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Showplanes cowl – initial fit [48.0 hours]

By Adrian | November 1, 2019 - 3:16 pm |December 31, 2019 Showplanes Cowl

Very slow progress recently due to various issues, travel and otherwise. I’m also way behind with build log posts, so here’s the first catch-up one.

I started looking at the engine baffles, and fitted some of the rear ones. I can’t trim the baffles until I fit the cowling. I can’t fit the cowling without knowing where the spinner is located, and I can’t figure that out without mounting the propeller. So, out of the farm shed came the propeller crate, and I unpacked and fitted the Hartzell 3-blade composite propeller. Then I was able to bolt the spinner in place, and measure the distance from the flywheel to the spinner.

Just about every builder seems to make up a simulated spinner from a circular piece of wood, as described by VAN’s. I didn’t have any bolts on hand that would suit such a thing, and it seemed to me the real spinner hub was already a pretty good reference for setting up the cowl. So that’s what I did, and it worked out great. There is of course the issue of also having the real composite propeller blades in harm’s way during the cowl fitting process. This is just a workshop discipline issue as far as I’m concerned, and simply means being clean and methodical – so maybe it actually helps.

The Showplanes cowl itself is a work of art – a very high quality moulding and the fit to the fuselage is excellent. The instructions that come from Showplanes, though, are quite poorly written. For the initial cowl fitting the message is to simply follow the VAN’s instructions from the RV-10 build manual. That’s what I did, and if I was going to do it over, I would do the top cowl aft edge final fit differently, as I’ll note below.

Here then is the complete procedure I used to fit the cowl. With this procedure, I found that I only had to get the bottom cowl in position once, i.e. trimming of both the aft and side edges were done in-place, so by the time I removed the bottom cowl for the first time, it was fitted with all four side and rear hinges riveted in place.

Trim the front flange of the upper cowl, so that the two cowl halves fit together with a circular front surface that is a good fit with the spinner. I drilled six #30 holes at the positions recommended in the Showplanes instructions, so that I can easily fit the two halves together in the same position with cleco’s. Don’t drill out for nutplates yet.
Run a piece of 2″ masking tape across the top of the fuselage, with trim lines at 3″ and 4″ back from the edge of the fuselage where the top cowl aft edge will need to be trimmed. After marking these trim lines, I also ran a piece of 3/4″ masking tape around the top of the fuselage, about 1mm back from front edge. This was simply to protect the top skin when I did the final sanding of the top cowl aft edge “in place”.
Put the top cowl in position. I wadded up a towl around the top of the flywheel to get the top cowl in place. For the cowl to spinner gap, I used 3/16″. There’s a debate about spinner gaps on this VAF thread and by the time I was all done with both cowls the gap was more like 7/32″. Tape the cowl in place, and measure back from the 4″ trim line to establish the trim line on the aft edge of the top cowl.
Take off the top cowl, and cut off the excess, leaving around 2mm aft of the trim line to allow sanding back to the final fit.

Here’s why I would do it differently a second time around. I sanded the top cowl back to the trim line at this point, per the instructions. Then I drilled (from underneath) and cleco’d the aft points of the top cowl into place. The problem with this is, when I put the bottom cowl into place, and cleco’d the two cowl halves together at the front, I found that the position I had the top cowl wasn’t quite right. It only takes a tiny deviation at the front, to change the aft corners a lot. In the end, I decided the cowl had to be right, so I set it up in the correct position around the spinner (allowing for a bit of engine droop over time), adjusted the holes on the top aft edge by drilling (most) of them out to 3/16 (gold cleco’s, and I’m left with a gap of about 1.5 mm across the right rear corner of the top cowl where I’m going to have to do a layup to extend the cowl back to where it needs to be, because as it turns out I trimmed too much off it in the first place. So step 5 below is what I SHOULD have done:

