May 28
2010

Hours
Logged: 4.25

I started out today by finishing something from last week.

Top Stringer Forward Attach

This is the forward attachment for the top stringer, looking up and slightly forward.


While I had the torch out, I also added a few more parts to the skylight area. First up were some plates for the headset jacks.
Headset Jack Plate

This plate will hold the headset jacks for the front and rear set occupant on one side.


This plate goes on the spanwise mini-bulkhead that I’m creating at the aft side of the skylight. This is what it looks like with a couple of the jacks installed temporarily.
Headset Jack Plate Populated

The switch is required to specify stereo or mono headsets. I've never seen an intercom that required such a switch.


Both Plates

The holes started out as small pilot holes, as you can see in this left-right before and after picture.


Headset Jack Plate Installed

Here it is after welding in place


This location will put the headset plugs and cords up and out of the way, behind the front seat passengers and ahead of the back seat passengers.



Thanks for Visiting! • This Entry is from May 28, 2010 at 1:45 pm 


May 20
2010

Hours
Logged: 3.5

Today was a two-part day. In the first session, I used a dremel tool to remove the weld on the vertical portion of the door threshold at the forward end. This was to allow for repositioning that piece so that it would attach properly to the aluminum piece that goes there. This also involved cutting loose the piece that I added on earlier.

This is the forward lower corner of the front door. I've removed the weld and the paint in the area so that I can bend the whole vertical piece out some.


This is the same piece that I added earlier in the year. This time I trimmed it and moved it inboard some to allow for the aluminum panel.

I also addressed a small scratch that I made on one of the engine mount tubes. I sanded the area with fine sandpaper to remove the scratch, then sprayed a little bit of temporary primer to keep it from rusting.

Engine Mount Touch Up

In the second session I added on the front tubes for the skylight, cut the chordwise tubes loose, bent them to a slight curve, raised the front piece up, and cut out some new stringer tabs. This is all work that I wrote about a few entries back.



Thanks for Visiting! • This Entry is from May 20, 2010 at 8:45 pm 


May 15
2010

Hours
Logged: 5.5

Today Tabitha came out again to finish squeezing some more wingtip rivets. We also tested the glue on the foams to make sure that it wasn’t going to dissolve them. The glue checked out OK, so we glued one of the bottom cushion combinations. Tabitha marked it for cutting and spent some time thinking about how all of that needed to be done.

Tabitha is trying out a few different seat foam combinations and marking them to cut.


While she was doing all of that I worked on more nutplates in the boot cowl/fuselage area. Danny stopped by, and he and I installed the engine mount.



Thanks for Visiting! • This Entry is from May 15, 2010 at 7:15 pm 


May 10
2010

Hours
Logged: 1.5

Today was a short day, but I was able to spend some time on the nutplates that will hold on the “optional” aluminum panel under the door. I learned about a few complications.

This is a hole for the nutplate that will hold on the aluminum panel under the door.

First, the nutplates won’t work well on the top unless I bend out the steel piece at the bottom of the door. The surface of the panel and the surface of the nutplate’s support have to be parallel. As it is, the steel piece is bent inward to help keep it from chaffing the fabric.

The second problem is that I have way too many holes in that panel! I’m going to spread them out a little on the top, and the door sill plate will help hide the unused holes (and share the used holes).

Here's a test flush #8 screw.



Thanks for Visiting! • This Entry is from May 10, 2010 at 4:45 pm 


May 9
2010

Hours
Logged: 5.1

Tabitha came out today too and we made some good progress. I was at a stopping point with the tailwheel spring because I didn’t have a drill that would handle larger bits. It had a temporary bolt in place of the AN-7 that is supposed to go in there. With the new drill I was able to get the hole up to size and reinstall the tailwheel spring.

I got this new drill so that I could use larger bits. All of my others have a 3/8\


Meanwhile, Tabitha was dimpling and squeezing the rivets for the wingtip flush mount strip.

Tabitha was dimpling and squeezing.


I also spent some time getting ready to install the engine mount, now that I have the hardware.



Thanks for Visiting! • This Entry is from May 9, 2010 at 6:42 pm 


May 8
2010

Hours
Logged: 2

Today Tabitha came out to help. With the seat pans finished, it was time to start thinking about cutting the foam for them. But first, the flooring supplies came in, both the foam padding and the top layer.

Here's the final color of flooring. It's the Nautolex Decko Dot in the charcoal color.


This is the 1/4\


The plan for the seats is to use one inch of firm tempur foam on the bottom, followed by urethane foam on top of that. I was initially planning on 1 inch of firm urethane followed by 2 inches of medium, for a total of 4 inches.

Mr. T tries out the back seat foam, but he says it isn't thick enough yet.


It looks like the 4″ cushion is going to limit the headroom, at least for me. We’ll keep the 1″ layer separate and use it when needed.

Here's a test of the 4\


Welding Goggles for extra effect

Here's a headroom test. Even without sitting up straight, there isn't a headset worth of space between my head and the ceiling structure.


Tabitha tries out the flap handle, demonstrating the need for inertia reels for the front two people.



Thanks for Visiting! • This Entry is from May 8, 2010 at 6:15 pm