Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Eve, 2008
After laying off all summer because of the intense heat in the hanger here in Phoenix in the afternoons when I get off work, I am motivated to start working hard again. I have been working on the wifes airplane a lot this summer and fall though. I plan to make a lot of progress on the RV-4 this winter.
Monday, June 9, 2008
right wing skins
Before I drilled the ribs to the skins, I did one last check of the straightness of the ribs by laying a straightedge from the marked locations for the top and bottom hole for each rib and adjusted as required. A sharpie pen then drew a line down each rib. When the skins are put in place for riveting, the line should show through the holes in the skin.
Bottom inboard skin clecoed on.
Top skins clecoed on.
Bottom inboard skin clecoed on.
Top skins clecoed on.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Right wing cont...
Finished drilling and fitting the leading edge ribs that go on the front side of the spar.
The angles were temporarily attached with old AN hardware and Ace hardware nuts for ease of removal. New AN nuts and bolts will be used in the final assembly.
The angles were temporarily attached with old AN hardware and Ace hardware nuts for ease of removal. New AN nuts and bolts will be used in the final assembly.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
RV-6a Wing Mounting Cont...
Mounted the right wing to the RV-6a today.
Set up the right wing spar for the RV-4 in the wing jig now that the RV-6 wing was removed.
Set up the right wing spar for the RV-4 in the wing jig now that the RV-6 wing was removed.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Wing fitting on RV-6a
Finished riveting the final outside skins on the left and wings on Friday.
Saturday, I fitted the right wing to the RV-6a fuselage. It was interesting to remove the wing from the jig and insert it into the fuselage all by myself. I made some temporary fixtures that I could use to move the wing a little at a time. The rear spar attach bracket fit perfectly to the rear spar. (sigh of relief!)
The wing spars for the RV-4 and the RV-4 are in the background of the picture.
Saturday, I fitted the right wing to the RV-6a fuselage. It was interesting to remove the wing from the jig and insert it into the fuselage all by myself. I made some temporary fixtures that I could use to move the wing a little at a time. The rear spar attach bracket fit perfectly to the rear spar. (sigh of relief!)
The wing spars for the RV-4 and the RV-4 are in the background of the picture.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
April 27th, 2008 RV-6a left wing
Today we riveted the bottom outside skin for the left wing. The plans say to do the top skins last, which is what we did on the right wing. Its a little more difficult to do the bottom wing skins last, but the theory was that the top skins would look better if we did them first.
We have a final row of rivets to do yet, then we will mount the wings to the fuselage at long last.
We almost forgot to run the conduit for the electrical wiring inside the wing before closing it all the was up. It helps to have a long reach for this if you forget.
We have a final row of rivets to do yet, then we will mount the wings to the fuselage at long last.
We almost forgot to run the conduit for the electrical wiring inside the wing before closing it all the was up. It helps to have a long reach for this if you forget.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
April 26th, 2008 RV-6a Wing Skins
Today we took a slight break from working on the RV-4 and decided to finish riveting the final skins on each RV-6a wing so we can mount them to the fuselage.
RV4 chick does a great job riveting.
Outer top right wing skin is riveted.
Now for the left wing which you can see in the backround on the left side of the picture below. The rivets on the bottom of the top wing skins will be riveted with the pneumatic squeezer later. It needs the outer bottom skin riveted in place. Its getting pretty hot during the day now in Arizona. Thank God we have a big evap cooler we use to keep us cool. We can only run it on low though or the circuit breakers will pop when the air compressor (or our neighbor's compressor) comes on. We are thinking about getting a portable gas powered A/C generator to put in the back of the truck to run the cooler on so we can use a higher setting.
RV4 chick does a great job riveting.
Outer top right wing skin is riveted.
Now for the left wing which you can see in the backround on the left side of the picture below. The rivets on the bottom of the top wing skins will be riveted with the pneumatic squeezer later. It needs the outer bottom skin riveted in place. Its getting pretty hot during the day now in Arizona. Thank God we have a big evap cooler we use to keep us cool. We can only run it on low though or the circuit breakers will pop when the air compressor (or our neighbor's compressor) comes on. We are thinking about getting a portable gas powered A/C generator to put in the back of the truck to run the cooler on so we can use a higher setting.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
April 24th, 2008 Right wing cont...
Set us a little jig template to use to drill the holes in the bottom of the rigs. One side does the inside ribs and the other side of the angle does the outer ribs.
Below the rib is drilled to the spar with #40 drill and clecoed to rib. It will be final drilled to #30 before priming ribs.
Outer ribs are all drilled and clecoed.
Inner ribs are all drilled and clecoed.
Most of the inner ribs also have a 3/4 by 3/4 angle bracket that is riveted to the rib and then is bolted to the spar. You can see them in the picture below (they are the anodized angle).
Below the rib is drilled to the spar with #40 drill and clecoed to rib. It will be final drilled to #30 before priming ribs.
Outer ribs are all drilled and clecoed.
Inner ribs are all drilled and clecoed.
Most of the inner ribs also have a 3/4 by 3/4 angle bracket that is riveted to the rib and then is bolted to the spar. You can see them in the picture below (they are the anodized angle).
Sunday, April 20, 2008
April 20th, 2008 Right Wing construction
Spent several evenings straightening, sanding and fluting the ribs for the right wing. Sunday, the ribs were cleco clamped onto the spar web and the rear spar attached for initial fit.
