Brakes, Fuel, Flaps, and Panel!

Big day, lots of little stuff. Oh yeah, and Happy Halloween! It was nice to get back to building after the whole ordeal of unpacking the finish kit. We started this morning by flaring and installing the remaining two brake lines, and then final-attached the -AN fittings to the parking brake valve for a first installation. I've decided to use Loctite 567 as a thread sealant, which seemed to get the best reviews on its performance overall. It smells pretty good too... Sarah claimed it smells like a "hotel lobby with a swimming pool nearby." I would have never made that association, but, yes once she said that, that's EXACTLY what it smells like.

Attaching the AN fittings to the parking brake valve using Loctite 567

The completed fitting installation

We then test-fitted the parking brake valve with all four lines connected to it for the first time. It fits perfectly! Now the only thing left with the parking brake valve is to figure out a control mechanism and get the necessary hardware for it. We'll get to that at some point eventually.

In the meantime, it was time to get started assembling the fuel system. I had ordered a number of fittings necessary to put everything together, but I quickly discovered I was in need of just a couple more. No worries, I'll tack them on to the next order from Spruce. Until then, since I had the Loctite 567 out, I could still install a few fittings into the various fuel system components.

The 100-micron fuel prefilters with AN-6 fittings installed

Walbro fuel pump with AN-6 fittings installed

I then made two brackets to attach the fuel prefilters to the landing gear mounts under each seat out of angle aluminum. It went pretty smoothly, and I think I have the finalized fuel system routing/layout figured out. I'll make a diagram here in the next couple days and post on here.

Moving on to see what I could work on, I got back into Section 40 and made 4 little spacers used to attach the flap actuator to its brackets:

The four spacers placed next to their respective steps in the plans

Those spacers were kind of a PITA to make! They are quite small, and it's really hard to hold them square against the bandsaw and belt sander, but with a bit of patience and burnt fingertips we got them made! The dial caliper works really well here to check measurements and end up with a perfectly-sized piece.

The last thing today before calling it quits was to get back to Section 31, Upper Forward Fuselage. We're basically done with that section except for some dimpling and riveting, but I don't want to do too much more until I really finalize my panel layout. So, I clecoed the assembly back together and started with one of my all-time favorite pastimes, avionics daydreaming.

Initial proposed general panel layout

2x Garmin GDU 46x displays, Garmin GMC 307 control panel, and GRT Mini-X backup EFIS

Still LOTS more planning needed for this panel, and even more money to spend on it. The main thing I wanted to do now though is see if I can figure out which parts of the underlying structure will need cutouts and modifications to support the layout I have in mind. I do want to have my autopilot control high and centered, which may require some modifications to the center rib for clearance. I'll need to get some final measurements and start making those cuts. I also need to figure out how I want all the switches laid out. I'd like to keep the panel as symmetrical as possible, and allow for PIC'ing from either the left or right side with minimal difference in usability of the panel. Like I said, lots more to figure out here, but I thought I'd at least share my current thoughts of what I'd like out of this panel.

That's pretty much it for now! I think the plan for tomorrow is to finish up the rear seats, and maybe some other miscellaneous shenanigans... stay tuned!

Finish Kit Inventory Complete - Deletions/Additions Breakdown

It's been an exciting couple days of inventorying the finish kit and ordering parts! First things first, a picture of the sorted finish kit parts (along with a few doodads from previous kits):

When this rack is empty, the plane is done! The plane isn't done.

The main wheel pants and prop spinner, or as I like to call them, "fancy hats".

Unpacking and sorting was fairly painless, and there were no errors, even with all the additions and deletions I had requested. Speaking of which, I should probably do a quick writeup of what was modified from the standard kit, and what third-party parts I'll be replacing the deletions with. First, here is the list I sent to Van's to modify my finish kit order. I tried to research as best as I could by reading through a number of other build log sites and emailed a few folks who've built -10's, and decided on the list of things that I wanted to modify as follows:

