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RV-8 build begins...

David-aviator

Well Known Member
Vans shipped the empennage kit pronto, I've been at it since it arrived last Friday. Inventory was perfect. I really like the method of rivets in little plastic see-through bags clearly marked instead of the original lunch bag method.

Love the way this thing goes together and most impressed with the .032 HS skins, this airplane is no wimp. The plan is easy to follow and the parts fit. Still think about the RV-3 but I probably wound not have enough life time remaining to complete it. This was a good decision. :)



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Love the way this thing goes together and most impressed with the .032 HS skins...
You are a constant surprise Dave.

You would be even more impressed with those .032 HS skins if you found out the left and right HS skins are completely interchangeable. I should know because after dimpling etc, I accidentally swapped em and did not discover the error of my ways until the left skin was almost completely riveted into place on the right side of the structure. After a moment of horror, I discovered not one single hole on either skin had to be wallowed out to get the skins to line up and fit. Matched hole technology is a true wonder.

With the RV building experience you have behind you now, if it takes more than three weeks to complete that empennage including the fiberglass, you are wasting time. No kidding. :)
 
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RV-8 build ...

Dave - looks great. I too recently began my RV-8A. After 64 hours of build time since Christmas I am amazed at how well it goes together. My biggest hold-up so far has been waiting for the right weather to prime parts since I don't have the space for a good paint booth.
 
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Some 33 hours later...

It's been an interesting week beginning the RV-8 project. All went well although the time involved could have been less, a lot less.

At the point of riveting the inside ribs and flanges, I neglected to un-cleco and set aside the aft spar until the left HS was completed. It was a bear reaching around the aft spar and then I noticed in the plan said "reinstall the aft spar and rivet". Dumb :( The right inside rivet job was a snap.

The construction sequence as per section 6 is very well thought out. All of the -4 rivets were set with the pneumatic or hand squeezer. Only bucking was the inside -3 rivets.

Construction of VS begins today.



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Order your next kit now!

Some of the next items have longer lead times, order now or you will be pacing in your shop making airplane noises :)
 
David,

Your HS look great, and I am amazed at your building speed.
Just curious, may I ask.. What kind of primer are you using?

From the first pic I see you match-drilled with the blue plastic on the
inside of the skins, I was told to remove it ..Does it matter?

Yep..you better order the wing kit soon :)
 
David,

Your HS look great, and I am amazed at your building speed.
Just curious, may I ask.. What kind of primer are you using?

From the first pic I see you match-drilled with the blue plastic on the
inside of the skins, I was told to remove it ..Does it matter?

Yep..you better order the wing kit soon :)

The primer is NAPA 7220 self etching. Many guys here are using it, bought it on sale locally for $5.95 about 2 weeks ago.

I leave the blue stuff on until it is ready to prime. I don't think it matters.

I really screwed up though with the exterior 3/4" strip removal along the rivet lines. It was removed before dimple and dimple thingy put a few scratches on the surface during that process. They will be sanded/buffed out. It was a dumb mistake. Today I dimpled the VS skin with the blue stuff in place and there aren't any scratches at all.

The VS goes really quick, got all the holes drilled, de-burred, cleaned, and the parts are primed and drying right now. Should have the riveting finished by late tomorrow.

Yea, I need to get on the stick and order another kit - before February 1.
 
... Today I dimpled the VS skin with the blue stuff in place and there aren't any scratches at all. ...

Have you checked how well a rivet fits the dimple after you remove the vinyl? IIRC, the instructions say you can match and final drill with the vinyl in place, but recommend removing it before dimpling. I had trouble deburring adequately with the vinyl in place, so I started removing it right after drilling/disassembly.

On my prevous project, I used a C-frame tool to dimple skins, and because it took both hands to make the dimple (one to hold the ram against the skin, the other to wield the hammer), I found it easiest to place the male die on the anvil so the skin was perfectly located before lowering the ram, in turn requiring the skin to be face down. I had to be very careful to look for the male die through the hole before lowering skin onto it. Now, with the DRDT-2, I put the male die in the ram, and I can now see exactly where the (face up) skin has to go before the die touches it. I'm at least twice as fast and have lots fewer scratches.
 
dimples and scratches

I agree with Miles in that I would dimple with the plastic off. The best way to check this is comparing it with the rivets set in the finished product. This can be done by either doing several side by side each way (with plastic on and off while dimpling) or comparing two seperate surfaces that were done each way (after final riveting). When I say check, I mean taking the blue stuff off around the area (not just a small strip), put it under the light and comparing where it's shiny silver and seeing if any imperfection (or differences) show up. You can also take a paper towel between your fingers and the rivets, and move it over the rivets lightly. The paper towel exasterbates any imperfections your fingers might feel. Anal, yes, and some might think this is overboard or whatever....to each their own, but you'll know whether there's a difference ...............and there will be, though not gross.

