| Entry Date | Summary | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Entry Date | Summary | Description |
| 2012-06-12 | Metal Working | Making hinges |
| 2012-06-15 | ribs | Build rib 4 |
| 2012-06-15 | Metal Working | Hinge work |
| 2012-06-16 | Rib 4 | Work on rib 4 |
| 2012-07-01 | Ribs | Rib 1 lay out |
| 2012-07-02 | Ribs | Ribs 1 &2 |
| 2012-07-03 | Ribs | Rib #3 |
| 2012-07-05 | Ribs | Rib 3 cut bevels on ribs |
| 2012-07-06 | Ribs | more work on ribs trimming and sanding |
| 2012-07-07 | Rudder spar | Start Rudder spar |
| 2012-07-08 | Rudder spar | Work on spar |
| 2012-07-09 | spar | shaping and sanding |
| 2012-07-10 | Control horn block | Ash and Birch ply block |
| 2012-07-11 | Controll Horn | Fit steel to block |
| 2012-07-14 | Spar | More work on spar |
| 2012-07-15 | Trailing edge | Cut trailing edge Drill hinge holes |
| 2012-07-17 | Hardware | Add nut plates |
| 2012-07-18 | hardware | Aluminium backer for nutplates. Install nut plates |
| 2012-07-19 | Assembly | Start assembly of ribs to spar. Set up 2 uprights and string line on the center line and at the exact height. |
| 2012-07-20 | Assembly | Add trailing edge |
| 2012-07-21 | Assembly | add #4 rib |
| 2012-07-22 | Top stringer | added the spruce top piece |
| 2012-07-23 | shaping | Sanding, shaping spar bevel, cleaning up ribs fitting to trailing edge |
| 2012-07-24 | assembly | Glue in rudder horn, plywood gussets, build scarfing jig |
| 2012-07-25 | Poly inside of rudder | |
| 2012-07-27 | Assembly | Glue plywood gussets |
| 2012-07-28 | Assembly | Glue plywood panels |
| 2012-07-29 | Layout | Lay out Fin ribs |
| 2012-07-30 | More layout | |
| 2012-07-31 | Ribs | Work on rib #4 soild spruce |
| 2012-08-01 | Fin ribs | Cut spruce Finish clean up on rudder |
| 2012-08-02 | Ribs | Cut spruce and fit to jig |
| 2012-08-03 | Cut Balsa top block | |
| 2012-08-04 | Started cutting plywood for tail fin ribs | |
| 2012-08-04 | Ribs | Glue up ribs |
| 2012-08-05 | Ribs | Glue up rib 1 Bevel rib nose |
| 2012-08-08 | spar | Cut spruce sar stock to shape and glue together. |
| 2012-08-09 | Spar | Glue up more pcs to spar |
| 2012-08-10 | Spar | Added a cross grain piece of ash to the botton of the spar. The French plans were unclear but the Frank Rogers plans had the cross pc. Had to rout out the vertical grain piece and fit the cross piece |
| 2012-08-11 | Spar | Rebuild scarfing jig to 12:1, at 16:1 the edges of the plywood were tearing out. Scarf the 3.2 and 2mm birch ply and glue to spar |
| 2012-08-12 | Spar | Checked the fit of the rudder to the spar. Installed the hinges on both parts and all is good, swings free with no binding, whew. That had me concerned. The template worked to maintain accuracy. Trimmed A face plywood and Glued B face plywood to spar |
| 2012-08-13 | Spar | Installed the anchor nuts for the hinges |
| 2012-08-14 | Spar | Drill holes for tail wheel bracket and fin support bracket |
| 2012-08-15 | Assembly | Attached #1 and #4 ribs to spar.Layed out string line |
| 2012-08-17 | Assembly | Added other 2 ribs |
| 2012-08-18 | Assembly | Cut and install fin leading edge |
| 2012-08-18 | Assembly | Shaped gapseals, plywood former and balsa |
| 2012-08-19 | Assembly | Shaped balsa fin cap Cut birch plywood skins Taper beveled leading edge and spar |
| 2012-08-19 | assembly | Glued on top gap seal |
| 2012-08-22 | Assembly | Glued on first plywood face |
| 2012-08-23 | Assembly | Router Trimmed the 1st plywood face and sealed the interior of the fin with laminating epoxy. Also sealed the 2nd skin. |
| 2012-08-23 | Gap Seal | Glued on lower gap seal |
| 2012-08-24 | Assembly | Glued on 2nd skin. |
| 2012-08-24 | Gap Seal | Shaped and sanded lower gap filler |
| 2012-08-25 | Finish | Trim and sand tail fin. Shaped & sanded leading edge. Assembled rudder to fin and checked and shaped gap filler/seal for clearance. Time to clean the shop and get ready for the next big piece, the tailplane |
| 2012-08-30 | Start | Lay out #1 rib and build jig. Build mini steam box and steamed 4 spruce strips. Struck two strips in the jig and 2 strips in a block to "pre" bend them |
| 2012-09-01 | ribs | Glued up the first rib and started cutting plywood for the rest. Steam bent 2 more stringers |
| 2012-09-02 | Ribs | Glued up 2 more ribs Oh, and built a screen door for the new screened in porch, I can't only work on the airplane. |
| 2012-09-03 | Ribs | glue up 2 more ribs |
| 2012-09-04 | Ribs | glued up one more rib, I do not have time in the morning to glue up a 2nd rib so I can only do one a day during the week. |
| 2012-09-05 | Ribs | Yep, one more rib glued up. I picked up some 2X4s to build a new work bench |
