Wheel Fairings Started

Early in the morning I started cleaning up some open sections. Among them was the "installation" of the steps. I still did not install the steps but I installed the hardware in the holes that will eventually hold the steps to the fuselage. That way I was able to finish the section without a bad conscience.
I also finished the canopy section by finally re-drilling the 3 front holes that were covered by the glasswork when building up the skirt.

I even finished the last piece of tedious work that was left over from removing the pedals when they were leaking brake fluid - the little brackets that connect the tunnel to the instrument shelf. I honestly hate these little brackets! It took me painful 20 minutes to just insert the two top screws and get them tightened. There is just no room to work a screw driver without slipping the tip in the head of the screw.

Finally I prevailed but I honestly hope I will never have to remove them ever again!

By then I was covered in sweat from working on these brackets and I was not sure what else made sense to work on. The antenna installations will have to wait a few days while I am waiting for the star washers to arrive and so I decided to start the messy work on the wheel fairings. Sanding fiberglass in 105 degF is no fun but there just was nothing else to do.

The first step was to reduce the overlap of fiberglass on the inside of the front piece on the top, so it would neatly and smoothly transition to the aft half.

The fiberglass is rather thick and it is hard to tell if the material was removed evenly, so I assume I will have to revisit this step when the parts have been sanded back to their scribe lines.

But before that Van's asked me to sand back the tire openings. For now I just went to the scribe line but I might open it up a little bit as it seems to be awfully close to the tire.

That was enough work in the heat and I called it quits when the afternoon storm was moving in. At least the winds swept the nasty fiberglass dust away (or spread it out evenly), so cleanup was rather quick.

Section 21 and 22 Completed

That was a great day today. I completed sections 21 and 22 on the same day and even completed an optional installation of section 21.
First though I looked at the Proseal results from yesterday. The steps were successfully sealed although I will probably add another thin layer of Proseal on one of the steps next time I have to mix some more of it as an air bubble got caught and I can't see if it would provide a path for water getting into the step. So I'll just cover that bubble up next time.


The left one in this picture is the one with the air bubble.
Then I went ahead and added the optional nutplates for the VHF antenna installation on page 21-16. This required match drilling holes with the K1000-08 nutplates that are supposed to get used. I haven't had to do this so far, so I experimented with it, knowing that the result would be on the belly as well as probably covered my the antenna mounting plate.


The clamp and my thumb were holding the nutplate in place while I was drilling with my free hand. Once one hole has been drilled, I could insert a cleco to hold the nutplate supported on one end.


That didn't turn out so perfectly as I wanted it to be. The problem is that the nutplate does move a bit as it is only firmly supported on one end. To stop this from happening I did two things. I drew a center line through the screw hole and beyond to mark on which line the rivet holes should be, so the adjustment of the nutplate would be easier and I drove a screw through the nutplate from the opposite side which would support the nutplate in the screw hole a bit during drilling.


This worked much better even though the clamp couldn't be placed on the center anymore. Still the nutplate was easy to hold in place while drilling the first hole and after the cleco was set it was much easier to ensure that the nutplate wouldn't turn while drilling the second hole.


After drilling and deburring the holes, the next task was to dimple the holes. While this would have been very easy before putting the skin on it became almost impossible afterwards. Although the access holes in the belly skin would have provided enough room to get the squeezer through to do the job, the stiffener left and right of the antenna attach point would have interfered with the yoke of the squeezer as the dies are not long enough to ensure clearance. In order to dimple these holes anyway I had to get dies that get used with a pop riveter.


These dies have a dimple form carved into their surface and use a simple nail as the mandrel that gets pulled by the pop riveter. If you're careful and use a hand riveter to can even dimple multiple holes before the nail breaks. The only thing you have to worry about when using them is to put the right die on the right side of the skin.


After a few minutes all the holes were dimpled to receive CCR264 rivets and I could put the nutplates in place.


Since my drill out experience with this type of rivet I learned to be extremely careful and focussed when riveting them to make sure I never have to drill one out again. So it took longer than usual but it looks perfect, if I may say that.


Then it was time to work on the other side of the skin while the fuselage was still on its side. This was to insert those 6 screws and tighten with the nuts I had just recently acquired the necessary deep 7/32" socket. My wife was up to the task and except for one slightly resistant nut all of them went in without any problems.