I had the same small scratches on many holes when trying to find the dimple die. If you are going to paint your surface area, it won't matter because it's going to get scratched on purpose (with Scotchbrite pad or sand paper) when it comes time for painting, and it will blend right in and you won't be able to tell at all. If you want it polished alum, then a whole different ball game and it is a big deal.
 
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It's been 2 weeks since the empennage kit arrived and after some 53 hours of work it is beginning to look like an airplane may be emerging from all the parts and rivets with the help of a very good plan. This was the state of progress as of 2 days ago.



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The rudder is coming along and should be completed tomorrow. The stiffeners were trimmed, primed and installed yesterday, and all the other parts were drilled, de-burred, cleaned up and primed today. I continue to be most satisfied at how well all this is progressing. Am about out of NAPA 7220 primer and need to get some more.

Yes, the wing and fuselage kits were ordered - the elevators won't take long to build. This project is a good winter time passer.
 
David:

First of all let me congratulate you on selecting the -8 for your build. This was the correct choice :). I'm happy to hear that the plans and process are easier than they were in the "old" days. These improvements will encourge more builders, and that's good for all of us. At the rate you're moving you'll set a record for your build time. Just to keep you motivated, I guarantee you will love the way this RV flies. Keep at it. I look forward to seeing you at Oshkosh sometime soon.

Chris
Happy RV-8er
 
2 steps forward, 1 backward....

Things were progressing nicely yesterday, managed to get both elevator skins and all the stiffeners dimpled, cleaned up, primed and back riveted. I felt like I was closing in on completing the empennage kit. Right skin below ready for spar, ribs and counter weight install. Left skin is similarly complete.



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Well, not quite.

The plan calls for bending the skins together with the homemade bending device made of hinged 2x10's. Did that and both looked OK. But because the right side is wider, decided to massage it a bit and pushed down on the skin to maybe get it a little closer together.

What I did not notice was the narrow end of the skin was beyond the edge of the table and just like that the outboard part bent down over the edge and crimped and cracked the trailing edge at the bend line. Bummer, that was dumb, it was OK as is.




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Considered for a moment repairing it and promptly discarded that idea, went to the computer and ordered a replacement right skin and stiffeners. The parts are not all that expensive, $63.50 for the skin and about $21 for the stiffeners. I could drill out the dozens of rivets and reuse the stiffeners but decided time would be better spent getting the spar, ribs, and trim tab built and completing the left elevator while waiting for the new skin. It won't take but a day to get it back to where the original is today and the right elevator goes together quick.

I continue to be impressed and pleased with the quality of this kit. For example, the plan says 615PP will have to be trimmed to fit next to rib 705. 615PP is the trim access inside panel. Guess what, 615PP has been trimmed by the factory, it fits perfectly next to 705 as is. Evidently, the CNC computer is tweaked from time to time to get these little discrepancies right, although the written dialogue has not been updated.

I heard yesterday from a friend who ordered kits that Vans is swamped with orders right now. That is good news for our favorite little company.

Life would really be boring without them. :)
 
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Movin' on...

Spent today on the left elevator. It will be riveted before noon tomorrow and then it is on to build the trim tab.

For those new to this process, if there is any wisdom to pass on here it is stick with the plan. Do not jump ahead. Sometimes instructions are confusing and if they are, do not press on until the confusion is resolved.

I came to one point today where they said set these four rivets now and you won't have to use blind rivets. HMMMM, I had no idea what 4 rivets they were talking about but did find them on the drawing and sure enough they had an option for blind rivets. Those 4 rivets, dummy. :)

At an earlier point, I riveted a part because it seemed a good time to do it, I thought the plan had skipped it. An hour later I was drilling those rivets out because they made it impossible to set other rivets - as I said, do not jump ahead and do not set rivets not called for at that time.

Another comment with regard to this late RV-8 kit, every -4 rivet in the empennage (except one, so far) can be set with the pneumatic squeezer. The one I could not reach was a straight buck job and went in easy.



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If I had not damaged the right elevator skin during the bend process, the empennage kit would be completed today. As it is, the left elevator was completed yesterday and about all there is to do today is assemble the right elevator under-structure and wait for the skin which is do in next Tuesday.