| 2012-09-06 | ribs | Glued up the 8th and final #1 rib, just the 2 #2 ribs left then onto the spar |
| 2012-09-07 | Ribs | Glued up the first of the #2 ribs, |
| 2012-09-08 | Ribs | Glued up 2nd #2 rib, on to the spar Built a new bench 3' X 8', nice and flat! |
| 2012-09-09 | Spar | Lay out and build jig for false spar and diaphragms. Trimmed ribs |
| 2012-09-10 | Spar | Glued up first diaphragm |
| 2012-09-11 | Spar | Glued up another diaphragm Started work on the false spar and glued up the multi piece plywood block |
| 2012-09-12 | spar | Glued up #1 diaphragm and added 2nd face to #2 diaphragm Glued up framework for false spar |
| 2012-09-13 | Spar | Glued up 2nd #1 diaphragm Glued on 1st face onto false spar |
| 2012-09-14 | Spar | Glued up second face on false spar Glued up 2nd face on last diaphragm started cleaning up ribs |
| 2012-09-15 | Ribs | Cleaned up and sanded/scraped rib, diaphragm, and false spar. Built a 3" X 3' extension bench for the main spar |
| 2012-09-16 | Spar | Layed out main spar |
| 2012-09-18 | Main Spar | Cut the two long pieces for thw main spar. These taper from 25mm to 14mm to 8mm. I used the table saw to cut the 8mm almost up to the line of the slope to 14mm then changed to the band saw and finished with a hand plane |
| 2012-09-20 | Main spar | Not much time this week, jigged up the spruce spar stock |
| 2012-09-22 | Mass Balance | Started turning down the mass balance weight. 2" down to 1 3/8, this is going to take a while on the Mini-Lathe |
| 2012-09-22 | Main Spar | Added cross pieces and 4 X 5 ply block |
| 2012-09-23 | Mass Balance | More turning down balance weight |
| 2012-09-23 | Main spar | Scarfed plywood faces for spar |
| 2012-09-24 | Main spar | Glued up scarfs on the two plywood faces |
| 2012-09-26 | Mass Balance | Finished turning mass balance weight Cut Aluminium control horn |
| 2012-09-26 | main spar | Glued up first face |
| 2012-09-28 | Main spar | Glued up 2nd plywood face |
| 2012-09-29 | Main spar | Cleaned up spar Drilled 1 1/2" holes for mass balance Drilled holes in #1 diaphragm for controll horn and match drilled horn, I drill 1/8" holes first, then inserted 1/8" bits into each hole while I enlarged the others. Tapered ends of spar |
| 2012-09-29 | Mass Balance | Machine mounting plate for mass balance clean up and drill #10 holes in control horn |
| 2012-09-30 | Tips | Cut tailplane tips |
| 2012-10-02 | Metal Working | Reshaped the aluminum trailing from Wicks Supply for the Jodel using a form block and receiver. cut the 1/2" aluminum for the bearing blocks |
| 2012-10-03 | Spar | Weld up mass balance mounting plate to tube Glue up 5mm plywood for bearing block holders |
| 2012-10-04 | Spar | Added 5mm plywood doubler to false spar Machined groove in bearing bblock carriers |
| 2012-10-07 | Assembly | Located holes in spars for bearing blocks and aligned the false spar and main spar. I drilled one hole for each side and will drill the second hole after assembly. Glued up nose ribs to main spar Drilled holes for crossbolts in mass balance |
| 2012-10-08 | Assembly | Cut and beveled the 2 spruce leading edges |
| 2012-10-13 | Bearing blocks | Went to a friends shop who has a bridgeport mil and milled up the bearing blocks |
| 2012-10-14 | Assembly | Match drilled bearing blocks with the grooved holders and the main spar and false spar. A lot of assembly, drill, assemble some more and then drill again. I cut up some 3/16 rod to help align and locate one hole while the next was drilled. Finally the holes were line bored with a #10 reamer. |
| 2012-10-15 | Assembly | Epoxy coated bearing block holders. started lay out for tail ribs |
| 2012-10-16 | Assembly | Attached tail ribs Assembled the ribs in a horizontal position, I used a plywood guide to hold the tips of the tails level and square |
| 2012-10-18 | Assembly | Attached false rib and 4 diaphragms |
| 2012-10-19 | Assembly | Glued on the 2 angled nose ribs Routed and shaped the Tailplane tips. I used a 3/4"R 1/4 round router bit for the center wider area then switched to a 1/2"R where the tailplane tip narrows then used a hand plane and sandpaper to blend in the 2 radiuses |
| 2012-10-20 | Assembly | Glued on 2 angled tail ribs Glued on Tailplane tips |
| 2012-10-21 | Assembly | Guled up and attached 4 little plywood blocks |
| 2012-10-22 | Assembly | Attached spruce nosing |
| 2012-10-24 | Assembly | Added 6.5X12 braces to the angled tail ribs. I used a spacer to keep the 150mm distance and a square to keep it centered |
| 2012-10-25 | Assembly | Glued plywwod spacers |
