Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Installed the Fuel Return Line Fitting in the Firewall


With Adam's help, I installed a AN832-4D Union and the AN924-4D Nut and hooked up the fuel return line on the firewall per a Jim Cone post. Placed the nut under the shelf per Jim. Not exactly per the plans BUT on GOOD advice. Was easy with the rudder pedals off. The union and nut were supplied with the finishing kit and were originally intended for the fuel tank. I will have to order both for the fuel tank assembly. EASIER NOW THAN LATER!! Taking it slow. Want to see all of the problems with the finishing kit before jumping in feet first. Lots of plans revisons today, took them on a flash drive to Staples and had 16 pages printed to 11x17" for $2.50.

Time Today - 1 hour

Monday, March 30, 2009

Removed the Pedals!!

Spent the day looking for a powdercoat shop for the 3 instrument panel sections and the mapbox cover and hinges. Found one that will do my job for about $40. Will be back here in 1-2 weeks. Will most likely paint the interior of the mapbox with grey primer. The panel is going to be a medium grey with a 2nd flat/satin clear coat finish (2 coats). This should eliminate reflections. Adam and I, plus Roger, a friend, removed the rudder pedals. After that experience am going to go to Harbor Freight and buy a 1/4" air rachet! (CAUTION-when using the air rachet, start the threads by hand and tighten them with the torque wrench!)

DO NOT INSTALL the pedals until the very latest!!!! I CANNOT say any more!

Time Today - 1 hour

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Started the Finishing Kit




Started the finishing kit. Primed the fuselage pin handles and fabricated them per the plans. The ES RS 49496 magnets and the plastic tubing was not supplied with the finish kit. Had the plastic tubing. Will install the magnets when they arrive. Will contact Van's on the shortages.

I did not test fit the wings to the fuselage due to space concerns. There is a good post on the VAF forums regarding the wing side skin opening. Mine will have to be opened a bit near the top to allow clearance for a protruding rivet in the wing spar.

I measured mine. Spar width at that rivet is 1.025-1.030". The opening in my side skin is about 0.980". So I am 0.050" tight. About a 1/32" fore and aft needs to be removed, at least near the top of the opening in the side skin where that one rivet enters. All else measures less than 0.980".

Click here to see the post.


Fabricated and temporarily installed the terminal block that provides the contact points for the fuselage to wing wiring.

Time Today - 3 hours

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Cleaning Up - Done with the Fuselage Kit for Now

Spent just 1 hour today working on the plane. Adam crawled into the fuselage and match drilled the panel base to the bottom of the mapbox. Nice to have a flexible, hard working son.

Assembly of the mapbox will have to wait until I receive the missing mapbox parts from Van's. Also will not be riveting the instrument panels. Still trying to decide if I am going to paint the 3 parts of the instrument panel or get them powdercoated.

Only other thing I did today was to drill the roll bar to #36 and then tap the holes 6-32 (a leftover project).

Started to read the plans for the finishing kit. Already have noticed I do NOT have the magnets or the plastic tubing for the large wing attach pins. Will send an e-mail to Van's.

Time Today - 1 hour Totals - 279 Hours on the Fuselage Kit (98% Complete), 108 Hours on the Empennage Kit (85% Complete), 175 Hours on the Wing Kit (100% Complete)

Friday, March 27, 2009

Section 29 - Top Forward Skin and Mapbox







Corrected my problem with the two missing dimples in the side skins. What I ended up doing is as follows. Cut a small piece of steel tubing that just fit around the beveled base of the K1100 nutplate, about 3/8" long. Squeezed it using the #8 male die in front, and on the other side of the skin and the K1100 nutplate, my homemade spacer and a flat set behind. Got a real nice looking #8 dimple. The spacer prevented any damage to the rear end of the nutplate threads. Squeezing the rivet hole for an AN426 rivet was no problem with the normal dimple set. The picture shows the components.

Prepped and deburred the upper forward fuselage skin. I used the Cleaveland edge break tool to curve the forward edge of the skin. Screwed the skin in place. The Cleaveland tool put a very minor bevel on the forward edge and it fit nice and tight. Thought I might have to remove it and add a little more, but, did not.

Riveted the nutplates to the panel attach strips. Then went to install them. The plans assume you will know the rivet locations also need to be dimpled as the upper forward skin has already been dimpled. This is not a specific step in the plans. After dimpling, installation went well.

Then started on the mapbox. Wouldn't you know. I did not open the mapbox kit to inventory every part when the fuselage kit arrived. This is the only bag I did not open. I am missing one-half of the mapbox. Called Van's and it is coming. Nevertheless I was able to get the hard steps out of the way.

