Making a Rotisserie for the Fuselage - Part 3

As part of my effort to re-engage in building my wings, I needed to order some new Primer. My old AKZO Nobel 2 part epoxy primer, although proven by me to work well enough enough at 7 years plus older than the shelf life date on the cans, is now so old and unused that I have decided not to continue to try to work with it. So I ordered a new can of catalyst and primer - expensive stuff. Picked up a tip from a fellow builder to get 8 empty quart sized paint cans from HD airplane supply and pour the contents into each of these smaller cans to make it easier to pour, store, and prepare. Having had real experience with this in the past by spilling it on the floor while trying to pour in in the small mixing cups,  and knowing precisely how bad smelling and toxic the catalyst is, I think this is a very good idea.

In addition to the primer, I decided I also needed some additional AN bolt hardware to finish the  rotisserie. Each spider leg has two holes in either end of it, and each of those are between 7/16 to 1/2 inch wide on average. With the hole on one end being addressed by the AN3 hardware and wood spacers, etc., I needed to figure out how to attach the other end to the angle. This other hole would normally contain the metric bolts that came with the engine stand. I need to use this other predrilled hole and drill an additional hole somewhere near the middle of each spider to provide the necessary holes to attach the angle iron to the spider.  You need to drill the extra hole in the middle to ensure that the angle is secured in at least two places on the spider arm, so that it cannot rotate out of position.

The next problem is figuring out what length bolts I should use for the remaining holes, to ensure they are short enough so that they do not come into contact with the firewall after attaching each angle to the spider on one end and the center mounting plate on the other. Each of the lugs on the spiders allows for about 1 and 1/2 inches clearance from the firewall. Unfortunately, the metric bolts that come with the engine stand are about 1 1/4 inches long after being inserted into the hole in the spider, so that leaves a very uncomfortable 1/4 inch of free space between the firewall and the angle iron adn spider bar - This is NOT good enough for me. 

SO I need to get shorter length bolts and corresponding hardware. That means I needed to go back to the suppliers and the conversion/identification charts to figure out which AN hardware I should get. My decision, based on measuring hole diameters and lengths and grip requirements and such, was the following:

For the other big hole in the spider and the 1/8 inch thick angle iron that will be attached to it, I decided on either AN7-11A or AN8-11A, since the holes sizes seem to hover somewhere in the vicinity of either one. I order both, and I will see which one gives the better. tighter fit. After I figure that out, I will know what size hole I have to drill in the angle iron.

For the second hole in the middle of each spider to lock the angle iron in place like others seem to have done, I decided to use AN3-7A bolts. Both of these bolt choices should leave at least a half inch or more of clearance from the firewall after being bolted together. That I think I can live with. I also ordered the required nuts and washers for all bolts. The AN7 and AN8 bolts get AN960-716, 726L, 816, and 816L washers, and AN365-720A and AN365-820A, or MS21044N8 lock nuts. The AN3 bolts use the same nuts I already received from Straight Flight, so I think I already have enough of those to use on the shorter AN3 bolts as well.  

I also ordered some hardware that I mentioned long ago in my blog when working on the fuel tanks. I ordered about 50 NAS1352-08-8P cad-plated socket head cap screws to replace the fuel tank access plate screws provided by Vans - AN515-8R8. I have seen too many posts from builders stating how difficult it is to remove Phillips head screws from the access plates of the fuel tanks when you need to service or replace the fuel senders or the fuel line or return attachment hardware or connections. There are 17 of these screws for each fuel tank, so you only need 34, but I always need extras, so I ordered a few extras. Somebody on VAF also asked if a washer would be needed for these cap screws, since their grip width of the head is not as wide as the AN515 screw heads. I am glad he asked that question, as I would never even thought about that. The washer for the cap screw is AN960-8 or AN960-8L for the thin version. I ordered 50 of each of those as well.

