Last Week Of Goofing Around... For a While, Anyway

Before we get back to business, we had one more week of kind of goofing around. The leaves are changing, the weather has been beautiful, and we've had a number of friends ask to go for flights around the area. So, we went flying! I've logged about 15 hours over the past two weeks, which isn't too shabby considering we didn't really go all that far or do anything too crazy... just a handful of <2hr sightseeing flights. The typical route was departing northeast from C17 towards the Dubuque area, passing just north of Dubuque and then following the Mississippi River northbound to Prairie Du Chien. I think the river delta near the PDC airport is one of the prettiest landmarks you can find in a 40-minute radius.

Fall colors near KPDC along the Mississippi River (took a 172 on this flight for a better view)

In addition to maybe three or four runs as described above, we took a couple local flights over the Cedar Rapids area, as well as two back-to-back Sunday trips to KLNR for some delicious breakfast at the Piccadilly Lilly airport diner. I absolutely love destination meals at small airports! Saw an RV-10 there once too, which always lifts the spirits :-).

Our final trip home from KLNR would take us back to KIIB to put the plane "Julie" (our favorite Archer) back to sleep. We had borrowed her from her owner for about the last two weeks and kept her in Marion, and we had an absolute blast with her. Really makes you excited to eventually have your own plane to do these kinds of things year-round! Not to mention the improved performance, payload, etc etc of the RV10 vs. the Archer.... but I don't have to tell you about that.

Mike & Sarah in "Julie" the Archer

Anyway, one more pic before we get back to business. On our final trip home to KIIB we decided to stop in Prairie Du Chien and go for a bit of a "supply run." We often stop in PDC to go to Jones Black Angus Supper Club, which is a nice steakhouse restaurant across the street from the airport (remember how we like destination meals?)... anyway on occasion we will walk about 1/4 mile north up the highway to Quality Beverage and grab a case or two of Spotted Cow, and maybe some other Wisconsin treasures that we feel like splurging for. Well, this time we skipped the Black Angus and went straight to Quality Beverage... I'm pleased to report we're now stocked!

Two 12-packs of Spotted Cow, one New Glarus sampler 12-pack, bottles of Serendipity and Raspberry Tart (Sarah's picks, of course)... and two blocks (one 2-year aged, one 10-year aged) of fancy "Super Sharp" Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese!

This should keep us happy for a while... now, on to building!!!!!

Interior Paint #2 - Section 39 Begin

Started off Saturday by stripping all the paint off the firewall, using a bit of Rustoleum "Aircraft Stripper" and loads of acetone on a paper towel. This was one of those lessons learned the hard way: Spend the time up front masking off the areas you don't want to paint so that you don't have to spend hours later on stripping it all off. Ugh. Oh well, in the end it all worked out.

All this paint stripping got me thinking: how much smoke really comes off the paint in the event of a fire? I've heard rumors that it creates thick, acrid, toxic smoke and can really make a life-or-death difference in the outcome from an in-flight fire. That was enough for me to take it seriously and strip it off. But, the engineer in me wanted to see exactly how much smoke comes off of this in a fire. So, I grabbed a scrap piece of aluminum that had been scratched beyond usability while installing the rear floor pans (remember my method for inserting them?). I had a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with this particular piece of aluminum, so I was happy to spray it with some Rustoleum Hammered Black and take the torch to it. Here's what I saw:


It actually didn't smoke nearly as much as I thought it would! And the smoke didn't really have too much of an acrid or toxic smell. Not that I'd intentionally breathe the stuff, but it was a bit of a relief that it didn't blow up into a thick plume of nasty smoke or anything. Good data point, I guess. I still went through with stripping the paint off the firewall though, because it can't possibly hurt.

Once the firewall was stripped, I was able to mask everything again properly and spray another coat of paint in the areas that needed it. I went through the predicted two cans and left it to dry. Now... on to Section 39!

