Left wing leading edge attached!

We had a great Father's Day Weekend camping at Leonard Harrison state park (PA); saw bear, deer, waterfalls, and clouds in a pretty cool gorge they call the PA Grand Canyon.

 

We had enough time when we got home to tackle the stall warning assembly mods on the left wing leading edge. Nat was a big help!

 With the access attach doubler match-drilled, I worked on match drilling the skin at the leading edge. Not sure whether the VA-195 template is necessary given the pre-punched holes, but I looked at it as a tool to prevent elongating the holes.

 Once those holes were drilled, devinyled, deburred and dimpled, I marked lines to file out the stall warning vane gap.

 The diamond-shaped detail file I have was just the right size - as seen by the keyhole shape in the background.

 Rough finished!

 Filed & scotchbrited

 I also drilled to #40, deburred, dimpled & edge-deburred the VA-195F mini rib.

 With the girls occupied I stole a few more minutes to cleco the left leading edge ribs into the LE skin. Couldn't have done it without the clecos they bought for Father's Day!

 And...2 wings! Almost. These came together pretty quick, I have to say...which makes me wonder what I'm missing.

Great weekend, noticeable progress, and new tools (clecos & the rolling stool seen in the background of a couple pics). What more could a dad ask for?

 

Wings: 2 hrs

Memorial Day Right Wing Racked

After the usual Memorial camping and shenanigans we spent a couple hours reorganizing the shop and putting the right wing on the wing stand.

Our goal was to have skins temporarily on by Mem Day this year, and we made it! As it turns out we opted to switch the right wing to the other side of the rack afterward to allow the top outboard skin to fit without interference, but it's still exciting to see something that looks like it belongs on an airplane.

 

Wings: 2.5 hrs

Left elevator skin bent, Wing stand framed

We worked on a few different things today, finishing the 4 rivets in the rudder horn brace since my new longeron flange yoke came in the mail. Worked great!

Brian & I built the bending brake per the plans with a 2"x8" board & hinges for the elevator skins and bent the trailing edge of the left elevator after practicing on the scrap right skin.

Then for variety (and while I had a second set of hands) we switched to wood construction to build the wing stands. We looked at a variety of options, and wound up following this builder's plans for the most part.

 

The stand allows for at least 32" between the wings so both can be built simultaneously. I didn't build it on wheels because...well...I forgot to account for it when measuring height. They can be added later if necessary, right?

Special thanks to Steve Taylor for providing the lumber for the stand, and helping us start the wings!!

 

 

Empennage: 3 hrs

Rudder scuffing & priming

I took advantage of the anniversary of my birth to get some help in the shop (also how I got my wife to go camping the first time...go with what works!).

 

I had a surprise helper who hasn't had much interest in the process so far:

 Audrey did a great job scuffing the reinforcement plates, and Erin did almost all of the scuffing & cleaning while I touched up a few edges.

 All rudder parts ready for priming!

 I imagine the parts pile will be quite a bit bigger once we dive into the wings, and might require a full sprayer system...until then I'm sticking with Napa 7220 Self-Etching Primer in a rattle can.

 Anyone see the problem with the above picture?

Oh, and organizing sockets? Actually a matching game for 5 year olds! Seriously, kept her occupied for almost an hour...

 

Empennage: 2 hrs

 

Workshop: 1 hr

Motivation

I have a couple things hanging in my shop that I'd like to highlight.

 

The first is a note that my eldest daughter gave me this autumn; I foresee a fair bit of lonely time ahead during construction, but these words from my then-4 year old daughter will help drive me: "i like you to[o] and can we build a airplane today?"

The second is a gift from my wife this Christmas; I'm not sure it shows a lot of confidence on her part in the airplane build!

(The medallion is St. Therese of Lisieux, a patron saint of aviators; perhaps not coincidentally, she is also known for advocating doing "little things with great love." I couldn't ask for better oversight or intervention.)

All kidding aside, I'm blessed to have the family I do. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.

Toolbox

Due to the fact that I was unable to attend a couple of Sport Air workshops as I'd planned in order to mangle aluminum & rivets that won't be part of an airplane, I ordered the Van's toolbox kit.

 

 My parents were in town for the week, and my sister for the weekend, so everyone got to experiment with the DRDT2 and rivet gun. 

 Natalie demonstrated blind riveting.

 Since I've never done any sheet metal work, having a project to learn from shortened the learning curve.

Some things I learned: familiarity with new tools, how to remove vinyl coating without scratching the alclad surface, how to identify a bad rivet, how to drill out a bad rivet, how to feather the rivet gun trigger to prevent it dancing across the surface with a flat set, and how to  better organize the shop.

At $28, this is some of the best money I've spent so far.

Toolbox: 7hrs

Workbench, Organization, Lights

Josh came over again on Saturday to help build in a workbench and install a new light, all of which will make tool organization and evening work possible. I spent some time on Sunday finishing the shelves underneath, cleaning & stowing some tools. Also finally got rid of most of the cardboard boxes from the move...I have a feeling I'll regret not keeping a few.

Workshop: 8hrs

Workshop

So the workshop is evolving; in moving this summer for work, we downsized from a large 3-car garage to a much smaller 2-car, which I've successfully negotiated into a no-car garage. We'll see if it lasts...

The shop is insulated, but lighting and outlet access are terrible. Thanks to a helpful neighbor I've upgraded one of the light fixtures, hope to swap the other 2 out soon, and will try to get by with daylight & a small well-lit area for now.

Like many others, I chose to build 2 EAA Chapter 1000 tables, and added 2" non-marking casters to both raise them up & make them easier to shift around by myself.

Two of my helpers can be seen above; the third was hard to catch standing still!

Workshop - 3.5hrs