| 2012-10-26 | Assembly | Re-jiged stabilizer on the bench and started cutting 2mm birch plywood for bottom |
| 2012-10-27 | Assembly | Fit Birch plywood bottoms Scarfed the plywood with new scarfing jig Made a template for the bearing access holes and routed holes Spent the rest of the day preparing for Hurricane Sandy, moving everything up off the basement floor |
| 2012-10-28 | Hurricane | No work today, busy moving everthing up off the basement floor preparing for the hurricane |
| 2012-10-29 | Assembly | I got bored waiting out the Hurricane Sandy and glued on the bottom side 2mm birch Ply |
| 2012-10-31 | Sandy | Looks like there wont be any work for a while, no power and judging by the devastation outside its going to be a few days to a week or more before electricity is restored. Fortunately, aside from a small hole in the porch roof our house suffered no damage. We did lose several large trees |
| 2012-11-01 | Power | Power is back, Woo Hoo I will get back to work tonight |
| 2012-11-02 | Plywood | Cut up the 1.6 Okoume for the stabilizer skins |
| 2012-11-03 | Assembly | Glued on RIght side lower skins |
| 2012-11-04 | Assembly | Glued on tail rib gussets Glued on Left side skin |
| 2012-11-05 | Assembly | Add tail rib gussets left side |
| 2012-11-07 | Assembly | New storm and NO power again |
| 2012-11-10 | Assembly | Sand & Prep upper side to receive skins Drill hole in bench to accommodate control horn Start scarfing Oh, yes, the power is back on |
| 2012-11-11 | assembly | Fit and continue scarfing upper skins |
| 2012-11-12 | Assembly | Glued up scarf joints on skins |
| 2012-11-13 | Assembly | Epoxy seal top skins and stabilizer bays in preperation for closing up |
| 2012-11-14 | assembly | Glued on right side top skin |
| 2012-11-15 | Assembly | Glued on left top skin |
| 2012-11-17 | Assembly | glued on top side gussets |
| 2012-11-18 | Assembly | trim plywood skin overhangs Sand and shape leading edge Add plywood doublers to bearing block openings |
| 2012-11-19 | Assembly | More sanding and clean up started fitting aluminium trailing edge |
| 2012-11-20 | Assembly | Tack on trailing edge finish clean up |
| 2012-11-23 | Lay out | Worked out material list and started to lay out Bulkhead #1 |
| 2012-11-24 | BUlkhead #1 | Cut up spruce and ash for #1. I will need to steam top curved stringer |
| 2012-11-25 | Bulkhead #1 | Glue up interior parts |
| 2012-11-29 | Bulkhead #1 | Steamed top stringers |
| 2012-12-01 | bulkhead #1 | glued up bent top stringers |
| 2012-12-03 | Bulkhead #1 | Cut to fit & glue on top curved stringer |
| 2012-12-10 | Bulkhead #4 | Received my plywood order from Wick's Lay out, cut up and start glue up of bulkhead #4 Hopefully the Aircraft Spruce order arrives tomorrow |
| 2012-12-11 | Bulkhead #3 | Layed out and cut the wood up for #3, still waiting for Aircraft Spruce delivery. Glued on the 2 5.0mm birch faces for bulkhead #4 |
| 2012-12-12 | Bulkhead #1 | Glued on one face of bulkhead #1, I used 2.5mm american birch ply (birch face, poplar core) because I can not find 2.5 Okoume in the U.S.A. My Aircraft Spruce order arrived- 100lbs crate for 3 sheets of of ply 2.0, 2.5 and 4.0. No wonder the freight cost almost as much as the plywood itself. Also cleaned up and beveled edges on bulkhead #4 and cut 4.0 plywood for #3 |
| 2012-12-14 | #1 and 4 | Drilled the hole for the tailwheel in #4 and trimmed the 2.5 plywood on bulkhead #1 |
| 2012-12-15 | Bulkhead #1 & 4 | Cut spruce blocks and glued on 2mm Birch ply for bulkhead #1 Glued up bulkhead #4 ply to frame Cut notches in #4 bottom stringer Sealed inside of bulkhead #1 to prepare for closing. I used an epoxy primer/sealer and the odor is rather strong. I am going to revert to laminating epoxy to seal the interiors |
| 2012-12-16 | #1 & #4 | Filled Firewall bulkhead #1 with balsa wood, I thought about using a more modern foam insulation but I had some Balsa in stock and also felt the Basla would give a little extra strength, especially if I need to attach accessories to the firewall other than where the spruce stringers are. Attached the notched bottom strip and ply gussets to Bulkhead #4 |
| 2012-12-18 | Trimming | Trimmed Bulkhead #1 and started 5 degree bevel on motor mount blocks Cleaned up Bulkhead #3 glued on plywood doubler and drilled hole for seat belts |
| 2012-12-20 | Trimming | Cut top of bulkhead #3 to 15 degs more fitting of #1 blocks |
| 2012-12-22 | Start Formers (Cintres) | Built jig for former #1 and cut the 8X18 strips to form the top curve. I had to make a larger steam chamber and steam the pieces longer than usually to get the curve. I should have done 4 6mm thick pc.s instead They are clamped in the jig to dry over night before glueing Did a littlemore sanding to shape the bevel on Bulkhead # 1, I still need to drill the motor mount holes and glue the blocks. |
