Dent Happens

I should write about this because stuff happens. While riveting the vertical support on the baggage bulkhead (a step called out in the cabin install section but should just be completed long before...I really don't see why they waited this long to have you complete this step) I dropped the bucking bar.        Wait...let me back up. There I was standing on a step stool leaning over the top of the airplane. The tungsten bucking bar being squeezed into a tiny crevice that my hand does not fit into. I thought for a moment and said to myself  "I should lay a blanket down on the lower skin in case I"...BAM!! the bucking bar hits the lower skin..."drop the bucking bar". Of course this event was followed by a lot of cussing and a man sized tantrum. How stupid could I be. It's hard to tell in the pictures but the bar hit in the most forward bay of the tailcone immediately to the right of the battery mount. The bar hit so hard that it actually caused a crack in the skin. Once I settled down and stopped beating myself up I thought "Now I  know where to install my transponder antenna".

Tailcone is Forever Attached

Wow! I can't believe it's been over a week since my last post....what happened?

It's been raining every afternoon here with these monotonous afternoon pop up thunderstorms. Which in turn cancels my efforts to go flying. Until Saturday morning! I FINALLY was able to squeeze in a 1.3hr flight, just long enough to shoot 3 instrument approaches and land before the lighting started striking again.

I spent the rest of the weekend working on the plane. I mainly worked on the tailcone attach section although I dabbled in attaching the steps as well.
In summary:
1. I ordered my Com Antennas, Stainless Steel Heater Boxes, and some hardware and materials I'll need for the step section (more on that when I do the work).
2. Deburred, countersunk, and riveted (what I could reach solo) tailcone and fuselage frames and skins.
3. While deburring I discovered a misdrill I made. I have no idea how it happened. I'll discuss my fix later with pictures.
4. Smoothed out the welds on the steps for a better appearance.
5. Attached the delrin block for the step.
6. I got a buddy to help and finished riveting the tailcone to the fuselage. So now the tailcone and fuselage will forever be one and that section is complete.
7. Got a small start on the upper fuselage section.

Time Log
Wed 7th - 1.5hrs - Made skin shims, drilled out tailcone holes, drilled new holes in bottom
Sat 10th - 3.5hrs - Deburred, dimpled, other misc work
Sun 11th - 5.5hrs - Started riveting what I could reach, started installing step
Mon 12th - 2.5hrs - Got some help finishing up the riveting. Also got a small start on the upper fuselage section.
































This is the hole I misdrilled in the fuselage lower skin. I have no idea how it happened, but the little
snow man figure needs to go away.

 

 

I made a drilling template so I could center the new hole over the snow man. The new hole was drilled out large enough for a #5 rivet. I still had proper edge distance so moving up to a #5 rivet is really not a concern other than appearance and since this is on the bottom of the airplane that didn't concern me either.

The new larger hole (located to the right of the first rib on the left).

 

 

The new #5 rivet installed on the bottom of the aircraft. ...problem solved.

 

 

Baby's first time in the airplane!

New Shop Layout and Tailcone Attach

I had what was described as an ADD Saturday. I pilot friend of mine had free tickets to the Memphis Speedway, I've never been to anything like that before so we decided to fly to Memphis for a few hours to watch the races. The costs would be split 3 ways since we would be bringing a passenger with us as well. So, a cheap flight and free tickets, sounds like a great plan.

Saturday morning brought some large storms over the Memphis area cancelling our plans. So plan B; we'll fly East instead to Chattanooga for the day and do some zip-lining, sounds like a great plan.

The storms are moving East and looks like by the time we tried to head back we would probably be stuck in Chattanooga. So Plan C; we'll fly around town and just shoot some approaches and get lunch.

Weather briefer states the storms will be in our area within 30 minutes, ok no flying today. So plan C; with nothing to do for the day the guys decided to help me rearrange my shop moving the wings to the loft and shifting the large work table to the side so I could position the airplane in the center.

So after a day of bouncing from one idea to another it turned out to be a very productive afternoon. All the finished parts: wings, ailerons, flaps, vertical stabilizer, rudder, elevators, horizontal stabilizer are all stored in the loft. All the piece parts have been moved down and on the shelves for easy access. And the entire shop rearranged to make room for what was about to become something that resembles an airplane.

The next day I called a good friend of mine to stop by for a few hours and help me finish riveting the aft skin of the tailcone. Being the lightweight of the two of us I laid down some blankets and crawled into the tailcone. I good day to be a smaller guy, but still very tight and uncomfortable. We finished the skin and started lining up the two parts, tailcone and fuselage, for what I hope will become a very long relationship between the two. It was pretty easy and went a lot faster than I thought it would. I then swept up the shop, sat down, and just stared at it for a while....awesome.

Total time over the weekend - 6hrs

(including moving airplane parts, riveting the tailcone, and clecoing the tailcone to the fuselage,

not counting sweeping the shop and moving tools)

 

 

 

The shop's new layout.

Static System and Another Vacation

Another vacation makes for a break in building the plane and it's updates. Yep, we took another vacation, this time boating with the in-laws. This is a yearly trip for us and I can't wait to be able to fly to the lake instead of driving the 10+ hours. I currently rent an airplane when I need to fly, but renting an airplane is only feasible if it's for a short trip. A week long boating venture would cost me a great deal as I would pay for the airplane to sit on the ground all week (major negative to renting). So, we load up the car every year and begin our trek. This year we had the baby for the first time which slowed us down a little, but the trip was long before she came along, so what's the difference.

After returning from vacation and completing my duties around the house I was able to get back to the plane. With the wings being finished it's time to prep the tailcone for attachment to the fuselage. The first step was installing the static system. As I stated in an earlier post I am using the SafeAir1 pitot/satic kit. I installed the static system before installing the aft skin on the tailcone for accessibility to the area. The static system install was easy and I finished everything in a few short nights. Next is riveting the aft upper skin and then the big shuffle day when the wings move to the loft and the whole shop is rearranged in preparation for the tailcone install.

Mon 29th -0.75hrs- Started static system install
Tues 30th -1.25hrs - Prosealed static ports in place, made adel clamp tabs for stringer
Wed 31st - 1.5hrs- Riveted tabs to stringer, installed clamps and hose

Static tubing runs from each static port to a tee and then down the upper LH stringer.

 

 



I made little tabs to attach the adel clamps to. This avoided drilling large #10 screw holes in the stringer. They are attached using two 470AD3 rivets.

The static ports are installed with Proseal. Riveting the ports in place can create a puckered look in the skin caused by having so many rivets in a close proximity. The proseal is still drying and I plan on giving them a good test pull to be sure they are secure.....otherwise I'll try plan B - rivet in place anyway.

Prosealing the ports in place does make a really nice finished look.

Back of Static port. The adel clamp picks up an existing tooling hole in the frame.

I made a small angle to attach the tee port to. It attaches in place using an existing hole as well.

"I'm ready to go swimming!"