03 JAN 09 - Is He Still Alive? - 2.0 Hours
Yes, I am! I would like to take this chance to thank
the people (both of them!) that have continued to view the website despite my lack
of progress (that means you, Dave).
Truth of the matter is, I have had a few life events that brought progress to a
standstill on the airplane:
1.) Made it through my first year of an MBA.
2.) Had our first baby, a girl - followed shortly thereafter by -
3.) Deployed to Iraq
You might say that I burned the candle at both ends in 2008. (Are there candles
with three ends?)
But, I am still here, alive and kicking, and looking forward to what the New Year
has in store. I hope that you enjoy an excellent 2009 as well. As for the airplane
progress, it will be slow for a while. But I am still fully committed to finishing
it, even if the ETA must be pushed back.
Now, onto the good stuff:
The wing kit is here, has been for months, just begging to be worked on. But I've
got to finish the pesky elevator trim tab first.
In looking at the Van's Airforce forums,
I have noticed that a number of builders complained about the folded edges of the
elevator trim tab. So, I elected to cut them off! I have decided to use a couple
of E-709 elevator end ribs as "riblets" in the trim tab. More to follow on that
in a future update.
I drilled the trim tab horn to the trim tab skin, and then clamped and drilled the
hinge to the skin and trim tab spar. Be careful here, as the spar has a tendancy
to not line up with the skin when the bottom of the spar is clecoed to the skin.
I ended up removing the clecoes on the bottom of the tab while I was drilling the
hinge so everything would line up.
Clamping the hinge to the tab. I removed the clecoes on the bottom to make things
line up propertly prior to drilling.
After the hinge was drilled, the instructions call for the top edge of the trim
tab spar to be countersunk.
I used a piece of plywood as a countersink guide beneath the spar. I would recommend
doing this any time you are countersinking .032" aluminum as the countersink will
likely be deeper than the actual hole. If you don't have a guide beneath, the countersink
bit will chatter and cause an uneven countersink.
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