I couldn't find the directions, which oddly are not included in the manual, but a post to VAF and an hour later someone pointed them out to me on Van's website and someone else was kind enough to email me a set of directions they wrote up to supplement Van's, including color pictures.

Fun times in the shop tonight. I fit the F-7112 top forward skin to the F707 and F-708 bulkheads. As previously noted the F-708 bulkhead is floppy and somewhat free form so there was some fitting involved. The J stringer need to be aligned, there's a stiffener rib to be inserted (F-787) and a gusset to be installed. After fitting everything together to my satisfaction, I drilled the parts. More clecos showing now but darned if this thing isn't looking like a real plane more and more each day.

Photo 1:

Tonight was another fairly easy night. It started out with drilling four gussets (F-656) to the left and right F-706 and F-707 bulkheads. These parts are already manufactured and just needed to be properly located, which is a snap since the bulkheads and the gussets are match drilled. With this task done I drilled the F-775 rear skin to the bulkheads and J-stringers. Not being quite ready for be I finished the cuts on the F-688 gusset and marked the centerline for installation tomorrow.

Photo 1:

This evening I was tired and decided to solve a small problem. The F-708 bulkhead is floppy to say the least. For folks following along floppy is technical jargon used by airframe mechanics to describe flexural issues where one wonders if the part belongs on the plane in the first place. Floppy parts move, bend and warp very easily. It is somewhat reminiscent of a dog's ears or a sleeping child. Anyway, I spent the evening fluting the F-708 bulkhead and trying to get it to conform to the shape shown in the plans so the holes in the top forward skin will match the holes in the F-708. The closer the holes match up, the happier the builder generally is. Likewise, when holes don't match the grumpier the builder becomes.

I was partially successful. The F-708 looks a lot better but is far from perfect.

Photo 1: coming soon

I completed the F-635 bellcrank, installed it, tested it for side play, decided it was fine, then removed and stored it. This bellcrank converts the fore and aft motion of the control stick into up and down motion in the elevator. It's beginning to feel more like an airplane! Next I cut, trimmed and installed the top fuselage skin stiffeners. These are J stringers just like on the lower fuselage. And finally, I installed the F-775 rear skin.

 

Photo 1: coming soon

Another good day building. I wanted to get the top aft skins on but I didn't make it that far. Nonetheless, it was a satisfying day. I riveted on both F-721B aft canopy decks and the F-695B gussetts to the longerons and firewall. The next step was to remove the F-728A and rivet the F-728B to it. The trouble was when I was riveting the fuselage before flipping it, I riveted the four rivets where the 728B attaches to the bottom of the fuselage. I didn't feel like drilling them out and I didn't see any reason for removing the part anyway. Every thing was easily accessible and except for have to reach a little bit while riveting, the process was easy. It also gave a nice workout to the triceps. <g> Even riveting the 728A to the bulkhead was easily done. Finally, I prepped the parts for F-652 bellcrank assembly and make the F-653B spacer. Before quitting for the evening I riveted the parts together.

Tomorrow I should be able install bellcrank after making two spacers out of 3/8" tubing and then I can put the skins on that were my goal for this weekend.

Photo 1: Aft canopy decks (F-721B) riveted on.
Photo 2: The right F-695 gusset riveted in place.
Photo 3: F-728A riveted to the F-728B and to the bulkhead.
Photo 4: The F-652 bellcrank assembly laying on the plans showing how its assembled and where it fits on the plane.

Today was spent doing lots of prep work getting the parts for the aft deck ready to rivet in place. Drilling, deburring, fitting, scuffing, cleaning, priming, and reinstalling the parts for the most part. I also did this with the F-695 gusstes and F 721As and F-721Bs (which go in the cockpit area of the fuselage). My daughter Rachael came over for dinner with her husband Dennis so as you might imagine I enlisted Dennis to help riveting a few parts together. He's becoming a skilled rivet gun operator and tried his hand at bucking once for the first time yesterday. He's very intriqued with how the pieces fit together and the building process in general (he worked at KOFP in several capacities and is interested in aviation).

Photo 1: Parts for the aft fuselage ready for final installation.
Photo 2: Dennis helping me rivet.
Photo 3: Another shot of Dennis rivetting and me bucking.

I adjusted the angle of both F695's by about 1-2 degress so the side exactly matched the longeron and the forward edge exactly matched the firewall. Then I marked the holes per sheet 23 of the plans. I hate to admit I searched that page for at least 30 minutes last night before quiting to find the rivet size and spacing. I called Ray Swanson and he assured me it was there and tonight it only took a minute to find it. My grandmother would have said, "If it was a snake it would have bit you." She probably would have been right but I'd have been 30 minutes ahead and less irritated with myself. I then drilled shoulder harness anchors to the longerons and reviewed the plans for my next work session, which will probably be on Saturday.

Photo 1: F-695L before adjustment. It fits fine along the firewall but it isn't square to the firewall. Note how the gap increases.
Photo 2: F-695R showing the fit corrected.
Photo 3: F-695L drilled in place.
Photo 4: Shoulder harness anchor clamped in place and drilled.

Cut the slots in the F-721B (right and left) side rails. The mill should have done a fine job...too bad it didn't. Lots of filing and some time with a die grinder (yikes!) sort of smoothed things over. Humility is good for the soul, or so I'm told. I then drilled the F-721B to the F-757 gussets and the bent the tabs onthe F-721Bs to mate with the F-721A's (canopy deck) and then drilled the F-721A's in place to the longerons. Finally I test fit the F695's which are gussets that join the longerons to the firewall. I spent 15 minutes trying to find the rivet size and spacing for the F-695s but I couldn't find it and decided it was time to quit.

Photo 1: One of the F-721Bs in the vise on the mill ready to have the slot cut to allow the F-757 to fit.
Photo 2: Level across the F 904 bulkhead.
Photo 3: Level across the right longeron.
Photo 4: Level across the left longeron.
Photo 5: Aft fuselage level across the lateral axis.

The day began with the careful assemble of a new sawhorse to set the working height of the fuselage more reasonably. I dropped the front of the fuselage to about 18" off the ground and the rear is 10-12 inches higher depending on where you measure. My new Smart Tool arrived today. Some folks call this a digital level. Well, it is but that's only a small fraction of what it really is: a digital protractor. It measures angles and one of those angles is 0.0 degrees, or level. It took about 90 minutes and a lengthy break but I eventually got both longerons read 0.0, the F-904 bulk head reads 0.0, and the aft fuselage is reading 0.0. Getting it to 0.0 or 0.1 was a snap and I'm guessing that's all a bubble level an do (and maybe not quite that in many hands). So I'm guessing Van's wouldn't care at all about that minor discrepancy. I didn't call I just pondered what to shim and finally added 16 sheets of paper to the right edge of the saw horse under the F-904 bulkhead and that fixed all my readings.

Next I scoured the shop for the F-711D, a little piece of angle I made in 2003 (probably) and eventually found it and installed it on the F-711 bulkhead. I then made the F-711E and it came out beautiful, if I do say so myself. I also scoured the shop for a piece of AS3-0.125x1x13 and only found about 6" of it and I needed 10". I'm not sure where I used it but I need more so I ordered some just before Van's closed. I hate buying small stuff like this because Van's has a minimum order and shipping eats you alive. So I bought some RV-9A nonskid wing walk stuff, too. Finally, I started setting up the vertical mill to make a cut on the F721B (R&L) so it'll fit on the longeron without interfering with the F-757s. I ran out of time trying to recall how to shift power from the lathe to the vertical mill. I'll figure it out tomorrow...and if there's time I'll post photos.

Photo 1: F-711D clecoed in place.
Photo 2: Another aft fuselage spacer (forget the number).

What a day! My EFIS (a dual Grand Rapids Horizon 1 with their EIS and most of the bells and whistles) arrived today. If that wasn't excitement enough my neighbor Scotty came over again and helped me rivet for a couple of hours. We got to the point where we "flipped the canoe." I'm celebrating being able to work on the plane alone again at my own pace and in my own time. So, about 300 hours of work on the fuselage to flip it and from what I can tell there's another 12-18 months of work to get it airworthy. I'm feeling the urge to finish it! There's plenty to left to do too.

Photo 1: Dual EFIS (electronic flight information system) and EIS (engine information system)
Photo 2: EFIS, EIS and probes, wiring, and manuals.
Photo 3: Scotty helping with the riveting.
Photo 4: The fuselage right side up.

Another good day riveting. I'd guess about 6 hours today was spent riveting. A neighbor came over and helped me. Who could refuse an offer to learn to rivet? Well, Scotty Hurst, a neighbor and fellow fly fisherman, took me up on my offer and we came dangerously close to finishing the riveting necessary to flip the canoe. I expect one more session and it'll happen.

I'm pondering how short to cut my sawhorses. I'm looking for comprise between too low and low enough to fit the rudder and vertical stabilizer with the existing ceiling. Also, reading ahead and it looks like I'll start connecting parts soon, which is exciting. From what I can tell I'm 12-18 months from flying. Now that though puts a grin on my face!

My other son-in-law, Dennis Stewart, came over today and gave me a big hand. As work days go this was one of the most productive days I've had since starting the project. The first thing I did was correct a couple of problems and omissions that Ray pointed out Thursday when he was over and Friday when I went over and helped him. The first thing was a goof that required removing about a dozen rivets and remaking a small strap. Over Christmas (and prior to that) I had not noticed that the F970 side skin got tucked under the bottom skin of the center section where the side skin is bent. Photo 1 has a red arrow pointing out my mistake for those folks who have not reached this point yet. As soon as Ray pointed at the part and before he opened his mouth I recognized my goof. Fortunately, I had only started riveting one side. I had to fix both sides but most of it was just pulling clecoes and rearranging things to match the drawings. Note to self, pay attention to those dotted lines on the plans, which means the part is not on the top. Photo 2 shows the fixed part. Actually, it doesn't look bad at all.

Last night Ray noted that I hadn't made or installed my F757s which are flat pieces that go between the main longeron and the F904 bulkhead at the rear of the F727. The 757 is apparently part of the canopy attach and/or operating system. He noted that it isn't mentioned in the plans, which is how I missed it. I made and clecoed the parts where they belong. Photo 3 shows the parts made and laying on the plans that describe them. Photo 4 shows them in place. Later on I did find mention of these parts but the discussion occured after I "flip the canoe." I'm not sure whether it's important to install them now or not but the can't hurt. It would be a shame if there wasn't room for them later. So, both problems fixed.

Next Dennis and got in 4.5 hours or so of hard core riveting. I'd guess we're 80% of the way toward "flipping the canoe." He has a very nice touch with the rivet gun and the quality of the work is first rate. I'm ready to try him on some round head rivets now. Photos 5 and 6 show us riveting skins. Photo 7 shows what he left for me to do to finish up before I'm ready to turn it right side up for the final time.