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So far the build has taken 20 days and some 87 hours. I estimate another 5 hours after the right skin shows up. Not up to Rick Galati standards but also not too bad for an old geezer. I have gotten into the habit of getting up by 6 am, turning on shop heat, having a cup of coffee and breakfast and going to work when the shop is warm. I don't heat it over night but I do have a warming oven to keep paint and tank sealant warm so it is ready when needed. The trailing edges of the elevators and rudder are treated with slightly out-of-date flame master as per the instructions. It is curing quite normal.

Looking forward, I thank Rick for the fuselage rotisserie which was passed on to my hangar from another builder last week. A wing cradle was also recovered by Ron Burnett down at Greensfield Airport from a second or third builder, it is the same unit I build in 2002 for the RV-7A and has not fallen apart yet. :)

Slowly, I am gaining confidence this project will get completed, God willing. I am enjoying doing it. It appears to be good for the brain and body and not having an airplane to fly is plenty of incentive to keep moving every day.
 
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Great job!
I?m about the same stage in my build, will start on the L Elev on Monday, my fingers are itching after being at work for a month! :mad: well it pays the RV ;)
 
Right elevator completed today which completes the empannage kit. Total time 99.3 hours including about 4 hours to redo the right elevator skin after a bending miscue.

Also decided to redo the trim tab with a new blank from Vans. The tab was OK but could have been better.

(From Van's catalog - So, your #*!@ tab didn't quite come out the way your wanted it.....yea, that' me.)

The problem was using the Vans designed blocks to hold the piece while bending the end tabs. They work fine for most builders but I had trouble keeping the bottom block from moving and that screwed up the bend. So I built different jig, one that had a side pleat that could be screwed down to the work bench and it had more meat, like from a 2x6. It worked better. This tab will pass muster.



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Now I wait for the wing and fuselage kits. They should be here sometime in April.
 
Back at it..

Last Saturday I met Tony Partain's driver, Mike Cobb, at a rest stop on I-70 about 20 miles from here and took delivery of the wing and fuselage kits. The arrangement to meet at the rest stop was to keep the 48' rig out of our air park and its taxi way roads. The transfer went well with the help of a neighbor John Roser.

By Monday evening both kits had been inventoried and now it is back to work.

First order of business was building a jig to hold the wing spars which was completed 2 months ago. Second order of business is installing some 144 plate nuts in the spars, at that began yesterday with much counter sinking. I should be pretty good at doing this in a day or so, it took an hour to install 30 of the little suckers this morning.

This actually is child's play, I am so glad I do not have to build the spars. Vans does a great job and it is a pleasure to install the simple little plate nuts. :)

I will try to build both wings simultaneously. We shall see if that works out.



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Ribs, ribs, ribs....

....the RV-8 wing has 52 ribs and as it says in the build manual, they come in 7 flavors. :)

The image here is of 2 holding frames of 28 of them for final drill before rivet. It took some 8 hours to de-bur the edges and holes and crimp the ribs straight. The 10 nose ribs were prepped also but go in later as do the fuel tank ribs. The final drill was after lifting each section horizontal and positioned on a holding frame to do the task. That worked well. (a section had to be moved out of the build area due to cramped space)

A challenge at this point is getting the ribs in the their proper position as per the large drawing. Some face out, some face in and some are just a little different. Once the paper ID labels are removed they all look alike but they are not. So I carefully relabeled each of these ribs L1-L14 and R1-R14 to lend some order to the assemble. The label method was with a metal stamping kit and the ID markers are handy in getting them where they belong with no guess work.

Put in 7 hours today, the ribs have been removed, are primed and ready for riveting to the spars.



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Rivets, rivets, rivets....

....lots of them.

Both wing frames are riveted - i.e., ribs to main spar and aft spar.

Did you know there are at least 1700 rivet holes in the wing aft of the main spar? (give or take a few)

All of them have been drilled out to full size - took about 9 hours, thought it would never end but it is finished. :)

Now on to forward section and fuel tanks.
 
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Cleco cavern...

....or if I had some cold beer in the hangar, it could be cleco tavern. :)

Anyway, movin' on. Just a few more holes to drill out with the leading edge units and it is on to building the fuel tanks.



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The camera has shrunk the area somewhat, there actually is about 4' between the wings and it is not as tight as it looks.

It seems a stall warning system is now standard with Van's airplanes and I was somewhat dubious about installing it, the installation did not appear simple. But when getting into it as per the wing construct instructions, it is a total non event. The bottom skin is cut and drilled for the access plate and the leading edge has the holes drilled for the internal mounting bracket. The only real work was cutting the small hole where the vane sticks through the leading edge, took all of 5 minutes. So the airplane will have the stall warning device which is a buzzer in the interphone system.

The second image is the fuel tank outboard attach flange.


