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While waiting on wing parts, I started the fuselage by fabricating the rudder pedals. I was short some of the 0.75 aluminum angle so I used some I got from Home Depot (for the pitot mount). Nothing too tricky here, just takes time.

You can see the long #30 drill bit I used to make sure the two sides are the same height before drilling.

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These things are more work than what first appears. Trimmed the excess material to save weight then deburred, countersunk and primed the parts before riveting them together.

Here I just set them on the rudder pedals to check the fit. All is well!

Still no parts from Van's, TruTrak or SafeAir1 so I kept making small assemblies. Here is the elevator bellcrank assembly F-635. Don't forget to make the spacer from .063. I primed the inner surfaces.

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Cut the seat back support angles F-637B and F-637C to the required length. Marked the F-637B angles so I can have them milled and trimmed by Chuck. He has access to a Bridgeport Mill.

Marked F-741A and AEX tie-down for cutting.

Drilled the holes in the rudder pedal bearing blocks F-6115 and F-6116. Unfortunately I'll have to order another F-6115 because I used the same 3/8 dimension on the other two bearing blocks. The distance from the edge on F-6115 should be 1/4! Oops. I can use the existing one for fitting the parts for now.

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Because I was unable to work on the wings, I got started on making some of the miscellaneous parts we'll need later on. There's tons of fabrication on the fuselage - mostly from aluminum angles.

Here you can see the AEX tie-down trimmed to size and some little pieces. Wish I had a band saw!

I will probably re-order a Z angle. I cut the F-741A per Van's plans then fit it in the fuse. The angle is slightly off (by about 1/8" at the end).

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Followed Dan C's method and it worked out well.

Just killing time...no surprises here.

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Trying to do something every night... today I drilled the seat back support angles while I wait for help skinning the right wing.

Suggestion - mark the locations on the long angles, drill the holes on the drill press and back drill through the seat back. I did it backwards (marked locations on the seat back) and ended up with rivets that are not on a perfectly straight line.

I fixed my error and the other seat came out OK. It's all cosmetic and you'll never see the rivets with the seat cushions on - but it's aggravating me knowing 'it's there'.

Chuck was great in helping me mill the ends of the long angles to accept the hinge. He and a friend of his did it on a Bridgeport mill.

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Only managed to match drill the seat back brace and associated parts today. There's lots of little work involved like cutting the circles out of F-638 and bending the F-705K plate.

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Riveted co-pilot seat and installed in plane. Nothing exciting to report.

Here's the seats installed in the airplane.

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Made a trip to the local aircraft tool store (Home Depot) and picked up a 1.5 inch bi-metal hole saw to make the cut for the steps. The first cut went well. You then have to trim away some of the stiffeners then work on the inner hole.

The inner hole is more of a challenge becuase the rib is not at the same angle you have to drill the hole so the hole-saw tends to get stuck. Just take your time.

Trimming of both holes was required in order to get the plate to line up with the side of the fuse. The hole in the outer skin had to be slightly enlarged to make room for the weld.

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Just looking for quick and easy projects while we wait for baby arrival.

Removed the rear bulkhead and installed the nutplates on the inspection panel. Used NAS1097 rivets because they take a smaller countersink. Somehow I was short a K1100-06 nutplate which will have to be installed later.

Instructions say to cut a 1.5 inch hole for the steps. I found this to be slightly small on the outer skin because of the weld material. Therefore I enlarged the hole and test fit the step.
The step fits pretty well. I trimmed the rear corner and bent the aft side. There's still a small gap on the bottom which I am contemplating filling with fuel tank sealant (on order).

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Fabricated the left z-angle (F-741A) for the tunnel cover. I would have done the right side had I read the plans right. I originally cut it to fit behind the seats... looking at the plans I see it goes in front of the seats! doh!

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Well I've gone and done it. Started installing the countersunk nutplates floor the baggage floor. The #8 nutplate jig really speeds up the process.

No pictures to show... how about one of this cutie. I'm proud to present our newest RVATOR - Heather Michelle Will, born Feb 25, 2005. 7 lbs, 7 oz. 19.5 inches long!

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Finished up the baggage floor nutplate installation. Had to replace two nutplates on the aft end because when I started the screws, they didn't engage in the threads and instead pushed the underlying metal down.

I used countersunk nutplates everywhere except on the forward most and aft most screw holes. The flap weldment is just aft of the screw heads on the front side so that part of the baggage floor is unusable anyway.

Here's a shot of the floors temporarily installed and the tunnel cover not yet countersunk and riveted.

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Fitted the flap actuator weldment. Didn't permanently install it because the baggage floors are not permanently installed. Can't install the baggage floors 'til the steps are on for good!

Worked on the flap actuator channel and it's associated brackets. Installed countersunk nutplates on the sides to have a 'smoother' look. Fabricated the F-767 attach plate using the shear in Paul's hangar.

Here you can see everything fitted together.

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Being careful, I drew the rivet pattern on the step. You can see the one solid rivet I removed on the fuse so I can line up the step before drilling the rest of the rivet holes. Here's the step cleco'd in place.

