RV7-Factory

Not Much, but Enough

A fellow builder once told me that in order to keep the project moving, you should try and get something done every day. In that spirit, I got home from work and took care of my husband/fatherly duties and then headed out to the shop. I had earlier rough cut the stiffener stock to close lengths, so tonight I simply marked the portions that need to be removed.

It took about a half hour and at that point it was late. I decided to cut  at least one to final shape to see what I was up against and to plan the next build session. You can see it clecoed to the skin above.

My builder friend was right, it is good to simply get out and do something, even if it is a little research.

Rudder Work Begins

With the VS now complete and still some hours left in the day, I decided to get started on the Rudder. I laid out the parts on the bench and started with the stiffeners. I split the lengths in two, and then laid them on the skins. I then labeled each and ROUGH cut them to length. Since I had been at it all day, I decided at this point, I should stop and take a break. Better to stop when you are doing well than wait until you make a mistake. So, until next week, have a great Sunday!

Another Crew Shot

After getting the lawn mowed, and making a final dump run to get rid of all the larger junk laying around, it was time to get started again on the plane.

Not too many pictures taken today. Too busy working. Had a visit from my other son, Alex (9). He is my reader and my very verbally curious helper. “Dad, why this, why that, how come you…” He stuck around to help hold the VS as I was bucking the rivets on the front spar and the ribs. It was fun to see him get into the process. Asking why Van’s did what they did. It was equally nice to see his nose out of a book. I know, that sounds strange, but it is true.

I got the field rivets bucked and then clecoed on the rear spar. As before, everything just lined up. I was able to use the squeezer for most of the spar and end ribs. The exception was a few rivets near the center hinge brackets. The rivets on the skin/spar are just too close to the brackets for the squeezer flush sets to get in there. The other exceptions were the ribs in the nose of the tip rib. Fortunately, my tungsten bucking bar was just small enough to get in there and get them bucked. There are other methods for doing these and some use blind rivets, but I had success with my bar and gun. Finally, you use 3 blind rivets to nail the center rib in place on the spar. VS DONE!

Another Assembly Down!

Had to take some more shots. (These are required…right?)

It's True Folks, I AM Building a Real Plane

I love showing off my progress to my lovely wife. She is a VERY busy gal with our kids, me, and church responsibilities, so shop visits are fun. While I had her in the shop I set up the HS and VS in near relative position and took this shot. I love how it shows the actual scale of the empennage as well as evidence that she is smiling while being in the presence of the project. Gotcha dear!

After the last couple of days of real progress, I was anxious to get home from work, kiss the wife hello, and get to the shop to prime the VS parts. It was a beautiful day with a little wind, but I was able to get my priming tables setup on a tarp and get the parts started. I really like the Duplicolor Self Etching. It seems durable and the color is great. Additionally, it is dry and ready in a hurry. I was able to get a good coat on both sides of the parts with much less overspray than the HS parts took on my new primer tables (Details to be in the Shop discussion soon). It may have been a little warm and windy for the paint though…seemed to dry almost too fast at times (like before it hit the part). Once it was all dry, I lightly schotchbrited the coat of primer to knock down the fuzz that the drying left. Smooth and even all over.

Primed and Ready for Assembly

Every so often, my build crew would sneak in and out of the shop. Sometimes to watch, sometimes to ask, sometimes to help. Meet Taylor, the grin in the photo. He is my eldest son at age 10, nearly 11. He has always been my curious but quiet observer. When he was born, we were remodeling a 1926 house in Salt Lake proper. As I look through all the progress photos we took it was fun to seem him in diapers, always with a tool in his hand, trying to help. Great kid. When he heard that I wanted to build a plane, his eyes lit up and he was instantly on board. He was a big help with the shop construction as well. He help set the trusses, set shingles, and general gopher. He loves to just watch and learn. The speed he seems to picks stuff up is amazing.

