BUILDING THE BAGGAGE DOOR The baggage door is not a complex piece to construct. After all of the metal fabrication and rivets that brought me to this point, this was not supposed to be difficult. A few angles of aluminum bracing, small lock mechanism, front and back skins, done. That… Read More »You think YOU have baggage…
PLANNING FOR THE CONDUIT RUNS The time has come to make plans for all of the wiring in my plane. While I have not made final decisions on some aspects of my avionics package, I do have a reasonable expectation of what it will require. This information in hand, I… Read More »Conduit Runs (at a walking pace)
THE NEED There are a ton of really impressive modifications that builders make on their RVs. At one point in my planning process, I wasn’t very discerning and compiled a list of nearly all of these. It became quite overwhelming. Fortunately, I took the time to sit down and really… Read More »Tunnel Access Panel
STEP 1: CLECO IT ALL TOGETHER I have been waiting for this day for a long time. It is really quite exciting to see the whole length of the airplane (ok – minus the cowling but you get the idea) all stitched together. The tailcone attach process itself was not… Read More »Tailcone Attach Part I
AVEO ZIPTIP MOUNTING BRACKETS I made the decision to use the Aveo Engineering ZipTips product for my fiberglass wingtips. I really enjoy the nice finished look and really enjoy the lighting package on them. While I’m sure I could go on about the product itself, and likely will, this post… Read More »Prepping my ZipTips
ROLO-FLAIR TOOL AND SOME BOELUBE I have stated many times that I am a strong believer in having the right tools for the job. This post continues that thread. The tools I am referencing here are the Parker Rolo-Flair tool and a good lubricant I use – Boelube. I was… Read More »I have a flair for flaring
CUTTING OUT THE STALL WARNING ACCESS HATCH I had previously mentioned my desire to use both AOA and the stall warning system designed by Van’s. I will get to the AOA system soon enough, but today is about the stall warning system. The first step is to line up the… Read More »Stall Warning Access Hatch
MAKING THE RUDDER FAIRINGS I suppose I should correct that to “purchasing the rudder fairings” from Cleavland Tool. They have the basic pieces that you need to trim to size for your plane. I made what I considered a slick looking swept back look, took it to the band saw,… Read More »“Fairly” good attempt at rudder fairings
RIVETING THE BOTTOM SKINS We continue to inch closer and closer to finishing up the empennage. One rivet at a time. I think each rivet also makes the finish line seem farther away too. Such is life. But I have a phenomenal riveting partner that makes the time fly by.… Read More »Finishing up the bottom skins
WING DELIVERY DAY IS FINALLY HERE I ordered my QB Wing Kit back in December 2017 and have been waiting patiently ever since. Well, as patiently as can be expected. There really is a lot to unpack here (literally and figuratively) so I will get started. First, I used Tony… Read More »WING DAY!