Photo 1: The F970 side skin incorrectly installed. I wonder how many are flying like this?
Photo 2: The F970 side skin installed like Van designed it.
Photo 3: The F757 made per the plans.
Photo 4: The F757 clecoed in place.
Photo 5: Dennis driving and me bucking rivets on the fuselage.
Photo 6: Another shot (hey, you gotta recognize your volunteers)
Photo 7: A shot of the fuselage showing the current status.

I've reached a point in the building process where a riveting partner is necessary. Between my work schedule and the availability of a partner, progress is slow. Fortunately, Ray Swanson, another RV9A builder in Richmond stumbled on to this web site and dropped me an e-mail. The short version is he's at almost exactly the same building point I am and Thursday evening he came over and helped rivet for a couple of hours. It is amazing how much progress can be made with two experienced people working. I riveted and Ray bucked. We finished the stiffeners in the forward fuselage floor, completed the rivets on one of the side skins and riveted the F904 bulkhead to the bottom skins.

Yesterday was Christmas and I figured after the gifts had been unwrapped Matthew and I could pound a few rivets but it just didn't work out that way. It was probably just as well. That one rivet was still bugging the dickens out of me. So this morning I called Van's and spoke to them about a couple of issues including the F-719B. The guy was nice and said not to worry about it and keep building. I suspect he's right and I'm took his advice. I also asked about substituting flush rivets for round head rivets where I'd done more dimpling than I should on the F-970 side skin. That wasn't an issue at all. So, today Matthew and I riveted the forward part of the left side skin and then I riveted the two center floor stiffeners to their internal supports and we but the forward bottom skin on and started to rivet it in place. About 2pm I suggested it was probably time for him and Amy to hit the road home for Moresville, NC. It was great having him as a riveting partner and we got a lot done. I'm sure we both expected to "flip the canoe" but it wasn't meant to be. I encouraged his return to help put the wings on and the tail surfaces after that.

Photo 1: This is view down on the auxilary longeron that the F719B connects to. You can clearly see the two holes don't even come close to matching up. This baffles me. The other side was nearly perfect, yet this side, which was drilled in place and had been reassembled once without problem, didn't come close on the final assembly. Failing to figure the problem out I made a new F719B and drilled it in place using the holes in the auxilary longeron for guides.
Photo 2: The new F719B. In all honesty, I was astounded at how quickly I could fabricate one of these. It went in a fraction of the time it took to make the first two.
Photo 3: After drilling the old part out and match drilling the new piece in the holes in the auxilary longeron were a bit out of round. It wasn't a lot but I was being picky and remaking the auxilary longeron didn't seem necessary so I made a backer plate for the rivet heads out of 0.032 sheet metal and added it to the sandwich. This shows the new F719B and the backer plate.
Photo 4, Photo 5, and Photo 6 show my son-in-law Matthew and me riveting this morning. Note that Photo 5 should get a Sam Buchanon award since the rivet bag cleverly hides my face from view.

All six photos above were taken by my daughter Jennifer.

Not a very productive or fun day. I didn't sleep well and part of it was worrying about one rivet on the left F-719B. So, I started by drilling out rivets on the F-970 side skin so I could drill the offending rivet out and try again. I'm pretty good at drilling rivets out (if I do say so myself). Part of the skill came from a good foundation that an A&P at Aero Industries (based at KRIC) gave me and part of it was practice gained on this RV project. So, with little or no damage to the side skin I pealed it back and drilled the offending rivet out a @$%#-up the replacement rivet. I drilled it out and replaced it with one that was only slightly better.

I decided it was time for a coffee break. There's nothing like fresh ground French Roast coffee to improve one's perspective.

When we went back to work I decided to leave the F-719B angle alone for the time being and work instead on the center section of the fuselage. There were two corner ribs there that I had replaced because I didn't like the way I'd cut the holes out for the steps. They were reinstalled after the center section had been riveted. There didn't appear to be any reason why I couldn't install these later. There are straps fore and aft that I made and remade trying to get the edge distance to the first holes acceptable. Bucking the rivets was a real exercise in working in tight spaces. I ended up grinding a perfectly good bar into a new and not-very-useful-shape just for a few of these rivets. We got one of these corner ribs about halfway riveted in when I decided I had endured enough frustration for one day. Matthew was a champ and may have learned a couple of new words.

Matthew and I spent most of the day riveting until we ran into a problem with the F-719B on the right side. The short version is when we attempted to rivet it to the stiffener the result was unacceptable and I wallowed the hole out drilling the unacceptable rivet out. I'm guessing we spent Four or more hours farting around on this problem. Eventually I wised up, made a new F-719B and drilled out enough rivets on the F972 side skin so we could peel it back and install the 719B angle bracket correctly. What a pain in the posterior. What a collosial waste of time.

If that wasn't enough I discovered I'd dimpled some #4 rivets that were supposed to be round head rivets. I debated whether to fudge and use round head rivets but I decided to move ahead using flush rivets and just order exras.

Maybe tomorrow we'll finish riveting the forward and mid sections of the fuselage to the aft section. And then again, maybe we'll finish and flip the canoe on Christmas. Photos tomorrow if time permits.

Today I finished reassembling the fuselage. There were a couple of odd fit issues that needed to be resolved. This was resolved by reassembling the parts in a different sequence (go figure). The lower longeron and the F904C were interfering with each other keeping the lower side skin from laying flat and there were two clecos that wouldn't go in the lower forward skin where the two outer skin stiffeners (F972) meet the lower firewall angle. Apparently I missed drilling a hole. Amazingly, I used the dimpled skin hole, drilled through the lower firewall angle and through the existing hole in the F972. When I was done there was no perceptable enlargement in the F792 hole. I'm still trying to figure out how I drilled the hole in the F972 w/o also drilling the firewall angle.

Next I started riveting. Thanks to Mike Schipper I didn't miss riveting the 902 bulkhead to the lower longeron early on. The F904 bulkhead is largely riveted to the skin and the "rivets between a rivet" on the aft fuselage have been riveted. One of my son-in-laws is arriving tonight and he understands my interest in turning the canoe over. I expect we'll be doing a lot of riveting tomorrow.

I also talked to Van's and to Robbie Attaway about ordering my finish kit. I've been trying to figure out what cowl to order. It appears pretty much for certain, if I order an IOX-340 with an upflow sump and the Silver Eagle fuel injection the regular cowl and the filtered air box will work and give me all the power I need (and more than Van's suggests).

Photo 1: Interference between the 904 bulkhead and the lower longeron kept the skip from laying flat.
Photo 2: Problem resolved.
Photo 3: I should have posted this yesterday. These are my hooker harnesses. You should have seen the look on my 28 year old neice (very liberal) when I told her that when my Hooker Harnesses arrived Mary brought me them to me in the bedroom and helped me figure them out. My kids were shocked too. In case you're still wondering they're a five point harness (seat belt) for the airplane.

The fuselage is almost completely reassembled and ready to be riveted together. Today I drilled the 1/16"hole inteF9101 gear attach web and the F902. With the hole in place (or not in place since a hole is metal that isn't in place any more) I riveted the parts together. Next, I reinstalled the F722 and F724 ribs in the sides of the baggage compartment. It was then I discovered why the aft and mid sections of the fuselage were so difficult to reconnect. There's a large floppy bulkhead (the F706) which had wedged in rather than slide into place. A little judicious tapping with a rubber mallet (nothing extreme) popped it into place. I also found a reassembly error in the F904 bulkhead and it took close to 30 minutes to figure out what I did wrong and move the clecos to fix it. Nothing serious but it would have been a problem if I had started riveting the pieces. Finally, I started reinstalling the F972 floor stiffeners and noticed a number of holes that I failed to drill. So, I started drilling and countersinking them and ran out of time to finish them tonight. Tomorrow I'll finish countersinking the last one and reintall the floor stiffeners and the F970 floor.

When I finish with the floor stiffener it will be time to seriously start riveting with the goal of turning the canoe over for the last time! I'm trying to figure out what cowl to order with my finishing kit. My intention is to install a IOX-340 ECI Stroker engine and I am debating between using the ECI fuel injection and cold air induction system or the Silver Eagle fuel injection system. The latter looks, cheaper and simpler. I'm still sorting out the details.

I also got my order from Hooker Harness today. I went with gray and black five point harnesses with the military style buckle. They are very nicely done and I'm pleased with them.

The day began with the intent to rivet the F684 gussets to the vertical firewall angles when I notice the drawings showed a platenut on each gusset. Apparently I'd missed this during the initial assembly. So the day actually began by installing a couple of platenuts on the gussets. It appears I'll be using these to screw an Adel clamp to so I can run a fuel tank vent hose out of the fuselage here. With the platenuts installed I riveted the gussets to the verticle firewall angles (see top of photo).

Next I worked on riviting the 719 angle clip to the same vertical firewall angle (see lower part of photo). This wasn't difficult but did involve some creative clamping to get the piece at the correct angle.

I then peeled the F970 forward skin back a bit further and "pre-riveted the F904H center section side plae to the F970 skins. This is hard to photograph but I did all but the one hole that the directions have you leave open (a pulled rivet aka a pop rivet will go there later).

Finally I removed the F904 forward bulkhead and countersunk 5 holes on each side. These need to be double flush riveted to assure clearance for the gear web. A number of web sites say there's plenty of room without doubleflush riveting but I figured why sweat it. This is an easy thing to do and the space is assured.

I didn't lose my riveting skills during my hiatus. I tried squeezing some of these #4 rivets and they were acceptable. I picked up the rivet gun and did some nice work and went back and touched up some of the squeezed rivets.

It looks like I need rivet the F9101 gear attach web to the F902 bulkhead and enlarge a hole in each part for a cable that will run down the side of the fuselage and then I'll be ready to start riveting the F790 forward side skins.

Photo 1: A shot of the F684 gusset and the 719B angle clip riveted to the firewall vertical angle.

Today the reassembly began in earnest. I'll spare you the details of each part going together and cover generally. The longerons went back in after I finished dimpling the rear skins where the longerons fit. As I progressed I kept finding areas that needed to be dimpled. That slowed progress down. There really are not any decent directions for reassembly and as a result I had to do a fair amount of unassembly to put in parts that I'd forgotten. Getting the aft fuselage to join with the center section seemed to take a lot more wrestling than I had anticipated. Getting the baggage ribs to mate with the F706 bulkhead was where most of the work was encountered. Once they were in place just about everything else went easily. I found a few parts that needed to be drilled, which surprised me, but nothing major or difficult to do.

The three photos below pretty much document my progress. The first one is my under $100 pneumatic rivet squeezer that I got off eBay. It took patience to get that price. I really didn't think I'd find it near as useful as I have but it sure is nice - fast and consistent. Probably potentially more dangerous than doing it by hand but so far I have not demonstrated that. The next photo is the fuselage assembled and the third photo shows the inside of the cockpit area.

