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RV-8 #80414: A new "old" 8 taking shape in Canada

MartinACFactory

Well Known Member
Hello All on the VAF Forums !

Welcome to Martin's Aircraft Factory....

I am a new member to VAF, and the proud owner of an new but "old" RV-8 aircraft project. A little more on that later....

First, let me quickly introduce myself...

Ever since I was a kid, airplanes always came in boxes as a kit I had to assemble them. It first started with plastic models, then as a teenagers, moved on to radio-controlled models. Then I went to College and learnt how to build real airplanes. Later, I went to University to learn how to design them. All along, I was dreaming someday I would build and design myself my own sport aircraft. In the process, I got all my pilot ratings almost to airline. I started my career at Bombardier as a Manufacturing Engineer working on the assembly line for Regional and Business Jets, and got a whole lot of experience from that. But then, for whatever the reason, I became an aerospace sales & marketing person, and the dream was put on hold....until....

Well...until 2012 when I went to Oshkosh for the first time and got to see RV-7 and RV-8 up close for the first time. I ditched the design part of my dream, I had found the perfect sport airplane for me :). As soon as I returned home, I ordered preview plan set, and the dream was on again...

Just to make sure I was on the right path, before committing any $$ to such an endeavour, I wanted to try a RV-8. You know, you've got to try before you buy...I found Kevin Horton on the net, contacted him on a Friday evening, next morning drove 3 hours from Montreal, Quebec to Smiths Fall, Ontario and got my first back seat ride on a RV-8. I was hooked instantaneously !

Upon my return to Montreal, I had an e-mail from a guy named Dale Lamport. Dale had heard about my RV-8 adventure that day. By coincidence, Dale had an old RV-8 empennage kit collecting dust, and contacted me to make me an offer for a "quick built" empennage kit....

This is how my RV-8 adventure started....Now, you will join me for the adventure of building RV-8 s/n 80414, an new "old" RV that has a second chance to become a real flying airplane, not just empennage aluminum junk ;)

As they say, as you grow old, your toys become bigger, or in my case my kits, well as we speak, there is a large kit making its way from Portland, Oregon to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Right now, 80414 fuselage is on a truck somewhere between Toronto and Montreal. It shall be on dock in Montreal tomorrow. Then, the building adventures begins this week-end...

More on that later....

Martin
 
kit delivery

Martin
Glad to see that you have been able to go ahead with your project. Enjoy the process, do it right, keep it simple.
I don't recall if you have been to the big show in Oshkosh, but be sure to go. You will come home from that with a desire to do the best you possibly can. All Rv's start out the same, in a box. How beautiful it ends is up to the builder.
If you have questions, please ask. Communication is cheap.

Dale
 
Welcome to VAF !

Mike will be along shortly.

I too, got an older kit. A 7, and as a first time builder, needed a lot of help. I am still not finished, but getting closer. Keeping it simple is a good philosophy - it will get you flying quicker. Look ahead, keep focused on the near term tasks.

Looking forward to tracking your progress.

Oh - one more thing - don't try any new process on your flying parts, experiment first, all the way to the end. Don't just "assume" a miracle will happen. If you can not see it , do it first on a learning part.
 
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Martin
Glad to see that you have been able to go ahead with your project. Enjoy the process, do it right, keep it simple.
I don't recall if you have been to the big show in Oshkosh, but be sure to go. You will come home from that with a desire to do the best you possibly can. All Rv's start out the same, in a box. How beautiful it ends is up to the builder.
If you have questions, please ask. Communication is cheap.

Dale
Hello Dale,
Nice to see that you are here on VAF. Yes, for sure I will communicate with you if I have any questions. So far, so good. I am having fun with my fuselage kit....
Martin
 
Hello All !

Well, my fuselage kit was delivered on Thursday July 30 early in the morning. Just like a kid at Christmas, I had to crack open the box to see what was in there, but the reality of adulthood meant that I had to go to work and wait until Saturday to finally play with my RV-8 fuselage kit. I did the inventory with my Dad, found a few missing parts, which were ordered from Van's and received just a few days later.

The reality of this project is that if I had waited to for all the Stars in the sky to align to start building this RV, I would never have started. As most people, the trio Money/Time/Location is often an obstacle to either launch or get the project going. For me at this time, it is a suitable location. Currently, I am working on my RV project in a 12' X 12' unheated garden shed in the backyard. With Canadian winter now slowly starting to show sign of upcoming arrival, I am in a bit of an hurry to do as much as I can before the project stops for winter, unless I find a suitable location for the cold winter days.

In the meantime, since I cannot assembly any parts in the shed, I have launched "OPERATION EDGE DEBURR". Understanding that this may be the most boring part of the whole project, I decided to edge deburr all my parts right now, while the motivation is high....Then I will get my parts primed at a paint shop during winter and start assembly next Spring...Sounds like a good plan to me !

So far so good, I am having fun with the project

More on that soon !

Martin
 
Hello Martin,

thanks for your post, make sure to post from time to time a picture... :)
 
It's good to see another Canadian builder taking up his tools.

