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Van's Air Force

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RV-9A, SoCal

Put a fork in my panel, 'cause it's done!!

A very exciting day. Hooked up my test battery and flipped the master switch, and everything powered up as it should (except trim indicator that still needs to be connected).

I'm really pleased with my simple design that incorporates a little old-school tech in the Hobbs meter and the traditional airspeed and altimeter dials. I bought water-slide decals from SteinAir for the labeling, which were sprayed with some Rustoleum matte clear for protection.

Staying with the standard non-extended panel really makes a difference in being able to move your legs around, especially if you're on the taller side. I kept the under-panel console on the small side too (throttle, mixture and cabin heat) for more room and less clutter.

I tested out the radio (GTR 200), and even from the garage I was able to get a response from a pilot flying overhead in the practice area east of John Wayne. Too cool!

Next up: borrow my kindly neighbor's truck, rent a break-down cherry picker hoist and bolt up the Lycoming. :):):)





 
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Somehow, when you finally get the engine bolted up, that big aluminum bathtub seems to magically morph into a real airplane! It went pretty smoothly, with the lower right bolt putting up the biggest fight. In addition to the cherry picker hoist, it helped to have a floor jack and a piece of 4x4 to exert a little twisting force on the edge of the sump to bring the engine into alignment. The last bolt/hole (lower left) wasn't an issue at all after torquing down the first three.

I'm gonna try the rear mount for the magnetometer. Initial indications are good....zero compass deflection when moving rudder cables. To simulate the steel in the elevator control horns, I put a couple of big crescent wrenches back there and moved 'em around a bunch, and still no deflection, so I think I'm good.





 
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Exhaust system has been test-fit, alternator mounted and I've secured starter/alternator wiring around the base of sump. The exhaust needed a little more trimming than specified for the cross-over tubes, but went into place with some mild hammer-taps.

Van's heat exchanger is a really nice piece. The two halves fit together with great precision, and since it captures both cross-over tubes, there's a lot of surface area for cabin heat, Should make those chilly mornings a little more bearable.

I had to get out of the garage today and find another way to stoke the aviation fires, so I went to the rc flying field and maidened the P-51. Flies great! My buddy bought one too, identical except for the paint scheme, but he folded one of the mains on his first landing. :(









 
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Welp, she's coming along nicely. The top rear skin is riveted in place (at least the rivets I can reach), the exhaust is fitted, control cables are hooked up to the fuel servo and the cowling is now in the midst of being fitted.

I got a decent fit of the cowling halves behind the spinner, but I did trim off a little too much of the outboard inlets. No biggie, as I was thinking of making a fiberglass flange here anyway to more positively locate the two halves. I'm using Skybolts around the firewall perimeter, and hinges for the longitudinal seam. I think I got the spacing for the Skybolt backing plates down pretty good, but invariably there's a rivet hole where the plates join together, which is gonna make machine countersinking a little difficult.

I searched a bunch of threads on cowl mounting and how to prop the front end up while trimming (rolls of paper towels, phone books), but I just made a quick and easy wooden spacer that I sanded down to the right dimension. I went 3/16" below the spinner to account for engine sag.

Panel/wiring is pretty much ready to go, save for a couple of resistors I need to splice in for tach inputs. Gotta love those quick connectors for the pitot/static plumbing! :)









 
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Almost there Doug. Keep going all looking good. If you can install camloc strip on the sides without those sexy notches do it. I prevents catching the cowling.
 
Good call, Vlad. I will strongly consider that approach...and maybe edge-roll the mounting strips along the sides inward to make it potentially more snag-free. Anything to make removing/reinstalling this suckah less of a challenge!
 
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It's really starting to look like an airplane now! The cowling is almost ready for Skybolt holes and piano hinges, after roughly 183 trial fits and much sanding. I reinforced the oil door with two plies of 9 oz. cloth, and fitted two Skybolt fasteners, so I'm sure it'll be very secure. I've got a Philips screwdriver built into my fuel tester, so I'll always have the means to open it on the walk-around. The new pink cowlings are great in a couple of respects: The stiffener material is far enough away from the edge that it doesn't need notching for the Skybolt plates, and it's thin enough that no shims are needed to make the cowling flush with the skin.