And this concluded the tasks of section 21. So on to the last step in section 22 then ...
... which was to attach the forward lower fuselage to the mid section and riveted it in place. That was not easy at all. The instructions didn't give any hint as to how the best approach connecting those two large and heavy parts to each other, so it took some consideration and creativity to come up with a good way.
I know that Dave did it with the fuselage upside down and he experienced some problems because of the way how the skins overlap. That led me to the idea of trying it while the fuselage is on its side. That way I could walk around and fiddle with the overlap issues on the inside if necessary.
It still is awkward as you have to support the forward part which tapers significantly to the front to allow some of the weight to rest on the bench while you try to align the holes. I'm not even sure if a second hand would help so much as most of the problem was to find out where it interfered.
Anyway, after a full hour of fiddling, thinking that I got it, removing clecos again as I had a bad overlap and doing it again, I finally succeeded and had those two parts correctly connected.


A lunch break and some riveting action later, the parts were attached for good. Make sure you rivet the vertical flanges (inside the cockpit) before doing the skin as the rivets might otherwise interfere. Still there are some rivets in the skin center that wouldn't go all the way in as Van's had you already install the snap bushings and they are in the way. A good way of pulling these is with the manual puller and applying a lot of pressure while slowly pulling them.


And then I turned it over to get the real look of an airplane.



Well, it might look much like an airplane to you, but I can definitely see it already ;-).

So, now I have to decide which section to work on next. I think it'll be the fuel line installation, section 28, as this is a good time to do it and I am a bit afraid of the longeron bending that would start with section 23.

Nutplates Replaced

I finished drilling out and replacing those dreaded -08 nutplates with K1000-3s by noon. Again, having the right tool made this repair much easier than initially anticipated. Too avoid too much of a mess under the seat support floor covers, I put some duct tape over the back side of the nutplates before drilling them out. That way most of the chips were caught by the tape. The rest was vacuumed by attaching a flexible plastic hose to the muzzle of the shop vacuum. Pretty noisy (the plastic flex hose was acting as a very short organ pipe) but effective.
The new nutplates went in and my fingers were just long enough to get the aft nutplate caught by a cleco. Thanks to the dimpling the positioning was fairly easy.


The few scratches in the primer and some dirt on that tunnel side will disappear when I apply a bit more primer over it. The CCR264 installed without problem but I have to say I was very diligent about installing them. Getting these out by drilling if they start turning in their holes again would be nearly impossible.


Even though this issue took me a week a week to fix I cannot say it wasn't worth it! While I was working in the tunnel today I saw a few empty holes that made me wonder ....


This is the flaperon mixer bracket and checking with the plans after seeing this showed that I had also overlooked to rivet it completely to the tunnel rib. Hm, I wish I had kept more like a diary style log of that build day as it appears that I had outsourced this work to some cheap low quality company instead of doing it myself. I must have had a really bad day without even realizing what I was doing.
With the CQR (Close Quarter Riveter) this problem was quickly resolved, though.


After fixing all these issues I would have loved to finish section 21 by putting the screws in the tunnel but my helper wasn't there and so I had to postpone this last step. Just as well, as I later saw that the postman had delivered the dimpling kit I had ordered a few days ago that will allow me to install some nutplates in the belly skin above the landing gear tunnel where the plans said as much as 'OPTIONAL' - without explaining further. Inquiries with a few people and searching in usual and unusual blogs revealed that you really want some nutplates installed. They will hold the VHF antenna for the COM radio and while the initial installation is easy, it will get almost impossible to remove the screws holding the antenna once the landing gear is installed... . Unless you install nutplates, which then will turn this task into a very simple job of removing 4 screws.
So, there will be a little bit more work to be done to really finish section 21, which might just all happen tomorrow.

As I had a little time left before engaging in profane weekend activities with which ordinary non-airplane-building people usually spend their time, I went back to section 22 and finished the step of attaching the horizontal bulkhead on the firewall that builds the ledge. This required mixing some Proseal and I didn't want to do that at the end of the building session last time as it was getting late.


I mixed some of this stuff and kept some in the mixing cup while filling most of it into a syringe. I got a large amount of syringes to eventually fill the rivet head with epoxy filler to seal the head facing up from water getting into them. The mandrel is raw steel and will start to rust if this happens and besides this the paint job on filled rivets will look much nicer and last longer as the paint is quite stressed where it sags inside the little hole of the rivet head as it is not supported from underneath and water will sit in this little dent longer and not just run off.
I wanted to use the syringe to fill some of the holes on the bottom of the lower firewall where the flange attached to the corner skins. I think this will happen later but I knew I would have enough Proseal to spend it their now. I also filled the opening on the steps which I had skipped earlier. I picked up Dave's idea of applying masking tape over the opening after filling it with Proseal and turning it upside down. That way I don't have to fill the hole completely and should still get a nice finish. We'll see tomorrow how it turned out.
On the upper flange of the lower firewall I just smeared a thin layer of Proseal before putting the horizontal bulkhead in place. I used the stirring stick for that matter. It looks like the amount was about right as there wasn't too much sealant pressed out. neither on the front not inside.


