Construction Blog and Builder's Resource
Initial upper cowl trim around the spinner and air inlets underway.
Initial lower cowl trim around the spinner and air inlets underway.
Oil filler door cutout complete.
Nose gear leg cutout complete.
Initial top and bottom cowl mating. Still have some work to do sharpening the left side of the spinner cutout before drilling the halves together.
Initial top and bottom cowl mating. Still have some work to do sharpening the left side of the spinner cutout before drilling the halves together.
Upper cowl hinge rivets drilled out and hinges & spacers discarded. I managed to slightly oversize four holes in the process, so it’ll be “oops” rivets to the rescue.
Skybolt has my Camloc kit in stock, so I’ll be picking it up at their parts counter tomorrow.
Cowl halves are officially out of the house and in the garage for fitting. Yeah, it’s trivial, but it felt like progress for a minute or two.
Upper cowl trim lines outlined in Sharpie.
Lower cowl trim lines outlined in Sharpie.
Empennage fairing fit, post-initial trim.
Empennage fairing fit, post-initial trim.
Empennage fairing drilled to stabilizers and aft fuselage. The Van’s-suggested method of placing a light under the fairing and trying to spot the holes is a Rube Goldberg solution, at best. Use the right tool for any job, in this case a strap duplicator. Easy-peasy.
Empennage fairing drilled to stabilizers and aft fuselage. The Van’s-suggested method of placing a light under the fairing and trying to spot the holes is a Rube Goldberg solution, at best. Use the right tool for any job, in this case a strap duplicator. Easy-peasy.
Empennage fairing countersunk and nutplate installation underway. Many of the nutplates will be VERY challenging to solid rivet without removing the vertical stabilizer as suggested by the manual. In my case, that’s simply not going to happen. I’m using MK-319-BS pop rivets to attach the nutplates.
Empennage fairing countersunk and nutplate installation underway. Many of the nutplates will be VERY challenging to solid rivet without removing the vertical stabilizer as suggested by the manual. In my case, that’s simply not going to happen. I’m using MK-319-BS pop rivets to attach the nutplates.
Cowl attach hinges and pins underway.
Cowl attach hinges and pins underway.
Cowl attach hinges and pins underway.
This is how far I got when attempting to insert the left-side upper pin. Yes, it was pre-curved and lubricated. Yes, I filed the hinge eyes, though more is probably necessary. The aluminum pin, though, has the integrity of overcooked spaghetti. It may very well get easier as time goes by, but the initial fit – and the pin’s unavoidable tendency to bend – is entirely unacceptable.
I initially intended to use Skybolt Camlocs (as I did with great satisfaction on my first RV), but they were out of stock when I riveted my fuselage-to-firewall skins way back when and I figured I’d try the stock hinges this time around. Yeah, the hinges are a no-go.
I’ll be ordering the Camlocs this week and drilling out the firewall-mounted hinges. I suppose it could be worse, but I’m definitely annoyed. Ugh.
Spaghetti pin…
