Michael – Page 110

First Day

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Time: 4 Hours
Today was the first real “build day” on the RV-8. I jumped right in and just followed the instructions from Van’s Aircraft. There were a couple of things that I was completely sure of so a little searching on www.vansairforce.net provided some direction.
The day started with shaping the rear spar stiffeners and match drilling them to the spar. I was also able to get the 4 outside elevator hinge brackets lined up. The last item was the center hinge that has the elevator bearing sandwiched between the two brackets. I match drilled them and primed the bearing.

First Day

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Just Organizing

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

I have a pretty busy flight schedule this time of the year due to our training. We have 29 pilots in our flight department and we all do recurrent flight training twice a year. All of our pilots go through rigorous predictive analytics to help them predict the flight patterns and airline trends in their loal areas. That means for several months a year we are down 2 pilots every week in training. That added to the increased flying makes for a busy flight schedule. That’s being said I was able to finish up some bits and pieces in the Hangar and clean the shop. Once that was done I decided to carpet the table I made for the DRDT-2 dimpling machine.

After that chore was done I broke out the two boxes for the empennage. I organized the parts a little and laid out some of the substructure. I was so excited I even grabbed a few clecos and put some parts together just to take a look.

New Friends

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Over the last several months I have been surfing the website www.vansairforce.net for good advice on my upcoming build. I was lucky enough to meet a master builder, Glen V, through that site. He lives fairly close to me and has offered his expertise for my build. The other day he invited me to his local EAA chapter 95 for their monthly meeting. My flight schedule was just going to work out, if the weather cooperated. Luck was with me and I landed the Lear in Aurora, IL with just enough time to change and make the drive. What a great group of people chapter 95 has! I stayed for the entire meeting, met everyone and decided to write a check and become a member. I’m looking forward to the camaraderie and the help during my build. I already have received some helpful, and plan changing, advice! So not only am I a national EAA member but now have a local chapter, chapter 95! Thanks to all of you that welcomed me to the group.

Painting Tray

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Michael — No Comments ↓

Today I took an idea from another RV builder, Jason Hess, for a painting table of sorts. I too decided early on that when I start to build that I want to prime aluminum parts. I saw a table he made out of 2×4’s and chicken wire. I don’t have a really large garage so I decided that I would make a tray that slides under my workbench when not in use. When info need it I can slide it out and place on a couple of saw horses and do my priming. Next up the support table for my DRDT-2 dimpling machine.