Section 17 – Wing Skins

11/24/09 – While working on the Section 16 stall warning, I pulled out a skin to check placement and alignment of the sensor.  On the inside of the skin, I found some blackish discoloration which appears to be some form of oxidation. 

I’ve posted this photo to the VAF forums for some advice.  I’m hoping that I just need to polish and prime the affected area.  We’ll see.

Update:  So far the consensus is that this is cosmetic and should be cleaned, buffed, or scuffed off.  I’ve found similar discoloration in the leading edge area of a couple of skins now.  In each case, the discoloration is found under an area of bubbled-up blue plastic, and is limited to the dimensions of the bubbles.  It does not seem to come up with MEK, but scuffs right out with scotchbrite.  This seems to be a non-issue, but I will shoot this photo to Van’s for their take on it.

12/1/09 – Got back to work after a Thanksgiving trip to Oregon (and a Monday series of trips to the bathroom…with the stomach flu).  Peeled the exterior plastic off of 1203-L and removed the interior discoloration with a blue scotchbrite pad.  I polished all discoloration until the metal was bright and uniformly colored.  Then I re-cleaned with MEK and primed with the NAPA 7220.  I found a small nick and a scratch on the exterior side which will be sanded and primed tomorrow.  Short night, since my wife now has what I had yesterday.  Ick.

12/2/09 – Took the night off to read a book.  A word about my skin prep.  I will be scuffing clean any area which shows any level of discoloration/staining/oxidation.  The skin will be scrubbed clean with MEK on a towel.  I’ve found that the blue marking ink and the plastic’s adhesive need to be carefully cleaned off.  Any scuffed areas will get a solid coat of primer, with the remainder of the skins getting a light coat.  I’m still using the Napa 7220 primer, which is self-etching.  I’m not scuffing the skins (other than otherwise noted), as the interior of the skins will not be subjected to wind/weather/movement, etc.  Also, all mating surfaces will be primed on both surfaces.  Ultimately, I’d rather leave the alclad layer alone than improve the primer adhesion.  I figure the weight penalty will be a pound or two across both wings.  Hell, if my wings end up overweight, I can always reskin them or build a new set while I’m flying with these.  Sure, it’s taken me a year to build these.  Next time, I could probably do it in a month.

1/12/10 – Happy New Year.  A nice post from Phil reminded me that I haven’t updated for awhile.  I’ve been dealing with flu (mine and family’s), an acute flareup of a chronic back problem, Christmas, New Year, some urgent duck hunting, and other life-related issues.  I have also now completed ALL of my pre-checkride flight requirements for my PPL!  Last Friday I spent 3.4hrs on a solo cross-country from Redlands to Blythe to Thermal to Redlands, taking me to 5.1hrs of PIC time.  Now I “just” need to do my written, oral, and flight tests for my ticket.  Looks like I’ll have the PPL before I’m done with the plane

Progress has been made, though.  I have prepped and primed all of the lower skins for the left wing. In my prep work I focused on making sure the skins were blemish free and sanding/polishing the edges smooth and tool-mark free.

I have installed the inboard-most skin and am ready to do the outboard skin.  I’ve been hampered slightly by the unfortunate rusting of my clecos.  Boo.  The poor little clamps somehow got moved under a rain downspout and were significantly rusted before I noticed.  Luckily, I found a great product called “Evapo-Rust”.  Okay, stupid name but awesome product.  It works through chelation (sequestration of the offending rust particle, in this case), and ONLY attacks iron rust.  It purports to have no impact on aluminum, and I worked to confirm this by submerging an alclad scrap in the stuff for about a week.  No effect on the alclad was noted.  On the other hand, the rust stripped right off and the clecos work perfectly (I followed up with a shot of WD-40)  Riveting seems to be going smoothly.  I’m happy that I can use the pneumatic riveter on these, rather than the hand-puller I used for all of the rib-related rivets.

4/3/11 – Yup, another year-plus hiatus.  It is what it is, I suppose.  I spent last weekend and part of this one cleaning dust, oiling clecoes, and reorganizing.  Today I cleaned the outboard lower skin, which had been clecoed in place for the last 12mo’s, waiting for me to get back to work.  The clecoes had bled oil onto the ribs and skins, staining/discoloring them in numerous places.  There was no pitting or corrosion, so I cleaned the skins with non-corrosive purple Simple Green.  To get the remaining color spots out, I buffed the exterior of the skins with gray ScotchBrite along the rivet lines and shot a thin coat of Napa primer over the scuff lines.  Not pretty, but better than oil staining, and will ultimately be removed and/or covered by painting.  I also shot some Napa primer on the rear spar to remove the oil drip appearance.  So, the rear spar is now Stewart Primered and Napa primered in places.  Should be solid.  No significant scratching, deformation, or (any) corrosion was noted during cleanup.

