Horizontal is done!

Jan 10, 2010 - “Congratulations! You’ve finished the first major sub-assembly on your new airplane.” That’s what the book says, anyway. Work called me for OT, then canceled 15 minutes later. Grrr! Well, I was up, so with a little help from my bride, I finished the horizontal stab.

Time : 1:45

Amazing Day!!!

Jan 6, 2010 - I survived the exploding rivets! Actually I was trying to move some of the padding on my table, and the container of rivets I was using (tiny ones!) fell off the table and exploded on the floor.

Other than that, I got a lot done. I’m just an hour or so away from a completed horizontal stab. My friend Joe Santee came over this morning and helped me do some riveting, then after he left I continued on. Finished installing the left stab skin, then moved to the right and finished it. I then applied sealant to the mating surfaces for the aft spar, and clecoed it in place. I’ll let the sealant set up, and probably won’t touch it for a few days anyway, because of work and the fact that we here in Texas will all probably freeze to death through the weekend. It’s on the news, it must be true!

Time: 5:45

On a side note, I went to an EAA Chapter meeting (168) last night for the first time. Had a good time meeting other RV types, had some inspiring words from a recent first flight of an RV-8 owner, and even got to talk to a guy who was just thinking about starting one.

Stab Progress

Jan 1, 2010 -Assembled the inboard ribs to the forward spar, then started installing the left stab skin. Note to self: install the pop rivets in HS-708 before you rivet the skin. Looking back, that’s what the book says to do. OK,  I got a little excited…

My son Blake helped to shoot some rivets. I do a lot harder than this at work by myself, but this material is so thin, I really don’t trust myself yet. He did a great job.

Time: 2:45

Aft Spar Complete

Dec 29, 2009 -Finished the aft spar for the horizontal, and started on the forward. Over the last couple of days I got the shop back in order after the holidays, and sorted the hardware into the new organizer I got for Christmas.

Time: 2:00

Having a Riveting Time...

Dec 23, 2009 -Shot the lower spar strap on today. I am so used to shooting rivets at work, that I didn’t realize how noisy this was going to be in the garage at home. Thankfully, these aren’t -6 rivets. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, -6 rivets are 3/16?) The majority of the rivets in this whole airplane are -3 (3/32?) and -4 (1/8?). Tiny by Boeing standards. I’m going to go around to the closest neighbors and let them know what I’m doing. Next door says they never heard anything today. That’s good. I hope they weren’t just being nice. Anyway, I’ve also had to move things around, since we need my table for Christmas meals with family. So I can’t do anything else until after Christmas is over.

Time: :45

Horizontal, continued

Dec 21, 2009 -Finally, a nice day in December in Texas… Got quite a bit done on 3 hours of sleep. I scuffed the interior of the stab skins, and alodined and primed those and the rest of the stab parts. Applied sealant to the HS-609PP straps and clecoed them to the aft spars. Shot a rivet, too! My first on this project. I’ll wait on the rest of the rivets until I’ve had some sleep.

Time: 3:00

Horizontal Stab parts prep

Dec 19, 2009 -Cleaned and alodined all parts for the horizontal stab. Hopefully I will have a decent day to prime this week.

Time: 2:20

Slow Day

Dec 14, 2009 -Just did some work in the shop, made my frame of chicken wire to hold parts during priming. Too bad I’m not ready to prime: today is nice, tomorrow, not great painting weather. Started to take apart the parts for the horizontal. Attaching labels with part numbers and positions; since they will be cleaned up and primed, I can’t write on them.

Time: :30

Horizontal Stab continues

Dec 10, 2009 -Dry assembled stab ribs and fwd spar. Cleco’d skins on to check fit of all components. Now I really need a decent day to paint.

Time: 2:15

The First Hour!

Dec 9, 2009 -Not bad for an hour’s work! I sorted through my parts, separated out the parts for the horizontal stab, and started working on the aft spar. Since I bought the tail kit second-hand, some of the drilling work was done, so it was pretty much just a matter of placing the parts, making sure the holes were right, and cleco-ing it together. Now I just need a good Texas winter day to prime. Won’t happen, say, tomorrow, ‘cuz it’s supposed to be 17 degrees in the morning. But I can start on the forward spar. (I just noticed that I almost typed “fwd”. Holdover from work.) It’s good to finally get started…

Time: 1:00