After all of the excitement of unpacking yesterday, it is nice to move on to what will become the new normal for the next few years – the actual build. Yesterday I was able to start the first few parts of the vertical stabilizer by cutting some aluminum spar caps down to size and fitting them to the main spar. As I mentioned yesterday, the directions have been easy to follow. I am learning a ton as I go along about all of my tools, working with aluminum, and general principles of how to assemble aluminum parts into an aircraft. Even just a day in I can begin to see why those who build their own aircraft are certified to do their own maintenance – the level of understanding of all of the systems and their assembly is pretty profound.
Placing some of the first clecos and connecting pieces together on the spar.
The process so far: insert clecos, match drill the holes on the two parts, move clecos, more match drilling of the new holes, removing all clecos, deburr every hole on both sides, then cleco all back together. What a process! I get the sense that I will feel like I’ve built this plane three times over by the time I’m actually done. And honestly that couldn’t excite me more! I will talk more about why I chose to build an airplane and why I chose to build THIS airplane later, but one thing is for certain; you had better enjoy the process of building if you want to do this. Some people will cite cost-savings as a main driver for building their airplane. I absolutely agree that is a wonderful side effect, but it should be just that, a side effect. Building is repetitive and tedious at times, but when you are able to see something come together like this it becomes immensely rewarding as well.
Total time today = 2 hours
Total time empennage = 8 hours
Total time aircraft = 8 hours