• Deleted tires and tubes
• (-) U 15x 6.0-6 (x2)
• (-) U 15x 6.0-6IT (x2)
• (-) U 5:00x5-6 (x1)
• (-) U 5:00x5-6IT (x1)
• Deleted main wheels and brakes
• (-) U-00011 (x1)
• Deleted nose wheel and axle
• (-) NW501.25 (x1) nosewheel
• (-) U-1009 (x1) axle
• Deleted intersection fairings
• (-) U-1019-L (x1) lower L intersection fairing
• (-) U-1019-R (x1) lower R intersection fairing
• (-) U-1020-L (x1) upper L intersection fairing
• (-) U-1020-R (x1) upper R intersection fairing
• Deleted windows
• (-) C-1003-L (x1) L door window
• (-) C-1003-R (x1) R door window
• (Windshield and side windows already deleted from fuselage kit)
• Modified door components
• (-) C-1016 (x2) door strut
• (-) WD-1023-PC (x2) strut bracket
• (+) C-1016HD (x2) heavy duty strut
• (-) C-1021 (x1) safety latch doubler angle
• (-) BAG-542 (x1) safety latch hardware
• (-) BAG-543 (x1) safety latch hardware
• I also added a few firewall-forward components, because I won't be buying the full FWF kit
• (+) VA-168 (x1) sender mount
• (+) VA-133 (x1) oil pressure hose
• (+) BAF-IO-540 (x1) baffle kit IO-540
• (+) VA-187 (x1) flanged duct
• (+) FAB-360/540 (x1) filtered air box
• (+) VA-182-PC KIT (x1) throttle/mixture bracket kit

With those modifications, the following items were then purchased from the following vendors:

• VansAircraftTires.com
• RV-10 New Builder tire/tube package (incl Desser retread tires and tubes, 2 main 1 nose)
• Cee Bailey windshield, door windows, side windows package
• MATCO Mfg
• WHLWI600XLT-2 (x2) Wheel/Brake assembly, each
• WHLNW511.25 (x1) Nose wheel
• WHLAXLE24 (x1) Nose wheel axle
• WHLA24SPKIT (x1) Nose wheel axle spacer
• WHLARV10SL (x2) Rear spacer for wheel/brake installation
• MSCTRA1.5 (x2) Washer for wheel/brake new installation
• PlaneAround
• NEW180 (x1) 180-degree 3rd safety latch kit, new door
• DS2 (x1) Door strut attach brackets, pair
• RV10DPG (x1) RV-10 SS angled door pins w/ delrin pin
• WFSPCR (x1) Wheel fairing bracket spacers, pair
• Aerosport Products
• RV10030 (x1) RV-10 interior door handle kit, med gray
• RV10051 (x1) RV-10 low profile exterior door handle kit
• RV10048 (x1) RV-10 seat lever kit
• RV10005 (x1) RV-10 cowl pin cover
• Rvbits.com
• RV-10 Intersection fairings, set of 4

One kind of funny thing that happened with my Matco order, I didn't realize the wheel/brake assemblies were sold individually (to my defense, the part number ends in "-2" and it would be expected to sell in pairs, so I made an assumption). So, I ordered just one main wheel. Quick to notice my error, a representative from Matco sent me the following email:

"Two units would be required."

I had to laugh for a good minute at the polite yet to-the-point wording of the message. My mistake! I wrote back and modified my order accordingly. Thanks to Matco for catching the error and preventing an even more embarrassing situation later on!

So the big question I always had and never really got a good answer for until I did this all myself was, how much do all these "upgrades" cost? Well, I decided not to post individual part-by-part dollar amounts of everything here because prices tend to change over time, but I'll try and list off the general, rounded costs of each upgrade (excluding other costs such as shipping), and the rationale behind each:

• Desser tires instead of new from Van's (delete $300, add $350 = +$50): The Desser retread tires come highly recommended from those who use them. It turns out that a retreaded tire in the aircraft world for some reason is actually held to a higher standard than a factory-new tire and they are reported to last quite a bit longer. Also, they are apparently a bit "meatier", which is important for the first installation because the wheel pants will need to be trimmed around them, and you want to have the fairings give ample clearance for them.
• Matco nosewheel/axle  instead of Van's (delete $125, add $220 = +$95): This is arguably the most important upgrade, according to most current RV-10 owners. The wheel Van's ships is slightly under-sized for this application, and the axle is of a poor design, causing it to rotate against the fork and cause premature wear and damage. The Matco parts seem to resolve the issue and provide trouble-free operation. There is a plethora of information on the internet about the RV-10 nose wheel issues and the Matco fix.
• Matco main wheels/brakes instead of Cleveland from Van's (delete $775, add $950 = +$175): The Matco wheel and brake option provides a better design and increased braking ability, which is extra important on planes like the RV-10 with a castering nosewheel that must be at least partially steered with the brakes, especially at low speeds. I've spoken to a number of RV-10 owners including one right here in Cedar Rapids who highly recommended this modification.
• Intersection fairings from Rvbits (delete $100, add $175 = +$75): These intersection fairings are reported to be much higher quality and easier to install than the standard Van's ones. To be honest it was sort of an impulse purchase, "all the cool kids were doing it" so I said it's 75 bucks why the heck not.
• Door modifications (delete $75, add $1300 = +$1225): This one is a whopper for sure. But, there are a number of improvements here to what many say is one of the best modifications to make. The 3rd latch system provides an insurance policy against accidental improper latching of the door. With the standard door, it is possible to only partially latch the door shut, and unknowingly attempt to take off with the door half open. Upon takeoff, there is enough flex and load for the door to rip off the airplane and potentially cause a very bad accident. A number of doors have flown off over the years in this way, and thankfully no accidents have occurred from them. This improved latch system ensures this won't happen, and also adds a few nice things like flush (and lockable) handles, stronger lift support, and nice-looking trim on the inside.
• Window replacement with Cee Bailey (delete $730 between fuse&finish kits, add $1500 = +$770): Ok, this one I'm kind of starting to get a bit of buyer's remorse on. I became convinced with Cee Bailey's sales pitch on the better fit and ease of installation when compared to Van's windows. Other builder agree these are nicer windows and they are easier to install, but I'm not 100% sure I can justify the more-than-double price tag. Oh well, I made that decision early this year with the fuse kit order and I'm going to stick with it. I'm sure they will be nice, and who knows, once I actually get them installed maybe I'll be able to appreciate the difference a bit more.

