Page 15-07 Build Time: 373 hrs

Page 15-07 Build Time: 373 hrs

Making progress now that I have parts to assemble. Took too long to get to this point but it's a lot of deburing and priming.

Spent 13 hours this weekend working through the spars and ribs. 

 A nice shot of all those hours of working through the ribs. Pretty parts.

Finally attaching the ribs. No problems here. It took a while to get back in the grove of assembling - reading everything three times until no mistakes are found.

 This section takes some getting use to. Left parts on right side with right doubler on left rib... Just follow along and check ahead and behind for direction. I suppose if I thought about it long enough it would make sense. Here's the right main almost done.

 The right spar is done and back up in the rafters. The Left will take a bit more as I fiddle with the stall switch and fit the landing light.

Page 15-02 Build Time: 342 hrs

Still in section 15 - grinding through the ribs. I've finished the FWD ribs and have the left main ribs debured. I figure 2 to 3 more days until I can assemble the main spar.

Had to take a few weekends off to deal with the Cessna. Pulled the engine out due to a broken cylinder stud. Led to splitting the case, replacing the cam and buying a new prop. The good side is I found it on the ground and not in the air and the wife says hurry up and finish the new plane - the 152 is too needy.

Page 15-02 Build Time: 314 hrs

Making progress on the FWD ribs. Had a productive day yesterday but still quite a ways to go before I'll be attaching these to the spar.

Only a small pile of FWD ribs left to deburr. Still need to scuff, flute and prime. I'll get the aft ribs to the same point before primer.

Page 15-02 Build Time: 307 hrs

Section 14 complete. On to the ribs!

Rear spars finished and looking good.

Rivets look good.

 Got through cutting off the required pieces of all the forward ribs. I read the entire section carefully and when it got to attaching the right ribs to the left spars I thought it didn't make sense. Once I read it all it does make sense. They just call ribs that point one way - inboard I believe - right and left. I managed to get 5 of them deburred. It won't take too long since they don't have too many deep slots in the flanges. Most of the debur will happen on the wheel and I've been finishing up with a scotch brite wheel on the die grinder. The lightning holes do need an initial prep since they're pretty rough. I haven't fluted any parts yet. I'll leave that until after they are scuffed since that interferes with the pad and makes it a little harder. I plan on using the "2 inch" method on you tube and see how that works out.

Page 14-02 Build Time: 299 hrs

Found the finished RV 12 at AirVenture and met Richard. I spent quite a bit of time looking over the plane. The paint is awesome. I went back early in the morning the next day and crawled around it. Sat in it for a while and laid under it just looking around. My first impression was how big it was. I'm so use to seeing bits and pieces that the finished product looked huge. I also love this color. I was planning on the current Toyota blue but a little darker looks very nice. Can't say enough about the lines on this paint job. I'd hate to just copy it but it looks fantastic. There was another finished 12 at the show that was built by the high school kids. I compared the edges of each to see if I'm obsessing over deburing - I'm not. The SLSA was what I expected given what I've seen from the finished parts in the kit. The school version was a bit over done as I would have expected. I'm somewhere in the middle and on track I believe.

Nearly complete with section 14. Just have to finish out riveting the rear spar. I noticed that one of the berrings is binding a bit on the aileron bracket so I'll take that apart and redo it. Shouldn't be too big a deal since it uses #4 rivets and they come out pretty nicely. The bind came from trying to get the 426 shop head to sit flush in it's counter sink. I should have taken a bit off the rivet before setting it and I'll do that when I reassemble it. The rivets on the front sub spar were also too short by one size but I had the correct ones so the parts turned out nice.

Decided to make them a mirror from the rivets perspective since they'll go on each side.

The correct shop head. Can't say enough about the EZ Squeezer - perfect shop heads.