Back when I made the brackets for the Skybolts, I would have drilled the center locating hole #40, instead of #30, just to give more options if I had to finesse locating holes. Now, before putting the top cowl back in place (still with 2mm of excess material on it), I would have made up a few “flaps” of cardboard that are taped to the top fuselage and can be flipped over to show the location of several of these #40 holes across the top cowl aft edge – so that enough holes can be drilled through from the top (I’d do #40, then #30) to secure the top cowl in position as it gets sanded back to fit against the fuselage. Now, with this all prepared, set the top cowl aside, still with ~2mm to sand/trim back on the aft edge. This sanding to size will only be done with the bottom cowl in place – because that’s the way we can guarantee that the top cowl is in the correct position.
Prepare the bottom cowl. I used a laser to establish a center line, by trial and error of the cowl position on a workbench while checking the horizontal measurements at (a) the front, and (b) the rear of the cowl. This center line turned out to be almost exactly in the center of the slot in the lower part of the cowl, but I didn’t want to rely on that – too used to VAN’s mouldings I guess. Removing the lower cowl with a 3 blade propeller can be a problem – I chose one of the common solutions which is to cut the slot for the nose gear leg fairly deep, and I’ll need to install a cover over it as part of the installation procedure. Before cutting the slot, I match drilled four #40 holes into a piece of scrap 0.032″ Alclad, that can be used to retain the aft edge in place after the slot has been cut. Without this retainer plate, after the slot is cut, any attempt to pull up the aft edges of the lower cowl will distort the cowl by pulling the two halves apart around the slot. Now cut the slot. I used a 2″ hole saw, and located the center of the hole 2″ down from the forward most part of the solid surface on this part of the cowl – see the pictures. This places the top part of the hole 1″ from the edge where the honeycomb filler starts. I then used a jigsaw to cut out both sides of the resulting 2″ slot. This created a long slot, wide enough to get around the gear leg without the gear leg fairing – I’ll widen the slot later to fit the fairing. That gives me a bit of wiggle room if the slot is not quite in the center, since this can be checked against the un-faired gear leg once the lower cowl is in position. Tape up the front gear leg with some masking tape, to protect against scratches, and sand any rough edges off each side of the slot.
The untrimmed lower cowl, even with this long slot, is still difficult to get into position with the 3 blade propeller. I used an engine lift to lift the engine up until the nosewheel was off the floor by about an inch, this gives just enough room to get the untrimmed lower cowl into place. By the time I took the lower cowl off again, it is trimmed and all hinges are fitted, and I was able to get it out without the engine lift. This is how I want it – no special tools required to get the cowl off for maintenance. To get the cowl on this first time though, it’s a bit of a trick and definitely takes two people. I positioned the propeller blades as shown in the pictures – the blades are not quite at the 4 and 8 o’clock position – measure from the blades (at around the places where the cowl sides will have to pass) to the floor and get them about even. This was perhaps 5 degrees after the 4 / 8 o’clock position, in terms of normal engine rotation, because of the blade twist. Protect the propeller blades with some tape.
Now, with one person each side, slide the lower cowl up between the blades. It’s a tight fit, but by going a bit sideways and bending the aft corners of the cowl as they pass the blades, you can do it. Another option would be to temporarily remove the bolt holding the gear leg up, but I didn’t need to do this. Once the cowl had cleared the propeller blades, I slid a short table with some padding under the cowl just so it can’t slide back down into the propeller blades.
Crawl underneath, and cleco the retaining plate into place on the bottom aft center of the cowl, behind the gear leg, to hold the two halves together at the constant slot gap of 2″.
See the pictures. I drilled two small holes at the top rear of the lower cowl excess, put a loop of 0.04″ safety wire through each as shown, and then used a light 1″ tie down strap run across the top of the fuselage to hold the lower cowl in place. Don’t tighten it down yet, and when you do, don’t tighten it down much at all – it’s just to hold the aft of the lower cowl in place. You could also use rope, if you’re good at knots.
Lower the engine lift, so the nose wheel is back on the ground, and remote it, we don’t need it any more.
Place the top cowl back on, and insert the six #30 cleco’s that hold the front of the two cowl halves together near the spinner. I had placed a folded up towel around the top of the flywheel so the front cowl assembly sits in around about the correct place.
Make up a pair of metal brackets as shown in the pictures, I made mine in an “L” shape out of scrap Alclad, drilled a #40 hole in the end that will retain the bottom cowl, and carefully drilled two holes (By memory they were 75mm apart) to match the existing holes in the spinner backplate. See the pictures. Screw these brackets, one on the left and one on the right, as shown in the pictures. The bracket part that touches the lower cowl will bend against the lower cowl, but do not drill the #40 holes into the lower cowl yet.
Now, get the front of the cowl in the correct position with respect to the spinner – with the spinner gap you want, even all the way around, centered left/right, and with top/bottom alignment according to what your selected guess is for the amount the engine will drop over time. Most people seem to use about 1/8″ for this guess. Spend plenty of time with this. Also check the alignment of the entire cowl. I didn’t use plumb bobs like the VAN’s instructions, I previously used a self leveling laser to check the left/right alignment of the door sills at the same point on each (rolling one main wheel up onto a piece of 1/8″ thick wood got this alignment right), and then set up the same laser to check the left/right alignment of the cowl intake holes. After making a dozen or so adjustments, most of which simply undid prior adjustments, I tightened up the bottom cowl rear strap (just enough to retain it in place), and carefully drilled #40 through the two spinner brackets and installed cleco’s. This secured the lower cowl into place, and the front of the upper cowl as well.
Never bump the prop from this point on – you want to keep the alignment set up by the two cleco’s into the lower cowl.
Now, using the flip-over cards previously taped to the top of the fuselage, drill #40 through the top center hole of the top cowl, and a hole about 12″ each side of the top. These three cleco’s set the position of the top cowl, although at this point the rear edge of the top cowl is not yet trimmed. Drill these holes out to #30 since the alignment may have been out slightly from the flip cards.
Remove the three cleco’s. Check the top cowl aft edge and convince yourself that the trim line is still correct. Fix it up if it is not. Now, remove the top cowl by removing the six front #30 cleco’s, put it on a bench, and begin sanding down to the trim line across the center section of the cowl.
Place the top cowl back in position, cleco the front, check the aft edge, remove the cowl and continue sanding down to the trim line. I probably did this about 8 times to get the top cowl trimmed. The best tool to use for this is a long perma-grit sanding block. I always hand sand edges that I want to be accurate. Leave the machine sanders in the cupboard. Work from the center of the top cowl, out to each side. As you do so, you might want to drill more cleco holes, if you had done more flip cards. You can’t really trim the side corners of the top cowl unless it is properly secured in place across the top. I don’t know how you do this if you use the Skybolt mounting plates that already have the large hole drilled in it. Tape the cowl in place I guess. I’m glad I made my own brackets.
Once you’re happy with the aft edge of the top cowl, you could release the lower cowl, including the two #40 cleco’s at the front, let it slip down out of the way, and then using a long flexible 90 degree drill extension and the top cowl held in place with the holes already drilled, get your arm up under the aft end of the top cowl and drill/cleco the remaining top cowl aft edge holes from the inside out. This only works if you make your own brackets with #40 (or #30) holes. The top cowl aft edge is now done, and since it was done with the lower cowl in place, it will be right – unlike mine that I need to fill a bit.
Remove the top cowl and set it aside. Move the bottom cowl back up into position, cleco’d to the spinner brackets at the front and held with the strap over the top at the rear. I used a couple of high lift jacks on each lower aft edge to take up any gap at these points.

