Vieille Burette RV-12 Build Site

She is on her legs! (*)

2012-01-06T17:59:00.001-05:00

(*) From a French language/culture stand point, I feel it a bit shocking for my RV-12 to be called a "she" but I am told that, as an air ship, it is the right way to call her. Darn Brits!

Well, kind of on her legs:

As you can see, I am missing the front wheel and here is the culprit:

The axle diameter is 625thou vs the bearing hole of 618thou: Aurora, we have a problem!
I decidedly had no luck with the landing gear, after the bad tire, a bad wheel. I understand that these are problems with the part suppliers of VANs but I would advise VANs to put some pressure on those suppliers who have quality problems (earlier this year there was a more serious problem with the welding of flaperon actuators, also produced outside VANs).
I am waiting from VANs after they contact the supplier MATCO but I see a new wheel delivery in my future.
01/11/2012 update:
After investigation VAN's determined that the axle was not machined to the correct dimensions. I received a new axle and everything is now in order, we are on three wheels now!
The installation of the nose gear wheel will conclude section 35 per the instruction sheets below

The left gear is in

2012-01-03T18:01:00.001-05:00

As for the right gear, I needed help and even with two pairs of hands, there was quite a bit of crawling and strugling to get the bolts trough and securely torqued to specs. The second pair of hands was provided by François again. Here he is trying to put a wheel on (or is he just warming his butt? - it was a cold day as the heater behind him shows):

One leg down, one to go!

2011-12-19T18:23:00.031-05:00

It was quite a struggle and it took a few hours with the help of François.
Here is what was at stake:
Fitting the right landing gear into this tight space

Here it is done but aligning the bolts at the top of the picture with the holes is very awkward due to the lack of space to move the clamp and the lack of visibility. Two people have to be involved, one lying under the plane to move the clamp with the bolts and one looking from the top to guide the bolts into the holes.

This is the end result of the struggle: one gear leg in place, ready to receive its wheel.

One of the most difficult tasks since I started building. I felt lucky to be able to complete it without having to remove the rivets heads that were in the way as some builders did. Definitely not a one man job, thank you François for the help!
Let's wait until next year to take care of the left gear!
(Plus I have to visit my daughters during the holiday, one in New York and one in Washington DC, this will be a good break and well deserved too)

Wheeling and Dealing

2011-12-10T10:14:00.006-05:00

This is what I discovered while mounting the tire on my front wheel:

This spot is diametrically opposed to the one above:

I have two more tires to mount but on inspection they do not seem to have this problem.
I have referred this to VANs and am waiting for their answer which hopefully will be a return.

As of December 17:
Vans sent me a new tire that I received today, no cost involved. They also asked me to return the bad tire to the tire vendor which I did. Issue closed.

What an RV-12 wheel is made of:

And don't imagine that it's easy to get there: the wheel comes all assembled and you have to pick it apart to mount the tire! Interestingly, there is no instruction to disassemble, in doubt I had to call Vans to make sure I was doing it right. Oh well, may be I'm not that smart!

At least I will know what keeps me rolling!

RV-12 going places

2011-12-09T16:18:00.001-05:00

A fellow UK builder from Scotland (see his builder's log: http://www.mykitlog.com/grmps) shot these videos while flying over France and Italy:
(The camera is a wide angle positioned on the VS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofOC-qKF1DU
http://youtu.be/_FYv045auC4
http://youtu.be/0NFhc__pzKY
Now, this is traveling light but in style!

Open Shop for EAA 1114

2011-12-03T23:24:00.001-05:00

I put the wings on for the second time to show my RV-12 to my fellow EAA Chapter 1114 members. I enjoyed exercising some "bragging rights" after one and a half year of building (although I also learned to eat lots of humble pie during this period). We were fortunate to have a wonderful weather for December and I got all the help I needed to move my stuff around. I think that this initiative to open builder's workshop for our chapter's members is a great motivator both for builders and for members who wish to start building one day. One reason among many others that chapter 1114 is among the most dynamic EAA chapters in the country.

This thing has got wings! ...

2011-11-26T18:55:00.001-05:00

... It must be a plane - So were the neighbors thinking today while driving by my workshop.

After working on a few contraptions allowing to move fuselage and wings around and having a runway built in front of my workshop, today the conditions were perfect to have a wing fitting session. I got help from my friend François Hautin (a former colleague from Alcatel and NC State) which allowed me to communicate in French, a language in which we are both better at cursing than English.

One wing inside, one wing outside: this will allow me to carry on the building at home for a few more months. There is nothing like a 30 seconds commute to work!

François is recovering from the stress of carrying the two wings from my basement to my "Taxiway" which requires slaloming between the trees of my backyard:

No damage done and the wings in place = A happy builder!

Sequel to LSA America's visit

2011-11-17T21:28:00.060-05:00

On our way back from Littleton, we stopped at Chuck Borsuk's workshop where Terry was to perform an inspection per his accredited EAA technical counselor function. Chuck is building a Pietenpol, a classic wooden plane and we were not disappointed by his workshop which feels more like a cabinet maker's than a plane builder's. Most impressing was the organization and tidiness of a shop whose tools and machines, beside Pietenpol parts are mostly producing sawdust and wood shavings. Not being qualified to comment on the work done so far, I let you make your own mind by looking at the following pictures. Needless to say, Chuck passed his inspection without reserve.

I have to say that there are rumors that the parrot bribed Terry's into giving Chuck a good grade... One might argue that a bird should be a good source of advice for a Tech Counselor but this one has clipped wings!

A visit to LSA America inc.

2011-11-17T19:26:00.190-05:00

LSA America is the one of the few manufacturers of certified LSAs made in the USA. What is even more exciting for our EAA Chapter 1114 based in Apex, NC is that they are located in Littleton, NC just one and a half hour drive from the Research Triangle area. As the owners of LSA America, Doug and Betty Helmpstead are also the owners of my flight school, B-Bar-D aviation located at Sanford/KTTA. I had the privilege of a private visit to their manufacturing plant which opened in May of 2011. Accompanying me were fellow chapter members Chuck Borsuk, Terry Gardner and Niels Nielsen.
The current facility is located in the former " Littleton Industrial Building", an 54,000 square feet facility with plenty of room to spare:

The plans are to establish permanent production operations at the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport. LSA America will create 34 new jobs and invest $400,000 during the next three years.
The State of North Carolina is helping LSA America through the "One NC Fund", other partners that helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), the N.C. Rural Center, the Halifax County Economic Development Commission, Halifax County Business Horizons, Halifax County, the Town of Littleton, the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport Authority and North Carolina's Northeast Commission.

The Allegro:
Specifications:
                                    MTOW: 1,320 lbs
                                    Empty Weight: 622 lbs (average)
                                    Max Useful Load: 698 lbs
                                    Fuel Capacity: 17 U.S. Gal (102 lbs)
                                    Payload: 596 lbs
                                    Range: 500 miles

The Allegro LSA is available with either the 80 HP Rotax 912UL or the 100 HP Rotax 912ULS.

Optional Equipment: Floats, Skis, Banner and Glider Tow Kits

There are about 500 Allegros flying oversees (with 57 registered in the USA per the FAA registry as of September 2011), all but one have been manufactured in the Czech Republic.

So far one Made in USA Allegro has been produced and delivered by LSA America. It is currently used by a flight school in Michigan.

Made in USA Allegro #2 close to completion:

The wings of #2:

Note about the Allegro's wings: they are double-tapered which is unusual in LSAs and explains, according to Doug, the superior performances of the Allegro. This feature is more visible on the following picture:

Made in USA Allegro #3 already started:

Currently when a plane is ready it is trucked to the Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport for its flight tests. This step will not be necessary when the permanent production facility opens there in about a year.
We visited a few manufacturing station:

Wing Jigs:

Composite Lab where a cockpit dashboard is curing:

Doug Hempstead is explaining, part in hands, his strategy of switching parts manufacturing from outside contractors to in-house to better control quality and availability of components:

Some prototypes in early R&D stage: the Vampire pushers (the double seater is the object of a study by NC State's Aeronautic Department to decrease the weight of its composite hull)

What's next?
Doug Hempstead has the objective to build one Allegro a week. When will he get there depends on a number of factors some he controls some he does not. For example he mentioned the difficulties he is facing with immigration laws. Currently the manufacturing expertise on the factory floor comes from former employees of the former Czech company that used to produce the Allegro. Doug is facing great difficulties getting appropriate visas for these specialists whose involvement is critical to restarting the manufacturing as well as training new employees. By lack of an adequate visa these employees have to be sent back to the Czech republic every few months which is very disrupting and costly. Despite all the difficulties he is facing in this starting phase Doug is optimist and confident in the value of his product that he dares everyone to compare!
See more at http://www.allegrolsa.com/dare_to_compare
For those members of our EAA Chapter 1114, if you are interested in flying an Allegro, visit B-Bar-D Aviation at Sanford airport, they offer discovery flight and if you are a pilot you can rent an Allegro at a very attractive rate. You also can take flight lessons as B-Bar-D is a well appointed Flight School (Trust me, I learned to fly and got my Sport Pilot Certificate there!)

How to build a taxiway

2011-11-14T18:57:00.057-05:00

Having been slowed down all Summer and facing now Winter, I have decided to postpone my move to an airport hangar until late Winter or early Spring. One of the delaying factors is the release of the new avionics kit based on Dynon's Skyview which was initially expected for July but has been delayed one month every month since. To be fair VANs never committed for a release date. They are facing a complex problem because they have several changes to do in parallel and they are dealing with the E-LSA certification of a retrofit for the first time. This delay is not that of a problem for me because I still have a lot to do on the finishing kit but some fellow builders are blocked at a time they thought they would be flying - how frustrating! I therefore decided to do a maximum in my workshop to cope with this situation and the first conclusion I drew was that I needed a large slab in front of my workshop to perform the wings as well as empennage fittings that initially I had planned to do in an airport hangar.
How to build a taxiway?
First build a drive way and then taxi an airplane on it!
Here is my taxiway under construction:

And here it is completed:

Now the RV-12 is on its stands, ready to move outside!

