Engine work on

You start with a nice engine out of the box:

And soon, following VANs instructions, you have this:

Because you need to have access under the carburators, intake manifolds and ignition module for the cooling shroud:

At this point the fiberglass has been trimmed and the shroud is ready for final adjustments and gluing with RTV.

All Wrapped-up...

... working around a freshly painted airplane carries it's risks; here is how I addressed it:

Yes, Bubble Wrap!

And now Firewall Forward!

 

 

A bunch of lose wires that will need to go somewhere!

My Baby is back home...

... With a new garment!
Before leaving, the RV-12 is saying good by to his big brother the RV-9 under supervision by Terry, the father of the RV-9:

It was a 45 minutes trip, from Terry's hangar:

via Pittsboro (here negociating a round about): http://youtu.be/7Vzut1XkB4w

To my workshop:

As a coincidence, as I am going to start installing the engine, today VANs issued a Service Bulletin for the Rotax. See: http://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/sb13-2-6.pdf
It is the third service bulletin that hits me just as I am starting to work on the area affected by it: I am a lucky builder!

Painting still in progress...

.... But now the fuselage and canopy are done and I am just completing the Service Bulletin (SB 12-11-09) on the landing gear. We should have the fuselage back on wheels shortly and back to my workshop to mount the engine.

Here are pictures of the progress of the hard work required by the bi-color scheme of the fuselage:

Prior to action, the masking dude is introducing the model to the artist painter Terry, aka Claude Monnet:

Fuselage ready for primer followed by white paint, Mr. Monnet is happy with the shape of his model:

Note the SB skin reinforcements are now white:

Here, in the absence of the masking dude who took refuge in the mountains, Terry starts the work on masking for the blue layer:

Masking for blue has been completed, very little of our model is showing:

The blue has been shot:

... et voilà:

 

Note that during my absence, Noel Fallwell helped for this phase of the painting and also took the pictures. Thank you Noel!

 

Reason for my absence: I was helping Kim Mitchell from Jefferson with his SB. I had earlier borrowed his SB parts that came earlier than mine. Now was time to return them from my own SB parts and give him a hand.

Side skins reinforcement completed

To comply with Service Bulletin 12-11-09 from Vans.
This was a necessary step before completing the fuselage painting. Here are pictures of the skin doublers once installed:

On the left side:

On the right side:

Now we are ready for the paint shop but we will have to wait for milder temperatures to proceed.

Painting in process

Given the time of the year, this process might take longer than usual, however we are well on our way with many small parts like the cowlings, the tail cone fairing, flapperons, rudder, Vertical Stabiliser and anti-servo tabs already done. The big things are still ahead: fuselage and wings.
We took the opportunity forced on us by SB 12-11-09 requiring to remove the Main Landing Gear (MLG) to put the fuselage on a rotisserie concocted by Terry. Here is how it works:
Firewall and tailcone end are attached to rotating supports

This allows to tilt the fuselage while painting, making the painting of the bottom more comforatble for the painter.

Here the fuselage is in the paint booth, waiting for priming.

The cockpit is all taped/masked with plastic sheets that are specially made for gun painting as they will keep the paint mist attached, preventing the mist to turn into invasive dust.
Here is a view of the cockpit with the Skyview under heavy protection:

The preparation is labor intensive and in the Experimental spirit, I am doing it all, with some help here and there!

I am an empty nester!

My bird has gone away and I feel lonely!
It all started this way, one morning a guy eager to show off an RV-12 in his hangar shows-up with a big trailer:

Once wrapped expertly by Terry, the bird takes to the highway:

And ends-up 45 minutes later at the place where it is going to get a double make-over: painting and Service Bulletin 12-11-09 implementation:

Why mixing painting and the SB?
Good question!
The idea comes from my painter Terry (aka Claude Monet) who owns the shop above:
As we have to take the MLG off and as the engine is not yet on, we have a perfect timing to put the fuselage on a "rotisserie" and therefore make the painting "easier" (we have to go easy on Monet's back!).
For the time being though we are in the blue regarding the delivery of the SB kit. After some investigation, I found that my friend Kim whose RV-12 is flying will receive the kit before me and, talking to him, he is willing to swap his kit with mine as he is going away for a couple of months and will not work on it right away. Problem is, VANs did not have Kim's RV-12 on the flying list but he had them update their files and we are now hoping for the best...
Still, getting back in my workshop the same day, I felt lonely and sad... My companion for 2 1/2 year was gone!

Not to worry, it will be back to mount the engine which is waiting for this by the garage door.