The aluminum flange of the FAB lines up perfectly with the top of air inlet, but the fiberglass part needed a notch to match. After making the cuts, I put two layers of 9 oz cloth on the outside, some flox on the inside to fill the gap and finished with a coat of straight epoxy.

Foam block for the engine air intake is floxed in place and the hole is roughed out. I'll make some sandpaper blocks from sections of a broom handle and some smaller dowels to finish off the opening before the 'glass.













 
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More progress....snorkel is finished, upper cowling fully trimmed and mounted, exhaust (minus tailpipes) is final-mounted, and cabin heat muff is installed. That last piece took a fair amount of grinding to fit over the female part of the pipes' slip joints.









 
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Doug while you are still on it put an extra layer or two on FAB bottom. Air filter has the ability to "chew" the bottom. Nice FB work you are a true craftsman.


 
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Thanks for the compliment, Vlad! (and for talking me into going with straight aluminum mounts for the lower cowling). I will certainly add a couple of plies to the 'box.
 
Thanks, Jim! The past few work sessions have been remarkably free of snags and mutilated parts requiring midnight internet orders to Van's. But there's always tomorrow... :D:D

Severe thunderstorm warning for tonight. Cool!!
 
Welp, I decided to tackle the fresh air inlets so I can rivet on the top skin, so I can final-attach the cowling mounts, so the cowling halves will line up precisely to finish off the piano hinge down the longitudinal split....you get the picture. It seems sometimes like half the energy expended goes toward thinking through the sequence of assembly.

I glued the inlets in place with ProSeal. I had worries that they might shift a bit as the goop sets up, but they're light and they stick in place pretty well. I secured them mostly from the outside with blue tape.

Another VAFer wanted to see a shot of the heat muff installed, so here's a pic, along with one of the airbox. Detail shot is of the stainless block-off plate for the carb heat outlet. I put a fillet of J-B Weld on the inside just for good measure.









 
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Before cinching down the top forward skin, I had to drill holes in the diagonal brace for the roll hoop, so I decided to mount the roll hoop as well. It was a little too wide to get the 7/32" clearance on both sides, so I MacGuyver'd a press out of my workbench, a scissors jack and some spare lumber. I tried bending it first with my full body weight (200 lb.) and while it deflected noticeably, its springback dimension hadn't changed by a mm.

Got the little clamp widgets done. They're made of a very burly alloy...it took twice the pressure and twice the time on the bandsaw to make the angle cuts, but the strength is needed here.

Wore out two Unibits making the attach plates for the lower cowl, but it's final mounted with all the Skybolt fasteners set a half-turn deeper than flush. May have to adjust after paint, and settling from vibration. I really didn't need the floater receptacles, but I didn't have enough of the standard ones. Clearances of exhaust, alternator, etc. are all good. Though it's no substitute for removing the lower cowling, I was very pleased with how much of the induction system, fuel fittings and linkages you can inspect with only the upper cowling removed.

I was going to start riveting the top skin, but I thought it better to mull things over for another day to make sure I haven't missed anything. But to make the inevitable "panel dive" a little more comfortable, I ordered carpeting a couple of days ago. No accidental back surgery via floor stiffeners for me!







 
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Thanks, JonJay! Every day is a new adventure.

The cowling is now fully trimmed and mounted, with piano hinges along the sides. I just need to sand where the cowling butts up against the fuselage in a couple places where there's not enough gap for paint.

I'm super pleased with the size and uniformity of the side gaps, but the nostrils need a bit of work. I cut a little too much off the lower cowling here, but the upper cowling is straight and will be the reference.