| 2012-12-23 | Former #1 | Glued up curved 8X18s Glued up 2 pc.s 10mm plywood for 18mm fillers, I will have to plane them down to 18mm Glued on block to Bulkhead #1 |
| 2012-12-24 | Former #1 | Planed and shaped the plywood fillers Cut and fit all the spruce stringers and 2.0 birch plywood REady for gluing |
| 2012-12-24 | Former #1 | Planed and shaped the plywood fillers Cut and fit all the spruce stringers and 2.0 birch plywood Ready for gluing |
| 2012-12-27 | Former #1 | Glued plywood faces to 1 side of former #1 |
| 2012-12-28 | Former #1 | Glued up 2nd birch ply face to #1 Drilled the holes in Bulkhead #1 through the spruce blocks, using the existing hole in the bulkhead as a guide the hole went through nice and straight |
| 2012-12-29 | Former #1 | Cleaned up plywood Fabricated and glued on lower stiffner drilled the 2 big holes |
| 2012-12-29 | Former #2 | Layout former (cintres) #2, I created an 1/8" template for the curve as well as the lay out on the bench Milled down the Poplar to18mm and used the template to lay out the curves. Cut and sanded the poplar to shape |
| 2012-12-30 | Former #2 | Glued up poplar on template |
| 2012-12-31 | Former #2 | Glued on rear plywood skins started layout for Former #4 |
| 2013-01-01 | Former #2 & 3 | Cut up fit and glued little curved pieces to former #2 Started layout #3 |
| 2013-01-02 | Former #2 & 3 | fit and glued on front face I measured the thickness of my 3mm plywood and it was 2.78mm, I don't believe that is good enough. I will use that ply for former #3 that calls for 2.5mm ply and use my 2.5 Birch to replace the 3.2mm called for. |
| 2013-01-03 | Former #2 & 3 | Routed and sanded former #2 and set up jig for #3 |
| 2013-01-05 | Former 3,4,5,6 | Steamed up the 6.5 X 12 poplar for #3 and clamped in the jig Layed out #4,5,6 & 7 and cut them out with a knife. This way the bottom cut from one is the shape of the top of the next with no waste |
| 2013-01-06 | Former #3 &4 | Glued up bent 6.5 X 12 poplar to plywood, lots of clamps and blocks to push the poplar tight to the plywood steamed and prebent poplar for #4 |
| 2013-01-07 | Former #3 &4 | Glued on 18 X 18 stringer to #3 Glued on bent 6.5 X 12 to #4 |
| 2013-01-09 | Formers 5,6 &7 | Steamed and pre-bent 6.5X12 poplar for formers Glued 8X12 spruce to former 4 |
| 2013-01-12 | Former 5,6,&7 | Gulued up bent poplar to plywood |
| 2013-01-12 | Bulhead #2 | Now that I received my quatersawn ash I can continue on #2. Cut up all the parts and layed out on the jig |
| 2013-01-13 | Former 5,6,&7 | Removed former from jig and glued on 8X12 cross pieces |
| 2013-01-13 | Bulhead #2 | Glued up Bulkhead #2 |
| 2013-01-16 | Formers | Glued on bottom plywood for 5,6 & 7 Cut 120mm hole in #3 Added a layer of oak veneer (what I had in stock) to former #2, the plywood I used was a little light in thickness and the veneer more than made up the difference. I have since ordered new plywood that measures the full thickness |
| 2013-01-17 | #2 | received new 3.5mm plywood, measures 3.55mm, good. Glued first skin to bulkhead #2 |
| 2013-01-20 | bulkhead #2 | Glued up 2nd face to bulkhead Made a template to route out the cut out for the controls Cut and glued 30mm spruce blocks for wing mount |
| 2013-01-23 | Layout | Picked up a piece white melamine to lay out ribs and layed out rib profile 3-6 |
| 2013-01-25 | Ribs | Finished lay out of ribs #3-6 |
| 2013-01-26 | Ribs #3-6 | Worked on Jig Cut up and steamed cap strips for first rib fabricated a jig to shape the nose blocks |
| 2013-01-27 | Ribs #3-6 | Fit prebent capstrips Cut and fit ply gussets steam 2nd set of cap strips |
| 2013-01-30 | Ribs #3-6 | Glued in front vertical and extra plywood strip to help rib hold shape Started cutting up plywood gussets for balance of ribs |
| 2013-01-31 | Ribs #3-6 | Glued up second rib, this time with the larger gussets first. This rib will serve as a check for all other ribs Cut and shaped the rest of the nose blocks for ribs 3-6 |
| 2013-02-01 | ribs #3-6 | BUilt up another rib |
| 2013-02-02 | Ribs #3-6 | Gued up one more rib glued on oppisite side gussets to 1st rib One rib got stcuck in the jig ans was damaged upon removal. It is a throw away, oh well. |
| 2013-02-03 | ribs #3-6 | another rib |
| 2013-02-04 | ribs #3-6 | one rib |
| 2013-02-07 | ribs #3-6 | addded the gussets to other side of the ribs |