We have a flap control handle...

2011-11-04T19:38:00.001-04:00

... but no flaps connected yet!
This is the fruit of yesterday and today's labor:

The funny thing is that in the Allegro that I fly, the trim is manual and the flaps controlled by an electric motor while on the R-12 it's just the opposite. While I like the direct manual control of the flaps in the RV-12, I don't like the electric trim. In the Allegro, the position of the trim button tells you where your trim tab is set, an information that you don't have in the RV-12.
Also worked a bit on the rest of page 32-08:

As I was working on the torque tube spacers, I found bizarre that I had to drill #12 a hole in which an LP4-3 was supposed to go (usually we drill #30 for LP4-3). I did a search on VAF forum and, sure enough, the issue had been raised ... two years ago by John Peck. The answer made sense: the rivet is just a temporary holder as the spacers are glued to the torque tube.

Page 32-06

2011-11-02T10:35:00.001-04:00

Completed, with some pain caused by the paint:
Not a big deal but this may save some future builders the aggravation I went through yesterday.
Steps 4 and 5 are about attaching the WD-1215 Flapperon Torque arms which is happening in very tight quarters. In step 4 I found quickly that the AN3 bolt would not pass through the holes of WD-1215 because of the paint. A bit of filing solved the problem. Unfortunately, after struggling through the attachment both WD-1215, I found that, in step 5, I had the same problem for attaching the WD-1215 to the pushrod assemblies! There is no way that you can file the inside of these holes once the WD-1215 are attached: I had the disassemble the two WD-1215 to clear the holes!
... and I consider myself lucky that the 4 AN-960 that were superglued to the brackets stayed in place through the two installations.

Page 32-07

Completed

Looking at Falls Colors from Above... Again?

2011-10-22T10:00:00.003-04:00

The weather was so beautiful, we could not resist heading back to Appalachian Mountains for a last look at the Fall colors. Now I can't go to West Jefferson without paying a visit to KGEV, and what do I find there?
My fellow builder Kim Mitchell's yellow bird, always ready for a spin (just a metaphor!)

Here we are "Ashe county, experimental RV12 980 Kilo Mike, departing runway 10, Ashe county"

... and a couple of minutes later:

We are on our way to Grand Father mountain (the tall mountain at 1 O'clock) in smooth air with a fantastic view; we literally own the class Echo airspace at 6500 feet while the poor souls on the roads under us are queued on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Rotax is humming, the bird as steady as an airliner, Kim says: it does not get any better than that and I believe him!
I could have taken more pictures but Kim gave me the plane to fly, hey, it really got better for me!

Section 32: Flight Controls on the way

2011-10-20T22:59:00.000-04:00

Here is what was covered over the last weeks:

The work at the bottom of the cockpit becomes more and more cramped: the installation of the control sticks pushrod assemblies as described in page 32-05 is a challenge!
One pushrod on its way:

Note that I had to disassemble the control stick to attach the pushrod.
Here the two assemblies are in place after a long struggle!

Watching Appalachian Falls Colors From Above

2011-10-11T12:26:00.002-04:00

... like a canary!

Here I am with fellow RV-12 builder Kim Mitchell from Jefferson, NC, on a nice Fall afternoon on the tarmac of KGEV. The story of my meeting with Kim is worth telling. I have a log cabin in West Jefferson, just a stone throw from KGEV. As I was having trouble finding a hangar in the Raleigh area, I decided to see what the situation was at KGEV. After all, spending a couple of months in the mountain to finish my plane did not feel quite like an exile from my current workshop. While talking to the airport manager and explaining that I was looking to flight test an RV-12, he told me, to my great surprise (and delight) that a gentleman had just built an RV-12 which was now flying and was kept in a hangar at the airport. Needless to say, it did not take me long to find Kim! That was a month ago and last weekend as I was back to watch the Fall colors, Kim kindly invited me for a ride which turned out to be quite a treat.

I was the first passenger in Kim's RV-12. Kim used to fly a Waco that he also built as a wooden kit. His Waco was cruising at 180 Knots and he finds the speed of the RV-12 a bit lacking for his trips between North Carolina and Texas where he spends part of his time. In his search for more speed he is trying to extract any additional knot he can, going to the length of removing the steps of his RV-12 as you can see (or rather not see!) on the pictures. After climbing in this step less -12, it dawned on me why I was the first passenger! (but I will climb again anytime!).
So, how are the Fall colors seen from 4,500 ft high? I have no idea, I was too much focused on how this yellow bird flies and looking at the airport environment and approach, all which might, will, be useful one day, hopefully soon!

Section 31 - Wiring is finished

2011-10-02T17:59:00.000-04:00

Well, kind of as the upcoming changes due to the introduction of Skyview avionics led me to drop some of the steps that were clearly intended to the old Dynon glass cockpit. Overall it was a slow summer, I was distracted by a number of events, including the unusual heat. Section 31 spread from August 10 to today. Here is what I have done during the month of September (interrupted lately by a 10 days train trip to New-York, Boston and Maine to visit family and friends).

Playing with control sticks

2011-09-09T18:49:00.002-04:00

This is the purpose of page 31-11

I found it fun to go to the bicycle store to buy handle bar grips for the control sticks. I even took one of the control sticks with me and the guy at the shop was intrigued as he had never seen such handlebar.
The fun stopped with step 3 which requires to route the wires inside the stick as there is an obstruction at the bottom very visible on figure 2: the sleeve that gets the bushing does not leave a lot of room to guide the wires. The solution: use a fishing line with a sinker (all out of my fishing box!) and use gravity to route the wire from bottom to top. I found this idea on the VAF forum, my usual source of inspiration.

The next challenge was the installation of the control sticks which requires to drill the bushings at 1/4". My drill got stuck several times as it is difficult to secure the bushing tightly without risking to crush it in the vise. I finally got the two sticks installed on a temporary basis as specified but the task was cumbersome with lots of filing to get everything to fit together. Here is where I am tonight: are not my control sticks grips cute?

More Wiring

2011-09-06T20:37:00.001-04:00

I have finished page 31-10 today, nothing special, just waving wires through bushings, putting terminals at the ends, stripping replaced deburring, working on my stretching while crawling around the fuselage... if only I was 20 years younger! (well, may be not after all, 20 years ago my daughters were in college, I did not have the money!)

More Wiring and a good surprise!

2011-09-03T18:05:00.002-04:00

We spent a few days with friends at our cabin in West Jefferson last week. We have at about 5 miles the great KGEV/Jefferson airport and I went to visit and inquire about hangar availability. My thinking was that given the high cost and low availability of hangars in the Raleigh area, Jefferson might be a good option to finish the plane and test it. While explaining my situation to the airport manager, he told me, to my great surprise (and delight!) that there was a gentleman who had a flying RV-12 in a hangar at the airport. As he kindly gave me his name, I contacted Kim Michell the next day and we had the opportunity to meet right away at my cabin. The RV-12 is the second plane he has built. He built and owned a Falco for several years before building the RV-12 in the last 2 years. Before returning to Raleigh I visited his hangar and saw his nice yellow RV-12. We will have more opportunities to discuss our common interests during my upcoming trips to West Jefferson. I have never imagined I would find an RV-12 owner at Jefferson airport as, in Raleigh, the closest RV-12 flying is more than 1 hour drive away in Carthage.

Here are the pages I have been through during the last three weeks

On Page 31-7, I could only do steps 1, 2, 5 and 8 because I know that the other steps will have to be modified for the Skyview as they are currently designed for the Dynon D100 glass cockpit. I am facing this issue now constantly as I am progressing on the wiring and I am afraid that soon I will have lots of loose end wiring all over. I need to beef-up the documenting on these incomplete steps, on the instructions as well as on the lose wires in limbo themselves.

Section 31: "Doin some wirin"...

2011-08-10T19:03:00.005-04:00

... As they say in the south!
Just started Section 31:

So, we are starting a new job as an electrician, new challenges, frustrations followed by small victories: this is the life of the VANs kit builder.
After a false start and messing-up a few terminal tabs and terminal blocks with Anne, we decided to skip this page:

Reason to skip the page: Vans has come with a better solution to connect the wing wiring to the fuselage, i.e., a connector rather than the terminal blocks which have been a source of bad contacts with or without wings removal. I confirmed with Vans support that I can skip these steps, waiting for the retrofit which will come with the Skyview release in September.
Page 3 has a lot in it but little challenge.

Page 4, business as usual!

Page 5: Step 2 skipped, pending wing connector as explained earlier
Nothing real tricky, except for the fuel pump clamp attachment in step 4: tight quarters! You will need a special wrench and more...

Page 6:
This is the notorious issue of the Reed Switches that control that the wing stoppers are correctly latched, after wing install. There has been lots of posting on the subject in VAF Forum and I was expecting trouble. Guess what? Here is my VAF Forum final post on the subject after going through this ordeal:

I just spent the last two hours doing step 4, the testing of the reed switches. I was concerned after reading all what was posted on this tricky step and, sure enough, once everything was in place according to instructions, nothing was working. Reading the many postings on this issue did not clarify a lot what the issue is as there is a mix of problems mentioned, including those related to the first kits that got a retrofit later. I got a good lead when I read that it was useful to position the reed switch without the clamp. This allowed me to find out that the switch was kept too far from the arm rest by the cushion clamp. I just removed the rubber on both sides of the clamp where it contacts the arm rest and I reshaped the clamp to fit flat against the arm rest and lo and behold, this did the trick for both sides!