Enough talk for now, here are a first set of pictures:

Time to get the propeller out!
Propeller on, ready for cowl fitting
After trimming cowl to suit 15" spinner
Top cowl after initial trim of aft edge
Material removed from aft edge of top cowl
Top cowl after sanding aft edge to match fuse
Match drilling (from underneath) eventual SkyBolt positions
Establishing centre line of bottom cowl
Bottom cowl initial cutout, will need a cover
Holding plate used to retain shape during fitting. Marks are from gear leg position.
Bottom cowl in place. Note propeller position.
Bracket to retain front of bottom cowl - right side
Bracket to retain front of bottom cowl - left side
Setting up to mark trim line on bottom cowl AND top cowl over-trim error

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Continuing now with the bottom cowl:

Mark the aft edge trim lines, per the plans, using lines previously measured back 4″ on the fuselage.
Remove the bottom cowl, and trim to within under 1/8″ of these lines. Using a long straight (course) permagrit sanding block, sand down close to the trim lines on each side.
Fit the bottom cowl, check for alignment, and continue sanding until the cowl fits properly. I did the final sanding to fit “in place”, by just allowing the cowl to drop down a bit, and spread out on the side I was working on. I stopped at the point where the fit was good, I’ll worry about paint gaps closer to painting time.
With the bottom cowl supported in place, and each pre-drilled aft edge hinge pin fitted, match drill the aft edge hinge pins from the inside out using a right angle drill extension. There may be a few that are hard to get to, skip these and do them once the cowl is removed.
Drop the bottom cowl out, match drill any holes that had to be missed, clean out all debris, and refit the cowl putting a #40 cleco in every hole. Using a countersink cage and a 3 flute countersink with #40 pilot, countersink each hole in turn for an ad3 rivet head.
Clean out any final debris, and rivet the hinge on each side. I used a pneumatic squeezer, and actually did this in place with the cowl dropped down and stretched out a bit.
Refit the cowl with the hinge pins on each side, and the two cleco’s on the front (to the temporary spinner brackets).

Now it’s time to do the side hinges:

Refit the top cowl, allowing the sides to overlap on the outside of the bottom cowl. Now mark a trim line on each side, using a long straight edge. I used a 40″ steel ruler, and a laser which I set up so that the trim line was in the same pitch as the door sill on each side – this is the horizontal pitch when the aircraft is in cruise. This is not horizontal on the ground.
Remove the top cowl, cut and sand down to this trim line on each side, using a long straight sanding block. Refit the top cowl.
Mark a trim line on each side of the bottom cowl, using the top cowl as a guide. Cut and sand down close to this line, but not to it. At this time I also marked in the position of the Aerosport cowl hinge pin covers, and left material forward of this hole on the lower cowl as shown in the pictures.
Fit the top cowl, and keep sanding the bottom cowl sides until they fit properly, with a small gap. At some point during this process I also cut out the holes for the Aerosport cowl hinge pin covers, and trimmed the front section each side of the lower cowl so that it was a good fit with the upper cowl, which wraps around the bottom cowl at each front corner.
Prepare the hinges for each side, and drill #42 all rivet holes in the lower hinge halves. I used a drill press set at 4,000 rpm for this step, to allow drilling accurately and without distorting the hinge half. I elected to use AN257-P4 hinge halves on the upper cowl, so that the hinge eyelets on the lower cowl were below the edge of the cowl. This gives a little bit of extra room when sliding the lower cowl out under the three blade propeller. Clamp the AN257-P3 hinge halves onto the lower cowl (with the upper cowl removed), using a spacer block to set the desired depth all the way along the hinge (I used a scrap of 0.063″ Alclad). Using a right angle drill extension, drill #40 from the inside of the hinge through the lower cowl on each side. Clean out debris, reattach the hinges, and countersink the outside of the cowl for -ad3 rivets. Rivet each bottom cowl side hinge in place. Again I used a pneumatic squeezer.
Set the top hinge half in place on one side, and determine the exact height above the split line where the rivet holes will go. Select a position around the midpoint, and using a foam block wedged/taped between the hinge and a cylinder head (without pushing the side of the cowl “out”), sit the upper cowl in place. Mark where this first hole will be in the upper cowl half, using the previous measurements.
Using an air drill (=> high speed), with a #42 bit, drill this hole through the cowl and hinge. Apply very little pressure, take your time and let the drill bit do the work. I used a 0.025″ metal spacer between the cowl halves for this first hole, which allows for a slightly wider gap after a bit of “spring back” occurs. Pop the cowl up, clean away any debris and de-burr this hole in the hinge, reassemble and put a cleco through the cowl and hinge for this first hole.
Mark hole positions along the length of the top cowl, using a piece of masking tape (see pictures). Working forward and aft of this hole, drill through the cowl and hinge #42 and cleco each hole. I stopped using the 0.025″ metal spacer at this point, and simply eye-balled the gap because I didn’t have three hands. Once all holes are drilled, remove the top cowl, clean up the debris and cleco the top hinge half in place. Ream #40 all holes, clean up, and refit the top cowl, hinge and all clecos. Now, remove one cleco at a time, countersink, and reinstall the cleco. Once all holes are countersink, remove the top cowl, clean up, deburr the hinge holes, and rivet the hinge in place.
Refit the top cowl, slide the hinge pin in for the side just completed, and repeat steps 33-35 for the other side.