| 2013-02-09 | Lay Out | Running out of Spruce (more on order) so I Started lay out of ribs for the flaps. But We woke up to this in the morning I amde a template from 1/2 ply and routed the flap ribs |
| 2013-02-10 | ribs #3-6 | built up another rib |
| 2013-02-10 | Flaps | Routed up 9 more flap ribs |
| 2013-02-12 | Ribs #3-6 | Added oppisite side gussets to a rib |
| 2013-02-12 | Ribs | Routed #3 ribs using the same template. I will trim them to length on assembly |
| 2013-02-13 | Ribs #3-6 | Assemble 7th rib |
| 2013-02-16 | spruce | received my shipment of Spruce from Aircraft Spruce and milled up the cap strips for the rest of the ribs |
| 2013-02-16 | flaps | Cut up/routed the #2 and #3 rib blanks. Started the lay out for flap spar |
| 2013-02-17 | Spar | Finished lay-out and cut up parts ready for assembly |
| 2013-02-21 | Ribs #3-6 | Glued up the last main rib |
| 2013-02-21 | Control horns | Shaped 3/16 aluminium for control horn |
| 2013-02-23 | Flap spar | Built up flap spar |
| 2013-02-24 | rib #7 | Cut up spruce and steamed capstrips for #7 Cleaned up other ribs |
| 2013-02-24 | Flap spar | Glued uo 2nd flap spar. This on is oppisite so the 1.6mm skin is glued on . This had to be scarfed as the spar is longer than 1200mm |
| 2013-02-24 | Rib #7 | Glued up one #7 and steamed for 2nd #7 |
| 2013-02-26 | Rib #7 | Glued up 2nd #7 |
| 2013-02-27 | rib #7 | Guled on 2nd side gussets |
| 2013-02-27 | Flap spar | Glued on spar skin |
| 2013-02-28 | rib #7 | Glued up 2nd side gussets |
| 2013-02-28 | spar | Glue on birch gussets |
| 2013-03-02 | Ribs | Added 2nd side gussets to remaing ribs started cleaning up glue lines |
| 2013-03-02 | Flaps | Laid out ribs & spar for assembly |
| 2013-03-04 | Controll Horn | Drilled holes in aluminum horn and wood ribs for controll assembly |
| 2013-03-07 | Controll Horn & Spar | Used a 1/8 X 2" X 72" (3.2 X 50 X 1850) piece of flat steel for a template for the hinges. This should ensure that the hinge hole are equall and in line. Drill one spar, using 1/8 inch bit as a starter. Glued up controll horn ribs. Squared up full rib cut outs |
| 2013-03-08 | Hinges | Drilled holes in hinges |
| 2013-03-09 | #2 rib | Glued up #2 rib More flap hinges |
| 2013-03-10 | #2 rib | Matched up and glued 2nd #2 rib. Temporary pin nailed cap strips to first rib then glued on plywood web. Cleaned up other ribs |
| 2013-03-13 | False rib | Glued up false rib #2 |
| 2013-03-15 | False rib | Glued up 2nd False rib #2 on top of first |
| 2013-03-16 | main ribs | Glued on #2 and False #2 bottom 8X12 doublers Started false nose ribs-shaped/routered first False rib using a standard rib as a template |
| 2013-03-16 | Flaps | Glued up middle flap block Glued on outside ply doublers at hinges |
| 2013-03-17 | False ribs | Routed the balance of the false ribs |
| 2013-03-17 | Assembly | Added nut plats to flap spar Glued up 1st flap |
| 2013-03-19 | Nut Plates | Added aluminum washer plate under hinge nut plates and added nut plates to 2nd flap |
| 2013-03-20 | assembly | Assemble left flap |
| 2013-03-22 | Flap assembly | Cut up and glued upper 1.6 skin to flaps. This was a struggle until I came up on a working system. The flaps are skinned with 1.6 ply for 1 part and 2.0 ply for the section closer to the control arm. |
| 2013-03-23 | Flap assembly | Cleaned up the flaps and sealed the inside Glued up lower side of 1.6 flap skin. I dampened the outside surface of the plywood to help it stay tight |
| 2013-03-24 | assembly | glued on upper 2.0 ply skin on both flaps |
| 2013-03-27 | Assembly | Glued on last 2.0 skin on flaps |
| 2013-03-28 | Assembly | Trimed and cleaned up flaps sanded and shape spar side and trailing edge |
| 2013-03-31 | Rib #8 | Lay out and Assembled jig for rib #8 |
| 2013-04-01 | Rib #8 | Made nose blocks from 3 layers of 4mm plywood completed rib jig |
| 2013-04-05 | Rib #8 | cut and steamed capstrips Added cams to jig |
| 2013-04-06 | Rib #8 | Assemble 1st #8 |
| 2013-04-07 | Rib #8 | Added other side gussets to 1st rib corrected orintation of tailend 8X12 , it is supposed to be 12X8 glued on its side. Steamed capstrips for 2nd rib |
| 2013-04-15 | Rib #8 | Glued up 2nd #8 rib Added oppisite side gussets to 1st #8 rib |
| 2013-04-20 | Jean Pierre | Jean Pierre was visiting NYC from France and he came to visit my project for the day. |
| 2013-04-21 | Rib #9 | Layout and start building jig for rib #9 |
| 2013-04-21 | Rib #8 | clean up ribs and cut bevel at tail end |
| 2013-04-23 | Rib #9 | Completd jig Steamed and pre-bent cap strips Cut and glued up 3 peices of 4mm to make 12mm plywood for nose blocks |
| 2013-04-24 | Rib #9 | Glue up first #9 |
| 2013-04-25 | rib #9 | Glue up 2nd #9 |
| 2013-04-26 | Rib #10 | Glued up gussets on 2nd side of #9 Lay out jig for rib #10 |
| 2013-04-27 | Rib #8 | Steam and prebend capstrips for Rib #10 Trim bevel on trailing edge of ribs #9 |
| 2013-05-01 | Rib #10 | Glued up 1st rib #10 |
| 2013-05-03 | Nose rib #7 | Added other side gussets to #10 rib Glue up 2nd #10 Started layout of #7 nose rib |
| 2013-05-04 | Nose rib #7 | Completed jig for Nose rib and glued up fist rib |
| 2013-05-05 | Nose rib #7 | Glued up nose rib #7 Cleaned up ribs #10 |
| 2013-05-06 | Lay out Ailerons | Glued up other side gussets on nose ribs #7 Lay out jig for aileron ribs |
| 2013-05-08 | Aileron ribs | Finish jig, since the pieces are straight with out bends I just used finish nails to locate the strips. Blocked up the back 6.5X12 that fit on the flat Cut and fit cap strips and ply gussets |
| 2013-05-09 | Ribs | Glued up first set of aileron ribs |
| 2013-05-11 | Ribs | Glue up 2nd set of ribs Start lay out of aileron spar |
| 2013-05-12 | Ribs spar | Continue layout of spar & cut up spruce Glue up 3rd set of ribs |
| 2013-05-13 | Ribs | Glued up another set of ribs Added oppisite gussets to 2nd set |
| 2013-05-14 | Ribs spar control | Glued on last opposite side gussets Shaped hinge and mass balance arm plywood block Lay out steel control arm |
| 2013-05-16 | Aileron spar | Scafed plywood skins for spar |
| 2013-05-18 | Aileron spar | Glued up spar beveled the ends of the ribs |
| 2013-05-19 | Aileron spar | Glued up 2nd spar cleaned up first spar |
| 2013-05-21 | Control horns | Cut 1/8 steel on the bandsaw and shaped on the grinder for the 2 control horns. Filed and sanded the edges |
| 2013-05-23 | Control horns | Drilled holes in control horns Cut up spruce and plywood for control horn blocks |
| 2013-05-24 | control horns | Glue up wood blocks Prime metal |
| 2013-05-25 | Control horns | Cleaned up and matched drilled blocks with the control horns. First drilled a 3/16" hole then I ran the #10 reamer through the assembly |
| 2013-05-26 | Spar | Cleaned up the spar and glued on the birch doubler Cut the 29.5 degree bevels on the end of the spar |
| 2013-05-27 | spar | Glued on the exterior side birch doubler. Layed out and drilled the steel template for the hinge locations and drilled the hinge holes on the 2 spars |
| 2013-05-29 | Assembly | Fabricated the aluminum backer for the nut plates and installed with nut plates on the spar |
| 2013-06-03 | Aileron Assembly | Assemble ribs to spar. Used a simple string on two uprights to align ribs to center line and height. |
| 2013-06-04 | Assembly | Added aluminum backer and nut plates to second aileron spar |
| 2013-06-05 | Aileron Assembly | Glued up second aileron ribs to spar. |
| 2013-06-07 | Assembly | Milled up trailing edges. Cut and fit trailing edge to one aileron, I had to use some 30mm ply strips as a mock up for the miter |
| 2013-06-08 | Aileron Assembly | Glued up 2nd aileron and sanded and cleaned up firt aileron |
| 2013-06-09 | aileron Assembly | Clean and sand 2 aileron Shaped trailing edge with hand plane and sandpaper. Checked trailing edge for straightness and it needed a very little touch up Cut all the 1.6 gussets |
| 2013-06-10 | Aileron Assembly | Glue on control arm blocks |
| 2013-06-12 | Aileron Assembly | Added nutsplates and aluminum backers for mass balance |
| 2013-06-13 | Aileron Assembly | Started to glue on gussets |
| 2013-06-14 | Aileron Assembly | Glued up another long gusset and trailing edge gussets |
| 2013-06-16 | Aileron Assembly | Glue on one more of the long gussets |
| 2013-06-17 | Aileron Assembly | another long gusset |
| 2013-06-18 | Aileron Assembly | Glued on the last of the gussets Just sanding left |
| 2013-06-19 | False spar | Lay out of false spar |
| 2013-06-20 | False spar | Mill up spruce for spar Cut scarf on 1.6 ply web |
| 2013-06-21 | false spar | Glue up one spar |
| 2013-06-22 | false spar | Glue up second spar, Hinge mount block were fliped to the oppisite side to make left and right spars |
| 2013-06-23 | false spar | Glue on one side of hinge doublers |
| 2013-06-24 | false spar | Glued up the otherside hinge doublers |
| 2013-06-26 | false spar | Drilled hinge screw holes |
| 2013-06-27 | False spar | Added nut plates to spar |
| 2013-06-30 | Ailerion false spar | Lay out and start false spar |
| 2013-07-01 | False spar | Cut up plywood and ash blocks Glued up 4 X 2mm birch ply blocks |
| 2013-07-04 | False spar | glue up 1st false spar |
| 2013-07-05 | false spar | glue up 2nd false spar |
| 2013-07-06 | False spar | glued up birch plywood hinge doublers |
