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RV-9A Scott Balmos (N112SB)

sbalmos

Well Known Member
So here begins the build log of my RV-9a slider, N112SB, tentatively named "My Significant Other". Why yes, I'm single, why do you ask? :) I'm just shy of 30, and by day, I am a senior software developer. By night, I'm building this beast in the converted second bedroom and garage of my condo. Before you all drop your jaws, yes it's a tight squeeze sometimes. But I have the parents' basement available to store subsections as I finish them. Plus my dad is a woodworking shop teacher with a full shop, so I've got free reign of all his bench power tools (especially the bandsaw and drill press!). The build time will be long, but steady - usually a half hour nightly during the work-week, assuming nothing else is going on that night, and then a majority of the weekends. Amazingly, the neighbors do not hear the air compressor or rivet gun!

I've been PPL licensed for a little over half a year, since late October 2011, and figured that building my own plane will, in the long run, be the best way for me to have a reliable plane that is available on my schedule, with the equipment I want, with a **** of a lot more capability than the 172's I trained in. Ultimately, what sold me on Van's (as opposed to Mustang II) was the community size. It was going to be much easier for me to find help building an RV than a Mustang. After that, it was down to the 7a or 9a. I eventually went with the 9a mainly because I really don't care about performing aerobatics (really, I don't!), and being a low-time pilot, the added low-speed stability of the 9a is appealing. I'd rather drive a comfortable, capable all-around sporty car than possibly shoot myself in the foot trying to control a high-speed sports car. Doesn't mean I'll settle for a Corolla, but I don't need the Ferrari.

Below, mainly for posterity's sake for builders in the future, are some decisions I've come to make along the way. My intended flight profile is mainly VFR, mid-range regional cross-country flights (hello Ohio Valley RVator weekend UFOs!). But I want to equip it for full IFR, because I'm a gadget geek, being a computer guy, and I want the capability when I eventually upgrade my license.

Current Equipment Plans

  • O-320 engine - preferably a D1A or similar submodel that can/will run mogas
  • Dual P-Mags - I know I want electronic ignition for the increased fuel efficiency. Considered the dual Lightspeed, or a combo Lightspeed + Slick mag. But having the built-in mechanical fallback of a P-Mag seems to alleviate this.
  • Catto 3-blade FP prop - 3-blade for the cruise smoothness, and because it gosh darn looks cool. Gotta think ramp presence, you know!
  • Unsure of which autopilot to go with at the moment - maybe Dynon's if I go with them. Otherwise TruTrak?
  • Dual AFS 5600 EFIS screens. Maybe Dynon SkyView, if they catch back up. I like integrated everything, including XM music radio control.
  • GTN 650 GPS? Unsure of this one. I know I want WAAS-capable, so I can do full RNAV/LPV approaches eventually, even if I have to still file /U.
  • SL30 secondary nav/com radio
  • PMA8000B Audio Panel (maybe Garmin's GMA 240 or 350, depending on how it sounds when I try it up at Oshkosh)
  • GTX-330 Transponder (or Dynon's Mode-S if I go SkyView)
  • ADSB-In/out transceiver?
  • Classic Aero full interior - I'm thinking black/gray with red center seatback cushion panel and red stitching

Paint

Eventually it will be painted, yes. I *LOVE* the paint scheme of Steve Eberhart's (newtech here on VAF) N14SE, especially the deep candy-apple red. Combine that maybe with a dark metallic blue gradient, maybe some patches of polished aluminum. Don't quite know yet. But definitely the candy-apple red.

Priming

This took quite a bit of deciding, since it is such a contentious issue. I knew for a fact that I wanted to just deal with a rattle-can self-etching primer. I didn't have the resources - much less the space - to deal with the hazards and mess of a two-part primer, paint gun, etc. So, I've got the which primer out of the way. Now the harder part - how much to prime?