I saws that some enlarged the hole and even pushed the switch housing through the hole: no need to do that in my case. I just removed the 1/8 inch of casing indicated in the instructions so that the top of the casing aligns with the center of the hole of the switch. For the rest I followed the instructions.
I hope this will settle the questions raised about the engineering of this safety device: the only problem is the clamp and it is easy to fix.

Here is a picture of the modified clamp with the reed switch inserted:
Note that there is enough rubber left on the clamp to squeeze the reed switch gently but firmly

Look Ma, no Brakes!

2011-08-06T12:28:00.045-04:00

It's what I could have said if I had proceeded with the finishing kit so, what happened?
After starting the wiring section with Anne, my favorite helper, I had to go back into the fuselage section to look-up some details. Oh! surprise! I discovered that I had missed a couple of pages that are dealing with the brakes plumbing. I had found bizarre to have 2 coils of plastic pipes left at the end of the fuselage works plus a few plumbing fixtures but did not worry because I thought that brake plumbing was done when the wheels are assembled in the finishing kit: wrong!
Once again, brake plumbing is a new learning curve to negotiate, different from gas plumbing because the fixtures are not the same. More later once I emerge from this new challenge.
Here are the pages I skipped:

Comments following completion of these brakes tasks:
The major difficulty is getting the fittings set-up as indicated in the first 3 steps of page 27-04. The problem stems from the fact that the plastic tubes have not a consistent inside diameter. For some the brass insert will go in easily for some it's impossible to push it in, even after dunking in boiling water if the sleeve is positioned as indicated. Here is my solution: I slide the sleeve further back and use the nut to push both the sleeve in position and the insert into the tube, whichever comes first. The rest of the job went well, I had only one question left about torquing the compression fittings after they installed are finger tight. Tony Tessitore reminded me that section 5 specifies page 5-12 to add one more turn after finger tight screwed: always read section 5 when dealing with new technology/process... and thanks Tony!

Finishing Kit Finally Here!

2011-07-29T09:05:00.014-04:00

Delivery came late in a 105 deg day, I felt for the truck driver (he got a good tip).
I just opened the crate before calling it a (good) day.

This is an imposing crate:

Once open, it looks just half full!

Most of the space is taken by the canopy and cowlings (tucked under canopy)
A bit disappointing for the most expensive sub-kit so far... but a lot of manufactured components that would be really tough to make myself: plexiglass canopy, lower and upper fiber glass cowlings, wheels and tires, wheels struts etc...
And this is just the start of the big ticket items!

On to the inventory.

Something wrong with my wing tip nav light fairings?

2011-07-24T16:09:00.001-04:00

Waiting for the finishing kit I keep busy working on the lighting kit. I discovered a suspicious asymmetry between the right and left fairing's scribe lines (these are the lines carved into the fiberglass showing the location of the rivets and the Molex connector openings). In the picture below I have outlined the scribe lines to make them visible on both extensions showed side by side (right on right).

This does not look right to me.
Answer from the VAF Forum: The fairings are OK. The lights mount one with wires up...one with wires down

RV-12 Builder's Web Sites

2011-07-23T09:29:00.006-04:00

I don't think this list exists anywhere. I built it by going through every RV-12 Builder Site I was able to locate. A long and cumbersome task that I am happy to share with you.
This July 2011 update added a few flying RV-12 and remove failed links.
Let me know about updates I missed, please!

↑ Means this baby is flying!

Marty's RV-12 ↑

Jim Olson - Experimental Aircraft Builder's Log ↑

John Peck - Experimental Aircraft Builder's Log ↑

Vans RV-12 Build Site - Build12.co.uk

Jerry Greenberg's Build Log of Van's RV-12 LSA ↑

Tony Tessitore RV-12 ↑

TonyTessitore's RV-12 Project N577RV Galleries ↑

http://www.schmetterlingaviation.com/
Hangarworkshop

YouTube - JerryG150's Channel

Alan Gilmore

Jeff’s RV-12 Builder’s Log

RV-12 construction photos - Jim Cone - Picasa Web Albums ↑
Picasa Web Albums - Jim Cone ↑

KLewis Jackson, OH,

N439CF; Ron's RV-12 » DISCLAIMER

Jeffrey Emmick - Experimental Aircraft Builder's Log

SLANE RV-12

Keith Lee - Experimental Aircraft Builder's Log

Arthur Pennanen - Experimental Aircraft Builder's Log

YouTube - 950 Hours Build Time So Far on Van's RV-12 ELSA

Joes RV 12 A Builders Log of Vans LSA Light Sport Aircraft Experimental

Vans RV-12 Build Site - Build12.co.uk

Joeri van Veen - Experimental Aircraft Builder's Log
Keith Boardman's Kitlog ↑

Torsten's RV-12
RV-12 Build by Chis Lucier
Rudi Greyling's RV-12 Pages (South African group)
Ronald chisholm Web Site

Rob and Haruko RV-12 N73HR

Mark Misage's Blog
Don Geneda RV-12 Kit Log
Markus Bootle (Australia)
Craig's RV-12 Build
Pieter Morssink's kitlog
Alex Roup's build log
Carl's RV-12 Build Log
Dan Wright's Kit Log
Bill Hollifield building picture gallery

...And Vieille Burette, my own!

As of February 2, 2011 there were 500 RV-12 Kits sold and 115 RV-12 Flying.
Not all builders have a web site but there is a list with pictures of some the RV-12s now Flying here

The Skyview upgrade gets clearer

2011-07-20T11:29:00.003-04:00

Now, here is some meat:
(Be patient, it takes time to load this detailed presentation)
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vansaircraft.com%2Fpublic%2FFaceBook%2FRV-12ElectricalSystem-Skyview.pdf&h=OAQBE1S4g

Vans not only provides a great product with Skyview, they use the opportunity of the retrofit to make improvements in the engineering of the avionics plus an unrelated improvement of the wing electric wiring connector that had been subject to criticism by RV-12 owners. It was really worth the wait! Thanks team VANs!

Section 29 done, Fuselage over!

2011-07-11T22:51:00.003-04:00

It went faster than expected, reason: as I will install the Dynon Skyview there is no point working on the instrument panel which will be changed from what I received in the fuselage kit. I will not know more about the Skyview retrofit until VANs releases the Skyview as the E-LSA certified RV-12 glass cockpit.
Here are pictures that proof that the fuselage kit is complete.

My daughter Anne came to help me finishing the fuselage kit. She is tapping the screws for the aft window in the roll bar

Anne was the first to sit in the pilot's seat. Not having a pilot license, she abstained to make airplane noises which I feel entitled to do since I am a licensed sport pilot!

This is the unfinished instrument panel, still having the old Dynon instruments cutouts and candidate for scrap.

A few words about the finishing kit: As the delay announced by VANs had elapsed without news of the delivery, I called and was flabbergasted to learn that they had not received my confirmation and therefore not shipped! After checking, I indeed found out that I had forgotten to send back the confirmation note that VANs had sent me after receiving my order (and taking my $3K deposit). You would think that VANs would call when not receiving the form after a few weeks... I guess they have enough business and are not trying hard to get more? Anyway this has been corrected and the shipment is supposed to take place this week. It's not a big deal as the Skyview retrofit will likely take a couple of months to become available, I will have plenty of time to work on the finishing kit. Still, in these days and times, I am surprised that VANs is not trying harder to get their stuff out of the factory; we are talking of a $7K check hanging on a low branch and they make no effort to pick it up! I wonder if it's good or bad news?

Page 29-04

2011-07-05T19:58:00.000-04:00

I have been on this page for several days but this included the 4th of July weekend. I got to step 12 today with little damage despite the large number of parts to cobble together with all sorts of rivets. I also spent some time on sealing the firewall, that I had skipped to find out the best way to do it with minimum mess. the sealant we use is very gooey, it has a tendency to go everywhere but where it's supposed to go. I found a syringe was convenient to spread a fine bead of sealant. Now I am ready for riveting the shelf to the upper firewall tomorrow.

Skyview update

2011-07-03T15:29:00.000-04:00

Today we had the confirmation that the Skyview update has been completed on the factory S-LSA prototype on which I will receive transition training later this year. The photos below were taken at EAA 105's breakfast Saturday morning at Stark's Twin Oaks.

Section 29: FWD Upper Fuselage

2011-07-02T10:09:00.001-04:00

This is the last fuselage section, after that I will start the finishing kit (which BTW has not yet been delivered, looks like VANS is late, may be because of the work they do on the Skyview).

What's at stake here is what you have in front of you when you are sitting in the plane, looking forward; it includes the instrument panel without the instruments which will come with the avionics kit.

Page 29-02
Back into the hinge cutting business. Got to be careful as VANs does provide just enough piano hinges, you cannot afford to waste any. I actually anticipated on future needs long ago and reserved the lengths needed by marking the parts with their destination.
Step 2: surprise! When fitting F1201-J on F1201-H, I find that if I align the edges as indicated on the drawing, F1201-J cannot cover the last hole. Called VANs who recognized that they were 1/2" short. When I suggested that sliding the hinge 1/4" allowed to cover the last hole, they told me that they liked my solution and most importantly that I would be able to fit the cowling hinge to match my change.
The rest of page 02 is lots of part deburring, countersinking, nutplates riveting: a long tedious process but what do you know, it's what plane building is about... and I find it more fun than plumbing anyway!

Page 29-03
Sealing the firewall with tank sealant: nasty stuff, messy job but someone's got to do it.
More parts cutting, deburring...

