Rudder Complete. Total for Subassembly - 29.5 hours; Total Project to Date - 97.8 hours

First post in months, although I actually completed the rudder on March 8, 2011. Man, time flies!! Anyway, no major glitches. The main skill "recovered" from the Sport Air workshops was rolling the leading edge. I initially tried a 1" wooden dowel, but the duct tape tape didn't hold well. The 1" dowel also produced a "too-big" roll on the tighter fitting upper segment of the rudder. I switched to a 3/4" i.d., 1" o.d. iron pipe (bought a 6' length at Lowe's) and "Gorilla" brand duct tape (both suggestions picked up on Van's Airforce forum search - what a great resource!!) and everything worked much better. Only drilled out a few rivets. end result pictured! Now on to the elevators!!

Vertical Stabilizer Complete - Total for Subassembly 16.3 hours; Total to Date 68.3 Hours

Finished the vertical stabilizer yesterday. I worked on and off through the holidays (more off - with work, family time, Christmas and the annual New Year's ski trip interfering!) but indeed found that this subassembly was far easier than the horizontal stabilizer. I think some of that is inherent in the lower parts count and some is experience (I hope!). Only drilled out two "rivet-miscues" on this segment; lost count on how many I had to drill out on the h.s.. Had to wrap things up with the obligatory photograph of the h.s. and v.s. together - even threw in a few airplane noises for full effect. Now on to the rudder!!

Finished Horizontal Stabilizer - Total 57 hours

Great Thanksgiving week! Kids were home (for a few days, at least) and we shared a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Even though I had family and work commitments, still managed to break away for a few hours in the shop and - lo and behold - suddenly the horizontal stab was finished. Van's is right - you learn a LOT during this stage. I drilled out more than a few errors, but acquired (I hope!) some valuable insights along the way. A key lesson was that when I encounter a simple instruction - say "don't rivet this hole" - then mark the hole then and there, even if I'm simply reading several steps ahead. More than once I thought "I'll remember that when I'm back in the shop next time" - and of course I didn't. Overall, even with the errors (and self-inflicted "lessons learned") I enjoyed every minute. Finished this stage with exactly 57 hours of actual construction time in my builder's log. Hope the next couple of thousand are equally enjoyable!!

Good week!

I managed to get out in the shop several times this week. Riveted the rear spar HS-609 bars to HS-603 rear spar, then attached the hinge brackets and center bearing. Unfortunately, I also learned about the perils of using an uncalibrated, borrowed torque wrench. I way over-torqued the bolts attaching HS-411! Quick email order to Vans for new bolts and nuts!! (Fortunately less than $8 plus mailing for the set - maybe the cheapest aviation-related purchase I've ever made). After searching options on Vans Air Force web site, I decided to purchase a ParkTool beam-type torque wrench calibrated in 0-60 inch pounds. $30 dollars to Amazon and one day later it's in hand! This weekend I finished the front spar assembly and riveted on the HS-801 left skin. Lots of practice in squeezing, riveting and drilling out bad rivets, but in the end I'm pretty happy with the result. Next - right side skin, then I'll have my first "congratulations - you've finished the first major sub-assembly on your new airplane" (to quote page 6-4 of the Van's Construction Manual)!!

Priming Day

I was out of town on a business trip most of this week - BUT - had the opportunity to spend a few hours in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum yesterday (mall only this time). This was my first visit in almost a decade (since Sept 11, 2001 as a matter of fact - but that's another story). Talk about inspiring!! I couldn't wait to get back in the shop. Arrived home around noon, unloaded the bags and I was off and running. I had previously decided to go the "rattle can" route for priming. The opinions on "best" priming method(s) are all over the board, but a lot of RV builders over the past few years have seemed satisfied with the NAPA 7220 gray self etching primer. After a little experimentation (and a lot of web searching/browsing) I decided that was my choice. I picked up a couple of cases of the primer during the NAPA October sale for $4.99 a can (usually 9.99) before I left town last week. Today I cleaned all of the bare aluminum surfaces on the horizontal stabilizer parts (now all deburred, dimpled, etc. etc.), lightly scuffed the surfaces to be primed with a red scotch brite cloth, then cleaned everything again with acetone. Finally I moved the pieces into my paint booth (a table in my wife's garden potting patio outside my workshop - thanks honey!) and got to work. The conditions were ideal - 70 degrees, gentle breeze and no bugs - and in short order the job was done. Used about 3 cans total. I'm pretty pleased with the results for a first effort.

Deburring/Dimpling - tools are great things!

Long interlude between posts while family, work, travel and other interests dominated - but still tried to get out to the shop as often as possible. Interesting experience to pull everything together for match-hole drilling, only to disassemble for the always-necessary deburring and dimpling. Deburring and dimpling are great, almost mindless activities that lend themselves to minutes or hours of time as available. It's fun to experieince even simple manual skills improve with repetition. I finally have a couple of dedicated days, and hope to get the priming of the horizontal stabilizer structure and skins accomplished during them. Then, back to the rivets!! Hope I haven't lost the touch (such as it was); I'll practice on a few scraps (rapidly accumulating as I discard less than perfect work) before I hit the "real stuff".

Something that looks like it could fly!

Finished drilling and deburring the skeleton, removed the "blue stuff" from the skin (used the blunt tip of a hot soldering iron to heat lines along the blue film on the exterior surface and just removed the area adjacent to the rivet holes; I'll leave the rest on as long as possible to protect the surface), then attached the skin to the left empenage skeleton with clecos and - behold!- an airfoil (more precisely 1/2 of a horizontal stabilizer to be). Maybe a little "draggy" with all the clecos , but its looking promising!