That’s it for the initial cowl fit. Next step is to fit the two support fairings supplied by Showplanes that fit around the front gear leg, that support the center section of the lower cowl.

Bottom cowl trim line
Trimming bottom cowl
Sanding bottom cowl aft sides to match fuse
Establishing side trim line
Trimming top cowl sides
Trimming top cowl sides
Riveting hinge to aft edge of bottom cowl
Trimming and sanding sides of bottom cowl
The best tool for sanding long straight edges
Side edges trim/sand complete
Front corners of bottom cowl
Fitting hinge to side edge of bottom cowl
Fitting hinge to side edge of bottom cowl
Match drilling first hole, bottom cowl side hinge
Drilling bottom cowl side hinge
Finished drilling bottom cowl side hinge
After drilling first hole #42 through top cowl side hinge
Riveting right side hinge to top cowl
Right hand side cowl hinge complete
Drilling top cowl left side hinge
Cowl sides complete
Propeller on, ready for cowl fitting

Tunnel heater hose [6.5 hours]

By Adrian | September 21, 2019 - 10:47 am |September 25, 2019 3d printed parts

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Some time ago I added some brackets to the front of the tunnel, so I could secure the rear heater hose. With Control Approach rudder pedals, the hose needs to be secured in the center of the tunnel, clear of the control arms off to each side of the tunnel. I was going to use a 2″ Adel clamp around the scat tube, based on what another RV-10 builder had done.

After assembling this, I didn’t like it because:

It was difficult to install the Adel clamp, while lying on my stomach with the seats removed and reaching in under the panel. The rear heater hose has to be sort-of scrunched against the short front heater hose in order to get it positioned in the middle of the tunnel.
The large Adel clamp, held by a single bolt, was not very secure and could have a tendency to rotate over time
If anything came undone over time, the compacted rear heater hose would push loose items towards the rear, straight into the rudder pedal arms.
I still had to come up with a solution to replace the standard F-1051J Scat tube support, since this support interferes with the internally run rudder cables when the Control Approach rudder pedals are used.

After a few minutes pondering these problems, the solution hit me – design and 3D print a pair of Nylon brackets to retain the scat tube. The brackets then simply slide onto the scat tube from the rear. For the front bracket, I bolted the Nylon piece to the Aluminium angle retainer on the bench, slid it onto the scat tube, lifted the rudder pedal arms, positioned the bracket assembly and screwed it into position. I also drilled a pair of small holes into the Aluminium angle in order to add a safety wire each side, that way if the brackets ever came loose for any reason, the assembly could not fall aft and interfere with the rudder pedal arms.

For the aft bracket, I had already a long time ago drilled and dimpled the holes on the right hand side of the tunnel for the standard F-1051J scat tube bracket. The lower of these two holes is close to the right hand rudder cable. It would have been better to raise this hole by about 1/2″, but that is ancient history. I resolved this by using a low profile (AN364) lock nut and embedding the nut into a hexagonal cutout in the bracket, as shown in the pictures. I used a pair of 0.063″ shims on each side, with the holes countersunk, to complete the assembly.

It all worked great, both brackets can be easily removed and reinstalled, so any future maintenance that requires removing the rear heater hose for better tunnel access will be easy.