Primer Dry, Spar Riveted

Later in the evening after eating some dinner, I checked the primer and it was good and dry…so I decided to get a jump on the work for tomorrow. I riveted the skeleton together and then went full speed on the spar. I just love the gold rivets against that green color. Just looks cool. I was able to squeeze most of the rivets with the pneumatic squeezer. That tool is worth every penny. Speed and accuracy is great. I started with the flush rivets at the bottom and then quickly knocked out the AN470’s. Got the hing brackets on and figured I could nearly call it a day.

Last Task for the Night

I was feeling like I was on a roll…so I figured, one more task and then I will call it a night. I clecoed on the skin again for the last time. I then got all the tools out and on the bench and readied them for use in the morning. It is really rewarding to step back at an assembly and see a plane part coming together. So, that finishes the Friday night progress. Time to get to bed and ready for the finish work tomorrow.

Prepped Today, Prime Tomorrow

Today was another productive day. I was able to get the VS-808PP Doubler cleaned up, deburred, and countersunk. Cleaning the lightening holes was a challenge at first. Then I simply grabbed my Dremel and a sanding drum and was able to get the punch/shear marks cleaned up. The other challenge was the V notch, so I have some fine toothed rounded files that seemed to fit the bill. After that was done, I was able to dimple all the ribs and spars. Had to pull out the pop rivet dies to get to the nose holes on the VS-706 rib and the VS-801PP skin.

The VS-808PP Doubler prep took most of the evening, but it looks like a real airplane part. Last thing was to scuff all the parts including the inside of the skin. I hope to have good weather tomorrow after work. If so, then priming all the parts will be done and drying overnight. Then I can have a solid Saturday assembling the VS for good.

Skeleton Assembled

So after not being able to work on the bird for some time for one reason or another, I was able to get some work done tonight. With the two boys clearly entertained with the work I was doing and the Princess entertaining herself in the back yard, we set out to get some real work going on the VS. I had done a good amount of the rear spar done already so it was time to get the skeleton together and prep it for the skin. So as you see here, I got the skeleton cleco’d together after fluting the ribs and deburring the edges of all the parts less the rear spar parts. Still amazes me how precise this kit is. Everything goes together perfectly aligned.

Skinned

After getting the skeleton together, it was time for the skin. Went on with no issues. The .032″ thickness is clearly sturdy. Once on, I match drilled all the holes, removed the skin,  removed the vinyl from the rivet lines, dressed the edges, and deburred all the holes. Figured, I was on a role, so I dimpled the skin over on the DRDT-2. I was able to get to all the holes except the first 2 leading edge holes on the upper row. I will hit those with my pop rivet dies later. All that is left is for me to do before the skin can be primed is to scuff the inside. All in all, some good work for one night.

Skeleton Ready for Dimpling

So it’s quitting time tonight. Just need to dimple the skeleton, debur the edges of the rear spar and dress the edges of the doubler and all the holes. Then some primer and I can get riveting this assembly together. It was great to get back at it.

Vertical Stabilizer Parts Prep

Started the Vertical Stabilizer today. Nothing real special to report. Matched drilled the stiffener to the aft spar, added the hinge brackets, and cleco’d the skeleton together to show the wife. Not sure why Van’s does not have you start with the VS. Seems to me, fewer parts, more consistent hole sizes to drill and would give a good intro before tackling the HS. I undid the clecoes on the VS skeleton and need to flute the ribs. I will then debur all the parts and then reassemble to match drill the skin.

Memorial Day 2011 will be memorable for sure. I was able to get all the assembly of the HS done. I had bucked all the rivets in the field of the skins earlier and only had the perimeter to do. So I started with the HS-404 and HS-405 ribs and grabbed my pneumatic squeezer and knocked them out. I did remember to leave the open holes for the fairing between the Horizontal and Vertical stabs alone. Some have reported that they got so into it, they just riveted those and then had to drill out.

Next was final attaching the HS-706 ribs to the skin. Worked from front to back on each end and each side. Went fast with the squeezer.