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The fuel tanks are built!!!

I was beginning to wonder what it would be like to set a rivet and not have to dip it in pro-seal or flamemaster.



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From here on out - more sealant. Halleluiah :)

The tanks are not difficult to build, just messy. I must have gone through 150 pair of latex gloves. All the sealant was mixed in 20-30 gram batches except for the aft close out baffles where 80 grams seemed about right. Vans says one sealant kit should do both tanks however some builders use more - put me in the later group, I used about 1.7 kits.

I will let them cure a few days and do the balloon test....
 
....and both tanks do not appear to leak anywhere anymore. The brushed on soapy water lays flat everywhere and the balloon stays inflated.

The left tank had a small leak at the inboard rib flange where it mates with the skin. With a magnifying glass I was able to determine the over night cured sealant between the rib and skin had a tiny crack and separated from the skin, probably because the manual rivet squeezer was not held straight enough in the slippery sealant environment when the two rivets at that point were set the next day.

Both rivets at the leak area were removed, a skinny piece of wire inserted into the broken seal area, sealant applied and then vacuum cleaner sucked about 15 minutes of to draw the sealant into the space opened with the skinny piece of wire. The wire was then removed, the rivets reinstalled and the area thoroughly encapsulated. No leak detected as of yesterday morning.

It is now on to dimpling wing skins, a rather clean pleasurable job after messing with sealant for some time. (96 hours to build the tanks)
 
Decided to install the stall warning switch before closing out the area with ribs. It can be installed after wing build but it is a mighty close working area.

All the switch does is close a circuit to ground. That ground signal goes to the a small control board and it in turn sends a tone signal to the inter-phone system. Pretty simple. The vane that sticks through the leading edge triggers the switch to closed when it is moved up by air flow when the wing is near its stall AOA. I am not sure I need this device, I'd rather have the Dynon AOA, but I figure since Vans is including it in the the kit, it better be installed. It is much easier going in now than after the wing is completed.



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Riveting the leading edge sections is moving forward, one rivet at a time and no sealant. :)
The wing skins have been dimpled and are ready to go in. Hope to have both wings completed by fall and will take on the fuselage over winter. The 12x20 shop area is insulated and can be heated easily with an electric heater.



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LE and Tanks Installed

Yesterday the LE and Fuel Tanks were installed on both wings. LE riveting took about 2 hours and fuel tank screw and Z bracket attach about 3 hours. The screw dimpled counter sinks had to be cleaned out a bit with a counter sink so as to get the screws down flush with the skin.

I have now built 4 fuel tanks and did indeed screw up with the left tank for the 8.

All of the screw and Z bracket holes line up very well and the aft skin edge is very flat on the spar flange, but the tank leading edge where it meets the outboard LE does not line up perfectly on the top of the tank. The tank skin matched the LE perfectly when it was clecoed together and the splice plate was drilled for plate nut install. So what happened?

It is just a guess, but probably there is a build up of sealant where the outboard tank rib meets the skin. It is possible the sealant was late going in and getting stiff and did not squeeze out well when clecoed. In the build instructions, Vans cautions about too much sealant, especially at the aft baffle. It could cause a difficult fit to the wing. Well, same probably applies to the rib/skin contact area.

So, be advised, use enough sealant but not TOO much, whatever that means.

I have decide to live with this cosmetic issue and not build another tank. Cruising along at 10,000' it won't matter and when on the ground at OSH I'll put a caution note on the wing about using too much pro-seal. :)







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It isn't what you know - it's who you know...

...I happened to run into Rick Galati at a local airport this morning while out and about flying with a friend in his very nice RV-6A.

I mentioned to Rick that one of the fuel tanks did not line up very well with the LE skin and had about decided to live with it. He responded "that's easy to fix, remove the tank and shim up the LE skin."

That sounded TOO easy but the more I thought about it, the more inclined I was to try it so after lunch I went at it. The tank was removed, the rivets drilled out at the area that needed to come up, shims were made, slid in, match drilled, the tank trial fit, new rivets installed, tank reinstalled and it is all back together looking much, much better. The shims raised the skin and splice plate somewhere between 1/16" and 1/8" which is amazing, you can not tell it was done looking at it. Actual time involved, about 2 hours.

Thanks for the tip, Rick Galati.
 
Primer decision...

....just parts that meet.



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It is rattle can self etching. This part is a leading edge skin which is now installed on the spar. Top skins are primed in a similar manner except I removed the blue plastic along rivet lines (like the top surface) and used the remaining blue stuff as a mask. After prime, it was removed leaving the primed area where it will meet the ribs. Either way works and is time consuming but probably worth the effort.