It was nice to get back out to the shop.  A new canopy has been ordered for the tent.  Hopefully this canopy will see the completion of Chapters 17 and 18, and the beginning of the fuselage or the empennage, whichever comes next.

Tech Inspection

11/22/09 – The plan is to arrange for an EAA tech counselor to take a look at my wing skeletons before I put on the skins.  In all honesty, I question the need for this with the RV-12 kit.

11/23/09 – Called the local tech counselor and made arrangements for him to come check my work tomorrow morning.  Whee!

11/24/09 – Swing and a miss.  The tech counselor blew off our morning meeting.  When I eventually got ahold of him, he said he’d come by tonight.

Update:  I’m a little concerned about the local tech counselor.  When I contacted him this morning, he said that he’d forgotten about our meeting at 10am (which we’d scheduled only 14hrs before).  We agreed on 6:30pm tonight for the inspection.  Note that these were his chosen times.  At 1:30pm I got a call on my cell phone from the counselor, asking me why he couldn’t find my address (he’d written it down wrong).  I corrected the address for him, but told him that I was now at work because we had agreed on 6:30pm.  “Oh.  Okay.” was the response.  At 6:30pm (and on)…no tech counselor.  To say that my confidence level with this guy is low would be a dramatic understatement.  I will be looking for another nearby counselor to sign off on my wing skeletons.  Obviously, this won’t happen before Thanksgiving.  Oh well.

Section 16 – Stall Warning

11/19/09 – As mentioned below, I began on the stall warning assembly.  I deburred and final drilled the two mounting plates.  I trimmed and deburred the two large angle brackets.  It looks like my supplied parts include a different set of washers than called for in the revised plans, so I’ll need to figure that out.

11/20/09 – Cleaned, etched, and alodined the aluminum parts of Section 16.  Marty Santic’s blog helped me with the washer issue (he’s an RV-12 builder that has a similar kit to mine, but his is flying already).  I should be able to construct the stall warning with the materials available.

11/22/09 – Primed all aluminum parts and assembled the stall warning switch assembly.  Fabricated the terminal blocks.  I was ready to install the various assemblies, but I need to buy some #18ga wire.  Doh.  It’ll give me something to do while I’m setting up the tech inspection.

11/23/09 – Finished the bulk of this section.  Installed the stall warning, but did not attach the wing skin to check alignment because the wing was on sawhorses, not on the table.  The odds of getting Melissa out in the backyard in the 40 degree weather just to switch out wing skeletons were quite low, so I left the test fitting for tomorrow.  I ran the wiring for the stall warning and installed both terminal blocks (one per wing).  I did not install the string down both wings, simply because I didn’t have any string in the shop.  And the last thing left undone is installing the nuts on the left wing’s terminal bracket.  Turns out that the kit came with 2 of these nuts, while the plans require 4 of them.  Hmm.  I looked at the plans about 8 times to make sure it wasn’t my fault, but I seem to be in the clear.  So I will call Van’s tomorrow and request a couple of the required locknuts.  Hopefully the nuts will be waiting for me when I get home on Sunday after Turkey Day.

So, left undone for Section 16 is:

1.  Cleco on the wing skin and check alignment of the stall warning switch. – Completed 11/24/09

2.  Install the string in both wings per plans. – Completed 11/24/09

3.  Obtain and install the two locknuts required for the left wing terminal bracket.

11/24/09 – Spent a little time on the plane waiting for my no-show tech counselor.  I ran string through the grommets in both wings and checked the stall warning.  All looks good.  My only question is whether or not the stall warning tongue should rest on the skin, or if it needs to sit above the lower edge of the cutout.  This is how it looks currently:

Section 15 – Wing Ribs (redux)

10/20/09 – Back to work.  Spent the day cleaning, tidying, and re-organizing the shop.  More needs to be done, but it was a good start.  Sat down and re-read the plans from start to finish, just to refamiliarize myself.  Pulled my dust covers off of the work-in-progress.  Reviewed my completed pieces for correct assembly and to assure myself that I had completed all of the steps prior to the restart point.  Total: 6hrs.