My order was shipped from Spruce's Georgia location, and at first I found this to be strange, since most western-based orders are processed by the Southern California location. But on second thought, with southern California's horrible pandemic situation, I am actually relieved that my order came from somewhere else. It also wised me up a bit about hardware orders or any orders for that matter that I will be needing for supplies, parts etc., as I re-engage. I need to be careful about where these are coming from, and develop a process to clean them carefully when I receive them - just to be safe. It is supposed to be here in a couple of days, and then I will resume the work on the rotisserie.

Coming - up - I need to degrease/remove the oil coating from my QB fuse, which now has a layer of fine abrasive forest fire ash particles on it from all the fires in the state this past summer and fall. I have stupidly left this unattended ever since it was delivered to me in 2018. This stuff even penetrated inside the house, so everything is covered with it, inside and out. So this is long overdue, and needs some serious attention. Also coming soon is the upgraded electrical service and heat into my garage. Enough is enough, and I really need to address my hostile building environment this year if I ever want to finish this project. I will also need to order more Proseal and some special formulated sealant for the fuel tank access plates. More on that later.

Fuselage damage from shipping?

About 2 days after the fuselage arrived, I started doing the inventory of all the parts, and finding places to put everything by rearranging my shelves by consolidating my remaining wing parts together to make room for all the new fuselage parts. I also started a much more thorough review the of the entire fuselage to look for any signs of damage. Unfortunately I did find a few things with the firewall that concerned me. the first was several splatters of something that dripped on my firewall that does not want to come off.

And then I found this in the bottom corner:

Obviously something had pushed on the bottom front corner of the firewall, and this in turn caused a crease up above where the bottom support angle for the floor support was located. It only creased the firewall in that area, so it was not cracked, but it causes me some concern because this area may tend to fatigue sooner than it should as a result of this. I called Vans and sent multiple pics and they ended up saying that it was "cosmetic" and not a concern. I have an email from them just in case this pans out differently. There is really no way for me to straighten any of this, and I might end up making it worse if I were to even try. I was disappointed, because just about everything else on the new fuse looks absolutely fantastic. 

When you have done this long enough, you come to realize that shipping damage is fact of life. The thing you must evaluate is something may turn into a life threatening situation for you or your passengers. Vans pointed out that the crease and the dent are in an rea that I basically a void where nothing much is going on except to provide a frame for the outer skin to wrap around the side and underneath to make up the bottom of the fuselage skin. All of the actual support structure begins just above this area, where the bottom and side angles create the structure that supports the weldments for each of the 4 engine mount bolts that hold the engine mount to the firewall. SO as long as this damage confines itself to the area it is located in now, there are no problems, I will however need to keep watching this, because if any cracking starts to form that will migrate to the upper areas of the firewall or the rivets in this area, then I have an issue that must be dealt with.

Here is another area I found, which looked like a crack in the weldment for the cross member. Vans told me that sometimes the powder coat surface will show some signs of surface cracking, but that's all that this is. They told me to take light sand paper and sand own the area to see if the crack disappears, or if it truly goes all the way to the metal. IN my case, the crack disappeared, so that was a relief. 

There was this "galling" of the landing gear in certain areas as shown below. Vans told me that this is common and is a result of sand blasting that is performed in this area of the metal for a number of reasons. It just looked strange under the powder coat. SO this one I have to take their word for it. My take on this is that as long as I treat the plane properly and do not subject anything to super hard or out of control landings, then the gear should be just fine.

And finally some pics of everything put away on shelves, including the very large curved top rear outer skin:

Pics of the QB Fuselage arrival on 9-22-18

As promised, here is a picture sequence of the arrival of my QB RV-8 fuselage. Basically what came in the tuck was the fuselage in about 75% completed state, a small box of remaining parts to assemble, and the Van's stock spring steel landing gear. A lot of builders are opting for aluminum landing gear made by a company called Grove, mostly because they seem to provide similar service but are about 20 lbs lighter than the stock gear. For now I am OK with the stock gear since most of my mission for the airplane consists of transporting only me, myself, and I where I want to go. Lots of powder coated parts for the rudder pedals and control stick linkage, etc., as well as parts for the seat floors, upper fuse skins and bulkheads, seats and seat backs, and baggage area parts.

