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.
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.
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| Building up the skins after righting the frames |
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| A shot everyone seems to want to post - down the tunnel. |
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| Every cleco I own - bought another hundred before assembly |
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| You can see some of the ripple at the forward frame. Most of it came out after riveting it together. |
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| Time to sit back and admire this for a couple weeks. |
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