Wings Wings Wings

So we took the long weekend to make some progress on the wings.  Or more specifically the right wing.  We got the right wing spar outfitted with ribs and the bottom skins about 95% riveted on.  My wife and kids assisted.  It was a fun family activity.  In the end I think Van's directions are really good.  It sure seems to me however that when it comes to the lighting kit and wiring they are not nearly as good or as clear.  I spent quite a while trying to synthesize the information on the lighting kit install and the wing directions.  I guess since I worked on the right wing before the left, I brought some of this upon myself.  I wanted to delay taking on the stall warning assembly until later.

I am quite happy with the progress we have made over the weekend.  I wish we could have finished that wing but the temperatures here in Colorado have been incredibly high for the past week and it just got too hot out at the hangar.

Here is a picture of our progress thus far on the bottom of the right wing.

Open Hangar Day at the Carl's Airplane Factory AKA the Hangar

We had a really fun weekend this past weekend.  We hosted an open hangar at our place and invited in local flying and work friends.  Many of these folks say.. you are building your own plane... that is cool, that sounds hard.  It was a great chance to get them to see how it goes together and how both squeezing and pulling rivets works.

We had in friends from the flying club I belong to in Centennial CO, Skyraider Aviation.  They were great and flew down a couple of Gobosh 700's from the club.  I learned to fly and got my sport pilot cert in the Gobosh and love that plane.  It was cool seeing two of them in the parking area in front of the old FBO at Meadow Lake airport just outside Colorado Springs.

We had a great time showing folks the RV-12 and how complete the kit and plans are.  I even recruited some help squeezing some rivets in the initial build out of the wing kit.

My son and I also bolted together the majority of the tail control surfaces to the tail cone.  We still need to fabricate the antiservo tab servo and get it installed, as well as the fairings, but the tail kit is mostly finished.  See the pics below for an idea of where we are at and some cool shots of the Gobosh's at Meadow Lake.

Pages 10-05 through 10-10 Tail Cone Completed

About 25 more hours on the builders Hobbs

Wow it feels great to be finished with the tail.  It has been a challenge to get the time to get this completed.  My wife and kids helped out a great deal.  I am was surprised today for fathers day as they cleaned up the build space, built me out a peg board for my tools and framed the drawings of the plane.  It was a great surprise.  They then spent the whole afternoon helping to finish the tail cone.  My son did an awesome job riveting most of the tail cone together.  I worked on the squeezed rivet pieces and alternated playing cleco man with my wife and working on some pop riveting.

We had a minor issue with some missing bolts we needed to get re-ordered from Van's.  We also had some challenges getting washers into place between the stabilator and the rear bulkhead.  The other minor challenge is the static source.  It appears the one static source rivet just didn't expand enough on the back side to hold the tubing.  Luckily I had ordered a spare just in case we messed it up.  We will drill out that one tomorrow to put in the new one and hopefully have better luck with the setting of that one.

All in all, I am very impressed with the kit so far.  I am having an open hangar next Saturday and inviting friends, many of them pilots, over to help pull some rivets on the wing kit.  It should be a fun day, some good food and some help pulling rivets.

We passed a milestone of sorts today too.  We finished off the first box of 2500 pop rivets.  It seems incredible that we have used that many rivets already.  I am guessing the wing kit is going to take quite a few more to finish up.

Here are some pics of our tail cone construction.

Pages 10-01 Through 10-04 Tail Cone Assembly About Half Done

Another 10 hours on the builders Hobbs.

Wow we made some serious progress today on the tail cone.  I was feeling bad about not getting any building done in a couple weeks.  My son and wife really helped me today in making some  great progress.  My son worked on tapping the tie down bolt in area of the skid plate and then worked on getting the skins of the bottom half of the tail cone done.  My wife brought us out pizza for dinner and got recruited to help my son with the clecoing and riveting the skins on.  A bit of disappointment as we realized we were missing two bushings.  I am not sure if we managed to lose them in the move to the hangar or we just missed them in the initial inventory.

The only major issue on this work was the number of squeezed rivets.  My hands are killing me from squeezing them all.  Below are some pictures of the progress we made today.

