Take one item off the list and add three more!

The list keeps getting longer!  Every time I tackle one task I find three more that need to be added.  Oh well, its lots of fun.

Door struts installed and doors in up position!  Very cool!

Much of the build time this week was composed of my trying to figure out where everything will fit under the panel. I made good progress and have fitted the following items.  The VPX, Engine bus fuse panel, Accessory bus fuse panel, backup power bus fuse panel, two ADAHRS, GAD 29, SDS ECU case, two voltage regulators, and the GEA24.  I've also located where I plan on putting the backup battery as well as its related parts (solenoid).

I used a little thermal paste and a couple of screws to mount the engine bus supply diodes to a heat sink.  

Close up with the door struts installed.

I got the static system run up to the front of the cabin.

I riveted these supports (black parts) on both side of the cabin.

With Travis's help I riveted the aft top skin on.  This in and of itself was a big project.  I had to not only rivet the skin and the antenna doubler I fabricated but I also had to remove, reinstall and torque the 8 bolts that hold the two longeron halves together.

Finally I turned the fuselage around so I can start working on the firewall stuff.  I learned on the 9A that installing nut plates and doublers is much easier when you can reach both sides of the firewall at one time.

Cabin top is on

The big news as the title says is that the cabin top is riveted in place.  There are a few steps left in the installation manual but I find myself spending more and more time trying to decide what my next step should be.  For example, where do I install the VPX so that its easy to access yet out of the way of other avionics and electronics?  Or maybe I should install X now since this is open... the list is endless.  So, that's how I am tackling it...I'm putting together a list and just working my way down.  I still spend a lot of time "thinking" and trying different approaches to things but honestly this is a very fun part of the project.

On a less exciting topic I got the dreaded "your medical has been denied" letter from the FAA last week.  I'm pretty calm about it now after talking to AOPA PPS lawyers but it still frustrates me to no end that the FAA medical staff can't take a few extra minute to verify some data and save us all lots of time.  But nooooo, they have to do the knee jerk reaction.  Oddly enough every FAA person I have ever met has been kind and a good person but this really smells of somebody who just wants to justify their job or simply doesn't care.  I'm confident this will all be resolved but this is definitely the last time I get a Class 3 medical.  I'm going Basic Med from now on. 

I got the master solenoid installed and wired up to the front of the aircraft.  Because of the second set of seats a little extra weight is required in the tail to try to keep weight and balance in check.  The extra wire there are for the battery monitoring system.

I got to use the CNC again.  This time I was fabricating the vent flow controllers for the aft overhead vents.  

I decided that I wanted an antenna on top of the airplane this time.  Here I am installing a doubler to help spread the load of the antenna when it gets mounted on top.

These two nut plates are here so I can hang the overhead vent flow controller assembly that you saw me cutting in the CNC picture above.

The RV-10 is designed to use a huge battery as you can see from the size of the battery box.  The battery I am using is this blue EarthX battery which has better electrical characteristics but is much smaller and waaaay lighter.

Cabin top is riveted in place.  Next up is to get a little help to rivet that aft top skin.