Yes, its been a while since I posted but these actually has been some progress, just not as much as I had hoped. So lets start with last weekend (8 days ago). I attended the EAA's electrical and avionics two day course up at Paine field. I am very glad I did since not only did I get another resource, but learned a few things about electronics that I didn't know. Most importantly I got some hands on experience with different crimpers, strippers and similar tools. I have done some electrical work, and even a little electronics work and most of that applied but it was fun doing the d-sub pins and antenna coax.
Now on to the airplane. I am still working on the flaps... still. I have the right flap on the bench ready to rivet the trailing edge but I ran out of energy for the day and rather than push it I decided to wait until I was fresh to tackle that one. The left flap is not far behind. It is ready for final assembly and in fact the skeleton is already riveted together, just need skins now.
On another note, I have been doing a little flying. Amy and I braved the traffic and drove to Tacoma Narrows to fly the 172N they have...you remember, the one that had oil leaking down one side of the airplane. Well, it was suppose to have been fixed so we paid the toll, drove an hour and a half in traffic (one way) to get there and guess what.... yep there was oil running down the side of the airplane. So, my flight instructor asked the mechanic at Pavco and he went on a rant about crappy gaskets that Lycoming provides and that it was as "fixed" as it was going to get. We didn't fly. In fact we left and I am still a little miffed about the whole thing. On the way home I stopped at Crest to see what they had for 172's and guess what, they had a few (with no oil leaking down the side of the airplane) so I scheduled a checkout and am now cleared to fly at Crest. I will have to tell you about my check out ride as I had a bit of a scare as a NORDO cub decided to land on the same run way I was landing on, except from the other direction...at the same time.
Enough talk, here are a few pics.
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| Some tools that I need to purchase. Courtesy of my class. |
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| My "jig" for dimpling those hard to get holes at the tip of the flap ribs. It worked out great! |
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| Starting to blind rivet the right flap leading edge to the nose ribs. |
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| See the screw head? Well, the plans say to hold the trailing edge strait while I rivet the bottom skin to the flap spar. Well, I decided to drill 4 holes in my longest level and screw it to the table. Problem solved. |
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| Right flap being weighted down so that I can do the trailing edge. |
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| Yes, there is a flap under all that "weight". Just picked the heaviest items I could move and set them on top of the 2x4's I have distributing the load. |
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| The left flap skelton and skins ready for my next work session. Oh, that big box they are sitting on, that is the fuselage and its sitting there taunting me. |
