Section 33 mostly complete

It only took a day to work through most of section 33. There are a couple small items yet to compete and pretty much all of it will come back out for various reasons but it was time to put in all the panels and get the interior installed. I was a bit concerned about the velcro and its glue as the directions say that removing the tape activates the glue and I didn't want this stuff sitting around for too long. In any case it's fun to sit it the plane get a sense of it. It's really coming along. Next steps are to finish out the last few bits of interior in the baggage area and then get it on it's gear. After that it's the canopy and fuel tank and I'm pretty much out of big projects and ready for the engine.

Progress...

Sections 10, 11, 12 and most of 32 complete - build time 1182 hrs

From start to finish this took nearly a month calendar time to complete. I had put off the fiberglass and never attached the tail feathers before so there was a lot of detail to work through. I managed to complete all of it by only installing the stabilator and rudder twice. I removed it to drill and rivet the nut plates on the tailcone. It could have been done with those parts installed but it comes off and on pretty easy and using the super glue for the washers is the trick. There's no reason to over think it. I will have to be mindful when attaching the stabilator at final assembly to make sure I don't scratch the paint. I also had to carve off an eighth inch on the right stab skin for clearance so having it away from the other parts was a good reason to remove it.

The finish came out perfect. I don't see any reason why it won't go back together and line up perfect again. I was surprised at how well everything came out given that I had to carve, shape and sand so many times. That's really what took so long. I wasn't going to be happy with good enough and the time was worth it. I still need to drill the flapperon tubes but that will have to wait. It's a two man job and I want the plane on its gear so I can use the wheels from the set up it's on now for my wing rack. Once the wings go back outside they will stay there until the painter comes and picks them up. When they are finished with paint they'll go to the hanger.

A note to any builders reading this. Drill out all powder coated bolt holes. The instructions tell you to do this in a couple places but they will all need it.

On to the interior.

Last look before it comes apart and off to paint.

Everything works - gaps are to speck - finally complete.

The Stabilator has perfect balance. If I set a couple keys on the tail it will drop.

This fairing was so much work. Taking off - filing - putting it on again. Maybe 30 times including the times before the screw holes were drilled.

Sections 11, 12, 32 and some of 10

I put off attaching the tail feathers to the cone because I didn't want to take it on and off and it couldn't be stored that way. Now it's time to work through all the various parts of the different chapters and check for clearance, create the fairings and make sure everything is complete. The tail cone fairing is slow going. There is so much trimming, sanding, checking - rinse and repeat. I'm at the point where I'm making sure the stabilator can rotate with an eight inch clearance and it's rubbing. The forum has some thread where everyone runs into this and they are generally shaving down the aluminum on the stabilator. Before I read that I marked up the fairing to sand it some more and make it clear all the moving parts but I didn't do anything with it yet. It would be much easier to just file the  stabilator so tomorrow I'll call Vans and see what they say. In any case it's slow going right now, three weekends in and still not finished. If I decide to just shave the aluminum I should be able to finish it in one day.

Really starting to look like it will fly.

Sand, assemble, measure, test, disassemble, repeat...

Very happy with how the AST tab turned out - everything lined up. Pretty sure this is the first time it's all been together although I may have put the hinge pin in once.

Section 32 - Controls -

Still working though the rigging and controls. The rudder is finished and up next is the stabilator. I'll need to finish the fairing first and then install per section 11. After that it's pretty much just make sure it goes the right direction and no cables are crossed since it will be coming off once everything is checked out. I still need to finish the wing rigging but I'll need help to get the wings back on the plan for that part and that won't happen until I have the tail feathers finished and back off the plane as it's too big to move through the door.

Nice shot of the rudder - it's pretty tall now.

Officially an airplane - everything is hard to get to now.

Rudder links ready to go.

Waited a long time to see this. Will be nice to see it with the stabilator weight inside the tunnel.