Assembly... ongoing.

Big day today (Tue, Oct 14).  Was laid off today, AND got my wings back on the Sportsman!

Such a great bunch of folks at Langley Regional Airport.  8 people showed up to help. 35 min start to finish.

And my friend flew his RV6A today for the first time.

Now I have clear runway for a TON of stuff to get done.

Fuel sender wiring underway, fuel lines connected, fuel filler necks installed, and antenna installed.

Crossover cables connected, but not yet tensioned.

Wing umbilicals fed through and connected.  Cleaned up the wiring for the inboard tank sensors.

First landing / taxi light installed.  Just need to put the pins in the connector (once I remember how I wired it... luckily I have documentation).

4 outboard strut attach bolts installed and torqued.  Total pain in the rear.  Using the clevis bolts inboard for tie down points.

Progress is so slow.... life is getting in the way - but I have a bunch of stuff I can work on.

Inboard delta wings installed.

Plan is the install the pins in the forward spar for good!

Flaps are connected.  Need to tweak the tension a bit, but everything works well.

Ailerons next.

Forward spar pins installed!

Lights attached and wired.

Pilot side door getting its final silpruf.

Spinner!

Lots more to come...

Wings! Back from paint, prep for assembly

Wings back from the paint shop!

I had slightly tangled the control cables and untangling them was impossible with them on the aircraft... piece of cake with them off the plane.  Quick little cardboard piece to hold them in place temporarily.

The wings are pretty much ready to go on.  The wing fold strut attach points are refitted post paint.

Wingtip lights are installed... but I need longer screws.  Holes are drilled at least.

Seat tubs are back from paint!  Same colour as the rest of the interior.  Jet flex slate grey.

I have never had the interior properly bolted in... always just clecoed in place, and the seatbelts were still in their bags... took forever to find the hardware for SB69... and the crossbar retrofit.

Waiting for a good weather window to put the wings on.  Hopefully this coming week.

Wing Fold Brace

I learned a valuable lesson.... when you think something is wrong, don't do it!

When building the wings, I put the fasteners in for the wing fold eyebolts inboard on the foward spar - just like the manual and ANOR says.  I found the kit and all the pieces.  I grabbed the eyebolts that go into the fastener on the wing, under the main tank.

I thread in the right side by hand until I could not turn it any more, and then used a screwdriver through the eyebolt to wind it in the rest of the way.  No problem.  Then the left.... I start winding it in and SNAP.  The eyebolts were drilled on the shank... and it snapped at the hole.  So now I have a partial stud in the wing... and no access on one side.

After lots of thinking....

Plan A:  Try to back the fasteners out with a flat blade screwdriver using the slot in the tail.  Nope.

Plan B:  Drill the stud remaining and use an easy out.

Plan C:  Drill, and step the drill side up slowly to break the stud apart and remove the pieces.

Plan B did not go great... the drill wanted to walk on the slot, so the hole wasnt straight.  Drilled up to 1/8" and got the easy out in, but it did not want to budge.  Drilled up again and got the pieces out.

Ran a tap through the hole.  Eyebolt FITS!

New eyebolts ordered from ACS.  My god they are pricey.... but they are needed.

Forward wing braces have been fit and marked.

And the wing even folds.

I was hoping to not have to install the cups in the fuselage for the inboard flap track to tuck into.  That did not work out... it touches and the wings are not fully folded.  So they have to be installed.

Attaching the Wings!

Big day!  Wings going on temporarily to fit the hatch covers, finish the wing bulkhead wiring, lights, wing tips, etc.

Right wing was super easy.  Bolt / pin in the spar, run the harness down the strut, top strut bolts, bottom strut bolt - done.  10 minutes.

Left wing... different story.  Could not get the forward pin the engage.  The upper strut bolts were finicky.  Just fought us every step of the way.  The pin will still not engage... message sent to the forum for help.

But the wings are on, and it looks like an airplane.

Lots of potential solutions for the wing pin.  My plan is to get the wing strut brace installed and go from there.

Moving Day!

 Yesterday has a BIG day.  Wings moved to the airport for storage, and the fuselage came home...  caused quite a stir in the neighborhood...