Photo 1: Inexpensive pneumatic squeezer.
Photo 2: The fuselage reassembled.
Photo 3: The inside of the fuselage center section.

I began reassembly tonight...for about 20 minutes and then realized there was more work to be done. I got both longerons back in the aft fuselage and then saw that the skins on the aft fuselage needed to be dimpled to fit the longerons. The directions mention some "rivets between rivets" that are installed shortly and notes the other rivets in the line have to wait for the top skins. The directions are silent on when to dimple. As a rule you drill skins together and then dimple them. Dimpling the lower skin before match drilling would make for less precise hole alignment. This lead to some head scratching. It appears to be the only way to do it (practically speaking) and the longerons are thick enough to provide some help in getting the holes accurately matched, albeit not necessarily perfect. More head scratching. No better solution came to mind so the longerons came out so I dimple the skins. I also noticed there were holes on the side of the aft fuselage that needed dimpled too. I did some patching on my air hose (I caught an "anurism" before it burst - my third in two Goodyear hoses.) and then began dimpling. I probably have close to an hour more dimpling to do (it's awkward to do) and then I'll start reassembling.

Pretty soon its going to really start looking like an airplane!

It doesn't sound like much but it was a productive day. I removed both longerons (without damaging anything) and countersunk and deburred them both. There are a lot of holes to countersink and the drill I'm using for countersinking is from Harbor Freight and its an air hog. After about a dozen holes I'd need to let the compressor catch up. I finished dimpling the F972, which is the forward bottom skin. Next I prepared everything mentioned and both side skins (F970) for priming by scuffing and washing in MEK. Two rattle cans of NAPA primer later everything was done.

I also called Whirlwind Aviation about a propeller for the ECI Stroker engine. Nothing was decided for sure but it looks like the 200RV will serve my purposes best. I was kind of hoping the 151 Series would do it because I like the looks of a three bladed prop and the lower vibration would be nice. I also read Randy Lervold's RV-8 review of this and other propellers and his comments also make me lean toward the 200RV prop. We'll see.

Finished dimpling the F970 forward skins. A few months ago I snagged a pneumatic rivet squeezer for under $100 (I was patient <g>). I finally got to use the squeezer to do the dimples around the edge. My opinion of pneumatic squeezers remains unchanged - they're not necessary. But I am softening - it sure made the process go faster. It can only reach the holes along the edge so about half of them I did the old fashioned way - with a hammer and the dimpling tool. I also made a couple of pieces to back the F970 where the bend is by the step. When I made the bends one of mine looked like it had the start of a crack. Van's said to stop drill it and make a backer plate and proseal it in place. I made one for each side eventhough I probably only needed one. The photo shows the non-cracking side. Finally I had missed priming the F684L when I did my last batch of priming so I finished it.

I'm ready to remove the longerons, countersink them and prime them and the inside of the F970 and then begin reassembly! In random other news I settled on an engine - or, one of two. I'll be putting either an IOX-340 or an OX-340. The difference is the I version is fuel injected and the non-I version is carburated. America's Aircraft Engines in Kansas will be building it. I also got an email from a builder here in Richmond who is building a 9A and is at almost exactly the same stage I am. I expect we'll be sharing some rivet time in the near future.

Photo 1: 970 skin dimpled.
Photo 2: 970 skin with reinforcement piece in approximate position.
Photo 3: F684L primed

Deburred both sides of the F970 forward side fuselage skins. Also scuffed the inside in preparation for priming. Finally, I got most of one skin dimpled.

Rant: Deburring has got to be one of the most mindless but irritating aspects of building this plane. There are literally thousands of holes, each holding 2 or more pieces, and each piece has 2 sides to be deburred. If the estimate that there are 15,000 rivets in an RV is right, there are probably about 50,000 holes to deburr and each hole has to be done on both sides. I'm tired of deburring!

This evening I dimpled the bottom of the forward section of the fuselage. It appears that I didn't drill this piece to the firewall and that its time to do that. Fortunately, I think when I reassemble the fuselage I can drill this part and then remove just this part to dimple it and dimple the edge of the firewall (where the pieces mate) in place. Before I do this, I'm going to read ahead and see if there's a reason not to do this.

I took it easy today, after all Sunday is a day of rest. I finished deburring, dimpling, countersinking and priming all of the small parts (except for priming one that I somehow left after degreasing it). The side skins and bottom skin have been stripped of their blue protective coating and the bottom skin has been deburred. I need to finish deburring and dimpling these three skins and make a decision on how I'll prime them (odds are I'll prime the whole skin, a departure from past practice but I plan to paint the inside of the cockpit so it'll need to be primed). When those tasks are done it'll be time to reassemble and start riveting the whole thing together.

Today I nearly finished disassembling the forward fuselage and separated the mid section from the aft fuselage. The only thing left to remove (and countersink and prime) are the main longerons. All of the small parts in the forward fuselage are out, either dimpled or countersunk, and deburred. Some of the parts are scuffed for priming and some are not. All of the parts need to be primed. The side and bottom skins are off and they need the full treatment (plus the side skins still need the blue protective plastic removed).

I am hoping that by next weekend I'll be ready to invite Jack Simons, an EAA 231 member over to help buck rivets. To do this I need to get everything primed and reassembled. Jack used to rivet P-38s in WWII and I expect he'll have all the skills (and then some) to help me assemble a simple RV-9A.

With the plane disassembled it feels like I'm moving backwards. I also have a sense of why I should call this plane "Twice Built". Nonetheless, N702DA is going to be called Traveler for multiple reasons.

This afternoon I continued the disassembly and deburring process and I'm nearing the point where its time to remove the forward skins and deburr them and then start dimpling and countersinking. There's a lot of countersinking to do, including the longeron. When that's done I'll need to prime everything. I also spent several hours today fitting the right and left 623 corner baggage ribs into the assembled structure. I put these in about a year ago but I didn't like the way I'd cut relief for the steps. I ordered new parts but they didn't arrive before I wanted to rivet the center section together. With the center section assembled its easy to mark and see how to cut the ribs to allow for the steps. Easy doesn't mean fast. What would likely have taken 20 minutes last year took two hours today. Nonetheless its progress. The photo shows both ribs ready to be dimpled and primed.

Photo 1: The corner baggage ribs.

Airventure 2006 Report. I'm back from Oshkosh and fishing on Lake Michigan. Oshkosh was awsome as usual. I need to post some of the hundreds of photos I took. The big news is I decided to buy the Grand Rapids EFIS. I went with the dual screen and the EIA and added options for the altimeter and airspeed on the EIS, the RAIM GPS for the moving map and I got the fuel flow, MAP, and fuel pressure options. With the show specials the whole mess cost me just under $10,000. I also got seat foam from Hi-Tech Foams in Lincoln, NE (www.seatfoam.com) and a data plate from Avery.

My panel is now pretty well planned. In addition to the dual EFIS and EIS I'll add an ADI and DigiFlight II autopilot. Between the EIS and the ADI I'll have a basic "six pack" back up in the event the EFIS quits at an inappropriate time (like when the prop is turning). I'll keep my Garmin 295 portable and the radio stack will have an SL-30, an SL40, a GTX 330 (I'd have gone with the 327 but Mary thinks having traffic is worth the extra money) and an audio panel (probably the GMA 347). I may also add a CDI like the MD200-306. For someone that dislikes Garmin as much as I do, I've got to admit they don't have any competition.

The number of RVs at Oshkosh was astounding. It had been 3 years since I'd been to Airventure and I'd estimate that there were 50% more RVs than in the past. While I was at the Van's tent talking with Ken Scott, I happened to see Matthew Brandes and his wife Sandy taxi in Thurday. I got to spend a little time with Matthew and Sandy during the dinner Van's had and again on Friday afternoon on the field.

While I was at Van's tent, Ken Scott clearly didn't approve of the Sam James cowl that Matthew used. However, when I talked to Ken Kruger about the cowl he was a lot more considered in his opinion. He opined that speed gains were possible, he just wasn't sure if it achieved them and if so, how much gain was possible. My discussions with Ken Kruger were very enjoyable while my time with Ken Scott was more, uh entertaining. Both gentlemen are fine people but I tire easily of unsupported opinion and Mr. Scott seemed to have an opinion on everything. I'm sure he'll firmly disapprove of my panel since he's a minimalist. He also stated he doesn't feel safe flying in typical east coast summer visibilities. I'd opinion that we have fly different missions.

I also spoke to a number of companies that do experimental panels and I listened to Greg Reichter (sp - yeah the Blue Mountain guru) talk about wiring your own plane. I think I'll be doing my own wiring.

Finally, I think I've decided on an engine (almost). I like the ECI 0X-320 and 0X340. I'm leaning slightly toward the latter engine (177HP). Odds are I'll go with a kit and build it myself with some serious help and guidance from some of my EAA friends (and A&P holders).

After seeing all of the completed RVs and making the purchases I did, I was ready to come home and finish my RV. Did I mention that I reserved my N number, too? After failing to get my wedding date, birthday, etc., I decided to settle on my builders number and initials. My plane will be N702DA. If that wasn't enough to get me back to pounding rivets it took 2 days of driving and countless tolls to get home. I think Pennsylvania is now charging $3 just to get on the PA Turnpike and $8 to get off - and what a POS excuse for a highway. Constant construction (at least since 1969 when I started college in Pennsylvania and low speed limits. My wife said it took 16 hours to drive home. I think it took longer. Between the gas, the tolls, the hotel, and the meals, an RV has to be the cheapest way to get to Oshkosh from here (KOFP). Plus, my flight planner indicates an RV-9A can make the trip in 4 hours and 47 minutes including a 30 minute stop for gas (and to get rid of/refill with coffee). It appears to take about 33 gallons of fuel, which puts the cost at about $150 each way - certainly cheaper than taking two days to drive.

More fuselage disassembly and mostly a lot of deburring of the small parts in the forward fuselage section.

I'm preparing to go to Oshkosh for the week and I'll be looking for deals on some of the avionics that I want to put in the plane and if there's any specials on TruTrack autopilots or an EFIS, I'm prepared to part with some hard earned cash.

I'm slowly disassembling the forward fuselage, deburring, dimpling or countersinking, cleaning and priming the parts. I'm also making sure the parts fit properly (I've found a few spots where the fit could be improved with some careful trimming) and I'm making sure I have not missed drilling any holes (I found a short section of the longeron that I'd missed drilling and a few other questionable spots). Tomorrow I hope to fit some replacement ribs in the midsection of the fuselage and finish the major part of the disassembly.

After carefully reviewing the next steps in the directions for more than an hour, I started disassembling and deburring parts from the fuselage mid section. There are one or two more assembly steps I want to understand before going too much further with the disassembly process. There's one row of rivets that I have not drilled where the mid section and aft fuselage join and it appears to me that I really need to deal with this now. Once I figure that out I'll complete the disassembly process and start preparing the parts for final assembly. I suspect deburring, dimpling, and priming these parts is going to take some serious time.