Step 1, the custom truck arrives. The trash cans on the right side had to be placed in front of my house to prevent others from taking up parking space. I live across from school property with baseball, football, and soccer fields, and the fall is very busy with little league games being played on these fields across the street. SO naturally cars like to park along the sidewalk in front of my house. Well, today I needed the space for the truck, so I had to take precautions by tying up some orange tape between the two cans and setting them out in the street to keep others from taking up the space for the truck. When the truck arrived, the cans were placed on the yard on the right.

Next, the doors were opened, exposing the aft side of my fuselage on the bottom, and another RV-7 fuselage on top and further inboard in the trailer. The white scaffolding on top is part of the custom crane boom that allows one to lift the fuselage completely out of the trailer without the need for a forklift.

We had to move mu fuse out from under the RV-7 fuse a bit to allow the block and tackle assembly to be placed bear the Center of gravity of the fuselage, so that when it is lifted it tends to balance on the crane without being to tail or nose heavy. Funny, W&B for this was just as important as it is when you are flying. It was interesting to see where the balance point of the 16 foot long fuselage. When is it all finished, with an engine and the tail section installed, it will be about 21 feet long. The balanced point ended up being just forward of the steel seat back support cross member that separates the front and back seat passenger compartments. The front straps from the boom assembly were strapped around two plywood extensions  that run through the center section wing spar where the wings will eventually attach to the fuselage. The rear strap was wrapped underneath the rear of the main cabin and attached to the boom. then the crane hook was attached to the assembly  and it was time to lift it up and out of the trailer.

 Chapter member Scott Barkley was there to help me with the off load. The gentleman above is the truck driver. That's about all it took - the three of us - to off load the whole thing. It only took about 15 minutes or so. Next the crane boom is extended and the block assembly is being prepared.

Next, Scott is guiding the tail as the crane lifts the fuse and starts walking out of the trailer doors. Mike Rettig loaned me his specialized cart that he built to support his tail section of his RV-10. Turns out that it supports my entire RV-8 fuselage quite nicely as well. Thanks Mike!!!!!!!

And here is the boom assembly after having been moved out onto the extensions:

And finally it was lowered onto the dolly and the crane was disconnected. Now all we had to do was wheel it up to the garage. Worked like a charm with no issues whatsoever.

Scott Barkley after a job well done! Many thanks Scott for your assistance with this. 

And the next series of pics is where the unpacking begins. You would not believe the amount of packing paper that was stuffed into the fuselage, not to mention how everything was packed inside the fuse as well as inside the additional parts box. It begins with the push/pull tube for the elevator and the hinge material for the cowling that will be attached after I get the finishing kit. With all the trials and tribulations I mentioned in my previous post, I will say that Vans is definitely master at figuring out how to pack things in small spaces. Enjoy the sequence:

And finally the contents of the parts box. It also comes with a large box of hardware, and two trashcans full of packing paper!

Just can't keep up and Fuselage delivery Saga

Despite my best intentions to document various things related to my attempt to build and fly my own airplane, I am coming to the conclusion that I just can't keep up. This year has been an absolute whirlwind of activity for me. I had an awesome time at Airventure this year, but with a new trailer and everything that was going on I just could not keep pace with it all, so there are no more "real time" posts of Airventure, despite my best intentions.

I will mention that while at EAA Airventure 2018 I did get word from Vans that my Quick Build Fuselage kit had arrived at their facility after being shipped to the USA from the Philippines, and that it had passed their inspection. Perhaps I have already mentioned that. Like I said - I can't keep up. After Airventure I then had a window of opportunity for the trucking company (Partain Trucking), to deliver my fuselage during the month of August. As long as it was delivered in August I was ready to receive it on any day at any time. If it could not be done until September then I would need to wait until after my return from Europe - a long awaited bucket list vacation that I had been planning for months.