I also worked on the servo motor tray since I hadn't got to that before and wanted to prime the parts. The tray came out fine but the arm gave me trouble. The rivets are 3-9 and when they swell in the insert the shop head is a little under spec. I took two shots at it drilling the rivets out and replacing them but wasn't happy. I'm sure it was physically OK but I didn't like the way it looked and it's a critical part so I ordered a new arm and insert and the new one came out as good as can be done per the drawing. A 3-10 or 3-11 would have been a better rivet to use to get the correct shop head diameter but the 3-9 is the longest in the kit. In any case, it's built as it should be per the drawing. Of the 4 main things I like about the RV kits is the access and cost of parts. These were $32 total but if that were a FAA/PMA part it would have easily been close to $100. I believe the gaps in getting time to build are causing some of the problems but you can't tell if it's going to work out until you actually do it.

The old and the new. 

Much happier with the new part (no primer).

You can see that using the 3-9 rivet the shop head is a little small. But it's built by the book so it's good enough.

Next weekend I'll redo the aileron berring in the hinge bracket and complete section 14. Then it's on to the ribs.

Page 14-02 Build Time: 279 hrs

     Got through enough parts to have a primer session this coming weekend. Everything is ready to go for section 14 as well as the servo tray and trim parts that I didn't get to from the empanage kit. I haven't posted too much about the problems I've run into on this blog (I haven't run into any significant problems other than what I had hoped for better results on the empanage - Vans says build it and fly it so that's the plan). Reading through other post though there are tricks and gotchas that are a great source of info. So going forward if I run into anything I'll post it.
     The parts below are the typical lot. Working through debut, counter sink, match drill and final drill then through scuff, clean and prime really does get you very familiar with each part and you can see how it comes together. I won't be able to assemble this lot until August since I'll be off on vacation next week making my way to AirVenture on the motorcycle. Next year I'll fly there but I don't expect to be able to do that in this plane.
     I did buy the buffer motor and a stand for my debur wheel. It's a great addition since the motor has a smaller diameter than the wheel (for now at least) and a longer shaft. You can work parts much easier with this setup. I also have the stand on wheels so it's mobile and it seems to be working out well.
     Eventually I may buy a second wheel for the other side. I put the buffer pad on there looking for balance and also so I wouldn't loose the attachment parts. One of the great aspects of building a project like this is buying tools. I suspect at some point I'll get involved with the local EAA chapter and help others.

All cleaned up and ready to prime

The old setup - a grinder with the debur wheel hanging off the side of a table.

The new setup - stand alone - longer shaft and smaller diameter motor.

Page 14-02 Build Time: 272 hrs

Back to turning aluminum into art. I've finally finished school and have my weekends back to work on the plane. I finished section 13 in June and it wasn't that big of a deal. There are only a handful of rib clips to debur and attach and I didn't prime them since the half of them are already on the spar and I see no point in trying to prime those. The spars are hung in the rafters for now while I work though section 14. Those parts will be primed as well as the rest of the wing assembly Section 14 is pretty straight forward and I was very carful not to take any more material off the stub spars where they will mate with the fuselage. I've read where others have found the wing rocking due to a bad fit and I think I read where there are over sized stubs but that would be a nightmare trying to dig those out of the assembly. I should have the parts for section 14 ready to prime next weekend and will have a primer day the following weekend. After that I'm off to OSK on the motorcycle. A long ride to the midwest. I've done it a couple times and it's always an adventure. Next year the plan is to take the mighty Cessna to OSK with the Hayward Air Rally.

This turned out to be a nice way to gage the countersink. Make a template and size the hole. 

Getting a nice group of parts ready for prime. Most of the deburring was done on the scotchbrit wheel. While I was in Harbor Tools the other day I saw a nice polishing motor. It has a longer shaft and a lower profile. They didn't have any in the box but I'll grab one next time I'm there. It was only $35 and doing this on the wheel is so much faster.

Not sure if the photo depicts the difference but the parts are pretty rough before debur. On the right are finished parts.

Aluminum to Art!