Matthew and I worked on the side panels for the baggage compartment. I cut the F-749's, eventhough the plans don't seem to call for doing that yet. It was clear they needed to be cut at some point and the "directions" (should be called general guidance at this point) don't mention a lot of things that need doing. Anyway, the F-750's, which are panels that cover a portion of the sides of the baggage compartment are in place but not drilled. Also drilled the four F-704 L's (or are they H's?) in place. They're four small plates that the "directions" have you make but never explicitly indicate when you drill them in place. They looked kind of important (they connect the longerons to part of the center spar structure) so I thought I'd include them. It appears that very soon I'll be taking this structure down to debur, dimple, and prime and then rivet! When that's done it'll be time to turn the canoe.

I've also been putting a bunch of time in thinking about the engine and prop combination that I want. I'm leaning hard to the Catto 3 bladed prop that others seem very happy with - low vibration and good cruise. Its affordable, too but you need to order well in advance. I expect I'll get this before Oshkosh. I'm still thinking about an engine. Van's has a couple (7) left that he describes as inexpensive ($20,800) that are new certificated Lycoming O-320's with accessories. Penn Yan Aero has an experimental O-320 that is comparable to Van's (all new Lycoming parts) with similar accessories except it has one mag and electronic ignition and a roller bearing camshaft. Its about $1,000 more than Van's. I can also order "port polish and flow matching" for another $1,300 and get about 15 more horses. I'm leaning toward the experimental engine. I know about Van's concerns for putting too much horse power in this plane but I think a placard and some modest care flying the plane (i.e., be responsible) will respect Van's valid concerns and provide the extra power when needed or wanted.

Family is gathering for a Fourth of July party, I had some help. One son-in-law (Matthew) and a future brother-in-law (Don) gave me a hand with the floor stiffeners. At this point I figured I was going to wear the parts out with all the fitting and putting the parts on, take them off, try assembling again, etc. Anyway, I wasn't expecting to find a new problem. The 902 bulkheads that I installed 11 months ago (was it really that long?) were binding on the lower longeron causing interference in assembling the bottom skin. So both 902 bulkheads came out for some judicious trimming. They look the same as before, hence no photo, but its possible to easily pass a cleco through the overlapping lower skin, side skin, and bottom longeron. When the floor stiffeners were in we began fitting the baggage compartment sides. The plans and the directions look a bit weak in this area and there appears to be a couple of possible ways to assemble the parts so I decided to call it a day and think it over before cutting and drilling.

Tonight was spent doing some head scratching. There are four floor stiffeners (F927B) and the center two didn't fit flush against the 601J angles because of interference with the 601N angles. Initially I thought a shim would fix the problem but that didn't seem quite right. Van calls for shims in similar places but not here and sometimes he calls for them when they don't seem to be essential. Here they seemed essential, so why weren't they spec'd out? There are joggles on each end of the stiffeners and they're not identical on both ends and I thought perhaps I was missing some nuance on how to install the stiffeners. On closer examination it became clear that the intereference was pretty minor and some trimming of the floor stiffeners would solve the problem and give a nice flush fit against the 601J angles and allow the parts to be riveted together properly. With a solution in mind I started searching other builder web sites to see if anyone else had encountered the problem and Mike Hoover sent me a photo of how he solved the problem. Here's a link to Mike's site that shows his solution (and mine will look essentially identical). It was exactly what I was looking for - isn't the Internet great for finding or confirming solutions?!

Well it looks like the hiatus is over. I've been sidetracked for the past 9 months on other things (and the yard is looking better than it has since I started building) but now I'm ready to finish this project and fly this plane!

I took the rudders out and put them in correctly. The fuselage is sitting upside down and right and left are reversed and it's just plane (no pun intended) confusing. I put them in upside down! I reinstalled them correctly and then couldn't figure why F-6118, which is the center support bracket didn't allow clearance for the firewall recess. I even installed the firewall recess to make sure I wasn't missing something or experiencing another brain fart. Eventually, sufficient study lead to the realization that I hadn't cut enough relief into the center support bracket. A few seconds on the bandsaw and a minute or two with a file and the polishing wheel and the problem was solved. I then followed the directions and put the rudder pedals away. Sometimes I think about calling the plane "Twice Built" to reflect the assembly, disassembly, and reassemble process. I left the F-6118 in place and put the bottom skin back on in anticipation of installing the four stiffeners.

Well Completed the 996 assemblies. Basically I gave up on the directions and built what the plans showed but fit the parts to my plane and observed hole edge spacing as much as possible. Also started working on the rudder assembly. Drilled and cut the HDPE plastic parts and began riveting the pedals and worked on the center attach point.

Made the F996 A angles and putzed around trying to figure out how to assemble the parts. I was amazed how much better these parts came out than the W-905s that they mate to. The 905s are certainly adequate, the 996s were easy to make and my accuracy was outstanding. I must be satisfying the FAA's requirement that I build for educational purposes because I'm sure learning stuff.

Well my previous 2 or 3 entries reveal my misunderstanding of the 996C reinforcement piece. The parts I made per Van's plans are NOT nearly 1/4" too short. In fact, they were a tad long - maybe 1/32" long. I spent most of my building time scratching my head trying to sort out where these parts go and w/o too much explanation, I had them incorrectly located but now they are where they belong (though I'm not done making them yet). This also probably explains why a measurement I made on the wing (from the spar to the fuel tank anti-rotation device) didn't add up with what I WAS doing.

A couple of days ago I mentioned sharpening some drill bits with the new Drill Doctor without the benefit of any directions. I went to use some of those bits today and I was in for a rude awakening. They didn't work....and a dull bit would have been an improvement...a big improvement. I worked out the VCR problems and I think I now understand the problem but the solution is still a bit obscure. It appears that the Drill Doctor works well on larger bits but indexing a small (#40 is small and #30 is close to small) bit to get the cutting edge of the bit started in the right spot is difficult. With larger bits its easy. My results are mixed - fair, poor, and atrocious. Tomorrow I'm going to order more bits and more AA6-125x3/4x3/4 angle.

I made the 996Cs (right and left) which are reinforcement angles for part of the wing attach points. I believe they're going to back up the fuel tank antirotation devices. They really came out nice except they don't fit well. With a little tweaking both sides fit but both were too short by almost 0.25 inches, which is incredible to me. They have been made by the book. Now I'm going to remake them to fit the plane I'm building. I'm doing some head scratching.

I finished tweaking the rudder pedal parts on the scotchbrite wheel and then trimmed the little angles off that the plans allow for "weight reduction" - I'd reckon I saved close to 0.1 or maybe 0.2 ounces but every little bit helps. Then it was back to the wheel to polish the band-sawed edges. Finally I degreased the parts and they'll be ready to prime tomorrow.

In other news I discovered I'm about half an inch short of having enough AA6x125x3/4x3/4 which is used to reinforce the 996 which is made out of the AA6x187x2x2.5 which I was also short on. A word of caution to other builders - be really stingy with how you mark pieces out of the angle stock they give you. My guess is there's just enough of what you need but not any extra. My understanding is Van is Dutch and in Dutch there's no word for extra, excess, left over. Grumble, grumble....all in all this is small potatoes and keeps the kit prices lower than the competition, I reckon.

I also cranked up my Drill Doctor that I got on e-Bay a couple of weeks ago. There were no directions and the video tape wouldn't play in my VCR so I used my Y chromosome and figured it out myself. All of my #40 bits have been sharpened so it will be interesting to see how they cut. If you're considering building this will be a handy tool. Supposedly there are 15,000 rivets in these planes and you'll find you'll dull quite a few bits. Sharp bits are a lot nicer to use. They cut faster and cleaner holes.

The past couple of days I've been out of town taking a training class. I took my rudder pedals with me and on the way home (I didn't drive) I debured and scuffed them. They're almost ready to prime. I'm going to do a little more work with the scotchbrite wheel and then degrease and prime them.

I also ordered another foot of AA 6 0.187x2x2.5 x12. For the uninitiated, AA is shorthand for Aluminum Angle. The 0.187 is the thickness in inches and the 2 by 2.5 is the width of each angle (one side is 2" and the other is 2.5") and the 12 is the length in inches. Hopefully this will arrive Friday or Saturday so I can make the brackets I need to make.

I've also been reading ahead a bit and it looks like I'm close (step wise more so than time wise) to riveting the forward 2/3 of the fuselage together and then turning the canoe over....hopefully for the last time. Of course I've been reading about nosewheel collapses on VAF boards and I really hope this will be the last time the fuselage is on its back!

Photo 1 - Rudder pedals almost ready for priming.

This afternoon I worked on fitting the F-9101 (R&L) and in short order they snuggled into their respective locations. I think some of the clecoes were holding me up before. When I removed them they were much easier to fit. Next I adjusted the top and bottom tabs on the F-902 bulkheads and then drilled the bulkheads to the skin and the longerons. The plans call for making a bracket that I think connects to the fuel tank anti-rotation brackets. Its made with AA6 0.187 x 2 x 2.5 and I needed a piece roughly 8 inches long. All I had was about 6 inches. Apparently I wasn't stingy enough when making the anti-rotation brackets so I'll order more tomorrow. The next step is making the rudder pedals so I started that. I got all 4 pedals prepped and drilled and now I need to deburr and do some work on the scotchbrite wheel to perfect the parts, then clean, prime and rivet. Doing the rudder pedals feels like progress!

I snuck in 30 minutes of work while grilling steaks tonight. I worked on fitting the F-9101 reinforcement pieces so the nestle in their respective places. I'm getting close on the right one but its taking more effort than I expected.

After 18 straight days of work I couldn't work on the plane tonight because we had company over for dinner. Tomorrow night I'm planning on flying and Friday is the EAA Chapter 231 monthly meeting. Nonetheless, I snuck downstairs and shot a couple of photos that show the current status.

Photo 1 The fuselage.
Photo 2 Inside the forward fuselage showing the 902 bulkheads (the vertical part in the middle)

I figured out how to fit the forward bulkheads. Mostly it was a matter of adjusting the tabs on the ends and opening the slots for the longeron and stiffener a bit. Very little fluting was required. I cut the holes for the rudder cables and installed the platenuts (2 on each). Also started to fit the F-9101 Gear Attach Web to what will be the lower corners of the 904 bulkhead (the center spar). It looks like these will take some minor adjustment to fit lengthwise and around the edges to nest in the lower longeron web.

I finally figured out how to bend the F-684 gussets so they do what the book says - or come pretty close to doing it. The plans show one 1/16" bend and one 1/32" bend. The 1/16" bend is actually 2 bends and it may be a bit more than 1/16"...but its hard to measure. I then drilled the lower longeron and the Wd-603 brackets and started fitting the forward bulkheads (F-902's) and the Gear attach web (F-9101). The forward bulkheads are going to need some fitting work I think and frankly my patience was growing thin so I quit for the day and finished the newsletter for EAA Chapter 231.

