Keep on truckin...

First thing will be to see how the window 'dressing' looks...

Turned out OK.  Few spots could be better.  Overall I'm happy.

Exhaust shield aft bolts in place and tightened.

Started integrating in the ELT wire into the bundles from the back.

On Sat, Sept 13 we are having an Air Fair at CYNJ, and the Sportsman will be on display (minus wings...).  To add a bit of 'wow' factor, my buddy said we should put the big tires on.  So we did.

For comical reference, the last time the bush wheels were mounted was April 2021.

Hoping to have the hatch covers, doors, elevator tips and rudder base fairing back in time.  

Fuselage door hinges installed.  ELT wire run up front and panel installed (covered in ELT post).

Elevator counterweights... going to build these out of tungsten shot rather than lead.  I have 6 lbs of tungsten.  Going to encase it in epoxy.  Looking for something at the dollar store I can make a mold out of.

Glareshield installed temporarily.  Pain in the ass to get in correctly with the window in...

Thursday night installed the rudder base fairing and elevator tips, and cleaned the inside floor of the cabin of 'sworf'.

I think it looks really good.  Very pleased.  The elevator tips are interfering with the stab slightly.  The fairings are not quite aligned correctly.  Will be an easy fix... just order of insertion I believe.

Progress... and going backwards.

Positives and negatives this week.

Clear was shot on a ton of parts yesterday.  Struts, flaps, right wing, elevator, spinner, etc.  Most of it looks good, but the wing does not look good.  One side is flat and orange peel.  Not sure what the plan is at this point.

So I got to work on the fuselage.  I have the rudder and stab, so getting everything in the fin and aft fuselage ready.  Everything is torqued, torque sealed, cotter pinned, etc.  Elevator bell crank, rudder hinge bolts, tailwheel, etc.  And I cleaned... and cleaned.

The front window looks like its going to be good.  Peeled a bit of tape away to peek.

Rudder installed, all cables connected with correct hardware, etc.

Prepping the stab and elevator for install.

Door seals installed.

Sheerwebs in the tailcone... these have been on the shelf for years.... What should I have been an easy job took hours.  The issue:  The SB that adds the reinforcing plate to the vertical fine (upside down pitchfork) moved the attach tabs back slightly.  So nothing fit correctly.  Had to open up the holes in the angle brackets on bulkhead C to adjust the alignment.  Lots of cursing involved in this one.

Mated up the stab, elevator and trim tab.  The pins went missing (again), but luckily had enough material left to make new ones.  I think this is the 3rd set I have made.

Still need to put the pin keepers in.  Then the whole assembly can be installed.

Should be getting more parts back this week.  The marathon continues...

Tail 'stuff'... and other 'stuff'.

While waiting for my PFD and prop motor to come back (prop motor hasnt even shipped yet...), working on the tail.

Tailcone fasteners are riveted in.  Elevator fairings are on, minus a few fasteners I am waiting for.  Rudder fairing is on.  Rudder base fairing is in process... I am over thinking this one.

Horizontal stab fairing fasteners are on, still need to bond the two pieces together.

Need to make the tabs for the pins.

Another builder is going to machine me a new rudder hinge that is offset.  Need to rivet the stop to the yoke of the rudder.  Hinge is complete as of Jan 20, 2025... just waiting for it to arrive.

PFD is back and installed.  Funny story... there was a USB stick in the rear USB port on the display... and I think to myself, someone forgot to take it out.  So I take it out and put it in my pocket to return.  THEN I read this instructions that came in the box... they upgraded the software, and I need to upgrade the OTHER display and all the devices on the skyview network.  OK - will do that tomorrow I tell myself.  Then I couldnt remember where I put the USB stick.  Finally found it... all upgraded and done.

Pitch change motor has arrived in New Zealand.  Hoping for a week turn around.

Cut the holes in the fuselage for the flap tracks to go... that was fun!  NOT.  The fiberglass there is REALLY thick.

Installed the eyebolts in the wings, and drilled the rivets, installed the doublers, and the eyebolt on the vertical fin.  Wings are now properly stowed.  Having the wings swung back makes the tail REALLY heavy.  The T3 suspension certainly felt it.

Next is fuel lines from the wings to the fuselage!

Turned the engine over with 1 set of plugs out.  Took a good 60 seconds to see any oil pressure.  But it came up to 80 PSI on the starter alone.  Still need to install and clamp the breather exit.  Hose procured.

Rudder Stop Plate

 The rudder was finished very early in the build - well, it was actually the first thing I build in 2016 (now 2022).  Need to fabricate the rudder stop plate, and check the travel / deflection.

Fabricating the plate was easy enough, following the manual.  Fitting it to the rudder was pretty easy as well.

I was worried about bending the ends, but that turned out pretty easy as well.  I took a piece of 1/8th flat stock and rounded the corner, then clamped that along with the plate to the bench and then just bent it with my hands.  Turnout out perfect.  The manual calls for a 15 to 20 degree bend.  The first one took 3 attempts to get it there.  The 2nd was a one shot deal.

I drilled the aft holes to 3/32 and put 3 clecos in, then mounted the rudder.  The target is 25 degrees of travel, +/- 1 degree.  However the manual calls for initial fitment without the stop pad.  My fuselage already had the pads in place, but I then did the SB to add the stiffener which required drilling out the pads and remounting on top of the stiffener.  So my initial reading was 20 degrees.

Again, the manual calls for taking 1/8" off the stop plate to account for the pad, which I did.  That got me to 23 degrees.  A bit more filing and I got to 25.

Both the elevator and rudder stop plates need to be cleaned, alodyned and painted.  I have NOT checked the elevator travel yet, as the horizontal stab and elevator are at the hanger.  That is a job for another day.