PostScript:

A couple of other RV-10 builders have asked me for the models, and one questioned why I elected to use the metal shims on the aft bracket. I used the shims simply because I didn’t think my consumer grade 3D printer could do a good enough job of the countersinks, when printing them in Nylon, vertically. In any case, I added an option to the model to have no shims, which widens the aft bracket to compensate for the missing shims, and adds countersinks to the sides to allow for the #8 dimples in the tunnel walls. I’ve added pictures of this version. The three STL files can be downloaded using the following link:

Download

Front scat tube bracket
Aft scat tube bracket, replaces F-1051J
Front Scat tube bracket assembly
Aft scat tube bracket, replaces F-1051J
Aft bracket "no shim" version, with included countersinks
Aft bracket "no shim" version, with included countersinks
Side slopes to match tunnel

RV-14 ADAHRS Bracket [3.0 hours]

By Adrian | September 10, 2019 - 5:53 pm |September 10, 2019 Wings

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I originally mounted a bracket in the empennage for the Garmin magnetometer. Years ago. Then I switched to Dynon avionics, so I was going to have to make a new bracket for the Dynon ADAHRS, and wasn’t looking forward to crawling into the tailcone to install it.

Then I came across the Van’s RV-14 ADAHRS bracket, which looks like a clever design. It goes in the left wing, inside the inner access cover. The RV-14 wings are the same as the RV-10 wings, just shorter. I looked at the drawings and the dihedral appears to be the same, so I ordered the following parts from Van’s:

W-00012A
W-00012B
W-00012C
W-00012D
W-00012E

With these in hand, I prepared an installation for the left RV-10 wing using the following procedure:

Prepare the parts using the RV-14 instructions on page 20-03 of the RV-14 wing manual.
When fluting the W-00012C parts, do not simply hand hold the part and hit it with the fluting pliers. Mark the distance in common with the W-00012B parts, and securely clamp the W-00012C between a block of wood and the workbench so that this area remains flat. Then, use the fluting pliers only on the exposed part – see the picture.
Cleco the parts together. Position on the LH inner bottom wing skin, and verify you have the correct orientation.
Draw a line between the center of the two wing rib holes, these are the fourth holes down from the J strut. Reposition the bracket to be aligned with the center of the access cover, and match drill/cleco the end two holes in the Z bracket through the bottom skin. I used a #42 drill bit, and once all holes were drilled, match drilled with a #40 reamer.
Remove the W-00012A bracket, drill the remaining holes from the Z bracket through the bottom skin.
Remove the Z bracket, de-burr the holes just drilled in the Z bracket and the skin. Dimple the holes for flush rivets, and reassemble all parts.
Keeping the bracket aligned so it is not “twisted”, match drill #40 from the W-00012A bracket into the J strut, cleco’ing as you drill each hole. Enlarge all holes to #30. Disassemble and de-burr.

That’s it. I’m not going to assemble the bracket until I prime the parts, but with the pieces cleco’d together I checked the position and clearances. You can see from the photos that there is plenty of room for the cables and air connections. The OAT sensors can be mounted in the bottom wing skin, near the access cover – see the RV-14 instructions for a typical hole position (I haven’t drilled these yet).

The RV-14 instructions call for countersinking the W-00012C retaining strips for AN426AD4 rivets. The strips are too thin for this, the countersink would need to continue on into the W-00012B parts. I see no purpose for using countersink rivets here, so I’m going to use regular AN470 rivets instead, obviating the need for countersinking the parts.

I have to mount the OAT sensors, make up a wiring harness with tie downs and re-route the air lines. I’ll do these jobs once I’m ready to close out the wings.

RV-14 ADAHRS bracket parts and instructions
Fluting the retainer strips
RV-14 ADAHRS bracket parts prepared/deburred
Drilling the bottom wing skin
Deburring holes added to the bottom wing skin
Dimpled new skin, Z bracket holes
Match drilled holes into J strut
Checking Dynon ADAHRS fit
Bracket in place, old air line routing will have to change.
Bracket cleco'd inside bottom wing skin, all fits OK
Looking up through access cover. Plenty of clearance all around.

Engine on, sortof [9.5 hours]

By Adrian | September 9, 2019 - 5:12 pm |September 10, 2019 Engine and FWF

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I’ve hung the engine, which took all of 20 minutes once I worked out how best to do it. It’ll have to come off again, so I’m leaving the engine lift set up. It has to come off again for several reasons:

The biggest reason – I have to do something with the sump oil line associated with the Barrett cold air induction scheme. There’s a VAF thread about it – here. This whole topic deserves a complete post, which I’ll do once I decide how to deal with it. Suffice to say, it is a nasty issue but until I have a strategy for this I can’t oil the engine.
With a B&C 90 degree oil filter adapter, the B&C 462-3H vacuum pad mounted alternator requires a 1.25 inch extension, which I mounted after changing to the correct studs. However, the clearance between the field wire connector and the firewall is not adequate. I’m going to modify the connector and bring the wire out the side so that there is adequate clearance. To do this I have to remove the engine.