With the cowling laced up but off the plane, I taped some waxed aluminum sheet to the upper cowling and applied flox, mixed to roughly an oatmeal consistency. When dry, it creates a perfect slim gap. Then I buzzed it down with a little sanding disc on my die grinder and smoothed it out. I may grind down the inner edge later and back it with some 'glass for strength, although the flox seems pretty stout!

Now for the access plugs for the piano hinges. (Many thanks here to BruceH and the pictures on his website that illustrate the process well.) After cutting out a ton of different shapes on paper templates, I decided on sort of a shield shape...the dimensions just work out to be aesthetically pleasing and have enough height for the nut plates. After taping up the cowling's newly sanded cheek contours and covering with waxed packing tape, I laid up four layers of 9 oz. cloth to make a blank for the "shield" plugs. Originally, I wanted to make them out of aluminum, but I found that I lacked the skills to properly bend them to the curvature. A man's gotta know his limitations... If I really want the aluminum look, I might apply some aluminum foil tape later.















 
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I'm in the dreaded "waiting for epoxy to cure" mode. As a picture is worth a thousand words (and better written :)), here are a few more.







 
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Finished up the covers and installed #6 plate nuts and screws. They're a tight fit, so some edge sanding is in order to create a paint gap.

A bit more to do on the cowling, but I am SO sick of fiberglass that I need to shift gears and create aluminum dust. Bring on the baffling!! :D




 
The baffling is coming together nicely, after a Diet Pepsi-fueled marathon of deburring. There are a LOT of pieces here, and I'm glad that all the edges are smoothed out now. So much nicer to work with metal that doesn't slice one's hands.

I had the usual clearance issues with the oiler cooler. I wanted to have it far enough inboard that all rows of fins had a shot of cooling air, yet far enough outboard to avoid cooler/engine mount contact. After scalloping the inboard flange, I've got about 1/2" clearance. I wish I had a little more, but it should be OK.

When all the baffle seals are in place, is it really difficult to remove the lower cowling? The instructions show the inlet ramps pretty much flush with the fiberglass inlet edges in profile. Is everyone leaving a gap here of 1/8" or 1/4"? When the lower cowling is in place, do you have to grab the sealing material with needle nose pliers or something to pull it through the gap to get it above the ramps? Or do the ramps flex a bit downward to aid in the process? I've been trying to visualize this and it's really bugging me. I'd appreciate any insight here.

 
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You can cut back the baffles and leave about 1/4" from the fiberglass of the inlets. There is going to be some rubber baffle seal in there to fill the gap. This is a place where tighter gaps are not beneficial. My lower cowling goes on and off pretty easy and no issues with sealing and cooling.

If you get a chance to come out to the Ramona Fly In this Saturday you can get some up close looks.
 
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Thanks, Bruce. A quarter-inch clearance it is, then. Thank you for the offer for Ramona, but I can't make it this Saturday. However, next year I'll be there with my own plane!!
 
I'm almost to the "paperclip" stage and final trimming of the baffling...after a solid seven hours of snipping, filing, measuring, taking everything apart and reassembling everything a dozen times. It feels great, though, when you can finally fit the upper cowling without interference. A test of patience to be sure.

I was going to leave the baffling in bare aluminum, but it got pretty scratched up during all the riveting and fitting, so I might go the powder coating route. Then again, the Airseal rubber will cover a lot of the scratches. I might just paint/powder coat the portions of the inlet ramps that are visible through the inlets.

I cut maybe 40 percent off the air dams in front of the cylinders, as I won't be flying in cold conditions much. If I have to remove more, I'll slide some scrap aluminum sheet between the dams and the cylinders and remove material with a cutoff wheel. Next, I need to fab a block off plate for the feed to the heat muff behind the No. 3 cylinder. The crossover muff I've got takes its air from in front of No.2.





 
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Finally ready to start cutting patterns for the Airseal material. Baffling is final-mounted, blast tube holes drilled, everything is nicely deburred. I decided to leave the baffling as bare aluminum, as you really can't see much of it with the cowling mounted. With the inlet ramp angles, you almost have to crouch to see any of it past the rubber seals.