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Today I cut the hole for the right step. Again I had to enlarge the holes to about 1 5/8" to give space for the weld material. Then I spent a while fine tuning the position of both steps.

I had to redo some bends in the plate because I originally fit the step so the plate, as shipped, would fit flush with the forward portion of the fuse. This does not make it "square" with the fuselage centerline. Then I noticed the 8.75" distance callout - 8.75" is the distance from the rear bulkhead to the center of the tube. After fiddling with both steps for a while, I finally got them squared up.

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Took the steps to Performance Coatings in Jonesboro, GA to get powder coated. Had to fight race traffic down Tara Blvd as there is a NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.

Wrestling with the color was the hardest decision all day. I finally chose a high gloss white since most of my preliminary paint schemes have white in that area.

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Today I manged to install the flap actuator and associated hardware before the inlaws came to visit. Everything was pretty straight-forward. Except I was unable to get the rivets in the center of F-766B, even with the F-766D spacer being the length specified on Dwg 33.

Finished the installation by drilling the flap actuator side covers (F-760) to the backrest brace. Installed nutplates for #8 countersunk screws. Trying to use up my extra K1100 nutplates!

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In a couple of free minutes, I managed to rivet F-982D to the center cabin cover F-982C and install all the necessary nutplates on F-982C.

Bent the tabs on the heat baffle. I clamped some angle and bent the tabs by hand as called out on Dwg 34A but I didn't get the results I desired. So I added some reinforcements and tried again. Turned out a little better.

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Cut holes in both sides of fuselage for the landing gear weldments. Used the plans as a template buit that is only a starting point. Go slowly and trim as needed.

The weldments are hard to slide into place because of the flange and nutplates on the main spar. These obstacles might have contributed to me making the openings bigger than the needed to be. But overall I'm pretty happy with the fit. Pro-seal will take up the gaps.

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Made the F-635C spacers and installed the elevator bellcrank. Easy peasy.

Here's a neat tip I picked up on one of the email lists: Cut the spacer slightly longer than needed then mount it in the drill press. Then use the drill press to bring the spacer down to a file or sand paper to even up the ends.

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Riveted the tunnel cover. I saw people back riveting it but I was able to use a 4" thin-nose yoke without any problems.

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Got the steps back from the powder coater today - man do they look sweet. After dinner I snuck out to the shop and drilled the holes for the UMHW block. Then I proceeded to rivet the steps to the fuse using the MSP-42 rivets.

Before I riveted, though, I sprayed some Zinc Oxide primer and dabbed some red RTV around the perimeter of the step. After it's on, I'll probably make a pro-seal or epoxy fillet.

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Today I drilled the holes for the Dynon static ports. They suggest a 0.25 hole but after measuring the port itself, a slightly smaller hole is required. I used the unitbit to get close then finished the hole with a round file.

Riveting these on will have to wait as my bucker is on vacation. I plan on a little RTV or proseal on the backside just to keep the moisture out.

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Received lots of goodies from Van's today. Call it an early birthday present (5 days early to be exact). Shown here is the Andair fuel selector, Andair Gascolator, and Sherwin Williams JetFlex paint in Subtle White (BAC 7106). The paint is from Alliance Coatings in El Cajon, CA.

Digging right in, I mounted the new fuel valve to the plate. Still have to trim the triangular piece because I am using electric elevator trim. Then I started to rivet the fuel pump cover. Here's a mockup of the install.

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My uncle came over to help me get started on the paint... he's the paint expert in the family since he did it for his career (mostly home and commercial painting). He brought an HVLP setup with its own air supply. All I had was my touch-up gun from Harbor Freight.

We tried for hours and hours getting the right viscosity & air pressure settings. We cleaned his HVLP gun (which I think was intended for big house type spray jobs, not car/plane detail type work). We just couldn't get a good fan and coverage. We did testing on some drywall scrap and some of the removable panels.

In frustration, we went to Home Depot and got their Husky HVLP gun. What a difference that made! All seemed better! Painted a few panels before I will move on to the fuse tomorrow.

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Finally ended up with a good spray pattern. Thinning the JetFlex about 25 percent and about 40 psi from the compresor. A little orange peel was there at first but went away as it dried. The paint is only about 37\% solids so all that liquid went away.

At the end of the day I was happy with the way the paint went on and dried. A nice satin finish. BUT THE PAINT SEEMED LIGHTER THAN I WANTED! ARGHH

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This morning I looked at the sample over and over in all different lights. It turns out the sample was darker than what was shipped from Alliance Coatings. Made a call to Aviall. I knew Aviall from my days in aircraft maintenace at Delta. They said come on down and we'll make you what you want. So I did just that.

It turns out that the spec for Subtle White changed. What he mixed as Subtle White was pretty much what I had applied the day earlier. Anyway, he was great and mixed me something a little darker. We went thru about three iterations.

Here's the fuselage painted again... went MUCH fast this time around. Partially because I knew what I was doing. Partially because the plane was already primed. I used about half the paint I did the previous two days. I love the new color.