Once the ribs were done, I moved on to riveting the aft spar on to the skin. Basically, I pulled out every other cleco from the skin and placed a rivet in. Then I squeezed them. Once complete, I removed the remaining clecos and squeezed the rest.

Vans Said Not a Problem

Next, I squeezed the HS-603PP to HS-706 AD4’s, then the HS-603PP to HS-609PP to HS-405 holes. These were a little awkward to get to with the squeezer and the aft flange of the HS-405 lifted/distorted some from the aft spar, though the rivet locations were tight together. Shot an email to Vans which they replied…build on, it will happen.

Ooops Overcome

Once these were nailed down, I was left with the HS-708 aft rib holes that are blind riveted to the spar assembly. I failed to mention earlier that apparently I had a fit of dyslexia when I first started the Aft HS Spar. I accidentally drilled the holes that tie the aft of HS-708 to the spar with a #12 bit rather than the called out #21. I felt really stupid and was really discouraged on day one of my build that I had royally messed up. I called Vans then and asked if it was OK to use CR3213-6-4’s instead of the BSPQ-5-4’s called for due to the oversized hole I now had and if it posed a problem to the strength of the HS-609PP spar doubler. They assured me, you could not measure the loss of strength without visiting NASA. They agreed that using the much stronger (aka overkill) Cherry Max rivets was perfectly acceptable. I sent them another email as I finished up with this picture, and they replied again, all is well and build on. They mentioned several times my work looks really good. Whew! One note of caution, make sure that when you insert the blind rivet into the spar that it really is in the rib. You can check by looking through the HS-405 lightening hole. I thought several times that the rivet was pushing the flange away from the spar and was glad I checked before I set these tough little rivets.

The last area of concern I had when I got all done was the HS-710 stiffener to HS-702 to HS-405 rib interface. I mentioned it earlier, but I sent it on to Vans to just be double safe. I mentioned I was a couple of thousandths of an inch short of the 0.250″ ED and they replied…you are well within MilSpec, build on. Again they complimented me on my work. Perhaps they know something about new builders. We worry tooo much. It was still welcomed assurance.

And we arrive here. A completed Horizontal Stabilizer. It is not 100% perfect, but it will fly, and fly well. Thankfully paint will make up the difference. I need to shoot some primer back on some spots that got a little scuffed when assembling, but all in all, it is time to move on to the next stage of the build…the Vertical Stabilizer! If my mistakes really bug me, once I have more of the bird built, I can then decide if I want to do another HS, but we’ll cross that bridge much later. After all, it is not the space shuttle. 🙂

After a visit from a friend and my A&P/IA who was pleased with my riveting on the HS, I figured I had to inventory the Wing Kit or I may be out of luck and more money if something big was missing.

Yes, There Are 2 Wings In There

In accordance with Vans Aircraft’s instructions, kits must be inventoried 30 days after receipt. Otherwise, YOU pay for what you are missing. I am a few days beyond that deadline, but figured I had better get it done sooner than later. Since I ordered both the Tail and Wings together, it was very tempting to let the Wings be until the tail was done.

My Tail kit was missing only a small washer that I was able to source locally for free. I figured that the Wings would be the same. It was real close. All the major parts were present and in great shape. Once I got to the hardware bag…wow, these things have a lot of nuts, bolts, and rivets. As it turns out, I was short one of the exact same washers that I was shorted in the Tail kit. Guess I will source another one. The only other missing was 12 K1100-8 nutplates. I called up Vans and they, without any hesitation or question, said they would get me taken care of. Now that is service.

It was neat to see the spar…that chunk of metal is a work of art. The other item that was good to get out of the crates was the fiberglass wing tips. It really gives you a sense of size when you hold one of those. This IS a real plane!

I had to take a picture of this pile of paper. I even felt like I needed to go through it all again to make sure I did not miss something. It is amazing what they fit in these crates and how well protected they are.