My first real cross country.. or at least a try at it

So my wife and I really wanted to get out to Utah for a concert.  I thought what a great chance to actually fly somewhere.  It would only be about 450-500 miles each way.  We made our plans and headed to the airport early in the morning.  I got the weather brief and it sounded like as long as we got off the ground pretty quickly we were going to be ok.  We would be traveling up to Wyoming and going over along I-80 to avoid flying over the mountains.  We got off a little later than we wanted but the first leg of the trip up to Laramie WY was just smooth and really beautiful right after sunrise.  I had been told that the weather at Laramie, especially the winds could be an issue.  As it turns out the winds were calm and it was a decent landing.  We gassed up and got the weather for our next stop in Rawlins WY.  It sounded not too bad but we needed to get there and see how our next stop, Rock Springs was looking.  Rock Springs was just getting a little windy.  As we got about 20 mins out of Laramie we started hitting turbulence.  It steadily got worse and got beyond moderate turbs.  I decided that another 3 hours of that was not going to work for either myself or my wife.  We diverted back and landed at our home airport in Denver.  Even though we didn't make our destination or the show there, we had a great time just flying.  We ended up with a whopping 3.5.

Here is a shot at Laramie and the great FBO there, Cowboy Aviation.

My First Passenger

This is a little delayed as I actually had this flight a week ago, but I wanted to post it up here.  My first passenger was my wife.  It was awesome.  I flew the Gobosh down from Centennial in south Denver to Meadow Lake in Colorado Springs to pick her up.  It was a nice flying day but man was it windy at Meadow Lake.  It was a head wind but 25 knot gusts are 25 knots.  We got off and flew around south of Denver for a while before landing back at Centennial.  It was really cool to actually be the PIC with a passenger.  Here is a quick picture of my wife and I in the Gobosh.

Pages 09-06 through 09-09 Stabilator Completed

Another 15 hours on the builders Hobbs.

I am very happy to be finished with the stabilator.  It felt like a major accomplishment to finish my first large piece of the plane.  It certainly wasn't without some frustration.  It took considerably longer than I thought it would have.  I decided to hold off on putting the counter weight arm in until I get to final assembly of the empennage.  I will be moving the stabilator into my new hangar when I get back from travel next week.

Speaking of hangars.  Here is me in my new hangar over at Meadow Lake airport near Colorado Springs (KFLY).  This is where my -12 will be based and assembly will continue.

Pages 09-01 - 09-05 Stabilator Spar Box Completed

10 more hours on the builders Hobbs


Well as expected the stabilator has been more of a challenge than the previous parts.  The spar box has taken me longer than I had expected it would.  I guess it really is just more complex than the previous pieces.  If I don't see another nut plate I would be happy.  Hand squeezing some of these rivets is also a challenge.  The longer rivets in the counter balance arm flange was a serious challenge and I am using the Main Squeeze.  The nut plates are just a pain to me to get properly aligned and squeezed.  It got easier by the end.


I am hoping to get the rest of the stabilator finished tomorrow but we shall see.  I am really trying to get the empennage kit completed soon as I expect the wing kit this week or next and I am out of room.  I am hoping I can either store the finished pieces in various places in the house :)  or in a hangar if I can get that arranged this week.  I think I am at the point where I really need the hangar.

Pages 08-01 through 08-04 Finished the Anti-servo Tabs

4 more hours on the builders Hobbs

Ok I guess this may be the last of the easy pieces :)  They seemed to go together fairly easily.  The only trick appeared to be the jig that Van's provided for the hinge piece drilling locations.  They were just a little too snug to fit into the spaces between hinge eyelets.  In the end it all worked fine but it seemed like just a few millimeters off the sides of the jig would have made for a perfect fit.

I started on the stabilator too.  I will post more about that experience tomorrow hopefully when I get some more of it completed.  That was the impetus for my comment about the last of the easy pieces.  The directions for the initial rivet placement on the first pieces of the stabilator had me confused for quite a while.  Maybe just me and flattened pictures.  Had to drill out 4 rivets.  I guess that isn't so bad in the end.

Here is the picture of my finished anti-servo tabs.

I am a pilot!!!

Ok so my build has slowed a bit due to work travel and of course wanting to get my sport pilot cert so I can fly my -12 when it is done.  I have managed to get one of the anti-servo tabs done and will finish the other one tomorrow and start the stabilator.