I probably have 50 hours into the baffling so far. Altogether a very tedious process, but rewarding when you get a nice fit. The threaded stainless rods that secure the baffles beneath the cylinders took about a half a day by themselves. I bought a trick little wire bender (made by K&S, about $25) that certainly made that part of the job easier.

I added a brace to the No. 4/oil cooler baffle, as many others have done. My approach is short and sweet...on the engine side, I mounted it directly to the cylinder fins. In the pic, you can see there's just enough space to slide a -3 metal locknut in between the fins. Getting the nut started on the bolt is yet another test of patience, but doable.











 
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Wow, I just spend few hours reading your build story.
Doug,your work is so fast and detail oriented at the same time! If you don't mind I would love to visit your garage and see your progress or lend you helping hand. I am interested in building RV-3B in not so distant future, so seeing your build would help me greatly.
Thanks Doug.
 
Sure, Waterobert! I sent you a PM with my phone number. Happy to impart any insight, much as others have done for me (thanks Pete, John & Bruce :):) )
 
Extra cylinder cooling rib! Genius! :)

IMG_3357.jpg
 
Baffle seals, done! Someone ought to sell a transparent upper cowling to make this process easier. I spent a ton of time fitting the "elephant ears" on the housing around the crank flange, and I'm still not 100 percent happy with the fit. I guess when I start flying, I'll see what a little heat and pressure do to make the fabric conform.

Old file folders make great stock for templates. The sides came out nice (I used 3/4" rivet spacing for the front pieces, and 1" spacing thereafter) but the rear seals had a noticeable pucker at the outboard corners. Here, I slit the fabric in a couple of places and it lays down real nice. With a flashlight poked into the left air inlet, I can just see the interface. On the right side, the No. 1 cylinder is too far forward to allow a view. Anyway, the slit "tabs" overlap a little, and the leakage is bound to be less than leaving the pucker.

After riveting the material, I squeezed some high-temp RTV between the sheet metal and fabric from the top, fitted the top cowling, and let it set up overnight. This fillet seals the air leaks, but also helps the fabric curl inward.

A couple of other pics.... I fitted my Classic Aero dash pad just for a look-see. And for anyone who's really frustrated trying to fit the rear -4 bolts and their associated clamps to the roll hoop, here's my solution to deal with that tiny space under the canopy rail. Drill a hole in the outboard portion of the clamp, and super-glue a section of piano wire in there to use as a handle. It will save you HOURS! :):) I also tried gluing the washer and nut to the clamp---less successful, as I kept knocking it off, but once the clamp was in place I was able to get the washer on and nut started. I'm sure if you have less than XL-size hands this step will be much easier.











 
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I'm getting close to completing the engine wiring, and no Adel clamp is safe in the workshop...it seems I've used hundreds of them, and you just never seem to have the right size. Oh well, another order to ACS for theses and a few dozen more 3A-4 bolts, which are the perfect length.

It's really a puzzle behind the engine to get everything routed cleanly, with just enough slack to account for engine waggle and enough separation to avoid chafing. I think I'm pretty much there....the only contact that I couldn't avoid is between the heater scat tube and the throttle cable. I'll do the time-honored fix of silicone and tie-wraps here so they move as a unit instead of sawing each other in half.

It took me a while to grapple with the EGT/CHT wiring and their bulky connectors. At first, I tried coiling everything up and tie-wrapping the bundle together, but it looked like a nasty bird's nest, so I cut and butt-spliced several of the wires so they would fit inside some conduit secured to the mount with...you guessed it. It's a few more minutes of work to change out a sensor, but the cleaner appearance is worth it to me.







 
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Prop is on!

It felt great to bolt up the Catto 70/70 for the first time and fit the spinner. A huge relief that the forward bulkhead fits nice and snug on the spinner, with maybe 1/16" of fiberglass overhanging the rear bulkhead, so no spacer required.