Page 29-4: Many parts involved, a mix of dimpling and countersinking, got to be carefull. I am progressing very slowly, checking and rechecking as any mistake I have made I will have under my eyes during flight. The instructions are not very helpful like step 5: what are the "fastener locations that will get flush screws"? The answer is probably in the finishing kit that I have not received yet.

Section 28 Fuel System

2011-06-26T07:51:00.002-04:00

This is quite a new ball game: back to school to learn plumbing which explains why, though I worked on this section for the last three weeks I did not have time to blog. Actually at the time I am writing this section 28 is over but I want to provide some highlights of the difficulties I faced for the other builders.
This is what's at stake:

It's just two lines: the main fuel line and the fuel return line.
So, what's the catch?
Learning how to bend with the tube bender, learning how to flare with the tube flaring tool, learning the names of the fittings by identifying them on the drawings and digging into the parts drawers to find them...
First thing I did was research the VAF forum about this section. The results were not too encouraging. One guy started saying "first order an additional 6 ft of aluminum tube, you will need it". There are indeed many ways to waste the just enough aluminum tubing that comes with the fuselage kit, for example: do the flaring before inserting the fittings on the tube or inserting the flaring in the wrong direction, do the flaring before inserting the tube through the proper snap bushing, and more...

I started with Page 28-02:

My first challenge was the "pipe thread sealant" mention in step 1. OK, I know what a thread sealant is but in aviation there are often special requirements that force you to order online to aviation parts suppliers. My research led me to choose "Permatex with PTFE" because it works both on fuel and brake lines and it is available in local car parts stores. The fuel valve riveting was a bit challenging because it's not possible for one person to reach both sides of the bottom skin. I manage to block the valve in position with a 2X4 and was able to push the rivets in without pushing the valve out... after a few tries.
Then starts the real plumbing business with bending, flaring and all that jazz!

There is another challenge with the bending tool that came with the Avery tool kit: the radius of the bends does not fit the radius on the drawings. This is particularly a problem with the small 1/4" return fuel line. As a result the lengths of tubing indicated in the instructions are not adequate and need to be adjusted. Page 4 is quite a challenge because of the length of the pipe that has to be fed through the bulkhead and several bushings: this snake does not get tamed easily!

After page 4, page 5 is a piece of cake... well with the exception of the AN 819 fitting that I inserted with its thread sealant before attaching the gascolator to the firewall: always read the instructions carefully

With Page 6, the return line is a tad easier to manage because of its smaller diameter of 1/4" but it's a long one and quite a bit of bending/unbending is required along the way.

Now for the results of this long fight:
This is the arrival at the firewall with the fuel flow transducer in red

The fuel valve

The fuel pump

That's all folks for the fuel system... well, I still have to torque all the flared fittings and check for fuel leaks but before that I will have to build the fuel tank, oh noooo!
And by the way, I did not need to order more aluminum tubing: tada!

27-03 Rudder Pedals installed ... and testing steep turns

2011-06-13T21:40:00.000-04:00

The installation of the rudder pedals assembly is a bit tricky and requires some contortion because there is little room to operate wrenches. After one hour of work, here is what I got:

Then on to the brake plumbing but before we need to put this baby on its side.
Testing steep turn!

During flight training I never exceeded 45 degrees in steep turns, here I went all the way to 90 degrees, no help needed, just safety lines attached to the rafters.

Section 27 : Rudder Pedals & Brake System

2011-06-12T21:12:00.028-04:00

Putting the rudder pedals together took the whole day. I had problems getting the brake pedals working smoothly, until I figured that the nut fastening the master cylinders to the torque tube should be left loose. This nut is a castle type and is locked with a cotter pin. Despite this I still had one master cylinder operating rough. The reason was a 1/4 inch gap between the master cylinder head and the flange of the torque tube. I bent the flange to bring it in contact with master cylinder and this solved the problem.

Section 26 Started...

2011-06-11T08:18:00.000-04:00

... and completed. It's about the seat backs, there is nothing to it but deburring, priming, riveting... the usual. Now I can sit in my plane and make airplane noise!

Done with Section 25

2011-06-09T17:04:00.000-04:00

Well, almost as I have to postpone Step 5 of page 25-05 (see picture below) because the bit #36 needed to match drill the holes in the roll bar is absent of the tool kit.

I will have to shop for this uncommon bit size, likely on line.

Tailcone Attached, Aft Window Clecoed

2011-06-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

Back to building after the hiatus of my checkride.
I was able to attach the tailcone to the fuselage without too much trouble. The alignment was easy thanks to my shortened EAA table (see earlier post) combined with the regular EAA table that I did not modify. The instructions from VANs were helpful. When the mating was done I just hung the tailcone with a sling to the ceiling's rafters.
The Aft Window installation was not that well documented and I had to go to VAF forum and make a search to find out the best method. The difficulty stems from the fact that the window comes as a flat polycarbonate sheet that has to be shaped to fit. The solution that is not documented in the instructions consists in Clecoing first the aft holes and progress toward the front. here are two pictures that sum up the process:
First hold the sheet folded with strings attached to the roll bar

Then start clecoing the aft holes to the turtle neck:

Finally the Aft Window is in place:

I Got my Ticket!

2011-06-02T21:39:00.010-04:00

As of June 2, 2011, I am a Sport Pilot. Here is a picture with my DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner) Zenda Liess, just after the checkride

And one with my CFI, Adam Bowers

I also want to commend my Flight School B-Bar-D Aviation a family business owned by Doug and Betty Hempstead who are also the owners of the Allegro brand. They are currently restarting the manufacturing of the Allegro LSA in North Carolina.

I am forever indebted to N 50631, the Allegro on which:

I had my first discovery flight (with Ross)
I made all my student mistakes (despite Ross and Adam!)
I flew my first Solo
I flew my first Cross Country Solo
And finally I got my ticket!

And now let the RV-12 building resume!

VANs Announce the Skyview on RV-12

2011-05-26T17:39:00.007-04:00

It is on their facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vans-Aircraft-Inc/121827541221519
But with no firm date! Speculation is that it will take until Oshkosh for the complete product release. In the mean time I can gawk at my future instrument panel:

With the Skyview no need for GPS or transponder, it's all included!
The up side: there is room on the panel for steam gauges, hurray!
(just don't put them in before your A/W certificate is issued)

EAA Chapter 1114 Restoring Stits Skycoupe

2011-05-26T15:08:00.003-04:00

I decided to be part of the project.
Details on the blog http://eaa1114.blogspot.com
You will likely find some commonality with this blog!

Done with Section 24

2011-05-22T19:19:00.001-04:00

And it shows! I now have something that looks like a plane in my workshop.
Unfortunately this does not leave a lot of room to work around. Advice to prospective builders: my shop is 14ftX24ft. I think 18ftX32ft would take me further before renting an airport hangar which will add the burden of commuting to the cost.

OK, I cheated a little, the tailcone is not attached yet but this gives a good idea of the size of the plane (minus wings and tail feathers!)

Front view:

All being the result of the following pages:

voila

Stits vs RV-12: and the winner is....

2011-05-20T19:58:00.004-04:00

Here is a side by side comparison of the specs and performance of the two planes and do not hold your breath:
(You will be able to read better if you click on the picture to enlarge)

Plane move training

2011-05-19T18:36:00.008-04:00

I consider this as a training for when it is time to move my RV-12 out of my workshop
Our EAA chapter 1114 got a donation of a Stits Skycoupe airplane by member Tom Hall. We had to move the plane which was never finished from WWW airport to Cox. We worked as a team under the leadership of Master Plane Mover Terry Gardner who is also an EAA tech adviser. Here are the pictures of the movers and of the moved:

Section 24 on the way

2011-05-18T21:44:00.007-04:00

Although I spent quite some time lately in my shop, I somewhat neglected to report on my progress. As you can see, section 24 is all about the rollover structure over which the canopy will set. The rollover assembly made of thick aluminum profile reinforced by two doublers is supposed to protect the pilot in case the plane flips. Lots of deburring, countersinking, priming and riveting for a small amount of material. Very little progress visible for a long time which explain my lack of motivation for posting.

I had a hard time fitting the rollbar assembly into the base because I was 1/4 inch short in width. I had to use a clamp to stretch the rollbar more open. Once the rollbar was positioned over the lower fuselage it looked like this:
Doing the step 3 of page 24-3 meant that for match drilling the holes facing inside the fuselage I had to climb into my plane for the first time!
... then I had to undo everything to debur the holes of the rollbar base and prime the bases.

This is where I stand tonight. Tomorrow I will put the rollbar in place for the last time, hopefully.

Done with Section 23

2011-05-04T18:44:00.004-04:00

That is the lower section of the fuselage. I had the satisfaction to fabricate and install the cute vent doors that are, in VANs tradition low drag, see the pictures:
Here door in closed position:

Here in the opened position:

To work on the upper fuselage I had to shorten one of my EAA tables:

Pages 23-03, 04, 05, 06 Completed

2011-05-01T14:31:00.005-04:00

I have have neglected this blog and have to make up now. To my defense, these three pages did not present any big challenge, just some cumbersome process and adjustments that are not worth elaborating because each builder will have to go through them on his own term.

Just for the sake of good recording, let's display these pages.

Page 23-03:

Page 23-04:

Page 23-05:

Page 23-06: By far the most challenging because it's where everything comes together. Some filing was necessary to get the longeron flush with the roll bar attach plate. VANs asked for making everything aligned but does not specify how to do it. After analyzing the problem it became clear that a bit of filing was required. Filing being irreversible you always want to tip-toe into it, think twice and file once!