So, first off, this plane will be in southwest Ohio, hangared. No worry about saltwater corrosion or such. After discussions with other builders at my eventual home 'drome (KHAO), and reading all the entries in the flamewar threads (which basically all boiled down to "I wouldn't do nearly as much priming next time around"), I decided that I'll do a combination of priming where required, priming the inside rivet lines of skins, and priming after riveting the insides of rivet lines and spar/rib flanges, where my bucking bar is likely to have rubbed off the top layer during bucking. Everything else can stay unprimed in my mind. I'm sure that'll set off some "friendly discussions". When I mean priming after riveting, see the pics below of the front spar and main rib assembly of the HS. I just spray a quick layer on the rivet lines to seal everything up and cover up any bucking bar rubbing points:

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One side note - I went to my local NAPA to get the NAPA 7220, and without really realizing it, they gave me the military-green Duplicolor DAP 1690 - at the higher $9/can price! What a ripoff. I can get it from AutoZone or Wal-Mart for around $6-7/can. Oh well. Hopefully I can source the beige color primer for the interior.

If anyone has any other questions, or suggestions for other sections of background info I should add on here, let me know!
 
Horizontal and Vertical Stabilizers complete

Now here's fate for you - I reserved N112SB because tail numbers with the combinations my birthdate numbers were already taken. So I went with 112, January 2012, the month I would start building. Lo and behold, I was at work, and got the call from FedEx that the kit had arrived for pickup at 1:12pm ET, 1/12/12. :eek: No, there was no full moon out that night when I picked it up, although it was extremely windy.

Okay, so actually I finished the horizontal stabilizer back on 4/7/12. But that marks almost 3 months that I was working on it. I was immensely happy to finally finish a chunk of the plane. Most of that time was waiting for other tools and such to come in from Avery or Cleaveland. Whether it was a pop rivet dimpler, a new dimple die, a Scotchbrite wheel for a bench grinder (new builders - get one of these!!! Don't question, don't complain about the price, get the $40 Skil grinder from Lowe's and one of these, and save yourself the angst of hand-filing edges!), etc, it was always something I was ordering. And then there was ordering a replacement main rib or two because the 12" drill bit had ground into the raised area of the web around a lightening hole. Van's says better safe than sorry.

More time waiting around for an EAA Tech Counselor to tell me my riveting really was okay, even if my first ones were smiled because I didn't put enough pressure on the rivet gun. Oh well. I'm a newb.

Horizontal Stabilizer Build Time: 59 hours (that's probably a bit high - my time estimates on my build log spreadsheet tend to round to the nearest 15 minutes. Rounding errors add up! :D Plus I was hand-filing lots of spar and doubler edges, before I got the grinding wheel.)

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The vertical stabilizer, unsurprisingly, was finished much more quickly - approximately 2 weeks, on 4/21/12.

Vertical stabilizer build time: 12 hours

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Slowly but surely, an half-hour here, a weekend there...
 
just ahead of you

Scott - Im just ahead of you. I have all the empannage kit done except the elevators and some of the fiberglass is fitted, but not finished. Have fun with it. I think I am going to have to do a bit of "body work" on a couple rivets that the gun got away from me. Keep posting.
 
Keep at it

Good job, one bite at a time. You will really enjoy the build and LOVE the plane.

One suggestion. Dont get too set in your ways on the equipement. The stuff that will be available in a year or two will make your list look like the first pc.

I often see builders buy all that stuff way too early and its outdated years before it gets installed, sometimes even the firm that made it is GONE years before first flight. Research it all, enjoy that part of it but dont buy it until you really need to bolt it in and fly.

Good luck.
 
Scott, you will really enjoy your 9A when it is done. It is a great airplane as is all of Van's models. One comment that you made on riveting. It is always wise to have someone teach the proper riveting techniques and removal techniques for bad rivets. A rivet gauge to determine if a rivet is the proper height and width is a must. In one of your first pics, it looked like the shape and thickness of a few rivets may not have been the proper size. Pics can be miss leading though. Enjoy the build and reach out when questions arise.

Steve
250+ hours of fun!
 
Steve, it's the angle of the picture, and the time (in the build process, not time of day) it was taken. I went back and set those main rib rivets a little more afterwards.
 