Trusty wing transport jig is working out exceptionally well.

So part II was to get the fuselage home.  We knew it would fit in the trailer, as that is how we received it from the transport company.  My wing jigs had to be dismantled in order for the fuselage to fit in the shop...

There was no way I was just going to pitch them... so I remade them into 4 smaller benches.

And then poof - it fit (barely)...

Then it was off to the hanger to organize down there a bit.  We had to move everything around to get the wings in, and did the bare minimum at the time... It is really nice not having a fuselage in the corner of a T hanger.

Been ordering lots of parts this week

1. Extended gear legs from Langair
2. T3 from Airframes Alaska
3. Tundra lite tailwheel from Jim Pekola
4. Seat belt upgrade kit, upper cable cover, and other bits from Glasair
5. Tail pull handle from BAS
6. Axles, 4130 tubing, etc from Aircraft spruce.

Items 2 and 4 arrive today.

Wings - Part XV

 Wings are done...

Jig construction starting in August 2018... Spars went on the jigs in September.  So 2 years, 4 months.

Cove skins fresh from declamping.  Turned out pretty good - a bit better than the first ones.

Cove skins after riveting and trimming.

Outboard tank in the right wing... slipped right in as it should.

Right hand root rib riveted in place.

Left root rib... done.

So when I say the wings are done, there are a few things that need to be finished.  Some I am going to wait on, some I am going to putter away on while waiting for the weather to dry up to move them to the airport.

1. Drill 2nd line of rivets on bottom skins station 69.  Going to use cherrymax.
2. Tone out wiring and label on fuselage end.  I had them marked, but had to trim them to get them to go through the conduit.  Going to use an inductive toner, which should make this fast.
3. Couple rivets that need to be redone
4. Alodyne inspection covers.  Low priority
5. Vacuum out the wings (again).  Every time I move them I find more debris / shavings in the wings.
6. Fuel drains, plugs, fittings, fillers.  All of these openings are taped closed.  Am not going to put any of this on until the wings are moved and painted / vinyled.  
7. Order Torx aluminum screws for inspection rings.  New spinner on the emeraude came with Torx, and I am sold.  I hate Phillips screw heads.

What comes next?

1. Move wings to hanger, bring home fuselage
2. Dismantle / repurpose wing jigs
3. Reinforce forward gear truss per Ted's instructions
4. Order new extended gear, T3, tailwheel.  
5. Reinforce fuselage for tailwheel
6. Vertical stab service bulletin
7. BAS tail pull handle (going to do this at the same time as the Vertical stab SB... might as well since you are already in the fuselage)
8. Install new gear and tailwheel
9. Order new rims, brakes and tires.
10. Make it a rolling chassis!

Wings - Part XIV

 Cove skins part 2...

Cleaning and alodyne...

Drilling the angle aluminum to hold everything straight for bonding

Laying down the structural adhesive

Clamping it up.... 

And then waiting....

I like lists.  Write them all the time.... I started writing lists on the vinyl covering the wing skins - that way I dont lose it.

The goal is to have the wings ready to move by 1/4/2021.  But I need a nice day as the Emeraude has to come out of the hanger, move out the fuselage, put in the wings, bring the fuselage home, dismantle the benches that are taking up half the shop.  Weather forecast looks horrible...

It will be what it will be...

Wings - Part XIII

 Tanks... 

Tanks welded for the 3rd time, no leaks.  Yay!

Tank support brackets mounted in outboard fuel tank bay.  These are REALLY HARD TO PUT IN.  Doesn't matter if they are laying down, or upright in the jig - the rivets farthest away suck.

Left Outboard tank installed.

Fuel sender.  Going to redo the wiring... not happy with it.

Inboard left fuel tank installed.

The big flip.... left wing back onto the jig, right wing onto the table.

Repeating the whole cove skin process.  The first set of coves took me what seemed like weeks.  These are going much faster because (a) Ive done it before, and (b) everything is already cut (but not fit).

All the coves and doublers need to be acid etched and alodyned, then can be bonded in place.

Once this is done, then the tanks go into the wing, the ribs get riveted and then off they go to the airport, and the fuselage comes home!