That's basically it for "Finish Kit Stuff" for now. If you have any comments or questions on what I did with my order modifications above, feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! I also may come back and update the above with some commentary once I actually get the stuff put together.

Finish Kit Inventory

We got started on inventorying the finish kit tonight. Typically we start by checking off all the big stuff and finish up with sorting/storing all the hardware bags. This time however, we decided to do things the other way around and start with the hardware bags. There are significantly fewer bags that came with this kit than in, say, the fuselage kit. At first, we assumed that this meant we could breeze through all the bags in little time, but it turns out there is much more assortment this time, and Van's decided to put many deceptively similar-looking parts in the same bags that must be carefully sifted through and separated. They've been known to do this from time to time in previous kits, but I feel like this kit has some of the most egregious instances of this practice. As it turns out, Sarah has "the right stuff" when it comes to distinguishing minute differences between things, or finding a tiny part masked by its background. Ever drop a tiny screw or earring in the carpet and fear that it's gone forever? Sarah can find it with the naked eye in under 10 seconds. She's also crazy good at traffic spotting in the air, by the way.

Sorting through a bag of washers that contained eight different kinds of deceptively-similar looking sizes.

Sorting through a bag of screws that contained six different yet similar lengths and widths.

I did all the easy stuff.

We got through most of the rivet, screw, bolt, nut, washer, and cotter pin bags, and realized we need more hardware storage. We'll need to go back to Harbor Freight and grab a few more of our favorite hardware trays (visible on the right side of the first pic above) and finish inventorying the hardware bags. Then it shouldn't be too big of a task inventorying the rest of the parts... after that it's going to be back to the fuselage!

Finish Kit Delivered!

It's here! Our fourth and final RV-10 kit from Van's has arrived :-) Unfortunately Sarah was stuck at work but my friends Derek and Brannen were able to stop over for a few minutes mid-day to help unload the truck and push the crate up the driveway. This crate was actually a bit smaller than I had thought it would be, and also quite a bit lighter. For some reason Van's keeps changing freight carriers; I've had ABF for the emp and wing kits, Road Runner for the fuse, and now Old Dominion. The guy was nice and the crate was undamaged, but this was by far the most expensive shipping cost, at almost $500 compared to the typical $200-$350 or so. Oh well, write the check and move on I guess. Nothing I can really do about that unless I want to haul it back from Oregon myself.

The Old Dominion delivery truck

Crate in its unhatched form - no damage!

Popped the lid off to have a quick look at the contents before getting back to work... nicely packed as always!

After work, we sifted through the crate to throw away all the packing paper and styrofoam, revealing a handful of sub-kits, a cardboard box containing the front seat frames and foam cushions, and an intimidating number of fiberglass parts. The cowl, spinner, wheel pants, fairings, doors and more are all fiberglass. We're going to need to get up to speed quick on our fiberglassing skills. I have a feeling this winter is going to be full of fiberglassing fun!

So currently, everything is unpacked but not inventoried, and the wooden crate has been broken down and tossed in the back of the truck, ready for another run to the landfill. This week is going to be tough to find time to inventory with Halloween coming up and a number of other family obligations, along with Sarah's brainchild event this Thursday "Trunk or Treat" at the Marion Airport C17. Should be fun though, and I'm sure we'll sneak some time in between everything else to get some more work on the garage in. Stay tuned for that!