Steve, it's the angle of the picture, and the time (in the build process, not time of day) it was taken. I went back and set those main rib rivets a little more afterwards.

If you're talking about the first picture in the first post, the skin to rib rivets look fine to me. The ones in the skin to spar look underdriven, and the spar to rib rivets look clenched, though. I'll bet that you've already taken care of those.;)
 
Ayup, already taken care of. Again, who knows - angle of camera, the way I was zooming in to try and capture priming detail, who knows. All the rivets were measured with a rivet gauge and passed. And Ray, my Tech Counselor, stopped by and said things look fine.

Might not look pretty, but it's structurally sound, and you'll never see it anyway being inside the HS. :)
 
All you like is finishing UP

I built pretty much the same plane with an 0-320 that will run Mogas. It took me 7-1/2 years but it was so worth it. It is the nicest flying plane I've ever flown. Good luck with the build.
 
Might not look pretty, but it's structurally sound, and you'll never see it anyway being inside the HS. :)

Scott, I recommend you spend some time with an experienced riveter in your area. They will be able to show you a few things that will help you out.

Also, it is best to have someone help you with the riveting in the early stages. It is very helpful not to be working on both sides of the gun at once.

Cheers
Richard

RV7A - Flying
Sydney, Australia
 
NAPA 7220

Stop by KHAO and I'll give you a half dozen unused cans of NAPA 7220 and you can look at my -9 in the finish stage.
 
One year later

Wow, I haven't been posting up to my log here nearly as much as I had hoped. Been too busy building. :) It's one year since I received my tail kit, and what a year it has been. Let's see...

Since the last log entry back late last spring, I finished the tail kit. Ended up having to build a new right elevator - got all the way through, then misdrilled the trailing edge wedge. That's what I get for trying to get through the drilling without the highly recommended 84 degree drill bit stop. Oh, and as for weighing down the elevator skins while drilling and assembling... I've found a new use for my college books!

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Got to meet Stein and Paul Dye very briefly up at Oshkosh, while we were all camping out on stage during the microburst. That was fun in its own sense. Met Dean (Tumper) and a few other -9a builders at our little meet up. Definitely hope to do that again. There are far too many people I know here by name, but not face. Didn't get a chance to get to the beer meetup Monday night. :(

Two weeks after Oshkosh, my wing kit arrived, and there goes the garage for the next two years, or whenever I finish building. Only took a couple weeks to get most things on both wings' main and rear spars set up, and test-fit the ribs. That was a nice "cool picture" moment for the coworkers.

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Then I hit a building brick wall. Went to an avionics seminar near my cousin's airport, where I was able to play with all the major avionics packages for nearly an hour each. That pretty much solidified my choice in AFS. And in the process of laying out the routing and holes for all my electrical/pitot/AOA ductwork, I basically took two months of intensive research to figure out what I might have where, in what wing. Ended up with the following basic idea:

  • One major electrical conduit in each wing, left wing holding lights, pitot heat control, and stall warner wiring, right wing holding lights. All lights are AeroLEDs - already got the 1600s with Duckworks mount for the leading edge landing lights, and will eventually get the matching AeroLEDs Pulsars for the nav/strobes.
  • Pitot in the left wing, and then used the pre-drilled pitot holes in most of the right wing's main ribs, along with one other set of adjacent holes, to hold the two feed tubes for AFS's AOA ports.
  • Still debating on whether to put in wing-tip antennas.

The pitot tube is a Gretz GA-1000. Used to be Dynon, but sold that off after Mutha's recent Christmas Eve trip writeup. Plus I'm almost certainly going with AFS for my avionics, so the Dynon tube's AOA abilities are useless to me.