If you can, find a heated workshop. I've been slow-building for a few years now in an unheated hangar that's more like a farm equipment shed - snow blows in under the doors and eaves and heaters do little to take the edge of winter's icy blast. I'm getting frustrated by having to always work around the weather, so much so that I've put a bunch of work on hold so I could get epoxy primer on the fuselage before the temperature started to drop. Working in a heated shop relieves one of the need to plan around temperature, and greatly improves the number of hours available to actually work on the airplane. Don't ask me how many hours I've had to spend chopping my way through the ice to get to my project!

Here's wishing you steady progress and a very small pile of scrap parts when you're done!
 
Welcome. I'm in St Rose Laval and my RV4 project is in Lachute. Drop me a line if you every need help, tools, advice etc.
 
Qu?bec RV !

Salut Martin, int?ressant de voir un autre RV en construction au Qu?bec !
Ici en Abitibi, nous avons un RV-6 et un RV-8 en vol, mon RV-7A qui est presque termin? et un RV-14 en fabrication ! Si tu as des questions, ne te g?ne pas ? me contact? en priv? ou par t?l?phone ! Contacte moi par e-mail, la r?ponse sera plus rapide : info(arobas)mraerodesign.com

Bonne chance dans ton projet !
 
Hello Martin,

thanks for your post, make sure to post from time to time a picture... :)

Pictures are coming soon...I am trying to spend more time in my shed working on the airplane prior to winter. I have all winter to spend behind computer to post pictures :)
 
It's good to see another Canadian builder taking up his tools.

If you can, find a heated workshop. I've been slow-building for a few years now in an unheated hangar that's more like a farm equipment shed - snow blows in under the doors and eaves and heaters do little to take the edge of winter's icy blast. I'm getting frustrated by having to always work around the weather, so much so that I've put a bunch of work on hold so I could get epoxy primer on the fuselage before the temperature started to drop. Working in a heated shop relieves one of the need to plan around temperature, and greatly improves the number of hours available to actually work on the airplane. Don't ask me how many hours I've had to spend chopping my way through the ice to get to my project!

Here's wishing you steady progress and a very small pile of scrap parts when you're done!

Like I said, if I had waited that all stars align to start this project, I would have never started...That said, I am planning the move in hopefully not too distant future. My future home will have a heated garage for sure !

The shed is great now because for what I am doing at this time (deburring parts), I do not need a lot of space. I can't assemble the fuselage though, which is a show stopper for that project !
 
Welcome. I'm in St Rose Laval and my RV4 project is in Lachute. Drop me a line if you every need help, tools, advice etc.

Hello Scott,

For sure I will. I can fly to Lachute no problem from Mascouche. I live very close to Mascouche airport, where I have a share on a Beech Sundowner.

Once it gets too cold for me to work in the garden shed, I will get in touch with you and go see your project.

Martin
 
Salut Martin, int?ressant de voir un autre RV en construction au Qu?bec !
Ici en Abitibi, nous avons un RV-6 et un RV-8 en vol, mon RV-7A qui est presque termin? et un RV-14 en fabrication ! Si tu as des questions, ne te g?ne pas ? me contact? en priv? ou par t?l?phone ! Contacte moi par e-mail, la r?ponse sera plus rapide : info(arobas)mraerodesign.com

Bonne chance dans ton projet !

Salut Martin,

Yes, for sure I will get in touch with you at one point. It is great to join the community of Quebec RV's builders and flyers.

Keep up the good work on your RV-7A
 
Deburring....Deburring....Deburring, and again Deburring. Did I say Deburring ? Maybe I am repeating myself ? Deburring :rolleyes:

Well, for the last month or so, I've been really active on my fuselage kit. So far, I've resisted the temptation to assemble anything. I have focus my energy and motivation on guess what...Deburring of course ! I have yet to do a tally, but I believe I am close to 35 hrs of parts edge deburring, and I have done 75% of fuselage parts. My plan is to have completed all fuselage parts edge deburring within the next two weeks. Then, I will scuff them all (except skins outside surface). During winter, I will send my parts to a local paint shop I know, and get them primed. I want to get my parts primed prior to assembly. I think in the long run, this will speed up my project, and I will be less affected by my winter downtime.

Still having lots of fun working on the RV-8 !
 
Looking back in time

Hello all !

Before showing you images of current status on my build, why not start by looking back in the past for a moment....

39824007185_edd009f030_z.jpg
[/url]IMG_0265 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

40719029081_330efc606f_z.jpg
[/url]IMG_0263 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

This is what my empennage kit looked like when I first showed up at Dale Lamport shop back in January 2013. Not knowing anything about RV-8's at time, I really had to have confidence in Dale for transforming this aluminum Junk into a real airplane empennage ;)

A month later, I got a call from Dale saying my empennage was built, and I could take delivery of it. I drove the 3.5 hours from Montréal to Smiths Falls, Ont to pick up my empennage. Luckily, we were able to fit the entire empennage Inside my Subaru Outback, with the horizontal stab fitting between the front seat. Good thing my Dad came along, because the horizontal stab was blocking my view to the right. My Dad was calling me traffic and when to make line changes on the highway...

25847716747_2104bf7e35_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN0741 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Proud owner of a "Quick Built" RV-8 empennage, in February 2013. My Neighbors, a little puzzled, asked me on what R/C Model aircraft I was going to put that huge wing I just got. They did not believe me it is a real aircraft empennage :)
 
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Packing empennage for a long time !?

Back in the Spring of 2014, I realized that it might be a long time before I could actually find a definitive location for "Martin's Aircraft Factory". Due to life uncontrollable events, I knew I would move again a few times in the future. For such reason, I decided to invest a little time to properly package my empennage to ensure protection. It was actually amazing that it did not get damaged from the time I first took delivery of it until June 2014. I didn't want to take more risks....

horizontal stab packaged by Martin Leroux, on Flickr
 
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How to turn something negative into an opportunity!?

Well, life has some twist and turns that we cannot control....

Three weeks ago, I lost my job with this Business Jet Completion Center / Maintenance facility I'd been working at for year and a half :( It is the 3rd time in less that 4 years I loose my employment in the Aerospace Industry in Canada :mad:

First two days of unemployment, yes I was angry. But then I realized, with the current state of Aerospace industry in Montr?al area, I have more than likely 3-6 months ahead of me before starting to work again...I also realized that I am saving 12 hours a week of daily commute to work. Guess what I am going to do with all this time....Make huge progress on my RV-8 fuselage :) I am already working 20-30 hours a week on it....

With winter fast approaching here in Eastern Canada, It is getting too cold to work in my shed. But now with so much time on my hands, it make a lot of sense to rent some heated space to get the project going. Therefore, Martin's Aircraft Factory is moving this week to the shop of a closed Ford dealership in my hometown. Lots of space, and best of all, heated work area for the cold winter !

That's what I call turning a negative situation into a positive opportunity. I will likely do in 6 months what I expected to do in 2 years on my RV-8 :p
 
Congratulations and Keep It Up!

Deburring....Deburring....Deburring, and again Deburring. Did I say Deburring ? Maybe I am repeating myself ? Deburring :rolleyes:
Still having lots of fun working on the RV-8 !

Martin, You have hit on one of my deepest pet peeves. The biggest problem I see on all my tech counselor visits is "lack of proper deburring".
Most every "crack" I see when doing annuals is caused by improper de-burring.
 
Martin, You have hit on one of my deepest pet peeves. The biggest problem I see on all my tech counselor visits is "lack of proper deburring".
Most every "crack" I see when doing annuals is caused by improper de-burring.

Hi Mel !

Thanks for your comments. I knew it was common for DAR to complain about lack of deburring on parts.

When I started working on the kit, I knew deburring was going to be the boring, but necessary evil, part of the build. That's why I started with this. Very happy now that is all behind me. From my Aerospace engineering background, I knew too that improper deburring would lead in the future to cracks and potential fatigue failure. Thus there was no way I was going to skip that part of the build.

Before I get going with my kit assembly, my next step is to corrosion prep my primary structure parts with alodine, prime and paint. Until then, I am resisting temptation to assemble anything...
 
The day it finally arrived....

Hello All,

Again tonight, a little look back in time, but not too distant... Let's go back to July 30, 2015. After placing my order at the Mother Ship on May 10, the wait was finally over...My Fuselage kit made it all the way to Montreal, Canada ! My Fuselage kit took about 3 weeks to get from Oregon to my door. The actual transportation from Oregon to Montreal was no more than a week. It took so long because the Customs Declaration paper work did not follow the kit, and it remained stuck in Customs for 2 weeks

25847715727_5960f47742_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2093 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Although I had to go to work that morning when the kit arrived, just like a kid, I couldn't resist cracking the box open to have a peek inside...I had to wait until the week-end to start doing the inventory.

40676321932_d7ecea17c9_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2097 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

A RV-8 Project can reunite families....Both my Mom and Dad, divorced 20 years ago, came to help for the part inventory....

40676321282_e46f31ce5e_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2101 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Finally, a lots of parts, but not as much as I expected. Maybe I've seen too much big airplanes in the factory I worked in....with ten thousand more parts

DSCN2103 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr

More next time !

Martin
 
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Happy New Year 2016 from Martin's Aircraft Factory !

Hello all !

Before it is too late, I want to wish everyone on the VAF community a great and happy new year 2016. For all of you, health, prosperity, safe flights and happy building hours on your RV's !

In the last part of 2015, due to my unemployment situation since October, I worked almost every day on my RV-8 fuselage. I decided to spend a maximum of time in the shop, and consequently, I didn't post a lot of message concerning my build. Since receiving my fuselage kit July 30, 2015, I worked at least 350 hours on my fuselage, and with an estimated 150 hours to build the empennage (done by another builder) at the beginning of 2016, I believe I have exceeded the 500 hours build time milestone on my project !

During the Holidays, I took some time off from the shop. I converted my paper project logbook into a web based Kitlog. You can now follow almost daily my RV-8 build at:

http://www.mykitlog.com/MartRV80414/

From now on, I will only post major milestones on VAF, not to polute this great forum with another RV-8 build thread. Please check out my kitlog often though, and provide me with comments on my build !

Smooth Flying in 2016

Martin !
 
Fuselage F887 Longeron comes with the wing kit...

My last RV-8 building action for 2015 was to collect my long fuselage longeron F887 from the truck depot in West Montreal.....

Unlike most RV builder apparently, I decided that after the empennage, I would build the fuselage before the wings. I took that decision because after looking at all the assembly drawings, I realized there was a lot more of little sub assemblies in the fuselage I could do in my small shop until I move to a larger home with a garage to complete the fuselage, then the wing. At least, that was the plan last Spring 2015....

Sometime while working on the fuselage, I started looking for longerons F887 in the fuselage crate delivered from Van's, and couldn't find them (I didn't realize at the time they are about 16 feet long !). I called Van's only to learn that these fuselage parts are delivered with the Wing kits....bummer I don't have wings yet !

After waiting a while, and coming to the realization I will need those longerons very soon, I ordered those from Van's. Well, it turn out that price for both longerons F887 LH & RH cost about $60 USD, but because they are very long, the shipping cost to Montreal was $350 USD (or $480 CAD with current currency exchange rate). That is crazy ! I wished I knew that when I ordered my fuselage kit, I would have placed the order for those at the same time.

Could I have found those 6061-T6 aluminum angle longerons locally in Montreal? Likely! But, I felt I didn't want to take the chance of making the wrong material selection on these important fuselage parts. After all, it is the skeleton on the aircraft. I don't want to have this on my mind when I do first flight, therefore $350 USD shipping cost may be worth it. What do you thing ?

DSCN2421_zpsqt3r5bny.jpg


Picking up the Fuselage Longeron F887 at the Truck depot....
 
What's this ? Where does it go ? Please explain....

Ever since I received my fuselage kit, I resisted the temptation to play with parts and build the airplane on cleco just for fun, then dream and making some airplane noise...Please admit will all do this !

Now that I work on my fuselage in a rented shop shared with my father and my uncle, they come almost daily witness the progress on my aircraft. Last November, they kept asking questions about aircraft parts, such as "What's this ? Where does it go ? I don't understand, show me and explain..." Therefore, because of "family peer pressure", over a period of about two week-end days, I built the fwd fuse and the mid fuse on clecos. And when they came back, now they could understand how my RV-8 is built.....And then they started bringing friends to show the airplane in the garage :) When they came back a few days later, they were disappointed to see the aircraft disassembled..."Hey dude, I have to disassemble it to make it for real later" I told them :eek:

Anyhow, this week-end of work spend building the fuselage temporarily turned out to be a great exercise. I got to know my parts and where they fit better. Definitely not a waste of time as I expected. And then I got fewer questions all the time...

40676319282_bf297d1004_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2360 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

40676318852_33075f9fe3_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2361 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
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Shipping parts

Salut Martin

Rather than having your parts ship to your place with the high shipping cost to Canada, you may be better having them ship just across the border in Champlain N.Y. ( Lacolle ) and drive to pick them up.It is about 100KM from Terrebonne.

All you have to do is declare them when going back to Canada, pay whatever fee there might be and go home..

Send me an e-mail if interested and I will send the address and Tel # of the shipping depot.

A+

Bruno
[email protected]
 
Upper Longeron F887 bending

Well today was the big day....No more choice because I have almost no more parts to work on prior to starting primer and paint...Got to do it....Bend those long upper longeron F887.

For whatever reasons, out of the fuselage building so far, longeron bending was one of the thing that I anticipated the most. I have postponed this as long as I could. It turned out to be way easier than I though it would be, even it was lots of fun !

In order to minimize my risk of not bending to drawing dimensions, I decided to spend the extra time to build a jig. Therefore, instead of laying out chalk line on the floor, I took two 8 ft X 2 ft MDF sheets and put them on the floor. On the MDF sheets, I transferred all the dimension and reference from Van's drawing. I made jig stops with the proper heights for the vertical dimensions. It should fit perfectly on the aircraft.

I got help from my Dad for bending the longeron. We still used the vise and hammering technic, but always referred to the jig for final dimension checking.

I was surprise how little "wacking" is required with a 3 lbs hammer to put the aluminum angle to shape. It is a good thing we first made test with a hardware store aluminum angle.

Here is a picture of F887 Longerons in the jib prior to bending:

DSCN2506_zpszvjrycyv.jpg


Here same picture after longeron bending. The longerons no longer require clamps to hold into place at the jig stops

40676318022_1dc0c4bdc4_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2504 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Maybe the jig was a unnecessary waste of time, but ultimately, It made the measuring easy. Who said that when building an airplane, you will not need carpentry skills !

Martin
 
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RV-8 Fuselage....it is getting there

At the end of this week, it will be 4 months since I have lost my employment. During that period, I have shared my time between job seeking, training at the gym and obviously working on the RV-8.

On a weekly basis, I am working on the 8 at least 6 days a week, with a typical day ranging between 2 to 6 hours in the shop. So far, I think I have done in four months what the typical RV part time builder will do in about 2 years ! As much as I like to go back to work to earn a living (and eventually buy wing kit....), the objective is to have a completed fuselage by end of April 2016.

My approach so far to the fuselage was to work on all sub-assembly to the point where they need either to be prime or painted prior to final assembly. To this day, I have pretty much deburred, drilled, dimpled, countersunk all the parts I could touch. Next week, I am starting to prep all my parts for priming. Once they are primed, I shall be "rolling down hill" with final assembly... I am looking forward to that !
 
Some random fuselage action pics

Hi all RV builders out there !

As I make quick progress on my RV-8 fuselage build, I want to share some random picture of action at "Martin's Aircraft Factory"...

With my project gathering interest from friends and family, the good parts is that I now often have helping hands visiting the shop regularly. The benefit of being in Montreal, third largest aerospace city in the World, I've got lots of knowledgeable and skillful people providing advice once in a while.

Here is the fuselage center section, with the fake wood spars I made. Again some carpentry skills required to build a RV-8 !

40676318472_1c967ec685_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2464 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]


More later !

Martin
 
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More pics

Buddy Fred, a license structural aircraft technician, teaching me the proper use of the DRDT-2....
DSCN2408_zpsypqma13j.jpg


Pre-fitted the floor on the seat rib sub assembly way in advance of the instruction, made it much easier to do....
DSCN2412_zpsarh5fcom.jpg
 
Major Progress in February and March

Hello All on VAF !

Just a quick post to report progress on my RV-8 Fuselage project, and share few pictures from the last two months. I didn't post much during this period because I was too busy working on my fuselage :)

Beginning of February, I had a very serious prospect for a new job in aviation that would require me to move 500 km west from Montreal. Expecting to start on this new job in March, I worked overtime on the RV-8 to get all my parts in the paint shop. Over a period of 10 days, I probably worked 60 hours on it. Then no news from this employer....until later in March for a 2nd interview. Possible start date at work planned for mid-April...Back home, working overtime again almost to exhaustion with freshly primed parts to put together as much as possible sub-assemblies prior to start date at work....Then again, no more news from this potential employer. Well, I may not have a new job yet...but I have a RV-8 fuselage in final assembly stage !

I am expecting now to have my RV-8 "canoe" done by mid-May now. I am looking forward to eventually sit for the first time in my fuselage :)
 
Progress pics from February - Paint prep !

During last February, the big rush was to get my fuselage parts from Firewall up to behind passenger seat ready for primer and paint. I wanted to get as much done as possible, such that I could finalize those sub-assemblies, then move on the the aft fuselage part of the build. Here are some pics from paint prepping....

Scuffing and cleaning parts, then racking...Couldn't do it all without you Mom !

40676316612_39f5b67d21_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2577 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

I loved the smell of Aluminiprep and Alodine in the Evening....Turning aluminum into gold....

40676316192_de1099936c_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2581 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Mom contributing to the project by hanging parts in rack after alodine treatment done

40676317512_f0dcb8b7d2_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2568 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Seat Rib Assy parts alodined and racked, ready for delivery to paint shop

40676315692_63000db0ba_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2583 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

More action pics from the paint shop on next post !
 
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Action pics from the paint shop !

There was no way I could prime or paint a massive quantity of parts in the shop where I build my RV-8. Therefore, I asked Ben Forget, owner of Carosserie RMP, a local Body Shop in St-Roch-L'Achigan, Quebec to prime and/or paint my parts. Since I had done all the paint prep work on all my parts, and Ben only had to hang my part racks in his paint booth, then paint, his work was minimal. Ben could do this in between painting two cars. That was very abordable price wise, and I didn't have to handle all the paint fumes in my shop. If you want Ben to paint your parts, he can be reached at 514-774-9932 (or get in touch with me)

For primer, I used Sherwin William CM0724933 Epoxy Chromate Green primer purchased from Aviall.

Here are a few action shots from the paint shop....

Parts in racks hanging in the paint booth, waiting for first coat of primer

40676315182_ae438b0035_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2588 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Overview in the paint booth, with lots of parts getting primed at same time



Ben Forget applying primer to my fuselage parts...A major milestone in my project !

DSCN2601 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr

Mom admiring the first parts coming back from paint shop...Firewall and flight control parts painted epoxy white...

40676317112_c19a6a6441_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2574 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Next....It is assembly time in March !
 
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March was assembly month...here are the pics

Last March was a very active month at Martin's Aircraft Factory....With at least 75% of all my fuselage parts now primed or painted, and the possibility of starting a new job soon, I launched myself into an assembly blitz. Over a period of about 10 days strait, I was installing rivets after rivets. I couldn't believe how fast I could put together this aircraft after working on it so much in the last few months.

Initially, I feared installing rivets on my RV. I didn't want to fail. I had prepared a number of practice parts with scrap aluminum while my parts where at the paint shop. It turned out, I didn't use any of those practice parts at all. The riveting skills I learned many years ago from aircraft manufacturing school came back very quickly. I was up and running with riveting !

Here are a few pics from last March....

The first and most important picture....The first rivet installed by myself on my RV-8 fuselage :)

DSCN2604 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr

A proud Dad displaying his son's accomplishment....First sub-assembly completed, the forward baggage floor

40676313772_00077545e7_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2605 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Thumbs up....Firewall complete and ready for inspection !

25847708727_d79da577bd_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2613 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Nut plate installation...I just love my pneumatic squeezer with foot pedal control and worktable bracket kit from Avery. A great investment !

DSCN2616 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr

Some riveting action...

25847708097_55a8ae5736_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2620 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

I build a pick-up jig (a PUPJ as we used to call them at Bombardier...) to ease the skin riveting on the seat rib sub assembly

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[/url]DSCN2731 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Dad, why are you hiding behind the rear passenger seat back ? :rolleyes:

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[/url]DSCN2741 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

My Friend Pavel also came for a visit. Every visitor that come to my shop are required to install at least one rivet....Pavel is a former Aircraft Assembler and Production Supervisor at Bombardier. For him, that was easy, just like riding a bicycle again !

25847707797_a8357f510d_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2718 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]


That is it for now....More coming end of April !

Thanks for following my thread. Your comments are welcome !

Martin
 
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More updates from Martin's Aircraft Factory !

Hello all on VAF !

It has been at least 3 months since I have made an update about my RV-8 s/n 80414 project. It doesn't mean nothing happened during that time ! Actually huge progress was made....

It is true though that I had numerous distraction from the project between May and July. Actually, in both late April and May, most of my time was devoted to finding a new job in aerospace industry, and the many job interviews took a lot of time away from the RV-8 project. Nice Spring and early Summer weather also had an impact on my motivation to spend entire days in the shop. In turn, with the nice summer weather here in Quebec, Canada, my interested turned to getting some R/C scale models completed and ready to fly.

In the last few months, my project outgrew the initial shop space I have been renting. Building owner unhappy to see me "expand" outside my little corner asked me to relocate to another larger room in the building. First, we had to make sure the fuselage could come out of this room after assembly ! Additionally, I had planned to use sturdy office desk as a building surface for the fuselage. It turned out those were sold. I was then without an appropriate assembly surface. Therefore, a lot of time in May was devoted to build a fuselage assembly support/jig.

Following these project (re) organization tasks & distractions, I resumed building the RV-8 fuselage. In mid June, a great milestone was achieved, to everyone disbelieve....We had an aluminum canoe in the shop....Of course, I meant a RV-8 fuselage :p

Now mid-July, still unemployed and in middle of vacation season, I am taking this opportunity to progress fuselage structure assembly to the final steps. Next July 30, it will be a year since I have received my fuselage kit. A lot of progress was made since this crate arrived....

Next few posts...the pics !
 
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Building a fuselage support jig

Building my RV-8 fuselage in a rented space means that at one point in the life of this project, I will have to move it somewhere else, at a maybe moment notice. Without a proper building surface to support the entire fuselage, I decided to combine both the transport dolly I would need later with the building jig.

26847807458_a8fdb3efe5_z.jpg
[/url]RV-8 Fuselage AJFA 23 avril 2016 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

For this "jig design", I inspired myself with images of RV-8 jigs previous "-0" generation kit builder had to build. My jig being just a support, it doesn't need the accuracy of the "not pre-punched" jig. Knowing how much energy I had to spend to build my support, these older generation kit builder now have my full respect :)

And no, this aerospace engineer is not dumb....Yes the caster wheel do not touch the ground....Once the fuselage is completed, we will jack up the support, knock off the support legs, bring it down to the ground, and Voilà, we will have a transport dolly! Clever, isn't it !? ;)
 
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Starting to join sub-assemblies together

After making the move to my new shop space in May and re-organizing, June was a very active month for fuselage assembly. Objective was to start putting together a number of small sub-assemblies. I had my friend Yves Millette volonteering some of his time. Yves is a Dash 8-Q400 pilot and R/C aircraft modelist. It was really amazing to see how much we can accomplish when two skilled and passionate aviation workers get together !

FWD and MID fuse finalized and ready for joining on the support jig

25847706777_b3030022bf_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2797 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Notice the distraction using some jig space...It is a 1/6 scale Dewoitine D.520 WWII French fighter aircraft :cool:

Yves helping out joining FWD and MID fuse

DSCN2799 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr
 
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We have an aluminum canoe on cleco !

A month later, I still don't believe I have reached this stage in the project....

Sometime June 16 just before Dinner time, there was an aluminum canoe in my shop :D

What I really couldn't believe is that Yves and I achieved that in about an afternoon, not more that 5 hours for joining fuselage front, mid and tailcone.

During the evening, My dad and myself sat in awe in front for maybe an hour. Then as usual, my dad started asking question about it, and as he always does, fantasized about transforming my airplane project in some sort of a 3 wheeler hot-rod vehicle. Ah those car guys :rolleyes:

Proud RV-8 builders taking a pause in front to their accomplishment
DSCN2802 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr

A few days later, Fuselage position is "lock down" on support jig. Work platforms are added to help when working inside fuselage. Benefit of this support is that I can also work under the fuselage without moving or rotating it per Van's instruction. On the picture, some parts are added for the "glory shot" (roll bars, seat backs, etc...). Blue metal frame attached to firewall is a support for a potential "rotisserie jig" to be build later, maybe.
25847705507_2ed8151d57_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2810 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

25847705877_df02aab37b_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2807 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]
Dad inspecting the complete fuselage "Canoe 1.0" for the first time.
 
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Your paint racks are genius. They key to paing small stuff is hanging on to it so it doesn't flap around and so u can get at all sides. Yours is cheap, simple and and effective.
 
pictures

Nice posts and detail.
Love the progress and photos.
It is oh so good to have help!
Congrats on the progress.
 
Your paint racks are genius. They key to paing small stuff is hanging on to it so it doesn't flap around and so u can get at all sides. Yours is cheap, simple and and effective.

Hello Scott !

Thanks for your comments !

Actually, I got the idea for the rack from my experience working with Aerolia (now Stelia), a subsidary of Airbus. When I visited our elementary part facility in France, I noted that they put all the small parts in racks, racks are then hung on conveyors. While on conveyors, the rack subsequently are dipped in Alumprep, water and Alodine baths for surface treatment. Once that is done, conveyors brings the racks directly to paint shop, where all the parts are electrostatic primes and painted by robots. Obviously, at Airbus they make 50 aircraft per month. I certainly do not need that much industrialization for just one RV-8 !

Don't be fooled, it sure takes a lot of time to hang all RV-8 parts in my rack. The main benefit is that when I take the rack to the paint shop, the painter is not wasting precious time (read $$$ from my pocket!) for hanging parts. Plus, there is less risk to lose parts in the process. It is actually very fast for my painter to paint one rack.

The next step for me, that is if I build more than 1 RV, it will be to have baths large enough to hand dip my racks directly with the parts already attached to it (no conveyor here of course). Dipping one part at a time in alodine is very time consumming, plus too much exposure for me to bad chemicals. Of course, we can all argue that these treatment are not mandatory for RV's, but I am a perfectionist :cool:

The other benefit of parts hanging in a rack....it makes nice chime music when you blow air though it !!!!:)
 
Happy New Year 2017 from Martin's Aircraft Factory

Happy New Year 2017 to all on VAF !

With this New Year that just started, it is a good time to do first a wrap up of my 2016 RV year...A good number of things happened since I last posted here in VAF in July 2016. I will try to update you all !

Above all, if there is anything positive that I will remember for the rest of my life about the Year 2016, it will be the (lots of) time I spent building my dream RV-8. There was other things positives for sure, but 2016 will remain in my mind forever a difficult and challenging year. Out of the 12 months of 2016, I was unemployed for 10 full months, living through a lot of insecurity during this period. After many weeks of job seeking, I finally found and accepted a position with a Transit Bus manufacturer. That is quite a change for someone who worked 20 years in aerospace and aviation :( Well sometime, you have to put the aviation passion aside, and find some revenues before the Bank calls in....After all, working on Airbus or on City Buses, there is no difference, they are all buses anyway. One flies, the other crawls beside the sidewalk :rolleyes:

Overall, my Kitlog indicates that I have exceeded 900 hours on this RV-8 project. That is pretty good for someone who actually has been at it for less than 18 months...Currently, at the beginning of 2017, still working on the fuselage, I am at the Canoe 1.5 stage. I am trying to achieve Canoe 2.0 as soon as possible :p. Obviously, that would have never happened if I had worked at a full time job throughout 2016....

Not really RV related, but another thing positive for me in 2016 is the fact that I renewed my Flight Instructor rating. Out of employment, I started looking for various options to get some cash flow, and dusting off my instructor rating was more attractive than going to work at Wal-Mart until I find another "real career job".... I started teaching flying to new pilots at Joliette, Quebec Airfield (CSG3), initially full time, then part-time after finding my full time "pay the bills" job in the Bus industry. At Joliette Airfield, the news about a flight instructor and RV-8 builder started spreading around. At the Flying School, a few times we had people asking for me because they either want to build a RV, or they want to talk about the RV they already own or would like to buy. I am becoming a RV reference at my new local airfield, that's cool !

The saddest day of my aviation life probably happened on November 13, 2016 at sunset....My local airport, Mascouche Airport, Quebec, Canada (CSK3) was closed for good :mad:. City of Mascouche, airfield owner, decided that it was better to use the land for more shopping mall, more office towers or more appartment building than a local GA airport, even if at a time, CSK3 was one of the busiest GA airport in Canada. Martin's Aircraft Factory is located no more than 10 minutes from CSK3. I had wished I could have flown my RV-8 from that airfield, same airfield were I did my first solo flight in 1988. Now, when completed, my RV-8 will likely make its first flight from Joliette, closest airport from my shop, and 45 minutes away....

For 2017, my RV-8 project objectives are simple:

- Finalize the Fuselage structural assembly....The Canoe 2.0
- Get the empennage procured from other builder inspected by Transport Canada / MD-RA, then mounted on fuselage
- Save enough cash to order the wing kit from Van's, and hope the value of Canadian dollar to the USD will improve prior to my wing kit purchase....

That is it for now. Over the next few days, I will share picture of my progress and things I did on my -8 from July until end of 2016. Please come back soon !

Have the best RV year of you life !

Martin
 
Quite a year of ups and downs... but still, progress was made. I had some ups and downs too... but overall a spectacular year. The one lingering downside is that I ordered my quickbuild RV-8 kits June 1... and Im still waiting... 8 months in now. My empennage is thinking about becoming a spinster... waiting for its fuselage in shining aluminum.
 