And here is where I stand now:

Rear View:

Front View:
You see the side skin with the openings for the wing. Unfortunately the opening for the wing spar is barely visible even when enlarging. It was created in page 23-05 by cutting into the skin with... snippers!
Note the step at the bottom of the fuselage. It will be used to step into the plane with the wing as the next step before stepping inside.
In the front is the lower part of the firewall.

In summary, I have the lower half of the fuselage completed, next comes the roll bar structure for the upper half.
For the anecdote a passer-by asked me if I was building a boat and it's true that at this stage the fuselage looks more like a boat, albeit an expensive and unduly complicated one!

Done with page 23-02 and the Longerons

2011-04-16T21:13:00.004-04:00

I even spent some quality time with my freshly minted Longerons

The hard part was the bending of the last 6" at a 4 degree angle.
I have the feeling to have gone through an initiation after spending almost a week on this page 23-02.
BigJohn method worked well but what helped most is that I bought a 2 pounds rubber mallet. The one I was using was half that. The instructions are not very clear in this regard: what is a "Heavy Soft Face Hammer"? Even so, I still discovered a few things: when you are finished bending the end to the right 4 deg. angle, you find out that the end is also bending downward. You then unbend it upward to find out that it is now bent only 3 deg... etc
This thing has a life of its own!
When eventually I was finished, it dawned on me that I had marked the beginning of these 6" ending the longeron with the initials of "Start Of Bend", the term used by VANs and I found it was very appropriate!

Section 23 Started but....

2011-04-13T21:35:00.011-04:00

... In the last couple of days I had to fight a battle on two fronts:

I worked on the infamous Longerons bending, a well known ordeal requiring patience and lots of concentration

My laptop died on me, without warning, leaving me naked in the middle of my tax filing entirely relying on Turbo Tax

I am glad to have emerged from these battles with no loss and confident about the future of this project. I am writing this on my new laptop, a cheap HP Pavillion, after finishing tonight my two longerons bending. I have been lucky, first to have a back-up only 1 month old and that the disk of my dead laptop was intact, allowing me to recover it's content (with the help of the "Geek Squad" from Best Buy).

As fort the Longerons, here is page 23-02:

I avoided the crude method of bending described above by VANs and requiring lots of banging. After reading about the hardship of some fellow builders with the hammering, I bought a Longeron Die which allows to do the bending in a vise. It is still a cumbersome painstaking process because a great precision is needed to conform to the curve on the template. It took me two days to do the two longerons because of the learning curve (pun intended!). I could now do one in 1 hour... too late!

I still have a problem with a "straight bend" at the end that I can't do with the Die. I need to consult the VAF Forum.

Done with section 22

2011-04-10T13:06:00.002-04:00

I did the lower firewall sealing with the Firemaster sealant I received from VANs. What I received was not what I expected in term of usage. It is a dispenser that requires to mix the full content which was about 10 times what I needed. I dismantled the dispenser and did a mixing of only what I needed. Messy but doable! The question is: will the unmixed left over be still usable when I need it? Overnight the mix cured well, I was impressed that the unused mix popped out of the cup providing me a flexible molding of the cup!

Page 22-05

2011-04-08T18:00:00.003-04:00

No need to turn the assemblies upside down to do the job as the picture would suggest. There are not that many rivets that riveting from below is painful. The mating of the Forward Assy to the Mid Assy was not too tricky, just a few push & tugs. One problem you will face is the rivets on each side of the steps cannot be set without unscrewing the steps. No big deal, takes only 10 minutes. You may waste more time figuring out how to rivet around the steps. I went through a few builder's sites looking for hints until I found that Marty mentioned the problem and the solution.
I am done with section 22, except for the ProSeal application and riveting of the lower firewall shelf. I hope to receive the ProSeal late today if UPS makes the 2 days shipping from VANs.
Here is how my plane looks now:

Are not the steps inviting to climb in?

Sight Glass + Fuel Tank in cockpit = Bad Mix?

2011-04-07T22:04:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I had the visit of a neighbor pilot, just back from Sun'n Fun. While I was telling him about my mulling of the Gas Tank option and that I was concern about getting a good seal around the sight glass, he told me the following scare he had in his aerobatic Christen Eagle a few years ago:
He was flying with a passenger in the front seat about 13 miles from RDU. His passenger told him he was smelling gas and shortly after he too started smelling gas. Then the passenger told him he was seeing gas dripping at his feet just under where the gas tank is located in the Eagle. He called an emergency, cut all power leaving only ignition and started climbing, waiting for the engine to starve at any time and trying to get enough altitude to glide to RDU. He managed to land on runway 23 with the fire trucks waiting... very, very soft landing! By this time 6 gallons of gas had dumped on the floor of the cockpit. There was a crack in the sight glass of the gas tank. He later found out that there was an AD for the Pitts which is the certified version of the Eagle. This AD required to change the sight glass every 4 years - his was 20 years old and as the Eagle is Experimental this AD had been missed by the previous owner.
This enlightening story led me to decide to build the tank rather than buy the pre-built tank. Although this might seem counter intuitive, here is what I think:
- There is no way to predict if a problem similar to the Pitts' AD will happen on the RV-12. Likely VANs was careful choosing the plastic use for the sight glass and the way it is fastened. However the oldest -12s have 2 years of flying and are not that many.
- In case problems arise in the future I will be in better shape taking care of the fix if I built the tank myself.
- I might well, as several -12 builders have already done, decide not to wait for a problem to close the sight glass window and put a mechanical level sensor. Here again having built the tank will make things easier.
Conclusion: I will order my finishing kit without the prebuilt tank option.

ago

Page 22-03 & 22-04

2011-04-07T21:55:00.003-04:00

Completed page 22-03, except that I am waiting for the ProSeal to rivet the Firewall shelf.

Page 22-04:
This is an easy page, done in less than one hour.

Page 22-03

2011-04-06T11:50:00.002-04:00

The first thing I notice: need some Pro Seal. This time I cannot use "great stuff" as I did for sealing the foot step in section 21. After investigating VAF and EAA 1114 for the best source, I ordered a small quantity from VANs, will take two days to arrive. This investigation brought back the question of the option of buying the fuel tank prebuilt as it is the main user of ProSeal. Still pondering the option with just a couple of weeks left before ordering the finishing kit. The question I have to answer is: Do I trust myself more than the guys that will build the fuel tank for me if I put down the $400 extra for the option?
Do I? Do I?

Answer later...

Done with page 22-02...

2011-04-06T11:32:00.002-04:00

... and my take on it: it's not for sissies!
There are a few errors or omissions but they are pretty trivial like not mentioning to dimple a platenut or countersink a rivet hole that is matched by a dimpled hole. No big deal for a builder that has reached this phase alive. The problem is that VANs made the economy of several pictures and instead offers only depiction of the assembly once completed. The trap is that if you rivet some parts in the wrong order you will have to undo it (don't ask me how I know). I will not offer any hint beside the obvious: go slow and read instructions twice before doing anything irreversible. If you understand well how the whole thing comes together ahead of riveting you will be in good shape
Actually this page is a great initiating process, if you get through unscathed (or like me with minimal damage to your ego...) you are good for the rest of the build.
Now let's proceed to the next page.

Starting Section 22

2011-04-04T12:43:00.004-04:00

This is what section 22 is about:

Page 22-02
Has bad reputation among builders and for good reasons. Here are Builders Web sites links documenting the problems:
Marty's RV-12
Schmetterling Aviation
Also searching for Page 22-02 on VAF may be helpful.

s

Page 21-20 and End of Section 21!

2011-04-03T21:24:00.003-04:00

It may look simple but you will likely face the two problems I had:

- The system block studs are fastened with tiny nuts (MS21042-08) that require a 7/32 wrench. These wrench are not commonly found: Lowes does not carry them neither Auto Zone etc... At Sears I found a Midget Wrench set of good quality for $20. You probably can buy only one wrench at a specialty store online but with the shipping cost you will not do much better.

- You cannot fasten the studs without help and it will be easier if you tilt the fuselage on its side.

Finished my Plane!

2011-04-01T09:14:00.004-04:00

I'm done with my build, I quickly painted it in blue and flew to Sun'nFun where you can see it on the picture

April's Fool Day!!!!!

Page 21-19

2011-03-31T15:49:00.002-04:00

Step 4 is a bit tricky as the lighting hole is quite undersized for my hands:

This is the lighting hole:

This is my hand in the lighting hole:

Actually only 2 fingers will fit, tough to hold the nutplate in place

You need lots of trials and patience but you can do it!

Working on my 2010 Tax Filing

2011-03-31T11:20:00.002-04:00

What more do I need to say?
Yes, I know, at some point I will have to pay the NC sales tax on my -12...

Pages 21-17 / 21-18

2011-03-30T15:36:00.005-04:00

Nothing particular with these two pages, just the typical cycle of small parts manufacturing, riveting and deburring. Interesting to see the steps attached although there is not yet a lot to step into this fuselage.

For Step 9 Page 21-17, I did not seal the openings with the gas tank sealant because I don't intend to build the gas tank now that it is an option factory built. I used "Great Stuff" which worked great, as advertised!

Why Vieille Burette?

2011-03-27T10:38:00.004-04:00

Someone looking at this Blog may wonder why this title. I explained it at the beginning but this explanation is now buried deep: Here it is

A mystery visitor

2011-03-26T14:39:00.003-04:00

This is a quiz for EAA 1114 chapter's folks: can you identify this mystery visitor who invested one rivet (just labor, not material!) in my plane?

Page 21-16 : I hit the bottom!