While the engine is on, I’ve taken the opportunity to get out all the boxes containing everything that gets added to the engine, and verify that it all fits and I have the correct hardware. I found a few things:

The studs that Barrett installed for the PCU-5000X Governor are too short. They are probably the 3C-17 studs that are in the Lycoming parts list. They should be the 3C-19 studs, so I have to order four of these, remove the old studs, and install the longer ones before I can install the propeller governor.
The exhaust pipe for the #3 cylinder looks like it will impinge on the induction pipe for that same cylinder. If so, I’ll have to get that pipe modified.
I don’t have the engine mounting parts for the A/C compressor. I knew about this.
The A/C compressor will get in the way of the left air intake, requiring modification to the intake. I knew about this also.

One job I was able to complete with the engine on – I put a 1″ tie down strap between the front fork and the engine, cranked it down, and was able to easily compress the elastomers enough to get the retaining bolt in – without the engine on to establish the right leverage points, this is just about impossible.

I also made a doubler and drilled the fuselage to install the front ADSB antenna under the passenger seat.

ADSB antenna and doubler added under the front passenger seat
Engine on!
Compressing the elastomers to get the bolt in

Transition training [9.2 hours]

By Adrian | August 9, 2019 - 1:43 pm |September 10, 2019 Training

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I’m an unusual builder – I’m almost 3,000 hours into an RV-10 slow build, and I’ve never even sat in an RV of any kind, let alone flown one! I spent most of July on holidays in North America, including three days at Osh Kosh, and after the main trip was over I traveled to Vernonia, Oregon, where I flew the Factory RV-10 with Mike Seager.

Mike is a great instructor, and has been doing Van’s RV transition training for a long time. Despite some marginal weather at times, we managed to fit in five flights across the three days of August 7, 8 and 9, for a total of 9.2 hours RV-10 time in my log book. We visited 5 different airports during this time, plus the grass strip at Vernonia where Mike has his hanger.

It took me a few hours to catch up with the RV-10, I was hopelessly behind the thing on the first flight. It accelerates and climbs so quickly compared to the Cessna’s I’m used to flying, and the circuit procedures have a different slant as well. During an evening trip to Astoria airport, I finally “got it”, and in perfect conditions with the airport basically to ourselves, I did about ten “stop and go’s” in the fading light.

I’m a bit early doing this training, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to fly a few hours in the USA with such an experienced instructor. The Factory RV-10 costs U$75 per hour, wet (I think it has now gone up to U$80), which is ridiculously cheap especially by Australian standards. Mike explained to me that it is Van’s policy to actively encourage people to fly the aircraft, firstly in order to promote the sale of kits, and secondly to encourage builders to undertake adequate transition training.

I’ll probably do the same thing again in the Northern summer of 2020, when I hope to be close to first flight.

Technical Counselor visit #3 [3.0 hours]

By Adrian | June 25, 2019 - 9:00 pm |September 10, 2019 TC Visits

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I had my third technical counselor visit on 25 June 2019. Since there are no counselors currently residing in Tasmania, I’m very fortunate that my TC, Brian, is prepared to fly down from interstate for the day. We had a good session on the Fuselage progress in the morning, went to lunch, and visited a friend’s RV-9A project in the afternoon.

Cabin top/doors – finally DONE! [320.0 hours]

By Adrian | June 24, 2019 - 10:43 pm |September 10, 2019 Cabin Top

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I’ve been on a mission since April to get the fiberglass work on the Cabin Top and Doors behind me rather than in front of me. It’s been a bit of a marathon, the cabin top molding is not famous for its accuracy and everything has to be hand crafted to fit. Here’s the finished product:

I had planned to roll the thing in and out of the workshop to help with this work, but the weather’s been too cold to safely work with the plexi or cure fiberglass, so it’s all been done inside. I’ve had a pair of heaters going in the workshop 24/7 for the past month, and was finally able to turn them off last night. The shop vacuum copped a beating during this time, and I had to regularly clean out the filter.

Here’s all the steps I went through to get this job done. Skip to the end for the pictures.

1. Fit the rear windows

I used Lord Adhesive (available from Aerosport Products) for all windows. The forward surface of the rear windows needs to line up with the aft surface of the doors, which means spacing the windows up from the fuselage molding. I then built up the rear door pillar with a few layers of fiberglass cloth and flox until it matched. There is a flat spot on the left hand door pillar of all RV-10 cabin top moldings, this was the worst place and had to be built up about 5mm – too much for just micro/filler.

I used West Systems G/Flex with some microballoons to fill in any voids not filled with the Lord Adhesive, and trimmed any excess Lord Adhesive with a scalpel. I then taped and scuffed the window (and fuse), and applied 3 layers of fiberglass cloth on the outside. After sanding any high spots, and scuffing, I used regular West Systems epoxy with microballoons and Cabosil to fill and blend the outside surfaces into the cabin top.

2. Paint the inside door sills and cabin top pillars

The lower cabin top pillars had to be blended in, and painted, along with the door sills, to match the rest of the interior. This painting is best done before the front window is installed. Unfortunately, the inside of the cabin top and overhead is already finished, so I had to mask it all off with cardboard and tape. I didn’t want to have a yellow polyurethane primer leak splattered across the ceiling. This all took a fair bit of time, and I wound up spraying each side in sequence rather than together, because I didn’t trust myself leaning across wet paint to get to the other side.