But the rudder stop plate needs to be drilled up to 1/8" holes, finished, and riveted.

Rudder (mostly) complete!

Finished riveting the rudder today.  Everything is done except the left skin to forward spar, and tip rib.  These will be riveted once the pre-close inspection is done by MD-RA at some point in the future.  The inspector needs to be able to see into any structure before close.  I am a little worried as between the aft spar and trailing edge are closed up, but all rivets for that section is viewable, and there is no structure between those components, so I **think** it should be fine.

To be honest, I was very apprehensive about riveting.  I would stare at what had to be done A LOT before actually starting.  Learned a lot of good tips along the way:

1.  I bought a rivet removal drill tool.  Makes it easy to get a bent rivet out.
2.  Don't rush.  Make sure you know what you need to do before starting.
3.  Drive some test rivets on scrap material before starting a riveting session.  Make sure the gun is setup right.  Put the gun on a block of wood and get a feel for the trigger (to make sure the air pressure is right) before you start.
4.  Don't be afraid to use blind rivets.  If I think I am going to bugger up some very expensive parts because of limited access, use a blind rivet.  I already had to make a couple small replacement parts because of mistakes.

Final product below... overall I am happy with the results.

Now I can dismantle the rudder jig, and start on the horizontal stabilizer.  The wing kit arrives in 79 days, and I want to get the horizontal stab, elevator and trim tab done (or ready for pre-close) before then.  Considering it took just shy of a month on the rudder (with learning curve), I think this is doable.  Fingers crossed!

Riveting... first experience(s)

All the corrosion proofing is done!  Not my favourite job, but needs to be done - and done right.  I am quite happy with the results so far.

First step was to rivet the forward and rear spars together, along with the root and counterweight ribs.

All of these were set with a hand squeezer.  Only had one crooked that had to be drilled out and redone.

Trailing edge of the rudder skins epoxied per one of the tips in the manual.  It yielded a perfectly straight trailing edge, that looks quite good.

Skins temporarily fit on the framework to again check for straightness.  All looks good.  Lines up perfectly on the jig.

Some friends that have vast amounts of experience riveting a number of aircraft projects gave me a hand for the day to teach me the finer points.  I learned a lot in 4 hours of watching and questions.

We riveted both sides of the aft spar, and half of the forward spar.  As I am in Canada, we cannot close up any structure until the 'pre-cover' inspection is complete.  So only half the skin will be riveted for now.  The entire forward skin can be riveted, but the tip rib will need to be left off so the inspector can see down into the spars.  Also need to install the counterweight.

Not a bad days work.  

Next:

- Install counterweight

- Rivet forward skins

- Rivet one skin to the root rib

Then it will be onto the horizontal stabilizer!

Rudder drilled and fitted. Time for corrosion proofing!

Happy New Year!

Sometimes it feels like this project is just screaming along, and then sometimes... not.

In the later part of last week I finished fitting the skins including the forward skin and root rib, and making the counterweight.  So now it is on to corrosion proofing.

The manual says to corrosion proof everything, and at a minimum Alodine all surfaces.  After talking to some experienced builders, I decided to Alodine all surfaces - both inside and out, which means all the plastic had to come off the skins, which was a bit of a job in and of itself.  But it only took an afternoon to Alodine the entire rudder, and prime everything.

So with everything Alodined and primed it time to start assembly.  I ordered a Redbox 737 Rivet gun from Aircraft Spruce, but it isn't here yet.  My rivet squeezer is backordered as well, so I borrowed a squeezer so I could at least start.

Root rib to the aft spar was the first order of business.  Had to make some little gauges for determining appropriate rivet length, as well as the shop head dimensions post riveting.  

If you have these, it makes choosing the right length of rivet a no brainer.  The amount of tail sticking through the surfaces to be riveted needs to be at least 1.5 times the diameter of the shaft.  I saw an article in sport aviation talking about making these little tools, and thought nothing of it.  Now I get it!  I really should stamp the numbers instead of sharpie as they will disappear in short order.

I then realized that I had countersunk the wrong side of the hinge bracket, so had to make a new one.  Then Alodine and prime... so while I was waiting for that to dry I JB welded the trailing edge of the skins together.

Aft spar and root rib riveted together.

Once the primer is dry I can start riveting again.  But I think I will run out of things I can rivet without the gun pretty quickly.  We will see...

So far I haven't hit anything insurmountable.  But this is only the rudder, which is the easiest of all the parts to assemble.  The wings are on order (standard build kit) and will ship around April 4th.  So my goal is to have the rudder, horizontal stabilizer, elevator, and trim tabs all done by then.  That gives me 3 full months (minus spring break vacation with the kids).  I think / hope that is doable!

It all begins with the Rudder...

This blog will serve as both my builders log, and way to show everyone what is going on with the project.

Started the build just before Christmas 2016 (around Dec 20) by repurposing an existing bench to be used as the rudder jig.  The table was levelled, and the back board put in place and levelled for attaching the yoke and forward spar.

The forward and aft spars are placed, along with the root rib and counterweight rib.  Had a bit of an issue getting the counterweight rib and aft spar to line up.  The manual calls to measure from the root rib to counterweight rib along the aft spar, but that only aligns it in that axis.  The problem I had was getting the skin to line up where the counterweight rib meets the forward spar.  Finally just measured the skin, and overlaid that onto the structure.

Skins are hung and clamped into place.  Holes drilled in the skins where the counterweight rib meets the aft spar... now its time for lots and lots of drilling...

Skins are drilled, and forward skin over top of the counterweight rib is marked, fitted, drilled and cleecoed.

Next is fitting the tip rib at the top of the rudder.  There are no alignment holes on this rib or the skin.  I trimmed the top of the forward skin so it is even with the main skins.