2011-03-24T21:13:00.005-04:00

This is what's at stake:

First challenge, there is a gap of about 1/4 inch between the holes of the skin and the holes of the ribs over the baggage compartment (lower half on the picture). After analysis, this is caused by the assembly sitting on the table with both ends pushing up. Having the assembly resting on a 2X4 positioned in the middle tunnel allowed the baggage area to bend enough to adjust for the gap.
I clecoed the bottom skin before completing step 2. This allowed to work on a stable skin while riveting the nutplates.
After hitting the bottom I see nutplates hell!
There are four nutplates per access hole, 5 access holes time 2 rivets: a total of 40 AN 426 rivets to set with the squeezer. First let's get orbganized, the AN426 rivets are easy to set so I don't need my handle extensions which makes the squeezer lighter to handle. Second I need to inspect the nutplates under the skin to see if they are well positioned before riveting and to check the rivets once they are set. here is how this is done:

I lock the nutplate with a self locking miniplier and inspect below with a miror before and after squeezing.
Here is the result one hour and 20 nutplates later:
If you enlarge you will see the 4 nutplates around each hole.

Now I'm ready to rivet the bottom skin but it's too late so I will call it a day, a day in which I hit bottom, saw nutplate hell and survived to face more building challenges... tomorrow

Page 21-15 Let's go upside down!

2011-03-23T22:42:00.004-04:00

All page steps done in half a day. Just needed help from Michèle to turn the fuselage upside down.

And here is the result:

Page 21-13 & 14: I'm in control!

2011-03-22T22:26:00.007-04:00

Page 21-13: Another nice riveting run with nutplates and all kinds if rivets. One missed nutplate that forced to drill out the AN 426, easy! Just watch out that the rivet is going through the nutplate hole!

Page 21-14
Here things get interesting.
Inserting the two washers on each side of the control column mount assembly is a challenge because of the tight space. The solution: glue the 2 washers with super glue, then you have only one super washer to slide in. The instruction is not very helpful with their suggestion to use tabs (what is it?) or tape - give me a break!

Here is the tight space where you can see my super washers

As far as I am concerned, I'm happy with the result.
The control column is secured.

Yes, now I am in control!

A full day of Aviation "sans" building!

2011-03-19T08:37:00.004-04:00

First, our monthly meeting of the EAA Chapter 1114 with guest speaker from the USDA's Wildlife Services. Subject : Wildlife conflicts at Airport. We even got a brochure titled "Strike One - You're Out"! Not very encouraging but a good attention getter. Nice weather too so many airplanes at Cox field, scattering in all directions after the meeting to enjoy their first Spring fling.
I left Cox field by car :-( for Carthage's Gilliam Mc Connell air field where a ceremony was planned for the inauguratioin of a memorial for Jame Mc Connell a hero pilot from World War I who originated from Carthage. Here is what I wrote for the folks of the chapter who could not attend:

Finally the commemorative plaque sent by France in 1917 to honor the sacrifice made by James Mc Connell when he was shot down during 1rst World War found a home today. Roland Gilliam acting as MC did a great job keeping this dedication low key but dignified. A few local dignitaries made thoughtful remarks about Mc Connell's dedication and courage in his fight for freedom on a voluntary basis at a time the USA was not yet at war. An historian of 1rst World War gave us details about Mc Connell's last combat: previously wounded with a broken back, he left the hospital incompletely healed: His mechanics had to haul him into his plane. This probably hampered his capability to locate enemy planes coming from behind.
I was probably one of a few that could read the writing (in French) on the plaque and I felt good that such a hero was recognized so early by France (prior to his demise he had been already awarded the "Croix de Guerre" the highest award for courage in time of war).
As a coincidence, and well noted by one of the speakers, President Sarkozy showed leadership today on the Libyan theater. I hope this will help bury the bad feelings created when Chirac prevented the overfly of France some thirty years ago by USAF fighters on a mission to punish (already!) Qaddafi.

Kent Misegade, our peppy EAA chapter president took pictures of the event which was accompanied by an airshow including a missing man fly over formation. By the way I learned at this memorial the origin of "Gone West", a term used for announcing a deceased pilot: during the missing man formation, the plane which breaks formation symbolizing the missing man usually goes West.

Page 21-12 : not a bad day after all!

2011-03-18T18:41:00.006-04:00

This page entails lots of riveting with several types of rivets and therefore several riveting tools. The Avery squeezer was used with several rivet sets, almost the whole gamut.
Not a lot of challenges, only a few rivets tricky to squeeze, mostly nutplate rivets located close to obstructions leaving little room for the squeezer's head. I continue to be amazed at how a good job my handle extensions of the Avery squeezer perform on AN 470 rivets (if you are not familiar go back to my early postings on the subject). I wonder how other builders cope with this clearly underpowered squeezer with its stock handles.
After a satisfying day (for a builder any day without frustration is a good day!) I was able to leave the workshop early but not before proudly displaying the fruit of my labor. Note that the door of my workshop were open to enjoy this first real spring day with temperatures in the low eighties. (You will need to enlarge the pictures to appreciate the workmanship! :-)

Page 21-11

2011-03-17T19:29:00.003-04:00

Here are the instructions:

And here is the result: see next post

Page 21-10

2011-03-16T22:10:00.006-04:00

Here we go:
Once again, we are going back in the manufacturing mode. Nothing tricky in the first six steps, just lots of deburring and also some prepping as there are three parts of pure AL alloy not Alclad. Also note that the double flush rivets on the control column mount assemblies are not really flush on the shop head side. As long as the rivet is the correct size and the double countersinks are made per the rivet head spec, I don't think this is a problem. In any case I will know later when the assy is installed.
At step 6 I had a problem: there are 4 #30 holes that have to be final drilled at 7/16 and 3/4 of an inch. Could not find any drill bit of this size in my tool kit so I went to Lowe's to buy the corresponding bits - fount the 7/16 but could not find a 3/4. Looking through the alternatives, I locate this unibit which has the sizes I need and I have an epiphany: a unibit is part of the tool kit but I stored it with the countersink/dimple dye tools!Is this what they call a senior moment? May be not, in a real senior moment I would have bought this unibit again! Close call!
Back to the shop, without spending a dime, found the unibit and did the job like a cinch:

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Page 21-08 & 21-09

2011-03-12T21:01:00.004-05:00

At last, all assemblies begin to be stitched together

There is some tricky riveting as there is not enough room for the pneumatic rivet puller:
The hand rivet puller from the Avery tool kit saves the day!

Just enough room once the left and right seat assemblies have been propped up:

This provides just enough room for the manual puller to operate.

Then page 21-09 disaster strikes on step 3!

The An3-24A bolt refuses to screw into the nutplate:

The nutplate is too small for an AN3 bolt, my mistake!
Here is how this mistake happened: the bag containing nutplates had three different sizes that I sorted and put into a drawer:

I thought the sorting was K1000-3 then 4 then 06 by increasing size but the 0 in front of 06 is meaningful which makes the -06 platenut smaller than the K1000-3. I misidentified the K1000-06 as a K1000-3!

The bad news: I have to remove the F1204CL L and R to get access to the platenuts to be replaced (of course I made the same mistake on the right side)
The good news: the two dozen rivets I have to drill out are all pop rivets, easy to drill.

After a couple hours of work everything is A OK and I just feel lucky: the nutplates could have been in a much more difficult to access location

Page 21-07 Completed

2011-03-11T09:19:00.003-05:00

Assemblies of the fuselage are accumulating in my workshop, I am looking forward to stitching them together soon!

Page 21-06 completed

2011-03-10T09:17:00.003-05:00

This page is not problem, except for step 7. If you cut blindly 20" you will be disappointed. Look first at the drawing on figure 4 and you will see that you may have to cut 20 and a half inch, else you will, as I did waste 9 inches of perfectly good hinge stock!

Page 21-04 21-05 Completed

2011-03-09T22:45:00.005-05:00

Now working on the seat ribs, on which I will sit, one day. Lots of small parts to put together:

On page 21-05, step 11 surprise!
As I have the autopilot option, I have to interrupt and branch to section 39

Section 39 page 02:

F-1269 is part of the Autopilot bracket, it has to be riveted to the rib as indicated above.
However there is a problem:

The screw identified as AN525-10R10 showing in yellow on the picture, cannot be installed because of the nutplate installed in the previous step. I had to drill one rivet of the nutplate and rotate it to allow the screw head to pass. You can avoid this trouble by waiting until Page 32-02 to rivet the nutplate. If you don't, drilling the rivet is not a big deal but why undo what you just did? IMHO. VAN should make the change in their instructions.

A Break From Airplane Building...

2011-03-04T09:04:00.001-05:00

... to visit the Cherry Point Marine Corp Air Station with fellow EAA Chapter 1114 members!
Great Time at the best MCAS in the USA: http://www.flickr.com/photos/53928069@N08/sets/72157626074947091/

I also took "pictures of pictures" at the visitor center: I cannot resist grabbing anything related to the Wright Brothers (reminder: Wilbur Wright sounds like "Vieille Burette" in French)
Note: you can enlarge the pictures for more details

Page 21-02 Riveting the Baggage Ribs

2011-03-01T20:20:00.006-05:00

The main difficulty is to rivet the bulkhead to the ribs with the manufactured head on the bulkhead.
The picture shows why (you have to click to enlarge to see the details):
There is no room for the pneumatic riveter between the two walls. Even the manual puller (shown in operating position on the photo) that comes with the standard kit has barely enough room to operate and you have to struggle when you want to open the jaws to slide the rivet stem. I however confirm that contrary to the previous step, it's doable by the average skilled builder that I am.