Not to many pictures tonight but a ton of work. I was first able to get the Left HS Skin riveted on with no real trouble. It became clear that I really should but some tape on my Flush Rivet Gun Set. The first flush rivets and surrounding skins have some scuffing that will go away once prepped for paint. After a while my eye again calibrated to the proper setting of the flush rivets. I spot checked them with the gauge and all seemed good to go. The other lesson learned was you really need to keep a good grip on a tungsten bucking bar. If it is just slightly tilted when bucking, it won’t take long to make a mess. It does make bucking go fast however.

I ate some dinner, returned and started on the right skin. I shot the rivets on the HS-707 rib and had to replace the top nose rivet a couple of times. I thought I was satisfied until I was done for the night and looked at it again…I may need to put a cherry max in there because it is now closed up. I will check with my local expert first, but in the end…it will be OK.

As I moved further aft on the HS-707 rib, the rivet flush set in my gun slipped off the rivet and left a minor indentation in the skin…grr. Why did it have to be on the top of the skin. It is not terrible and a little prep when painting may make it disappear 😉 . Either way…it will still fly just fine. I then joined the other half of the HS and installed the HS-708 Rib with blind rivets in the tight space. Then I attacked all the field rivets on the right skin. I then clecoed the rear spar in. And here is where it ended and the picture was taken.

All that remains are all the rivets around the perimeter of the skins. So close, but it was time to stop before I got too tired. All in all, it looks great…I have a plane part near completion. I may get it done tomorrow or over the weekend.

Getting Ready to Really Rivet

After a weekend of traveling south for CAP, it was time to take the primed parts and start doing some assembly. Here you can see the first 4 rivets in the HS Aft Spar in their locations. I was worried that the AN470AD4-6’s called for in the plans were too short. My length gauge from my tool kit said they were, but all the reading I did said that this was normal and would be OK. Here goes nothing.

Here is a backside shot of the same after taking my pneumatic squeezer to set them. That tool is worth every cent. Made for clean, consistent, well set rivets over the whole spar. The call outs are correct on the plans after all. I started to feel like I could calibrate my eye after checking the shop heads with my go/no go gauge. I was correct! After a short while, I could tell by simply looking at them. (I still checked them though 😉 )

I was happily setting rivets and thought I was complete with the HS Aft spar and was going over them one at a time and noticed this gem. Apparently I let the squeezer slip and it mangled both the shop and the manufactured head. It just looked bad. Many builders tell you to resist the urge to drill out a rivet just because it looks bad, but this one was not acceptable. I center punched the divot in the manufactured head with a #40 drill and then followed it up with a #30 just until I knew I was just below the rivet shoulder and was able to pop the head out with a punch. I then drove the rest out. The nice thing was, no hole elongation or mangling.  I then reset a new one and you cannot even tell. Whew…however, I know there will be plenty more I will have to remove on other parts.

And here we have a complete HS Rear Spar. The gold rivets look great against that green of the primer. Now on to the Forward Spar. I assembled it per the instructions. Had to break out the rivet gun for some tighter spots the squeezer could not reach. My dies did scratch up the primer on the reinforcement bars a little. Once both skins are on…I will shoot another dusting of primer on the center section and the stiffeners. Other than that, it went together OK. Then next step was to start working on riveting the skins of the HS on. I started with the center nose rib. I clecoed it to the top of the left skin. My 3/32″ clecos did not seem to hold well under the spring tension of the skin. They kept popping off as I bent the skin around the rib. To solve the problem, I simply drilled a bunch of #40 holes into some scrap stock and then on my band saw cut squares out around the holes to make little washers. Then when I clecoed the parts together, I simply put the little washers on last and they held strong. Kind of a pain, but an easy solution. I got the first 10 or so flush rivets set in the top and bottom of the skin and pressed on. They are not perfect…but final paint will do fine to make up the difference. 😀

After the center nose rib is riveted, you have to install the forward spar assembly into the skin and then the aft center and outboard ribs. Once in, you blind rivet (pop) the two center ribs and spar together. This is not easy to do when your hands are XL in size. The Army Air Corps knew what they were doing when they hired all the Rosie Riveters in WWII. I needed one in the shop for these. I got them in though. I may shoot some primer to cover the scuffed areas my blind riveter hit when the mandrels broke. Otherwise…it is looking good in there.

