Let's Get to Work on the Wiring!

Don't Worry! It will all be nice and neat soon enough.... Let's call this, "The Before Picture."

I finished the inside of the Canopy!

I used the soft side of 3/4" velcro to trim the canopy. This should keep the sides from scratching the fuselage when I slide it shut.

Primed Empennege Tips

Left Horizontal Stab and Elevator. After all the fiberglass and sanding I decided to prime. It turned out well.... There is just a small amount of touch up work to get it perfect, but for now it's fine.

Started Fitting Instruments...

Instrument holes have been cut out of the panel using a waterjet. I will also add eyeball vents on the sides along with a few other small items.

Here you can see the new Digital MGL V10 transceiver w/built in VOX/VOGAD intercom. It only weighs 7.6oz. and has a full 6w@1.2amps Nice! find out more here- www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhsIBV6AxqM .I also went with the Garmin GTX327 transponder.

The transponder brackets were custom made by myself. Needless to say, It took a considerable amount of time to get everything precisely drilled for a nice tight fit. I wanted the transponder to be as flush as possible on the front of the panel.

Fiberglass Tips Pt. 3

Rudder just about ready for primer...

Top of rudder

Right elevator

Left elevater and horizontal stab

just a little more sanding to finish the enclosure off. I used balsa wood as an inside template. After fiberglassing the wood in, I finished it off with Rage auto body filler.

Instrument Panel Cut

This may be a bit boring to most of you out there, but it's very exciting to me. The guys at Dynamic Edge did an excellent job of cutting my instrument panel. It was very affordable and no cad design required. If you need your panel cut, call Thad or John @770-253-9100. They are located in Newnan,Ga. / email dynamicedge@mindspring.com

Empennage Fairing

The Empennage fairing is nearing completion. I had to rework the front end of the fairing to achieve a good fit. This took up a ridiculous amount of time and work, but I feel better about it now. The drilled holes will accept #6 screws and cs washers.

Fiberglass Tips Pt.2

Top of Rudder, riveted and glued.

Left Elevator riveted and glued in place. The seam is filled with West systems epoxy resin and 410 filler. I will sand and lay up a 2" cloth tape across major portion tomorrow...

Bottom of rudder with the seam filled and layed with 1"cloth tape. Peel Ply is placed on top to smooth everything out and soak up the extra resin. I will remove the PP(Dacron) tomorrow.

Right Elevator. The CS4-4 blind rivet heads are small enough to just cs the the skins w/ the tips in place. Keep in mind there are no real directions here, so there is a little freedom for creativity.

Fiberglass Tips Pt. 1

Elevator tips get trimmed and fitted.

The bottom of the rudder after gluing and riveting the piece in place. I will glass over the rivets and seams soon.

The doubler is riveted in place.

I will feed the tail light wire through the grommet shown here.

I'm using Jim's ideas for the rudder tips... see here-http://home.comcast.net/~jwdweb2/Finish10/finish10.html Thanks Jim!

Wheel Pants are Fitted and Installed!

We are definitely getting there folks! Now let's get those fiberglass parts done so we can move on to the panel.

The Kids help me celebrate the removal of the saw horses! I consider this a milestone in the project.

The wheel pants have been installed. There was lots of trimming and fitting to get to this point.

The pants are held together with nutplates and screws.

Landing Gear Fairings Done.

A piano hinge was fitted to the fairings to hold the trailing edges together.

I removed the tape and installed tie wraps around the brake lines. Four pieces of plastic tubing provide a stand off.

Fiberglass Work Begins! Oh Joy!

First coat of primer. It actually looks pretty good. There are only a few minor touch ups to be completed before I do the final prime and finish sanding.

The center rail notch that I made came out nice. Also, you can't see any remains of the overlap b/w the two canopy skirts. A little more sanding to get the form all set and it will be ready for paint.

I used Rage Extreme light weight body filler and numerous layers of epoxy resin and micro to build up the rear canopy skirt.

I did 4 coats of squeegeed West Systems Epoxy resin followed by a light coat of Rage. Each coat was sanded and blown clean. This eliminated virtually all of the pin holes, but it was a ton of work.

Finished Riveting the Flap Fairings

Right Rear View

Right Side View

Brake System Done!

Ford(2) and Ava(5)help celebrate the finishing of the brake system.

The brake line is covered by plastic tubing in several spots, then taped to the aft portion of the gear leg. The gear leg fairing and pants will be covering all of this up very soon.

*Update- I removed the tape and used Tie Wraps instead..

Here you can see the brake lines. It took some time and patience to get those hard lines bent and secured inside the gear boxes....

The view just behind the firewall. Panels will be covering this up when the forward baggage compartment is complete. The wire shoved in the Naca vent is for the electric fuel pump coming in the near future,

Tubes, Tires, and Wheels

Right Wheel Assembled(-Aft looking Fwd) Exterior brake lines and Wheel/Leg Fairings coming up next!

