Jared came over helped me to rivet the bottom skins. We got the aft half of the outboard skins done.
Finished riveting the left inboard skin.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 5.0 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 275.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 427.0 |
Awesome helper! Remy bucked and I shot.
We got the both skins the wing walk doublers riveted to the spars and ribs.
Clecoed the J-channel stiffeners to the skins.
Riveted the stiffeners to the skins.
Tomorrow I’ll rivet the nut plates to the inboard rib and attach the outboard aileron bracket. That will complete the top skins section.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 86.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 297.0 |
Scuffed the top skins, wing walk doublers, and stiffeners and wiped everything down with acetone.
Mixed up a batch of P60G2 and shot everything with primer.
Clecoed the left skins and doublers to the left wing substructure.
Remy helped my rivet the skins to the ribs and spars. Prefers bucking and I prefer shooting so it all works out.
Finished riveting the spars and ribs and clecoed the J stiffeners in place. I’m really pleased with the result so far. The riveting went really smoothly. No dents!
| Today’s Time (hours): | 5.0 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 80.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 291.5 |
Lot’s of holes!
| Today’s Time (hours): | 1.0 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 74.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 285.0 |
Match drilled the J channel to the spar.
Machine countersunk the nutplate attach holes.
Riveted in the nutplates
Countersunk the screw holes.
Machine countersunk all the skin attach holes.
Riveted in the nutplates at the tip end of the spar.
Riveted the doubler to the spar and installed the tank attach nutplates.
Final drilled, deburred, scuffed and primed the aileron bell crank brackets
Installed and torqued the aileron bell crank brackets.
Right spar done!
| Today’s Time (hours): | 4.5 |
| Wing Time (hours): | 21.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 232.5 |
Filled the crag I cut in the right HS tip with micro.
Then filled the aft space of each with micro. Once hardened, I’ll be able to sand the curved profile into them to match the leading edges of the elevator tips.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 0.5 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 203.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 203.5 |
Got a long 1/4″ drill bit at home depot and finished getting the horizontal stabilizer attached.
Attached the vertical stabilizer and rudder.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 192.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 192.5 |
Riveted the gusset to the left root rib and riveted the inboard and outboard halves of the tip ribs together. Spent a bit of time with a square and hand seamers tweaking to ensure everything is straight.
Riveted the tip ribs to the spars. Riveted the hinge reinforcement plates and nut plates to the spars.
Clecoed and riveted the counterweight skins to the tip ribs.
Riveted the elevator horns to the spars.
Bruins vs. Blackhawks in the winter classic on tv… taking a break to watch a little hockey.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 2.5 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 106.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 106.0 |
Bought a 3/4″ MDF panel at Home Depot. Leveled it out on the bench and shimmed the dead spaces with sheets of paper to create a flat surface.
Prepped the skins, spar, and trailing edge with isopropyl. Mixed up a small batch of fuel tank sealant and put a thin layer on each side of the trim tab ribs and set them in place. I used the 3M VHB tape on both sides of the trailing edge. Used clecos to align it with the bottom skin and set it in place. Then I clecoed the top skin in place along the spar and trailing edge. I peeled the paper from the VHB tape between the top of the trailing edge and the top skin removing clecos as I went to avoid tearing the paper. I replace the clecos to clamp the whole sandwich together while the tape sets up.
The sealant is ridiculously sticky and smells like ass.
I riveted the top skin and hinge to the spar.
All done!
Weighted down the skin with a board and some 2×4’s to ensure contact between the skins and the ribs until the sealant sets up. The spec sheet says there is a 6 hour cure time for the B 1/2 sealant I used.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 1.5 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 101.5 |
| Total Time (hours): | 101.5 |
Started the day with a nice flight in Jared’s RV-14. We met up at KPUJ and flew down to KFFC where we met up with Wes and Skip who flew down from Cartersville in Wes’s RV-7. Lunch and a visit to Aircraft Spruce rounded out the afternoon. Then took the long way back to KPUJ. Awesome flight!
Got home and finished scuffing all the parts with some help from Sophie.
I Peeled the elevator and trim tab skins. Then I Deburred the edges and put a slight break in the trailing edge per the plans.
Finally, I scuffed the insides of the skins.
All ready to shoot primer and start dimpling tomorrow.
| Today’s Time (hours): | 3.0 |
| Empennage Time (hours): | 91.0 |
| Total Time (hours): | 91.0 |
Ron's RV-14A Build Log 