As it turned out plans were in the works to deliver it to me in August, but then the truck driver injured his back and I was notified that there was no alternate truck or driver that would be available any time soon. So everything once again was put on hold until after my return from Europe. Fast forward to mid September. I suddenly get an email from the trucking company telling me that they were scheduled to load nd that my fuse would finally be on its way. I had received no communication from Vans about anything. When I called then to confirm, and to complain about the lack of communication, it seemed like nobody knew anything.

Anyway, on Saturday September 22, 2018, a big truck pulled up with my fuselage - after 5 months of waiting. I started this order on April 20, 2018. I am glad that it finally happened, but I am extremely unhappy with Vans and Partain trucking for their utter lack of communication with me about the entire shipping from process. Seems like Vans had the attitude that since I was not using their "standard" shipping methods that everything was up to me and Partain Trucking. Pretty pathetic as far as I am concerned, especially considering the amount of money involved in this whole affair. On that note, I have also seen recent evidence from other builders of what their "standard" shipper BDS freight has done to all but demolish various crated kits from Vans. So the bottom line is you are not any better off using one shipping or trucking company over another, and Vans does not seem very interested in communicating with you either, but they will certainly take your money.

So sorry to be sour about this, since this is supposed to be an exciting adventure, but there are always challenges with fulfilling any worthwhile dream, and I have certainly had mine with this latest effort. While the delivery went without any issues, and was actually kind of cool to witness, about 2 days later while conducting a much more thorough damage inspection I did find a couple of issues with the firewall - you know - that part of the plane that is subject to lions share of all the vibrations and shaking that an aircraft is exposed to. So that then required more phone calls and emails to the rucking company as well as Vans. Had to send pictures and wait for engineers to assess the damage, and then I would have to decide if I agree with their assessment or not. There was a blackish stain in the "stainless" steel firewall web, and a small dent and crease in the web on the lower left corner where "something" had obviously pushed in the corner a bit and caused another area to be creased slightly. To me, event though there were no punctures or cracks,  the damage was still such that it might cause that area of the firewall to fatigue more quickly than normal, and so I was concerned.

Vans engineers reviewed my photos and determined that the damage was "cosmetic" in nature and nothing to be concerned about. For the record this is about the second or third time I have had to question some substantially different material issue about something with my kit or parts that others don't seem to have issues with, and it just makes me wonder sometimes. At any rate, I did agree with them that the dent in the bottom corner is probably not a huge concern, because it is just an empty void part of the structure than only provides a mounting surface for the bottom forward skin to attach to as it wraps around the bottom of the fuse. The crease, however, does still concern me a bit. I will have to watch this area closely after I am flying to see what happens. They also told me the stain was not an issue, but they could not tell me what it was from or why I am unable to clean it off. I also received an email from Mitch Lock, the current president of Van's Aircraft, affirming what he told me over the phone regarding their engineer's assessment of the damage to my firewall. That will unfortunately be going in the safe deposit box for safe keeping.....

I'll post pics on all this tomorrow. For now, my advice to others is that if you want to avoid ALL shipping issues, then you need to make arrangements to fly up to Vans, rent a truck or trailer, pack the stuff up yourself and drive it back to your destination yourself. I am completely dissatisfied with all means of commercial delivery methods for this project thus far, but I have to resign myself to accepting that this is just a part of the entire process for completing this massive undertaking. To end on a positive note, the rest of the fuselage appears to be in wonderful shape, and I am glad that I did finally arrive.

The next biggest issue with the fuselage will be trying to figure out how to "easily" flip it upside down and right side up, which looks like I will need to do bout a half dozen times or more to finish up the remaining assembly steps for the landing gear and top skins, etc. Some fellow builders have purchased an engine rotisserie from Harbor Freight and fabricated some steel cross members that attach to the firewall engine mounts and to a plate that fits into the engine stand. The fuse in its present state only weights about 200-300 pounds, but it is awkward to try to find places to lift, hold and rotate the fuse by hand, even if you have several people to help.

Fortunately I don't have to deal with that just yet, because I now have to get back to my wings and get those done before I start the remaining work on the fuse.