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They are in, finally! (and they are not coming back out!) Really takes two people to help tighten all the bolts. No real surprises. Just ensure that all rivets clear the holes in the weldments. I had to enlarge a few holes with a round file. Also, I filed the top of the weldment slightly where it passes under the nutplates on the spar flange. This helps the weldments slide in and out much easier.

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First step was to cut off the sides of the fuel pump mount plate because they just did not fit between the angles. I did what Walter Tondu did and riveted some angle to the plate.

In order to drill the holes in the side of the angle on the fuselage, I made a little jig to help guide the bit. Here's how I did it.

And here's the whole contraption clecoed in plate. Lots of nutplates are added here.

You can see the piece of bent .020 aluminum I placed on the front lip of the fuel selector plate. This is just for asthetics!

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Installed the control sticks in the fuselage. Before you do so, be sure to ream the brass bushigns to 1/4 and check the fit of the control stick on the weldment that gets mounted to the fuse. Be sure everything swings free and clear but without a lot of slop.

The pilot control stick is a replacement from Vans because the one that was shipped with the kit had the brass bushing stuck inside it. Nothing I tried worked to remove it.

Getting the washers in the right place takes some patience. Luckily, I have one of those handy washer holders.

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On all the builder sites I've seen, getting the servo drilled to the seat ribs is a royal pain. They are right. Every angle drill I had couldnt get the two lower bolt holes. I tried - as you see in one picture. I ended up opening up one hole wayyyy too much.

So then the light came on! I made a little template of the servo and used that to set my holes. You can see the two extra screw holes just for reassurance. I'll also add a washer on the top side.

I'll probably have to wait to attach the springs - have to get the controls hooked up and in their neutral position.

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Paul kindly came over and gave me a brief intro to bending tubes and attaching fittings. Unfortunately we were only able to do one tube because I didn't have the fitting that goes on the bottom of the Andair fuel selector. We messed around with making it work with the tubing and fittings we had but it was not practical in the space provided.

So I am on the hunt for a AN Tee fitting with a female swivel on the run.

Before Paul left he helped me shoot the rivets for the static air ports while I crawled in the fuselage and bucked them.

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Found the exact fitting I needed and it was local! Score. The fitting is an Earl's Performance Products P/N 926106ERL. You can find it places like Summit Racing. I fount it locally at a place called Barnett Performance.

I was nervous hoping that it had 37 degree flares. We checked the technical sheets at the store and sure enough it had the correct flare. Earl's website also says they are AN fittings. So I am in business.

Then I managed to bend the remaining tubes. However, the fuel pump is not totally vertical. The instructions say to get it as close to vertical as possible. As it comes from the factory, one of the tubes hits the fuel filter because the tee fitting is at a bad angle. Tried rotating the tee fitting but couldn't do it.

Van's said a little off center is OK. Mine is about 20 degrees from vertical.

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Several people said I may be better making the fuel pump truly vertical. So that is what I did today. I took off all the tubes and muscled the tee fitting into a better position. Then I remade some tubes. Here is the new configuration.

Pretty simple stuff. I used some plastic cable stays from Home Depot to provide an extra level of chafing protection. I only drilled one No 30 hole at each location and put the tie wrap around the bulkhead.

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Here are the dreaded angles to make. Dreaded if you have only a 1 inch belt/8 inch disk sander and a band saw that is not the best. Went over to Pauls hangar to used his man sized belt sander with coarse grit. Went much faster. Finished these up at home.

Also used his shear to make the plates you see here.

Lastly you can see the fuel vent fittings. Removed the threads and polished as you see here. I bought a sink filter from Home Depot, cut it in half then JB welded it to the bottom. Came out very nicely.

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After sitting in the fuselage with the seats in place, I was never happy with how the brakes felt. It's due to the forward angle of the right brake. The rudder pedals are not placed in the same longitudinal position so you will have some angular differences.

I thought if I remade the brakes and drilled them in different spots (for the brake cylinders) then I'd be happier. As it is now, I can't see how you can not apply right brake while simply wanting right rudder only. Something just doesn't feel right.

So tonight I got the pedals ready for final assembly tomorrow (i.e. cutting the angles, getting them to correct shape then drilling to pedals and side piece).

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Easy peasy. Here's the new pedals temporarily placed on the weldments with the right brake in a better position. However this brings the left brake wayyyy back. I'm thinking I might keep the originals and put some thick hose on the bottom to space out the right brake better.

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The F-774 aft top skin needs to be fitted to the plane before mounting the cabin frame. So I mounted the aft top skin and match drilled it to the fuselage.

Don't forget to draw centerlines on the stringers so you can get your holes centered. Here you can see where mine were off. I had to move the stringer slightly to get my holes to fall in the center.

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Before you fit the cabin frame onto the fuse, trim away some portions of F-721B.

Also measured the fuselage width so I have the correct dimensions for F-631A. I used my disk sander to trim the thick aluminum channels to get the proper dimensions.