Looking through one of the lightening holes from one end of the ribs.
Looking through one of the lightening holes from one end of the ribs.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
April 16th, 2008 Right Wing cont...
Started laying out the pieces for the rear spar for the right wing.
Rear spar attach brackets drilled and clecoed to rear spar. This assembly is bolted to the rear spar attach brackets on the fuselage and holds the wing at the correct angle of incidence.
Started work on wing ribs. Each rig is marked per the template sheet in the plans for where to flute it to make sure the flute points are between the wing skin holes.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
April 14th, 2008 Right Wing work starts
Disassembled wing jig and moved from storage to our new hanger at Goodyear. Reassembled and adjusted it to be level.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Fuselage cont...
Saturday, RV4chick and I finished riveting the turtledeck on the RV4.
While we were at it, we riveted on the attach brackets for the passenger shoulder harnesses.
Sunday, I made some little attach tabs that go every 8 inches along the inside of the longeron. They will hold the static line in place as it goes from the rear fuselage to behind the instrument panel on the left side of the aircraft.
While we were at it, we riveted on the attach brackets for the passenger shoulder harnesses.
Sunday, I made some little attach tabs that go every 8 inches along the inside of the longeron. They will hold the static line in place as it goes from the rear fuselage to behind the instrument panel on the left side of the aircraft.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
More fuselage work ...
Final drilled the holes for roll bar. This is harder than it looks and takes a lot of prep work that isnt obvious from my reading of the plans. The bases of the roll bars are on a 4 degree angle. If the supports under the longeron weren't put in at the same 4 degree angle, the bottoms of the roll bar wont lay flat on the longeron.
Started riveting the turtledeck. The turtledeck is the top rear skin from the rear of the passenger seat to the tail of the aircraft. I was able to do the last third of the turtledeck by myself but will have to have rv4chick help me rivet the rest of it as one person will have to be inside the fuselage to buck the rivets while the other person is outside with the rivet gun.
RV4chick is quite petite and the fuselage is pretty narrow and confining. Wonder why then am I going to end up inside bucking the rivets?
Drilled and clecoed the piano hinge for the canopy to the right longeron. Its really important to keep the longeron straight from the passenger seat to where the hinge starts behind the instrument panel so the hinge won't be in a bind when the canopy opens and closes.
Started riveting the turtledeck. The turtledeck is the top rear skin from the rear of the passenger seat to the tail of the aircraft. I was able to do the last third of the turtledeck by myself but will have to have rv4chick help me rivet the rest of it as one person will have to be inside the fuselage to buck the rivets while the other person is outside with the rivet gun.
RV4chick is quite petite and the fuselage is pretty narrow and confining. Wonder why then am I going to end up inside bucking the rivets?
Drilled and clecoed the piano hinge for the canopy to the right longeron. Its really important to keep the longeron straight from the passenger seat to where the hinge starts behind the instrument panel so the hinge won't be in a bind when the canopy opens and closes.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
March 21st, 2008 fuseage accessories
Fabricated the U channels or F404G parts that fill in the vertical part of the wing spar attach points for the fuselage.
The F-404G channels are installed with pop rivets as there is no way to get access to the inside to rivet them. I will leave them clecoed in place until after the aircraft wiring is installed. That way if I need to route some wiring through the F-404 bulkhead, it will be a lot easier to do.
The F-404G channels are installed with pop rivets as there is no way to get access to the inside to rivet them. I will leave them clecoed in place until after the aircraft wiring is installed. That way if I need to route some wiring through the F-404 bulkhead, it will be a lot easier to do.
March 20th, 2007 fuselage accessories...
Fabricated the pushrods that go between the pilot stick, the copilot stick and the elevator bellcrank.
March 16th, 2007 Mounted 53KT instrument panel
I temp mounted the instrument panel from N53KT in the new fuselage to see how it would fit. At this point, I am planning on selling most of the equipment in the panel and installing a Dynon FlightDek-D180 with the primary flight display and engine instruments combined into one box instead of installing the six pack panel back into the new RV.
March 15, 2008 Fuselage assessories continued....
The new RV-4 elevator bellcranks from Vans are almost remade. Just have to assemble them.
This gives me an idea of what it must be like to build a newer model of RV that is prepunched and match drilled.
The completed bellcrank.
This gives me an idea of what it must be like to build a newer model of RV that is prepunched and match drilled.
The completed bellcrank.
Jan 20th, 2007Move to new hanger
After 4 years, we finally got to the top position on the hanger wait list at Goodyear airport (KGYR). It took 3 weekends of moving to get the stuff moved out to the hanger.
Moving the RV6a and RV4 fuselages to the hanger was the easy part. Since they were both on wheels or roller, we just rolled them onto the trailer, secured them and drove carefully to the new hanger and offloaded them. I mounted the set of main gear legs from N53KT to the new fuselage for the move. I have a new set of legs that is not drilled yet.
Moving the RV6a and RV4 fuselages to the hanger was the easy part. Since they were both on wheels or roller, we just rolled them onto the trailer, secured them and drove carefully to the new hanger and offloaded them. I mounted the set of main gear legs from N53KT to the new fuselage for the move. I have a new set of legs that is not drilled yet.
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