Page 13-02 Build Time: 254 hrs
Debur Wing Rib clips

Found some time this weekend to work on section 13. Deburred the wing rib clips and did all the match drilling called out. Noticed that many of the holes in the main spar needed to be drilled out since there wasn't perfect alignment. Also, for anyone just starting out this is a great piece to see how Van's deburrs the parts. It's pretty rough compared to what I started out with and I still cleaned up what I though wasn't to my standards but it's clear they just run the parts down the scotch brite wheel and radius the edges. I haven't been able to put the time in I want to due to taking some programming courses and the homework involved. I did manage to get a work table built. I was working off saw horses and a folding table up to now but the spars are heavy and long and I needed something I could roll around when needed. So a couple weeks ago I bought some wood and spent the afternoon building out a bench. I had hesitated on a bench since it becomes a permanent fixture in the garage unless you cut it up and haul it off. I plan on getting a hanger so it will have value there. The spars should go quickly and I intend to be into section 14 next weekend.

I found it interesting that they have you tapping the top and bottom of the tie down brackets. Not sure why though. I skimmed ahead and I don't see anywhere that you would access the top of the bracket but perhaps there is and I missed it. I guess if it's accessible it could be used to help handle the wings but I wouldn't fly with it as everything has a drag penalty and round things are pretty significant. In any case, I just follow the directions.

I do miss working on this. I filled reservations for a N number. Still says the one I filled for is available so I don't know what that's about but I've settled on what I want.

Page 13-01 Build Time: 249 hrs
Moving on to the wings

Made the decision to move onto the wings. There's still sections 11 (servo) and section 12 (the fairing) to complete but I didn't want to go through the trouble of assembling the rudder and stabalator and then taking it all apart again for storage. I'm pretty sure you would still take it all apart for attachment to the fuselage in any case (I believe I read that). In any case I pulled the wing kit down and put the empanage up in it's place - see ya next year mr. fuse.

I've been eyeing the wing ribs and all that deburring but once I pulled them down and started examining them they should be pretty quick on the scotch bright wheel. They only have a shallow scallop to them and I can generally just run them down the edge of the wheel then catch the burr. They are pretty rough so it will take some time. Those parts are a couple sections away. First thing is to get the spars down from the rafters. That was a pretty big job getting them up there by myself and I'll find some help to get them down. 

Page 10-12 Build Time: 249 hrs
Section 10 Complete!

Well this section started at the end of January per my log book. Finally finished it up yesterday. It's been a long haul and I inventoried the last parts for section 11 (assembly) and 12 (fairings) thinking that I was done looking at this for a while and it's time to move onto the wings. I still may do that as it will all have to come apart for storage but their is quite a bit of work in those two sections. Everything turned out pretty nice. There are a couple sections at the frames where you can tell the skin is under compression and not tension. I called Van's and the response was don't worry about it. While I was making my way up the sides I noticed an area near the aft frame that felt soft. I could pick the empenage up by the rear bulkhead and put a little twist in it and see it go away. So I decided to cleco the top skin on and see if that helped and it did. That area looks fine now (still a bit soft) but I'm good with it. I tried to take out the rivets on the frame to unload it a bit but it quickly became apparent that removing the rivets would cause more problems than there were to solve. The area that is the worst offender now is at the front frame and from Vans and the websites everyone says that will come out when you attach. I do believe the frame is short and a shim would push it out but I'll decide that another day. I'm happy to have this much airplane in the shop and it's starting to attract the neighbors wanting to know if I'm really building an airplane at the house.

Building up the skins after righting the frames

A shot everyone seems to want to post - down the tunnel.

Every cleco I own - bought another hundred before assembly

You can see some of the ripple at the forward frame. Most of it came out after riveting it together.

Time to sit back and admire this for a couple weeks.

Page 10-04 Build Time: 228 hrs

This weekend I managed to get the tail cone skins through primer. It was every bit the PIA I expected it to be. Getting seven foot skins in a five foot booth was a lot of work in flipping wet skins, turning them around, trying to handle them without touching the paint and hanging them up to dry. I must say, if I didn't live near the coast I would not prime. But I do and after an eight hour day in a respirator, a couple beers and a nap the skins look awesome.

