rv10builder.com – Page 5 – My homebuilt adventure

Three-ish years in

May 12, 2020May 12, 2020 Brian 0 Comment General

Well, with everything going on at the moment, I lost track of time a bit. I just realized it was over 3 years ago that I took delivery of my Empennage kit and started this journey. I now have all of my “kits” delivered and have enough things to keep me busy for quite a while.

Looking back, it’s crazy to think that I’ve only been flying and building for a few years. I am a bit sad to say that I haven’t been in the air since I flew out to OSH Airventure. With no Sun N Fun and no Airventure this year, I’m gonna need to get some type of a fix once we all are allowed out of the house.

From a schedule perspective, I’m not sure if I’m technically “on-schedule” or not. I may have to go back and re-read some of my earlier posts. My unofficial goal was to finish one kit per year, so I guess I’m a little behind, but I don’t feel like I really that behind. I think I’m about a month or so out for starting the cabin top, which will be a huge milestone for me.

I now have a nice list of items that will need to be purchased (avionics, engine, accessories, etc) and I may have to do some adjustments now that I’m looking at the price tag. I have had some initial conversations with lenders regarding a loan for the engine / avionics, however we’ll have to see how the economy is doing in a few months. I’m also hearing the insurance for RV-10’s specifically is going up a lot. Not really happy to hear that, but not much I can do about that at this point.

In three years, I have met and chatted with a bunch of great builders. I was extremely nervous when I started my project. This was by far the largest project I have ever undertaken and there were so many things I didn’t know or fully understand. I’m extremely glad that I did and thankful for all the encouragement I have received. For anyone that is reading this blog and thinking about building themselves, I would absolutely encourage you do do it too. Vans has done a great job in making this a very easy to learn project and you really don’t need any specific knowledge to follow the plans. Plenty of good information available online should you have questions and the best builder support network possible.

Personally, I’m really proud of all the work I have done and looking forward to what the next year will bring. I just need to spend time updating my log and post some photos / videos.

Thoughts on Interior and Colors

April 13, 2020April 13, 2020 Brian 0 Comment Interior

With the delivery of the finish kit, the large box labeled “RV-10 Front Seats” keep staring at me. I’m also starting to notice that as I install more items in the fuselage, I’m getting to the point where some decisions on the interior need to be made. Honestly I’m just not at a point where I’m ready to even think about this yet.

Looking at some other builders and their logs, many of them are WAY more OCD than I am. They have color schemes picked out, interior options, and every upgrade planned. I felt like I was really putting myself out there when I ordered my Air Conditioner last summer when my fuse was still in multiple pieces! The idea that I need to start making decisions on color, paint scheme, who or where to order stuff from, all of it is just so overwhelming!

I already have a lot of items purchased that are sitting on shelves, and I really don’t have the funds to purchase additional items, like carpets, interior panels, or seats, so my decision at the moment is to just ignore it. Classy I know, but I’m already stressed thinking about avionics, wire routing, antennas, and conduits. The only thing I may do is read up on the different interior suppliers to see if any additional hardware (nutplates) need to be installed that can’t be done later. I’m only aware of one nutplate needed for the Aerosport system, but need to research more of them.

I’m thinking I’m not going to paint the cabin interior beyond the green AKZO primer I already put in, but will have to think about the cabin top. Most likely I’ll be painting it black and doing a clear coat over the aerosport overhead console to show off the carbon fiber.

My plan from the beginning was to not paint the exterior until I was well out of Phase I just in case I needed to make any changes / fixes. Same goes for the interior. Once I’m sure everything is the way I want it mechanically and done whatever tweaks for comfort, I can then focus on making everything pretty. Also give me more time to pay off some big purchases before I spend more money on paint.

The only fly in the ointment is that I will need the seats done, so I’ll have to have at least an idea on color scheme for the interior. Not sure how bad the lead time is for RV-10 seats. Currently thinking seat purchase will be a January item as long as things are “back to normal” by then.

Finish Kit Delivery

April 9, 2020April 8, 2020 Brian 0 Comment Finish Kit

Well, I’m not sure if the timing on this was great, or horrible. I submitted my order for my finish kit in late January. I did this for a few reasons.

I needed something to motivate me to progress faster. Nothing like a deadline to get you moving.
I had the funds for the kit and figured I should order now in case prices went up (or I might spend it on something else)
I thought I was far enough along that that this was when I “should” order the kit.

My crating date was the week of March 23rd and with all of the recent stay at home and social distancing orders, I was worried that this may have an impact on my kit. After talking to the wonderful staff at Vans, they told me they were taking things seriously, but doing their best to keep things moving. Sent in my final payment and figured things may be delayed a few weeks from VANS side, or possibly the shipper.

NOPE, Vans had their stuff together, and sent me the shipping information on 3/27. Shipment arrived in Maryland on 3/31 and was contacted to set up my delivery on 4/2. With the news getting worse each day regarding COVID-19, I was absolutely shocked that this was going to happen.

I then had a minor panic attack as I tried to figure out WHERE I was going to put the crate as things are getting tight in my garage. After a little bit of jenga, I figured out something that would work for a few days as I unpack the crate and inventory everything. I’ll have to start stuffing parts all over the house, but I’ll make it work.