So far, I have the Classic Aero interior picked out and priced. I basically took one look at Jon Clements' *awesome* -7a interior, and asked Classic to price that exact same package for my -9a. Haven't ordered it yet, but I know that's what I want.

http://www.classicaerodesigns.com/web/public/cc/CC2.asp?G=24BD443DA3664F3B9B8AD55E1DBD72A4

My biggest score to date is that I've got my engine, nearly a year ahead of plans. It's an IO-320-E1A, 160hp, 8.5:1 cylinders, originally off a 72 Citabria. All the individual parts overhaul work was done by ECi, and I basically get a 2 SMOH engine + FWF for <$10k! All the paperwork matches - the guy just needed to get rid of the engine, as he was getting out of aviation altogether. It took a while to coordinate shipping and such, but I finally got to crack the crate last weekend. I was planning on a carb'd engine with P-Mags, basically because of cost to efficiency. But since it's a FI engine, I now plan on putting an EFii electronic injection/ignition system on it. It'll be driven by a Catto 3-blade, that much I know. All about best speed for fuel efficiency. ;)

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Just this morning I finished the drilling of the main skins for both wings. Tomorrow I'll probably start with the leading edges, doing all the layout and preparing to do those fateful cuts to mount the Duckworks mounts (EEK!!!).

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It's been an absolutely awesome first year of building. I really need to work on posting more up here. But at the very least, (almost) all my pics are up on Photobucket.

http://s1255.beta.photobucket.com/user/sbalmos/library/RV-9a%20N112SB%20Construction

Just like we all say here, keep pounding the rivets, it's worth it. I manage to get in around 3-6 hours during the evenings of workweeks, and another 4-6 hours per weekend. So things are coming along at a consistent pace. And I am enjoying every minute of it. Oddly enough, the other condo neighbors around me say they don't hear a thing. And now that they've all done that "what are you doing in your garage?" thing when I have the garage door open, they all want to stop by and help once the warm weather of the spring and summer come back.

It's been fun, it remains fun, and once she flies, I know the fun will shoot up faster than the climb rate and never come down. :)
 
you're going to like it!

Wichita to Cincy, 630 nm, 3 hr 40 minutes, 26 gallons, on Sunday. I had a tailwind.
 
Wings are done! Moving Day #1!

I seem to be on an almost-once-a-year update to this log. But that's okay. It's been a long 2013. But after a year and two months, I have all but finished my wings. Okay, to the point that it's ready to be wired, plumbed, and have the bottom skins put on. But close enough. :)

The project overall still stands about where I planned it last time. All the major components and design decisions (IO-320 engine with full EFII, Catto 3-blade prop, AFS avionics, etc) still stand. I managed to snag a few more firesale goodies from Stein, snagged a GNS-480 WAAS GPS while up at Oshkosh, and solidifed a few more decisions for the next year.

The next few posts I'll try and re-summarize what's been going on in my factory garage this year.

My "finished" wings on their stand, ready to be moved:
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This past weekend, on Saturday 11/23, it was Moving Day #1 - moving the wings to storage in our EAA chapter hangar alongside my engine:
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Securing the wings to the stand and the truck:
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The wings, snug in the hangar:
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Top skinning and brackets

Top skinning took the better part of the fall, starting Labor Day weekend, and finishing up the first weekend of November. It greatly slowed down, because at this point, the wings were too unwieldy for me to handle alone. So progress only occurred on skinning on Saturdays, when I could get my dad and at least one other helper (either a good family friend or my mom) to come over and help pull the wings off the stand and hold things.

On the upside, it was cheap slave labor! :D

Got the parents in on the act of loading and taping down the rivets:
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Here I am, somehow comfortable sitting on the driveway, squeezing the skin to rear spar rivets:
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On my portable tables, we placed the back-rivet plate on top of the rib cutouts from the horizontal stabilizer cradle, so the skin laid flat on the back-rivet plate. This compensated for the slight downward chord of the top skin, going fore to aft, and the weight imbalance with the main spar compared to the rear spar.
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The first part of November, I tacked on the aileron and flap attach brackets. Here I'm making sure the flap attach bracket will eventually be flush with the bottom skin, flattening with a straight edge diagonal on the adjoining main rib.
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And to round out this post, the obligatory embarrassment and fix. I started getting a bit of "get-done-itis" when riveting the flap attach brackets and gap fairings. So much so that when I got done riveting the flap attach brackets to the main ribs, I went ahead and squeezed on the gap fairings to the top skin. Only then did I realize in horror that I completely skipped riveting the brackets to the rear spar. :eek:

Thankfully, I hadn't squeezed the fairings to the rear spar yet. So I managed to squeeze a chisel underneath the gap fairing, which opened the fairing away from the spar enough to slide in my bucking bar. Even better, the fairing kept enough pressure on the bucking bar that I didn't have to apply any pressure of my own when I did rivet the attach brackets to the spar.
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Summer break and paint scheme designed

During June through August, I pretty much was taken away from heavy, consistent building because I was playing in the pit orchestra of a community theater production of The Music Man. Three nights a week in June, and then nightly rehearsals all the way through July until the performance run the weekend before Oshkosh has a way of draining you. :)

On the flip side, I have my paint scheme designed!!! I don't know if Doug will frown on this since he's not (yet) an advertiser, but the scheme was designed by Jonathan McCormick of Plane Schemer. He's a fast up-and-comer, *very* fun to work with. And he has awesome prices for homebuilts, with other specials he usually runs on top of that. Other random trivia - he designed the paint scheme on the recently-delivered first privately-owned Eclipse 550.

Here she is, in her full rendered glory:
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Observant ones with halfway good memories will note that Jonathan had a booth in Hangar D at Oshkosh this year. In fact, we finished my scheme the week before Oshkosh, and Jonathan had it on display in his booth!!!

One other great thing that Jonathan can do is, because he's also the ops manager of a jet painting shop, he can also do a custom paint plate with sample colors from your scheme. I ordered one up, which somehow he managed to get to me at Oshkosh. It was still curing when I got it. But boy does it look good. :) It's now hanging in my garage, a nice constant motivator.
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Scott, yours is the second I have seen from plane schemers and both are very nice. Good find - I may be the third!
 
Fuel tanks

Oh the fuel tanks... Where everything takes 4x as long... *mutter*

Because I'm going to run the EFII fuel-injection system, I planned on having a full-pressure return line port in each tank. So here we're laying out and testing the fit of all the bulkhead fittings.
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Fitting everything on the spar before drilling, dimpling, and sealing:
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As has been posted about in a few other threads, including by Paul Dye, I'm taking a cue from what a lot of Rockets and apparently RV-8s do, which is to coil the vent line inside the tank. The vent ends up on the very inboard bottom of the wing, which keeps the vent line out of the fuselage. You can argue that, due to fuel heating during the summer months, that I'll get more expansion spillage this way. I thought about, and considered it acceptable. I'm based in Ohio, where it's (relatively) not as hot during the summer. The vent line extends all the way from the fuel fill cap, coils a good 3x or so, laid diagonally inside the full height, width, and half the depth of the inboard bay. The depth is just to the stiffener, so the coil does not interfere with the float sender.
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After everything was Prosealed, which literally took 4x as long each session compared to normal riveting (by the time you mix, dab sealant, squeeze, clean off excess, curse at getting Proseal on your shirt, etc)... I did a water-tight test with colored water before putting on the baffle. So if anything was sealed wrong this far, I could get to it without the baffle in the way. Only one leak, at the nose of the inboard rib, where the attach bracket is - a fairly common spot, apparently.
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I know, people will say avgas is smaller than water, molecularly, and can find other spots that didn't leak. I think I'm taking an acceptable risk at this point. I used Proseal LIBERALLY, from the "it can't leak" school, rather than the "it won't leak" school. After putting on the baffle, I retested by filling each tank with ~5 gallons of water from the garden hose, standing on the tank on end so the water was fully against the baffle seals. No issues. I'm happy. :)

(and yes, for the heck of it, I did the balloon test later. Still no issues. I'm still happy).

Oh, and that blasted gap between the fuel tank nose and the leading edge, where the attach strap is?
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This happens all the time. Freaked me out, really wondering if it'd ever pull in. The week before moving the wings, here in November, I screwed and bolted down the tanks. The screws pulled it in, just like everyone promises they will. "It'll be okay, dear child, trust the system..." :)
 
Duckworks cutouts

Last post for this year, I promise! Or at least tonight.