I went the extra mile and built up the cowling where it meets the spinner with dry micro...a ton of work, but there was just too much of a gap for the level of finish I'm aiming for. The rear bulkhead had a minimum of 1/4" clearance (11 o'clock, facing the front of the plane) and a maximum of 1/2" (5 o'clock). Since I wanted a nice, even 1/4" clearance all around, I glued some little chunks of 1/4" bass wood near the 5 o'clock position, which will be encapsulated in the dry micro when finished.

Got some glass (a panel from the coffee table was ideal), mixed up a bunch of "frosting" and smooshed the waxed glass down over it. Darn, not enough micro....do a second application, sand, sand, sand. The third application was for the cowling seam, where I used some waxed aluminum sheet to make a nice crisp parting line. The garage looks like a flour mill and I'll probably die of "microsphere lung," but it turned out good! :)













 
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Made the filler widget pieces for the spinner. I ended up using 0.040 aluminum for the backing plates because it's easier to bend to the spinner's curvature. It's a light piece, and with two hefty screws it's not going anywhere. All the shaping made the end come up short on the rear bulkhead (just 3/8" or so, but it looks terrible), so I extended it using the bulkhead as a mold. Underneath is a scarf joint with three layers of 9 oz, then a blob o' flox on top.

Next up, the "speed blister" :))) on the lower cowling for mixture arm clearance. I found some cheap plasticine clay at Michael's (Craftsmart brand, $2.99 a pound), sliced the brick in half to make a nice slab, applied it to the taped-up cowling and molded it with my fingers. It's a little larger than it needs to be, but I wanted to make sure there's never any contact on startup/shutdown.

Then a coat of paste wax, which of course is mold release, but it also lets you smooth the clay more easily into the final shape. More eyeballing, tweaking, and application of a second coat of wax. For the initial layup, I used two layers of some extremely light cloth that I dug out of my rc plane stash, in the hopes the exterior will need less final sanding & filling. I plan to reinforce it later from the inside with 9 oz. cloth.







 
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Here's the blister after trimming. It came off the clay pretty cleanly. I wiped down the inside with acetone, scuffed it, applied some 9 oz. cloth, then floxed it to the cowling with the aid of some clecos. From the inside of the cowling, I smeared a generous fillet of flox around the perimeter of the mating surface, so it's super solid.

The filler piece for the spinner turned out good...a lot of work to add this small extension.

It's a cold, rainy day in SoCal, so it takes forever for epoxy to set up. :mad::mad:





 
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More work on the cowling. I sanded and epoxied the inner surface, then applied the thermal aluminum barrier.

The oil door hinge required a flat surface for attachment to the cowling, so I laid up a nice slab of flox and attached it with both rivets and G-Loc epoxy.

The last shot shows the front of the nose gear intersection fairing. At first I had drilled the holes and riveted the nut plates to the cowling, but the screws and Tinnerman washers were a very ill fit when tightened down. So I redid the attachments, drilling the holes at an angle to match the fairing, and securing the nut plates at the same angle...no rivets, I just encased them in blobs of flox.

To finish it off, I filled the underside of the fairing with flox too, so I can crank down on the screws without distorting the fairing. A little heavy, yes, but with my Catto FP prop and dinky alternator, I need the weight up front. This ought to do it, along with my nose wheel machined from depleted uranium. :):)





 
Nice Doug. There is lots of work in the cowl. I have mine fitted - but not finished. There is a BIG difference. Very clean looking thermal coating work.
 
Doug, you might want to run a bit more of the reflective material up the sides of the cowl. Mine is starting to show some discoloration in that area and I'm planning on adding some fiberfrax and reflective shielding up the sides of the lower cowl.
 
Very nice work Doug, impressive. I've been checking in on your progress every now and then , not that I know much , but it's obvious you are talented.
I'm curious what the RV world would tell somebody interested in building what they should expect their ballpark cost to be to get flying in a nicely equipt RV9 . I've seen estimates of 50- 60 but Now that I'm fully invested in my 9 I feel that those numbers are unrealistic , at least for a solid fresh aircraft.. I wanted something I could fly right now so I bought a project plane and have been transforming it into what I think is a good solid aircraft and I realize that has run my cost up , I'm well over 60 G by the way, more like 70 to be honest but I didn't invest thousands of hours of basically free labor , yes I realize to some people building is what it's all about and I understand that .I'm just Curious to where others are at , ballpark if anybody cares to weigh in . Hey , If you love it , and we do, its worth it regardless just as long as you fly it a lot ,and I do and you will.
 
Thanks for the replies and insight, guys. Yes, the cowling seems never-ending sometimes...I must have mixed up 50 small batches of epoxy and micro for various small jobs. I don't think I'm up to doing all the pinhole filling and external finishing, so I've resigned myself to write a bigger check to the painters to have that done.

Bruce, thanks for the tip. I've got some of the aluminum tape left, so I'll add a couple of strips up the sides. My "thermal coating" material is actually Harbor Freight aluminum tape. I tested a piece applied to some scrap fiberglass with a lighter...cooked a spot with direct flame for a good 30 seconds and the adhesive stayed put. We'll see how it performs in the real world.

Babulu, I think a good slow-build -9, day/night VFR, could certainly be built for $50K-$60K, but that's going the used-engine route and painting it yourself. I'm figuring on about $80K-$85K with the QB fuse & wings, a new Lycoming and professional paint. I look at it as equivalent to buying a nice European luxury sedan. It's crazy how much some folks put into the panel alone....$25K or $35K! :eek::eek: Yes, I certainly could've purchased a very nice flying, well built RV for the same or even less, but I really wanted a project that I could throw myself into. And I got it!!

To fend off cowling burnout syndrome, I had to work on something else. So last night I swung the plane 90 degrees in the garage, bolted on the tail feathers and did an initial fit/trim on the empennage fairing. The fit is actually pretty decent, but the parts overlapping the horiz. stab's LE need to be recontoured, and the left side up against the vert. stab has too large a gap. I've worked it over pretty good with a heat gun, and I'm sure there a few more gains to be made this way, but at least a little fiberglass surgery will be involved. Access to the washer/dryer is a bit compromised!!


 
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Thanks for the replies and insight, guys. Yes, the cowling seems never-ending sometimes...I must have mixed up 50 small batches of epoxy and micro for various small jobs. I don't think I'm up to doing all the pinhole filling and external finishing, so I've resigned myself to write a bigger check to the painters to have that done.

Bruce, thanks for the tip. I've got some of the aluminum tape left, so I'll add a couple of strips up the sides. My "thermal coating" material is actually Harbor Freight aluminum tape. I tested a piece applied to some scrap fiberglass with a lighter...cooked a spot with direct flame for a good 30 seconds and the adhesive stayed put. We'll see how it performs in the real world.

Babulu, I think a good slow-build -9, day/night VFR, could certainly be built for $50K-$60K, but that's going the used-engine route and painting it yourself. I'm figuring on about $80K-$85K with the QB fuse & wings, a new Lycoming and professional paint. I look at it as equivalent to buying a nice European luxury sedan. It's crazy how much some folks put into the panel alone....$25K or $35K! :eek::eek: Yes, I certainly could've purchased a very nice flying, well built RV for the same or even less, but I really wanted a project that I could throw myself into. And I got it!!

To fend off cowling burnout syndrome, I had to work on something else. So last night I swung the plane 90 degrees in the garage, bolted on the tail feathers and did an initial fit/trim on the empennage fairing. The fit is actually pretty decent, but the parts overlapping the horiz. stab's LE need to be recontoured, and the left side up against the vert. stab has too large a gap. I've worked it over pretty good with a heat gun, and I'm sure there a few more gains to be made this way, but at least a little fiberglass surgery will be involved. Access to the washer/dryer is a bit compromised!!