The job took time but went OK, and you can’t tell where the paint transitioned into the existing painted part of the pillars.

3. Install the windscreen

Once again I used Lord Adhesive. It helps to have a second person helping, cleaning up any excess adhesive squeezed out on the inside using Q-tips and white spirit. I used a combination of clecos and weights to hold the plexi in position while the adhesive cured.

3.1 Extend/fill lower edge and prepare for fairing

I scuffed the upper forward fuselage area, acid etched it, and wiped some Alodine over it to prevent the oxide re-forming. I then filled the lower edge of the windscreen using Micro-balloons, with black dye to prevent it being seen from the inside. After the micro cured, I sanded it to align with the outer surface of the windscreen, taped off and scuffed the windscreen. All I used to figure the tape position was a cardboard cutout section with a 7 inch radius.

3.2 Construct the windscreen fairing

Once again using black dye. Preparation is the key to this layup, I cut all of the glass cloth strips, and allowed several hours to do this in one operation. It worked out quite well and a day later I sanded it into the correct shape, using a wooden block cut with a 7″ radius (using the band saw). I used a stick-on flexible perma-grit strip for this operation, which surprised me by staying in place. Gotta be very careful though, not to encroach onto the tape because the coarse perma-grit is a weapon.

After this I switched to 80 grit sandpaper, and finally 120 grit to carefully sand down to the top layer of tape. I used micro to fill low spots. It took a few iterations to get the entire fairing correct, and blend it into the fuselage at each side.

3.3 Glass in windscreen over the top

Fiberglass cloth across the top and down each side, once again fairing it with micro, matching it with the front edge of the door. To do this, I used packing tape on the door as a release agent, slathered micro through a section of the pillar, and closed the door onto it. The following day, a hard yank on the door would release it, and I can sand down any excess.

4 Door edges and cabin top alignment

Whenever I use packing tape as a release agent, I apply it over a layer of masking tape. It is easier to get off, and then any goo left behind simply comes off with the masking tape.

I worked sections of the doors at a time, applying micro to the pillar edges or anywhere that required building up, closing the door with packing tape in place, letting it cure, and then opening the door to release it. This is a good reason to leave the door windows out and fit them last – you’ve got the entire window opening to use rather than the door handle, and in some cases it requires quite a yank to release the door.

4.1 Door gaps, fairing across the top of the door

At this point, the doors closed properly but with basically no gap. Starting at the very top, I used a small piece of 120 grit sandpaper, and worked it from side to side through the gap, closing the door until it jammed, then lifting the door a fraction so I could keep sanding. I mostly sanded the cabin top – since it was micro and easy to sand, but also since the doors already had a nicely formed flat angle which I didn’t want to distort.

Once I could move the sandpaper side to side with the door closed and locked, I moved onto the front and back curves and did the same thing, working my way down each side in turn. Finally I sanded across the bottom and around the bottom corners, getting to the point where I could insert the 120 grit paper, and with a bit of friction still there, slide it all the way around the door.

I measured the 120 grit paper at about 0.01″ thickness. The gap will need to be wider prior to painting, but at this point I left it as is – as long as there is a gap the door is hanging freely, attached by the hinges and the door pins only. Setting up this gap allows the door to drop slightly, maybe a fraction of a mm. This required a bit more fairing work around the top of the doors, to match the door level with the cabin top.

4.2 Bottom of the doors

The bottom of the doors was a close match to the outside of the fuselage, aligned within perhaps 0.5mm across the entire length, but it is a simple matter to match it precisely. Once again, using packing tape as a release agent, I built up the door where required, and the surrounding fuselage area(s) where required, with a thin layer of micro, and then sanded it back to get an exact matchup. This introduces lots of pin-holes which of course have to be filled later.

4.3 Check the seal gap

Since the doors adjusted position a “bit” with the initial gap set, it’s important to go back and ensure that the “seal” gap for the McMaster seal is still correct – between 1/4″ and 5/16″ in my case. I made a few adjustments across the top on each side.

5 Fit the door windows

With the doors an exact match and a 0.01″ gap all the way around the doors, it was finally time to fit the door windows. These are the easiest windows to fit, you can take the doors off and use gravity to your advantage.

6 Optional – prime and fill pin-holes

I elected to spray on some primer and surfacer to seal everything up and fill almost all of the pin holes. I only sprayed two layers of surfacer, sanding most of it off each time. There are still some low spots, it’ll need more work prior to painting, but it’s good enough for now.

All of these operations took two months to complete, and it was with some relief that I took all the masking and protective film off, and wound up with a good result.