Back in February, when I was prepping the leading edge skins, I did the cutouts for the Duckworks landing light mounts. I remember doing this on the floor in my condo, with pregame for the Super Bowl on the TV in the background. :)

First cut out as many starter holes as I could, starting with a #30 bit to do the pilot hole, and then using my Unibit to go as wide as possible on each hole without coming too close to the outline.
IMG_20130202_154114_zps5da125c1.jpg


Then finished the rough hole with the metal grinding bit of my Dremel.
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Very rough at this point, but finished out the hole to final size, and smoothed edges, using a small Scotchbrite wheel on my air grinder.

A few months later in August, when I got back to final-assembly on the leading edge, mounted in my AeroLEDs. Pretty darn nice.
IMG_20130910_001016_zps1251d504.jpg


And yes, again during the infamous last week before Moving Day in November, I screwed in the Plexiglass covers. No pic of them, but they look good too. :)
 
you're moving along

Scott, You are really moving along! I like your landing lights and paint scheme. Hey, I installed my fwd carpet this week from Abby, Flightline Interiors. I'm very pleased with her work. I'm flying to Milwaukee on Friday.
 
RIP Mom - 10/5/52 - 7/20/14

As usual, I've been way behind on posting build log updates here. Better to build than write about building, right?

Unfortunately, today I share an entry I placed in my build log this past Sunday:

7/20: RIP Mom. So very thankful the struggle was unexpected and short. (06:55am)
- "Flying is the closest you can get to touching the face of God. It's now the closest I'll get to hugging you again."

My mother was diagnosed with some form of gynecological cancer a little over a month ago, on June 18, after entering the hospital June 13 for anemia and partial kidney failure. This after approximately two weeks of what was thought to be a bladder infection. There were *no symptoms at all*, aside from tiny amounts of bleeding in the urine and some burning - hence the thought of a bladder infection. While the pathologist was uncertain on whether it was ovarian or uterine cancer - the samples didn't stain definitively either way - I suspect ovarian cancer, given my Mom's mom died of ovarian cancer within a year when my mother was 12, and pattern of what little symptoms there were once we entered and left the hospital. It's also the hardest to detect, usually never being found until Stage 3 or further.

The oncologist said it was absolutely Stage 3, probably Stage 4, with a large pelvic mass near her ovaries and uterus, invading the bladder wall, and further CAT scans showed it had already metastasized into the lungs. Chemo was immediately started, and given a 70% success rate, we were hopeful. She stayed in the hospital a further two weeks, dealing with bladder bleeding complicated by use of blood thinners to try and take care of a blood clot that had developed in the hospital in her leg (you win some, you lose some...).

Afterwards, she was able to return home. She remained mostly strong, but could eat or drink very little - the mass was just pressing things closed too much. This past week, after chemo round two, things went downhill very quickly. She was found to be severely dehydrated, yet all IV saline was pooling straight to her legs. The oncologist, at the post-chemo checkup this past Thursday, noted it was definite Stage 4 - Uncurable.

This past Saturday morning, Dad and I had The Final Talk about wishes, where she accepted her situation. The whole family was able to visit and give goodbyes, and Last Rites, etc were performed in the evening. Hospice was brought in Saturday afternoon (a story in itself - my upstairs neighbor in my condo building, the mother of a guy I grew up with through grade school / Junior High and went through Cub Scouts with, is the Director of Nursing for a local hospice. She was able to get things rolling *very quickly*). Hospice did their well-known stellar job, ordering medicine to bring final comfort to mom (she was never in pain, but discomfort). The overnight nurse reported the night was very peaceful. And while she died peacefully in her sleep minutes before I arrived (I live 20 minutes away), I was very much at peace also. Dad and I had accomplished everything Saturday.

RIP Mom. I love you, and will miss you. I'll see you in the skies.

Us on our 2008 cruise
Balmos-1.jpg


Mom, Dad, and Maggie
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Mom with (L to R) sisters Jeanne and Joanne, and brother Tom
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Mom and Debby, her best friend since 1st grade, lives 5 minutes away, and is my second mother
balmos3.jpeg
 
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Scott,

I am so sorry to learn about your mom's passing. I sense the great love you have for her in your writing and the sharing of your pictures.
 