It was time to call it a day. I was able to rivet the end rib to the spar, cleco in the aft center rib, and cleco on the skin to all the parts. Next step is to set all the rest of the flush rivets. Once complete, you do the same for the other skin and then rivet on the aft spar completed earlier. Then…you have a completed Horizontal Stabilizer!!! Hope to have this complete over the Holiday weekend. I am beat, but it really looks like I am building a plane now!

Those around the RV world know the primer debate is a hot one. There are MANY general aviation aircraft in service that have been around a long time with no primer…but they were not hand crafted by the owner either.

I have chosen at this point to prime all the parts internal to the airframe. I know that currently I do not live near a salty coast or a highly wet climate…but that may change in the coarse of life. Of course at this point it feels like I do considering the very wet spring we have had lately. I do live near the Great Salt Lake, but again, it seems to evaporate and disappear rather than linger in the air. So the next decision is which primer to use.

I decided on the Dupli-Color Self Etching variety. I have had great success with it on other projects. It takes care of the etching and is very durable. The other bonus is that it comes in cheap spray cans. The other point is…I do like the color. Kind of a throw back to the old bombers of WWII. It also seems to get good reviews on VAF. The other rattle can variety that gets good reviews is the NAPA 7220 Self Etching. It is grey in color, but has the same durability.

Once all the edges/holes were deburred, I scuffed the parts with a maroon scotch bright pad. Good thing I have a local source as I am sure I am going to burn through these fast. I then cleaned all the parts with Denatured Alcohol and let dry. From that point on, I wore nitrile gloves so to keep any oils from the parts. Then I hung them from my overhead shelving racks in my garage and sprayed.

I did find one item of interest as I was spraying. It was my method of the hanging the parts. It seems that hanging them vertically is not very effective and results in a lot more over-spray. I think I may have sprayed more on the floor than on the parts. I think for the next round of parts, I will rig up a spray tray out of chicken wire or some other method of being able to set them horizontal so that I can better place the parts for maximum coverage and minimal waste.

Otherwise, they look great and are now ready for assembly. I will let them rest for a few days to simply make sure the paint is good and cured and then get to it. Those gold plated rivets will look really good against the green. 😀

After work, I was able to get started on deburring the HS skin rivet holes.  First I removed the vinyl coating completely from the inside of the skins and then only over the rivet lines on the outside. Lots of debate on the right thing to do, but I chose to retain it as we are in a dry climate and I want to protect it as much as possible until paint. As for the holes, basically I took a 3/16″ bit and spun it in my fingers in each hole. It knocked the burrs right off and it does not take to much material with it. There has been a large amount of discussion as to what is and is not too much deburring. I was pleased with the outcome and feel it is just right.

After getting the left skin done, it was time for my two boys pack meeting. They are progressing well in Cub Scouts and Webelos. Their shirts look like hard working cubs…completely covered in patches.

Once pack meeting was over, and the three kids were tucked in bed, it was time to see what else I could get done. I got the right skin deburred, then deburred the edges of both skins to a non finger slicing smoothness. I had not completed the setup of my DRDT-2 Dimpler to date. I needed to bolt it down and wrap the support table with some scrap carpet. No time like now, so I knocked it out. Check out the RV Factory/Shop topic for more.

Once that was complete, I got to dimpling my skins. The DRDT-2 make single pilot dimpling a breeze. I did have to take a couple of breaks in between each half to let the arm recover from the plunger lever. All in all, this thing makes great, consistent dimples.

I did read a bunch on preload on the DRDT-2. I simply set the plunger to 0″ clearance on the dies, then made one more turn on the plunger and then tested on some scrap .032″ Vans pleasantly supplies in the kits. Simply perfect dimples.

Once all the dimples were complete, I scuffed the inside of the skins and made sure all the parts were ready for primer. I hope to prime tomorrow and then let it sit over the weekend while we do some family/CAP business.