10/21/09 – Spent a few hours reviewing the alodine and priming decisions that I made last year.  Decided to go a different route (see “I’m Back, Baby” post below), so I went out and bought some rattle can primer at the local Napa.  I washed all of the main and nose ribs in Dawn, rinsed, and set aside to dry.  Fluted the main ribs per the plans.  Yes, this was skipping forward a step or two, but they were bothering me…sitting there all warpy and twisted while the nose ribs were so straight and happy.  I crimped and tweaked them into line, like their leading-edge brethren.  Fear me, ribs.  Tomorrow I will be proceeding with the steps following the fluting of the nose ribs.  Specifically, dimpling and installing nutplates.  Mom is flying in tomorrow, so I may or may not get to priming, match-drilling, etc.  Total: 3hrs.

10/26/09 – Back from a very nice trip to Vegas.  No gambling, but plenty of good food.  Sat down with the nose ribs and went over each one with a discerning eye and finger, looking for any additional deburring or pre-paint prep to be done.  All rib scallops were rounded out.  All that’s left for pre-prime prep is the dimpling and final drilling for the nutplates.  Note that I will be lightly priming these ribs due to the amount of scuffing and scratching that I inflicted on the ribs last year (when I fully expected to prime everything).  This has the added benefit of removing any minor surface corrosion and oxidation which may have accumulated over the last year.  Total: 2.5hrs

10/27/09 – My first “oops” of the restart.  Began to drill out the center hole to #19 for the nose rib nutplates.  My electric drill was in the house, so I grabbed a handy (low-speed) air drill and began to drill out the pre-punched holes.  No dice.  For whatever reason, the holes came out funky and oblong.  Luckily, this particular rib had a couple of identical brothers, so I found my power drill and grabbed one of the duplicate ribs.  Second time was the charm.  Now I just need to call builder support and find out if I can use the oops rib or if I need a new one.  Then I realized that my 3/32 dimple die set has disappeared sometime in the last year (really?  now where the hell did that thing go?).  So that’s a second call tomorrow…this one to Avery.  And, finally, my shop (which is a tent on my pool deck) suffered catastrophic failure in a huge windstorm last night.  The walls are fine, but the roof simply disappeared.  Well, at least I have something to do while I’m waiting for my dimple dies…

10/28/09 – Ordered the new dies from Avery.  Grr.  Changed the shop configuration to better suit actually building vs. idealized building.  Bought the new shop canopy.  Called Van’s to confirm that my botched holes in the rib webbing is a non-issue.  Confirmed.  Told me to deburr and ignore.  Done and done.

10/29/09 – Took the detritus from the reconfig to the dump.  Put up the new canopy.  Re-started my pilot training (approx 36.5hrs in, just need my long cross-country and a few more solo hours and I’ll be eligible for my check ride).  First flight in about 1.5yrs went veeeery well…until the landings.  Ouch.  Combo of a new instructor with new input plus rusty skillset (with a touch of gusty crosswind) led to two really ugly landings.  Bah.  Going back up tomorrow for another refresher and we’ll take the plane over to my local deserted international airstrip (rated for the Airbus 380 with virtually no traffic)…10,000×200′ of concrete-y goodness.  Taking the un-level, narrow, constrained home strip out of the equation should help me focus on putting the wheels on the numbers again.  Jeez, I USED to be good at this landing stuff

10/30/09 – Still waiting on the dimple dies.  Skipped ahead just a tad and match drilled two main ribs with the rib doublers.  Finally, something on the re-start went smoothly.  The two main ribs were match-drilled and deburred without incident.  Flew another hour in the Piper today.  It seemed to go much better than yesterday.  I’m regaining my situational awareness and getting comfortable with the engine and flight instruments.  Made several landings (at my home airport, no less) which got increasingly better.  Nothing like my old standards, but certainly getting there.  I should be soloing again after next week’s dual flight.

11/1/09 – Lots of progress today.  Hung two fluorescent shop-lights, which are a fantastic upgrade from my old lighting solution, which was a halogen job spotlight.  Dimpled the nutplates and 3/32 rivet holes on the three nose ribs per plans.  Wet-sanded out all scratches on the nose ribs and hung them up to air dry.  Fluted the three remaining unfluted main ribs.  Deburred the lightening holes on all main ribs.  Match drilled the four designated main ribs with the flaperon hinges and hinge plates.  Deburred the match-drilled holes.  The plan for the week is to get all ribs primed.  Before priming, some main ribs need additional deburring, and my HVLP gun is leaking in a fluid-delivery line which will need fixing.  We’ll see how much work I can get done during the week, now that I’m back at my full-time job.  The new shop lights were very, very nice.

11/2/09 – Short night.  Downloaded the plans revisions to date (my plans were o-riginal), printed them at the local Kinko’s and put them in my 11×17 binder.  Only one revision affects a step that I’d already completed (Ch. 13, changing an LP4-3 callout to LP4-4).  Since this revision is not classified as a Service Bulletin, I won’t be replacing my original work.  Inspected the flaperon hinge brackets.  While I’ve gotten the O-K from Van’s on the slight gap in the bracket, I want them to take a look at the double-countersunk flush rivets around the bearings.  The shop head stands proud of the surface.  So the question is, do I leave them alone?  Shave them?  Drill them?  Replace the brackets?  Dunno.  I’ll take some more pictures and send them off for builder support input.  Deburred about half of the remaining Main Ribs.  I have to say that I am mooooore than ready to be done with the ribs.  It’s odd.  I don’t mind deburring, cutting, filing, prepping, etc.  But the ribs just suck balls.  There’s too many of them, too many nooks and crannies.  Grrr.  I am very much looking forward to moving on from the damn ribs.

11/4/09 – Good news from Ken Scott at Van’s…the shop heads on my countersunk rivets (flaperon hinge brackets) are A-OK.  His email has been filed in my builder’s log.  Did final deburring on the remainder of the non-match-drilled main ribs.  I’m keeping the match-drilled parts segregated to avoid issues.  While they are marked for identification, I will be MEK’ing soon, and that will take the Sharpie right off.  Better to just keep them separate, I think.  Tomorrow I will debur the match-drilled main ribs and start the final pre-primer prep.  That prep will consist of cleaning with Dawn, rinse, wipe with MEK, scuff with scotchbright, MEK, alumiprep, dry, spray.  But that’s tomorrow.

11/5/09 – Abort Abort Abort.  Started my cleaning process and quickly realized that my organic fume respirator had deteriorated over the last 12mo’s of inactivity.  I made it about 5min before I realized that the respirator was shot and I bailed for the night.  Home Depot trip tomorrow will fix the issue.

11/6/09 – Picked up the new organic fume respirator and got back to work.  Washed, MEK’d, lightly scuffed, MEK’d, and hung up to dry all non-match-drilled main ribs.  The match-drilled main ribs are set aside to avoid confusion.

11/7/09 – Went to fly in the school’s Piper, but the pre-flight led to a cancelation.  Turns out that the oil is supposed to stay INSIDE the engine.  Which meant that the pool of fresh oil in the engine compartment was a bad thing.  Came home and prepped all of the nose ribs and two match drilled main ribs.  All that’s left is to prep the four flaperon hinged main ribs.  Hopefully I’ll get to prime most or all of the ribs tomorrow.

11/8/09 – Surprise trip to Disneyland with the kids meant no priming today.  I think that Wednesday (Veteran’s Day) is probably my best bet.

11/9/09 – Finally cleaned and scuffed the last four main ribs.  They have been set aside with their match-drilled mates.  I’ll stop by Harbor Freight tomorrow for an HVLP gun repair part and Wednesday looks doable for priming.  I had to take my shop digital camera in to work for a few days, which is why photos have been lacking.  I’ll try to get that back in-shop soon.

11/11/09 – First, I’d like to take a moment to give my thanks and support to our troops and our veterans.  The sacrifices of our military, their families, and (far too often) their survivors cannot be overstated or overappreciated.

Today was big.  I tried to use a new HVLP gun with my Stewart Systems primer on a few main ribs.  It just didn’t work.  The paint came out in splatters and globs, leaving a corrugated and over-painted look and feel.  Scratch that idea.  Time for Plan B, which was the Napa 7220 rattle-can primer.  I decided not to sand down the four test main ribs, but sprayed a little of the rattle can primer over the top for the sake of consistency.  Then I started to prime with the 7220.  Genius!  The priming went quickly and without a hitch.  I was very happy with the look and feel of the primed ribs.  They seemed very airplane-y.  I was finally able to install the (primed) nutplates on the three nose ribs and the rib doublers on the two main ribs.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the end of my year-long rib-prep process.  Hallelujah!  I have learned that I much prefer the “building” aspect to the “preparation” aspect of this process.  I have also learned that the preparation is at least as important, if not moreso, as the building.  Regardless, I’m freaking ecstatic to be moving on from the ribs.

I pulled the left spar off the sawhorses and put it up on the work surface.  I installed all of the main ribs per plans.  I installed the rear spar per plans, including the match drilling and LP4-4 rivets on the inboard main rib.  I moved on to the nose ribs, but didn’t quite finish.  After a couple of rivets on the third nose rib, I realized that I was using the wrong rib (trimmed forward and aft, rather than just aft).  I also realized that it had been a very long, productive day and I was pretty much done.  Ten minutes of cleanup later and I was soaking in the hot tub with a beer.  Progress!

11/12/09 – Oh crap.  I replaced the mis-installed nose rib and continued moving inboard with the nose rib installation.  As I began to install the untrimmed nose ribs, which requires the riveting of the aft rib flange to the spar, a minor problem arose.  The aft flange rivets were just a tad hard to seat, but a little force got them in.  Then I got to the forward-trimmed nose ribs.  Now the aft-flange rivets simply won’t seat in the spar.  I looked closely and found what appears to be a manufacturing defect with the spar.

A word of explanation, for those who don’t have a spar to look at.  The RV-12 wing spar is a u-shaped length of aluminum.  At the wing-tip, that spar is unreinforced.  As you get closer to the inboard end, there are additional layers of thick aluminum sheet laid on the bottom of the u-shaped spar and riveted into place.  At first there is one additional sheet, then a second, and finally (if I remember right), a third.  So, ultimately, the “web” of the spar is four layers thick at the inboard end.  In several places holes have been drilled through the layers of the spar to allow for the installation of rivets.  Those rivets are used to hold the nose ribs in place.

Unfortunately, it seems that the layers of the spar got misaligned by just a hair sometime after the holes were drilled.  The misalignment is virtually invisible at the outboard end, but is quite noticeable at the inboard end.  In fact, I noticed that some of the holes were obstructed when the wing kit was delivered, but simply didn’t think about it being an issue.  Ack!

I have sent an emergency assistance request to Van’s with a description.  My possible solutions include using an awl to try to realign the spar layers, but I simply don’t believe that that could work.  I could drill out the rivet holes to the same rivet size, but that would simply leave an elongated hole in the misaligned layer, which seems to be the main spar itself.  I could drill out the rivet holes to the next size up, but I’m afraid of compromising the minimum edge distance rule on the nose ribs.  Finally, I could drill out all of the installed ribs and wait for a new main spar.  Ugh.  We’ll see what Van’s has to say.

And of course, I don’t have my camera tonight, so pictures will wait for tomorrow.  boooooo.

11/13/09 – Sent off an email to Van’s builder support regarding my left spar issue.  Ken Scott got back to me and requested page/drawing #’s and photos for reference.  I provided those around noon and haven’t heard back.  I’m not taking silence as a good sign, but we’ll see.  I’ll but the left spar to one side and start on the right spar tomorrow.  The right spar seems fine upon inspection.

It's subtle, but you can see the mis-alignment in the rivet holes.

 

Left wing skeleton at time of defect discovery.

11/14/09 – Set the left spar aside and started on the right wing skeleton.  Installed all of the main ribs and rear spar.  Started on the nose ribs, but was called to daughter duty and never got back outside.  Went for another lesson.  I’m done with all minimum requirements, but for the long solo x-country and another .8 hours of simulated instrument time.  My slow flight needs work, too…

11/15/09 – Doh.  I just can’t win with this Section.  Installed the remainder of the nose ribs, then double checked my work (as usual).  Realized that I had put the inboard-most rib on the wrong side of the attach angle.  I punched and drilled the rivets, elongating two of the rivet holes in the rib (the attach angle is fine).  So I won’t be moving onto skinning the right wing while I wait for a solution on the left spar.  Booo.  I’ll call Van’s tomorrow and order a replacement rib, nutplates and rivets (just to be on the safe side).  Looks like I will start assembling the stall warning assembly for installation once the left spar is sorted out.

11/16/09 – Well, turns out that I need a different countersink to do the stall warning, so that’s on hold, too.  I stayed home with a sore lower back today, anyway, so that makes for a good time for a break, anyway.  I ordered a replacement nose rib and hardware from Van’s, ordered a new countersink head from Avery, and went to the chiro.  In the meantime, Ken Scott gave me the solution to my spar problem.  If I can get a #30 cleco into the mis-aligned hole, then I can drill the hole out with a #30 drill and rivet as usual.  He cleared this with Engineering (well, it was their solution, apparently), so I’m fine with it.  I will make a note to check the right wing nose ribs carefully on my annuals, but I’m comfortable with the solution.  I took a brief walk out to the shop and did the cleco check.  Even the most occluded holes took a #30 cleco, so it looks like I’m good to go.  I’ll probably finish up the left wing skeleton tomorrow and the right one on Wednesday when the parts come in.  Well, maybe Thursday…the local EAA meeting is Wednesday night and I’d like to start attending.

