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.

Empennage Kit Inventory Completed

Ok my son and I unpacked and inventoried the contents.  We also took a trip over to the local Home Depot for storage containers for small parts and also a few tools.  We got a grinding wheel and a few other odds and ends.  One of the cool things we picked up were some really nice saw horses with larger flat tops.  We took our queue from the Homebuilthelp DVD guys and used the box they shipped the empennage kit in flipped over on top of those horses as our building table.  A photo is below.  It turns into a very inexpensive and useful table surface upon which to build the plane.

The box is opened and instructions recovered

Ok I had read about the counterintuitive instructions manual binder.  I looked at it, looked at the instructions and scratched my head.  My wife just put it together in about 2 minutes.  It is obvious this is a team sport.  Starting inventory tomorrow morning but it sure looks like the major pieces are in there.

The Eagle Has Landed

Ok well maybe not but Fedex Freight did drop off my much awaited empennage kit today.  It looks like tomorrow night before I will get a chance to start inventory.  I think I will get some building in this weekend.

Also tried to get a little flying in today but the winds just didn't want to cooperate in Denver.

Here is the obligatory empennage crate shot :)

Empennage Kit to Deliver Tomorrow

So we got the call from Fedex Ground today.  Our empennage kit will be delivered tomorrow.  Thanks to my wife for waiting here for the delivery.  We should have our air compressor delivered on Saturday.  Going for a flying lesson tomorrow if the winds cooperate.

We Have Tools

So my package from Cleveland Tools arrived today.  Most of the aircraft specific tools for building the RV-12.  Ordered the wing kit and lighting kit option today as well to get into the 8 week waiting queue.  Also ordered the air compressor and tool box from Harbor Freight today.

I am hoping I get some update on the shipping status of the empennage kit tomorrow or soon.  Good news is I get to do a little flying tomorrow.  It looks like the weather is going to cooperate, fingers crossed.

A New Builder is Born

I have my order in for the empennage kit (serial number 120513).  Van's estimates it should go out soon :)  I should be receiving my RV-12 tool kit from Cleveland Tools tomorrow.  We also went to Harbor Freight in Colorado Springs and picked up a few small items.  This weekend we cleaned out some of the build area.  We need to do a few runs to give away things from the garage in order to fully clean it out.  Lastly we need to set up storage and build our assembly table.

I have reserved 412ML for my N number, a permutation on my birthday and kids initials.  I am also working on finishing my sport pilot certificate.  I hope to get it knocked out soon.

Here is a picture of me in an awesome plane, the Gobosh 700.  I fly the Gobosh with Skyraider Aviatiion out of KAPA in Denver.