CHAPTER 3
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| Saturday, January 14th, 2006 | Deburr, drill, countersink, dimpling ... |
| This is a real hell of a job... Disassembling, deburring, dimpling and countersinking, ... We did nothing else for the whole day. All parts are ready now for the final priming. Even the longeron is completely countersunk. God, what a bouring job.
Next week we still have to dimple the skins and then..., priming and starting for the final riveting job. |
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| Time spent for this | 15 hours |
| Friday, January 20th, 2006 | Dimpling skin and start priming ... |
| Gerry joined me this afternoon while the girls went shopping. Together we finished all dimpling of the skins, preparing for priming and... we managed it to prime all parts. I didn't take pictures of this because this isn't thrilling.... Buit, the most important is that this job was finished. So, ready to start riveting tomorrow... | |
| Time spent for this together | 13 hours |
| Saturday, January 21st, 2006 | Dimpling skin and start priming ... |
| As the instructions say, I started to rivet the F-684 Gussets to the vertical firewall angles after mounting the platenut in place... | |
| Then the F-7101 Gear attach Web was riveted to the F-902 bulkhead. | |
| I continued with the stiffener and the angle clip, and then the F-704 Center section Side plate was "pre-riveted" to the skin. Now, everything was ready to clecoe back to the fuselage.
We started to rivet the firewall to the assembly and the skin. But, before we riveted, we put some inflammable sealant between both. Just to protect the cockpit later from smoke or gas coming for the firewall forward region. I bought this "stinky stuff" at Vans... And then, the firewall was riveted... |
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| We clecoed everything together and prepared for the riveting job of the complete sideskins... | |
| Here another view to the forward section. | |
| This morning I started with riveting the pedal assemblies together. Ronny had a marvelous idea. I suggested to glue an anti-slip rubber coverage on the pedals. So we went to a local car shop and bought these rubber covers. But we found also a spray with Chrome effect paint. We decided to spray the pedals first with this Chrome effect. The result is beautiful. It looks like polished inox steal... | |
| Have a look, just like mirrors... | |
| Ronny's idea... He insisted to make a picture of me because for his feeling you don't see me often in this website. | |
| Well, with me in the inside bucking and Ronny at the outside riveting things go much faster. With the center section side plate in place, these were riveted. | |
| Here you see the F-684 riveted in place, | |
| and the F-902 bulkhed with the gear attach web. | |
| Look out for this small part. Do not rivet it because it will need to be assembled later with the wing attach system... | |
| And so, we riveted, and riveted and riveted until both sideskins were ready | |
| Another detail. Well, very satisfied we went home at 8.15 p.m. What a progress this weekend... | |
| Time spent for this together | 18 hours |
| Saturday, January 28th, 2006 | Continued riveting the fuselage... |
| Ronny told me last Saturday that he would'nt come this week. So, I planned to start working on some small tasks where a helping hand is not necessary. But, arriving in the workshop I realised that the remaining rivets had to be set before I have the possibility to finish the backplate in the aft fuselage. So, Dimi, my youngest son offered me to give a hand. And so we started in the morning with the completion of the remaining rivets. I enjoyed this really. Working together as father and son on this project gave a very good feeling. | |
| We lifted the fuselage so that Dimi could be the bucking guy. And, for the rest of the day we riveted and riveted together until the job was finished. I expected to need at most 1,5 hours but it took a full day. | |
| While riveting I didn't shoot some pictures. So, the pictures you see give an impression of the whole day job. | |
| At the end we turned the canoe and leveld it already on the center section. Ready to start with the next "To Do"...
Thanks for the helping "artist" hand Dimi. |
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| Time spent for this together | 17 hours |
| Saturday, February 4th, 2006 | Finishing last rivets and going on... |
| Ronny and I finished the last rivets in the interior of the fuselage and then painted the interior while after we covered the center section. | |
| Then we brought the center section exactly leveled to O°. We anchored the section so that the fuselage remained on its position. Completely level... This, we did exactly as Vans describes in the instructions. |
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| And then we brought the tail backplate in position and clamped it in a way that the tail section was also completely level. You can see it better in the larger picture hereunder... | |
| Once leveled, Ronny started to drill it in place. | |
| It's unbelievable how strong this section became after some clecoes. This keeps the fuselage torque free and strong. | |
| Last bulkhead in place, just for the impression... | |
| With the complete fuselage in place, the two slider plates were fixed and placed. | |
| And next the two reinforcement plates in the front. These keep the longerons and the firewall exactly in place. | |
| And then, last but not least, the seatbelt anchors in the aft fuselage were drilled in place. | |
| Time spent for this together | 17 hours |
| Saturday, February 11th, 2006 | Finish painting interior and belcranck... |
| During the last week I finished the pedals at home. I glued a rubber cover on the Chrome-painted pedals. This morning I started to assemble the complete set after I sprayed another layer of white paint in these regions that will be covered later with the floor plates. | |
| Another view of the complete assembly... | |
| And then, in the afternoon, I started withe mounting the belcrank in place. It fits (and works) perfectly... | |
| As the instructions mention, Ronny and I drilled all the reinforcement plates in place between the longerons and the two bulkheads. | |
| And then, another "moment surpreme"...
I hurried to get rid of that canoe view... |
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| Have a look at this. Doesn't it look like a flything? | |
| Ronny did another good job. All holes are drilled and clecoed. Everything fits perfect. And specially the front top skin in place accentuates the real airplane look. | |
| And of course another view on the inside.
Next week more. I really can't get enough of this. To be hounest, I would really like to go on every day from now. Each minute in my workshop is enjoying. |
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| Time spent for this together | 14,5 hours |
| Saturday, February 18th, 2006 | Bagage compartiment |
| Yesterday I went to a company in Antwerp and I bought two sets of MilSpecs Amphenol plugs I plan to use for the wing to fuselage connection of all wires. Beautiful stuff but very expensive. But it is worth the investment. 21 Pins which can resist 20 Amps each. The best solution to make wings and fuselage quick connectable...
This company, NEDELKO, has more interesting products necessary for the electric installation... |
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| I started to clecoe the bagage floorplates in place. These F-747s fitted perfectly... | |
| And then I went on with the two rear bagage side covers. | |
| And then the lower F-751 bagage bulkhead | |
| Before installing the upper bagage bulkhead I started to prepare a template because this item needs to be trimmed. I tested the fitting with this carton test template. This was perfect and could be used to prepare the real one. In the meantime Ronny and I measured the holes to be drilled and clecoed this part in place... | |
| Another view after finishing this part. | |
| The forward side plates (F-749) need a trim before installing. Here the line with on top the hatched part to be removed. | |
| And then clecoed in place... | |
| In the meantime Ronny measured and marked the two F-6114 B and C wear blocks. These are ready to be placed after the priming session. | |
| And of course the same for all the prepared washers... | |
| In the afternoon we prepared all piano hinges that have to be drilled on the seatplates. | |
| A complete view over the bagage compartiment. The only thing to be done..., deburr, prime and rivet it in place...
We had to stop early because of the yearly pilot meeting at Sanicole. I plan to continue tomorrow... |
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| Time spent for this together | 11 hours |
| Sunday, February 19th, 2006 | Seat compartiment |
| Due to the predicted bad weather I went to the workshop to continue on the seat compartiment. I started installing the hinges on the floor. | |
| And then installed the two seat floors. | |
| Once these were installed I had to make the tunnel cover assembly. This started with the F-741B tunnel cover plate. | |
| That plate is on top of two support Z brackets which have to be made. Here you see the three different parts which together will form the complete assembly. | |
| Here the tunnel cover assembly together... | |
| Mounted in place this looks like this... | |
| As the instructions say, I had to continue with the seat backs. First of all I made the four F-673B angles and clamped them in place. After the necessary measurement for the drill positions I drilled them to the seat back plate. | |
| Next things to be done, the lower hinges... | |
| and the upper hinges. | |
| And then, to finish this part, I made the F-637 angles in a way that they nest perfectly in the back seat skin. | |
| And then clecoed and drilled them in place. | |
| Next thing to be done, the F-638 seat back brace. These are assembled together with a hinge | |
| which you see better in this picture. | |
| And they also fit perfectly when positioned in the seat compartiment. | |
| So, the two seats in place. Nice view and the first time I get a very good impression of the dimensions of the cockpit. This really starts to look like a nice airplane... | |
| Time spent for this together | 12,5 hours |
| Saturday, February 25th, 2006 | Center Cabin cover |
| The planning for this Saturday was to finish the center cabin covers and starting disassemble everything to prepare for priming. So I started to assemble the F-782 parts | |
| For instance this F-782E Access plate | |
| And then I positioned the complete assembly in place inbetween the floor stiffeners ... | |
| ... and the firewall stiffeners. | |
| And then, it was time to position the fuel valve plate although I'm not convinced to put the fuel selector on this position yet... | |
| Here you can see the complete assembly in place.
The holes were drilled in the floor stiffeners and in the position where the assembly connects to the firewall recess platenuts. |
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| Whereafter we disassembled the assembly to drill the holes for the platenuts. | |
| Another view on the position of the platenuts. | |
| We started to rivet the piano hinges in place with the LP4 blind rivets. | |
| And we finished riveting the seat backs. Because they are part of the interior, I will prime them totally assembled...
Next week we will continue disassembling all parts to prepare them for priming. I ordered my next inspection. Hopely this will happen fast, so I can finish this part and start soon with the finishing of the fuselage parts. |
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| Time spent for this together | 12,5 hours |
| Saturday, March 4th, 2006 | Continue preparing for priming |
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During disassembling we finished the way that the F-782-L and R have to be mounted. Two parts have to be made from AA3-0.32 x 3/4 x 3/4. A full scale detail helps you perfectly to make these. |
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| These two parts must be mounted on the right and left F-7107 web gear attach plates. This needs some time to figure out exactly how to do it. After measuring it out we drilled the assembly to this position and then disassembled and prepared it. | |
| Here these two parts who took more than 2 hours to make them exactly as required... | |
| And then folks..., all these platenuts around the F-706 bulkhead in the bagage compartiment. |
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| ...and on the F-728 bellcrank channel...
So far as all these little "to be done"-tasks were finished we continued disassembling everything that needs to be primed. Hereunder a lot of parts waiting for priming and painting. Something for next week... |
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| Time spent for this together | 16 hours |
| Saturday, March 11th, 2006 | Continue preparing for priming and painting |
| Well, the only thing I did together with Ron is everything you can see here. We continued preparing all parts, we started to prime them and finally, everything was painted. White on the backside and the final grey on the visible parts of the cabin interior. I finished this on wednesday evening... | |
| Time spent for this together | 19 hours |
| Saturday, March 18th, 2006 | Started reassembling painted parts... |
| The center cabin cover needs a lot of platenuts. And, the heat baffle has to be riveted in place inside this center cabin cover. So, everything was dry as planned and ready to receive all these platenuts. And this is exactly wat I planned to do today. Finalize all these things inside the cabin. | |
| The same for the fuel valve cover. I finished this but I ordered the very nice alternative for Andair. This will come together with my finishing kit. Van's promised to ship it the coming week...
Oh yes, by the way, Mr. Brotcorne, the inspector will come for my nect inspection next Friday... |
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| And here the backside (white painted) of the center cabin cover... With a mistake... Do you see these center platenuts? Well this is wrong... I had to drill these rivets out because first the heat baffle has to come in place... We repeated this in the right way... | |
| Once all these parts were enriched with all these platenut things, I positioned the complete assembly in plae. As you can see, I also brought the front seat floors in place and installed the two F-782 A front cover plates... | |
| ... and then the two seats... This really starts to look beautiful. | |
| Anothe picture from the backside. Here you also can see the bagage cover plates installed... | |
| Then we riveted all the reinforcement plates between the longerons and the bulkheads, | |
| and torqued the two shoulder harnass anchor attach plates with the cables in place. | |
| ... almost ready to buckle-up... | |
| A more detailed view on the installed seat back brace. | |
| And finally, the finished interior ... so far. Ready for the next inspection.
Normally, next zeek I have my inspection and I hope to hear something of the finishing kit. I'm really looking forward for that next phase... In the meantime, enjoy the next picture. At least, I do... |
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| Time spent for this together | 17,5 hours |
| Friday, March 24th, 2006 | Last Fuselage inspection by Mr. Brotcorne from the Belgian Aviation Authorities. 4 rivets have to be replaced. Overall, on these small issues wich are more cosmetic than structural, I received a positive report and I can go on now for the final inspection. |
| Saturday, March 25th, 2006 | After inspection... Flap motor... |
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After my final inspection of yesterday, I planned to finish the electric flap installation today. As the instructions say, I started to install the Flap actuator weldment in place between the outer bearing blocks. |
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| And continued drilling the middle F-680 bearing block to the bagage rib. | |
| Then I riveted the F-767 attach plate to the F-766A flap actuator channel, after I measured out the holes to be drilled which are needed to install this to the top of the bulkhead. | |
| I drilled and placed immediately all rivets and necessary platenuts. | |
| And I did the same for the bottom actuator brackets. | |
| And then all parts for the motor assembly were installed and immediately attached in place. | |
| After bringing the actuator in position by connecting the motor to a power supply of 12 Volts, I installed the complete assembly in place. I also drilled and installed the backrest brace F-785A. |
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| Once this was done, I could drill all remaining holes in the two F-760 covers. I clecoed them in place. | |
| Everything was deassembled again and all remaining platenuts were set. And then, again, I assembled the total construction and installed it back. Here you see from the backside the finished assembly. | |
| ... and to be complete another picture frontside. | |
| There was still remaining time left and we started assembling the control system. First of all, all nuts, bolts and washers were selected and we made a first construction to see the result... | |
| ... and to measure the perfect fit between the two sticks with the column pushrod. This was trimmed by the rod end bearings in a way that the two sticks were completely symmetrical. | |
| And then we brought the complete system in place... | |
| This is not so simple. Bolting together, measure how many washers are needed and every time again try to bring these bastards in place. This is really hard to do... Nevertheless, we managed it and hereunder the first picture of the sticks in place and torqued. |
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| Time spent for this together | 19 hours |
| Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Reorganise Workshop |
| To be prepared on the next phase I have to reorganise my workshop. I have to put the wings to the fuselage, so, I need more space. Hopely next week I can show you more pictures... | |
| Time spent for this | 9 hours |
| Saturday, April 7th, 2006 | Reorganise Workshop and set-up plane |
| Before noon I continued preparing the workshop. I need a lot of space now to bring the complete RV together. But in the afternoon, Gerry came, and together we started to solder the special plugs onto the right wing. This took half a day. Afterwards we positioned the plane in the new space. So, the next weeks I will continue finishing the two wings so that they are ready to assembled to the fuselage. Looking froward because on Monday the finishing kit will be delivered... | |
| Here a closer view to the first plug. All wires come together in this plug. Earth connections and all separate power channels because each pin of this connection is certified with Mil specs and can afford a power of 20 Amps...
And, in case the wing has to be disassembled once, just one plug to disconnect all wires of this wing. This takes time but it's worth doing it like this... |
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| And then, ladies and gentlemen, MOMENT SURPREME ... First look on a real airplane...
And a first look on the space I have to assemble my project. Looks good isn't it? ... Next week we leave for a week on holidays. So, it will take a time now to continue my project... |
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| Time spent for this | 15 hours |
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