Little Blog = Beaucoup built!

I cannot believe I have not blogged since September. Here is what took place since my last post in September:

I worked on my rudder and vertical stabiliser fairings:

Bad surprise, the fairing on the top of the VS did not align with the fairing of the rudder:

I sent the faulty fairing back to VANs who shipped me a new one that was correct, it just took one month and I just finished today the VS with the new fairing.
This did not prevent me to march on. Next activity was to finish the installation of the ADAHRS which had been pending waiting for Anne to come and do it because my flexibility did not allow me to crawl into the tailcone where the ADAHRS is located.
Here is Anne at work for President Day:

While Anne was here we also finish the installation of the Auto Pilot roll servo which was an opportunity to install the flapperon control tubes which were waiting since they had been drilled.
I got a good news early October, a fellow EAA builder Dennis Robert was willing to sublet his hangar at Louisburg airport for at least one year, waiting for his next plane to be built. Louisburg also called "Triangle North Executive Airport" is the best option I had for testing my plane as it is just 30 minutes from home, non towered and has low traffic. Soon my wings were on the way:

Once my wings were gone I had enough room in my workshop to install the Stabilator (which combines in the RV-12 horizontal stabiliser and elevator). The stabilator is 8 feet wide and does not fit throught the door of my workshop!
The installation was not easy to do alone but I managed, with the help of two polystyrene boxes!

Once the stabilator in place I was able to proceed with the tailcone fairing installation, another cumbersome task requiring lots of fiberglass grinding, fitting, nutplates riveting both on the fairing and on the tailcone.

In the last week we started painting in the paint booth of  fellow EAA1114, Terry Gardner. I benefitted of the research made by another EAA1114 fellow, Noel Fallwell, about which paint system to chose and what process to follow. We are both using PPG's DCC Concept system which is Acrylic Urethane one stage. PPG is a World leader in automotive finishes.
Here is a video showing Terry shooting a flapperon with primer:
http://youtu.be/uyiWPkJ66xY
More on the painstaking (but rewarding) job of painting an airplane in the coming weeks...

With the painting in process, I will again have little time to blog in November, but I will try to keep good records as I am entering the final stage of the building. Still gotta order my engine...