Photo 1 Bending the F-685 on a cheap Harbor Freight brake.
Photo 2 (Remember the fuselage is upside down) At the top horizontally is lower longeron, the diagonal piece is the auxillary longeron, the lower horizontal piece is a skin stiffener and the F-684 gusset is the triangular piece in the top right.

I fitted the auxillary longeron, lower longeron, and the F-719 to the forward fuselage. I made the lower longeron and the F-719B brackets out of aluminum angle and then worked on fabricating the F-684 gussets. None of this stuff is impressive to look at nor should it take much time but parts have to be made as mirror images of each other and sometimes this takes some cognitive resources (previously refered to as thinking). Most of these parts have obscure angles and twists that need to be done piecemeal to get the part to fit. That slows things up but then the directions are contradictory in places - like the lower longeron is supposed to be flush with the lower edge of the side skin...and later its 1/8" lower. I liked flush better so 1/8the is probably right. The F-684 gusset isn't done and I'm sure I spent more than 2 hours laying it out, cutting, drilling and filing but mostly trying to figure out where and how this part fit. The plans are clear but the positioning of the part is far from obvious and I'm sure half my time was spent figuring out where it went - exactly. Hopefully tomorrow the bending will go a little better to get this part to actually fit.

Photo 1 The F719B bracket - right and left mirror images.
Photo 2 The problematic F-684 gusset.

Today I accomplished three basic tasks and a couple of minor things. First, I finished drilling the longerons. Along the way I had to cut about 1/4" off them to keep them from being too long. Second (and this to me was a big accomplishment) I hung the firewall. It wasn't difficult to do but the fuselage is now full length (short of the engine and cowling). And third I installed the F-972 forward bottom fuselage skin and cut the holes for the gear legs. I also made the four 904 H straps and I'm sure I did some other small tasks.

Photo 1 The firewall on the fuselage
Photo 2 Laying out the hole for the gear leg
Photo 3 The gear leg hole cut.

The day started out easy enough by installing the seat rests and drilling them. The plans say they may need to be fluted and mine certainly did. I am amazed at what I have learned. Fluting took only a minute and when I was done all of the holes lined up on the first try. Next I removed the side skins and bent them to fit with the bottom and aft skins. It was easier than I thought. More importantly, I must have gotten the geometry right because the right skin was easy to fit to the aft section and yesterday it was very tight. Finally I started drilling the longerons starting at the rear and moving forward. I'm more than half done but that's a lot more drilling than I expected.

Just as a side note, the directions are really vague about when any of this stuff gets deburred, dimpled (countersunk), and riveted. I'm thinking I probably want to do some of this soon but I'm wondering what I'll be riveting in only to have to drill out later. Time to read and contemplate the problem for a while. So far it doesn't look like much of an issue that can't be dealt with.

Photo 1 - Here's the side skin clamped to the bench and ready to bend.
Photo 2 - Here's the side skin bent and re-installed on the plane.

I finished bending, cutting and fitting the longerons to the aft fuselage. As other web sites have noted, the slot cut in the three forward bulkheads of the aft fuselage are too small and the longerons won't fit. It took perhaps 5 minutes with a Dremel tool to take off a few thousandths and they fit fine. Next I tried fitting the center fuselage to the aft fuselage. It hung up about 3/8 to 1/2 inch shy of fitting. I removed the baggage skins and found the tabs on the ends of the ribs were interfering with the aft skin. I'd spent an hour following the directions (leaving the baggage skins on) trying to get the two halves to fit. It was a frustrating and worrysome hour. If you're a builder take the damn baggage skins off once the center section is in place. The job of fitting will go much faster and smoother. Finally I mounted the front skins. The fit was tight, particularly on the right side where the skin joins the aft fuselage but it did fit. Whew!

I spent a lot of time thinking about how to bend the longerons and trying to understand the geometry - the fuselage was in one room and the plans and the tools in another room. There was a whole lot of staring into space an moving the hands around in three dimensions trying to imagine how things should work. In the end they worked well. The longerons really look like they were accurately bent - they follow the skin edges great and line up with the 904 bulkhead and bend at the right point and the firewall looks like it will fit perfect, too.

Photo 1 - The longerons installed
Photo 2 -Me checking how the firewall fit with the longerons and seeing how well I got the 17 degree twist. From the "RV grin" you can tell I'm pleased with the results
Photo 3 - The forward side skins installed.
Photo 4 - Taking a minute and enjoying the view.

 

I finished riveting the bottom skin on the center section then I added the baggage compartment skins and 4 seat skins and drilled the skins. I added the last two seat ribs (I forget the number but they're they outboard seat ribs F915 perhaps). The directions are not clear about whether they get drilled and riveted into place yet or not. So far they're just drilled into place. I'm making a mental note not to forget to rivet them in before I get too far along. Odds are I'll lose the mental note.

I also bent the second (left) longeron tonight and tweaked the first one a bit. The directions have you cutting out a template out of aluminum or cardboard, which I did but there's a better template in the kit. The F-721B pieces will work if you use the outside edge of the opposite piece. If you're bending the left longeron you want to compare it to the topside of the right RIGHT F-721B (which is the same as the bottom of the left F-721 but that side isn't accessable for comparison). You need to mark the 25 1/4" and 38 and 7/16" points on both the longeron and the F-721 but the trick works - in less than 30 minutes I had the piece accurately bent.

 

Photo 1 The "finished" center section.
Photo 2 Both longerons with the F-721B's clecoed on.
Photo 3 Close up of the less accurate (left) bend - not bad if I say so my self.

The center section is almost done. I've got 29 rivets left to put in and a couple to go back and drive a little more. My arms were too tired to keep doing good work so I knocked off after a pretty easy day. I did lay the skins over the seat and baggage ribs to get the effect and I like it. Tomorrow I should finish the center section before lunch, including the 915 ribs (or are the 615 ribs?) and then its time to bend that second longeron, tweak the first one if needed and mount the center section and start on the front section.

I finished preping the center section parts, including priming the bottom skin, and reassembled the parts. Along the way I found two more ribs that needed to be trimmed to allow access for wiring and one hole in the bottom skin that I missed dimpling - go figure. Anyway, I took it slow and easy and made sure it was right before I started riveting. The seat ribs are riveted to the 904B and the baggage ribs are riveted to the skin. Riveting alone is slow but the quality has been great so far. With a little luck I'll finish riveting this section tomorrow and bend the other longeron (and tweak the one I've bent), and the either assemble the center section and aft sections, or start on the forward fuselage, depending on how available help is.

In related news, tomorrow I'm sending my order in for the finishing kit and I'll be calling Grand Rapids Technology and TruTrak with panel questions.

 

Photo 1 Here I'm riveting the baggage ribs to the skin and approaching the halfway point in riveting the center section together.
Photo 2 I've noticed a lot of builder web sites have photos of pets. This is Rosey and not to be confused with Rosey the riveter. This Rosey is afraid of shop noises - like riveting, dimpling, the air compressor and anything else louder than a voice. She doesn't spend much time in the shop, which given her long hair probably isn't a bad thing as she'd track aluminum shavings throughout the house.

Today was a relaxed day in the shop. I finished deburring all of the parts I drilled out yesterday and I dimpled all of the "appropriate" parts - the ones that will be getting flush rivets, excluding the ones Van's said not to dimple (where the center section joins the aft section and the corner ribs - which I'm replacing anyway but Van's says to wait) and I'm not dimpling the skin along the 904 spar. The plans say to dimple these, except in four places, but after talking with Van's it makes more sense to me to machine countersink these holes through the bottom skin. The rivets will be covered by the forward fuselage skin (which I will dimple) and little or nothing will be taken out of the spar and in my opinion the spar is way too thick to dimple anyway (which is one of the main reasons I'm taking this approach.

I also got the seat ribs installed on the 904B spar section and the seat ribs and the bulkhead (I forgot the #) behind the baggage compartment reassembled. While studying the plans I noticed that each seat rib has two bolts going into the 904B so I went back and drilled these out and I also found annother occurance where the baggage ribs interfered with wiring holes and I fixed that. At this point I think I'm understanding the structure and am confident that I've got it right. My mantra with the fuselage section is "Read the directions but follow the plans." The directions are vague and incomplete. The plans have all the details and are what need to be followed.

Today I finished the initial assembly and drilling of the center fuselage section. It was a long day but it went very smoothly. I also disassembled the center section and got more than half of it deburred and I took care of all the intereferences that I encountered. The spar spacer idea I had worked very well. The spacer consisted of an MDF block about 32+ thousandths undersized, a piece of 0.032 aluminum and 3 sheets of paper shimming the two pieces to full (1.438-1.440) thickness. I measured the inside dimension between the 904 A and B and it was consistently .002" over (1.440).

Several of the ribs covered holes drilled to carry wiring and two of the seat belt anchors interfered with two ribs. A little judicious use of the die grinder, the grinding wheel, and the scotchbrite wheel took care of all the interferences.

My plan tomorrow is to finish deburring, dimpling, countersinking, and priming so I can start reassembling the center section for riveting.

On one other note, I had to order my first replacement parts today. Well, I'm not sure I had to but I wasn't happy with the way I'd ground away the flanges on two corner ribs (F623) to allow passage for the steps. They were probably fine but my work was a bit sloppy and excessive so I ordered new parts.

Photo 1 This is a close up of my spar center section and the spacer I used to keep the two pieces of my spar center section (the 904 A and 904 B) the right distance apart. On the left is the 904A and its gold colored (priced like gold too). Next is the brown MDF board followed by a sliver of paper. The paper is a shim I used between the MDF board and the 0.032" aluminum to get the exact thickness I wanted. Behind the aluminum (just a sliver can be seen) is the 904 B, which is also gold. At the top and bottom of the 904's you can see solid metal (gold colored) blocks that are roughly square. The spar bolts go throught these and I measured the inside diameter of these at 4 different places and got 1.439 to 1.440 inches, which is 1-2 thousandths larger than my spar. It should be a good tight fit.
Photo 2 In less than 90 minutes this morning I assembled the 904A to the rest of the center section, checked tolerances and drilled the F976 skin that you there with all the clecos in it. A day earlier I was wondering if I'd ever get this far. For what it's worth, the holes in the F976 skin lined up dead on with the holes in the 904A spar section. That they were so accurate in alignment was reassuring.
Photo 3 Here's your's truly clecoing on the 904H and completing the center section.
Photo 4 Here is the whole assembly fitted and drilled and ready for disassembly.
Photo 5 The two white pieces are seat belt anchors. The directions call for trimming them to avoid intereference with the ribs. I didn't trim the one on the right quite enough because the anchor is actually under the rib. I've use a Sharpie to mark what needs ground away and within 10 minutes the part was back in place - where it belonged.
Photo 6 Notice the two holes just inside and above the two bottom clecos. These holes are for wires to pass through. Note how rib flanges block a good bit of the passageway. I few minutes with a die grinder and the problem was fixed.
Photo 7 Here are two ribs that I ground away to give clearance to two grommets where wires will pass. These last three photos are pretty minor problems and considering they're among the worst I've encountered so far, I'm impressed.

