Making Good Progress

Spent 3 hours in the work shop today working on the Stabiliator Skeleton Assembly and as you can see from the picture above its taking shape quite nicely, most of the work to date on this part has been preparation deburring, filing, drilling, sawing and priming and I'm very pleased with the results on this section of the build.

Still one of the hardest challenges is setting solid rivets properly and of the 24 AN470AF4-5's I set for the counter balance brackets I drilled 6 out as I wasn't happy with how they were sitting. One positive is I used the right rivet tool and as a result haven't flattened the heads of the rivets this time.

I would imagine I'll have the HS ready for Nigel's inspection by the end of the Bank Holiday weekend, plus I have 4 other half skinned parts that need signing off so the rivet gun will see some action over the next week or so. If all the work is approved I'll move on to the last bit of the Empennage Kit the tail cone which is timely as I paid for the next two kits yesterday and the fuselage and wings will be shipping from Vans soon and should arrive end of April or early May.

I've also downloaded the wood cutting plan for the wing stands so once everything is finished I'll be building that and I'll also have some more room in the workshop when the weather improves as some of the over wintering plants will be able to live outside.

Building The Stabilator

Been a busy week with one thing and another going on but managed a fair bit of time working on metal prep for the horizontal stabilator.

Monday 22nd - 2 hours metal prep
Wednesday 24th - 1 hour and 30 minutes metal prep
Friday 26th - 4 hours metal prep
Sunday 28th - 6 hours priming the preparing metal and then starting to squeeze mainly solid rivets on the stabilator

Total time on the build so far 52 hours in just over a month so making nice progress and currently have 4 parts that are half riveted and awaiting final inspection by Nigel before I seal them up for good. I will invited him over once I've finished the horizontal stabilator frame and then its onto the tailcone and I aim to have the Empennage / Tailcone kits finished but the time the Fuselage and Wings arrive probably late April or early May...... That's the plan at least!!

Big Build Friday - The 1st of many I guess?

Real productive day finally managed to finish the VS frame and attach the skin...... How many clecos and had to do make some minor adjustments as per the plans to get a good fit but all the effort paid off in the end and I now have a rudder, vertical stabilizer and two anti-servo tabs that are waiting inspection by Nigel and hopefully he'll sign them off and I'll have 4 finished parts from the Empennage Kit...... Amazing to think I started building less than a month ago and I have this much done although I suspect things will slow down as the next bits are no doubt going to be harder to build.

I've had to order a new hinge from Vans as I measured one of them wrong and cut in the wrong place but hey these things are going to happen and all the time I'm learning more and more.

Hopefully I'll be able to find time over the weekend to pull the parts for the Stabilator and start the deburring process and as before I will prepare all the metal, then prime and then rivet together.

Loads of fresh photos online

Been working on preparing and priming the parts for the Anti-Servo Tabs this week and today tackled the countersinking of the holes on the control horns. I set my countersink tool on some scrap and off I went no issues on the first horn then onto the second one and on the first hole the sink is too deep for an AN426AD3-3.5 rivet but a 'bigger/fatter' AN426AD4-4 fits a treat and is flush to the surface - Just checking its OK to do this.

No idea why the tool over sunk the hole but will proceed with extreme caution when using the sink again.

Some good news this week the replacement rib from Vans has arrived and is prepared and primed and ready to be fitted when dry so I am going to half skin the VS before putting the Anti-Servo Tabs together.

Tonight did some priming with the spray gun and am happier with the results than my first attempt and made a lot less mess as well. Also my rivet gauges and Scotch-Brite wheel arrived from America and that is now fitted to my grinder and works much quicker than a file on suitable parts, an expensive part but a great time saving one.

Rudder Rivet

Only spent an hour or so in the garage today using the rivet gun to attach half the skin to the Rudder Frame after Nigel signed it off yesterday. It's amazing to think that I won't see the work under the skin again.

I've decided to use JC5A (jointing compound) on all the external rivets and was warned its messy to use and they were right!! Cleaned the panel with gun wash after finishing the job and that got most of the excess off whilst inside the JC5A remains which I guess is the idea?

Having time off from the build this weekend as I'm going to see a mate in Kent so will pick up again next week and the aim is to get the Anti Servo Tabs completed across the week.

An Inspector Calls

Nigel my LAA Inspector came round and signed off the first two completed stages of the build the VS frame and Rudder frame so now I can half attach the skins and start on the next stage of the build 'The Anti-Servo Tab'.

I was a little concerned about some of the rivets as I'd used a flat head in the squeezer on about 30 solid rivets but Nigel OK'd these and said from now on use the concave head for all AN470 type rivets. His only suggestion was to give some of the rivets a little more squeezing which I've done tonight and am ready for some rivet and JC5A action tomorrow morning.

Really pleased with getting this far in the build.

Team T-Shirt

T-Shirt above was a treat for me and two friends Jo and Tim from my folks and I shall wear it with pride when the right moment arrives..... The LAA Rally and maybe Aero Expo as well?

No building today as I'm waiting for my LAA Inspector Nigel to come over and look at my work, I have a slight concern over some solid rivets as I used a flat head in the squeezer instead of a concave one..... Depending on what Nigel says tomorrow I'll either be happy or drilling out around 40 rivets.

I think tomorrow I might do some basic metal prep on the next bit of the build the 'Anti-Servo Tab' although I won't be riveting anything until my initial work is up to standard.