Right Wheel. -fwd looking aft

Left Axle- Fwd looking Aft

Tail Wheel

Engine Mount Installed

It took a little longer than I anticipated, but it's installed. Here is the Dynafocal mount all torqued and cotter pinned. We used a number of core drills to get it stepped up to 3/8".
Thanks again Udo for stopping by to help me get this done.

Now, all we need is an engine....

The Gear Legs Are On!

The Landing Gear Legs are finally Done! This was a huge task that I've been dreading for months. Take your time, be methodical, and it will go together as per the plans. Make sure you have a variety of sockets,extensions, and wrenches handy. Thanks a million Lee B. for all of your hardwork and expertise in this portion of the project. I think we used every socket and wrench known to man.

Here we are finishing up.

We had to temporarily remove two screws, from outside the fuselage, that go into the gear boxes.

A small portion of the bottom skin had to be removed in order for the bolt heads to pass and line up.

See the 3 bolt heads? The third one from the left, closest to the outboard, had to be temporarily removed in order to hold the landing gear backet nut inside the box.

Look close! Here are the two fuselage gear box screws that needed to be temporarily removed in order to get the landing gear bracket nuts and bolts tightened and torqued up.

My "Holy Cowl" Arrives!

Well, this is the only major mod that I'll be doing on the aircraft. I replaced the Vans standard cowling with the James Aircraft "Holy Cowl". I've been on the waiting list for about 14 weeks and now it's finally here.
Here I am at the ABF freight Depot in ATL. Judging by the forklift, you'd think it was heavy or something. That is until the guy almost dropped the box. I ran over to grab it and discovered it was light as a feather. The guy could have just hand carried it to my truck.

The box. This thing could have easily be blown out of the back of the truck if it were not strapped down. I'll get to work on this just as soon as I get the gear legs and engine mount installed.
More on the James Aircraft "Holy Cowl" Here-http://www.jamesaircraft.com/uck,Index.html

Canopy Skirts Glued and Riveted

Canopy and Skirts all riveted. I hope all the extra work applying the SikaFlex adhesive was worth it. So far, So Good, No Cracks anywhere! I'm happy with the results.

Canopy Interior. Looks pretty sweet!

Close up of the interior Canopy Skirts. You can see the SikaFlex(black) in between the rails and ribs of the Canopy Frame. There was a ton of prep work involved with getting the Sika all glued in place.

Glued the Canopy

I prepped the canopy and applied Sikaflex adhesive to the inside edges. This isn't a necessary step on the project, but I feel it's added protection against any future plexi cracks.

Closeup of the black Sikaflex adhesive on the canopy cage rails. Looks nice!

Tip- Use electrical tape to mask everything off.

Closeup of the 3/4" black primer stripe inside the plexi.

Read more about Sika Flex Here-http://www.matronics.com/wiki/index.php?title=Gluing_Your_Canopy&redirect=no, http://picasaweb.google.com/rvtach/GluingMySliderCanopy#, http://www.rv8.ch/article.php/20040916070516135

Drilling the Canopy Skirts

Canopy slid open.

I underestimated the amount of work involved with fitting these skirts. I used a hole finder/duplicator to get the skirt holes in line with the canopy frame holes. The holes were then countersunk with a small diameter cs bit. Tons of trimming, fitting, and drilling going on here. I think we're there now. Whew!

I will be using a SIKA Flex sealant and blind rivet combination for final assembly.

Fitting the Canopy Skirts

Getting the skirts to fit just right is going to be a real challenge...Well, I've done the initial trim to fit on the flamingo pink skirts. Don't worry, they won't be pink for long, there must be a million pin holes. Lots of resin,primer, and sanding to come.

Canopy Work Continues....

#40 holes are opened up to #30. A plexidrill was used on the glass. Everything was deburred, both sides, and clecoed back up.

Then I checked all holes w/a pop rivet and made any adjustments. Next, I applied a few temporary flush rivets to hold the canopy in place while the skirt gets fitted. They will be drilled out later when final riveting is to be done. Be careful! Be sure to use AACQ 4-4 rivets and not the CS4-4 rivets, for the canopy. One rivet every 12" or so and a couple in the back to pull everything tight. I followed this by drilling the bottom rails and ribs out for the skirt. #40, then#30. deburr. The skirt will be fitted tomorrow.. Holes in the skirt will be located w/a hole finder and template.

Canopy Drilling

The Big Cut!

(see the thin black tape line?)

Sometimes you just have to overcome your fears and Go For It! After getting everything clamped and straight on the fuselage, I carefully taped a cutting line. I found graphic art tape(pin stripe) to be an excellent width for the cut. The cut will separate the windshield from the sliding canopy. If I screw up here, its big $ to replace...Here we go! Yes, I'm a little nervous....

The video shows a Temp of 108deg F, But I think it's more like 85degrees F. In any case, don't even think about cutting or drilling plexi below 60Deg F. Personally, I wouldn't do it below 80 F...