Last night I finished the push tubes, except for the one that I had to order more material for. I spent some time inventorying what I have as far as tools and extras go, so that I can get an ad together for the sale. Aside from building one push tube, I am done. It's been great, and I hope to be able to re-visit building an airplane sometime in the future.

Dad and I finished cleaning the pro-seal off the tank exterior yesterday - hard work, but it is done.

I started building the push tubes. For the large push tubes, the stock that I got had a dent in it. I was able to get one good push tube out of it, but went to Spruce to get more material to build the other. Got it home, cut it, and realized it was the wrong OD! So I wasted $20 and need to buy more. Spruce doesn't have what I need, so I am having to order from Van's and pay shipping. Sucks. Here's a picture of the dent (I need 65 25/32" of un-dented tubing):



I did get one of the small push tubes completed, and the other one close. Hope to finish on Tuesday night and list the plane for sale by the end of the week.

Last night dad and I pounded out the right flap, turned out great and went much faster than the left. We pulled out the materials to build the push tubes, but couldn't start, since one of my long pieces of tubing has a dent in it. I can safely get one push tube out of it, but will have to buy more tubing to make the other one.

Last night dad and I built the left flap. The instructions say that the flaps are the easiest control surface to build - I thought they were the hardest. It is very difficult to get the bar inside to buck with since it is so thin, and setting the pop rivets on the spar was a test of our patience - you really have to bend the crap out of the skin. The order in which you assemble it is very specific, and deviation leads to drilled rivets - ask me how I know. Anyhow, we got it, and the right one should go together easier since we know what we are doing. Here is dad holding the flap.

So I worked a lot on this past Saturday and some on Tuesday night and have been pounding out the flaps. I have match drilled, deburred, dimpled, and primed everything and started assembling. I also cleaned a little bit more proseal off the exterior of the tank. In the second picture I am using the wing as a table - works well!

Last night dad and I completed the left wing (as far as we plan to take it, anyhow) by installing the aileron and flap-gap fairings. We then clecoed on the bottom skins. I am not going to rivet the bottom skins, so that the buyer can have open access on the left wing to install whatever pitot, etc they want. The right wing is already closed up.

So, now all that's left to do is finish cleaning the proseal off the tank exterior and finish building the flaps and push tubes - hopefully only a few more weeks. I plan to list the kit on Barnstormers and on VansAirForce.com, probably asking $12,000.

Forgot the camera, so no pics!

I spent some time cleaning up and re-arranging the shop last night. Dad didn't come out, so I was solo. I spent what seemed like forever cleaning proseal off the exterior of the fuel tank - it doesn't look like much, but it takes a lot of effort. I'll just have to chip away at it slowly.



After that I built and installed the aileron hinges onto the rear spar. I then cleaned up and took some tools and my wing stands (I'm donating them to another builder in the squadron) to the D30 hangar at KFFC.

Last night I got dad in the shop and we knocked out riveting the outboard top skin to the wing. Look ma, no clecos!



After that, we broke the setup and removed the wing from the jig, then took the jig stands down. This is the first time we have had this much room in the shop for nearly 2 years (that's how long the wing jig was in place).

Last night dad and I had a short shop session so that I could get home in time for the Orange Bowl kickoff. Unfortunately, Georgia Tech ended up losing to Iowa, so now my car must wear an Iowa Hawkeyes tag for a while.

Anyhow, we finished riveting the top inboard wing skin, then pulled the tank so we could set the rivets we missed that go from the spar to the ribs on the top and bottom of the spar, and are covered by the tank. Not sure how I missed those, but having to take the tank off again was not something I was looking forward to.



To make up for my lack of pictures in the last few entries, here are some progress pictures of the flap skeletons and me holding a completed aileron:

Spent a short time in the shop yesterday peeling blue plastic off all the flap parts and deburring all the edges. Boring work!