Tag: Clecoing

Wings, fuselage fitting underway

Garmin GMU-22 magnetometer installed to its mount. The mount was fabricated last summer when building the left wing and has finally been plucked off the shelf to fulfill its purpose.

Left wing root fairings (upper & lower) clecoed in place for an initial fitting. A little tweaking required, but not bad at all. SO much better than the last time around (~18 years ago!).

Left wing root fairings (upper & lower) clecoed in place for an initial fitting. A little tweaking required, but not bad at all. SO much better than the last time around (~18 years ago!).

Left wing upper root fairing stiffeners being riveted in place.

Left wing root fairings (upper & lower) clecoed in place in their final form. They should be just about perfect when screwed down permanently following final wing attach (and wing root systems installations) at the airport this fall.

The forward three nutplates for the lower root fairing are all match-drilled to the fairing and then drilled for the nutplates. Van’s suggests a kludgy method of utilizing a nutplate as a drill template, but it’s far easier to simply use a nutplate drill jig.  

Anyone who’s done this before already has those on hand in at least three sizes (for #6, #8, and #10 screws). Anyone doing it for the first time needs to go buy them right now and forget about the kludge.

Sure, it’s possible to do without the nutplate drill jigs, just as it’s possible to open a beer bottle with one’s teeth, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Left wingtip drilled and clecoed to the wing. I did this awhile ago while the wing was still vertical in the stand and will have to spend some time confirming the aileron rigging with the templates before moving forward with the wingtip.

I’ll be off the project for a couple of days, as tomorrow is my birthday. I’ll get back to it on Saturday and, if all goes well, will have the wingtip squared away (including nav light and lens) by early next week. Then, I get to do it all over again on the other side! Fun…

Left wingtip drilled and clecoed to the wing. I did this awhile ago while the wing was still vertical in the stand and will have to spend some time confirming the aileron rigging with the templates before moving forward with the wingtip.

I’ll be off the project for a couple of days, as tomorrow is my birthday. I’ll get back to it on Saturday and, if all goes well, will have the wingtip squared away (including nav light and lens) by early next week. Then, I get to do it all over again on the other side! Fun…

Finish, canopy, seats underway

The interior has arrived!! It’ll be months before all these bits are installed, but there may be a sneak peak at one of the seats shortly…

The panel is done and ready to ship!

Main landing gear legs awaiting their date with the fuselage. That’ll be 6/4, hopefully…

The interior components arrived yesterday, so I popped the pilot’s seat back in place, set the floor panel loosely in place, and…

…Voila!

It’ll be a few months before all the bits are permanently installed, but there’ll be matching carpet, side panels, armrests, stick boots, etc. I think it turned out great; it’s easy to see why Abby at Flightline has her sterling reputation!

My sweaty mug aside, the real point of my sitting in there this morning was to check the position of the rudder pedals. I was concerned that, with my selected middle position for the pedals (possible to change now, but it would be a titanic PITA), none of the possible seat back positions would be a fit.

I’ve been hoping that the middle seat back position would be just right and, in fact, that’s exactly how it turned out. For other -14A builders keeping score, I’m 6′ tall with a 33/34″ inseam.

Glad to be this far along, but not thrilled with having to face the remaining 6-8 months of the project. Oh, well – there’s nothing to do but soldier on!

OK, closing the canopy for the first time with the actual seat installed was cool, even for me. 

Yet another shot of yours truly. Thanks, Jean!

Canopy now removed for installation of remaining seals. Also, I needed it out of the way of upcoming fuselage work. Wiring, etc. It’ll be going into the house in the next few days.

The whole garage will have to be reconfigured – probably with the fuselage on the diagonal – to make room for all the FWF work. Before that, though, each wing will have to be mounted (temporarily, of course) to facilitate a few remaining tasks. Plus the tail, too.

Yep, that’s the canopy again.

Forward top skin finally going on for good. It’s attached with Proseal and rivets for the complete, belt & braces anti-leak solution. It’s done in three stages and today’s sealing session was the first. Tomorrow morning we’ll complete the riveting, followed by the second sealing stage. Fun times…

The forward top skin’s other side… 

Getting ready for the gear mounting party next Tuesday by locating all of the necessary hardware. I’m dreading having to remove all of those labels, but that’s probably another project for tomorrow.

Van’s Aircraft Inc. – Why, oh why, do you persist in using those horrific white stickers on powdercoated parts?!? They’re a freaking nightmare to remove. If part numbers are really necessary (not too many of the powdercoated parts could possibly be mistaken for anything else), write them on with Sharpie. At least that would come off with a swipe of acetone.