Category Archives: General

Time: 4 Hours

I got some time in the Hangar on Friday to assemble and rivet the forward section parts after the paint had cured for several days. First order was to clecko the upper/lower bulkheads in place followed by the baggage floor and side.

You then add the firewall to the mix.

Once the firewall is in place clecko’d to the other parts you can final drill the holes that attach the firewall to the floor. There are 9 holes that need dimpling on the floor and countersunk on the firewall bottom brace(which I did earlier than the plans call for to make it easier). So I removed the firewall after drilling and dimpled the required holes. These holes will be riveted along with the cooling ramp later in the build.

With that done I was now ready to rivet the firewall to the forward floor section. Before I could do this I needed to seal the area around those 9 holes I just discussed. This to prevent any migration of oils and such from the engine into the cockpit as they run along the cooling ramp to the belly of the airplane. To seal this you can just use Pro-Seal like the fuel tanks. So I taped off the area with electrical tape and mixed up some Pro-Seal for the job.

I then put the firewall back in place and checko’ed each of the 9 holes to allow the Pro-Seal to cure. I then riveted the remaining holes on either side of the sealed 9 holes.

After I was done with that assembly I sat back and was thinking ahead as I usually do to the next steps and trying to imagine future parts and sections. I was looking at my modification to the air supply pass thru I did to the lower forward bulkhead. I came to realize that my measurement for its location was off a little. I placed it to far towards the left as the view from the seat. What I found was that the 90° elbow would just clip the edge of one of my Cam-Locs! Here is a view looking forward and you can see the left edge of the pass thru is just on the right edge of the Cam-Loc.

So that won’t work, I looked and looked for a solution on oh I would make this work. My solution? I just ordered a new lower bulkhead. It’s not riveted yet and I can replace the 6 nutplates on it. I will remove the pass thru and move it over about an inch which will give me clearance on the Cam-Loc and the support angle on the baggage floor. This is something I struggle with when doing these mods as you really have to think about every possible view of the part so as to avoid these errors. My problem was that these were two separate mods that ended up affecting each other. Luckily this will be an easy fix and only cost $26 for the part. But this is the fun part of the build is making these changes and mods to make it “my” airplane!

On the center section completion.

I was lucky enough to spend 10 great days at the 2014 EAA AirVenture in OshKosh with my girl, her youngest son and one of my twin sons, Chandler this last week. We have an awesome EAA chapter, #95, which has a great turnout for camping. We had an entire block of camping space which allows a rectangular ring of sorts in which the center is our gathering spot with the community awning and grill. The weather was almost perfect with temps in the daytime hovering around 75° and the nighttime around 55°. I’m getting better at living for that long in a tent but I sure miss my 5th wheel camper I used to own. The show itself was great with a very large RV turn out. Lots of walking a inspecting every inch of the RV-8’s that I found. I had a long list of questions for various venders from avionics to engines. After this week I have made a formal list of items I plan on using, with the caveat that I can change my mind at anytime! 🙂 Dynon has win my choice for avionics as well and Vertical Power for their solid state circuit breaker panel. Whirl Wind has the prop that I’m stealing towards. Superior Engines has the XP-360 that I’m leaning to as well as their 3 day build class where you get to build your engine from scratch to give you the inside knowledge of your engine. These were just a few of the many vendors I busted over the 6 days that they were around. I attended several good forums that have given be some better insight to my future building tasks. While at the show I received word that my fuselage was shipped and enroute. I talked to the shipping company and set up a delivery for this Thursday between 8am and noon. I also had a lot of time shopping for some discounts on several items I wanted. I got several tools, rivets, Adel clamps and gust locks for my wings to name a few.

I look forward to inventorying my fuselage this weekend and moving on with the build! Here is what our little camping spot looked like before all the other 95er’s showed up.

Time: 7 Hours (2 on Wings)

Today’s task was to build the cradle the will hold the wings from this point on in the build. Before I made the run to Home Depot for the required supplies I had to attend to a few items on the wings. I had both tanks off and needed to rivet the 17 missing rivets, 7 on each wing. After those were done I returned the tanks to their rightful place and put in all the bolts to the z-brackets and torqued them to the 20-25 in/lb (which seems way light for AN3 bolts but I double checked and made a call to verify) and will put my orange torque seal on once the wings are flipped over in their cradle. I also replaced the screws along the skin edges. I only did half since I’m still thinking I will replace these with stainless steal ones and leave them unpainted. On our Lears the painted screws look fine until you need to remove them and then they never look the same after touch up paint. Then I grabbed the squeezer to finish off all the perimeter rivets. So what is this in the next photo? That’s right no more clecko’s in the wings!!! After spending a little time at Home Depot I got home with all the needed supplies. I decided to use 3/4″ MDF instead of plywood for the cost. I followed the plans from Van’s and used their dimensions. The cradle supports the outboard end with cutouts the shape of the leading edge. The other end had some notches cut out to support the main spar end. These ends are separated by a 8′ 2×4 and several angled supports to give the ends rigidity. I also added 4 castering wheels to allow me to move the wings around the Hangar.

I then added a strip of carpet to each of the cutouts as well as some pipe insulation to the nose area of the wing cutouts to give some added padding.

That took me most of the day so when I finished I took the time to clean up the hangar and put all the tools away from this weekends fun. I had a truck load of trash and items that I needed to take to the dumpster at work so I loaded up and made the trip. Before I left I removed all the blue film off the wing skins. I have read that the adhesive that is used for this film gets stronger over time and some builders have a real hard time removing it down the road. I also grabbed a rag and some alcohol and cleaned the wings of any adhesive and markings. Wow they sure look cool all cleaned up!

I solicited the help of my buddy for tomorrow to remove the wings from the stands and put them in the cradle, after a good breakfast of course!

It’s that time for my 6 month recurrent training at Flight Safety in Tucson, AZ. It’s a love hate relationship I have with Tucson. This is the hate part:

and this is the love:

Day 1 done and a little poolside time is a good way to decompress. My girl is coming down on Wednesday to spend the second half of the week with me up in Scottsdale for a little fun getaway, and I can’t wait to see her!