Fuselage

April 7, 2007

Finished match drilling support angles to the forward decks and instrument panel. Disassembled everything, deburred all holes and began dimpling the top forward fuselage skin, ribs. and instrument sub panel.

April 11-12, 2007

I am installing the Tru-Trak 2 axis autopilot and worked on installing the pitch servo. I had already mounted the tail strobe power supply, but due to the location of the pitch servo mounting bracket, I had to relocate the power supply. In order to do this, I had to drill out one of the three platenuts that I had installed and fabricate some brackets to mount the power supply in it's new location. The Z-brackets will be riveted in place and the power supply will attach to the brackets with bolts and platenuts. I matched drilled the servo bracket to the F-729A bellcrank rib and the bottom fuselage skin.

April 13, 2007

After searching hi and lo for a metal shop that would anodize a small batch of aluminum parts (brake pedals and misc. brackets) and having no luck, I finally decided to just prime and paint them. I'll probably put some type of anti-slip material on them later. I fabricated the necessary angles, brackets etc. then clecoed and match drilled everything. Keeping the lefts left and the rights right was a bit of a challenge, but I managed to keep it all straight.

April 14, 2007

Finished fabricating and countersinking brake pedal assemblies. Started work on the engine control brackets for throttle, mixture, carb heat and cabin heat. Match drilled the aft bracket to the instrument panel and the forward bracket to the sub panel. Drilled for platenut installation. I haven't decided on the exact layout of the control bracket yet, but I'd like to incorporate the flap switch near the throttle control. More to come later.

April 15, 2007

Fabricated the parts for the manual aileron trim. (Forgot to take some pics, will include some after priming). Finished up some miscellaneous riveting in the cabin area - riveted both side armrest to the bulkheads. Deburred and countersunk holes in top of longerons for the forward canopy decks.

April 17, 2007

Cleaned, acid etched and alodined forward fuselage and brake pedal parts.

April 21, 2007

Set up paint booth and started priming forward fuselage and brake pedal parts.

April 22-23, 2007

Finished up the priming on the forward fuselage parts and began applying the finish coat of 2 part urethane (PPG  Concept) on the flap side covers, forward spar covers and baggage area side panels. After allowing the paint to dry overnight, I was very disappointed with the results. Lots of orange peel, dust, and generally just a crappy job.

April 28, 2007

Well, because of the crappy results from my attempt at applying the finish coat to some of the interior pieces, I decided to strip and reprime everything that I painted with the PPG Concept.

April 29, 2007

I decided to experiment a little more with the finish coat painting. My first attempts were with my HVLP gun which did a great job on everything that I have primed but not so with the finish coat. I have a standard spray gun that I got out and decided to see if it would yield better results on some scrap aluminum pieces. NO LUCK. Looked just as crappy. I decided to give up on the painting for now and took down the paint booth and cleaned up the shop.

Riveted some plate nuts on the forward fuse panel attach angles and riveted the small support  angles to the forward decks. Also riveted platenuts on to the aileron trim bracket and temporarily assembled the trim assembly for a test operation. This will be mounted between the seats right behind the fuel selector valve.

April 30, May 2, 2007

I experimented  with some Rustoleum Hammered finish in a rattle can from Home Depot for the interior. Started out with the dark gray, since it closely matches the fabric I have decided on for the interior upholstery. It seemed too dark so I picked up a can of the silver color. While I liked it a little better, I felt that it would be too reflective in the cockpit, even though most of the cockpit will be upholstered.

May 5, 2007

Installed the seat belt cable wear blocks on the baggage bulkheads. The small squares are fabricated washers as called out in the plans. I'm not sure why Van's didn't just provide some round washers for this.

Installed the new tail strobe power supply brackets and the autopilot pitch servo bracket. The bracket still needs to be riveted to the bottom skin. (Two man job!)