I've been weighing each part pre / post primer to try to assess the overall gain but these were too big to put on the scale. Also there's quite a bit of overspray on the plastic that will come off and not count in total weight. Total paint used in this session was 24 oz. This is the most I've used so far. I mix 8 oz at a time and clean the gun after 8 oz. It takes a couple hours to get through one cycle.

With the parts dry enough to work with the next day I couldn't resist some assembly. I had planned on flying but thunder storms were predidted and there's no way I'm going out in that. As it turned out there was a area warning for hail which is rare here in CA. Better to be on the ground wishing you were flying as they say.

I was pretty surprised by how much the sides of the bottom had to be pulled in with clecos. I checked and double checked but they were the right parts in the right direction so I let the clecos do the work. You really want to work this slowly and not stress any one section. Once Aluminum stretches  it's pretty hard to shrink it back but it all came out very nice. I also noticed that placing the saw horses where the plans tell you to loaded the center section of the skin. This caused some small allignment issues but once I move the saw horse behind the forward frame everything relaxed and the fit was fine.

I'm watching this area closely since a couple of 12's have had wrinkling in this section. One of them was at Vans when I picked up my kits. I'm hoping it's just assembly loading and I can avoid it by keeping the skins well supported without any stress.

Bottom tail cone coming together

 While setting up for scuff I loosely assembled the skins so I could mask off the areas beyond the overlap. In one section I noticed the holes weren't lining up. The error is only 1/32 but it sets about a dozen holes off by that much. I have it flagged and will contact Vans if it's still a problem during final assembly.

Glad to see some big parts coming together... Finally.

Page 10-04 Build Time: 216 hrs

Finally got to put some parts together. I finished off the tail cone frames and the rear bulkhead. All the skins are scuffed, cleaned and ready for primer. It's pretty cool to see these parts go together. I've been staring at them for nearly two months. In a couple weeks I'll be hanging the skins on the frames and making big parts out of little parts.

Ready to spray primer

Rear bulkhead with the main squeeze

Everything goes pretty quick once the parts are ready to assemble

Rear bulkhead ready to dry fit to the stabilizer

Page 10-04 Build Time: 196 hrs

Managed to get in a solid 8 hours this weekend. I have all the parts for the tail cone ready for the final cleaning and then into primer. I still need to scuff and clean the skins but I've decided to go ahead and prime everything but the skins in the next session. Between final cleaning, setting up and cleanup afterward that will take most of a day. Once those parts are done I'll assemble the frames and rear bulkhead and then move to the skins.

It's hard to believe I started this section in Jan and now we're looking at the backend of March but the Cessna's annual and school took up a lot of weekends. Pretty much every weekend I've found time for both the RV and the Cessna (there's always something to work on) but both have to take a back seat to studying or there's no point to going to school.

It's bee a long haul to get to this point. The skins were a lot of work until I finally got the die grinder and some red scotch brit 2 inch pads - that knocked it down quite a bit. Once these parts are primed and assembled as far as can be I'll get back the final scuff and cleaning of the skins.

Page 10-02 Build Time: 182 hrs

Still working on the tail cone. I have all the skins ready for scuff and prime. They've been fitted I used the teflon roller tool to break the edges. I'll finish the frames this weekend and the rear bulkhead will get me back to fab and ready for primer. February was a slow month as the annual is due on the Cessna and that took a couple weekends to iron out the squawks and complete. 

The parts in the foreground are done, the ones at the other end are all that's left to deburr. I'm making good use of the right angle die grinder and accessories. I would recommend this as the first purchase for deburring but all of the tools see a fair amount of use. 

This is the result of too much money and not enough time. But it makes getting through deburring much faster. I started out with just the files and the edge tool. Those rarely get used now. I'm still using the small files around the small areas on the edges. If you can see it, there's a drill bit meant for a CNC machine that I use for deburring drilled holes. It works much better than the deburr tool I bought (I use that to finish off counter sinks now) and then nice thing about this bit is it stays sharp and the shank is smooth. Using a bit with it's flutes is pretty hard on the fingers.