Finally I was able to get that breathing mask off of my face, shower and enjoy the simple happiness of watching a movie with my wife. 'King's Speech' - I can very much recommend this one.

And ..... OUT!

The right angel drill attachment I had ordered yesterday from Cleaveland Tools arrived today. I had it shipped overnight so I was sure to be able to fix this mess over the weekend. Call me ambitious ... I know.
Anyway, I just used the angel drill on the rivets I had started to work on but had to abort as the drill wouldn't stay in one spot. Well, not so with this little baby. With the right tool this issue was just a matter of a few minutes. Two nutplates were drilled out. I cleaned up the mess and will do the rest tomorrow, including riveting the new ones in.
This thing just confirmed again what I have learned during the previous build. A single task can take you a week to complete and the result will look mediocre at best if you use the wrong tool. With the right tool though, it might be so easy you won't even realize what you just completed and how great it looks.

Revisiting 21-05

I discovered that I've made a big mistake early on in Section 21 that is now really hard to fix. Around 21-05 there were so many nutplates to install that I obviously didn't read the instructions anymore and I also ignored the labels on the items used. I just kept on riveting on those nutplates. All of them appeared to be K1000-08s but in step 7 and 11 they reference K1000-3s which I overlooked. Now the ribs that carry the wrong nutplates are already installed and sealed up by the floors and drilling them out in the tunnel will be very hard. I actually have to order a right angle drill attachment just to get those 8 rivets removed. Putting the correct nutplates in once the drilling has been done, won't be a cake walk either. So, as a warning to others. Be careful and check those nutplates before closing up any areas!

This is were I will be working on the next days when I get the necessary tools.


It's the two nutplates down in the web of the rib that defines the tunnel.
I tried to work with a HF angle drill but with the drill bit in there, the dang thing is too big to fit into the tunnel. I got lucky and got one rivet head drilled out but it's just wandering around on the other rivets, so I stopped until I get the right tool. I don't want to make the problem worse than it already is.

Fuselage Moved

The first thing I did tonight after taking a few photos and posting some stuff on VAF to share some of my "wisdom" was to move the fuselage out of the shop. With Section 21 almost done and the structure getting bigger and bigger there just was not enough room in the shop anymore to work comfortably.
The fact that my coaster workbench turned out to be probably too tall was actually helpful in this task today as I was able to just pull the blanket the fuselage was sitting on and pull it onto the coaster workbench and roll it out of the shop.


Now it's sitting in its new spot and is out of the way and yet easily accessible when needed, although outside.


Then I wanted to finish Section 21 and get those 6 screws in the belly skin and I had the fuse already turned on its side, acquired help from my wife and everything - when I realized that we couldn't complete the task due to insufficient tools. The 7/32" nut I have has a center hole that is too small to let the screw pass while the nut would have been on its way towards the skin. I searched everywhere to find a 7/32 wrench but no luck. I even checked the metric wrenches I had, to see if one was coming close but the smallest I had was a 6mm and that was a tad too big to get a grip on the nut. I swear, if I had found a 5mm one, I had filed it wider to get this job done but no such luck again.
I'll have to go to the store tomorrow and get a wrench of that size.

I was so frustrated I just had to continue on Section 22 to work it off ;-). And so I ended up installing 16 nutplates in the tunnel ribs...


... and I riveted the steel angles onto them that support the firewall.


I just realized that this wasn't a very revealing shot as you can't see the steel angle, can you? Hm, I have to fix that issue tomorrow, it's too late to get out to the job again.

Oh, I almost forgot! The cushions arrived today. Antelope and red. Very nice!

Section 21 Almost Finished

Another very long day at the factory. In the morning I did the prep and prime of the parts for Section 22 and got to use my new HF HVLP spray gun. All the time before I had used the HVLP Automotive Spray Gun Kit that comes with a big gun and a detail gun. I had fairly good results with the detailer but never got really happy with the big gun and so I gave it another try when the #66222 was on sale. Boy, what a difference! This gun is very nicely manufactured and shows a lot of attention to detail, can you believe it? This thing is great and produces a wonderfully fine mist at a record low pressure where the other gun would just spatter.


