Move to the Hangar, and subsequent works [100.0 hours]

In early May I moved the project to a Hangar at Hobart Airport. A kind neighbor donated his time, truck and float to perform the move. One wing missed out going when the loading plan went a bit astray, and we moved that on a different truck a few weeks later. It was a bit unnerving to see the project tied down on the float and being driven on gravel tracks out of here, but my neighbor’s 50+ years of experience in the trucking industry made it all seem easy.

I spent much of May into June moving the contents of the workshop to the Hangar and setting everything up there so I could continue with the build. The workshop at home looked like a war zone during this effort, it was certainly high time for a clean out. A resident rat had been living a comfortable life in a cluttered corner of the workshop, it was last seen running for cover under some bushes in the outside garden after being evicted.

I pinned the wings on, again with the help of several neighbors, and have since finished fitting the flaps, the wing root fairings, the wingtips, and the wing root fuel lines. With the flaps fully retracted in the reflex position, and the ailerons rigged to match the flaps (with elevator neutral), I split the rear edge of the wingtips with a fine hacksaw blade, set them in place to match the ailerons, final drilled the rivet holes for the wingtip ribs while being held in place, and re-glued the rear wingtip inner edge with epoxy. After this set, I removed the wingtips, stood them up and reinforced the rear edge with flox and a layer of fiberglass. Compared to the initial condition, I moved one wingtip down about 4mm and the other down around 7mm; they were out by enough to annoy me and fixing them was quite easy.

Winter has been brutal in that tin Hangar. Thermals and heated vests only go so far. After the workshop at home was cleaned up, I pitched a marquis tent inside it. I dismantled my old priming booth, and recovered the wire table to use for spray painting parts. With two electric oil heaters going, I was able to keep the environment inside the tent at a high enough temperature to spray paint some parts. I painted a few simple one-colour items – the horizontal stabilizer, elevators and some fiberglass parts to make a start on the daunting prospect of painting the aircraft. The transportable parts I’ll paint at home in the coming months, the wings and fuselage I’ll have to paint at the Hangar, this will have to wait until summer so I can get a reliable block of warm weather. I’ll build a temporary booth out of wood and plastic film at the Hangar to do this work, with filters and fans to provide some airflow for over-spray removal.

In the meantime, I continue to grind away at the never-ending list of things to do. Now winter is officially over, the days are getting longer and progress should pick up.

  • move1
    move1
    Loading up
  • move2
    move2
    On the move
  • Second wing delivery
    Second wing delivery
    Delivering the second wing and stand with my neighbor's classic flatbed truck
  • wing1
    wing1
    Wings pinned on
  • flap1
    flap1
    Fitting the left flap
  • flap2
    flap2
    Fitting the left flap
  • wing_root_fairings
    wing_root_fairings
    Wing root fairings, and temporary anti-slip
  • tip1
    tip1
    Fitting the wingtips
  • tip2
    tip2
    Fitting the wingtips
  • tips3
    tips3
    Fitting the right wing tip
  • tips4
    tips4
    Re-gluing the right wingtip
  • paint_hs
    paint_hs
    Painting the Horizontal Stabilizer
  • paint_elevators
    paint_elevators
    Painting the elevators and trim tabs
  • paint_ailerons
    paint_ailerons
    Painting the ailerons
  • paint_rudder_fairing
    paint_rudder_fairing
    Painted bottom rudder fairing

Finish right aileron [4.5 hours]

After a break from building, I got back to work today and finished the right aileron. Riveted the bottom skin to the main spar, the trailing edge, and CS4-4 rivets on each side. Used the same method (construction tape) as before, with the same result – dead straight trailing edge. I’ve shown a few different views to complement the previous descriptions of this technique.

  • w52a
    w52a
    Right aileron TE wedge secured with tape, cleco'd down to straight edge
  • w52b
    w52b
    Preparing for second riveting pass, after which every 2nd rivet will be set
  • w52c
    w52c
    Preparing for second riveting pass, after which every 2nd rivet will be set
  • w52d
    w52d
    Preparing for 3rd riveting pass
  • w52e
    w52e
    Scrap metal (after doing both ailerons)
  • w52f
    w52f
    Completed right aileron

Finished left aileron [9.5 hours]

I finished the left aileron. Uneventfully. Did a trial fit to the left wing, it lined up perfectly with the flap! It’s good to complete all the external surfaces for the left wing, the end is still a fair way off for the wings but it is at least now in sight…

  • w50a
    w50a
    Left aileron ready for final assembly steps
  • w50b
    w50b
    Previously installed platenuts for static wicks
  • w50c
    w50c
    Ready to match drill trailing edge wedge
  • w50d
    w50d
    Match drilling trailing edge wedge into large angle aluminium straight edge
  • w50e
    w50e
    Match drilling trailing edge wedge into large angle aluminium straight edge
  • w50f
    w50f
    Overdone clecos, match drilling finished
  • w50g
    w50g
    VHB tape on trailing edge wedge, ready for installation
  • w50h
    w50h
    Trailing edge wedge taped and cleco'd in place
  • w50i
    w50i
    Trailing edge wedge taped and cleco'd in place
  • w50m
    w50m
    Left aileron trailing edge riveting completed
  • w50j
    w50j
    Aileron test fitted to left wing
  • w50k
    w50k
    Left aileron and flap align nicely
  • w50l
    w50l
    Left aileron top side

Aileron nose section riveting, finalize skins [7.5 hours]

I riveted the Aileron nose sections, and they both went together OK. I’d been waiting on some 120 degree dimple die; these arrived and I was able to dimple the inner and outer rib halves where required and also rivet these down onto the skins. At this stage the Ailerons are ready to complete, but I’m going to hold off riveting the skins on until I finish the wings and flaps, so that I can trial fit the cleco’d ailerons and verify there is no twist.