Page 21-02 Riveting Baggage Floors

2011-03-01T19:54:00.005-05:00

Step 2 is a killer with all the AN 470 solid rivet to squeeze. If you are a novice builder as I am, using the standard tool set, I have bad news for you: there are two rivets that you better not try to set with the 3" yoke that comes with the tool set. These rivets are the AN 470 AD4-10 that are at the outside end of each F-1224. Some builders claim they did it with the 3" yoke but unless you are very skilled, chances are you will, as I did, mess these rivets with it. Just do as I did: borrow a 4" Yoke and you will do the job, as I did, in a cinch. There are no other places where the reach is as tricky it's why I did not invest the $150 for the 4" yoke.
Here are a few pictures that illustrate the problem:

Here the 4" Yoke has room left to position the set correctly while the 3" yoke would touch the F-1204 D and make the positioning marginal on both sides.

The other side where the shop head appears. THe picture taken after the rivet was set shows the flush set easily aligned with the shop head

The job is done and the winner is:

The 4" Yoke!
(kindly lent by Terry Gardner)

Starting Section 21

2011-02-24T19:27:00.004-05:00

Now we are talking!
Feel free to enlarge the picture for details. This section covers 20 pages, when I'm finished with it the weather outside will be much warmer!

Section 20 completed

2011-02-24T19:17:00.003-05:00

Page 20-04: In case you wonder what this one foot long #30 drill bit is used for, here is the answer. This is step 2 where you have to match drill 4 places on the skin stiffeners: there is no clearance for the drill chuck. I am glad I chose to buy the standard tool kit, in this case it saved me a trip to Lowe's. Note that I had to climb on the table. I guess that I will have to saw its legs as most builders did when they worked on the fuselage.

Visit of Denny Smith's RV-12 in Carthage, NC

2011-02-24T18:41:00.006-05:00

I went to see how much Denny's optional interior is covering the floor and sides of the cockpit. I took a few pictures but found out that VAN's web site has much better ones. Anyway I put mine here. Met Denny's plane partner and discussed a few points: priming and painting. They have a nice textured paint for the dashboard so I took a picture of the rattle can they used.

The upholstery gives a very professional look at the interior, you don't have the feeling that you look at an amateur built plane, I believe that it is worth the money.

Denny and his partner have now 6 hours of flight. Clearly the winter weather we had since their first flight in December was not very inviting to take to the air. After my visit I had a sandwich at the Pik'N Pig on the airport and I saw the RV-12 take off with a pretty steep rate of climb.

Anne leaving this morning...

2011-02-22T12:10:00.004-05:00

Back to Alexandria, but not before squeezing some rivets on the central aft bulkhead assembly she helped me put together.
Tough job but she is a tough Gal anyway!

Starting Fuselage Work in earnest!

2011-02-21T15:21:00.004-05:00

It was quite useful to get some help to start this first section of Bulkhead assembly. There are a few questions that pop-up right away because of the complex shape of the bulkhead assembly. They were quickly clarified though by going to the Blogs of my usual (and prefered) suspects John Peck and Marty Santic.

I will comment later

Nice catch, Anne!

2011-02-20T22:21:00.003-05:00

This one was caught by Anne, it is called a flapperon, right flapperon to be exact.
All done in one day, good to get help!
It's now resting with it's brother, the left handed one with the wings in the basement.

One Flapperon Done...

2011-02-18T22:22:00.003-05:00

...the left one, one to go, the right one.
The hardest part was the manufacturing of the brackets and drilling of the counterweight. The skins were comparatively easy to set, lots of pulled rivets though relative to the size. The whole job took a full day. It was the first nice day after a long winter, as you can see I was able to
work with the workshop door open, even after dark: nice!

Riveting of the Actuator Bracket

2011-02-16T19:20:00.007-05:00

This is Page 18-05 step 1

This is a well known challenge because there is not enough clearance for the rivet squeezer's head, even when putting the manufactured head on the side of the leg of the actuator.
For new builders that are just relying on the standard tool kit (mine is from Avery) the question is: is it possible to do the job with the riveting tool provided with the kit (basically 3" hand squeezer and a set of dies including flush sets and one cupped set)?
Answer: yes!
I was able to dot the job by grinding the 1/8" flush set that comes with the tool kit. I also had to put 3 AN960-10 washers ground the same way as the flat set: as the picture on the right shows.

This is the Avery Hand Squeezer equipped for the job: at the bottom the cup set for the manufactured head and at the top the ground Flush set and washers. I did not want to grind the squeezer's head hence the washers.

And a little trick to squeeze the rivets more comfortably:
Put a 2X4 on the leg of the table to block one handle while you push on the other one (of course it helps to have the handle extender on the Avery squeezer)

... And the job done!

The scuffing of the primer is superficial and cannot be avoided easily in such tight quarters. I will polish the surface and redo some priming tomorrow.

Mulling A-909 counterweight priming

2011-02-16T09:21:00.002-05:00

The counterweight is made of stainless steel. It is wrapped around with the Flapperon nose skin as shown in last post pictures. My concern was that the contact between the two different metals: pure AL from the All-clad skin and stainless steel of the tube might be prone to galvanic corrosion. I posted my concerns on VAF at: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=68433
The answer is that there is a possibility so I sprayed the counterweights with the NAPA 7220 self etching primer after scuffing them with a scotchbrite pad. I had to unrivet the A1204 ribs which is no problem as the steel tube is hard enough to take several rivet/unrivet cycles (I am at 2 for the right flapperon!). BTW I'm using a rattle can for the NAPA 7220, very convenient for small jobs like this one.

... And a big mistake is avoided!

2011-02-13T19:32:00.006-05:00

I learned two lessons today:
- VAF is a great forum and provides a priceless support through it's members
- Showing what I am doing in my Blog not only helps other builders but also helps me.

To make my story short, Dave Still who is the builder of RV-12 kit 500 after looking at my flapperons picture of yesterday sent me a message telling me that my flapperons looked identical while they should mirror each other. I immediately realized the mistake I had made and went to my workshop to correct it. I also spent a couple hours bringing the right flapperon at the level of the left one, drilling the counterweight. Here is the picture of the two flapperons in the mirror configuration (compare to yesterday picture)
Close call: thank you Dave Still!

Before:

After:

Note to builders: If you make the same mistake, the correction is simple (provided you have not riveted and drilled the counterweight!): just exchange the inboard A 1204 and outboard A 1204 nose rib on one flapperon (in my case it was the right one). This is all it takes to create the mirror configuration.

On the picture the right flapperon is on the left and the left one on the right

Back to Manufacturing Mode

2011-02-12T23:25:00.005-05:00

Fuselage Inventory over, I'm back completing the manufacturing of the Flapperons. I have completed the 2 actuation and 4 pivot brackets, made from aluminum stock - Lots of sawing, filing, grinding, polishing and finally priming with Napa 7220 self etching primer from a rattle can. The pieces are laying on the table, waiting to be riveted on the frames.
I drilled the counterweight of the left flapperon which is a 4 feet stainless steel cylinder 1.5 inch diameter hidden under the skin on the photo. The silver clecos sticking up are going through the skin and counterweight holes. Tomorrow I will drill the right flapperon counterweight which is in the background

Notes for the builders: Drill these holes on a drill press. The steel is too hard for a hand drill and the bit will drift and you will end up with ovale holes in the skin. Just mark the holes through the skin, then remove the tube and put it in a vise on the drill press. For deburring the holes in side the cylinder you attach a round file on a dowel or a broom stick and remove as much as you can inside the tube. It does not need to be perfect as it is steel, it will not crack if not perfectly deburred. Even on the drill press there is a risk of drill bit drifting: you need to mark the hole with a sharp punch before drilling. Also do the drilling first with a #40 bit and finish with the #30, this will create smaller burrs easier to scrap from inside.

The photo on the right shows how I tapped the pivot brackets: put the tap bit in the drill press and turn the chuck by hand. You can see that I secured two pivots brackets at a time in the vise so that I need not make the vertical alignment for each bracket. Vertical alignment for both the tap bit and the hole to be tapped is critical so you need a good Drill Press Vise.

A few helpful links for the builder

2011-02-12T09:41:00.002-05:00

These are gleaned from builder's sites but are sometimes buried, I thought it would help to regroup them here:
From Joseph D. Rhodes Builders Log (easier to read and more complete than what's in the book from VANs):
Drill Chart
Tap Chart
Bolt Chart
Rivets Chart
Nut Chart
Washer Chart

Vendors

The Fuselage Kit has arrived!

2011-02-08T19:07:00.005-05:00

After being delayed one week by the bad weather in the Midwest the fuselage came it today. I had nobody to help as my best friends Randy and René were away but just as we were carying the box I and the driver, my neighbor Richard barged in, warned of the presence of the truck by his dog. The crate is "just" over 200 pounds, not a big deal for 3 guys.
By mid morning the unpacking was well under way:

The fuselage kit is neatly organized into 10 subkits that are wrapped as bundles plus a dozen individual parts, mostly skins and bulkhead frames.
There is also an impressive amount of hardware as the fuselage contains lots of mechanical components and plumbing for gas and hydraulics.

By late afternoon I started making the inventory, starting with the hardware. There are dozens of little bags neatly sorted with bag numbers, however most bags contains several kind of parts and, of course you have to guess which is what as the individual parts like screws, nuts, nutplates and washers are to small to be individually labelled.
I transfered all bag contents into the drawers of a couple of organizers.

Here is where I stand after spending a second day sorting the hardware and labelling the drawers:

A few bags were containg large parts that did not fit in the drawers and ended up in the six bins above the organizers.
For you new builders, this will give you an idea of the amount of drawers you need for the full plane building process. About a half of the drawers were used by the first two kits (empennage and wings)
Some of the drawers have partitions and hold the content of two bags when the bags have few parts.