Dec 31, 2016....Canoe 1.5 stage

End of 2016, after 6 months with a fuselage in the shop at "Canoe 1.0" stage, I had to do, according to instructions, the "demotivating task" of disassembling the fuselage back to a bunch of aluminum parts....It was nice to have a fuselage to sit in and dream about flying, but there comes a time when you actually need to finish it for good ;)

25847703677_aa5a7cf0f1_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN3004 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Dad looking a bit discouraged...I know, you can't show off this fine fuselage to visitors for a while...But don't worry, it will come back very soon as a final product !

DSCN3002 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr

Initially, I thought I would at Canoe 1.0 stage only for a month or so. I decided to take the opportunity to incorporate changes and my improvements to the kit while at this stage.

Last step I did for 2016...Makes some dimples to Forward floor with a tool I thought I would give away of when I purchased my DRDT-2. It turns out that the famous C-Frame has found some use lately. It earned my "respect" back

25847703157_3c469aefb9_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN3005 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
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Flashback to July 2016

Back in July 2016, just after building the Canoe 1.0 on Cleco, We started drilling all the holes in this RV-8 fuselage...So many holes. Thank fully, Dad volontered some time.

25847704857_ab0e052cd3_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2823 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Watch out not to make some double holes, Dad ! :rolleyes:

Working in team, I did the other side
25847705147_648040da58_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN2820 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]


Later after drilling all these holes, I taught my Dad the fine difference between deburring a rivet hole or countersinking it. Oups...:p
 
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Floor boards to sit in cockpit

After completing all the required drilling on the Canoe 1.0, I moved on my attention to incorporating my own small improvement to RV-8 fuselage. I realized I would likely need to sit in or stand the fuselage quite often. I didn't want to damage my final sheet metal cockpit floor. Therefore, I took a day to build a set of temporary plywood floor boards for the cockpit area.

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[/url]Cockpit temporary floor board fitted 06082016 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Obviously, now with floors I could sit in the "pilot seat" and start making some airplane noise....My Dad caught me by surprise on this picture

26847808558_14f042688f_z.jpg
[/url]première fois assis place pilote 7 août 2016 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

A few of my flying club friends came for a visit, and they too sat in the "pilot seat". They liked it a lot !
 
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Smell like Fuselage Final Assembly has begun !

Hello Friends on VAF !

This is just a quick update on my RV-8 fuselage progress. Beginning of March, it is coming along very well actually. Almost a year later, I was back at Ben Forget' Bodyshop (Carosserie RMP) to get my second and last batch of fuselage parts primed. This past week-end, Ben primed all my skin panel on their inside surface. We've let the Epoxy primer dry over the week-end, and I picked up my panel Monday evening after work. See pics below:

40719030361_4a6d7eff18_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN3020 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

40719034221_f92064f46c_z.jpg
[/url]DSCN3019 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]


With these skin panels primed, it smells like Final Fuselage Assembly can begin at Martin's Aircraft Factory ;) Lots a nutplates and rivets have already been installed on frames, stringers and intercoastals....

But before rushing to get to Canoe 2.0, I will take the opportunity to manufacture, trial and install all that goes in the fwd fuselage, ie fuel selector, fuel lines, rudder pedals, etc. Much easier to do at this stage.

I hope to find a minute to continue updating you with what was done prior to today, but I got to keep pounding rivet before our Canadian winters ends and it gets too nice to be inside :eek:
 
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Front Throttle Quadrant improvements

Hello again !

I want to share a little improvement I made to my RV-8. It appears to be a known issue amongst all RV-8 builder using the DJM Throttle Quadrant that this unit sits below the F864B-1 Throttle Quad Cover, as per the picture below:

39823999955_39a2988a86_z.jpg
[/url]photo 14 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

Being sometime a little too perfectionist, I didn't like that. I scratched my head many times to find a solution to this problem. Since I do not have the tools to cut and bend 0.063" thick aluminum to make a new Throttle Quadrant Mounting Plate F864A-1, I had given up on doing anything with this, until....Enter in the picture Ben Simard, my private pilot student at Joliette Airport' Académie de l'Aviation. After a flight lesson, Ben proudly showed me pictures of his "heavy shop equipment" at his welding shop he owns and operates for a living. That gave me an idea....A few days later, Ben was cutting and bending this new F864A-1 parts I needed...

photo 9 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr

Always great to find local resources to help you with your RV projects....That said, here is a picture of the replicated F864A-1 Throttle Quad Mount Plate, but with a 3/8 inch high added area, where the Throttle quadrant will mount higher. That is prior to deburring.

26847811818_bb99f1ba38_z.jpg
[/url]photo 6 by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

I will share picture of the final product tomorrow. It is late now !
 
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Front Throttle Quadrant improvements - Part 2

Per my last post from yesterday evening, please see here below the final product. With a new Throttle Quadrant Mounting Plate raising the Throttle Quadrant by 3/8 inch, it is now flush with the cover. Looking nice :cool:

26847807208_54036c1566_z.jpg
[/url]throttle quadrant final product by Martin Leroux, on Flickr[/IMG]

What do you think about that ?
 
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