Section 29....still

I think I'm beginning to understand why people don't like section 29.  I've been almost done for two weeks now!  Well actually I've been on vacation for the past two weeks with not much time to work on the airplane but still...shouldn't it work on itself while I'm gone?

Travis came over and helped me with the last of the skin riveting before we left for vacation.  That was a huge help to me.   I almost hope he decides to build an airplane some day because he has an amazing ability to visualize parts as well as read the plans.  Anyway in addition to the skins I was able to finish up the rear vents (which I don't really like but...) and I've finished riveting the front floor skins in.  Actually I'm not 100% done with the front floor skins because I still have a few side rivets to put in that will have to wait until I am done with the fuel pump mount that goes in the tunnel.

The only steps left for this section is to rivet in two side ribs (which should go pretty quickly) and to install the main landing gear weldments.  That last step will probably be a bugger since it involves many bolts and holes that all have to line up properly...and never do...depending on the temperature in the garage, the phase of the moon and how I position my head while banging it on the wall.  :-)

I'm probably going to step forward to the next section before I try to install the gear weldments.  I have a couple of shims that I need to prime before I install the weldments and the steps (next section) are made of steel and need priming also.  If I'm going to mix up a batch of primer I might as well try to use all of it.

Did I mention we went on vacation?

Yep, definitely vacation...

meanwhile back at home.... and this was only the first night...there was even more snow fall after we left for the Dominican Republic...24" in fact!

Floors riveted in place.

Outside of rear side vents installed.

Inside of rear side vents installed.

And a really hard to see picture of the fuselage with the side skins riveted on...no cleco's except those that wont be removed until I do the firewall steps later on.

Riveting....lots of riveting

Most of the past week has been devoted to assembly and riveting.  As the title suggests its a lot of riveting and I'm trying to do it mostly by myself.  There are many rivets I just can't do by myself so at some point I will have to call for help but so far so good.  :-)

On a related note I finally made the decision to use the Grove brakes that come with the kit.  Originally I was concerned about the brakes based on comments I read on VAF but it seems Van's has made a change from the older Cleveland brakes to the newer Grove brakes like the ones I have on my 9A.  With that decision made I was able to order my finishing kit.  They say its a 10 week wait so I figure it should come just about the right time, or a little early is fine too.

Oh, one more thing, Jeff and I did a little IFR practice this past week and were treated to a beautiful sunset.  Obviously the pictures below don't do it justice but I thought I would share.

I decided to insulate the floor area both in front and back.  There will be carpet on the floor but I like the idea of extra insulation to keep our tootsies from getting too cold in the winter.  This picture is of the passenger side front.

I took this picture after the assembly process was completed and just before the marathon riveting started.

And here is the same side after day 1 of riveting.  Note that the fuselage riveting is broken into 4 sections starting with the aft half of each side.  This week I was only able to get half the riveting done or more specifically the aft half of the assembly.  As I already mentioned I do have about 8 rivets in the aft half that I need help with.

Aluminum is really a bugger to photograph.  This is the aft half of the left side of the assembly but the reflection of the blue tarp on the side skin makes it hard to see.

Finally I had to take a picture of the whole thing as it sits this afternoon.  Now its time to go watch the Superbowl...for the advertisements only since I don't really give a rats butt who wins.  :-)

Dimpling, deburring, countersinking, etc complete

As I mentioned last week this week was about dimpling, deburring, countersinking, and even some priming.  I finished up the priming last night and had to do it in the garage because its too cold to use my basement (crawlspace actually) painting booth.  That means hanging lots of plastic and putting up with the smell of Akzo 2 part epoxy that seems to permeate anything!

I can't believe I am saying this but I miss the priming process.  The parts look so nice when they are fully primed but I'm trying hard to stick to my plan to not prime things that don't need it on the interior of the fuselage.  It just adds weight and no benefit.  Some parts still need priming such as anything made from the aluminum angle we work with.  The longerons and a few other parts that I manufactured all got some primer.  I also primed a few small parts simply because they were pretty scuffed up from the initial assembly process.

Looking at the pictures below reminded me that I don't think I have ever talked about the priming system I use.  A couple of years ago I purchased the 3M Accuspray system and have been very happy with it.  Its a system of disposable cups, and spray nozzles that makes mixing, spraying, and clean up a very simple task.  The spray pattern has been excellent, in fact its as good or better than the expensive paint gun (Devilblis) I purchased when I was working on the 9.

I'm afraid I only have two pictures for this weeks post...

Longerons, and other parts after priming.

Fuselage under plastic to keep the primer dust off.