Whoa whoa whoa, Section 39, you say? What happened to 36-38? Well, I wanted to get started on the brake lines (36) but before I could do that, I wanted to make sure there would be clearance for the parking brake valve to go under (or at least near) the elevator control linkages, which are assembled in section 39. Additionally, section 39 is the first part I can actually work on and not need to be inside the fuselage, where the paint is still drying. So, off to make some aluminum control rods and brackets:

The F-1089 Elevator Pushrod

In total, I made three pushrods today: the F-1089 pictured above, the F-1090 mid-fuse pushrod, and the F-1091 pushrod that goes in the tailcone (plans in section 11 from the emp kit)... over 13 feet of pushrod in total! The next step was to final-drill and assemble the F-1063 Elevator Idler Arm, which unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of. It was a fairly straightforward piece to assemble. After that, I drilled the control sticks, which went fairly well too:

Drilling the control stick and pivot base

Not bad! Cruising right along in Section 39. Also, I was able to temporary-install the WD-1010 control column and figure out how much room there will be for the parking brake valve... looks like we'll be good to go for that! Will have to custom-make a mount for it and get it situated, will post pics of that later. Until then, more watching paint dry!

Watching Paint Dry, and Saying Goodbye to a Friend

Well, we're on hold with the airplane while the first coat of interior paint cures (and I've also decided to strip the paint from the stainless firewall... not sure why I didn't just mask it the first time around) so we've had some more free time than usual. That actually works out, because I've been asked to be part of a formation flight in memory of our friend Lee Naaktgeboren who sadly lost his battle with cancer over the weekend.

Lee was a friend who I'd describe as a master-of-all-trades, who had the ability to fill in any gaps at the Marion airport (C17) that might ever have arisen. If something needed to be done or improved upon, Lee just went and did it without even asking for help-- and sometimes before you even realized it needed to be done! His generosity and work ethic were both unrivaled by almost anyone, and he helped keep the airport operating smoothly all the way up until just a few days before he passed. Although I didn't get to know him quite as well as many others at the airport, he still made quite an impression on me and taught me a thing or two about more than one or two things. He will be missed by many.

The formation flight was to be a choreographed event involving several maneuvers, including a Missing Man fly-over for the final pass. I was chosen to participate in part because I fly a Piper Archer (Cherokee family), and the formation was to be a flight of Cherokees. The flight ended up being four of us, with three Cherokees and an Aztec... still a Piper I guess, but of course a much faster and more capable, twin-engined variety. This was my first experience being part of a "proper" formation flight other than the occasional goofing-off formations that tend to happen on the way to a cookout or an EAA event. In truth, all four of us tasked with this mission were a bit inexperienced at flying in formation, and we all learned quite a bit!

We did our first rehearsal Monday evening, which went fairly well but really was just a warm-up to flying with each other. Tuesday over lunch I came back out to the airport to do some solo airwork and touch & go's, trying to really get back in tune with the Archer (I had been flying a 172 lately). Then this morning we really hit it hard with practice, putting in about 3 hours of flying and as many on the ground discussing the different procedures. Tonight, it was showtime!

With about 100 (maybe more) folks in attendance at the airport, we proceeded to take off in sequence and joined up in formation on an extended downwind leg from the pattern. For our first flyover, we approached the airport from the north at a high rate of speed, and descended to a very low height before breaking off in a relatively aggressive climb and turnout in different directions. I filmed most of the action from my Garmin Virb, attached to the left rear window of our Archer:



We then rejoined in formation south of the airport and came back in for the missing man formation:



After this maneuver, we rejoined one last time on the north side to come back to the airport and do an overhead to land. It was a great experience, and I feel like one hour of flying formation like this helped me gain more experience and skill than 30 hours of cross-country solo flying. Plus, and of course more importantly, we were able to pay tribute to a great man who left us too soon. Thanks go out to the other pilots involved, in no particular order: Tim, Justin, and Cole. I was truly honored to be able to be a part of this!

Fair skies, Lee.

Section 34 Complete - Oil Cooler Mount - Interior Paint 1st Coat

Busy weekend! Started off Saturday morning attending a EAA Young Eagles event in Tipton, IA (8C4) and providing some ground help marshaling planes and escorting guests around the ramp. We had a great turnout, and it was awesome to see so many people from our chapter (#33) present. Two certified aircraft showed up-- a Mooney and a 172-- in addition to that though we had 5 experimentals including 3 Long-EZ's and 2 RV's giving rides! Very cool to watch our chapter pilots do what they do best in some gusty crosswinds at an airport that had some fairly challenging and wind-jumbling trees and terrain. Smiles all around!

After that though, it was time to get back to work and finish up the last remaining part of the baggage door: the F-1031 frame. My idea was to install a micro switch inside the frame, and put a small access cover in place of the original striker plate that would normally be there. After taking a few measurements and marking off the piece, I ended up with this:

The F-1031 Upper Baggage Door Seal Channel after installation

I don't have a pic of the cover plate or the micro switch, but the switch is attached to the cover plate and has a small steel wheel that protrudes out the back side (inboard side) of the channel. When the baggage door is closed, the latch catches on this wheel and pushes it in flush with the channel, activating the switch. This way, even if the door is fully closed, but the latch isn't latched, the switch will still indicate that the cargo door isn't properly closed. Should work pretty slick!

That puts an end to Section 34... yay! Before moving on to interior paint, I decided to assemble and install the oil cooler mount that I had custom-modified a few weeks ago to accept a larger-sized cooler. It went fairly well, although a few of the rivets along the top were fairly difficult to access. I ended up having to install just the top flange by itself to the firewall, allowing me to bend it down quite a ways to access the top row of rivets, and then assemble the rest of it as it got attached to the firewall. The resulting product looked great!

Custom oversize oil cooler mount, final installation - L side

Custom oversize oil cooler mount, final installation - R side

EDIT 11/1/2015: I think I may have messed up. Now that the finish kit is here, I see that the engine mount will actually get in the way of the larger oil cooler. I may have to redesign this mount from scratch, we'll see. Keep looking for updates on this.

The next order of business before we start bending brake and fuel lines is to paint the interior. Most parts of the interior will be carpeted or upholstered anyway, but the idea of painting the interior is to give the underlying structure a kind of consistent "base" color so that you won't see any unpainted surfaces in all the little nooks and crannies that won't be covered up. I've decided to go with a simple and inexpensive rattle-can paint, Rustoleum "Hammered" Black. The hammered pattern should give a nice look and spray on relatively easily.

I spent about an hour or so masking off all the parts I didn't want to get paint on, and in retrospect I think I should have spent even more time. More overspray got inside the tunnel and under the front seat than I had anticipated, which isn't a huge deal but it would have been better if I could have kept it brighter white. I may try and repaint it white or leave it alone, we'll see. Also, I never masked off the firewall so it ended up getting painted too. Not sure how I feel about that, we'll see how well it adheres to the stainless.

The first coat took 4 cans, and came out relatively well. It got a little blotchy in a few areas where I started to run low on paint, but I'll wait the recommended 48 hours and throw another light coat on. I imagine 2 more cans ought to do the trick. I'll also need to paint a number of other panels off the plane, so I'll probably need a total of maybe 4 more cans. Here's what it looks like so far:

Aft interior section after painting first coat

Forward interior section after painting first coat

That's it for now! We'll give this first coat 48 hours to cure and then try and shoot a light second coat over it and see if we can fill in a few of the light spots. Stay tuned for that!

Baggage Door

Got the baggage door strut installed tonight! After measuring open and closed distances, I fabricated some mounting brackets, riveted the inside door skin into place, drilled a couple holes and installed some #8 machine screws purchased in the "aviation aisle" of the local home supply store. The resulting setup looked like this:

Baggage door strut laid into position (mockup, not fastened yet)

Closed eye-to-eye distance of 5.5"

Open eye-to-eye distance 9-1/8"

The geometry came out great! To attach the strut on the airplane side, I ran a 2" long #8 machine screw down through the F-1034B/F Seat Back Braces and cut some leftover aluminum tubing to use as a spacer between the two halves. You can kind of see it in the first photo above. After temporarily installing some washers and nuts, I was able to verify the proper movement and latching of the door, which seemed to operate perfectly!

There's just one problem.

Whoever posted in the forums that they used (and recommended) a *20-lb* force gas spring is either considerably stronger than I am, or completely insane. 20 pounds doesn't seem like a heck of a lot, but rigged up in this manner, it is WAY too strong. When you pop the latch, the baggage door jumps open and basically punches you straight in the gut if you're not ready for it. If only I had the camera rolling the first time I opened the door, all proud of my work.

So, I'll be ordering a different strut from McMaster with a 5-lb force rating (#9417K6) as well as returning the bracket that I had originally ordered. The bracket was a good idea, but being relatively large and made of steel, it was way too big and bulky to really use on the baggage door. It was much easier (and cheaper) to make my own bracket out of aluminum angle.

Last order of business for the baggage door: Fit a micro-switch to the F-1031 Baggage Door Seal Channel. Hopefully we'll be able to knock that out this weekend, and finally get around to painting the interior too!

Baggage Door - EAA Tech Counselor Visit #3

One step closer to finishing the baggage door! Tonight I fabricated and installed a stiffening plate across the baggage door frame where I had cut it to fit the latch. I'm pleased to say it added the exact stiffness I was hoping it would, and now the only thing left to do is find and install a mini strut to hold the door open and prevent it from opening too far.

The stiffening plate connecting the two halves of the baggage door

As for the strut, I believe I've found the correct part for that from McMaster-Carr, P/N 9417K6, a "Miniature Gas Spring" with travel from 5.55" - 9.05" and 20lb force (edit- see later post here, recommend 5lb force instead), combined with P/N 9417K92, the accompanying mount bracket (edit- this bracket is too big and bulky, just make your own out of aluminum angle). The parts are on their way, and I'm hoping they work out nicely. After that is installed, we're just a few blind rivets away from calling the baggage door 100% complete!

In other news, our EAA Tech Counselor came by tonight for a visit to see the project. This is technically his third time here in the shop, but the first time was before we even set our first rivet on the empennage kit, just to look over our shop and tools, and to make sure we were on the right track. The second visit was after we had completed the elevators but hadn't yet started on the tailcone. Unfortunately, during those previous visits we never completed any official EAA paperwork to document the inspections (other than logging it ourselves). No big deal but in hindsight it would have been nice to have done it just to cross t's and dot i's. This time, though, we got our yellow slip:

EAA Tech Counselor Notes

He did an extremely thorough job inspecting the wings and fuselage, and I'm happy to say that overall he had some very positive feedback for us. He even noted "excellent workmanship overall" in the comments.... wahoo! Talk about how to brighten someone's day. It felt incredibly rewarding to have an expert in E-AB aircraft (and an RV-6 builder/owner himself) look over our work and give it the thumbs-up. The only thing he noticed was on the aileron torque tubes, the nuts holding the tubes to the bearings didn't have enough thread showing. The FAA rule is that there must be at least 2 threads showing beyond the nut, and on our wings that didn't work out to be the case:

The aileron torque tubes with AN365 locknut and washer, and only ~1 thread sticking out the top

I was already aware of the "2-thread" rule, but admittedly I guess I thought it was more of a guideline and not a hard-fast rule. Also, I thought I had the hardware installed per the plans, so "it must be right." Plus, the way the whole tube is in there, there's no way it's coming out even if the nut were to fall of entirely somehow. So at first it seemed like kind of a trivial finding, but since it's an FAA rule and will surely be looked at by the DAR when they come to inspect the plane for airworthiness, this could end up costing us a fair amount of time (likely several weeks) if they ding us for it and make us fix it, then we'd have to perform the fix and reschedule a time for another inspection. Way better to remedy this now!

So how did this happen in the first place? Well, we got out the plans for the wing and turned to Section 23 (aileron actuation) and reviewed the hardware callouts. Guess what? We goofed. They call for an AN364 (which is a low-profile version of the more common AN365) locknut to be installed in this location... oops!

The hardware callouts in the plans, Section 23-7, Figure 1

Simple oversight on my part in the callouts. Definitely a good catch, and lesson learned! I'll have to dig up the correct hardware (couldn't find any AN364 nuts in my hardware bins) and swap them into place, should be a very straightforward fix.

Other than that one finding, everything else went very well during the inspection! We then spent a long time discussing all kinds of things from avionics to flight characteristics, and all the different aircraft he's seen over the years. I can't possibly stress how thankful I am that a program like EAA's Tech Counselor program exists, and even more so for the individual counselors who volunteer their time to help others like us get through their build in a correct and safe manner. Thanks Tom! :-)

The Garage Got A Facelift!

Unfortunately, you probably can't even tell much is different in the photo above. But rest assured, what you're looking at is the product of 2+ weeks of cleanup, reorganization, and construction of several entirely new items-- including two 30" x 96" workbenches, two 4' x 6' shelving racks, and a lumber storage cart. Things were getting out of hand around here with respect to old projects, tools, parts, wiring, scrap wood, dust, etc etc. Quite simply put, it was time for some fall cleaning.

One of the two new workbenches

Built this lumber storage cart from a slightly simplified version of plans found in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZtIEFa3Ofk

Anyway... although taking time away from building to take care of these things was a bit disappointing, it was a much-needed effort that I'm sure will pay off bigtime as we move forward!

Hopefully the next post will be on the subject of "direct" airplane construction! And hopefully soon!

We have a hangar!

Well it's been quite a little while since the last update, a lot has been going on but unfortunately very little "direct" work on the plane. I was on travel most of last week, and now this week has been filled with lots of other extracurricular events-- most of which centered around aviation though, which makes it ok, right? :-) I've also decided to do a deep-clean of the workshop before winter hits, which is likely going to continue for at least the next week or so. One bit of great news, we got our hangar lease signed tonight... woohoo!!

Our new RV-10 home at KCID!

Since we probably won't be moving the plane to the hangar until (at least) next spring, you might think this is a bit early to sign a lease and everything. Well unfortunately the way it works around here is you have to be on a waiting list (which we've been on for the better part of a year), and then when your name comes up you've gotta bite on the particular hangar that has become available or else you go back to the bottom of the list. Our name got pulled last week for this hangar while I was away, and this is one of very few "ideal" hangars that we had been hoping to get... it's one of the larger-size ones they have to offer in the price range we had, and it's insulated with electricity. So we said hey, why not, let's do it now!

Over the next few months we may move the wings out here, set up a work table or two, and hopefully install a natural gas heater (still waiting to hear back from management about that). If we can't do that we'll just use a space heater which would be fine too. Sarah is also furiously at work deciding where the sectional couch, area rug and mini-fridge will go ;-)

Other than that, we've just been cleaning and organizing in the shop, and receiving a number of packages in the mail including fuel system components, wiring, stick grips, and a bunch of other stuff. It's always fun seeing the UPS man and wondering what gifts he's bearing this time!

The next step with the plane itself will be to paint the fuselage interior, which I hope to get started on by early next week if all goes well with the garage deep-clean. Will post then with progress!

Baggage Door

Happy Labor Day! Well, this turned out to be an "interesting" 3-day holiday weekend for us. We went to Des Moines to attend our friends' wedding, but unfortunately we got our dates mixed up (100% my fault) and thought the wedding was on Saturday instead of Sunday. It turned out that there was also a different wedding taking place at the same time and location on Saturday, which we of course ended up at, all dressed up and ready for a fun night. It slowly dawned on us that we were in the wrong place when we didn't recognize anyone in attendance, including the bride and the groom once they appeared. Sometimes an epic fail makes for a great story!

Mike and Sarah at the wrong wedding... Thanks to the groomsman who took this photo!

So by the time we stayed another night in Des Moines to attend the correct wedding, we really didn't get much time to build over this long weekend. That's ok though! We did get some time to continue with the baggage door and take some more pictures of the custom latch assembly though:

Cutout is 1" x 3-3/8", starting 1/2" forward of the aft edge of the door and vertically centered on the existing hole punched for the key lock. The cutout will go through two rivet holes in the door leaving two small notches in the cutout, but they will be covered by the latch when it's installed.

A 1/8" thick steel plate 3" x 5" was fabricated to strengthen this area of the door. The cutout at the bottom is made to clear the baggage door frame.

The latch installed into the hole and screwed into place

The baggage door with latch installed

The inside baggage door cover with modified  cutout, measuring 3-1/4" x 1-1/2". A new #30 hole was drilled to mate with the frame, which must be cut to allow clearance for the latch.

The door riveted together and installed in the plane

The latch holding on to the F-1031 Upper Baggage Door Seal (the bolt is temporarily wrapped in electrical tape until I get a rubber stopper for it)

Closeup of the latch and frame cutout

The open baggage door, inside cover isn't riveted on yet

A video of the door in operation

It works great!! I still need to figure out two more things with the door before it's done: (1) The frame needs stiffening in the area where I cut it so that it won't have a tendency to bow. It's not bad as-is but I want it to be a little better. I should be able to rivet a piece of 0.032" aluminum between the two halves and that should easily take care of it though. (2) Before riveting on the inside cover, I want to source and install a small strut to facilitate the opening and closing of the door, as well as limit its travel. In addition, I'll need to finish up the F-1031 channel and install provisions for a microswitch and striker plate. Again, shouldn't be too big of a deal.

That's pretty much it for now! I'll be on travel the rest of this week, so there probably won't be much more progress until this coming weekend... until next time!

Baggage Door

As stated in an earlier post, I held off on completing the baggage door section while I searched for a latch mechanism that I could install and have a little bit more advanced open/close function than the standard lock-arm provides. Well, good news! I have found and settled on a latch: The Southco model C2-33-21.

Southco C2-33-21

This latch works by pushing in where the key lock is, and then the rest of the lever "pops" out. There's actually a video I found of its operation here on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2d2S5Rcqgg. One downside is that the key for this will be different than the one for the door locks and ignition, but I think that should be ok. To close, the arm has an adjustable bolt that will catch on the back side of the F-1031 Upper Baggage Door Seal and hold the door shut tight. I'll probably have to install some kind of striker plate for that (maybe even with a microswitch) so that it's not just holding on to the aluminum. Shouldn't be too hard.

Well, I got the latch in the mail yesterday and so it's time to get to work on it. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the process yet (I will soon, I promise) but it's going really well so far! I was able to hang the door and get everything aligned and the hinges drilled. I'm really happy with the alignment of the door. It was a process that took a little longer than I imagined it would, and it was really quite tedious to get it to sit just perfectly centered and square in the opening, but Sarah and I prevailed. I feel like part of our success was due only to luck, but I'm not going to complain about that. Once the door was hung, I then made the rectangular cutout for the latch in the door skin and also cut a steel reinforcement plate to go behind the outer skin and provide extra support. The latch fits in place and catches on the F-1031 perfectly! I really like the geometry of it, and once I get everything finalized I'll take a bunch of pics and provide measurements, etc.

In the procurement department, big things are happening too! We ordered our stick grips from Tosten; our fuel filters, check valves and Walbro pump are on the way; ordered some 2 AWG welding cable, ring terminals, and hydraulic crimping tool from Temco; got some Amphenol 31-326-RFX BNC connectors and Harbour RG400 cable; and finally bought the necessary 5052-O tubing and a number of AN fittings from Aircraft Spruce to be able to start fabricating the fuel and brake lines. I've been talking with the folks at DJM about a console throttle quadrant for the RV-10, and I've also been talking with Paul Grimstad about the Control Approach rudder pedal system. He's working on a new design and it's taking a bit longer than I think he originally anticipated, but the good news is he is "back in business" making pedals so however long it takes it will be worth the wait! He's been great about getting back to my many pestering emails and providing updates, photos, etc. I'm confident this will NOT be a P-200 mag situation ;-)

I've also been pondering what to delete/add to my finish kit order. I've looked through a number of build blogs about this and have settled on doing pretty much the same thing Ed Kranz/Justin Twilbeck did for their finish kits as far as deleting wheels/tires/axles to upgrade to the Matco/Desser products, and a few other tidbits. Justin's delete list can be found here. I'm also going to be deleting the windows because I'll be using the Cee Bailey ones. I really hope that upgrade is worth it, I haven't bought them yet but since I've already deleted the fuse windows I'm kinda stuck with that decision now. I'm sure it will be fine.

Well, that's pretty much it for now. Hopefully for my next installment I'll get some photos up of the baggage door!