I'm not really sure how long I worked today. My goal was to make the spacers them simulates the wing spars so you can get the space between the F405 A and B right. This space is where the wing spar stubs are inserted and tolerances count. Of course Van's give the dimensions and doesn't mention tolerances. Most of the day was spent pondering options for accurately making them and trying them out. Ultimately I modified my Plan A (I think this mod was actually Plan E). Plan A was to glue two pieces of 3/4" MDF board together and plane it down to 1 7/8". Easy enough to do for a wood worker but the plans call for the spacers to be 1.438" thick and my planer came close but not close enough. Ultimately I took my slightly undersized blocks and planed them to 1.416. I got real close by accident I think (remember blind squirrels occasionally find a nut). To this I'd sandwich a sheet of 0.032 aluminum and get my magin 1.438" blocks. Oddly, everything measured perfect but when I assembled ever thing I'm a few thousandths under. After muttering only for a short period I realized paper shims will help me get the exact thickness I need, which is what I'll do in the morning.

I then fit the corner ribs (F623( to the center section. These are not match drilled and frankly they didn't fit real well either. I got the left one to fit well but the right one could be improved on. I don't think it will create any difficulties down the road but I suppose we'll see. I also had to make two straps which are barely visible at each end of the corner rib.

Photo 1 Close up of the left corner rib.
Photo 2 The spacer that simulates the wing spar stubs.
Photo 3 The center section assembly as of 5 pm tonight.

The day started by putting 24 platenuts on 8 different seat ribs. Once that was done I assembled the seat ribs to the aft 904 (part of the wing spar center section) and then I put the baggage ribs on the F705 bulkhead. Next I joined the two parts together and added the bottom skin. It sounds simple but it took about 3 hours to this far and another hour or so to straighten ribs out and get it all clecoed together. Next, the bottom skin was drilled in place to the two bulkheads and the seat ribs and baggage ribs. Finally, I started to work on fitting the corner ribs. These almost fit but are not quite perfect. I stopped for the evening because I think these really need to be right in order for the side skins to line up correctly.

A couple of observations. There are several (4) ribs that are going to need to be trimmed to allow for previously installed snap bushings (passage ways for wires). I'll attack these as I dissassemble the structure to deburr, dimple and prime. Two outboard seat ribs need to be drilled to take a bolt and somehow Van's forgot to mention this in the directions - not a problem, just an observation that the plans are getting sketchy. Also, there is a note about what parts to modify to accept the steps but you're on your own to figure out how much modifying is needed. Lastly, there are 4 spacers that Van's have you make for the sear ribs so they attach to the F705 bulkhead properly. The seat belt mounts interfere with two of them and they needed to be modified. None of this is major stuff but it points out that you're building an airplane as opposed to assembling one. You need to pay attention to what's going on.

I'm still pondering what to do about the spacer that I need to assemble the other half of the 904 bulkhead so that when I go to put my wing spars in they'll fit right. Mike Hoover sent me some dimensions for parts he used to create a spacer. Its clever but its also $60. I suppose if my center spar doesn't match my wing spars $60 is going to seem insignificant.

I really like the progress!

Photo 1 Here the seat ribs (between the two bulkheads) and the baggage ribs (dangling off to the right) are attached to the 904 bulkhead (gold anodized) and the F705 bulkhead (grey).
Photo 2 Yours truly assembling the fuselage center section.
Photo 3 Van's doesn't mention fluting these ribs and there were no flute marks so I didn't flute them. the would have fit better if I had fluted them as this photo shows. Two of the ribs needed fluting so I removed them, fluted them and reinstalled them. Its part of the fun of building it yourself...I suppose.
Photo 4 Here is the whole assembly drilled and ready for the next step (fitting a couple of corner ribs...which Van's says might need fluted but apparently don't in my case).

I invested a lot of hours (not to mention some running around not included in the building time) and there's not a lot to show for it. I prepared the seat ribs F916 (8) and F915 (2) by scuffing, degreasing and priming them. Tomorrow I'll add the 24 platenuts and I'm ready to assemble the center fuselage section. I als prepped the baggage compartment ribs by scuffing them and cutting the 1 5/8" hole for the step (note the plans call for a 1.5" hole and the instructions call for 1 5/8" hole. I thought the larger hole would be needed for "wiggle room" on the inside and would be necessary to account for most (not all) of the weld around the step. The oversize hole shouldn't show under the large square attach plate on the step. I verified this with Van's.

Most of my day was spent making a spacer block to simulate the spar for assembling the 904 center section. I skipped this step a while back for reasons I don't recall. I'd glued to pieces of MDF board together with the idea that I'd carefully plane it down to size. Well you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. There's a few thousandths variation left to right in the planer and what I got was unacceptable. I eventually located some Southern Yellow Pine in the scrap pile at Home Depot. Life must be tough because the board set me back $4.01. Maybe I'm getting old but this was a 36" chunk of 2 x 10 - not worth much at all - come to think of it I've paid that much for coffee, so ignore my rambling. I was able to fashion a couple of spacers and I finished attaching the the 904 C&D uprights (left and right) to the 904 A&B center sections. That task was way over due. Mary got her third lesson in riveting and this time everything came out good. Whew! I could have done this myself but it looked like easy stuff to buck and I wanted to do some educating....that's why I'm building - to educate myself....and get a nice airplane out the package too.

Like I said, lots of hours but not much to show. With a little luck I'll have the center section assembled by lunch and ready to drill in place. I'm still contemplating how to accurately mimick the wing spar so that when it comes time to assemble the wings to the fuselage that spar will fit snug. I don't want it too tight or too lose but snug.

Photo 1 Here are the 904 C and D uprights riveted onto the 904 A and B (fore and aft section of the spar center section).

Paul English, a potential RV builder, came by today to learn to rivet. At this point I think its safe to say he is an experienced bucker. In my opinion bucking is the harder part of riveting. From about 10:15 until 4:30 we worked essentially non-stop and riveted the aft fuselage and even fixed a few bum rivets I'd put in the tail cone. The difference between what the fuselage looked like before we started and when we finished was very gratifying. Paul learned quite a bit of bucking finese and by the end of the session was dealing with the tight space and odd angles deep in the tail cone with ease. For my part I got a great day of work from Paul and it shows. Thanks Paul! I also finished cutting and making the seat rib access plates and the spacers that I was working on yesterday. The aft fuselage looks really good.

Photo 1 Paul bucks and I'm riveting
Photo 2 The completed aft fuselage
Photo 3 Here I'm drilling holes for the access plates in the seat ribs (so I can get the stick linkage in and out)

Well, today I had intended to rivet the aft fuselage section. Things don't always go as one intends. I took a look at the bottom of the fuselage and realized that my wife has a few lessons to learn about riveting. There were quite a few smiley faces on bottom skin where we riveted them to the F707 and F708 bulkheads. The shop heads could each poster boys for a how to rivet series. The skin side would be a great example of what happens when you don't hold the gun against the skin and/or hold it at an angle. I couldn't have that kind of work where it showed and I seriously debated starting the aft fuselage again, or maybe just replacing the bottom skins. After I calmed the wife down I had a friend over who is also building a 9 and he agreed it was just cosmetic damage and it wasn't as bad as I thought (I'm not so sure about this last part but the smiles can be filled and shouldn't show when painted). He had one really good idea and that was switching from the simple mushroom tool to a swivel head mushroom tool. I did and tried a few more rivets by myself and it worked very well. Mary may try a few more rivets tomorrow and it looks like I'll have some help tomorrow from a future builder. So maybe tomorrow the aft fuselage will get riveted. I don't know for sure but I think the swivel head mushroom tool with the heavy rubber bumper around the edge is probably a better tool than the plain mushroom head set. I'll likely know tomorrow.

Since I wasn't interested in going further on the aft fuselage today I started in on the center section and made a little progress. I got the four 916C spacers roughed out and trimmed to length. Three of them need a little more time on the scotchbright wheel to bring them down in width. I also modified four of the 916 seat ribs (2 left and 2 right) to enlarge the lightening hole. The bigger hole is necessary for control rod movement. Two of the ribs also need to be cut and have a plate installed to facilitate installation of the control rod assembly. I'll have photos of all tomorrow.

I wanted to finish riveting the bottom of the tailcone skin to the 711 and 712 bulkheads. Since everything on the aft section is assembled a helper seemed the way to go. I decided it was time for my wife to get her second lesson in the fine art of riveting. After an hour we had driven 5 acceptable rivets and farted around with 2 rivets until my patience was wearing thin. Put them in, drill them out, put them in, drill them out. I decided to wait to finish these until later. I then put Mary on the floor with the rivet gun and in the second hour we go the bottom skin riveted to the 710, 709 and 708 bulkheads. Oddly, for as poorly as the first hour went the work we did the second hour was as good or better that any previous riveting. While I'd hoped to finish riveting the aft fuselage today, that was simply too optimistic. Maybe tomorrow.

I riveted most of the F-711 bulkhead to the fuselage. My goal tomorrow is to finish riveting the aft fuselage and be ready to start the mid section.

Tonight I finished reassembling the aft fuselage with clecoes and when I've verified the assembly is true its time to start riveting. It has the 'porcupine look' with all the blue plastic off and the clecoes sticking out that I've comed to learn means, 'you're almost done with this part.'

This evening I started reassembling the aft fuselage. The J-stringers are not installed yet and I need to add a couple hundred clecos. I'll also recheck plumb to be sure it has gone back together right. I'm not sure what could go wrong but I'll check anyway...and hopefully not get any nasty surprises. Once its reassembled and passes the check for plumb I'll start riveting.

Photo 1 The reassembly begins.

I finished dimpling the side skins (F773 L&R) and the J-stringers (786C L&R and 786B L&R). They were already scuffed from yesterday so I cleaned them in MEK and took them to the garage for a coat of primer. Progress! Tomorrow evening I should be able to reassemble everything in preparation for final assembly (aka riveting).

I deburred all four J-stringers (F786B, L&R and F786C, L&R) and scuffed them in preparation for priming. Next, I removed the blue plastic coat from the F773 (aft fuselage L&R sides) and then deburred and scuffed them. Then I dimpled the aft fuselage bottom, F778.

Photo 1 The sides (F773 L&R) and the bottom (F778)

I disassembled the aft fuselage and began deburring. Initially I deburred the tail cone and F-778, the aft fuselage bottom. I dimple the tail cone and primed the bottom. Lots more deburring to go.

