Finished Rear top Skin and Installed Interior !

Rebekah helped me a couple days ago finish the rear top skin.  It was a tough bit of bucking, but we got it done and it looks good..  But more importantly, my interior arrived yesterday with perfect timing and I got it in place and am very very happy with it..   I was concerned about the color choice like with everything else, but it looks great.   My only concern now is the panel color, but I can live with it or change it down the road.  But for now I think the interior looks very rich and professional yet completely custom..   ;-)   Bekah is happy too, in fact we jumped in and she made herself comfortable in her harness last night.  She has one booster for now, but we might need to get her another down the road.

Rear Top Skin cont..

Bekah is a riveting machine.  We spent about 20 minutes and knocked out the left side of the rear top skin.  I could lean in to buck rivets from the open right side so it wasn't too bad, now that the left side is closed up I will have to reach in from the baggage area to buck the right and hopefully my arms will be long enough to reach the back rivets.  All in all its looking great, and more like an airplane everyday.

Top Rear Skin

Since I have everything I can think of done in the tail cone and the area to the rear of the baggage compartment I figure it is finally time to get that rear top skin on.   I started down the middle spine and then worked from the rear out to each J Channel.  Here is where I got pretty frustrated.  I remember in the instructions probably about 1.5 years ago, it said, don’ rivet the rear of the center rib to the aft bulkhead due to rivet interference.  Well, sure enough somewhere along the line I forgot that piece of info and riveted it.  Now I couldn't buck one of the rivets that sat straight above this.  So instead of tearing it apart, I decided a single pop rivet would give it character until it was painted.  Then once painted you would never know since I filled the hole with some proseal..  Other than people giving me a hard time between now and when it is painted it won't be a factor..  Its just one of those things where this far into the project you have to consider just pushing forward to get done, vs. continued rejigging for perfection..   I chose to move forward.  ;-)

Rear Top Skin

The last couple days, Bekah and I took to riveting the rear top skin.  It went well for the most part but did take a couple sessions.   We were able to do it without climing in the tailcone.  I also attached the seatbelt anchors.

Tail Cone Odds and Ends

Bekah and I are about ready to rivet on the rear top skin so am taking care of everything I can in the tail cone to minimize the amount of times I have to crawl around in there.  You'll see, I actually will have to crawl in several times in the future.  This past weekend I was able to run the wire for the tail position and strobe lights.   I am planning on LED lights, so am using a shielded 18 gauge wire with 2 conductors (one for the position and one for the strobe).  The ground is in the shield which works out well and I also ground it to the airframe per the wiring diagram on Aero LEDs.   (My tail strobe will not flash in sync with the wing strobes).  After running the wire I took a crack at lacing the wires together.  This keeps them tight and looks good to boot..  It was my first attempt, but I think I did pretty well.  Also, to keep the CG forward, I am minimizing what goes out to the back of the plane.  The only items I will have out back are the trim servo, lights, and potentially the ELT antenna.  I am going to wait on the ELT though because it will get a separate run which I already have planned out.

I also added some nutplates to the rear bulkhead which will be the attach point for the empennage fairing.  Looking forward, I went ahead and installed these now, lets hope I got them in the most appropriate spot.  I also installed the mounts for the seat belt anchors..  These aren’t torqued because they will need to be adjusted as I rivet the skin, but at least they are in place and I will be able to rivet and torque them all at once when I am laying in the tailcone.   I also drilled out and tapped all the holes for the lower emp fairing..  I was planning on prosealing this one, but I figure might as well follow the plans since it was an easy step to drill out those rivets and tap the holes..

 

Finally, I installed the rudder cable exit Fairings.  These guys look good and since I riveted and prosealed them, they are on for good.   I had wanted to just proseal them, but adding the rivets helped ensure they were compressed tight to the skin.

Basically other than mounting the ELT antenna to the aft deck, working the emp fairing, and rigging everything up, I am complete with the back of the plane..  At least I think so..

Finish Kit Arrives - Finish Fuel Pump Installation !

What a day..  I was able to finish all the remaining items on the fuse that I planned on finishing before the finish kit arrived and on the same day the finish kit showed up.  Wish I could say I planned it that way..