Maybe the silver lining is that I will have enough to keep me busy on the airplane over the next few weeks / months. I think I have most of the supplies I need and crossing my fingers that PPE gear starts to flow again. Lots of front line people really need that gear now, but hopefully once they have what they need, we can begin to get it back in stock for those doing other projects. Currently I’m down to my last box of gloves and the filters currently in my respirator. I’m sure I’ll need more before I start the fiberglass work.

With the crate delivered, I had almost no room to move around, so it was time to quickly unpack and inventory the kit. Bulky items (doors and cowl) and other fiberglass parts were inventoried and moved to storage while all the other stuff was relocated to shelves. The Bag of hardware was checked and returned to the original bag for storage. Only two errors this time. No Spinner, and got an incorrect sub-bag of hardware. Reported back to the mothership and a the missing items are already on the way.

Fuel pump, Fuel lines, and Brake Lines

April 6, 2020April 7, 2020 Brian 0 Comment Fuselage

I decided a bit ago to reach out to Steve from ASFlightline to get some upgraded hoses for my fuel and brake lines. Could I have just made my own? Sure, but I wanted something a little more sturdy running through the cabin.

When I contacted Steve, AS Flightline did not have a standard EFII kit for the SDS EM-5 system. The did have one for the FlyEFII System 32, so after discussing with Steve, he shipped me that set and I would work with him to develop the changes necessary to support the SDS kit as a drop-in package. I also ordered the brake line hoses for my control approach pedals.

First task was to come up with a mount for the fuel pump assembly from SDS as well as the two filters. I had seen a few people that mounted their pumps with the filters above the pumps in a compact package, and that seemed to be a neat setup. Working with Steve, we developed a mounting setup and some hard-tube that would work with the proposed hose kit.

First mock-up of the fuel pump and filter setup.

I shameless followed a similar setup to the EFII system 32 doc on the AS Flightline site to mount my pump in the tunnel. 3/4″ angle aluminum just below the tunnel opening, and fabricating a mounting plate for the pump. The whole pump assembly can be removed via the AirWard side tunnel access panels for servicing. Will verify once all the other “stuff” is installed in the tunnel.

Mocking up the aluminum angle and base plate

Then I was waiting on my duplex Andair fuel selector. Ordered the FS2020 duplex selector with four 90 degree connectors on the sides of the adapter. The top two adapters point AFT, the bottom two point DOWN. Make sure to install with Locktight 648 per the tag on the box.

I also needed to fabricate a mounting plate for the selector as it doesn’t fit with the VANS supplied kit. Using some spare aluminum sheet, I fabricated a new mounting bracket for the fuel selector and used the edges of the original bracket to mount to the tunnel.

After drilling a hole for the selector itself, marking the screw locations using the fuel selector as a template

With the fuel pump and fuel selector installed, it’s time to install hoses. Order of install is kinda a real thing as space is tight and sometimes you can’t get a wrench on a fitting with another hose installed. Sorry, didn’t write down my magic ordering – if you are following my lead you can experience this for yourself 🙂

I also had create a few new holes in the fuselage. One in each wing-root for the fuel return line, and one on the firewall for the fuel supply line. I used the measurements in the System32 guide, should work just fine. I also used the TCS 90 degree fuel bushings for the wing root penetration.

Left- original Vans hole using the TCW bushing. Right new hole with standard 90 degree bulkhead fitting

I provided my info to Steve so he could post a more complete installation document on his site. End result is that I REALLY like how everything has come together and how things look.

Fuel selector to wing root lines installed

Brake lines were also pretty straight forward. The kits sent by Steve were pretty easy to install. I elected to get the fittings and the hose, so I had everything I needed. It’s pretty obvious where each of the hoses goes once you get into it. For now I just put caps on all of the hose ends and bulkhead fitting to keep everything free of dust / dirt. It will be a while before I’m ready to put fluid into the system.

Tailcone Attachment

March 28, 2020March 28, 2020 Brian 0 Comment Tailcone Attach

*Pre-COVID-19:

After getting one of my buddies over, I was able to do the initial attach of the tail to the fuselage. Initially we attempted to install the tail with the F-1074 Tail top skin and the F-1006 (A and C) ribs installed. This honestly just made things more difficult. Once we removed those pieces, and used my HF hydraulic table, things went much better!

With everything clecoed together, I then began to match drill the longerons, followed by match drilling the remaining holes in the skins to the underlying structure (I’m oversimplifying what is in the drawings). Don’t forget to fabricate the shims, then countersink everything called out in the plans.

Once everything was drilled, pull it apart, debur, dimple (as necessary), and re-assemble. Again, I found I could re-install the tailcone on the fuse by myself with some critically placed saw horses, my hydraulic table and the F-1006A/C rib removed. Once the tail was attached with a few clecos and bolts, I could insert the F-1006 rib without too much trouble. This did require an offset rivet set to allow me to get the F-1006B rib riveted in.

With the tail attached (and mostly riveted together – need to get a helper so I can get the bottom skins riveted), I decided to build an updated fuselage stand so I could access the bottom of the airplane. This is necessary for me to begin the Air Conditioner scoop install. Basically some 4×6 lumber, some longer bolts and some casters. This setup does still require a sawhorse under the tail for now.