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04-28-2012, 06:52 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 2,791
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NAPA 7220
Stop by KHAO and I'll give you a half dozen unused cans of NAPA 7220 and you can look at my -9 in the finish stage.
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Steve Melton
Cincinnati, OH
RV-9A, Tip-up, Superior O-320, roller lifters, 160HP, WW 200RV, dual impulse slick mags, oil pressure = 65 psi, EGT = 1300F, flight hours = 800+ for all
Simplicity is the art in design.
My Artwork is freely given and published and cannot be patented.
www.rvplasticparts.com
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01-12-2013, 01:28 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Liberty Twp, OH
Posts: 641
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One year later
Wow, I haven't been posting up to my log here nearly as much as I had hoped. Been too busy building.  It's one year since I received my tail kit, and what a year it has been. Let's see...
Since the last log entry back late last spring, I finished the tail kit. Ended up having to build a new right elevator - got all the way through, then misdrilled the trailing edge wedge. That's what I get for trying to get through the drilling without the highly recommended 84 degree drill bit stop. Oh, and as for weighing down the elevator skins while drilling and assembling... I've found a new use for my college books!
Got to meet Stein and Paul Dye very briefly up at Oshkosh, while we were all camping out on stage during the microburst. That was fun in its own sense. Met Dean (Tumper) and a few other -9a builders at our little meet up. Definitely hope to do that again. There are far too many people I know here by name, but not face. Didn't get a chance to get to the beer meetup Monday night.
Two weeks after Oshkosh, my wing kit arrived, and there goes the garage for the next two years, or whenever I finish building. Only took a couple weeks to get most things on both wings' main and rear spars set up, and test-fit the ribs. That was a nice "cool picture" moment for the coworkers.
Then I hit a building brick wall. Went to an avionics seminar near my cousin's airport, where I was able to play with all the major avionics packages for nearly an hour each. That pretty much solidified my choice in AFS. And in the process of laying out the routing and holes for all my electrical/pitot/AOA ductwork, I basically took two months of intensive research to figure out what I might have where, in what wing. Ended up with the following basic idea:
- One major electrical conduit in each wing, left wing holding lights, pitot heat control, and stall warner wiring, right wing holding lights. All lights are AeroLEDs - already got the 1600s with Duckworks mount for the leading edge landing lights, and will eventually get the matching AeroLEDs Pulsars for the nav/strobes.
- Pitot in the left wing, and then used the pre-drilled pitot holes in most of the right wing's main ribs, along with one other set of adjacent holes, to hold the two feed tubes for AFS's AOA ports.
- Still debating on whether to put in wing-tip antennas.
The pitot tube is a Gretz GA-1000. Used to be Dynon, but sold that off after Mutha's recent Christmas Eve trip writeup. Plus I'm almost certainly going with AFS for my avionics, so the Dynon tube's AOA abilities are useless to me.
So far, I have the Classic Aero interior picked out and priced. I basically took one look at Jon Clements' *awesome* -7a interior, and asked Classic to price that exact same package for my -9a. Haven't ordered it yet, but I know that's what I want.
http://www.classicaerodesigns.com/we...8AD55E1DBD72A4
My biggest score to date is that I've got my engine, nearly a year ahead of plans. It's an IO-320-E1A, 160hp, 8.5:1 cylinders, originally off a 72 Citabria. All the individual parts overhaul work was done by ECi, and I basically get a 2 SMOH engine + FWF for <$10k! All the paperwork matches - the guy just needed to get rid of the engine, as he was getting out of aviation altogether. It took a while to coordinate shipping and such, but I finally got to crack the crate last weekend. I was planning on a carb'd engine with P-Mags, basically because of cost to efficiency. But since it's a FI engine, I now plan on putting an EFii electronic injection/ignition system on it. It'll be driven by a Catto 3-blade, that much I know. All about best speed for fuel efficiency.
Just this morning I finished the drilling of the main skins for both wings. Tomorrow I'll probably start with the leading edges, doing all the layout and preparing to do those fateful cuts to mount the Duckworks mounts (EEK!!!).
It's been an absolutely awesome first year of building. I really need to work on posting more up here. But at the very least, (almost) all my pics are up on Photobucket.
http://s1255.beta.photobucket.com/us...20Construction
Just like we all say here, keep pounding the rivets, it's worth it. I manage to get in around 3-6 hours during the evenings of workweeks, and another 4-6 hours per weekend. So things are coming along at a consistent pace. And I am enjoying every minute of it. Oddly enough, the other condo neighbors around me say they don't hear a thing. And now that they've all done that "what are you doing in your garage?" thing when I have the garage door open, they all want to stop by and help once the warm weather of the spring and summer come back.
