When building an airplane, everybody knows about and comments on the riveting. Well, riveting gets all the glory but match drilling, deburring, and dimpling is the grunt work that nobody thinks about. These 3 tasks will definitely take up the majority of the build time. With 3 days of a long weekend over Memorial Day […]
From looking at the plans for the rudder, the level of complexity appears to be increasing exponentially. This is mainly due to the assembly of the trailing edge of the rudder. This section of the rudder will require a “double flush rivet” technique of which I don’t think I fully understand at this point. Luckily […]
I spent most of the afternoon finishing up the Vertical Stabilizer. This task consisted of riveting the skin to the spars and ribs as well as attaching the rear spar to the back of the VS. I thought most of the day went well. I drilled out about a half dozen rivets but nothing went […]
Over the course of these two sections, I made the other two mistakes but the 2nd mistake allowed me to erase the one previously described because I ended up replacing parts including the VS-702 and doubler. I “dimpled aft” the correct way this time with the new parts. This is a little out of order […]
Some new toys arrived for the shop: 1. Wen Band Saw 2. Wen Drill Press And maybe most importantly, 3. A blower fan – we will see if this keeps the garage comfortable over next few months. I doubt it…
I started a few days ago but today, Saturday, April 27, 2019, I made substantial progress. However, some words from the instructor of the EAA Sheetmetal Course, Jack Dueck, that I took about a month ago, rings true: “When you start making your airplane, you want to make the perfect airplane. Well, that lasts about […]
Just thought I would get this out of the way. I am not going to prime the interior of the airplane. It seems that about 1/4 to 1/3 of RV builders choose not to do so. I have thought lots about it, and my reasons are as follows: It will add substantial time to the […]
After a few months of organizing, thinking, planning, and getting rid of the useless, energy wasting garage fridge, I finally have a good space to work. I put together an “EAA Workbench” in order to do most of the work but I have enough wood to build another matching table when longer pieces require it. […]
While messing around with the practice kit, the distinctive sound of an ABF Freight truck came rumbling down the road. Sure enough, the kit arrived! After man handling the crate off the truck (too long for the lift gate), I got the crate on to some Harbor Freight furniture dollys and rolled it into the […]
About a month ago, I happened to be on the West Coast so I decided to make a visit to the Van’s Aircraft factory in Aurora, OR. I guess you could say I was still trying to decide what to do but I have to admit my mind was already made up. Nevertheless, it was […]
The Fay's RV-14A N124KB 