I plan to spend a few more hours tomorrow inventorying the subkits.

This is the storage occupied by the fuselage kit. There is surprisingly little on the shelves although some subkits are hidden by the tailcone. I think that parts will spread when I unwrap the 10 subkits. All skins are on the top shelf as well as the rear window of the cockpit and are not very visible on the picture.

Done with the wings!

2011-02-01T19:00:00.005-05:00

(but not yet Gone with the Wind...)
The wings are now out of the way to leave room in the workshop for the fuselage kit which is expected next week.
The storage of the wing is in my basement, by the wine cellar!
(note for the French speaking folks: d'où l'expression "en avoir un coup dans l'aile")

While waiting for the Fuselage, I still have to build the flapperons which are combining flaps and ailerons in the RV-12.

CLOSING OF THE WINGS

2011-01-24T18:26:00.005-05:00

The end of the wings has to be closed with a skin that has a number of tabs which need to be bent before riveting. This picture shows the end skin of the right wing ready for riveting

Note to the builders: Do not cleco the holes located at the bottom on the picture. Start by clecoing and riveting the tabs which are on the top of the picture (the wing is upside down to facilitate the work - this is not mentioned in the VANs instructions). The reason is that, as I mentioned in a previous post about the "sucker flanges", these tabs are soft and can easily be pushed away when you push the rivet in the hole. If this happens, the only way to push the tab back into position is to slide your hand under the skin to reach the run away tab and hold it while you push the rivet in the hole.
In the picture below, the closing of the right wing is completed. Note the clecos remaining in the holes that need to be left open for the installation of the wing tip position light. The light kit was intended as an add on and tells you to remove these rivets, better not to put them in the first place!

Closing of the right wing:
Note the paper taped on the skin to mark each angle at which the corresponding tabs must be bent. The rectangular hole is the handle to hold/lift the wing while the oval hole is the access to the light connector that will be covered with the position light housing.

I postponed the installation of the position light housing because it involves some resin/fiberglass handling that will be done at the time of the fiberglass work on the canopy.

First long Cross Country Solo!

2011-01-20T17:30:00.006-05:00

(Getting closer to the "full Wright Brothers experience"...)

Two hours of flight with three landings: Sanford/KTTA - Burlington/KBUY - Asheboro/KHBI - Sanford. This is a lot of time confined in a tight Allegro cockpit, here is the result at the end of the flight:

I just hope that the RV-12 is more comfortable and easier to fly hands off...
... although I might miss my steam gauges:

But what do I know? I'm just a builder...

Landing light installation completed...

2011-01-18T21:36:00.003-05:00

... And I'm glad it's done: Little fun and lots of aggravation!

Here is the result:

A few tips for the builder as VANS instructions are deficient IMHO :

Forget about doing this installation with the top wing skin closed it's difficult enough to access inside with the skin partly riveted. The instructions from VANs are misleading because they are mute on these accessibility issues. For example when they say "if your hands are big, mount the led unit on the ribs before riveting the ribs. My take: there is no way to screw in the led unit with the ribs riveted, big hands or not.
VANs instruction are mute about the difficulties of working on the plastic lens. The plastic is brittle and you should drill it very slowly, even with the plastic drill bit. Same thing when countersinking the plastic holes. To trim the plastic into the correct dimension, use a band saw with a metal blade, better than the abrasive wheel suggested by the instructions.
You can do the whole installation including the electric connections with the landing light installed on the ribs and the ribs clecoed rather than riveted. If anything goes wrong you can remove the unit and restart.
To mount the lens it is necessary to flex it to make it pass the opening. Absent any tip from VANs it took me several unsuccessful attempts to conclude that it would not get in with its natural shape.

Patient Right Wing Operated On!

2011-01-15T14:58:00.011-05:00

I had to reassure the patient before operating on him that I was not a left wing surgeon.
Given the tools I used, I understand he was apprehensive:

I decided to go with the "Hole cutter" after discussing with Denny Smith who used the same tool for his RV-12 landing light cut-out. Not that I don't trust him, I had a test on a "scrap" part which was none other than the piece of rudder I built during George Orndorff metal working class (sorry George!).

First we make the patient ready and comfortable under the operating gown (which is parchment paper my wife uses for cooking, convenient see through paper to copy the pattern provided by VANs without messing it up):

Then we mark the holes and cutting lines from the marks left by a hard sharp tipped tool pushed through the paper:

Let's cut this skin now!
First pass:

Second Pass:

Now let's use these nice snips and finish the job while the patient is still sleeping...

A couple hours later after most cutting, filing, deburring, drilling, we are fitting the lens:

Slight change to VAN's instructions: as I did not closed the skin above the cut-out I was able to push the lens from behind and secure it with duck tape for the plastic drilling. You can see some of the duck tape on the lens on the picture. As an additional precaution I pushed the lens from behind with one hand while drilling the holes with the other hand.

Right Wing Ready for Surgery...

2011-01-12T10:06:00.003-05:00

Which will be the landing light installation requiring a cutout of the outboard leading edge skin.
I left the leading edges clecoed to be able to access inside after making the cutout for the landing light.

Beware of the Sucker Wing Ribs Flanges!

2011-01-11T12:27:00.006-05:00

What is a Sucker Wing Rib Flange? It is explained in the following picture:

The arrow is pointing to the sucker. You can see that this part of the flange is recessed and carries just one hole: this is what makes it a sucker! What may happen when you push the rivet while riveting the skins of the bottom of the wing (W 1201 L/R) is that the tiny flange which offers little resistance will be pushed and the rivet's shop head will set under it. It happened to me in two places including this one and I was unfortunately too busy correcting this mistake to take a photo before reworking it.
It's only because we were two looking inside the wing after flipping it that we noticed. I'm afraid that it may happen to others who might not notice, hence my warning!

Got Help on the wings!

2011-01-07T17:48:00.003-05:00

Anne came from Alexandria, Va to help me finishing the wings. She provided good help, catching a few problems: having an extra pair of eyes and hands as well as an extra brain definitely get things moving!

Anne is finishing the riveting of the skins of the left wing.

We stored the left wing in the cradle I had built in my basement.

We had some fun taking pictures through the lighting holes of the right wing: Yes it's me, peeping at the other end!

Now it's Anne's turn to peep!

Is this fun or what?

2011 the year my RV-12 flew!

2011-01-01T10:03:00.002-05:00

This looks like a good resolution for the new year although the alternative is not that bad, it's so much fun to build an airplane, especially an RV-12!
Oh, I almost forgot: 2011, the year I got my sport pilot license!
... Not mentioning a big one!
Just an ordinary year, nothing special...

Inspection time

2010-12-29T22:34:00.000-05:00

Before closing the skins on my left wing, I got the visit of EAA technical counselor Terry Gardner from EAA chapter 1114.

The inspection was positive: nothing to rework, workmanship all OK which is gratifying for a first time builder. Terry who is building an RV9 was impressed by the ease and speed of building allowed by the pulled rivets which are the fasteners of choice for the skins of the RV-12. The visit reports are filed with EAA and can be used as reference when an amateur built plane is sold. Being an EAA member has its privileges!

Featuring Bernard Paul, French pilot and flight club manager

2010-12-27T22:49:00.004-05:00

Bernard is a former collègue from Alcatel and a good friend. He is managing the Flight Club in Lannion, France and on the picture below he just took delivery of a brand new plane called APM 30 Lion from Issoire Aviation, a French GA plane builder. This is a VLA (very light airplane) the European equivalent to the US LSA standard (albeit with a max take-off weight of 1654 pounds, allowing the Lion to be a 3 seater).

In July 2007 Bernard took me and my family on a flight over the picturesque Cotes d'Armor in Brittany. This event definitely influenced my decision to go into flying in my retirement years. The plane we used, in the background, is a 4 seater Robin DR-400, also a French made airplane.

White Christmas, kind of...

2010-12-26T09:54:00.030-05:00

This is how my workshop looks the day after Christmas:

With temperatures in the lower twenties, work on the wings is almost frozen in its tracks

Is it rational to work in these conditions?

No, it is not, this is why I have an irrational clock in my workshop, a Christmas gift from my dear wife Michèle (may be a subtle message too?):

It gives the irrational time spent on irrational activities.
Note that the numbers are at the right place on the dial. For example log 9876 = 3.995 which translates: 3 hours 59 minutes and 42 seconds.
For more on irrational numbers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrational_number

Visit of Denny Smith's RV-12 in Carthage, NC

2010-12-15T10:43:00.003-05:00

Kent Misegade, our EAA 1114 chapter president, kindly introduced me to the owner of the first flying RV-12 in the Raleigh region. Denny Smith and partner George Neal built Kit # 120352 in about 9 months, probably a record. They had their first flight December 10 at their field, Gilliam Mc Connell in Carthage, NC. They reported both being thrilled how well the airplane performs and handles. Kent and I had an interesting and rather thorough discussion with Denny, our host about the challenges (there are few) and satisfactions (there are many and more to come) brought by this project. I liked the finish of the interior with carpet, side panels and arm rests that look very professionally made. Denny gave me a couple of useful hints about working on the fuselage: delay riveting the back window to allow access in the baggage compartment which also holds the (should I say infamous?) gas tank. He actually had no problem building the tank but deems the sight glass window (the source of most leaks) not that usable. He also delayed riveting the tailcone to the fuselage until he had to adjust the connections to the empennage, allowing better access to the rear of the fuselage until all work on the fuselage was completed. Here are a few pictures taken by Kent:

N33SN fresh from its maiden flight:

Denny Smith, happy builder:

JP, envious builder:

Trying to make airplane noise :

A neat interior:

Denny and Kent trying to stay warm: