Author: Brian

Firewall – Part 1

Brian 0 Comment Firewall

Next on the list was building the firewall (Section 27). After pulling the firewall out of it’s protective shell and locating all the needed parts, I was able to start clecoing everything in place. I found there was some finishing work that needed to be done to get all the firewall braces to fit together properly. Nothing major, but just a little different than most of the other areas so far. Maybe that was to make sure that you had a pretty tight fit between components?

One thing I’ll note that is ever called out in the plans. The stainless steel firewall is SHARP. I really tried to be careful around it but did end up with a few fairly deep cuts on my hands. Worst papercut ever!

Once all the braces were final drilled, I moved onto the tunnel. Nothing really difficult here either beyond measuring where to drill for the SCAT tube support. Cleco the remaining parts together, final drill then deburr everything and prime.

With all the parts primed, it was time to deburr the firewall itself and dimple. A few things I’ll go ahead and call out.

  1. As called out on Page 27-5, two nutplates are installed on the engine side of the firewall. This isn’t mentioned in the steps but dimple correctly for these nutplates.
  2. I went ahead and dimpled ALL the holes on the firewall as I was unsure if I should or not. Were I to do this again, I would not dimple the holes under the F1001-C (bottom of the firewall) as a squeezer could get there later. Can’t comment on Upper Fuse ribs yet.

Riveting the braces onto the firewall skin was straightforward. Just don’t rivet the area where the triangle brace goes or you will need to drill that out later. I ended up backriveting most of this with only a few minor issues. I supported the firewall on scraps of plywood so I didn’t bend any of the flanges.

The only other “mistake” I made was when I was riveting the WD-1004 brace to the tunnel skin. I read the note, but still put the rivets in backwards. Drilled them out and put them in correctly just in case. Honestly it was easier to rivet following the directions (shop head on the WD-1004 side)

At this point my mid-fuse bottom skin is still not riveted together, just waiting to get someone over to help me set these rivets. Maybe I could back-rivet these on the bench, but getting a helping hand seems like a better idea.

RV Composite Class

Brian 0 Comment General

I got an e-mail in June from EAA announcing a SportAir workshop in Chesapeake VA that would include the RV Composite class. I has already taken the composite class last year in Manassas, but was quite interested in taking this specific RV class.

There were 3 main projects that we did in the RV class. Just like the composite class I did last year, one of the first projects was the gear leg fairing. This helped demonstrate how to wax your part, laying fiberglass cloth, and using clay so you don’t have hard 90 degree transitions.

  • Windshield Project
  • Gear Leg Fairing project
  • Starting to tape off the windshield transition
  • First layer of filler and fiberglass
  • Gear Leg fairing off the mold
  • Final layer of Aeropoxy Light filler
  • Windshield transition sanded and ready for primer
  • Windshield fairing project completed

The second project that was the real goal of the class was the windshield transition. For this our instructor Scott discussed why you may want to deviate from the instructions and use an alternate fiberglass method. The class then went into the workshop and actually followed the steps discussed in the classroom to quickly create a fiberglass transition, including sanding and painting (primer). This method seemed to be much faster, just as strong if not stronger, and a heck of a lot less frustrating vs what is discussed in the plans.

The third project was the repair of a wheel pant that had damage. This was a very quick discussion and demonstration and was almost a distraction to the windshield project. Granted it was good practice for those that didn’t already take the other fiberglass class.

Scott also discussed the possibility of making a removable transition (similar to the metal transition that has been discussed on VAF), where an adhesive is used to attach the transition to the cowling and windshield while still providing strength. We also did some destructive testing on some parts where people couldn’t take them home with them. The bonding strength of this layup was impressive. The sheet metal did not separate from the fiberglass transition, and the windshield would break before the bond was broken. I was quite impressed. I may make a similar mockup and attempt the “removable” transition and some Silpruf or Silka to see what method I’ll eventually use for my windows and windshield. Granted I may just use the Lord adhesive and call it a day.

Overall I would highly recommend this class if anyone was interested. Very informative and Scott has a lot of knowledge he is more than willing to share with.

Fuel Tank – Part 7

Brian 0 Comment Fuel Tanks

So slightly out of order, but figured I would provide a quick update on my fuel tanks. I found myself with some spare time to work on the airplane due to my wife and daughters taking a trip to visit my mother in law. This is great except for one minor detail, I basically ran out of things I can work on by myself and need a second set of hands. Local buddies were are also unavailable so time to get creative.

Decided to bring the fuel tanks back from our storage locker and finally pressure test them. Going in I already knew I would need to cut a hole in my right tank to replace a rivet that somehow wasn’t fully set?!? Before I drilled it out I wanted to verify there were no other areas that needed attention (leaks).

With the fuel lines (supply and return) capped, and a balloon on the vent line, I used the fuel drain line to blow into the tank and slightly inflate it. (Just a few breaths to put a little pressure in the tank, not enough to inflate the balloon). Then its on to spraying soapy water all over the tank. On the first try, I got a leak around the fuel cap and the threads of the fuel supply and return. Tightened the caps on the fuel lines, and tightened the screw on the fuel cap. Re-spray and no leaks. Ok, so a tank in good shape. Now for the difficult part (emotionally that is).

  • Tape role makes a good template
  • Rough cut the opening with a Dremel
  • File all the rough edges.
  • Line up the cover and match drill all the holes.
  • Don’t forget to remove the primer where proseal needs to go.
  • All Done!

With the hole cut in the tank and the edges deburred, I was able to get into the tank to remove the proseal from behind the “bad” rivet and drill it out. Note: removing the proseal from inside the tank SUCKS! Make sure all rivets are properly set to avoid this torture!

Once the area when the rivet needed to be installed was cleaned, and all the dust and debris was removed from inside the tank, I was barely able to install a replacement rivet. Honestly I almost gave up and was looking for an appropriate flush blind rivet, but in the end I was successfull in installing the new rivet (pending leak test).

With the rivet installed, I added a bunch of proseal to the area to prevent any leaks in this area, followed by installing the access hole cover. No way this patch will leak due to the large overlapping surface and overkill number of blind rivets. Now I’m just waiting for the proseal to cure before I attempt a pressure test. The other tank was perfect, so I already mounted it to the left wing with just a few bolts / screws. I’ll get more photos of the tanks mounted in a future update.

Next week, I’ll be in Chesapeake VA attending the RV Fiberglass class to practice making the windshield layup so don’t expect any real updates for a few weeks.

Mid Fuselage – Part 1

Brian 0 Comment Mid Fuselage

Now that I’m basically done with the wings, I can go back to working on the fuse. Section 26 – Mid Fuse Ribs and Bottom Skins will be creating the back half of the fuselage floor. As this will take up some significant space, I wanted to make sure I finished up the left over little stuff on the wings.

Before I even started, I read through the chapter to ensure I understood the sequencing. I quickly realized that I have to do a few steps, prime a few parts, rivet those parts together, then do the next few steps. This repeats throughout the chapter vs most other sections where I can prime and rivet everything at the end. Lots of little primer sessions in my future!

First few steps, build the Inner and Outer seat rib subassemblies. Nothing new with these parts. Only thing I should have done was to fabricate and include the flap motor mount parts when I primed the subassemblies.

Next, I start pulling the parts for the rear seat ribs and fabricating the seat belt brackets for them. Before I cleco these ribs to the bulkhead, I need to rivet the previous brackets to together. TIP: Make sure you flute the outer most ribs to match the bottom skin. (F-1015L/R and F-1018L/R). These are really the only ribs that need to be fluted, and as others have found it’s quite difficult to flute them once they are riveted together.

Again, nothing hard, just cleco, match drill, deburr, prime, and reassemble. About now, things are starting to get big so I ended up getting one of those “cheap” work platforms from the big box stores. Another option would be to stack some 2/4’s on the ground as a platform as the bottom skin needs to hang down past the forward bulkhead a bit.

Only other “gotcha” or oops I had was that I didn’t check the alignment of the F-1018R rib with the fuselage bulkhead assembly and allowed the rib to be trapped inside the flange of the bulkhead assembly. It should have been on the outside of the bulkhead and I had already started to rivet things together. Not a major problem, but I’m not a fan of double work. Drilled out enough rivets to allow me to move the parts into the correct position. From there, all is great and I’m able to build on :).

Lastly I start to cleco the skins onto the ribs and bulkheads. This was really cool to see and starts to make me worried about space issues in my garage. For now I’m rolling with the punches, but things may get interesting in the next few sections. With such a large part, I decide that I’m going to mark every hole I drill to make sure I don’t miss anything. Makes match drilling go a little slower, but I’m ok with that.

UPDATE: 4/7/2020 – One thing not fully covered in the plans is where to put the MFG heads vs the Shop heads in this section. Only when I went to install the rear seat floor pans did I realize there may be a recommended method. Where possible, put the round MFG head on the passenger visible side. It not only looks better, but also makes it easier to install the floor later on.

NOTE: While not called out in the plans, I would HIGHLY recommend that you dimple the F-1015B and F-1015A #40 holes now to allow the side skins to sit flush once they are dimpled. While it can be done later, it’s a pain in the rump. See Plans page 29-15 and 29-17 for rivet callouts.

Back from OSH – time to get to work.

Brian 0 Comment Trips

Wow, what a trip. I had an absolute blast at AirVenture, and want to go back again next year if I can.

As always, things didn’t quite go to plan last week. The weather made an absolute mess of things at Oshkosh, but everything worked out in the end. I got to fly from the DC area to Wisconsin in a beautifully equipped Cardinal and log a bunch of flight time. As this was my longest XC to date, I was extremely happy to have a knowledgeable and patient CFI sitting next to me!

We had a bit of a headwind heading out to OSH, so it took us almost 8 hours to get to KUNU (Staging point for the Cessna 2 OSH mass arrival). On Saturday, the storm fronts came through so we had to delay our departure. Then OSH closed parking, delayed us a few times, and finally it was clear that the EARLIEST we would be able to arrive was Sunday evening. That sucked as there were no hotel rooms anywhere nearby and not everyone had camping gear (including my flight buddy). It’s a bit of a long story, but we ended up leaving the airplane at KUNU, and getting a ride to OSH where there was an RV Camper already waiting for us (It was delivered on Friday).

Bright-side, I got to stay in an air-conditioned RV for the week with electrical and water hookups. Down-side was a longer walk to all the events and not being able to fly into OSH. Not a huge deal as many others had much worse situations. By Sunday afternoon it was clear that Camp Scholler arrival may have been worse than the FISK arrival. People were camped on the streets around OSH since the campgrounds turned into a muddy mess. Some were not able to camp until Tuesday (and aircraft parking didn’t fully open till Wed).

I did get to watch the Cessnas mass arrival, meet a number of RV builders, and chat with many of the vendors on-site. I think I logged 7 miles of walking every day, but ate plenty of unhealthy food to compensate.

By Thursday, it was time to pack up and head home. Flight home was slightly faster. Still had a headwind and some build-ups to dodge, but it was a shorter and cooler flight. Overall had a great time, spent a bit of cash, and am looking forward to going back again.

Now that I’m home, I’m back in the garage again and trying to put some videos up. Hopefully I can get caught up in the next few days and post my progress.