Section 39 & 40 - Control & Flap Systems

So the brake and fuel lines are again on hold while I wait for more "stuff" to arrive, including the Loctite 567 thread sealer and a handful of fittings and miscellaneous hardware from Aircraft Spruce. While I was ordering stuff, I went ahead and ordered our ELT also (not to be confused with a BLT, which is a sandwich). We chose the ACK 406MHz model E-04. I'm still not sure if saying the brand name "ACK" out loud is supposed to be spelled out A-C-K or just saying the word "ack" in an angry, loud tone. Since an ELT's purpose is to transmit an attention-getting, loud signal in case of an emergency, I'm going to assume it's the latter. Either way, I am now a proud customer of one of their products. Anyway, it seems to be a popular model, and the price was right. We don't necessarily "need" the ELT yet, but I'm trying to spread out purchasing some of the bigger-ticket items month-to-month so that I don't end up having to buy a bunch of $500+ items at the same time. In my mind, it helps relieve a bit of the sticker shock that happens when you are... well... building an airplane. At $529, this item falls near the very bottom of that long list of bigger-ticket items on the "to-buy" list. Ugh.

Anyhow, today was a pretty straightforward day of making some good progress. I started out by finishing up my cleaning efforts organizing everything in the garage, in preparation for tomorrow's finish kit delivery (woo!). Then, while I still had a bit of time left I decided to prime, rivet and install the F-1063 idler arm that had previously been final-drilled and deburred in Section 39 page 6. It went together pretty easily and was a straightforward deal. Basically, Section 39 is now done as far as prep work is concerned; we just have to wait until the appropriate time to actually install and rig all of the controls.

Since there was still a bit of time left, I decided to flip the page over to Section 40 - Flap System. This section is pretty straightforward too, where you lay out the 5 torque tube and control arm pieces and drill them together. The first step was to attach the R and L torque tubes to the WD-1013A Flap Crank:

The WD-1013A Flap Crank drilled and bolted to the WD-1013C torque tubes

After that step, the next thing to do was retrieve the W-730 Bellcrank Jig for use in this section. The jig was shipped with the wing kit, and was used for rigging the ailerons. In a surprise twist of events, this jig is also now needed to "clock" the flap horns on each end of the torque tubes. It took me a bit to remember where I had stashed it, but eventually I found it in one of my parts bins. The plans call out to drill a hole in a certain spot to use for this next step:

The W-730 Bellcrank Jig with hole drilled as called out

This step was a breeze, because as it turns out, this hole had already been made at the factory. Thanks Van! The next thing to do was to bolt the jig to the flap horn and rig it all up so the horn sits flat on the table in the proper orientations:

The W-730 jig being used to clock the WD-1013B Flap Horn

The horn clocked to the proper rotation and slid to the proper distance (24-7/16") from the center crank

After drilling and bolting everything together on the one side, it was just a matter of repeating everything (mirrored) on the other side. Before long, we had a completed WD-1013 flap torque tube assembly... yay!

The next step was to make the four plastic bushings used to attach the torque tube to the fuselage itself. They are provided as four rectangular blocks with holes punched in them and must be trimmed to spec. The cutout along the top is mandatory, while the two cuts along the bottom are optional for a ~2oz weight savings. Hey, why not?

F-1030 UHMW Bushings, trimmed

That's pretty much it for tonight. Hopefully by this time tomorrow we'll have an undamaged and delivered finish kit here in the shop, ready to be worked on!

Brake Lines - More Fuel System Planning

Almost done with Section 36! Tonight I bent the remaining two brake lines using the same techniques I did for the first two lines, and after flaring them and temporarily laying them into place, I was finally able to take a picture of the parking brake valve mount:

Matco parking brake valve mount

The valve will have two 45-degree fittings on the front side, and two 90-degree fittings on the back side, allowing the lines to come straight out from the tunnel into the under-seat areas. I chose the forward-most of the three holes to do this so that there would be more room behind for the fuel send and return lines.

With that, I realized I couldn't go any further on the brake system without thread sealant (I thought I had ordered some already but I hadn't). A quick trip to Home Depot left me with the realization that Loctite 567 is not sold locally and must be ordered online... bummer. No big deal, plenty left to do! On to the fuel system...

For the fuel system, you may remember a while back I had some some initial planning and procuring of parts. I've received my Walbro pump, check valves, pressure relief valve, and a handful of AN fittings. Now it's time to lay things out and actually figure out how this is all going to go together.