  • w33a
    w33a
    Riveting aileron nose section
  • w33b
    w33b
    Cleco'ing aileron top skin in place, with temporary straight edge on TE
  • w33c
    w33c
    Cleco'ing aileron top skin in place, with temporary straight edge on TE
  • w33d
    w33d
    Aileron nose sections
  • w33e
    w33e
    120 degree dimple die for CS4-4 rivets
  • w33f
    w33f
    Aileron skins
  • w33g
    w33g
    Ailerons 'n skins

Started riveting Ailerons [4.5 hours]

Still waiting on some tooling for the wing box sections, so I riveted some Aileron sub-assemblies together.

  • w32a
    w32a
    Started riveting Aileron subassemblies
  • w32b
    w32b
    Back riveting Aileron skins
  • w32c
    w32c
    Back riveting bottom right Aileron skin. Platenuts are provision for a static wick.
  • w32d
    w32d
    Back riveting top Aileron skin.
  • w32e
    w32e
    Aileron components partially riveted

 

Finish preparing, dimpling Aileron parts [8.5 hours]

I’ve prepared the Aileron skins, dimpled all parts, and set up the paint booth and etch tank to prime all the parts.

  • w30a
    w30a
    Dimpling Aileron skin
  • w30b
    w30b
    All aileron parts dimpled
  • w30c
    w30c
    Looks like everything will fit in the spray booth if I hang a few parts
  • w30d
    w30d
    Set up for priming Aileron parts
  • w30e
    w30e
    Ready to scuff/degrease/etch Aileron parts

 

Ailerons part 2 [6.5 hours]

Continuing with the ailerons, I assembled the right aileron nose section and match drilled the counterbalance arm. The next step in aileron construction is the character building task of cutting thirty two stiffeners out of eight pieces of angle stock. I thought of constructing some sort of jig to use the drop saw for these cuts, but decided against doing so because the material is thin and the parts are very small – I’d have to make a very secure jig, the time isn’t worth it.

Therefore I cut the stiffeners using my amazingly dangerous 1950’s era band saw and trimmed them to final shape with a vixen file. That’s the character building part. It takes 25 minutes to mark out and cut one piece of the angle stock, clean each of the four stiffener parts up with a file, and finally de-burr. So, about four hours for the lot.

Next job is to prepare the skins.

  • w29a
    w29a
    Match drilled right aileron counterbalance arm
  • w29b
    w29b
    Started on A-710 stiffeners, four parts per angle
  • w29c
    w29c
    Cutting A-710 stiffeners
  • w29d
    w29d
    3 angle strips down, 5 to go ...
  • w29e
    w29e
    6 angle strips down, 2 to go ...
  • w29f
    w29f
    All 32 A-710 stiffeners complete
  • w29g
    w29g
    Large pile of filings from A-710 stiffeners
  • w29h
    w29h
    Ready to start de-burring aileron skins

 

Started Ailerons [9.5 hours]

Still waiting on some tooling before I proceed with wing box section riveting, and waiting on some small amounts of proseal before fixing the auxiliary fuel tank leaks, so with all that on hold I’ve started the Ailerons.

These are fairly straightforward, a bit like the rudder. The counterbalance is a long section of stainless steel tube. After looking forward to doing some mindless filing for a while, I immediately ran into problems because I was missing some parts. After a fair bit of head scratching I decided the only problem I had was the wrong drawings. The print set that came with my kit was marked “Revision 0” and dated 24 July ’14. The parts I had matched the drawings on the CD distribution, which were marked “Revision 1” and dated 23 Feb ’12. What I think has happened is:

  • The date on my print set drawings is wrong
  • In 2012, after changing the Aileron design for the RV-14, Van’s decided to update the RV-10 drawings with the same design (since the RV-14 and RV-10 Ailerons are identical), but somehow this update didn’t make it into my print set.
  • My parts correspond to the updated design.

With that out of the way, I prepared most of the internal parts – same old filing, de-burring, match drilling, countersinking stuff. I got to the point where I’ve fitted the counterbalance arm into the left Aileron nose assembly. Tomorrow I’ll do the same with the right, and get on with the rear assemblies.

  • w28a
    w28a
    Aileron parts
  • w28b
    w28b
    Separating parts
  • w28c
    w28c
    Match drilling
  • w28d
    w28d
    Deep countersinking #12 hole for AN509-10R25 bolt
  • w28g
    w28g
    Checking AN509-10R25 bolt countersink depth
  • w28e
    w28e
    Drilling two outside holes #40 for counterbalance bar fitting
  • w28f
    w28f
    Left aileron nose section with counterbalance tube fully drilled