It's been fun, it remains fun, and once she flies, I know the fun will shoot up faster than the climb rate and never come down. 
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Scott Balmos - RV-9A N112SB
Cincinnati, OH, KHAO
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11-12-2013, 10:02 AM
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 2,791
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you're going to like it!
Wichita to Cincy, 630 nm, 3 hr 40 minutes, 26 gallons, on Sunday. I had a tailwind.
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Steve Melton
Cincinnati, OH
RV-9A, Tip-up, Superior O-320, roller lifters, 160HP, WW 200RV, dual impulse slick mags, oil pressure = 65 psi, EGT = 1300F, flight hours = 800+ for all
Simplicity is the art in design.
My Artwork is freely given and published and cannot be patented.
www.rvplasticparts.com
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11-25-2013, 08:35 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Liberty Twp, OH
Posts: 641
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Wings are done! Moving Day #1!
I seem to be on an almost-once-a-year update to this log. But that's okay. It's been a long 2013. But after a year and two months, I have all but finished my wings. Okay, to the point that it's ready to be wired, plumbed, and have the bottom skins put on. But close enough.
The project overall still stands about where I planned it last time. All the major components and design decisions (IO-320 engine with full EFII, Catto 3-blade prop, AFS avionics, etc) still stand. I managed to snag a few more firesale goodies from Stein, snagged a GNS-480 WAAS GPS while up at Oshkosh, and solidifed a few more decisions for the next year.
The next few posts I'll try and re-summarize what's been going on in my factory garage this year.
My "finished" wings on their stand, ready to be moved:
This past weekend, on Saturday 11/23, it was Moving Day #1 - moving the wings to storage in our EAA chapter hangar alongside my engine:
Securing the wings to the stand and the truck:
The wings, snug in the hangar:

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Scott Balmos - RV-9A N112SB
Cincinnati, OH, KHAO
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11-25-2013, 08:44 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Liberty Twp, OH
Posts: 641
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Top skinning and brackets
Top skinning took the better part of the fall, starting Labor Day weekend, and finishing up the first weekend of November. It greatly slowed down, because at this point, the wings were too unwieldy for me to handle alone. So progress only occurred on skinning on Saturdays, when I could get my dad and at least one other helper (either a good family friend or my mom) to come over and help pull the wings off the stand and hold things.
On the upside, it was cheap slave labor!
Got the parents in on the act of loading and taping down the rivets:
Here I am, somehow comfortable sitting on the driveway, squeezing the skin to rear spar rivets:
On my portable tables, we placed the back-rivet plate on top of the rib cutouts from the horizontal stabilizer cradle, so the skin laid flat on the back-rivet plate. This compensated for the slight downward chord of the top skin, going fore to aft, and the weight imbalance with the main spar compared to the rear spar.
The first part of November, I tacked on the aileron and flap attach brackets. Here I'm making sure the flap attach bracket will eventually be flush with the bottom skin, flattening with a straight edge diagonal on the adjoining main rib.
And to round out this post, the obligatory embarrassment and fix. I started getting a bit of "get-done-itis" when riveting the flap attach brackets and gap fairings. So much so that when I got done riveting the flap attach brackets to the main ribs, I went ahead and squeezed on the gap fairings to the top skin. Only then did I realize in horror that I completely skipped riveting the brackets to the rear spar.
Thankfully, I hadn't squeezed the fairings to the rear spar yet. So I managed to squeeze a chisel underneath the gap fairing, which opened the fairing away from the spar enough to slide in my bucking bar. Even better, the fairing kept enough pressure on the bucking bar that I didn't have to apply any pressure of my own when I did rivet the attach brackets to the spar.

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Scott Balmos - RV-9A N112SB
Cincinnati, OH, KHAO
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11-25-2013, 08:51 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Liberty Twp, OH
Posts: 641
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Summer break and paint scheme designed
During June through August, I pretty much was taken away from heavy, consistent building because I was playing in the pit orchestra of a community theater production of The Music Man. Three nights a week in June, and then nightly rehearsals all the way through July until the performance run the weekend before Oshkosh has a way of draining you.
On the flip side, I have my paint scheme designed!!! I don't know if Doug will frown on this since he's not (yet) an advertiser, but the scheme was designed by Jonathan McCormick of Plane Schemer. He's a fast up-and-comer, *very* fun to work with. And he has awesome prices for homebuilts, with other specials he usually runs on top of that. Other random trivia - he designed the paint scheme on the recently-delivered first privately-owned Eclipse 550.
Here she is, in her full rendered glory:
Observant ones with halfway good memories will note that Jonathan had a booth in Hangar D at Oshkosh this year. In fact, we finished my scheme the week before Oshkosh, and Jonathan had it on display in his booth!!!
