Oh yeah, and I also found time to run back and forth to HD to get the correct pneumatic connectors for my new sprinkler manifold that I had installed earlier this spring so I could blow out my sprinkler system, not that that has anything to do with building an airplane, except that I used the opportunity to drain the tank on my compressor, which did have a fair amount of water inside. I am saving the compressor oil change till after I finish riveting the elevators.
Not too many pics tonight - will take more tomorrow after I get a bit more prep work done. This is the time during every sub-assembly where you have to focus on all those holes in every single part, and it just seems to go on forever. So you keep plugging away until one day you finally get to pound some rivets. If all you had to do to build an airplane kit is slap the parts together and pound the rivets, this entire airplane would be done in about 6 months. The normal build time for most folks is between 3-5 years, so that tells you something about how much more time all the prep work adds to the process.
One tricky part of the build was countesinking a row of 4 AN426 rivet holes in the root rib. There is a flange on this rib that sits flush against the back side of the front spar, and this is the part of the elevator where the control horn then gets riveted into place over these other rivets holding the rib and spar together. So it needs to be very strong in this area to accept the forces that will be applied to the control horn when I move the stick back and forth to climb or descend as needed.
The rib flange is a bit awkard to work with in the conventional sense, due to the extreme bend in the flange that is necessary to create the angle in the elevator to allow enough clearance for the rudder to move back and forth. The rib flange is also a bit small to be able to put my countersink cage on. So I followed what Steve and other builders have done and used my deburring bit and my cordless drill/screw driver to gently countersink each of the 4 holes to accept the flush rivets that will strengthen this area. the Rivets need to be flush so that the control horn can be placed over the top of them. Again, pics will make this more clear. I just took my time and removed a small amount of material every couple of passes, adn then checked for symmetry of the countersunk hole, and also checked the depth by placing one of the rivets in the hole to determine when I had sunk everything deep enough.
Now for the cool part. My paint scheme is almost set. I just need to play around with the tail and nose spinner colors a bit. the core colors are pretty much decided, except for the actual shade of blue I will use. The following drawings are not too far from the pic I have inserted at the top of my blog. I have decided on a trim pattern after reviewing several paint schemes from photos of finished RVs. Below are two versions, one with a black front and the other with an olive drab front. I am probably going to stick with the black cuz I like that look a lot better.
All for now.Getting close to pounding some rivets again!
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteI like the color scheme! Very cool. I am not as artistic, so I will probably get some help for this part of the build (when the time comes). Good job.