| 2013-07-06 | tank bulkhead | Lay out for front tank bulkhead and mill lumber |
| 2013-07-07 | false spar | drill hinge holes using steel template and fabricate nutplate washers |
| 2013-07-07 | tank bulkhead | lay out and drill holes for tank straps Add nutplates |
| 2013-07-09 | front tank bulkhead | glued up bulkhead |
| 2013-07-10 | front tank bulkhead | Glue on back side plywood glue up 5mm plywood to create 10mm blocks for fairlead layout rear bulkhead |
| 2013-07-11 | tank bulkheads | drill screw holes in rear bulkhead lower stringer and epoxy seal top edge Clean up front bulkhead Make template for control cable cutout and rout cutouts in front bulkhead Mill and shape the 10mm ply for the fairlead |
| 2013-07-11 | Mock up | Set up in the yard for an inspirational mock up |
| 2013-07-12 | rear | |
| 2013-07-12 | rear bulkhead | Add nutplates to bottom stringer |
| 2013-07-13 | Rear bulkhead | Glue up rear bulkhead rout control cable cut out |
| 2013-07-14 | Inspirational Assembly | Set up the parts on the lawn to see what this thing may look like |
| 2013-07-15 | Tie downs | fabricated the tie down rings |
| 2013-08-02 | Prep for gluing | Cut and fit all the struts/uprights, plywood and gussets ready for glue up |
| 2013-08-10 | Lay out | Conpleted the expansion of the work shop and back to work. Started the lay out of the fuselage sides |
| 2013-08-11 | Lay out | Continues and nearly completed the Fuse lay out |
| 2013-08-14 | Lay out | Completed Fuselage jig and started cutting cross pieces |
| 2013-08-17 | lamination | Steam bent and formed the 3 piece lamination that sits on top of the wing |
| 2013-08-18 | Glue up laminations | Glued up the over wing lamination. I used Cascophen (resorcinol) because of the strong pressure and squeeze out of the laminations, epoxy works better with out excess pressure |
| 2013-08-19 | Gussets | Cleaned up curved stringer and cut up all the gussets for the fuselage |
| 2013-08-23 | Spar Beams and fuselage longerons | Took delivery of the spruce fron Boulter Plywood. Rough sawn 2X6 and 1X8 Spar grade spruce. The 2X6s were a full 2" thick (50mm) and have to be milled down to 36mm. Started cutting and milling |
| 2013-08-24 | MIlling beams | Cut straight edge and milled down one 18 foot beam |
| 2013-08-24 | Cutting and milling | Ripped a straight edge and milled down the 4/4 spruce for the 18 foot top fuselage longerons. |
| 2013-08-25 | Milling and gluing | Cut up and milled some more 18mm boards. Cut and tapered the upper and lower longeron doublers. Glued them up using the T-88 in the caulking tube. The adhesive comes out in a bead already mixed. A fast and easy application. Unfirtunately the glue is twice as expensive as the bottled T-88 and the mixing tips are one time use at $2.50 each. |
| 2013-08-26 | Side panel | Cleaned up the longerons and cut and fit the curved wing stringer to the lower longeron |
| 2013-08-27 | Assembly | Cut and fit all the uprights to the longerons I almost had the mother of all goof ups. Last night I had all the parts fitted and was going to glue up tomorrow. I got curious as to how the #4 bulkhead, the one that the tailwheel bolts to, fits into the fuse so I put in in place on the fuselage jig and it was way to tall. My first assumption was the plans had you make it big and trim to fit later. Except the height called for was 381mm too odd to be an approximation. Sure enough, when laying out the lower longeron I picked up a random pencil line on the table and had the fuselage about 50mm too narrow at the very tail end. Had I not discovered this at this point, I may not have picked up on it until both side were done and possibly the entire fuselage assembled, I could have been set back months and hundreds of dollars, pure dumb luck that i caught it. Whew |
| 2013-08-29 | gussets | Made templates and cut up the large gussets for the lower lamination to stringer |
| 2013-08-30 | Prep for gluing | Cut and fit all the struts/uprights and plywood parts. Get ready for gluing |
| 2013-08-31 | Assenbly | Glued up the right side panel. Clamped everything straight and used squeeze blocks to clamp the ssembly to the table and keep it flat |
| 2013-09-01 | Left side | Cut up and milled part for the second/left side panel |
| 2013-09-02 | Laminations | Glued up the curved stringer and the doublers for the upper and lower longerons |
| 2013-09-08 | Cut skins | Cut and fit cross pieces Cut the 2mm skins and layout and start cutting 4mm skins |
| 2013-09-09 | Skins | Cut up the 4mm for the skins. Made a test 4mm scarf with the new adjustable scarf jig |
| 2013-09-10 | Scarfs | Scarfing the 4mm plywod |