With all the fuss over box cutter skin scratches, I checked under some of the blue edges for similar damage, there is almost none. I am using a very blunt hot iron and move it along about 45? to the surface and if there is a mark it is very light. I am going to the trouble of leaving on as much as possible the topside blue stuff thinking this airplane will be mostly polished - for light weight, max speed and least cost. :)
 
....With all the fuss over box cutter skin scratches, I checked under some of the blue edges for similar damage, there is almost none. I am using a very blunt hot iron and move it along about 45° to the surface and if there is a mark it is very light. I am going to the trouble of leaving on as much as possible the topside blue stuff thinking this airplane will be mostly polished - for light weight, max speed and least cost. :)

Look real close at the vinyl after you've scored it with the soldering iron, but before you've removed the strip. On mine, the vinyl is greatly thinned, but is still there, just providing a weak point for easy tear out. My hypothesis is that during the scoring, there's a thin layer of molten vinyl under the iron, and the iron never really touches the metal under the vinyl. Just as a test, I've run the soldering iron over some bare scrap, and it definitely does leave a score on the alclad.
 
I just removed vinyl in this fashion for the first time yesterday. Most guys use the soldering gun with the double arm. I used a soldering iron witht he pointed tip. I bent the tip in the vise about 140 degrees leaving a nice round edge and then scotchbrited it for the smoothess surface possible. I found that going a millisecond slower would melt the vinyl completely and DID not score the metal. Don't score, MELT!!
 
There is an empty space in my little shop area this morning, the left wing has been moved out. Friend Roger Mell and I riveted the top skins on Saturday morning before the temp hit 100+ and the left wing now resides in a portable wing cradle.

We did the job using the back rivet method. It worked well after we got into the swing of it. The close inboard ribs were a bit of challenge using the 12" off set back rivet device and we had to drill out a few rivets but once I learned to hold that thing tight when driving it went well. Also found that the usual 30psi for back riveting, like over a steel plate doing the stiffeners, was not adequate. Must be the long shaft absorbs some energy because 55-60 worked much better. (or perhaps the high OAT screwed things up - I don't know - but the higher pressure worked much better)



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This wing cradle is the same unit I built 10 years ago for the RV-7A. It has been with several local builders, the latest died of cancer not long ago and just before his shop was liquidated it was rescued for me by another friend. It is amazing how things float around in this business. I've got a fuselage rotisserie jig from a third party, it was originally built by Rick Galati and will be returned to him when finished with it. Who know, he may want to build another RV. :)



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More empty space...

Both wings are now on their own with top skins riveted. The 4 vertical columns used for holding the skeleton during build are now gone and shop table is back where it belongs for aileron and flap construction.



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The hangar temp hit 102.6F this afternoon at about 3 pm but the aileron hinges did get installed as did the aileron close out panel on both wings. This has been the 9th or 10th consecutive day over 100F but with the south hangar door and north tractor door open, there usually is breeze through the building so I hang in there as long as possible, which is about 3 or 4 hours a days. Can't shut down airplane construction on account of a little heat... but it has been slowed up.

The Grove airfoil gear legs arrived via UPS yesterday. The look so good, one could hang them above a fire place mantle if not on an airplane.

(Sure hope OSH cools off by the 22nd, I don't mind working in this heat but trying to sleep in it is a problem. There are plenty of none AC rooms at the dorm but the AC rooms are long gone the waiting list is very long.)




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Ailerons



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My reference point for building difficulty and challenge are the fuel tanks which makes the ailerons pleasant to build. But not without some tedium, there are 32 stiffeners that need trimming, priming and installation. But it is easy work and the final step, back riveting, is very quick.




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I had a devil of a time coming up with a technique to rivet the nose skin and the aft skin to the top spar flange. How do you get inside through the small bottom opening without cutting your hand to hold a bucking bar in the blind and the gun on the outside top?
I spent one whole afternoon trying several different jigs including a back riveting one but nothing worked. I decided to sleep on it and by morning I had the answer - a simple old couch pillow in the bottom opening with the aileron flat on the table did the trick. The pillow held the skins apart and was moved along as rivets were set. It took all of 30 minutes after spending some 4 hours the day before coming up with nothing. The bottom riveting was done with a friend's pneumatic puller and took about 5 minutes. I can see why the RV-12 goes together so quick.



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This is the left aileron completed, the right one will be done today and it is on to the flaps. The aileron with its water pipe counter weight is ingenuous and at the same time very simple. The instructions say the flaps are the easiest part to build but beware, they can be built with an unacceptable twist so move carefully. So we will move carefully since a roll tendency on final when flaps are extended is not good.

It is a pleasure working this project. I had hoped to be working on the fuselage by late fall and it looks like that will happen - even with a few days off to look at stuff at OSH.
 
Flaps

In spite of the mid summer heat, progress is being made. The hangar has a door on each end so whatever breeze there is, the situation is not totally uncomfortable.

Most of the flap assembly is prep work. I considered not priming the shiny internal alclad parts but finally decided the flaps are in an area subject to water and dirt so everything was given a good coat of self etching rattle can primer. Not as good as an epoxy primer but certainly better than nothing.

Riveting is straight forward and not difficult. When it came to final close out of the inboard rib, I thought how in the devil did you rivet the aft 4 rivets without some very special tools? The answer is pulled rivets - it is on the plan drawing. :)



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There is an advisory in the plan that a flat surface is necessary to make sure the flaps do not have a twist. That note must be left over from when the flaps were not match drilled. The plan says to do the riveting with a vertical
"V" jig. As far as can be told looking through the trailing edge and along forward rivet lines, the flaps are about as straight as they can be.

I should have both completed before taking off for OSH this coming week end.



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Dave, good to see you're making such rapid progress...looking forward to my first ride! Now that my Phase 1 time is flown off, I'm going to get mr. bill to check me out on approach procedures to Troy International and come up there to visit you guys.

Jim
 
Wings, ailerons, flaps completed

Well, OSH 2012 has come and gone and it is back to work building an airplane.

The final chapter with the wings is the bottom skin close out and with the help of several friends, including my trustee Kubota tractor, it was done this week end. The build manual says it can be done alone but a helper is recommended. That is an understatement - unless one has at least 4' long arms a helper is required. We used the tractor lift bucket to hold the skins back for beginning riveting and it worked well. A clamp held 2 pieces of wood on either side of the skin and a rope up and over the bucket did the job.




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Left wing aileron is attached and swings very freely. The ailerons and flaps should be attached to both wings and rigged in a day or so. Then it is on to the fuselage.

Total time building the wings since April 22, 313.5 hours.

Total time so far including the empannage is 418.8 hours.

This RV-8 is going together very well and I can not wait to fire up the engine and bring it to life. :)





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Fantastic progress!!

You seem to be doing mighty fine progress there David !!!

I just ordered my wings today, :D so I'm keeping an eye on your work as you have great tips for building.

Congratulations and keep up the great work !!!
 
It begins with the firewall...

....the fuselage, that is.

It took 10 hours to complete the firewall as per the plan, a good part of that time was identifying and finding parts. With so many pieces in the fuselage, it takes some sleuthing to find what is called for. The inventory sheet is the reference of where to start looking. The sub kits are all labeled so when doing the inventory, try to keep them together and labeled.

The entire firewall went together with back riveting, 30 psi for the -3 plate nut rivets and 60 psi for all the -4 rivets. Back riveting is the cats meow, it is difficult to screw up and nice to see all those flush rivets on the forward side with no bucking bar miscues on the stainless steel. Priming is always an issue and with the firewall the mating surfaces were primed. I figured the alclad parts will do just fine except where they meet the dissimilar metal.

In the background is the forward floor coming together, worked on it about an hour today. The instructions say to temporarily label it top and bottom - good tip because the drawing on 61 is looking at it from the bottom - a little confusing if not noticed from the git go. The floor gets dimpled from the top side and that makes sense once you accept the fact you're looking at it from the bottom. Right now it looks like it will be back riveted also. :)




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Too fast?

David... Could you please slow down? You are making the rest of us look really bad. I'm starting to get a complex watching this thread :cool:
 
Show and Tell

I brought the right tower to the kitchen this morning for a breakfast show and tell. My wife as wondering what was going on in the hangar at 5am while she slept.

It took 2 hours - both towers are clecoed together and final drilled. The lower portion of the piece would appear to be part of a battle ship stricture. It is obviously designed to withstand a less than smooth landing now and then. :)




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There is much commentary on the forum by earlier RV-8 builders on the subject of gear tower access, most of it in the form of cuss words and skinned knuckles. One of the guys suggested substituting #8 screws and platenuts for rivets with a slow build project. That seemed to make a lot of sense so I departed from the plan for 2 days to make that happen. The result is shown below - each tower now has 24 #8 screws replacing 20 rivets and the access opening is 12.5 x 6" instead of the 2 holes. That should save some cuss words in the future. :)



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After that detour from the plan I got back to the instructions this afternoon and this is where it led to. I was not sure how all this was going to come together but it is now beginning to make sense. The towers are clecoed to the floor for stability while driving and bucking some 106 rivets at the lower outside corners of the battle ship structure. The first attempt to cleco the towers to the floor revealed a major boo-boo, two of the corner angles were reversed and the holes did not match. TIP - the angles with 5 holes are forward, those with 6 are aft. I had 2 fives on one side and 2 sixes on the other. It took an hour to unbolt the bolts, remover 8 rivets, re-rivet the angle pieces correctly and re-install the hardware. I do have rivet screw ups most every day and am getting pretty good at removing them without damage. :)

As is obvious, I am not wasting time with much priming. The non alclad parts do get primed but not the shiny stuff. Maybe I will put something on the floor later but for now no.

With regard to the primer war, our neighbor is looking at an old C-182 built sometime back in the 70's or 80's and he told me when they looked into the aft fuselage area, it was as shiny as my RV-8 skins. I do prime the bare aluminum parts as per the instructions but for now the rest of is not being primed. It takes time and I'd rather be flying sooner than later.




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Neighbor Pat Donovan came over this morning and helped buck the 12 rivets that attach the firewall to the forward floor section. And that's all there is to do in this area for now. The bag compartment floor and wall are clecoed in until the center section is ready to attach.

I started the center section this afternoon. First item is enlarging sheer web holes for the brake cables. That took a while getting acquainted with the drawing as there are 2 sets of pilot holes, one for the 8 and one for the 8A, pretty sure I got it right after making certain up was up and down was down.

You-all are probably tired of hearing this but I will say it again, this 8 kit is a delight to assemble. The instructions are well written and the parts fit. :)





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The center section has been assembled and also the seat-floor section just aft of it. The bottom floor skins are primed and curing as this is an area that will collect dust and occasional moisture if the airplane is left out in the rain.

Should be able to rivet the floor skins tomorrow.




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The past 5 days have been spent locating, de-burring and match drilling some of the many parts that go into the fuselage.

The center section spar has been trial cledoed to the forward and aft sections separately and one of these days I suspect it will all be assembled in to one piece. The aft section side skins were worked on today as were all of the side ribs and braces yesterday. The plan is being followed as closely as possible so as not to do anything that needs undoing later. There is a method to the process although I don't always understand the why of it, they generally do have a reason for not doing something now.

I really got hung up with the lower forward longerons, F-843's a couple days ago. I thought I had to build the pieces and could not make any sense whatever of the instructions or #66 drawing so I contacted Vans. Guess what dummy - they are already made and in the kit and just need to be massaged a bit to fit properly.

No wonder the drawing made no sense without dimensions. :)

PS We got more rain (2 inches) since 8 this morning than we've had for weeks. Isaac is slowly drifting across Missouri and dumping a lot of moisture. it is rather incredible that a weather system can carry so much water for so far. It has rained a lot all the way from New Orleans and is still coming down in buckets this evening.



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Big picture is coming into view...

....and it looks like a fuselage!

The forward section, center section spar, and seat structure have been clecoed together with side skins attached as per the plan. The whole thing is taking on weight and is solid but not quite airworthy, yet.

Tomorrow it is on to the aft section bulkheads. I have not read ahead but it appears the entire fuselage will be clecoed together for one huge final drill session and then it will be take it all apart, dimple and begin riveting.

I ran out of #30 clecoes yesterday and friend Mike Bradsher came through with a loan of a couple hundred, that should do it as the aft section probably uses mostly the #40 devices.

Slowly but surely, the pile of parts is getting smaller and taking less time to locate. I guess that's is a good sign. :)









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Movin' aft....

...and now it begins, the assembly of the aft fuselage.

The past few days have been spent deburring and priming parts from the aft baggage area to the tail wheel. The side skins are ready to go in next and then the bulkheads.

The process has been slowed down a bit on account my wife had spinal surgery this week and I've spent quite a bit of time at the hospital. The problem was arthritis putting pressure on the spinal column causing chronic worsening pain. The fix for it is a "fusion"procedure. We don't understand all the details but basically the arthritis is removed and the disks in the affected area are then held together with vertical pinned metal devices and the area packed with ground up bone material.

So far so good - the original pain is gone. But there will be some discomfort as the 6" incision heals. If all goes well, I will bring her home tomorrow and resume building the airplane with a bit more diligence - but I will also be chief cook and bottle washer for about six weeks. :) She is grounded while things heal up.

The doc who did the work is an excellent neurosurgeon. His skill and technical ability is just awesome - makes building an airplane seem like child's play.



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It's difficult to get a decent picture in a small shop area, but after some 5 hours of work all the pieces below the top longerons are in place. There are some holes yet to line up but the skins, bulkheads and ribs are all in place. The toughest most time consuming section was the aft lower skin. It is ready made to go in but it sure took a lot of massaging to get the aft 3 bulkheads and it to fit the side skins and lower longerons. Once it was in place the bottom skin went in relatively easily. Once all of its holes get lined up with the bottom longerons and side skins, the top longerons will be trial fit next.

It sure is a skinny fuselage compared to the RV-7 but will indeed satisfy an aviator's primal instinct to sit on the center line of an airplane. :)

This is looking aft from the firewall -


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This is looking forward from the tail -


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After some 10 hours of longeron fitting and final drilling this is where the project sits - almost on the floor (as per the plan).

It took about 45 minutes to clean up the aluminum shavings from all the drilling, what a mess it was. Then I rigged up a hoist of sorts with cargo straps from the ceiling and got the fuselage up off the table and down on to some 8x8 blocks for final interior drilling. The aft top skin is beginning to be clecoed on to get the aft end properly aligned before drilling the empannage attach stuff.

Things are moving forward without a serious hitch. It's a good thing I ordered some extra #40 and 30 drill bits a few weeks ago, they do wear out drilling so many holes through the longerons. In a few more days this part should end and the disassemble, de-burr, dimple part will begin before some serious riveting takes place.

I do understand the benefit of a QB fuselage, this work is work but its cost is only time. Maybe there will be a few extra shekels left over for a good engine. :)



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Finally Unclecoing

Seems like it has been "final drilling" for a coon's age but at last I've arrived at a point where the fuselage is being unclecoed. About time.

One very vexing issue was resolved early this morning (seems like problems get solved better early in the morning after some sleep). It was the tail wheel spring weldment not being centered or vertical after a drill with F-812 bulkhead on the bench in accordance with the plan.

The problem did not come to light until the tail wheel weldment and F-812 were clecoed into the aft fuselage and an accurate level line established on the forward attach point, F-811. The original "keeper" holes on the F-812 were not going to do the job as the weldment was not aligned with the level line on 811. So, after looking at the situation and thinking about it for 2 days, it was decided to drill and cleco 2 more "keeper" holes vertically with the thing properly aligned and then redrill the 2 original holes. The end result will be 4 "keeper" rivets instead of 2. The weldment is now indeed straight and properly aligned - it simply would not do to have the tail wheel extending aft not on center line or straight up and down. The image would indicated it still is off to the left a bit but it is centered based on a line coming down across the centered rivets and the lower machining center line hole.



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Lots of holes drilled into the longerons including the side rails and the front seat support hardware. All that is coming out today in the "unclecoing" process.

My wife thought this was the final assembly until I told here you can't fly an airplane held together with clecoes. :)




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Finally after seven days of un-clecoing, deburring, countersinking, dimpling and priming (some parts), I arrived at "Final Fuselage Assembly", a minor milestone for sure. What goes together now will stay together, no more clecoing.

The lower forward longerons are bolted and riveted to the floor, the gear tower aft braces are attached to the forward side of the spar, and the seat ribs are riveted to the aft side of the spar.

Tomorrow will be work in the aft spar area.

The recent week was not fun, this part is fun, again. The motivating factor beyond all else is not having an airplane to fly so this thing is going together on a daily basis. I do miss flying.

PS After 2+ weeks of daily pain pills, the uncomfortable recovery of my wife's lubar fusion event is beginning to taper off. The surgeon said the first two weeks would be painful and he was right. At this point, the purpose of the procedure seems to have been a success, the original chronic back and leg pain is gone, however she can not bend or lift anything for another 4 weeks so I remain chief cook, bottle washer and laundry specialist. :)



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In with the rivets....

....out with the clecoes.

Neighbor Bill Jagust stopped by yesterday with a camera just as I finished riveting together the 812 tail wheel assembly. If I can sit and work, I sit and work. :)



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It feels good to finally be setting rivets after clecoing the fuselage together twice, once for final drill and again after de-burr, dimple, counter sink and some priming. Tomorrow it will be setting AN3's that can be reached solo, Saturday morning a neighbor is do in to help out with the AN4's with the forward section in the gear towers.

The forward skins are pro-sealed clecoed to the firewall flange.



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After completing the side skin riveting the fuselage was attached to a rotisserie for ease of doing bottom riveting. This particular device was built by Rick Galati for his 8 project and it is indeed a most useful item. It has been floating around the area going from one builder to the next and will be returned to Rick when this is over. His generosity is most appreciated.

The aft end to aft spar flange bottom riveting was completed this week with the help of some friends. Interior arm rests and floor cross braces are riveted in as are the side rails. Next comes the forward bottom skins.



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