First off I hate working with 3/8 inch tube.   This stuff is crazy and must be so extremely accurate where the flared ends meet with the connections that you really have to get proficient at it.  The way I see it you can learn how to measure everything out perfectly, or start making attempts at your intended shape and then improving from there.   This was my method.. You use a lot of tube though this way.. Good thing it is cheap..

My Fuel Pump is fully installed and complete.  See the pictures, it turned out great in the end..

About the time I was finishing up, here comes Tony with Fed Ex..   The same guy that has delivered all three of my main kits..  The Finish Kit is Here  ! ! !   What is the finish kit you ask?   Well, it should really be known as the half way done kit..  Because it really  marks about the 1/2 way point in a build..   The finish kit includes the canopy, landing gear, engine mount, cowling, and other odds and ends to finish the airframe..   Now its time for another round of inventory with Bekah.  This kit looks to have fewer parts, but definitely higher dollar parts than the other kits I have received to date...  That canopy is $$$.

Misc Vent and Fuel Pump work

Over the last few days I have been continuing work on the vents and fuel pump.  Basically I now have the pump assembly/mount complete and am going to go back and take another crack at the fuel tubing.  My first batch of tubing didn't work very well and now I am on my replacement order from Vans.  The 3/8 inch tubing work takes some getting used to.

The mount turned out really well, I used angle beneath the pump which worked great and provided much rigidity, but to allow for wiring runs I had to remove some material in the downward facing flange of the angle.  I can now use conduit under the pump assembly to make for easy wiring.  The pump can be removed by taking out the entire section of the tunnel cover that it is mounted on but in general will never have to be removed once it is final mounted.

Updated:   The mounting holes in the EFII pump mount are drilled square but the posts are offset.  This makes some of them close to the posts, so I had to remove material from my bolt head for it to slide in correctly since the hole was too close to the post.  (see pic).   This conflicted with my idea to use nut-plates underneath and allow for the pump to removed via top access only.  I ended up using standard nuts and now to remove the pump from its mount I have to remove the tunnel cover all together.   The designer of the EFII pump indicated I can use allen heads to get access to use nuplates if I want, but I will leave it like this at this point since the benefits would be small.

I also was able to pro-seal my vent ducts in place.  This was simple job but took a few days as I had to let the pro-seal dry between sessions.  Threw in my control column to make sure it functions smoothly..  Had to remove a bit of material where the tunnel push rod connects to the control mechanism, but others have had to do this as well.   My hope is that I can fine tune this assembly without having to remove it again..  Wishful thinking I know..  :-)

Vans just said they Shipped my Finish Kit ! ! !   Wahoo ! !

Vents and Pics from out front

I spent much more time that I wanted to on the vent mounts..  These guys turned into quite a problem, in fact I made them about 3 times before finally getting it right.  I basically  made them out of .040 aluminum sheet and borrowed a bending brake from a co-builder.  First time I bent one, I broke the tab right off.  Lots of little lessons learned like that one.  In the end they went in smooth and tight..  I think the audio jacks are perfect in this location and you can only get them here with the small vents..

After working on the vents, Bekah and I took the plane for a stroll out into the driveway.  My fuse stand is great such that I am able to roll it all around and take the plane or walk.  While it was out we played around with the horizontal stabilizer.

More Boost Pump and Fresh Air Vent work..

This weekend I worked a ton on the boost pump set up.   I am going with my own design here and trying to make it as solid as I can.  Using different types of angle to make the structure as light and rigid as possible.  Its turning out good so far, still have more to do..  Also another order from Vans will be required since I ran out of a couple types of angle.  A few points that I like is the angle I used, the AA3 version fits in perfectly with the bend in the tunnel cover, and allows it to be extended to help support where it has been "cut"..  Note I am using a combination of installs I have seen with the Andair pump and the EFII pump on other folks blogs..   Will post more pics as I get closer to being complete.

Also playing around with the final location of the Fresh air vents.  I got the Small aluminum ones from Stein and think I can put the vent and the audio jacks in one panel.  This is the mock up of Rebekah's vent and may very well end up being the final routing.  See the holes to be enlarged for the audio jacks on the right.  Also notice how smooth the vent fits into the edge of the panel.. 

