Just do it...get it over with... you'll be better for it.

The image of a show airplane is quickly slipping away; maybe for the best. I was feeling so smug about turning the fuselage on its side to finish some interior work and keeping an eye on Smidler as we set some rivets. Then I finally did the inevitable.

Just like that first scratch on your car or the first time you dropped your helmet off the back of the Harley, just do this and get it over with. The damage doesn't show too bad, if its in the right place instead of the side skin. The "learning experience", which this is all about, is to place something between the skin and that nasty tool under the influence of gravity. So find an inconspicuous spot on the airplane and drop that bucking bar. You'll be glad you did.

But before you do, practice you language skills; you don't want to say those words in front of your helper's son.

Ruley
N277PM
"Modified" RV7A fuselage
Lafayette IN
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Been there...

Things like that have happened to me, too -- and especially when I'm feeling smug and invincible. I did it early on in the process of installing 118 nutplates in my floor. Dropped a tungsten bucking bar, and it made a noise like the end of the world. Luckily no damage (as far as you know... )

I got in the habit of putting down a protective layer anytime I worked with heavy or sharp tools. I found that the Craftsman tool drawer liners work really well. They're made of some kind of dense foam, and they'll stop most hand-held items from making a ding. Here they are in use:



.

I don't have the money/time/patience to build a "show" plane. What I will build is something safe, with a nice comfortable interior, and a panel commensurate with my abilities, that I can be proud of. If it wins trophies, I could care less.

I figure if I feel the need to show off at an airshow/fly-in, I bring a grey jet that the gov't is paying the fuel bill for.

Beauty, function, performance & safety

Beauty, function, performance & safety are not mutually exclusive. I really tried to build a prize winner but Sun 'n' Fun and AirVenture found our plane unworthy of a prize. The by-product of the effort was a very nice airplane. One thing I committed to very early in the build was the use of the parts Van gave me for the origional build - no replacements. That forced me to think creatively of ways to make repairs and salvage damaged or discrepant parts - some of my making and some of Van's. This frame of reference also reinforced my mental involvement in damage risk reduction - lifts, placement of tools and materials, etc. - and thinking through tasks before doing them. I also learned that damage that looked terrible when it had the complete focus of my attention was no more than a minor blemish in the context of the much bigger airplane.

Bob Axsom

Pbr47906 said:

The image of a show airplane is quickly slipping away; maybe for the best. I was feeling so smug about turning the fuselage on its side to finish some interior work and keeping an eye on Smidler as we set some rivets. Then I finally did the inevitable ...

Click to expand...

Well, there's your problem. I'm sure it was sabotage. And whatever you do, DON'T paint your plane yellow.

BuckWynd said:

I got in the habit of putting down a protective layer anytime I worked with heavy or sharp tools.

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Click to expand...

There's the problem....(beside Smidler)......don't ever work with heavy or sharp tools!

In the words of my late father to his teenage son: "To err is human, to put a dent in my car is a sonuva#&@!?*!!"

Betcha my dent is bigger than your dent!

Yah, and I bet all those show winners are totally dent-free, that you can see, that is...

make it right

We all make mistakes, but in the end there are those that are blemishes, and those that compromise the integrity of the airplane.
I will always remember what Jerry VanGrunsven said to me, "If its not right, make it right!" He ought to know, he's built almost as many airplanes as his brother Dick, and they are all solid, good looking ships.

A good friend of mine quoted his father (but it's probably from somewhere else):

"A good craftsman can build anything; an excellent craftsman can repair anything."