It comes with a 1.4mm jet and the only problem I see with that is that there's no other size available if need ever be. With the Stewart primer this works like a charm so far and so I won't complain. It just retired the Automotive HVLP kit for good.

This is what I got done by a little after noon.


Then I got back to Section 21 and the forward bulkhead. I riveted the bulkhead onto the angles, the ribs and the side skins and put the snap bushings in.


The next step was to close up that step floor and that always gets me a bit excited as it would be hard to get back inside, so I vacuumed the last shavings out and took a few photos to remember how it looks in there if need be.


The floors were clecoed on and rivets were seated on both sides.


Riveting started and it went pretty well until ....
... Super Bowl XLV was calling and I had to take a break.


Great game so far and my Packers are leading comfortably at the end of the second quarter. As those Green Eyed Lemons took over to mess up the halftime show, I got another session in the shop, just as well.


And just when I thought this is almost too easy I ran into one of Van's practical jokes. That was when they have you install the last two nutplates by "reaching through the lightening hole and holding the nutplate in position" or something like that. The practical joke here is that probably only an 8 year old might have hands small enough to actually reach through that hole. In lack of an 8 year old at hand, I used a little magnet taped to my finger tip holding the nutplate so I could reach through that hole with a finger (and almost no sensitivity, very funny!).


That worked well enough to catch one of the attach holes with a cleco and allowed me to fiddle with it while the cleco held it in place. 10 minutes for two nutplates, not too bad given the circumstances.

That ended the work on the front and the next step made me work on the tail section of the fuselage.
Installing another (short) bulkhead along with the brackets for the second autopilot servo was the task. Here's the result.


Then the fuel pump support got match-drilled and riveted to the rear tunnel. The rivets have to get pulled from the belly which is a bit awkward when you have a fuselage sitting on a table instead of sawhorses. I was able to pull the fuse back enough to get to the belly and pull those 4 rivets though.


The last step in section 21 is to install 6 screws in the forward tunnel that go in from the belly again and they are held with those tight metal lock nuts on the inside of the skin. I remember reading about these screws in Dave's blog and that means there was something mean about them. That's definitely not task for one person alone and certainly not something for this late hour, so I'm holding off on that until I can recruit a helper.
Instead I pulled some more parts for section 23 (the dreaded Longeron Section) that need preparation for priming and interior paint. I'm a helpless optimist to even think about this before bending the longerons, I know.


On another note: I am now only a single digit number away from reaching the 500-hours-worked mark in my log.

Step Support Angles Riveted

It was a very long day today. Not so much with building on the RV but because of working on supplemental things. For instance, as I need to get the fuselage out of the shop soon because it is just getting too big to move around it, I wanted to build another lower workbench on casters to put the fuselage on. The idea was to use the rectangular crate the fuselage arrived in and add 4x4s in the corners as legs. That's just what I did today. I cut the 4x4s 2 feet long and added casters as well as cross struts under the plywood sheet to strengthen the structure. It all worked out well, although I expected it to be done much sooner compared to when I actually finished. Anyway, it is done and I think this will be helpful - I just wish I had cut the 4x4s a bit shorter. Overall the workbench is now 28.5" tall and that is just half an inch lower than my folding table I am working on right now. That means I might have to use a step for a few things on top of the fuselage. We'll see how it plays out.


Then I upgraded the shop's air supply lines or at least I wanted to. After a few hours of work this still isn't working as I wanted it to be and I think I'll have to redo it. So still no improvements but also no work done on the plane.

Finally, I got to work on the steps and the support angles. Clecoing and match-drilling was quickly done, so quickly that I forgot to take a photo of that step. So all I have is when I removed the bulkhead after the tricky stuff was done.


Next was to do some more match drilling with the stiffener that holds the nutplate. That took a while as all that could hold it in place was that nutplate and a screw in it.
Then finally everything was taken apart, deburred and re-primed as the angles were a bit scratched up. And then the angles were ready to get riveted to the floor ribs.


Unfortunately, the room to rivet these LP3-4s was so limited that I had to use the CQR (Close Quarter Riveter) to get these pulled. Not too bad, but time consuming.


I also touched up some scratches and some light primer spray on the bulkhead. That's why I stopped here and let the stuff dry over night before riveting it in place tomorrow.
There's also another prep & prime session coming up tomorrow and I have a new spray gun from HF that will get tested.