 

Disassembled the aft fuselage, stripped the plastic coating off the tail cone skin and deburred the tail cone skin. Now I get to debur and dimple all the holes I drilled last night (hundreds of them!). Each hole I drilled connects 2 or more pieces so deburring a hole involves taking the deburring tool to at least four places (both sides of the hole on 2 or more pieces). This may take a while and is boring and tedious. Fortunately there are not a lot of large skins left to work with.

 

Drilled all the holes in the aft fuselage and started planning building the mid fuselage.

I finished making the last two new J-channels and reassembly went a lot better than yesterday. Oddly, after I got it all together I went back and re-read the manual and discovered that I had left out the F-710 bulkhead. So, disassemble everything, wiggle F-710 into place (much easier said than done) and then put the tail cone back on. I also checked the fuselage for twist. The directions simply said to drop a plumb bob at the forward and aft longerons and see if the string centered on the top and bottom tooling holes. This instruction alone seemed a tad weak to me. When I measured mine wasn't very close. I then leveled the fuselage side to side as best I could and rechecked. It was really close and may have been exactly on. I was expecting it to be straight since all of the prepunched holes lined up. Finally I drilled the four lower J-channels to the fuselage. If you're looking at the photo note the extra horizonal rows of clecos that were not there in an earlier photo.

 

Photo 1 The fuselage with the J-channels drilled in place.
Photo 2 Checking plumb. Note: The camera angle isn't square so it looks like the bob is off a bit. Its nearly perfect. Check out the level in the background. If the flange isn't level then I don't have a good reference.

I didn't like the way the J-channels came out so I decided to remake them. Getting the old ones out was a slow process but in the end I got two done. I quit early because reassembly was getting frustrating and it looked like it wasn't going back together as well as it came apart. I figured another day might make a difference.

I took it easy and just worked on getting the bend in the right longeron right. Its real close now - probably "close enough" but I expect Saturday morning I can tweak it a bit closer to perfection (Friday night is an EAA Chapter 231 meeting).

I only did one thing and that was starting the bend in the right longeron. Its nearly done but not quite. I'm approaching the bend slowly. In addition to making a template out of cardboard I am using the opposite (left in this case) F-721 B to match the bend. The F-721 B is layed against the longeron upside down so the bend is spatially correct.

There were two other things I thought through. First, my check for twist in the aft fuselage had ambiguous results. I'm 99% convinced there is no twist but I can make the test results show anything I want (politicians would love this). In order for the test to be valid the fuselage has to be level and the bottom is slightly curved so find some true level isn't real obvious (well not to me anyway). I'm pondering this and I think I've got an ok solution. More later. I also wasn't real pleased with how I trimmed the ends of the J-channels. On the aft end the overall length is fine but the trimmed parts are trimmed back 3/8" to 7/8" too much. So I called Van's and fessed up to Tom Green. He said they were probably ok and I agree but I had a fix involving remaking all of them (I have 2 uncut J-channels and I'd use them to replace the lower (longest) channels and then use the bottom one to redo the middle channels and the top channels are short and I can use the middle ones. If it wasn't for this website no one would know there ever was a mistake. Since I hadn't cut the last two Tom agreed this would certainly bring the work into close tolerance with the plans.

Photo 1: Right longeron in my new $35 vise ready to bend.
Photo 2: Right longeron nearly completely bent.

I added a bunch more clecos to the assembly and checked it for plumb per the manual. I've got to say it seems plumb but its really hard to say for sure. One thing that just continues to amaze me is how well all the holes line up across all of the assemblies. This is giving me a lot of confidence.

Also started measuring the longerons (well, right now they're just aluminum angle....when I'm done bending them they'll be longerons). It looks deceptively simple. Why have others had problems here? Why are the instructions offering multiple cautions? It appears to be just one set of gentle bends, a sharp angle bend, and some twisting. And then you do it again in a mirror image. Remember those aptitude tests you took in grade school trying to figure out which drawing is the reverse of this one? I think it was done to sort out potential airplane builders from everyone else. Unfortunately I don't recall how well I did on those tests. Hmmm....maybe I'll start bending stuff tomorrow.

I also added a number of bulkhead photos on the 3/2 entry...in case anyone actually follows this site (beside my old college buddy Gary).

Tonight after calling Van's I trimmed up the J-channels and trimmed all the J channels to length. It was an hour and a half of work that could have been done in less than half the time if the plans had been clearer. I'd say the plans or the instructions but the instructions are little more than a orderly list of what to do now. There are no instructions per se. Read the plans and build the plane in the order specified in the instructions and use all the knowlege you've gained building the empenage and wings to fill in for the lack of instructions. I'm not complaining - just pointing out the obvious.

I got a real "RV grin" today. I began assembling the rear fuselage and when I was done I had something that looked like an airplane part. First I assembled the 707 and 708 bulkheads to the F-778 aft fuselage skin. This is done on saw horses and starts out pretty rickety but like every other structure so far gets progressively stiffer as the assembly progresses. Next I put the F-773 side skins on and then added the F-706 bulkhead and bellcrank rib. Finally the aft tailcone assembly went on (well almost). The four J-channels that stiffen the side skin prevented the tailcone from fitting all the way on. After lots of head scratching and staring off into space I called Van's and confirmed that all 4 J channels need to have both ends trimmed per the plans. The plans call for the aft end only of two J channels to be trimmed. When the wife saw it she gasped at the progress (more RV grinning).

Photo 1 The Aft Fuselage assembly.

Riveted the bellcrank assembly to the F706 bulkhead per the plans and drilled top of the bulkhead where the bellcrank channel joins the bulkhead. Removed one extra rivet from the F711 bulkhead and began making the F 711D angle.

I've promised pictures of these bulkheads - here they are.

Photo 1 F-705 Bulkhead. This bulkhead is immediately behind the pilot and passenger seats. The white pieces are the seat belt attachment points.
Photo 2 This shot is a close up of the top of the F-705. The seat back angle is adjustable (3 positions) by slipping the back into one of these slots or allowing it to go over both slots.
Photo 3 This is the F-706 bulkhead and starts the aft fuselage and forms the rear of the baggage compartment.
Photo 4 The F-707 bulkhead. The bulkheads get smaller as you move toward the rear of the plane.
Photo 5 The F-708 bulkhead.
Photo 6 Here's are the F-709 and F710 bulkheads.
Photo 7 Here are the F-711 and F-712 bulkheads clecoed onto the tail cone skin. The F-711 (on the left) is one of the attachpoints for the horizontal stabilizer.
Photo 8 This is a close up of the F-712 showing where the tie down ring will go.

Drilled the flap mount blocks and bolted the seat belt attachment points to the F705 bulkhead. Finished priming the bellcrank assembly parts for the F706 bulkhead and then dimpled everything and assembled it. Tomorrow I should be able to rivet this assembly, match drill 4 holes at the top of the bulkhead to the 728 channel and be ready to start bending the longerons!

Finished assembling and fitting the F705 bulkhead and touched up the primer then riveted it together. This was probably my best solo riveting yet. Also worked on the bellcrank rib and channel associated with the F706 bulkhead. There were several parts to make and fit. These have been prepared, cleaned and partially primed. The F904 is done except for the spacer blocks. Tomorrow night should be some cleanup on the bulkheads to finish a few small tasks and then its on to bending the longerons. This is a job that requires a vise and a hammer...it sounds like something I should be qualified to handle (I hope!). Also, when the bulkheads are done I'll photograph each one which may help make sense out of all of this.

Began the final assembly of the bulkheads. All of the aft bulkheads are complete and the mid section bulkheads are nearly done. Currently I'm working on the F-707 bulkhead (located behind the seats). For grins I skipped ahead and clecoed the 712 and 711 bulkheads to the rear fuselage skin. In a couple of weeks this project is going to start looking like a fuselage!

I finished priming the bulkhead components today and clecoed them together for final assembly - hopefully tomorrow. Also, I didn't like the two saw horses I'd made a few months ago so I bought two kits (4 horses) at Harbor Freight. They were advertised as having fiberglass tops and metal legs. It appears that they have fiberboard tops and metal legs. They've very sturdy and have a large flat working surface. I expect they'll be great for fuselage construction. Harbor Freight had a massive 6" vise on sale for $35 that looked perfect for bending longerons, so I bought it.

I made the two stiffeners (used too to attach the horizontal stabilizer) for the F711 bulkhead and reviewed all the bulkhead work done. Not much left to do. Started priming.

I drilled a few more parts for the bulkheads and drilled holes for wiring and the rudder cables in a couple of places I missed.

More of the same and I started priming some parts. There's no shortage of stuff to make. One of the parts I made today was the rear tie down. It looks a lot more complicated than it is....which doesn't explain why I tapped the wrong end first. Duh! No damage done and if I never mentioned it odds are no one would ever know.

Worked on the 706, 707, 708, and 709 bulkheads. I fluted, trimmed and made small parts called for on the plans. Work is getting a bit disorganized.

Worked on making parts for the 706 and 707 bulkhead.

I made the 705J angle, and the 705 K and L plates. Spent most of my time trying to figure out how to put a 4 degree bend down the center of the 705 L plate. The first one came out so-so.

It sounds like very little work but I drilled the seat belt anchors to the F705 lower bulkhead assembly and I drilled 2 5/8" holes for the rudder cable and wires. Drilling the seat belt anchors involved carefully marking a hole on one of each pair of anchors, then bolting the anchor to the lower bulkhead and then clamping the matching anchor in place using a 3/16" spacer to properly locate it, then drilling the hole. Four of the eight anchors interferred with where ribs would go so that took some grinding. Finally I probably spent close to an hour organizing nuts, bolts and miscellaneous small parts out of the bags Van ships in and into various parts containers.

Tonight I continued with the F-705 Bulkhead. The instructions simply say to clamp the 705B and 605C and the 705H to the 705A and drill in assembly. First you have to make 705H which are spacers and you need to cut and polish the 605Cs to shape and then there's precious little guidance on exactly where everything goes. I centered the 705B doubler bar on the 705A rear spar attach bulkhead and then drilled the #30 rivet holes and clecoed as a went along. Next I clamped 605C bar doublers to 705A-705B assembly lining the ends of the 605C with the ends of the 705B. The exact placement of the spacer could be debated on several counts. Since there's a #12 hole to be drilled I decided to position the spacer so the hole went through the center (the spacer is only 0.5" wide). A lot of time is now being spent reading and understanding the drawings and figuring out a sequence that will result in what the book seeks. Its fun but not fast and I suspect when I screw up something the fun will be diminished somewhat.

I started the 705 bulkhead this evening even though I'm not quite done with the 704 bulkhead. I just didn't feel like riveting tonight. Instead I cut the 705B center section bar to length and marked a center line on it and then cut the 705H spacers. They're small pieces and I'm not quite done finishing them (either getting the bandsaw marks off nor putting the small bevel on one edge). Finally I marked the 605C bar doublers. The instructions don't really say you need to shape these parts but the plans are clear you do.