Because the hinges are not drilled, I resorted to duct tape to trial fit the pieces. I did not want the hinge to show. After duct taping the parts together, it became obvious that the hinge MUST show on the lower part of the mapbox edge. I really do not like the way it looks, but, there is no way to get around it with the parts supplied.

The mapbox instructions leave a lot for the imagination. I started with one hinge half and drilled one pilot hole (on the right hand side) 1/4" from the end and the face as per Figure 2. I then cleco'd the one hole to the lower portion of the mapbox half. Then lined the hinge half parallel with the edge of the mapbox. Clamped the hinge half in place with a small c-clamp and match drilled the hinge half thru the bottom of the mapbox. Cleco as you drill and ensure nothing has shifted.

I then drilled the mapbox door per the dimensions in Figure 2 on page 29-06. Attached the other undrilled hinge half with the hinge pin. Placed the mapbox door over the opening and duct taped the hinge half to the mapbox door. With a little experimentation, I was able to get it to fit such that it was tight when closed, no gaps on the left and right side and it stopped in the horizontal position when opened. Then duct taped the front of the mapbox door to hold everything in place. Carefully match drilled thru the mapbox door then thru the hinge half. Cleco'd and ensured nothing shifted as I drilled.

Ended up with perfect hinge positioning. Did NOT need to use any shims. If the hinge half's are pre-drilled per Figure 2 I can now see why spacers might be required, or the holes may need to be "fudged" as stated in the plans.

The remaining steps for the mapbox will have to wait until I receive the top mapbox half.

Time Today - 6 hours

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Section 29 Continues - Problem with the Side Skins





Removed the panel base and deburred all of the holes in the panel base and the longerons. Attached the canopy ribs and match drilled the attach angles. Removed and deburred them. Riveted the engine mount brackets, the Instr Stack Supports and the Instr Attach Angles.

UPDATE: Prior to riveting the Instr Stack Supports (F-1202J-L/R), ensure the angles are not deformed around the lightening holes. When I attempted to install the comm radio and the transponder, the protrusions (due to stamping the lightening holes) interfered with the installation of the comm radio and the transponder. Ensure the surfaces of the stack supports that are adjacent to the radio stack are flat, the angle is 90 degrees and there are no protrusions. See my blog entry dated August 22, 2009.

Riveted the panel base to the firewall. Mixed a batch of firewall sealant and riveted the canopy rib flanges.

Prepped and riveted the oil tank attach braces and the battery box.

Fabricated the cover plate clip and riveted it to the cover plate.

Then started to prep the F-1240 fuselage skin. When I tried to trial fit the skin a problem became obvious. The nutplate in the side skin (lowest screw hole for the F-1240 skin) was missing a rivet and was NOT dimpled for a #8 screw. Went back to Section 23 in the plans and the steps there are not correct. Section 23 tells one to omit the rivet, does not tell you to dimple the rivet hole and does not tell you to dimple the location for a #8 screw. See the pictures. Will have to determine a solution. I believe I can dimple the rivet hole with the squeezer but do not know how I am going to dimple the #8 screw hole with the nutplate installed. May have to drill the nutplate to correct the situation.

Time Today - 7 hours

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A Convoluted Day!






Spent the last few days attending the LSA course and then tending to family business, primarily federal income taxes.

I say convoluted because I performed some of the steps in the finishing kit and then continued with the fuselage kit.

This afternoon I deburred the F-1202B Panel Base and attached the nutplates on the aft flange. Was ready to install it but remembered a few posts on the VAF forums.

Per Jim Cone's post on the VAF forums, he indicated he had to lower the rudder pedals about 3/8" to allow the BNC connectors for the two antenna coaxial cables to pass above the rudder pedal torque tubes. Because it is far easier to lower the rudder pedals without the panel base being installed and because I received the finishing kit a week ago, I lowered the rudder pedals and installed the two coaxial cables. Still took a bit. If you wait, you will be on your back inside the fuselage.

Also to pass the coaxial cables aft, the large SB750-10 bushings in the bulkheads have to be removed. Only way to remove them is to slit them with an Exacto knife and pull them out. The plans indicate that this may be necessary. I'll try to find where they were installed in the blog and make a note for the future builders not to install them.

Then saw a post from John Bender. At this time there are 4 nutplate attach points on the horizontal portion of panel base that do NOT have nutplates attached to them. One of them is an obvious error in the plans. At this time I do not know if nutplates are required in the other 3 locations. The most forward location is used to clamp the brake lines per Page 32-02 of the finishing kit. A K1000-3 nutplate is required here because an AN3-4A bolt is used to attach the clamp for the brake line tubing. I installed the nutplate and clamped the brake lines loosely per Page 32-03.