On to the main news.. I passed my sport pilot check ride this morning at Centennial AP, just south of Denver CO.  The weather was so incredibly nice.  It was just a great day to fly.  In all it was only a 1.3 and it was over before I knew it started.  The pattern was busy today but seemed to open up when I needed to do my pattern work.  Very few bumps and the practice area was mostly empty.  I am so happy to be done and off to learn how to be a pilot.

Now I am really focused on finishing the -12.  I told Mitch from Van's that I wanted to bring it down to Sun N Fun next year.  We shall see if I can pull that off.

Pages 07-03 and 07-04 Rudder Finished

About another 2 hours on the builders Hobbs


Today my son and I finished the rudder.  Man that was cool to finish the second major piece of the tail kit.  I did have some issues with the length of some of those solid rivets.  They just seemed too long for the application.  In the end they squeezed fine.


Unfortunately I have a week off from building.  My wife and I are heading to London in the morning.  The anti-servo tabs will have to wait til we return.


On the flying front.. I have my check ride rescheduled for the week after I get back.  Hoping to be a sport pilot soon so I can get in lots of practice before the -12 is done.


Here is a not so good picture of the finished rudder.

Pages 07-02 and 07-03 Rudder Started and Test Fitted

About another 2 hours on the builders Hobbs

So finally back at it after being on travel for the past week.  It is great to get started on the second major piece of the tail.  The rudder seems like it is going together quickly.  I got the spar done and did the test fit on the vertical stab.  It would make more sense to me if they would specify more of what we are testing the fit for.  In any case it bolted up fine and also went the whole throw to the stops one the lower bracket so I am assuming we are good.  We ran out of light and I don't have a good enough light in the build area yet to work into the night.  I assume the neighbors probably wouldn't want to listen to the compressor if we had moved onto riveting together the rest of the rudder.

We will finish up the rudder tomorrow night.  I will post some pics then.

Tried to get in some flying again.  I flew twice in the past two days.  The weather just didn't cooperate though.  I was originally going to do my last flight to get in some shorts and softs before my check ride today.  In the end the winds just kept gusting and so I didn't get to get the flight in and postponed the check ride until about a week and a half from now provided I can get that one last flight in.  Fingers crossed.

Pages 06-06 and 06-07 Vertical Stabilizer Completed

About 8 more hours on the builders Hobbs

Well after a week away from things in Florida surviving the great tornado at Sun N Fun, I am back at it.  First off I have to say what an awesome time I had at Sun N Fun.  I was actually there and decided to bail out because of the weather the day the tornado hit.  The subsequent days however more than made up for it.  I got to see the Jabiru install in their RV-12.  Something very interesting.  I am still leaning towards the E-LSA factory Rotax from Van's but the Jabiru installation was interesting.  If they actually get the 120 HP model together it gets more interesting.  I was actually more interested in their instrument panel layout.  They replaced the factory fuses with traditional circuit breakers and the plastic factory switches with more traditional aircraft switches.


I also got to meet Van and got to see him just hanging out on the wing of Mitch's RV-12

My wife, son and I spent today getting the air compressor set up and in the meantime pulling a bunch of rivets on the way to finishing the vertical stab.  It was a real feeling of accomplishment to see the first piece of the kit assembled that actually looks like a part of an aircraft.  Now the pressure is on to finish as much of the empennage kit we can in the next few weeks.  Our wing kit is supposed to be here the week of the 9th of May and we are short on space in the garage.  I am exploring hangar options now.  I had hoped to hold off on the hangar for a bit but I think we may not have a choice.

Lastly an update on my adventure in getting my Sport Pilot cert.  So I tried to fly this weekend but the winds just didn't want to cooperate.  I also tried to take my written test on Saturday.  My luck continued :)  I showed up and we spent over an hour on the phone with tech support.  It turns out they were down nationwide most of Saturday morning.  I am going to do a pre-checkride tomorrow and a last ride with my instructor on Friday .. all being weather dependent.  If that all works I am going to try and do my check ride next Monday before heading off to London.

Page 06-05 Vertical Stab Christmas Tree Mostly Done!