I've been feeling off a bit all weekend. The urge is there to work but the energy isn't. I did make some dedicated wing stands (so I can get one wing off the pool table and the other out of the rather precarious stand made from the fuel tank assembly stand). I've also done some cleaning and rearranging so all of the finished parts out of harms way and the unbuilt parts are staged better for future construction. Lastly, I did a little more organization on the small bags that come with the kits. I've noticed finding parts has been a slow and painful process. Hopefully this will help.

Installed some more snap bushings in the 904 A and B, drilled the holes for the spacer bolts and triple checked the plans for the final riveting of 904 C&D (L&R) to the spar center section. It was getting late so rather than starting the riveting I spent 40 minutes look for parts for the 705 bulkhead. Van's almost hid the little piece of stock for the 705H spacer too well! Maybe tomorrow night I'll finally finish this bulkhead.

Finished riveting the cover support ribs to the 904A center section. Installed the snap bushings on the cover support ribs and manufactured the two 904-J spacers. I did a loose assembly of the entire 904 bulkhead. Tomorrow I hope to complete the center section assembly. The final bolt up requires making some close tolerance spacers and that may take some time.

I did some shop cleaning. It was getting a bit too disorganized and my efficiency was falling off...not to mention I'd misplaced my short 470-4 set and needed to find it to finish riveting parts to the 904A center section spar front. We'll see if the cleaner shop improves my work efficiency. So, no building time today but I did manage to find room for a boom box so I can have music (or a game) on while I'm building.

I riveted the 904 stiffeners to the spar and screwed the 982 cover support ribs to the stiffeners. I assembled the 983 cover support ribs to the spar. Spent some time teaching riveting skills to a future son-in-law.

I prepared the 982 and 983 cover support ribs by drilling them to the spar, cutting holes for the snap bushings, attaching the platenuts and drilling a few of the holes out with a #19 bit where the #8 screws pass through and then deburing and priming the parts. Also made the 904M stiffeners from angle stock and did all of the above prep work. I deburred the spar and then began riveting the parts to the spar.

 

Photo 1 Here are the "raw" cover support ribs
Photo 2 Here are the prepared cover support ribs and 904M stiffeners.

Completed the control column assembly (added a few more washers) and then removed it, leaving the column mounts on the rear half of the spar. Countersunk the 904 A and B (front and rear spar halves) for 18 plate nuts and riveted the plate nuts on. I had hoped to put more time in on the project today but yesterday my computer wouldn't boot and most of today was spent replacing the motherboard and CPU and putting it all in a new case. Working on the plane is definitely more fun.

Today I got very little done except remind myself to read the plans and the directions before beginning assembly. Basically the control sticks are bolted to the column using a long bolt and a brass sleeve placed inside a powder coated steel channel that's welded to the stick. The bolts were a little tighter than snug and I managed to get one stuck really tight. I don't know why I'm admitting this. Well, I disassembled everything, tapped the bolt back out and then I decided to follow the directions and bore the sleeves to 0.25 ID. Darned if those bolts didn't fit much better. I polished the uh 'tool marks' out of everything and reassembled the control column. I'm guessing I took about 2 hours more to do this than you will take if you read the directions AND the plans. Maybe I've learned my lesson....its possible.

Photo 1 Shows the control assembly.
Photo 2 Close up showing what I spent 5 times too much time playing with.

Greg Dexter helped again today. I reassembled the firewall and then we riveted the stiffeners, gussets, and miscellaneous pieces on. The instructions are getting more and more vague and ambiguous. They CLEARLY say all of the flush head rivets go on the forward (engine) side of the firewall. The plans OTOH have a note that the flush head rivets for the fuel plate doubler go on the cockpit side of the firewall. I dimpled and countersunk everything according to the instructions...and I wasn't too pleased to discover the note on the plans this morning. Perhaps Van felt his ears burning a little. My fix was to countersink the cockpit side of fuel plate doubler and then do double flush rivets. The doubler is 0.063" and was thick enough to support this decision. The rest of the riveting went fine except the call outs on the plans are short every time. Finally finished riveting mid afternoon and moved back to the building the 904 bulkhead. I mounted the control stick bases and began assembling the control column. I really don't enjoy trying to fit tiny washers on small bolts in tiny spaces. Progress on this was slow.

Photo 1 Greg bucks while I rivet the firewall. I think I prefer bucking.
Photo 2 The finished firewall. The clecos in the center are where the 601K recess goes and it doesn't get riveted in quite yet.
Photo 3 The double flush rivets on the fuel pump doubler.
Photo 4 The control stick assembly started.

I primed all firewall forward parts. I assembled the 904 Cs&Ds to the 904 A and B. This required using 2 close tolerance bolts to assure absolutely correct alignment. The bolt didn't want to fit. Even with a mallet and some persuasion they were reluctant. I called Van's (after all they were supposed to have drilled these holes). The advice I got was to scotchbrite the bolts and the holes, then freeze the bolts and use Boelube on the shaft and then try the mallet gently. It worked. I drilled all the rivet holes in these parts then disassembled the whole works. Finally I fabricated the control column mounts. Figuring out how to clamp these in place to drill in assembly while keeping them square to the spar was a challenge. I then began the assembly of WD610 control column.

Photo 1 Using Scotchbrite to polish the close tolerance bolt holes.
Photo 2 Either a 904C or D clecoed, bolted and clamped to the spar center section. The clamp is needed to hold the 904G shear bars in place while I drilled them.
Photo 3 The control stick bases clamped to the spar center section. If you're a builder, these are fine clamps to use but be smart and put the bases on right. I've got them reversed in this picture. Ooops. When I put them on correctly today I had to open up two bolt holes slightly. I wondered why they didn't fit perfectly when I reinstalled them and now I know. Fortunately the holes are just there to let the bolt pass through.

I drilled the 5/8" holes in the 904 A/B/C/D. It sounds easy and wasn't difficult but locating these fairly large holes (to put snap ring bushings into) caused me to ponder the plans for a long while. The plans are clear enough but it didn't seem necessary to put the holes in the 904 C and D as close to the edge as the plans called for. In the end I followed the plans exactly. I also cleaned most of the firewall parts for priming. I have a 4 day weekend coming up and I want to do some serious assembly work.

Deburred parts and reviewed plans. Discovered I was short 7 snap bushings.

Greg came by again and helped for a few hours before we took the afternoon off and went flying. My theory is when the weather is this nice in January, pilots should fly. Before departing for KOFP we reassembled the firewall to check the dimpling and countersinking and to finish drilling for the fuel pump doubler plate. My plan was to drill the last two holes for the platenuts in assembly to assure accuracy. I also needed to drill the 0.25" hole for the bolts to pass through. We found two countersinking errors that I fixed. The firewall parts are ready to prime and then I can do final assembly. Next we reviewed the plans for the 904 bulkhead, found all of the main parts and then I reviewed the manual for assembling this part. It looks like my work for this week is cut out for me.

In related news Greg showed me his RV-8 tail kit that he picked up this weekend from a relative who hadn't pounded a rivet in 3 years. He got a stellar deal on the empennage and a good deal on an Avery tool kit.

I finished dimpling the firewall. Stainless steel is certainly a less friendly material than aluminum. It's sharp and doesn't work as nicely as aluminum. I also countersunk all of the stiffeners, shims and various parts that needed to be countersunk. It was the first good workout I've given my drill press since I started the project. I expected I'd use it more. It sure made short work out of a whole lot of countersunk holes and it did them very well.

Deburred the stainless steel firewall and dimpled about 70% of the firewall. It wasn't a particularly good evening in the shop so I cut it short. On the other hand, I did get some air time today.

Tonight I finished drilling the firewall components, then disassembled everything and began buffing rough edges, deburring, and scuffing parts for priming. Everything will also need to be dimpled or countersunk. There will be a lot to countersink. The front of the firewall will have flush rivets to aid in mounting things and keeping it clean.

I finished fitting parts to the firewall and started drilling pieces in place. Nothing interesting to report other than I was having some difficulty keeping the shims in place while I back drilled the 601J brackets using the holes in the firewall as a guide. Then a dumb idea hit me - tape the shims in place and use cleco side grips to hold the 601J. Duh! Anyway, I should finish drilling the firewall pieces tomorrow. Then it'll be time to deburr, scuff, and prime. Here's a prediction: Any manufacturer that figures out how to build an aluminum airplane without having to deburr, scuff, and prime will cut build times by 40 to 50 percent, cut tedium by 75% and if the plane is half way decent will steal the market.

Tonight I began by manufacturing parts F6012 (a doubler plate for the auxilary fuel pump), F601 E (a stiffener), and F601P (2 shims) and then worked on fitting the firewall parts together prior to drilling in place. The parts fit well but not perfect. Another half hour more or less with the scotch brite wheel will cure the problems then it will be back to the old routine: drill in place, deburr, scuff, prime, and then finally rivet.

Photo 1 Here's a photo of the parts I made tonight
Photo 2 And here's a photo of the firewall assembled with all the parts in place. Some additional final fitting is necessary.

I began work on the firewall. The firewall is the stanless steel piece of sheet metal that separates the engine compartment from the cockpit. It forms one of the bulkheads for the fuselage and is where the engine is mounted. It's a fairly important part. The first step is to manufacture the 601J (right and left), which I did. I spent the next hour and 45 minutes looking for premanufactured parts, which I eventually found. It appears that there are 2 more shims that need to be made, an 8" brace that's fabricated from aluminum angle stock and a fuel pump doubler. This last piece is made from flat stock. I'm guessing 2 or three evenings will be enough to accomplish this and fit all of the other pieces to the firewall, drill and countersink them.

Photo 1 The 601 J angles fabricated from angle stock.
Photo 2 The firewall with most of the pieces approximately in place

Continued the inventory on the fuselage parts...and as I noted before, there are plenty of them. All of the big parts seem to be here. There are lots and lots of bags (pages of them on the inventory sheet). I don't count or weight the rivets but on the wings I made the mistake of not looking in each bag to be sure everything was there that should be. Over the next week this will happen.

Photo 1 Here's a shot of the smaller of the 2 boxes as it arrives from Van's after the lid is removed.
Photo 2 And here's your's truely scanning through the shipping list, which is rather impressive. You get a lot of pieces of aluminum for $5,300.
Photo 3 Most but not all the bags you'll get when your fuselage kit arrives. Oddly sometimes there are two bags with the same rivets.
Photo 4 Here's the vent hose that Van's ships - it's even approved for use in RVs.

Began inventory of fuselage parts...and there are plenty of them. I'm guessing there will be several more hours worth of work completing the inventory. So far the major parts seem to all be there and only 2 skins show any damage. Some fumbling klutz with ABF trucking stuck a forklift fork right into the box. On the other side there were a bunch of rolled up skins and he could have easily done hundreds of dollars worth of damage but it looks like he forked the air in the middle and when he lifted the box and the fork mildly distorted the skins. I'm still evaluating the two skins.

Photo 1 Fork lift damage to Box 1 of 2 (the big box).