Then installed the panel base. The longeron to panel base match was perfect. Match drilled the longeron to the panel base.

DO not install any of the bushings per page 29-04 of the plans. All will have to be removed and slit to allow the cables to pass. Install them after all of the cables are installed.

Like I said, a convoluted day!

Time Today - 6 hours

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Attended the EAA/Sportair LSA Inspection Rating Course

Friday, Saturday and today (Sunday) I attended the 16 hour EAA/Sportair LSA Inspection rating course at the EAA museum in Oshkosh. John Bender also attended. The 16 hour course is required if you (the owner) wish to perform the condition inspection (annual) on your RV-12. WE BOTH PASSED! The course concluded with a 50 question exam w/ a required grade of 80%. If you DO NOT attend this 16 hour class, you MUST have an A&P perform the annual. (At this time there is NO alternative!)

Our 1st condition inspection will not be required for a while, but, the information we were exposed to will be very beneficial during the remainder of the build process.

I rated the course as EXCELLENT. The instructor, Byron Greenlaw, was very well versed with respect to the subject matter. He made the course extremely interesting. His many years experience as an A&P/IA showed as he related many of his experiences through-out the years and integrated this experience with the subject matter.

If you want to attend this course, ENSURE this guy is the instructor.

Once the Certificate of Aircraft Registration and the Airworthiness certificate is received for our RV-12s, both of us have satisfied ALL of the requirements and can apply for the repairman certificate.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Section 29 Continues




Mixed a small batch of fuel tank sealant this morning but I wish I had read ahead.

Applied the sealant and then attached the upper firewall. Attached the mid-cowl hinges and the side stiffeners.

I did NOT place a bead of the SPECIAL firewall sealant around the perimeter and in each of the rivets because I still have to order it. Van's still cannot ship it. Will do it later when the firewall sealant arrives.

Then prepped and attached nutplates to a multitude of parts. Step 5 on Page 29-04 could have been expanded to most likely 5 or 6 steps. READ it. Read it again, use your experience and then read it again. Do not forget to dimple the screw holes for the K1100-08 nutplates.

The reason I said I wish I had read ahead is another batch of fuel tank sealant is required in Step 13 on page 29-04. If I had prepared all of the parts thru Step 13 before sealing the upper firewall, only one batch of sealant would be required.

Time Today - 8 hours

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Completed the Upper Firewall Assembly - Page 29-02





Completed the Upper firewall today. There are a heck of lot of nutplates and flush rivets to squeeze. Also drilled and riveted the cowl hinges. Attached the nutplates to the forward and aft sides, attached the antenna shelf and dimpled the holes in the bottom flange.

A couple of issues. Figure 3 is not correct as it incorrectly shows 2 loops at the end of the F-1201J hinge half. 26" is the correct length, but, with this length it cannot have a loop at each end of the hinge half. If it was cut to 26.5", it would not fit. Per Ken Scott, this is acceptable.

The other, perform step 9 before riveting the 4 K1000-8 nutplates at the bottom of the upper firewall as shown in the inset (circle) at the bottom right hand side of the page. The nutplates interfere with the dimple dies in a couple of the locations.

Get to mix a small batch of fuel tank sealant in the morning. Yuck!

Time Today - 7 hours

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Did NOT Work on the 12 Today But Did Something Better!!!






OK, what could be better? The finishing kit arrived today and I spent the entire day performing the inventory. There are many hardware bags. Many, many small parts.

Got all of the parts with the exception of a few small pieces that Van's said are on backorder. The canopy looks very nice. I doubt if there is going to be much trimming if any. The shipping crate was perfect. There wasn't a mark on it. FedEx freight is the way to go. I am glad I asked for liftgate service. The box weighs close to 300 lbs. It is much too heavy to manhandle off the rear of a delivery truck. They also brought a pallet mover/skid. Had it in the garage in 5 minutes.

A few more days on Section 29 and then will start the finish kit.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Interior Paint Completed-At Least for Now






I'm happy with the way the interior paint turned out. Painting of the interior is done for now. More to come later.... Lessons learned...mask everything with some cheap sheets from Wal-Mart.

The step area, gas tank, all of the tunnel covers and the tailcone access cover plus the misc. parts like the ELT bracket will have to wait. Happy it is done. Also mounted the pedals today, seems like a lot of extra tubing. Also noticed the torque tube rests on the tunnel edge. Maybe it will come up a bit with the installation of the Section 29 parts. Section 29 will start tomorrow and the finishing kit arrives on Tuesday. Spent the rest of the today consolidating parts from the previous kits into the bags/envelopes.

