Today was quite the marathon day. The family went out to run a bunch of errands so I got to put in a full day out in the garage. It was excellent. I would have probably got a lot more done if I did not end up spending 45 minutes… Read More »Finish up horizontal stabilizer and start elevators
Pictures don’t do it a great deal of justice because the dimples appear to be WAY more warped than they are. These skins actually feel almost flawless – I’m certainly happy with how this surface is turning out. I have now finished all of the forward spar flange rivets and… Read More »Guess what!?! More riveting
Today I had to use the phrase, “Hey babe – will you come here and help me find out where I’m bleeding from?” Yup. Picture below. Some some blood pooling on the manual (and I spared you the image of the larger section – this is just to give you… Read More »Riveting like a madman
I have begun one of the most significant sections I have come across yet on the plane and that is the completion of the horizontal stabilizer. I knew that there were going to be a lot of rivets because I spent so much tie drilling, deubrring, and dimpling all of… Read More »Dimple and rivet the horizontal stabilizer
Through the help of my dad (Prime King) we were able to divide and conquer a lot of work today. He was able to help me prime all the parts that attach to the two main spars of the horizontal stabilizer (doublers, etc.) and get them ready to rivet together.… Read More »Priming and assembly
I put in quite a bit of time today, but I’m not entirely sure that I got where I needed to be. I am extremely happy with the trailing edge, but I think I need some additional guidance on the leading edge. I rolled the edges as Van’s described and… Read More »Rudder finished… sort of
I thought the primer smelled toxic… wow. This tank sealant stuff is the real deal. It is a cross between fresh asphalt smell, glue, and rancid meat. It is truly one of the most offensive odors I’ve come across (including college roommates). What it lacks in pleasant aroma it more… Read More »Rudder and tank sealant
You’ll get the play on words here in just a minute – but know that I’m chuckling to myself because of my brilliant pun. Anne is rolling her eyes. I am getting more and more comfortable with each minor process in the overall build (drilling, deburring, dimpling, riveting…). I started… Read More »“Back” to riveting the rudder
At long last, I was able to finish my first full part of the plane today. I’d be more excited I think if I didn’t make a mistake. More on that in a bit, but I’ll start with some other points first. I continued to feel pretty confident in my… Read More »Vertical stabilizer – DONE
Confession: the title was misleading. I am going to start with my family trip today that we all took down to Rough River State Park in Kentucky. It was about a 90 minute flight from KUMP, which was perfect. The whole place was really neat with the runway right inside… Read More »Riveting vertical stabilizer (and family trip!)