Panel attach points

After much turmoil I was able to get the panel attach points in place.  Not complete yet but definitely over the hump.  This seemed like a straight forward process at the beginning, but turned out to be pretty difficult.  In order to get these drilled correctly I had to mount the panel and entire front deck..  Some of the points I could drill straight away, but others I had to mark on the blue tape, remove the panel and forward side rails to get good access to drilling.  At this point it is all drilled, I need to rivet the attatch points onto the side rails.  For the side attach points my plan is to rivet them first, then attach the nutplates.   Excited to be through this part, now the end of the forward section is in site..   Ready for that Finish Kit..

Front Deck Taking Shape

This is an exciting post..   Its funny how something as simple as a single skin can change the whole look of the airplane.  This thing is coming together and looking good.  Here are some pics after I got the front deck installed and the top skin on.   Note the Brake reservoir on the firewall (opposite where plans call for it).  Also, note the panel in place.  When I put the panel in place without the skin on, the edges floated above the side rails nicely..  It seems the top skin sucked the whole assembly down so tight that I had to remove metal on the edges of the panel to get it to fit appropriately.  Don't mind the cutouts on the panel.  They aren't in any kind of accurate placement and aren't predicting what my panel will look like.

In getting to this point I fluted both the sub-panel flanges and the firewall flanges.  Also, note the bend in the firewall.  Some people pre-bend it some don't.  I put some pressure where the ribs are to get a bit of a clean bend, but other than that the bend is natural..

Front Deck Continued

Continuing on the front deck I temporarily attached the top skin (the last skin !) so that I could match drill the canopy mounting ribs in place.  These need to have the skin clecod on so that the correct angle can be achieved.  A similar process will have to happen with the hat section and center rib, but that will have to wait until the Finish Kit arrives.  Next step is to mount this assembly on the fuse and match drill the entire thing along with the forward top skin to the Firewall..

Not Pictured, but I was also able to final rivet the armrests.  Things are really starting to come together strongly now.  Each new piece riveted in structure provides additional strength and rigidity..  

Front Deck Continued

I have been putting more time in on the front deck.  With this piece I think the directions are more guidelines than anything, especially since they are telling you to work with a part that doesn't even come with the fuse kit.   The "hat section" as they call it comes with the finish kit so you just have to work around it for the time being.  I am deburring and prepping the parts, putting some special bends into the sub panel, and building the "gap seal" which supports the weather strip under the leading edge of the canopy.   All coming together well and looking good.  I will fit this onto the fuse, then drill the top skin as I am drilling other critical components to make sure it all lines up appropriately.

What the heck, just putting in another picture of the brake assembly for good measure..

You can't see it very clearly, but the sub-panel center section and sides in both pictures below have a slight bend in them.

Back to the Brakes

Since I got my Bonaco hoses, I took another look at the brakes today.  I was able to mount the reservoir and the parkiung brake as well as connect all fittings.   Nothing is torqued at this point, but it is fitting together pretty well.   I also got my pedal extensions from JD Air Parts and mounted them.   These are the newer models that have two clamps in the back and I wasn't sure if I mounted them upside down or not since there were no instructions.  Either way they hold very securely so I am fine for now..  Will check it out down the road and make sure I have them right.  Anyway, after my session today the interior brake components are pretty much complete.

One thing to note is I put my reservoir on the pilot side since I don't have any passenger brakes.  This makes for shorter hose runs and a more simple set up.  I confirmed with a few other builders that I won't run into any troubles with this alternate reservoir location when I get into the firewall forward.   I will take some pics of the reservior today and post.  It is mounted on the other side of the firewall when looking at the pictures below.

Front Deck

Today I started some initial work on the front deck.   My focus was the panel support angle.  This is a bunch of work and is actually pretty cool when it is done, but there is no way I can think of to make this an easy piece of work.  First I cut the angle, which by the way the plans indicate are "scale", but they aren't..  You need to be careful there.   So I measured the angle and cut it to length.  Then measured each scallop and drilled a 1/8" hole through the angle.  Measured exactly 1/4 inch on the edge centered on the hole which made for a 15 degree scallop.  You can see the holes and my tick marks for the angles in the first pic.  Then I used my articulating mitre saw at 7.5degrees to cut down the edge of the angle to the hole.  I did this for all the holes, then flipped it and did the other side.  It came out pretty clean and will need a bit of deburring, but all in all it worked great..   Drilled it to the panel and it turned out pretty darn good.