Time Today - 6 hours

Sunday, March 15, 2009

More Interior Paint Today





Clear coated the parts that I painted yesterday with the stone and then masked the canopy decks for the primer. I hate masking. Primed it with Marhyde. Will paint the final powdercoat color on the canopy decks on Monday.

Time Today - 4 hours

This is FUN!

I am having so much fun assembling this kit, I am wondering if Van's needs a MIDWEST distributor for the RV-12?? Consider this my application!!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Interior Painting Continues

Primed the seat area, leg area and the side of the step area. Then 5 hours later painted them with the stone finish. On Sunday, will clear coat all. Getting close to being complete with this part of interior paint. Still have to wait for the non-skid pads in the step area which should arrive with the finishing kit. Will then paint the edges of the step area.

Will paint the canopy decks on Sunday and then be close to done with the interior.

Started to debur all of the parts in Section 29. BE CAREFUL if you use the scotchbrite wheel to debur the three instrument panel parts. When I deburred the instrument panel, I kept all of the corners very sharp (near 90 degrees), think it looks much better than a rounded edge. (Thanks Larry!) Used a sanding block. Muscle power!!

Going to have to paint the underside of the F-1205, Mid Fuse Brace and the F-1254-L/R Support Frames. Would have been EASIER earlier, before riveting. Will get it done on Sunday.

Time Today - 3 hours (Lots of waiting for the paint to dry).

Friday, March 13, 2009

A Good Day

Larry Geiger flew his RV-10 from Lincoln, NB to pickup John Bender, in Jesup, IA. Then they flew to Davenport, IA, we went out to lunch, and took a look at my project. It takes me 2 hours to drive to John's place. They used the RV-10 and were here in 30 minutes. And there are some that cannot figure out the advantage of private aviation. WOW!!

Gonna have to fly the RV-10!! Sounds like a bunch of fun.

Today, I clear coated the baggage area and masked the seat area. I HATE MASKING. Will paint it on Saturday. Just about done with this interior paint. Maybe 1-3 or more days. Will not paint the step area because non-skid pads will go there and I do not know the size. The non-skid pads will most likely NOT stick to the stone finish.

Both John and Larry commented. LEAVE the turtle deck skins OFF as long as possible. I painted them on the bench and will leave them off. The access to the tailcone and the baggage compartment for running all of the cables for the control surfaces is so much better.

GOOD NEWS --- MY finishing kit is to be here next Tuesday per FedEx. I will be VERY close to being complete with the fuselage. Can't wait to open it and get started.

Time Today - 5 hours

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Interior Paint Continues




Painted the baggage compartment area and clear coated the forward section. I did not put the stone touch down where the fuel tank will sit. Weight! Again, 4 hours to mask, and about 10 minutes to paint. Maybe exaggerating!! Glad I have a carbon respirator. Stuff is nasty. I hate painting, lots of masking, then the painting is fun, then you watch it dry.

Time Today - 6 hours

My Interior Paint System




Here is what I am using. The formula for the Sherwin Williams powdercoat color is shown in the pictures. Any Sherwin Williams AUTOMOTIVE paint store should be able to mix it and put it into a spray can. The stone touch color is Gotham Grey. Larry Geiger tells me it is available both at Wal-Mart and the Micheal's craft stores. The can at Micheal's may be a bit different but it is the same color.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Started Interior Paint




Finally have gathered all of my supplies and started to interior paint. I started with the forward section of the fuselage. Decided to use Plasti-kote Gotham Stone Grey and a contrasting color which is very similar to the powder coat color that Van's uses. Went to the local Sherwin Williams auto paint store and they matched the color exactly. Mixed it and put in into spray cans!! I really did not know they could do that. Can send you the formula if you want. Had them add a bit of something to make it a bit more flat. Scotchbrited the skins, cleaned them with acetone and then applied the Marhyde primer. Let it dry for about 4-6 hours. Then used the Gotham Stone Grey. It went on very nice with fast strokes. Trial paint a piece with this stuff. You have to be 16" away and move rather fast. Will clear coat the stone finish, with the recommended clear coat the next day as it is water soluble. Completed the day by painting the interior of the left and right turtle deck skin with the powder coat color. This acrylic enamel should not require a clear coat.

Now I know.....90% of the work is in the masking!

Time Today - 6 hours

Monday, March 9, 2009

I Like This Interior!





Larry Geiger sent me the following pictures and mine will be similar. Larry is using my grey and is using the Van's powder coat color. Looks good!