Scott,
I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom. I can relate as a similar situation developed with my Mom a long time ago. She also was taken by ovarian cancer way too early in life. I agree with your feelings about hospice. My oldest sister (a registered nurse) became a hospice nurse shortly after Mom died.

I can tell you this: there is no better therapy than getting your mind wrapped around an intense project like your RV9. Getting it airborne and 'touching the face of God' - and your Mom makes the goal that much sweeter.

God bless you Scott. If there's anything you need help with, please let me know.
 
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Scott,
I am so sorry to hear about your mom. As someone once told me "you won't get over it, but you will push through it." And as you've learned, and many of us have learned before you, hospice people are incredible. To do the work they do, which is to bring comfort to all involved, takes a special kind of someone. If angels exist....they are it. Sending good thoughts your way...
Jenny
 
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Scott,

My sincere condolences on your loss. I lost my Mom very suddenly over 23 years ago to a very aggressive form of bone cancer. It will take some time to get past the grief, but you will always have the good memories.
 
As usual, neglecting my own build log thread. I've pretty much hit that point in the fuselage build where the manual gets really vague on what to do when. I could start stringing pitot/static lines, start some wiring, take my pick. Choices, choices...

The fuselage is basically done, the landing gear mounts are in, and I'm starting to design my center console, which will probably pretty much replace the forward center cover, fuel selector box, possibly the firewall cabin heat baffle, etc. I'm talking with Tom at TS Flightlines about my fuel lines, Stein and Christer on avionics, the bank about paying for the avionics (always fun), Nicole and Craig for the Catto prop, Robert for the EFII system, Luke and Jeremiah at Classic Aero about the Interior... did I miss anyone? :D

There's a lot of can't-do-this-until-this-until-that-etc now. I don't want to rivet down the baggage area floor until after wiring or at least conduit running, and deciding whether any antennas go under the baggage area. But I can't finish the flap motor assembly until the baggage floors are down (and yes, the cleco's interfere, at least they did the first time I tried). Sort of the same problem with really finishing any of the center console design (aside from cardboard mockups), until after the seat pans are riveted in, which again I don't want to do until after wiring.

Choices... choices...

O9redCkbSiiVqTtf579ZfyrPDFBrsd_DhWWyci3BoRw=w1680-h950-no


g3KgPG7OkEjYBP8_q16G6SEb5QS-GrM4249tpTYegfE=w538-h950-no
 
During June through August, I pretty much was taken away from heavy, consistent building because I was playing in the pit orchestra of a community theater production of The Music Man. Three nights a week in June, and then nightly rehearsals all the way through July until the performance run the weekend before Oshkosh has a way of draining you. :)

On the flip side, I have my paint scheme designed!!! I don't know if Doug will frown on this since he's not (yet) an advertiser, but the scheme was designed by Jonathan McCormick of Plane Schemer. He's a fast up-and-comer, *very* fun to work with. And he has awesome prices for homebuilts, with other specials he usually runs on top of that. Other random trivia - he designed the paint scheme on the recently-delivered first privately-owned Eclipse 550.

Here she is, in her full rendered glory:
scottbalmos_final_md_zps634aae35.jpg


Observant ones with halfway good memories will note that Jonathan had a booth in Hangar D at Oshkosh this year. In fact, we finished my scheme the week before Oshkosh, and Jonathan had it on display in his booth!!!

One other great thing that Jonathan can do is, because he's also the ops manager of a jet painting shop, he can also do a custom paint plate with sample colors from your scheme. I ordered one up, which somehow he managed to get to me at Oshkosh. It was still curing when I got it. But boy does it look good. :) It's now hanging in my garage, a nice constant motivator.
IMG_20130729_103919_zps21a5f673.jpg

Really nice! Would you be able to share the references to the colors used in this schema? When I am ready to paint, probably in about 10 years :), I may want to use them too. Nice combination. Thanks!
 
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