One other great thing that Jonathan can do is, because he's also the ops manager of a jet painting shop, he can also do a custom paint plate with sample colors from your scheme. I ordered one up, which somehow he managed to get to me at Oshkosh. It was still curing when I got it. But boy does it look good.  It's now hanging in my garage, a nice constant motivator.

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Scott Balmos - RV-9A N112SB
Cincinnati, OH, KHAO
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11-25-2013, 09:01 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Meridian ID, Aspen CO, Okemos MI
Posts: 2,645
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Scott, yours is the second I have seen from plane schemers and both are very nice. Good find - I may be the third!
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rockwoodrv9a
Williamston MI
O-320 D2A
Awaiting DAR Inspection
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11-25-2013, 09:04 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Liberty Twp, OH
Posts: 641
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Fuel tanks
Oh the fuel tanks... Where everything takes 4x as long... *mutter*
Because I'm going to run the EFII fuel-injection system, I planned on having a full-pressure return line port in each tank. So here we're laying out and testing the fit of all the bulkhead fittings.
Fitting everything on the spar before drilling, dimpling, and sealing:
As has been posted about in a few other threads, including by Paul Dye, I'm taking a cue from what a lot of Rockets and apparently RV-8s do, which is to coil the vent line inside the tank. The vent ends up on the very inboard bottom of the wing, which keeps the vent line out of the fuselage. You can argue that, due to fuel heating during the summer months, that I'll get more expansion spillage this way. I thought about, and considered it acceptable. I'm based in Ohio, where it's (relatively) not as hot during the summer. The vent line extends all the way from the fuel fill cap, coils a good 3x or so, laid diagonally inside the full height, width, and half the depth of the inboard bay. The depth is just to the stiffener, so the coil does not interfere with the float sender.
After everything was Prosealed, which literally took 4x as long each session compared to normal riveting (by the time you mix, dab sealant, squeeze, clean off excess, curse at getting Proseal on your shirt, etc)... I did a water-tight test with colored water before putting on the baffle. So if anything was sealed wrong this far, I could get to it without the baffle in the way. Only one leak, at the nose of the inboard rib, where the attach bracket is - a fairly common spot, apparently.
I know, people will say avgas is smaller than water, molecularly, and can find other spots that didn't leak. I think I'm taking an acceptable risk at this point. I used Proseal LIBERALLY, from the "it can't leak" school, rather than the "it won't leak" school. After putting on the baffle, I retested by filling each tank with ~5 gallons of water from the garden hose, standing on the tank on end so the water was fully against the baffle seals. No issues. I'm happy.
(and yes, for the heck of it, I did the balloon test later. Still no issues. I'm still happy).
Oh, and that blasted gap between the fuel tank nose and the leading edge, where the attach strap is?
This happens all the time. Freaked me out, really wondering if it'd ever pull in. The week before moving the wings, here in November, I screwed and bolted down the tanks. The screws pulled it in, just like everyone promises they will. "It'll be okay, dear child, trust the system..." 
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Scott Balmos - RV-9A N112SB
Cincinnati, OH, KHAO
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11-25-2013, 09:12 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Liberty Twp, OH
Posts: 641
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Duckworks cutouts
Last post for this year, I promise! Or at least tonight.
Back in February, when I was prepping the leading edge skins, I did the cutouts for the Duckworks landing light mounts. I remember doing this on the floor in my condo, with pregame for the Super Bowl on the TV in the background.
First cut out as many starter holes as I could, starting with a #30 bit to do the pilot hole, and then using my Unibit to go as wide as possible on each hole without coming too close to the outline.
Then finished the rough hole with the metal grinding bit of my Dremel.
Very rough at this point, but finished out the hole to final size, and smoothed edges, using a small Scotchbrite wheel on my air grinder.
A few months later in August, when I got back to final-assembly on the leading edge, mounted in my AeroLEDs. Pretty darn nice.
And yes, again during the infamous last week before Moving Day in November, I screwed in the Plexiglass covers. No pic of them, but they look good too. 
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Scott Balmos - RV-9A N112SB
Cincinnati, OH, KHAO
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11-26-2013, 05:46 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 2,791
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you're moving along
Scott, You are really moving along! I like your landing lights and paint scheme. Hey, I installed my fwd carpet this week from Abby, Flightline Interiors. I'm very pleased with her work. I'm flying to Milwaukee on Friday.
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Steve Melton
Cincinnati, OH
RV-9A, Tip-up, Superior O-320, roller lifters, 160HP, WW 200RV, dual impulse slick mags, oil pressure = 65 psi, EGT = 1300F, flight hours = 800+ for all
Simplicity is the art in design.
My Artwork is freely given and published and cannot be patented.
www.rvplasticparts.com
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