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Continued work on the cabin frame by sanding and filing the parts to get the correct dimensions. Make sure you take into account the width of the angles when measuring.

I cut the 1.5" access holes in the rear frame parts by hand. The tooling hole is in a bad location and you can't get the pilot bit on the fly-cutter placed correctly.

Drilled the straps and plates to the cabin frame. When drilling for the aft strap, I made some standoff blocks to ensure the correct width of the cabin frame. Also used an angle drill to do the lower surface holes.

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Finished construction of the cabin frame. Lots of drilling, deburring and countersinking awaits you. Note that the depth of the countersink changes as you go around curves.

Next step is mounting it to the fuselage.

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Begin by clamping the angles as shown. I got a lot of good pictures to aid me off Dan C's great site. You'll have to trim the outside of the frame for the large angle to fit. After putting the keeper rivets in, I set about to mount it on the fuselage.

After getting the brackets aligned on the fuselage, I noticed the cabin frame width decreased by about 1/8" after riveting! In hindsight, I should have placed some blocks with screws into a table to hold the width while riveting. I was able to draw the frame tight with C-clamps later in the evening. The middle picture shows the assembly loosely placed on the fuse.

The last picture shows the large brackets filed away so they are flush with the fuselage side. I used a combination of belt sander, vixen file and scotchbrite wheel to accomplish this task.

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I managed to sneak out to the shop and make the F-703B angle that stiffens the top of the instrument panel. I've been dreading making this part because of the number of cutouts necessary. It really wasn't that bad but it did take some quality time getting to know the needle files.

The width of my cutouts are double what they should be because I read Dan C's website. He mentions 5/8" while they should be about 5/16". Ohhh well, my F-703B looks good and will still serve the purpose quite well.

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Paul came over and my intention was to get the fuel tank attach brackets on for good. We match drilled F-796B and the shims underneath it. But when we went to rivet it to the fuse, I didn't have a bucking bar thin enough to fit between the two angles.

We then riveted the F-6122-1 Brake Bracket to the firewall as well as finish the rivets on the rudder pedal brace.

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Today, before my parents came to town, I made the left and right brake fluid lines. Managed to go thru lots of tubing again! The best way I've found to do tubes like these is cut the tube to the approximate length (but long). Then place it where it needs to be and just start bending by hand.

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Nothing too exciting to tonight - got the F-789 (forward) elevator pushrod installed. The trick is to only put one of the rod end bearings on then screw the other on once it's in place. I ended up removing the elevator bellcrank and attaching the rod end bearing to that then screwing that whole assembly onto the pushrod.

I can't leave well enough alone! I remade the brake fluid lines after realizing they wouldn't interfere with the fuel lines where the landing gear mount is. My previous iteration had the brake lines coming up and forward... more than they needed to be. After looking at Walter's site, I made mine more like his.

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Today I received the modular panel and vents from Fabian at Affordable Panels. this guy is a professional and a pleasure to do business with. The package was well thought out and he even includes #19 clecos to hold the panel in position! The little things count.

So I began by making the angle that goes along the top edge of the panel. Haven't I already made this part? Yes but it was for the stock Van's panel. This panel has different spacing and nutplates that go on it. Start with the center and move outwards... do one hole at a time.

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Sorry for the blurry picture! I'll try to get a new one up soon. Pretty easy running these lines per the plans. As you can see, the brake pedals are off because they are being powder coated a nice silver.

Finally got this sucker riveted on. Had to get a really skinny bar to fit between the two angles. Thanks to my helper, Chuck, for coming over and helping buck these.

We also tightened all the AN fittings on the brake and fuel vent lines.

Lastly, we shot the rivets that hold the canopy latch mechanism. Here you can see my not so perfect slot I cut in the fuselage.

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Chuck and I decided to call Van's about the rivets that can't be reached on the F-705 assembly. Scott said go ahead and use blind rivets. We used CR3213-5 Cherrymax rivets and that seemed to work well. On the upper longeron we also used -5 length flush head Cherry max rivets.

After that was done, we bolted on the WD-617 canopy latch and cabin frame.

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Andair seemed to fall off the map. For the past two months I have searched near and far for Banjo fittings for my FS20X3 valve. Even placed an order back in April with Andair over in England. Nothing! I've tried calling and emailing them often but have not heard anything back.

So in a desperation, I broke down and bought the FS20X7 valve from AeroCraft parts, the parts store affiliated with Lancair. They had one in stock and shipped it to me for the low, low price of $300.

The good news is... it fits! Still have to figure out if I will need to tee in a purge line but here is the valve in all its glory. Should work out. Now I need to sell the other to recoup some of the cost.

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Fabricated this little power supply mount from 3/4 angle. I decided to put a piece of .063 across the bottom and put some cushioning there when it's installed for good.

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Though there are no log entries to show for it, the past few days have been filled with trimming the front canopy - along the front making sure it's symmetrical and lies down flat - along the back creating a nice even edge. I also trimmed the rear window to within about 1.5" of the window edge leaving PLENTY of room for fitting later. Also trimmed the front edge of the rear window to match up roughly with the fwd canopy piece.