I agree 80 - 85 is exactly where we are at for the aircraft you describe, and that's what I have, I plane I would fly any where with confidence. Keep up the good work looking forward to your first flight. I actually live by First Flight. KFFA so I get to first flight all the time.haha.
 
I brought out the heat gun again and really got aggressive with it, heating a small section of the emp. fairing at a time, bending it, and letting it cool. I did add some micro and a few layers of 'glass at the leading edges. I'm happy with the fit...not perfect, but then I repeat the mantra "it's not a show plane and I want to fly it in the next decade while I can still pass the medical." I think I've tied the record for number of fasteners, in all the Van's suggested locations.

I over-trimmed the gap-filler aluminum pieces, so I ordered a couple of new ones....only about $11. I think I'll final-attach them with standard (non countersunk) stainless screws, because for countersunk screws to be truly flush, I'd have to machine into the longeron a little and compromise the threads a bit.

Anybody else have an issue with K1000-06 plate nuts? About 15-20 percent of the ones I had were so tight that even with BoeLube on the screw, I'd snap the screw head off before it was fully threaded. So I ran a screw through each one to find the good plates before riveting them.

The fairings for the rudder cable exits are in place, ProSealed for now. I'm deciding whether I want to fill the cleco holes, or put in some pull rivets.

So everything in the tail is trimmed, tapped, riveted, wired, aligned and final-drilled, ready for final assembly after the trip to the paint shop. Phew!!! I'm running out of excuses to put off the canopy!! Now the tail can come off and go back to living in the spare bedroom for a while, freeing up some garage space.









 
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Alrighty, then, I'm ready to tackle the notorious and dreaded slider canopy. I finished the slider rail and rollers, and plopped it in place to have a look. The frame's front hoop sits about 1.1" proud of the roll bar, so I thought I'd start by trimming maybe 5/8" off the roller sockets, which should leave enough material to file/grind down for the final fit. For the most part, the hoop's shape matches up pretty well with the roll bar, and spreading it slightly at the bottom will help get the side rails aligned with the fuselage contours.

In back, good news...the hoop matches the turtle deck shape quite well, and clears the skin without interference when slid open.

I need to have patience here. It seems that, just like baffling, no two canopies are done quite the same way. I'm sure I'm benefitting from a canopy frame that, in terms of dimensional accuracy, is a lot better than the ones made a decade ago. Some of the threads I've read on the bending (breaking!) process are downright frightening... :eek:



 
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With many thanks to rivet partner Pete McCoy, we finished up the fuselage skin riveting, and I can say that gear weldments, bases of control sticks, etc. make impressive bruises on one's back after a day of panel diving!!! Actually, what i thought would take three hours took about an hour an a half...Pete hasn't lost the touch with the rivet gun.

Afterward, I got under the panel again to secure the tank vent lines and hook up the cooling air tubes, a little tricky with my nonstandard vent locations high in the panel. The right side was especially difficult with the map box in the way, but ultimately I got 'er done.

Also mounted the diagonal brace for the roll hoop (featuring the never-out-of-style whisky compass). The last week or so has been spent sanding, filling and fitting the main gear intersection fairings...a ton of work, but I'm almost done.









 
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Likely the world's heaviest, sturdiest airbox!

Well, it seems that when I riveted the FAB to the mounting flange, I didn't compress the filter nearly enough, so it was a loose, sloppy fit. So I glassed in three layers of 9 oz. cloth to the FAB floor...still not snug enough. Ultimately, I cut some 0.063 aluminum plate and ProSealed it in place, and all is well now.

I also took the time to notch the airbox for the mixture arm, and fit the formed aluminum piece on the inside. Since I made an offset throttle plate, the arm cleared already, but only by 1/16" or so. Now there's at least 3/8" and vastly improved peace of mind.