Page 010-02 Build Time: 167 hrs

Not much to report. Deburring the tail cone skins. I only have the top skin left. I started out with my standard method, file, shave the burr left by the file with the deburr tool and smooth it out with some aluminum oxide. Each skin was running about 2 hours including removing the plastic. Three weekends into it and I went down and bought a 1/4 inch right angle die grinder and some 2 inch red scotch bright pads at the local auto paint store. What a difference. Cut the time down by half. I still have to be carful to make sure the rotation of the pad is always leaving the skin so I don't hook it and cause a bend but so far, so good. I'm still using the file as a first step because I want to take out the burrs left by the sheer but I do have a couple pads that look to be the next more abrasive size and may try to see how that works on an edge. I don't want to take a chance on the 0.020 skins though since they're so thin and shipping a nine foot skin won't be cheap.
No pics this time but I should be into the frames next week and then onto the aft bulkhead. Grinding away!

Page 09-10 Build Time: 153 hrs

Stabilator Complete

This represents a significant amount of work. Assembly was straight forward since I pretty much pre-assemble everything prior to prime so I don't miss anything. Each section comes out a bit better from the lessons learned in the previous sections. Also, getting familiar with the build book and it's flow helps. Vans definitely does an excellent job. This is a huge project and I have the highest respect for those who have done more than one and those who use solid rivets for an entire project.

 

I do like to rivet with conventional rivets but if your not doing this every week basically you're practicing on your project. If you can do a little everyday you'll be fine and won't drill too many out. I went ahead and bought the main squeeze because the one I had was a economy tool. When I bought it I didn't expect to use it very often (and haven't) but it wasn't working out for the 3/16 rivets. The main squeeze has a cam and you can finish out the rivet with one hand. This really helps and the counter weight brackets came out perfect.

  

Once the skeleton was complete it was time to get out every copper cleco I owned and lay down the skins. Getting the leading edge started was best done by propping the skin up and laying a 2X4 block under the skeleton. This allowed the needed space to get the leading holes in the ribs lined up without trying to hold everything open.  

 

You can see I've become a fan of leaving the plastic on until the part is finished. I do this for two reasons - to keep the over spray down during prime and protect the surface during assembly. Also, if the punch pushed the hole so that's the burr is on the inside there's no need to deburr this side. As most have noted go very lightly on all holes if you feel the need to deburr. 10% of a 0.020 skin is basically un-measurable by the home builder and if you've done more than that your are beyond spec. I've spent more time cleaning up over spray and burnishing out light scratches on the skins than it takes to line out the plastic with a dull solder iron. Just go light and don't try to completely separate the plastic and make sure only the copper of the iron is used. Absolutely no lead should ever touch your alclad.

 

You don't really need to use all these clecos but it's nice to have it all together and doing a final inspection before you get out the rivet puller. Triple check everything because once you start rolling through pulling rivets it would be a huge AW-SHIT moment if you had to drill those little guys out - but it's doable. I had to drill one out because I missed one spot on the plastic. As soon as I pulled the rivet I saw it and it was "oh crap". It came out no problem (use a # 30 to get the head off and a #40 on the shank until it just falls out). Since I didn't have the other side riveted yet it was no big deal to chase down the shank but I did have to un-cleco the entire skin and hunt it down.

  

I'm very happy with the finished product. This was enough of an airplane part to start making airplane noises. Some of the things I'll improve on is the primer - two light coats and get the edges first. Watch a couple videos on U-Tube and you'll get the idea. If you're going to put down primer put it down. If you're concerned about the weight loose a few pounds. The pneumatic puller came into focus pulling this many rivets. You don't need pressure on the head of the rivet before pulling. Just make sure it's flush and flat - the puller will do the rest. A light touch is all that's needed and it tends to make the joint perfectly flat (unless you're pulling over a couple ribs and the skin will conform to the underlying structure). There are no dimples or pulled areas on the skins. They are as flat as they were when they arrived. Very nice. Also, read ahead and read it again. Call Vans if you're not sure and get on VansAirforce to look for answers or post questions. There's an enormous amount of info out there that everyone (including me) are sharing.

count by weight - 1 gram per mandrill

It was a 600 rivet day. On to the tail cone!