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Thinking I may rivet on the aft top skin soon so I can get the canopy in place, I wanted a way to get wires (strobe, nav) to the tail. Used some Van's corrugated conduit. The end holes were drilled to 3/4" while the holes in in the middle were drilled to 13/16" so the conduit could easily slide into place. The smaller holes on the end hold the conduit in position.

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Figured that if I wanted to get the canopy on for good, I better make provisions for the instrument panel. Tonight I installed these little side supports for the Affordable Panels modular panel.

There are four holes in the fuselage skin that are used to attach the vents in the Van's stock configuration. Three of these holes are used to support the modular panel with 3/4 angle. This is the best shot looking through the rib.

My current panel layout requires the left rib to be removed (between the sub-panel and instrument panel). A fellow Delta guy, Scott Solberg did this on his Super -7 and reports no problems so far.

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A litte bit of this, a little bit of that... made and drilled the F732E support angles. Tested some new paint I hope to repaint the cabin with - DuPont Nason.

The Sherwin-Williams JetFlex is super easy to work with but it gives a flat to satin finish which easily (and I mean easily) picks up dirt and marks. The paint is holding fabulously but I am not happy with how it shows every little mark. All along I really liked what Paul used on his RV-8. He finally showed me what it was and I picked up some from AutoColor, Inc.

This DuPont Nason comes with a catalyst and reducer you have to mix 8:1:2

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Since I had a few days til my helper returns, I decided to spray the cabin interior. For the last time, I promise! I really, really like this paint. Using DuPont Nason. Once it dries, it's hard as nails and has a glossy finish.

I thought a glossy finish would not be so good in the cockpit but once all the seats and stuff are in, the glossy areas should not affect the pilot.

Here are some pictures from a day later after it dried and masking was removed.

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Made a cutout in F-768A to clear the avionics stack. The SL-30 Nav/Comm is about 11" longso it needs to protrude thru the subpanel. Not knowing what my avionics stack will look like in the future, I made the cutout about 5.8". This will allow a GNS-430 or the like in the future (I hope!)

Here you can see the SL-30 tray loosely placed in position to check the cut.

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I apologize for the lack of updates - not much building going on now and I don't want to leave my nice camera in the shop while I paint!

It seems like my repainting project will never end. The fuselage is painted and looks very good. Spent the last few days painting and repainting all the covers and panels. For some reason, I am getting very small specks in the paint. Thought it was the blue shop towels I was using to clean the parts - that wasn't it. Thought it was too much air circulating in the shop - still got specks after turning everything off and closing the windows. The paint shop said it might be solvent pot... that's when the first coat doesnt flash off before the second coat goes on. That wasn't it because it's happening on the first coat.

Switched to my small Harbor-Freight touch-up gun last night and had better results. Some specks but they have been almost eliminated.

I think it's worth going through all this effort because this new paint kicks butt. Tough, looks great, nice color, etc.

Anyway, normal plane building should resume tomorrow as my helper, Chuck, is back from vacation.

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You wouldn't believe the frustrations I've had with paint over the last week. There haven't been any entries because there was not much to report - paint, sand, try again. Repeat that process many times.

I just wasnt happy with the contaminants that ended up on the floor of the cabin where your feet go. Tried many methods of paint control, two guns, etc.

To make a long story short, I ended up stripping all the paint in this area and using Rustoleum Hammered Dark Bronze. Seen it on Jeff's site. Not sure if the effect is the same as I've seen on Jeff's site. The darker color looks good with the lighter color.

And here's the paints I have been using. Don't get me wrong, I love the Dupont Nason. It's just me and the shop that give me fits.

Chuck's availibility in the coming weeks and months will be dimished because his kids go back to school on Aug 1. Yikes! I don't know what I would have done because up in Ohio, we go back to school the Tuesday after Labor day.

Anyway, we got about 70 percent done with the F-774 skin. No big deal. The rivets along the side longerons are -6. -5.5 would have been perfect but I dont think they make those. So your shop heads will be a little bigger here.

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Again, sorry for the lack of updates. If you made it to OSH, hope you had a great time. I was unable to go this year.

Spent the whole time trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the floor. Here's the final result - you heard me say that before. This is to stay. Took it down to bare metal, primed and shot the DuPont Nason. Still got a few fisheyes but hey, it's where your feet go.

I just wish there was a way I could have wheeled the fuselage outside to spray it in the morning to reduce contaminants in the air.

Started to put everything back in the fuselage. This necessitated reinstalling the landing gear mounts, fuel lines, brake lines, fuel pump, you name it. Went with all new fittings for that new airplane look.

Hopefully now I can get back to working on the canopy.

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Today I set out to install the sub-panel and it's associated supports. This involves attaching the vents as shown after fabricating the side support angle. I clamped a piece of 3/4 angle to a board then used a fly cutter to cut the radius to clear the vent.