11/19/09 – Well, the sore back had me sidelined for a few days.  To make matters worse, I missed the EAA meeting due to a scheduling misunderstanding.  Doh.  In the meantime, the replacement parts came in from Van’s and the countersinks came in from Avery.  So I spent the evening re-doing the nose rib, including trimming, dimpling, and deburring.  It still sucked, even to do just one rib, but I noticed that Van’s has significantly (but almost imperceptibly) improved their rib stamping process.  All of the scallops are radiused and curved at the thickest part of the flange, whereas they used to be somewhat squared off at that point.  More impressively, all of the corners are now stamped out radiused.  I’m impressed and freaking jealous.  There was actually a significant amount of time spent filing a radius into numerous square corners on each of the 50+ ribs.  But it’s great news for later builders.  I also countersunk one of the plates for the stall warning per plans.  I deburred and prepped the two large-ish aluminum brackets from the stall warning chapter (that I don’t know the name of).  Tomorrow I will be cleaning and priming all of these parts so I can finish up the wing skeletons and move on to skinning.

11/20/09 – Cleaned, etched, and alodined the replacement nose rib.  Watched the new Star Trek movie with my wife.  This weekend should see the end of Sections 15 and 16.  Of course, I’ve thought that before…

11/22/09 – Section 15 is DONE.  Whew.  I spent a little time in the morning priming the rib (and stall warning parts), then I riveted in the nutplates on the replacement rib.  In the afternoon and evening I finished up the left and then right wing skeletons.  I should be able to get the stall warning installed before Thanksgiving, and I’ll also use the time for a tech inspection, if possible.  I’ll post some photos in this section when I get a chance.

I’m Back, Baby

Good lord.  Somehow a short break from the plane factory turned into a year hiatus.  How did that happen, one might ask.  I know I sure did (ask, that is).

At first I thought that I’d lost my mojo.  But that wasn’t it.  I still had the itch to get out and build all year, I just couldn’t organize or motivate to get out to do it.  Next, I blamed my work.  But while it is true that this was an incredibly busy year for me, there were still down times that I did not take advantage of.

So, when I leveraged my early-year productivity into a one-month vacation (all of October), I resolved to figure out what was keeping me from the Factory.  The first two weeks+ were spent out of state with the family, but now the kids are back in day care and the wife is back to work.  So I went back out to the shop, dusted off my tools and parts, and re-read the plans from front to back.  Then I went over each step to make sure that it had been done (I purposely did not review this blog beforehand, to keep me from making assumptions).  That help me remember not only what I had accomplished, but also how I had done it.

I realized that I had just gotten overwhelmed with work, family, a huge mess o’ ribs staring me in the face, and an overly complex and environmentally questionable anti-corrosion scheme (specifically, the alodine).

So I took some time to reassess what I’m doing, primer-wise.  I have time at the moment, so I could power through my original plan, at least with the rest of the wing.  But I’ll be back to work before I know it and I don’t want to just get myself back in this same position next month (or next year, or whenever).  I need to build a plane that I’m comfortable with, but if I’m not building the damn thing my comfort level with it is irrelevant.

On the other hand, I’m not willing to ignore the safety, time, and money issues posed by corrosion.  So I will be priming all mating surfaces (as recommended by Van’s) using (for the moment) rattle-can Napa 7220 self-etching primer.  I will also prep and shoot any area which has lost its Alclad via mishap, deburring, scratches, or whatever.

This is also the time for me to leverage the power of EAA.  Redlands has an EAA chapter, and I’m just down the road from the very capable folks at EAA Ch.1 at Flabob in Riverside.  I am committed to join my local chapters and get their expertise into my arsenal.

It’s time to get this show back on the road.

Congratulations to President Obama

Just wanted to take a moment to congratulate our new president, Barack Obama.  A truly momentous occasion for the United States.  He made even a cynic like myself sit up and take notice, and I have faith that he can continue to energize our flagging nation.  Godspeed, Barack.

Section 15: Wing Ribs

9/10/08 Started the section today by peeling a whole lot of blue plastic off of the nose ribs.  Found two or three ribs with significant scratches, but only a few scratches on each of them.  Oddly, one (from the middle of the bundle) had three parallel scratches which had sliced right through the plastic.  They sanded right out with 400 and then 600 wet sanding.  Deburring starts tomorrow!  Woo.

9/14/08 Instead of deburring right off, I chopped off the various nose rib flanges, per plans.  The band saw made short work of the flanges, and this step went off without a hitch.

