Started Cowl Baffle (Section 47)

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Picked, Inspected, and deburred all of the cowl parts.

 

Trimmed and deburred the cylinder baffle doublers and riveted to the cylinder baffles.

 

Installed nut plates and oil cooler flange and assembled aft baffles. Added strips of RTV to the mating surfaces.

 

Trimmed the air cleaner frame, added nut plates and fit to the inlet ramp. Assembled the left inlet ramp.

 

Attached the SCAT tube flange and screen for the heater air inlet to the right inlet ramp. Assembled the right inlet ramp. Added RTV strips to the mating surfaces of the inlet ramps.

 

 

Today’s Time (hours): 8.0
Finish kit (hours): 285.0
Total Time (hours): 1019.0

Started the Seat Backs (Section 39)

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Picked and inspected all the parts. Peeled off all the blue vinyl and labels.

 

Cut the corners off the seat back angles.

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Separated the parts that needed parting. Deburred everything.

 

Fabricated the seat back and seat brace hinges. Match drilled the hinges to their corresponding parts. Machine countersunk the brace stiffeners and braces. Riveted the brace assemblies together.

 

Riveted together the seat backs.

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I’ll scuff and paint these along with the canopy.

 

Today’s Time (hours): 4.0
Finish Kit (hours): 51.0
Total Time (hours): 781.0

 

 

Finished rear window and started on Canopy Latch

I used the edge roller to break the edge of the top and side skins where they meet the rear window. I final drilled the skins #27 and dimpled the holes for #6 screws. The squeezer wouldn’t fit into the space between the top skin and the roll bar brace. After a fair amount of ass-scratching I tried using a #6 screw and a K1000-06 nut plate to press the dimple into the center hole. It worked well.

I decided to wait until later to actually install the window. This will enable better access to the fuselage and keep me from beating up the window while I’m working on the rest of the stuff. But everything’s done and all I have to do is add some sealant and screw it in. For sealant I’ve decided to try Lexel. It’s a clear solvent based sealant that is safe for acrylic. Other builders have reported good success with it.

 

I separated, deburred, and painted the stiffener angles. I’ll rivet these in place as soon as the paint dries.

 

I picked and inspected all of the parts for the rest of the canopy.

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I peeled all of the parts for the canopy latch mechanism. I separated the peices that needed parting. I deburred and scuffer all the parts. Then painted everything to match the interior.

 

I test fit the canopy latch pins in the bushings that I installed in the roll bar. I realized that I neglected to mask of the bushings when I painted the roll bar and got some paint in there. I wrapped some sand paper around a brass drift and used it to clear the paint. Everything fits fine now.

 

Today’s Time (hours): 4.0
Finish Kit (hours): 18.0
Total Time (hours): 748.0

 

 

Began work on the Aileron and Elevator Systems (Section 36)

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Picked, Inspected, and peeled all the parts. Cut the parts on the band saw that needed to be separated. Deburred, and scuffed everything.

 

Used the template from the plans to drill the ends of the elevator push tubes. Match drilled the rod end fittings to the tubes.

 

Everything ready to prime.

 

Today’s Time (hours): 2.0
Fuselage Time (hours): 204.0
Total Time (hours): 658.5

 

Began Work on Upper Forward Fuselage (Section 35)

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Picked, inspected, and peeled all the parts.

 

I separated all the parts that required parting and began fabrication. I made the canopy release pins by shortening and chamfering the ends of a couple of eye bolts. I made the canopy release push tubes from some aluminum tubing.

 

Today’s Time (hours): 3.0
Fuselage Time (hours): 176.0
Total Time (hours): 630.5

Began work on the flap actuation system (Section 34)

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Picked and inspected all four parts.

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Used the alignment template thing-a-mabob to locate and match drill the holes from the crank to the torque tubes.

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I primed the inside of the tubes with SEM. I’ll let them dry tonight and install everything tomorrow.

 

 

Today’s Time (hours): 1.0
Fuselage Time (hours): 171.0
Total Time (hours): 625.5

Began work on Aft Fuselage Attachment (section 30)

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This section only has a few parts and I was setting up to prime all the parts for section 29 so figured i’d get these while I was at it. Picked and inspected the parts. Cut apart the ones that needed to be separated on the band saw. Deburred all the edges. Scuffed and primed everything.

 

Today’s Time (hours): 1.0
Fuselage Time (hours): 84.0
Total Time (hours): 538.5