N

N208ET

Well Known Member
Doesn't necessarily have to be the whole plane, just pieces. I have taken parts onboard a tug I work on, week on week off, and painted, deburred, dimpled, down in the engine room of the tug. It works pretty well for painting, lots of ventalation, constant 70 degrees in the wintertime, little noisy though.
 
I car pool with the wife, and have tinkered a bit with parts while she is driving. Has made me wonder the same thing as you. Have people thrown a couple of small pieces into a breif case and worked on them on a bus, train, hotel room, etc?
 
Classroom

I built wooden ribs for my Cassutt in the jig in the classroom where I was a CFI at our Military flying club. It was during periods when I had an hour or more off with no students.

Meanwhile, the wings were built in my living room:) ..back in '71 when the earth was still cooling:D
 
While prepping for my 6 month cruise on an aircraft carrier, I gave serious thought to trying to accomplish at least some work on the project. Eventually concluded the older (smaller) boat I was on just didn't have a good location to do so. One local builder was able to pull it off however. His story was a feature article in the RVator, maybe 10 years or so back. Took a good batch of parts aboard, got quite a lot done.

Doug
-4 wings
Seattle area
 
Yup!!

Assembled a lot of wiring harnesses for gauges and instruments (particularly the TRIO A/P harnesses) on my desk at the Hampton Inn while on assignment in WV. Good light, quiet and clean, outlets for the soldering station. Don't know if they thought I was a terrorist though, with wires and devices all over the place. I know someone else who turned his hotel shower into a rattle can spray booth for priming parts, but I don't know if I'd go that far.......

Allan
RV9A + H-6
In WV at a Hampton Inn......
 
A lot of parts were completed at work. I teach aircraft structural technology so they doubled as "training aides". Much of the class time involves students working individually on graded projects and I just didn't have much to do so I started bringing parts in to keep myself busy.
Years ago, the school bought an entire RV8A kit but never started it. We are now trying to work it in to the curriculum, but it is a slow process.

If only I was in charge.........hmmmmm :rolleyes:
 
Odd places

Back in '72 while in USAF pilot training, about a half dozen of us students ordered BD-5 kits, believing Bede's propaganda about 'parts shipping','can be completed quickly',etc. We were planning on sharing Officer's Quarters and using the empty rooms to build in. We were sure naive! Those who got kits probably are still waiting on parts-like an engine! As if we had time for that in the middle of pilot training class where 30-50 percent washed out!
 
About five years ago, I took all my elevator stiffeners, a nibbling tool, and a sanding block with me on a couple of airline trips. I completed the stiffeners on the pool deck of a hotel in Los Angeles. Managed to get everything thorugh security OK, but on the flight home, I nearly got my nibbler confiscated -- until I pointed out that it had no blade on it. The TSA automaton turned it over and over in her hand, trying to decide if it was a threat to the security of the country. (By the way, I was in uniform at the time!) She briefly looked at the stiffeners and decided they were OK. She finally let me pass, but not before consulting with her supervisor for a few minutes. That was my last attempt to be productive "on the road."

I applaud people who can be creative and get stuff done away from home! :)
 
I built the engine monitor on a deck of a condo we had rented for a week overlooking the Atlantic near Cocoa Beach, Fl, back in 1999. Much better view than the garage:cool:

BTW, temperatures that year were lower there than in Minnesota - go figure.
 
In the alert facility while on standby for WW3.

B-52 fully loaded ready to go.

Thankfully it didn't happen.

All my parts would have been vaporized while I was on my way over the north pole.
 
Laundromat

I deburred and dimpled (pop rivet dimpler) my RV-4 skins at the Laundromat.

Lots of time to spare while the machines were running.
 
Boating

I have a couple of small wooden boats in the Pacific Northwest that I do bareboat charter ( WWW.SEADOGLLC.COM ). I use the boats each year for vacation so I took the small fiberglass parts, like leg fairings, leg intersection fairings, air vents and the like and since I use sand paper, files, fiberglass and epoxy on the boat, I just worked on the parts after the day of boating and after providing my wife with fresh Dungness crab from the evenings anchor spot. Sometimes I would work on these while under way and on auto pilot and sometimes I would do this after dinner on the back of the boat dockside or after my lovely bride went to bed. I got a lot completed during the week long vacation.
Great conversation starter while sitting in a chair dockside.

Pat Garboden
Ozark, MO
RV-9A N942WG flying
RV-9A N942PT (reserved) in wiring stage
 
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