Parker 665-2-3/8D2 Relief Valve, Walbro GSL393 pump, Parker 2625 Check Valve

2x Aeromotive 12319 100-micron fuel prefilters, one under each seat

Newton SPRL Duplex Fuel Selector, Model V4-3-P-C

Underside of the fuel valve... lots of connections to make here!

Now that these parts are here in-hand and I have "most" of the fittings I need, it's time to get back to diagram-drawing and come up with a finalized version of the fuel system layout. Should get to that this weekend in between cleaning up in preparation for the finish kit's arrival!

Brake Lines - Rear Seat Backs

Productive night tonight! Now that the parking brake valve mount has been made, we can start with actually fabricating the brake lines. There are a total of four brake lines to make: One under each front seat going from the landing gear mount to the tunnel (where the parking brake valve is), and then one on each side of the tunnel going forward from the valve and up the firewall, terminating at a bracket on the upper left area of the firewall. I'll be making these runs out of 5052-O aluminum tubing, which is a stronger material than the provided 3003 alloy in the kit (3003 is not used on brake lines in production aircraft). This is a common upgrade that I decided to go for and had previously ordered the necessary lengths from Aircraft Spruce.

Meanwhile, Sarah came out and first helped rivet the parking brake valve brackets to the bottom fuse skin in the tunnel, and then decided to start working on the rear seats (Section 42). We're going to try a small modification here and make the back seat more of a 60/40 bench-style seat as opposed to individual buckets. Cleaveland sells a kit to do something similar (with headrests and all), but we're going to try to keep it simpler and just extend the left-side seatback using an extra F-637A seatback panel which I added to my finish kit order. So in the meantime, Sarah can still make many of the supporting bits needed to assemble the seats. No pics yet of these parts, but she made a number of parts out of aluminum angle to form the structure of the seat backs.

Back in Section 36, I got started on bending brake lines. The first ones to make are the ones that go under the front seats. They are relatively straightforward, and I began using a technique I read about on the forums, where you take a piece of solid-core copper house wire and bend it to the desired length and shape, and then use that as a template to make the actual brake line.

Copper wire cut and formed to desired shape for brake line

Using the wire as a template, I got out the 1/4" 5052 tubing and used my OTC 6515 tubing bender to make the same part out of brake line:

5052 tubing bent to shape from wire template

In this way, I made both brake lines that go under the seats, and decided that was enough for tonight. It turns out Sarah finished making her brackets but didn't feel like busting out the drill, and I had finished my two brake lines but didn't feel like busting out the flaring tool. Still a very productive evening, and with a few more nights like this we might have two more sections crossed off the to-do list!

Section 36 Begin - Finish Kit on its way!

Finally! Time to start working on the brake and fuel lines... just in time to get notification that the finish kit will be here on Monday next week... aaaah! It will definitely be here too soon, but that's ok. It's hard to predict when to place the order for the next kit, because with lead times and such it's a decision you're making several months ahead of time, and the desire is to not be too late. In the end, no complaints on our end, will just be another day or two away from building while we sort and inventory all the new parts that come in the finish kit. We should have room for everything... hopefully.

In any event, the first order of business in Section 36 is to do something that isn't even in Section 36, or Van's plans at all... mount the aftermarket Matco parking brake valve. Derek came over tonight and we set out to figure out the best placement for it. As I've said in earlier posts, I'm going to try and mount it in the tunnel, underneath the control column elevator linkage area. I've done the measurements and checked them twice, and I see no reason that the valve won't fit here. In my mind, it will work better in this location because it will be easier to get to, and it is a location that already involves a junction in the brake lines per the standard plans. I'll need to reorder which brake or fuel line goes where through the three pre-drilled holes between the under-seat areas and tunnel, which I think we can handle. Otherwise I really don't think there will be much heartache over putting it in this location. That's the hope, anyway.

Somehow I made it all night without taking a single picture, but really there wasn't much to photograph except for a lot of Derek and I scratching our heads and holding valves, brackets and control linkages in place and moving things around so that I could be absolutely sure this was going to work. Eventually I said alright let's do this, and in short order a few mounting brackets were made out of angle aluminum . Since I don't have pics yet, basically the mount is made of four 1.5" long pieces of AA6-063x3/4x3/4 made into two "Z" brackets. One end of the Z will rivet to the tunnel floor, and the other end will have a K1000-3 nutplate to bolt the valve to. Since there are two bolts on the valve, two of these Z brackets were made.

Everything got drilled, deburred, dimpled, and countersunk, including match-drilling the holes in the tunnel floor. Then a quick primer session, followed by squeeze-riveting the brackets together put a close to this first night back to building... more to come!

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!