Thursday, May 31, 2018

Section: 43
Hours: 3

Used the engine hoist to pull the engine out of the crate. I will be installing 2 pmags so the first order of business was to pull the slick magnetos. I will also have to pull the gear off off of the back of the slick magneto and transfer it to a pmag.



Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Section: 43
Hours: 2

Opened the engine crate and started unpacking.




Monday, May 28, 2018

I received notice that my best friend Richard Bristow and his wife were killed today. They had just taken off from Petaluma in his RV6 when the engine stopped. The plane stalled and dove into the ground when it was turned back to land, killing them both. I have flown hundreds of hours with Richard for many years and made many cross country trips to Oshkosh with him. He was a knowledgable and experienced pilot. It is just impossible to understand why he tried the impossible turn. I will miss them both more than words can describe...

I first met Richard through the Mooney Caravan. We were both from the Sacramento area and met up before I flew to my first Oshkosh in 2003. After that we would frequently fly our Moonies to various burger spots around NorCal.

In 2005, Richard arranged for us to attend the Beechboys formation training clinic in Stockton. After the clinic, we started meeting up Thurs. afternoons to practice 2 ship. We called it Thursday supper club. We gradually improved our formation skills and then worked on convincing the Mooney Caravan group to transition from gaggle to formation. It was a slow process, but by 2012 the Mooney group fully transitioned to formation arrival. In the mean time, Richard and I flew 100's of hours in formation around NorCal and back and forth to Oshkosh every year.


Richard sold the Mooney and purchased an RV6 in 2012 and soon after started prodding me to pursue my dream of building an RV. He was there when I placed my order at Oshkosh 2013.

Richard pointing at me and telling the Van's rep, "I told Ernie to stop waffling and buy the kit. Where's my commission?"

Richard encouraged me every step of the way in the construction. Every week I would get a call and he would ask how the project was going and if I needed help. He helped buck many rivets. He had a large hanger at the airport and we were going to have only RV's in the hanger when I finished mine. 

It is hard to imagine continuing the project without Richard's help and encouragement.

RIP


Friday, May 25, 2018

Section: 44
Hours: 2

Riveted spinner plate assembly today.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Section: 38
Hours: 5

Primed some parts and applied a coat of pinhole filler to the canopy fillet today. I won't describe the pinhole filler because I wouldn't do it this way in the future. Better to use epoxy/micro balloons.


Sunday, May 20, 2018

Section: 44
Hours: 4

I worked on the spinner plate assembly today. I marked the cutout area on the spinner plate using the doubler ring and then drilled a series of holes just inside the mark. Next I used the dremmel cutoff wheel to trim closer to the mark and finally used the dremmel drum sander and files to cut to the final mark.


Saturday, May 19, 2018

Section: 38
Hours: 6

I hate sanding fiberglass! Today all I did was sand fiberglass. I used the template from the manual to make and aluminum template. I also used the bandsaw to cut a wood sanding block. The process is: 1) sand
2) use shop vac to collect dust
3) check with template
3) repeat until fillet matches template.

If you sand out too much, add more fiberglass, wait a day and do more sanding...


Friday, May 18, 2018

Section: 38
Hours: 5

I sanded off the rough edges of the resin fillet that was applied yesterday. Then I wet out and applied the fiberglass parts called out in the manual. The first several layers I added black pigment to the resin. I use a paint brush to paint on resin and then lay the dry fiberglass parts over the resin. The resin soaks into the fiberglass from below. Any dry spots I dab more resin on with the brush. Then I use paper towels to blot up excess resin. The goal is to have as high a glass to resin ratio as possible with no air bubbles or voids.
 The corners of the canopy needed some help to lay down to the frame. I applied an aluminum clip with duct tape to temporarily hold it in place. Here is the full layup.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Section: 38
Hours: 5

I watched the Vans video tutorials on how to glass the canopy to the frame and then cut out the fiberglass pieces using the round cutting knife. One trick I use for handling fiberglass, especially when the pieces are bias cut is to attach wax paper first and then do the cuts. I lay out the fiberglass on a smooth table, lightly mist 3M 77 spray glue onto wax paper sheets (hold the spray can 3 feet above the wax paper and lightly spritz). Then carefully place the wax paper onto the fiberglass. Then make the cuts and leave the wax paper in place so the parts do not distort or get frayed around the edges. Only take the wax paper off after applying the piece to the layup.
 Here I've added a fillet of resin/micro balloons between the edge of the canopy and the canopy frame. I added some black pigment to color the resin mix. I now wish I had added more, the mix came out a gray instead of black color. Build on...

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Section: 38
Hours: 4

Now that I can roll the fuselage outside the garage I decided to work on the canopy. I mounted the canopy frame on the fuselage and then carefully centered the canopy on the frame.
I needed to add some pull rivets and washers to pull the canopy down to the deck.
I cut out slight depressions in the plexiglass where the rivet/shims attached so the fiberglass layout would go over them smoothly.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Section: 40B
Hours: 6

The fuselage is now on it's legs for the first time! This is one of those days that feels like real progress.

I propped the tail on a sawhorse and lifted the fuselage off the table using the engine hoist to prepare installing of the gear legs.
After sanding off some excess enamel from the gear legs I was able to insert the legs and clamp them in place.
As usual, Woody was quality control inspector for todays work. Here I've installed the sheet axel on the gear leg.
You have to ream the bolt holt to final size.
When both legs are on you check the axel alignment by attaching wood blocks and then drawing a string tightly between the two legs across the blocks.
Looks like I will not need to add any shims!
The fuselage is now on legs and can be rolled around!!!

Monday, May 14, 2018

Section: 43
Hours: 5

I installed the master relay and solenoid and oil and fuel pressure sensors on the firewall. Easy work before the engine is installed. The hardest part was sorting out the pressure sensors. The labeling took a little while to sort out.




Saturday, May 12, 2018

Section: 46B
Hours: 3

I cleaned up the air vents to prepare them for priming and painting. I sanded off the excess pro seal and the molding flashing and roughed up the surfaces to get a good bond for the primer.
Then I sealed the upper deck to firewall seam with pro seal using a popsicle stick.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Section: 46B
Hours: 4

Today I continued working on the landing gear leg fairings. I marked the trim lines with black felt tip on the gear leg transition pieces and trimmed and sanded with the dremel. I used a block of wood and a couple of clamps to hold the fairing in place while cutting and rough sanding.

 I then hand sanded to the trim lines using 80 grit sandpaper and a long block and a round sanding block.

Next I mounted the tires.
I asked my wife to pick up some baby powder at the grocery the other day but it is no longer sold because it is a health hazard so I had to order tire talc from Aircraft Spruce.
Here are the tires assembled and inflated.




Thursday, May 10, 2018

Section: 46B
Hours: 6

Day 2 working on landing gear leg fairings. Today I riveted piano hinges into the leg fairings. It took all day. Lots and lots of holes, counter sinks, rivets.

Step 1: Mark location of holes on the piano hinge. I scribed the hole locations into the hinge and then used a black marker to put a dot on the end holes so they would be visible through the fiberglass. I really only needed to mark the starting holes at each end, because I used a rivet fan to drill all the rest of the holes.

Step 2: Insert piano hinge such that end holes are evenly spaced from ends of the fairing which coincidentally left a full hinge loop at one end. Then I used cleco clamps to hold the hinge in place and drilled holes at the starting holes for each end being careful not to drill into the opposite side. Then I used the rivet fan to drill and the remaining holes, starting from one end working to the opposite end. I inserted clecos as I went and used light pressure on the drill so the piano hinge would not push away from the fairing. Then I counter sank all the holes for the rivet head.

Step 3:  I inserted a spacer board to hold the back of the fairing open and then riveted the hinge on using the pneumatic squeezer.

The piano hinge is rather soft and the fiberglass has little rigidity so it was hard to ensure that the rivet would pull the hinge flush to the fiberglass. I found I had to use the rubber washer trick to squeeze the hinge firmly to the fiberglass. I also discovered it was really important to use a board spacer along the entire length of the fairing to hold the fairing open and keep the piano hinge flat with no sagging or bends.

After I finished the first fairing I noticed that the ends of the fairing were not being pulled together very well. I slightly adjusted the hinge position in the 2nd fairing a little further away from the trailing edge so that it would pull the fairing edges together with a little more force. That worked, but it also made it more difficult to insert the hinge pin. I used Boelube and eventually worked the pins into both fairings, but this is going to be a difficult task. Hopefully I will not have to remove/install the gear leg fairings very often...


My E-Mag Electronic Ignition P model 114 magneto package arrived today. My IO-390 came from Lycoming with 2 Slick magnetos, but I have decided to go all electronic ignition. I ordered direct from E-Mag and they put together a kit for my IO-390 that included 2 model 114 magnetos, 2 wiring harnesses, 2 sets of spark plug adapters for auto spark plugs and 2 accessory kits (manifold tubing, serial port plug, wire). They also included 2 shorter studs and a timing gear to replace the studs and timing gear that come with the Slick that was set up with a recoil starting spring. I was going to order from Spruce Aircraft Supply, but the timing gear is really expensive and if you order from E-Mag direct it is a little cheaper because they get a deal from Lycoming.

Also included in the box was a package of gourmet popcorn. I'm not sure how to apply that to the mags- I guess I'll have to read the installation manual ;-)