What did you do on your airplane project today?

[gtae07]

Most of what I did in the shop today was clean up too, but it's still a disaster. That said, I did put in a few more tiedown points for conduit, puzzled more over wire routing, and finally got the wire I ordered on December 18 that made it all the way here, sat for a week in the UPS facility, and then got sent back to the shipper so it could be sent back here again.

Now I'm just waiting on my panel (the laser-cut panel itself, not the avionics) to show up. FedEx lost it somewhere in Memphis, apparently.

 

[Toobuilder]

Mounted the AoA vane on the right gear leg and flew a data collection flight. Landed, swapped the camera for the laser and made my line on the fuse/cowl. It agrees with the left and it looks like I was "wrong" with the prior position of the fairings on both sides. There is some speed hiding in that "wrongness"

...Need to set it free!

 

[pwood66889]

Cleaned up some wiring and painted the inside of the battery box. Also secured some control cables up out of the way.

 

[bifft]

Cleaned the flap motor brushes, reinstalled in the plane. By the time it was all back together getting to late to actually fly anywhere, so just did a few laps around the pattern. More of a test for the flaps that way.

 

[N804RV]

I've begun the endless chore of actually riveting the fuselage together on my RV-8. All the drilling, deburring, prepping and priming is finally done. First real rivets on the fuselage skins entailed getting this little jewel assembled. This thing is a major PITA. Many hours have been spent forming the skin and bulkhead flanges to fit each other and the side-skins and longerons. Its going on the airplane and I'll find the next thing that will kick my ar$e till I figure it out.

 

[gtae07]

I've begun the endless chore of actually riveting the fuselage together on my RV-8. All the drilling, deburring, prepping and priming is finally done. First real rivets on the fuselage skins entailed getting this little jewel assembled. This thing is a major PITA. Many hours have been spent forming the skin and bulkhead flanges to fit each other and the side-skins and longerons. Its going on the airplane and I'll find the next thing that will kick my ar$e till I figure it out.

That structure is (unsurprisingly) very similar to the same area on the -7. It really is a PITA because that bottom skin is so thick and hard to persuade, and the tailwheel socket gets in the way. I ended up having to weld a custom bucking bar to get to a couple of the rivets and still needed a pair of blinds on the forward side of the aft-most bulkhead. But, I wish I'd thought of putting that little section together on the bench like that instead of doing it all in place; that might have been easier..

Last few days I finished the first fuse panel mount, started running power wires, finished conduit install (I hope), and discovered that (1) the hole I had for my tail strobe wires wasn't going to work, and (2) Van's has a drawing showing a better location for said wires. Looks like I'm redoing that one next time I have the tail on.

Also got the laser-cut panel in and it looks good. Got it put in for now so I can run wires.

 

[N804RV]

That structure is (unsurprisingly) very similar to the same area on the -7. ... But, I wish I'd thought of putting that little section together on the bench like that instead of doing it all in place; that might have been easier..

...

The plans for the -8 specifically call bolt the tailwheel spring mount and rivet the F-811 and F-812 bulkheads to the aft bottom skin before clecoing it to the aft side skins and longerons. On the bench, I was actually able to buck all the AN426 skin-to-bulhead flange rivets without too much problem. In a couple of places, I had to use NAS1097 rivets because the holes had been wallowed out a bit. But, it was pretty straight forward once I had massaged the bulkhead flanges and aft bottom skin to all fit together with the longerons and side skins.

 

[Cass256]

FINALLY done cleaning up this part of the workshop. Now I have to sand out & polish bolt/pin holes on a few parts, but first assembly will start very soon. Still waiting on rust remover to show up at Home Depot before I clean up the landing struts, but my goal is to be back on wheels before the end of next week!

 

[gtae07]

Filler/shim of roll bar base is curing.
Almost finished installing primary power system wiring.
Panel is painted; awaiting labels and installation.
Starting to wire the fuel pumps so I can get that area closed out.
Got a couple of wire supports to install behind the panel so it can hold everything else up.

 

[N804RV]

Spent a good 6 hours in the shop over the weekend. Riveted a butt load of AN426s. But, I swear it doesn't look like I did anything!

 

[don january]

Spent awhile to get the rib stitch holes opened up by pencil and cut some pinked tape. 42 stitch on elevator 23 on rudder for Taylor-monoplane 2-1/2" spacing. Horz. stab is covered with 1 mm ply and it is possible to Rib stitch along with sheeting but I'm not sure if done or needed ? your thoughts.

 

[Pops]

How I fabric cover over plywood. After varnishing the wood, I thin Poly-Tack about 25 % with MEK. Brush a good coat over all the plywood. Then cover as you would a open wing or stab by laying the fabric down and gluing around the edges. Shrink to 250 degs, then go over the fabric where its not glued down with straight MEK with a larger 2" brush. The MEK will go down to the coat of thinned poly-tack and soften the glue and it will come up through the fabric and glue it down with no wrinkles. Then first coat of Poly-Brush, etc.

 

[Rockiedog2]

How I fabric cover over plywood. After varnishing the wood, I thin Poly-Tack about 25 % with MEK. Brush a good coat over all the plywood. Then cover as you would a open wing or stab by laying the fabric down and gluing around the edges. Shrink to 250 degs, then go over the fabric where its not glued down with straight MEK with a larger 2" brush. The MEK will go down to the coat of thinned poly-tack and soften the glue and it will come up through the fabric and glue it down with no wrinkles. Then first coat of Poly-Brush, etc.

Exactly

 

[TFF]

When I recovered my wings I did both. Tips are glued but the wing walk is glued but also stitched through ply at the edge rib. The guy who built it, did it first, and being in the prop stream, it couldn’t hurt.

 

[don january]

I feel that even tho it is not shown or covered in plans about stitching the 1 mm ply to ribs. I do have to cover with Mid. fabric a few stitches added per rib could only aid in the hold down of ply and fabric. At 9 ribs total 27 stitches weight gain is a concern. I will need to tape each run ? So what did I do on the plane today ? got my ears smoken and Scratched my head. Please share your thoughts.

 

[TFF]

If you are just covering ply, no open bays, I would just glue. Light weight fabric is appropriate if you have it. Open bay transitions between ply and ribs is where I would think of stitches; and even then it’s case by case hence one side of my wing has some stitches and the other end doesn’t.

 

[don january]

While gluing on the ply I can do the bottom and flip the H stab over and see the way the glue pushed out from rib edges and get a good idea of seating of the ply into the glue but unfortunately this inspection can not be done with top piece after bottom is mounted. Today I cut the first 2 pieces of 1 mm ply and I must say it is thin wood nearly cut able with scissors. In truth I'm rather confused on why the H stab is covered with ply because the elevator is built in the same method and has fabric only. I always let weight gain enter my mind when adding material per plans. I will do as Pops directed on doing the fabric but I still have a few butterfly's inside regarding the long term contact of ply to ribs.

 

[TFF]

Is the ply not glued to the ribs?

 

[delta]

Spent awhile to get the rib stitch holes opened up by pencil.

Hard to paint or glue graphite. I'd find another sharp gizmo to do the job.

 

[gtae07]

Terminated wires at the fuel pump end and installed the fuel pumps/plumbing/filters. Also cleaned up the form-in-place shims I made for my roll bar so I can get them smoothed in and painted to match the cockpit.

Next up: labeling the panel, dressing in some wires, maybe riveting the aft-most upper skin.