The last two pics show the sub-panel in place. The skin is match drilled to the angle. When drilling through the skin, I took the vents out then used spacers to make up for the lack of vents.

Received the new modular panel plates from Fabian at Affordable Panels. He does nice work. Here they are very loosely placed in the plane.

I thought with the thickness of both plates (.180) they wouldn't clear the tip-up canopy frame. But no worries, it all fits like a glove. In fact, the canoyp frame provides support at the top where the left rib should be. I'll try to take a picture of this later.

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Chuck came over tonight to help me rivet the F-632A channel to the fuse (the channel that runs between the rollbar and aft bulkhead) and hopefully attach the rear window. Well we only got so far as riveting the channel. Spent a while making sure the channel and reinforcement bar are perfectly flush with the bulkhead and skin. Also had to redo a few rivets.

One tip, do not drill the four holes that go through F-706 until you get the top rivets in place. I had to oversize my holes because when we riveted on the F-632A, it moved up a small amount.

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Aircraft Spruce has these very cool throttle quadrants. Seen a few mounted in RV's. Here's how I mounted mine. They only had the 3-lever in stock... does that mean I have to get a C/S propeller now?! :) If I decide to go fixed pitch, then I can remove the prop lever pretty easily.

Made my own channel section by using 2 pieces of 3/4 angle with some .032 on top. It's all fastened with screws and nutplates so it all can be removed painlessly.

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Received the master relay from B & C and a starter relay from Aircraft Spruce. Drilled the holes for the bolts then followed the plans to make the backing plate.

Here I'm getting ready to drill the four corner holes.

Dimpled the firewall with my pop-rivet dimpler.

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Because I want to install the battery tray permanently, I have to rivet the firewall recess on. And before I do that, I wanted to seal the edges. So I reluctantly used a proseal tube just for this. Hopefully someone will be able to help me shoot/buck these rivets soon.

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Now is as good as time as any. Started by scotchbriting the axles to remove the minor corrosion and then trying to slide these pieces on. They wouldn't go on. Had to use some emery paper on the inside of the U403's. Add some LPS-1 and you should be good to go.

Drill them up to size. I actually used a 19/64 bit then used a small file and dremel to open up the holes.

Be sure to get orientation correct.

Then I tried to get the rims on the tire. Will save that for help because I'm sure there's a trick. I did have plenty of baby powder because well you have lots of it comes with the baby thing. Remember little Heather came along last February. Can't believe its been almost 8 months.

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Jeff was in town again. After a bite to eat at my local airport, KDPDK, we went back to my shop. He helped me rivet the firewall recess and the backing plate for the relays.

Then he showed me how to mount the tire on the rims. It's all good to go now. If you don't have some sort of clamp to squeeze the two rims, then it's a two person job. One person squeezes while the other starts the nuts on the bolts. We made a little tool (L-shaped piece of aluminum with rounded edges) to make sure the tube wasn't pinched between the rims.

Thanks again, Jeff.

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Upon advice from other builders, I went with the stainless stell wheel pant brackets. They should hold up over time. Got them very quickly from Fairings-ETC who now distributes them. Bob runs a good business.

The wheel is loosely placed on the axle.

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Just reinstalled the flap motor tonight since it was taken out a long time ago for painting the cabin. Installed molex connectors on the wiring harness to the flap motor.

Also drilled the hole in the firewall for the nose gear bolt. Kinda reluctant to drill the throttle and mixture cable holes since I don't have the engine yet.

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The U623 hat bushings would not slip into the nose gear bearings. Here's how I solved that problem. Took a 3/8 bolt and chucked it in the drill press. Originally tried with 320 sandpaper but that wasn't cutting it (no pun intended). So I use a fine tooth file and that did the trick. A few secs of spinning and it slipped right in. Cleaned it up with a little scotchbrite first.

Nose gear fitted to the weldment. I have the updated nosegear and my plans do not reflect it. So I hope I have it oriented correctly. Will check with Van's today.

Now to the frustrations... the main gear. I could not get the main wheels to slide on very easily. After talking with Van's they said just use a long piece of 320 grit and polish it like you would a shoe. Well that's wasn't working so well so I used a slightly coarser emery cloth. Got the left one situated and seems to be good. But the right side. UGH! I got the wheel stuck on the leg and it wouldn't come off.

Eventually I got it off but the bearing stayed on there! Yep. Leave it up to me to make that happen. Had to tap it off. After about 30 minutes of polishing the gear leg any bearing wouldn't slide on. This gear leg is way out of whack!

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Drilled holes for the flap switch and cabin heat.

You can see how I have the CO monitor mounted and how I put the molex connector on it.

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Routed the pitot air line through the fuselage. I had some extra expandable sleeving made for wire bundles. It fit nicey around my plastic air lines from SafeAir1 so I used that for an added level of protection.

You can see I made a little guide for the air line next to the ARHS unit. I really like the kit from SafeAir1. Makes installation a snap and look really professional.