One More hour on the builder's Hobbs

Ok minor issue.. in putting together the nut plates on the bottom of the bottom rib on the tree I discovered that in fact Vans had left out one of the two nut plates for that installation.  They were of course the only two of their kind in the kit so I had no spares.  I called today and have the piece heading my way.  Unfortunately it sort of keeps me from skinning the V-Stab.  I did finish up most of the rest of the christmas tree since I could without concern for that nut plate.

I am going to put a few more solid rivets in tomorrow and then it is on hold until the nut plate arrives.  Of course I leave for Sun N Fun first thing on Wed morning.  I am guessing it is going to be a week and a half or so before I will be able to get the skin on the V-Stab due to this delay and my travels.

On the flying front I did get to go up on Sunday.  The winds were ok but the clouds were too low to get done what I needed to in terms of maneuvers practice for my pre-check ride.  The good news is that I did get in some more pattern work in some varying winds at altitude.  Going up tomorrow to get to the practice area if all goes to plan.

Hoping to see some RV-12's at Sun N Fun.  Hope to meet some other builders there.

Page 06-04 Back from a Week of Travel

Three more hours on the builder's Hobbs.

Finished up the stab spar drilling out and adding the nutplates.  It would have been nice to have the nutplates labelled in some way, so you knew which one to use.  The second issue I had was correctly setting the depth of the rivet squeezer in order to properly set the flush rivets with the nutplates.  In end end I messed up the first couple and drilled them out.  That marks the first rivets I needed to drill out.  I have two more rivets that were better but I am still not 100% happy with.  I will likely drill out those two tomorrow.

I am at the point of radiusing the ribs and then fluting them.  I figured that was a good stopping point for tonight.  I am shooting to have the V-Stab completed this week before I head to Sun-N-Fun on Wed.  My wife gets home tomorrow from another trip to Florida so I should have another set of hands in the house to help with the building.  My son has been putting together the toolbox that arrived while I was gone.  We then need to move the compressor into the build space so that I can use the pneumatic riveter when it comes time for the skin.  I am not looking forward to trying that with a hand riveter.

Oh and I tried to fly today.  Was going to get in one of my last solo trips to the practice area to hopefully get my maneuvers polished up.  Unfortunately Colorado winds decided against it.  They were just crazy today.  I am going to maybe try again tomorrow and Sunday.  Just hoping we get some good weather for my checkride.  

Page 06-03 Vertical Stab Assembly

Two more hours on the builder's Hobbs

Well today I didn't get done as much as I had wanted to.  I did get most of the holes in the spar match drilled and deburred on one side.  Unfortunately I ran out of time before having to get ready for a week long trip in the morning.  I will post some photos with the next post next weekend when I get a chance to finish up this part of the build.

Oh and I did get to fly today.. unfortunately only a .5 and it was kind of crazy winds blowing in all directions.  A very good instructor lead to a smooth landing despite the conditions.  Going to try again tomorrow morning on my way to the airport to get in some more shorts and softs practice.

Page 06-02 Rudder Hinge Assembly

About two hours on the builder's Hobbs

Ok well since we had everything unpacked I had to dive in and get my hands a little dirty.  The toolbox is still not here so things aren't as organized as I would like.  I am also missing a scotchbrite wheel so I am filing pieces for now.  I did pick up a bench grinder today at Home Depot.  Now I need a bench to bolt it down to.  The table using the packaging from the empennage kit works fine for a table to build on but it isn't stable enough to bolt a vice and grinder onto I don't think.

So I jumped in and took the hack saw to separate the pieces of the hinge assembly.  It was easy and taking the file to the resultant pieces provided a nicely deburred and smooth surface.  I got to squeeze my first rivets too.  Pretty exciting and nerve racking as I didn't want to mess up.  I ordered the Main Squeeze from Cleveland tools.  It was very easy to squeeze those rivets with that tool.  I highly recommend it.

Here are some shots of my first squeezed rivets on this project.  These aren't actually the first ones I had ever done as my wife and I took the RV Builders class from EAA.  We didn't really squeeze too many there though as we used the rivet gun and bucking bar instead.

Oh and I didn't get to fly today.. winds gusting near to cross at 20-30+ kts made it undoable in a LSA.  Going to try to get in some softs and shorts tomorrow... Fingers crossed.