Fixing in rear window with Lord Adhesive
Window spaced up to align with door
Fiberglass cloth overlaid across window
Micro-balloons fairing filler
Priming the door sill
Topcoat on door sill
Topcoat on door sill
Front window ready for installation
Lord Adhesive applied to rear/top edge
Inside view of front window installation
Metal scuffed, etched and Alodined
Ready for window edge filler
Micro-balloons (with black dye) applied
Window edge filler sanded, window scuffed
Windscreen fairing - some assembly required
Completed windscreen fairing layup
Fairing sanded to shape
Applied micro (with black dye)
Sides/Top glassed in, more filling/shaping
Fairing transition to match the door
Filling low spots
Sanding the door gap
Fairing door/fuse alignment
Fairing door/fuse alignment, some low spots left
Left side door/fuse alignment fairing
Fitting door windows
Fitting door windows
Glass cloth for door windows
Door windows glassed in
Preparing to spray primer and surfacer
Preparing to spray primer and surfacer
Light coat of polyurethane primer
First coat of surfacer
Filling pin holes
Tearing down after spraying
Removing window tape, protection
Cabin top and doors - finished!
Cabin top and doors - finished!
Door gap
Front view

Up on the gear [10.5 hours]

By Adrian | April 14, 2019 - 7:31 pm |April 14, 2019 Gear legs

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I agonized over how best to raise the airframe to install the gear legs. I gathered some family muscle to lift it up onto a workbench, but aborted the attempt after it became clear we couldn’t do the lift with enough control.

I borrowed a 500kg lift table, removed the handle, and made up a frame that provided support under both the main and rear spar. I wanted a backup in case there were any problems with the lift table, so I crudely extended the forks on the tractor, added a bit of padding, and held these an inch below the airframe, as shown. As it turns out, the table did fine and the tractor was not required.

I fitted the left main gear leg and wheel, then had to cut the old dolly apart (committed at this point!) to get it out of the way and fit the right main gear leg and wheel. After fitting the nose gear, I let the table down and the fuselage settled in a nose high position (because of the missing engine weight). It looks awkward like this, but it’s still quite a milestone to get it up onto the gear.

Raised by lift table, getting backup tractor forks in position
Raised by lift table, tractor forks for safety
Raised by lift table, tractor forks for safety
Cutting away the old dolly
Left main gear on, ready to do the right
Left main gear on
Both mains and nose gear on
Back down, on the gear, nose high with no engine weight

Avionics goes live [5.0 hours]

By Adrian | April 9, 2019 - 7:45 pm |April 9, 2019 Avionics

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My current plan is to get the airframe up on the gear so I can roll it in and out of the workshop to do the remaining fiberglass work outside. I decided to do a trial fit of the Avionics before doing this, just to make sure everything fitted properly after riveting together all of the sub-panel brackets.

The trial installation took about 3 hours, and no adjustments were required. I only did the minimal amount of wiring to get power to the panel, installing a single master switch controlling the primary (left) system master solenoid. Power came from a car battery on the floor next to the baggage door. I left out the Transponder/ADSB system, the Avidyne IFD didn’t have a GPS antenna, and of course with no engine there were no EMS sensors. I taped a COM Antenna, and the Dynon GPS puck, onto a chair outside the workshop. I ran the ADAHRS cable through one of the conduits and connected the primary ADAHRS only, sitting on a shelf in the rear. Didn’t worry about the harness cables much, just crammed them in – a real installation will take a lot longer when it happens.

It all worked at first turn-on, apart from warnings associated with the pieces that were left out / not connected. Nothing calibrated but I was able to use the COMM’s, enter flight plans, wobble the ADAHRS and see the screens update correctly etc. It was a useful exercise and helped firm up how I was going to route some of the wiring.

Now I get to take it all out again (which won’t take long) and get back to the plan – up on the gear and a month or so back in fiberglass hell.

Firewall insulation [7.5 hours]

By Adrian | April 3, 2019 - 7:22 pm |April 4, 2019 Firewall

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Now that the upper forward fuselage assembly is riveted on, I can go ahead with the firewall insulation, using the Titanium foil and 1/8″ Fiberfrax I had previously prepared.

In order to prevent the Titanium from puckering, I used 1/8″ stainless steel spacers (available from McMaster Carr) for all #8, #10, 1/4″ and 5/16″ holes, and stainless steel washers for larger sizes. I used RTV to hold the spacers “in place”, a few swizzles of Fire Barrier 2000+ to hold the Fiberfrax in place, and then put on the Titanium. I used machine screws to retain the Titanium in place, these will later be replaced by whatever their respective position calls for. There’s a few pulled rivets across the bottom, and for most of the pass-thru’s I had left one rivet position open so that retaining rivets can be used here as well. The rivets I used are stainless steel, and have a closed end cap, so they should seal up quite well.

I installed the A/C pass-throughs and steel AN fittings for the duplex fuel system, and riveted on the oil cooler mount. I previously made up a Titanium insert for the center recess. I subtracted 1/8″ all around from the recess dimensions, and made the insert accordingly. The thing’s a work of art, but it turns out I should have allowed more wiggle room so I’m going to toss it and make up another one.

I went on a bit of a campaign mounting various items on the firewall, to get them off the shelf and out of the way. Finally, the engine mount went on and that’s another large item no longer on the floor.

I moved the paint booth out and tossed it in the farm shed. I don’t really have much use for it in the coming months, and moving it out clears up a lot of room in the workshop. At the very least it needs re-lining, it’s more like a dark room these days. It might get torn down, I think its usefulness is over after four years of dedicated service – an entire slow-build RV-10 got primed in that little paint booth!