9/15/08 Deburred the lightening holes and the wavy flanges on the nose ribs.  Radiused the corners, as well.  Next step is to clean up the nooks and crannies, and run a Scotchbrite pad over the pre-drilled holes to knock down any residual burrs.  Then it’s on to fluting and then priming.

9/16/08 Off for a hunting trip, so I tidied up the shop area.  No significant progress.  Back to work on Monday, 9/22.

9/24/08 Finished the nook-and-cranny deburring on most of the nose ribs.  Should be fluting by the next session.  Woo.

HIATUS I took about a month off for…well…life.  Killed some geese in Canada.  Some ducks in Oregon.  Some beers in California.  Cranked out some work.  Suppressed some evidence, righted some wrongs, and drank more beers.  All was good, but it was nice to get back to work, albeit slowly.

10/23/08 Well, now I actually finished the deburring on the nose ribs.  All corners have been filed.  All edges have been scotchbrited, sandpapered, or filed to a pleasant smoothness.  Mmm, aluminum.

10/30/08 Took a couple of hours and cleaned up the shop.  The blue plastic, tool packaging, beverage containers, etc, really takes up space after awhile.  Especially when the Santa Ana’s and some unseasonable rain showers stir up the pot.

11/3/08 Fluted ALL the nose ribs.  I have pictures to prove it!  I expected a huge pain in the ass, but it went smoothly and easily.  I HIGHLY recommend the Avery Tools fluting pliers.  I had my doubts, but it worked like a charm.  Also, please take a few minutes to watch Alan Gilmore’s fluting video.  Alan, you’re a dork!  But a wonderful, generous, and extremely helpful dork, and we love you for helping us out (well, at least I do).  Alan’s process and insight was unbelievably helpful in vaulting up the learning curve of the fluting process.  By the last rib, I had my own, slightly different technique.  But Alan’s recommendations form the core of my technique, and kept me from making any major (or even minor) mistakes as I learned.  Brilliant!  Just take your time, do not over-crimp, do both sides and then double check the whole.

11/4/08 Watched the election returns.  Yay!  Boo on Prop 8, though.  I utterly fail to understand the widespread suspicion, mistrust, and poor treatment of our gay citizens, especially at the level of the State.  Bigotry in any official form or forum is unacceptable in this country.  My view of organized religion as a vehicle of fear, intolerance, and hate was confirmed by the underhanded and deceitful tactics of the pro-Prop 8 propaganda.  I can only hope that someday soon such laws will be viewed with the same shame and regret that we view the Jim Crow and anti-miscegenation laws of our recent past.

11/5/08  Began unpacking and deburring the main ribs.  Stripped the blue plastic and trimmed the end flange off of the appropriate ribs.

11/6/08  Deburred all of the trimmed flange areas.  Deburred all of the scalloped edges of the rib flanges with a scotch-brite wheel.  The last step will be radiusing all corners and filing the straight edges.

Section 14 – Rear Spar, Stub Spar, Hinge Brackets

More Stub Spar Countersinking

Another view of the Stub Spar Flange

View of Stub Spars

Stub Spar Assembly

Another view of the Stub Spar Assembly

Close up of the Assembly countersinks

Overall view of the Stub Spar Assemblies

8/23/08  Deburred and prepped the Stub Spar Doublers and the Stub Spar Channel.  Practiced countersinking on some scrap and went for the gusto.  Countersunk all of the flange holes on the Stub Spar Channel, as well as the 100′ countersink on both sides of each Stub Spar Assembly.  No riveting done yet, as I will prep and countersink all of the Section 14 parts and then prime everything all at once.  Time: 2hrs

8/24/08  Deburred and prepped the Hinge Bracket Assembly, Hinge Assembly, and Tip Attach Angle Separation parts from page 14-02.  Scotch-Brited out a couple of deeper scratches that occured during shipping.  Did not get to the counter-sinking on the Hinge Assembly, as it was getting late.  I’d hate to have the neighbors calling the police on me during my first week…

8/26/08  Deburred and prepped 1207B spar doublers.  Total time: 15 happy minutes.

8/27/08  Countersunk the hinge brackets.  Pulled out the rear spars and began prep.  30mins.

8/28/08  Took the night off to watch the acceptance speech from the next President of the United States of America.  Go Barak!