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See tomorrow's entry! I made a cover for the F-704K upright cap strips and attached it with 10 K1100-8 nutplates. This will allow me to remove the lights for maintenance. I doubt I'll ever have to as the lights are rated for like tens of thousands of hours. But it gives me peace of mind!

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Since I may have the opportunity to get the empennage mounted this weekend, I decided I better make the elevator stop. Here it is.

Oh and here' s a pic of the Precision fuel injectio servo temporarily mounted. There's some discussion as to if a spacer is needed and why. One person says it's to space the airbox properly since the servo is shorter than the carb. Another person from Superior says it is to act as an insulator between the hot sump and cold servo. Mine didn't come with a spacer as shown.

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Wife and kid away, time to play... err work on the plane. Chuck was able to come over and help me measure and drill the empennage in the correct locations.

It actually went fairly painlessly. You can really see where Van's kit shine in the way things align as they should.

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Abby at Flightline Interiors did a fantastic job. Workmanship is great and colors go really well.

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Spent more time fiddling with the throttle quadrant and cables. Trying to get the proper throw for each control is quite frustrating. I think the mixture cable is a tad too short so I'll get an extension from Spruce. The throttle might be very close.

What's complicating everything is the fact that the cables have to enter the quadrant at a certain angle to get maximum throw. I'll have to figure out how to secure the cables at this angle right behind the quadrant.

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My goal is to get this thing in the plane - somehow, someway - soon! There are two basic problems I was having... one is not getting enough throw from the control rod. Two is securing the cables in such a way that the clevis won't interfere with the control arm.

You can see how I drilled a hole higher up to get more throw. But I also notched the area slightly so the clevis can get in a more horizontal state. This really helped things alot. Then I made a mounting bracket out of some 3/4 and 1 inch angle. I temporarily clamped it in place and the whole thing seems to work really well.

Still have to place it in the plane (which is at the airport) to determine if it will work. If I still dont have enough throw on the mixture side, I can drill a new hole in the mixture control arm on the fuel servo.

Don't know when I'll be at the airport with my tools to get all this done. Still have to move the wings and all.

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Sprayed some primer on the other elevator tip. Filled some pinholes and will sand and prime again tomorrow.

Worked on the throttle quadrant cable attach bracket. Filed away some material on the throttle arm/lever... but not sure I had to.

Swapped some RG-58 for some RG-400 in the left wing for my Bob Archer VOR antenna. Cut a 40" strip of aluminum for my marker beacon antenna to go in the right wingtip.

And no pics to show for it. Pretty unexciting.

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Ahhhh, finally getting settled in. The first two hours were spent unloading the car, organizing the hangar and building a 2nd work table. Got a bite to eat and then around noon started some real airplane work.

Ran some RG-400 to the left wing for the Nav antenna. Put Molex connectors on the wing root wires. And then putzed around with the throttle quadrant. I attached my bracket to hold the cables. In the picture I show it clecoed on there but in the end I used #6 countersunk screws to do the trick. After placing it in the plane, looks like it's gonna work out real well.

I might have to drill new holes in the control arms on the fuel servo to get more throw. But at least the action of the throttle quadrant is really smooth.

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Got a visit from my former manager in his shiny, new, gorgeous Diamond DA-40. Then I went on to do lots of little tasks today. Such things include... putting the aileron pushrods in (I'll adjust the pushrods once everythings assembled), cleaning the canopy with Plexus, temporarily attaching the rudder so I can check the cable lengths, etc. Nothing too exciting that warrants lots of pictures.

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Kye an RV-6A guy who's finishing up the next row of hangars over, had these cool covers on his rudder cables. Said he got them at the boating store, West Marine. So I picked some up and slid it on. Seems to make the system a whole lot quieter! Not to mention it provides a lot of chafing protection. I got the 5/32 ID. It's like $1.99 for 6 feet. Bought four of them.

Spent a while adjusting the rod end bearings on the rudder so it swings freely. Also did some minor trimming of the fiberglass fairing on the bottom. Drilled a hole in it for the wires to pass through.

Finally tested the strobe and nav lights. Want to make sure those switches were doing their job properly.

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When we initally mounted the VS to the fuse, we made sure all the hinge brackets were aligned with a straight edge. And they were - except that we didnt have the lower part of the VS spar bolted to the aft bulkhead. This caused the bottom hinge to be tucked in about 1/16.

After deliberating about what to do, I remade the attach bracket so I could make sure the hinges were all in a perfect line. Even made it out of thicker aluminum! The new one has added length on the bottom so I could still have adequate edge distance. It's just the right height so it sits perfectly flush on the aft deck and makes the hinges all align exactly.

Haven't drilled it yet. But I will... soon.

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Using the new F-781 that I personally made, I drilled the VS to the HS in the front. Now all my hinges are in line.

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Miscellany. Found the slight interference I noticed on the rudder when moving it side to side. It was with the fiberglass fairing but not in the location I first suspected. Had to trim it some more because of the type of rudder stop I am using.

Then I put the 4 AN960-10 washers each side on the elevator pushrod. Will tighten it up for good when I know it's where I want the rod ends.