 
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Doug as I said before I am jealous of your work quality. As you admitted you made the sturdiest and heaviest FAB you may want to think about about its vibration and cracking the top attach plate. Fabricate a support to prevent it. There are many varieties I copied a bracket by late Bob Axsom.








Also FYI the rudder cable (especially the right one) will eventually "eat" into its plastic sleeve and it's a bit of work to turn it even with holding clamp totally removed.

IMG_3444.jpg
 
Thanks for the suggestions and pictures (and compliment!), Vlad! I'll definitely incorporate a brace, maybe a strap of steel from one of the forward fuel servo studs to the front of the plate. Plate itself is made from 1/8" aluminum, so with this two-pronged approach, I shouldn't get any cracks.

Your brace solution looks great too...and I may have enough aluminum scrap on hand to make one.
 
I think that, after 7 sweaty hours of tugging and bending, the canopy frame is finally ready....until I mount the canopy and it spreads, that is!! I tried standing on the frame and bending it at first, but that method wasn't precise enough, so I made a fixture for the workbench with chunks of 2x4 bolted to the work surface. (I'm in the "expendable" work surface camp, so I didn't mind drilling holes in the bench. Normally, I have a towel over the work surface, so I won't lose rivets and bolts through these new holes!.)

This is MUCH better, as you can make multiple small bends instead of one large one that makes the hoop bulge out where you don't want it to. Even with more precise control over the bending, this is very much a trial-and-error procedure that can't be rushed. I cracked the powder coat on the frame in a couple of places in the process, but it's all touched up now with some gloss white lacquer.

Foam board templates of the fuselage side contours save a lot of time, as you don't have to re-fit the frame to the fuselage as much to check the curvature.

As the garage felt suitably steamy and acrylic-friendly, I made the initial trim cuts on the canopy, and the final cut around the rear hoops. So far, so good! The weather has since cooled off, so I need to wait a week or so for the heat to return before I make the Big Cut of legend. I read a build log that said you can never have enough spring clamps for various phases of canopy construction, so I ordered 30 of the suckahs, which should arrive tomorrow.

In the meantime, I started prepping the canopy skirt supports. Nothing shouts "Experimental" from the mountaintop more than a cool row of lightening holes! I used a hole saw from Lowe's to make 'em. A word of caution here--make sure the work is either held down VERY firmly or clamped, as the saw can grab suddenly at the very end of the cut. (You can't see my white knuckles through the glove!) It's a little startling, but less of a big deal if you're expecting it. Take your time and use very light pressure with the drill press. I finished off the relief cuts with a Dremel tool, and spent lots of Zen time with a file, rounding the corners and deburring.











 
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A great day! As the garage had greenhouse'd up to about 85 degrees, I decided to make the Big Cut. I didn't use any special fixture, just plopped the canopy right side up on a bunch of 4x4 pieces, both in front of and behind the cut line to support the weight of each piece I cut about 6-8 inches up each side, then taped the cuts with duct tape as I went. The I finished it off with the bulk of the cut, taping every 4 inches or so. I used a Dremel SawMax with the wood/plastic blade...neat tool.

All 30 clamps were needed, so I'm glad I bought a bunch. The overhang in front of the forward bow is anywhere from 1/8" to 1/4", so I'll need to do some finish trimming and sanding.

The only place of concern with the fit is about 2/3 back on the canopy frame spine, where there's as much as 1/4" gap between the plexi and frame. It'll flex enough to make contact, but I worry about stressing the canopy. Have any of you guys used a shim here? And what kind of shim...is it as simple as using plastic washers at three or four locations?

Last, I had to plop the windscreen in place for a pic. Looking like an airplane now!!





 
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I made the final cuts along the canopy sides today, and probably sweated off a couple of cheeseburgers in my 90-degree garage/sauna. :) But last night I final-mounted the rear slide rail, and mounted an LED light for cargo area illumination. The threaded rod angles downward a bit in profile (plans show it to be level). Aesthetically, it does bug me a little, but I'm calling it done. Onward!

 
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