Section 29.. getting there

I think I expected section 29 to last for several months but from where I am at now I think I will be done before the end of February.  I will need some help riveting but the fabrication part is complete.  It's now time to disassemble, debur, dimple, and prime a few parts.  Then its rivet it all together and go on to section 30.  I'm pretty excited about that prospect.

This weekend was probably the most physical session I've had working on this airplane.  Drilling 72 holes in steel at a very slow pace is just hard!  Given that half of those required the drill to be pointing up makes it all the harder.  I took a couple of pics (below) of the parts I am talking about.

I am quite happy with how well the longerons fit after the bending process.  I used a bending die that I purchased on VAF and it really did make the job much easier.

On a related note, I ordered the electric boost fuel pumps this weekend.   Its not too many chapters before I have to install the fuselage fuel system.  I plan on using electronic fuel injection on this airplane and redundant fuel pumps are a must because there is no mechanical fuel pump installed on the engine for this configuration.

Here it is fully assembled (for section 29).  I was preparing for the marathon drilling session when I took this and the next picture.

This is one of the two lower mounts that needed to be drilled.  Notice the cleco's both top and bottom.  Those bottom holes were very tough to maintain any pressure on and keep the boelube (drilling oil) flowing into.

This is a view of the upper bracket.  I had already removed most of the cleco's in this picture.

Out of band but fun

I did a little flying yesterday and thought I would post a few pictures of the flight that I think were pretty cool.

View from the lead ship (Jeff).  Mountains are beautiful with a fresh blanket of snow.

View from my passenger's (Steve) perspective looking up at the formation.

Jeff and his RV-7A

Bob and his Super RV-8 (Super means big 6 cylinder engine)

Harry and Angelina in Harry's Harmon Rocket II (another big engine RV...ish)

Plodding along on Section 29

So far section 29 has been pretty fun.  Nothing critical yet, just some therapeutic edge dressing, deburring, dimpling, cleco-ing, final drilling, bending, and a few parts that need to be fabricated.   I've also started planning and purchasing parts I need to build the fuselage stand that will be the home of this part of the build for a while.  Not much to report on that one yet but soon.

First iteration of design for the fuselage stand.  High tech here!

Bending the left mid section side skin.  That wooden brace is made out of solid oak and was a bit of a pain to cut on my table saw.  However it seems to have done the job nicely as these bends came out pretty good.

Left side mid fuselage skin as I was finishing up the bending process.  You can see where the baggage door is if you look at the "dotted line".

I took this picture because these are the new stainless steel heater valves that I purchased from Aircraft spruce.  There is supposed to be a round flange on the open hole you see there.  I took this as proof for the replacement process.  I decided to go with stainless steel instead of the aluminum version that Van's provides.  In the unlikely event of an engine fire in flight this will help prevent that fire from coming in to the cabin.

Section 28 complete

Since Christmas and New Years is filled with distractions and family and lots of other good things I am happy to say that I was able to finish Section 28 during this time.  Now its on to section 29 which has been known to be a bit frustrating to some.  I'm looking forward to it since at the end of this section I will have completed most of the major metal work on this airplane.

Christmas season is supposed to be about many things, one of which is giving and this year somebody decided that taking was more in their line of desires.  Yes there is more to the story...  As you will both remember I had to order some new parts to finish the engine install.  Well those parts arrived on Christmas eve and sat for almost 5 minutes on our porch before some bitch drove up and decided she needed the 5 boxes on our porch more that we did.  Got a great video of her helping herself to our packages but of course nothing identifiable is visible so this will just get chalked up to out of pocket expenses.  Sometimes humanity really sucks.

Anyway with lots of family time and a few flights with friends I have to admit that this Christmas was very good.  Now on with the pictures.

Beautiful Christmas decorations.  Amy and the kids always try to color coordinate the presents even!

One of the "flights with friends"...

There is supposed to be a shim where you see that gap but unfortunately the shim would not fit.  I ended up tapering the shim on the belt sander and with a file to make it fit.  Then I had to match drill from the side skins into this steel gear weldment.  

Here it is with section 28 almost done.  I think at this point I still had a couple of rivets to set as well as removing the gear weldments for deburring.

Front side of the firewall with the fuel supply and return line fittings installed.  Note that these are steel fittings instead of the aluminum fittings Van's supplies.  This is courtesy of my friend Harry who has seen the aluminum fittings fail when attached to an engine that shakes like a wet dog at times.

Brake lines installed.

Aft end of the tunnel where the brakes lines and fuel supply/return lines turn and head out toward the wings.

And finally outboard look in at the brake line, fuel return and fuel supply lines.  Oh, and two ear plugs!