8/30/08  Deburred, cleaned, etched, and alodined all of the Section 14 parts but for the rear spars.  You read that right…alodined.  I figured that I was already etching, so alodining would add little time, no weight, and significant anti-corrosion insurance.  Working with the stuff is annoying, and disposing of it is worse.  I’m sure it’s worth the extra hassle.  I inspected each piece and sanded out a few scratches with 400 wet and then 600 wet sandpaper.  Everything seems nice and smooth. 2hrs

8/31/08  Primed everything but the Stub Spars and the Rear Spars.  Primer came out brilliantly.  I laid down a nice thin layer which covers the part but still lets the Sharpie marks show through.  I will re-do the Stub Spars and do the Rear Spars tomorrow.  My alodine procedure for the Stub Spar didn’t take nearly as well as for the rest of the parts (the color ranged from very light gold to bare aluminum).  I got some input from other builders and I think that I got a handle on it. 1hr

9/8/08  Riveted the Hinge Bracket Assemblies and Hinge Assemblies together.  All of the rivets set quite well, but for the double counter-sunk rivets on the two Hinge Assemblies.  The shop heads all stick out a small amount, which seems to be a common problem.  I’m going to wait and see what sorts of clearances are needed and shave them down later, if necessary.  I noticed that the outside tip of the Hinge Assembly spread slightly when the counter-sunk rivets were squeezed into place.  I will call Van’s tomorrow and verify that everything is okey-dokey.  This seems to be a known issue, and one that doesn’t raise any serious concerns.  The primer held up very well to the riveting, just needing a quick clean with soapy water.  I will shoot just a tad more primer on the edges now that everything is joined up.  I also assembled a half-assed alodine “pool” with some scrap wood.  The pool is plenty big enough to handle the largest ribs, and will even take the stub spars.  I’ll do a test run with the stub spars tomorrow night before moving onto the rib bonanza in Section 15.  The rear spars will be getting a light coat of primer, but will not be alodined.  I just can’t bring myself to alodine something quite that big.  I simply don’t have the setup to handle it, and I envision a huge, ugly Superfund site as the inevitable outcome.

9/9/08  Stub spars were successfully prepped, alodined, and primed.  New prep procedure is to rub  the piece with a Scotchbrite pad (maroon) soaked in thinner to remove the oils, etc, then wash with Dawn-water, rinse, acid-etch for one minute, rinse, then alodine while still wet.  Worked like a charm.  The rear spars were prepped and left to dry before priming tomorrow.  Should finish Section 14 this week.

9/10/08  Checked the primer on the stub spars.  All looks good.  Primed the rear spars.  I’m trying to balance between a thin coat and an inadequate coat.  I ended up shooting a fog coat and a top coat (of primer, that is).  I’ll check tomorrow for coverage and add one more thin layer if necessary.  Thus far, I’ve used well under half of a quart of primer, including practice and overspray.  Sent off an email and phots regarding the Hinge Assembly to Van’s.  Started on Section 15.

9/13/08  Shot one more thin primer layer on the rear spars and they look great.  Per Van’s, the Hinge Assembly is A-OK.  Will finish the Section 14 riveting within the next few days.

9/23/08  Finished this section today!  All riveting has been done per the plans, and all rivets appear to be within spec.  More pix soon.

New Format

In the interest of clarity, reference, and utility, posts will now be done by plans section rather than date.  That is, each section in the plans gets a post, which will be edited as I go. Let the party begin.

Note that the Plans’ sections are a little odd.  Sections 1-5 are purely instructional and/or informational.  The wing kit was the first kit available, but starts with Section 13: Spar Assembly and ends with Section 18: Flaperon.  I’m guessing that Sections 6-12 are the empennage instructions.

First Section Done! Woo.

Okay, so it’s a two-page section, but it’s done.

I primed the angle, clecoed and riveted them in place, added the rivets to the pre-installed pieces, and tapped the tie-down attach points.  Total time:  Approximately 1.75hrs (today).

Spars with primed angle

No flash picture of the spars

View of the inboard pulled rivets

I had a chance to use the P26A close-quarters hand riveter that came in from Avery yesterday.  Daaaamn, that thing is nice.  And daaaamn that thing sucks.  Nice because it gets right in as advertised.  Sucky because it’s slow and, well, manual.  I’m an automated tool kinda guy.  Any tool with a button to activate it gets bonus points in my book.  If I can use it effectively while I’m sitting in my Barcalounger and drinking a beer…I just might marry such a tool, come to think of it.  The P26A is the exact opposite of automatic.  I can already tell that my forearms are about to triple in size.  But it works like a champ.  TIP: Wrap a layer of duct tape around the business end of it to keep the thing from marring your work during use.

I examined each pulled rivet for angle and grip.  I found just one rivet that didn’t meet the Van’s standards (it was tipped up off of the piece on one side), and it was punched, drilled and replaced.

I will add photos soon.  I’ve been lazy about taking the camera into the back yard these last few days.