And lastly, I riveted the left rear baffles. Also began contemplating how I'll beef up the oil cooler mount. Here's what I might do. Although I'm not sure I want to tie it to the front cylinder because they, theoretically, move independently from each other.

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One thing I've been putting off is making the front deck access panels. I hate making cutouts in aluminum because I strive to get them exactly square or at least nice looking.

I saw on Dave's nice site that he made one piece fiberglass panels. I want to do the same... so I put some Glad Press-N-Seal down and laid 4 layers of glass on top of that. This will be the piece that goes under the skin. Then I'll make another piece the same side of the cutout and epoxy that to the lower piece. Put some nutplates on it and call it a day.

Wasn't as hot as last week so at least the epoxy didn't kick in a few minutes as it did a few days ago.

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Made the cuts in the top fuselage skin for the access panel holes.

Also spent a while filing the edge of the skin where the canopy skin meets it. It has to be filed so that the canopy can open and close without hitting the skin. I filed some material away and also put a bevel on it with the file.

Too much work with the files today!!

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Installed fuel selector valve for the last time(?) Played with the EIS 4000 so I can test out my indicator light - it's working! Just had to set up some alarms. Played with fiberglass for the front deck access panels.

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Today I realized that if I go with glass access panel covers, there would only be .032 for which to countersink for the #6 screws. I didn't feel comfortable relying on this holding the plates on with the GPS antenna mounts as well. So I decided to make a spacer out of .040 (only thing I had at the time). I started by drilling out all the rivets that previously held my backing plate to the skin. Then I spent a while making and installing the shim for the right side panel. Re-riveted it all together.

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Glad I have these done. Here's the finished product. Worked on the left side today. Don't have a picture of the backside yet (will try to add that later). But here you can see the GPS antenna trays I made using Paul's shear and bending brake. They attach with three #6 screws each side. That way I can remove them when I need to dive deeper in the plane.

On the right side I'm putting my two GPS antennas (EFIS and Garmin 396). On the other side I'll put the XM antenna for weather and music.

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Just wanted to show a shot of my tank attach brackets. Here's what it looks like with the bend. I dont know why Van's just made the bracket with the correct bends in it to start with.

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My control stick assembly was rubbing on the seat ribs. You can see where the powder coat was removed in the picture. Took some files and went to town. No there's no interference.

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And the last skin is finally on! Not a whole lot of rivets left - I might be able to count them on one hand! Many thanks to local helpers Dave, Mike and Rob for various stages of riveting (I was the lucky one who crawled inside and bucked... guess I was the smallest and it is my plane). Looks pretty good with that skin on.

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More work on this darn fairing. Almost ordered a new one but decided to save the money and see what I could do with the one I have. A local glass guy told me I could heat it with the heat gun (wear gloves, duh!) and mold it into position. I tried it and this method works pretty well! Still have a little to do. Need to fill the bad holes and make it look pretty.

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Drilled out the rivets for the lower empennage fairings. Made good use of the 45 deg angle drill. Trimmed the aluminum emp fairings to fit. Still have to drill and tap.

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I guess it's now more official than it was a day ago. Riveted on the aircraft data plate which I had engraved at the mall (Things Remembered). They charged more than I thought they would but just a tad less than www.rvengraving.com. Wish the engraving was a little deeper, though. Told them to make a few passes.

Also got the lower emp fairing on by removing the rivets and tapping for the #6 screws.

Here's the finished product. You can barely see the cutout I made to get the pins out. I may trim the cover to make it a tad smaller. Hope it looks OK.

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Kahuna stopped by and helped me do the nut on the nose wheel. Since he operated a -6A for thousands of hours, I figured he'd be a good one to help me set the nose wheel up correctly. He did it more by feel. I held the tail down while he set the nut. Then I drilled for the cotter pin. Finally got this task done and the nose wheel won't fall off.

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Used some 380 lb capacity bathroom scales to weigh the plane. The good news is the plane came out at 1020 lb! How light!! Later I realized this is NOT the optimal way of doing things. Doesn't take into account the side loads of the main gear. The 1020 lb seemed too good to be true. Similar planes are coming out around 1050 - 1070 lb.

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A local RVer was driving by and stopped to say hi. Told him about my low weight and he kindly offered to go get his scales. A few minutes later we had N410S back on the scales. Much more realistic. We got 282 lb on the nose gear, 394.5 on the left side and 389.5 on the right side for a new grand total of 1066 lb.

Left side is heavier because that's where my dual GRT screens are as well as my extra thick Oregon Aero seat.

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My buddy Jim Lawrence flew over to LZU to say hi and give me lots of good first flight advice. He's my EAA flight advisor and a good person to know. We came up with a plan for first flight day.

Spent the day putting the baggage floors in and other covers. The DAR says he's most interested in the engine and prop area. Speaking of which we set up the inspection for later this week! Running in my mind are all the little things I should probably do before then.

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Comments that appear on this website should not be interpreted as instructions on how to build any aircraft. Please consult with the manufacturer.

2004 Scott Will.