| 2013-09-11 | Scarfs | completed the scarfs on the 4mm and started the 2mm plywood |
| 2013-09-12 | Scarfing | completed the scarfing on 2mm skins Trimmed longerons to length |
| 2013-09-13 | 2mm scarf | Redid the scrfing on the 2mm to a steeper angle to cover more of the scarf on the 4mm it joins to |
| 2013-09-16 | Rear skin | Glued on rear 4mm plywood |
| 2013-09-18 | Glue skins | Glued up the big 2mm piece and the next 4mm. I used the T-88 in the cartridge tube to lay the epoxy on the frame. It does speed the application up. Scarfs look good |
| 2013-09-20 | Front skin | Glued on the 2 front 4mm skins |
| 2013-09-21 | Left side | Remove from jig and trim plywood Clean up glue and prep for gussets |
| 2013-09-22 | sealing and nutplates | Epoxy sealed the areas on both the left and right side the will be boxed in. Fabricated the 1/8 aluminum plate for the anchor nuts and drill the left fuselage. The Frank Rogers plan called for 1/8 aluminum under the anchor nuts and the French plans showed nothing but the anchor nut. I added the 1/8 alumnium |
| 2013-09-26 | Right side skins | Installed the rear 4mm ply Added gussets to left side |
| 2013-10-02 | Right side skins | Added middle 4mm skin |
| 2013-10-03 | Right side skins | Added on 2mm skin Glued on more gussets to Left side |
| 2013-10-04 | Left side | Glued on the 2 large inner gussets |
| 2013-10-05 | Skins | Trimmed and cleaned up left side Epoxied on the final front 4mm skin to the left side |
| 2013-10-06 | Right side | trimmed and clean up right side Set up the 2 sides on the bench and started to work out fitting the bulkheads |
| 2013-10-08 | Fitting bulkheads | Notched and started fitting bulkheads to fuselage sides |
| 2013-10-10 | cross pieces | Started cutting and fitting lower rear cross pieces |
| 2013-10-10 | fitting bulkheads | Completed fitting bulkheads and did an assembly mock up |
| 2013-10-12 | Lower Fuselage | Fit the bottom cross struts at the rear half of the fuselage. The drawing I have of the plan view of the fuselage appears to be inaccurate. The dimension of the cross pieces do not work. I had to adjust the location of those struts to match the similar layout from Frank Rogers drawing of the D1050. Now the side have a nice curve over the wing and a straight line to the tail. This drawing appears not to be an original French plan. |
| 2013-10-15 | Final fitting | Shaped, beveled and fit Firewall bulkhead to fuselage sides |
| 2013-10-16 | Final fitting | Beveled and fit bulkhead #2 to fuselage sides |
| 2013-10-17 | Tail plane holes | Made a drilling jig and drilled the holes for the tailplane brackets Cleaned up more glue drips on the fuselage side |
| 2013-10-19 | Prep for gluing | Broke down the set up and marked up the work table with a center line and square cross lines |
| 2013-10-21 | Set up | Reassembled fuselage on table and started squaring and blocking sides. Used a plumb bob to center bulkheads |
| 2013-10-22 | Bulkhead #1 | Glued up bulkhead #1 (Firewall) to fuselage sides. Lots a squaring and checking plumb. I also squared up bulkhead #2 to help the glue up stay square. |
| 2013-10-23 | Install Bulkhead #2 | Squared, fitted and Glued in bulkhead #2. I needed a shim between the lower longeron and bulkhead to make everything true. |
| 2013-10-24 | Bulkhead #3 | Fitted and installed bulkhead #3. Also glued in the lower gusset doubler with grain direction 90deg.s to the first layer. |
| 2013-10-25 | Cross struts | Fabricated 5mm saddle gussets and glued in the 40mm cross strut |
| 2013-10-26 | Cross struts | Spent some time squaring up the rear half of the fuselage getting the top and bottom lined up on the center line. Glued in the next cross strut |
| 2013-10-27 | cross struts | Glued in the rear bottom cross struts |
| 2013-10-28 | Cross struts | Double check the fuselage for square again with the plumb bob then glued in the gussets for the cross struts. The gussets are nessecary to keep the struts from breaking off when I turn the fuselage over. |
| 2013-10-29 | Angle braces | Cut and fit the 8X40 pieces behind Bulkhead 3 |
| 2013-10-30 | Angle braces | Glued in the angle braces and saddle gussets |
| 2013-11-02 | Top side | Rolled the fuselage top side up and started milling longeron doublers and baggage area cross struts |
| 2013-11-03 | Longerons | Fit and glued on the front longeron triplerers. Dry fit cintre #1 but the angle from top to bottom was just not enough and the cintre would not fit in, the bottom was way to big causing a big space at the top of the panel. I wound up removing about 7mm from the bottom. |
| 2013-11-04 | Doubler | Added Tapered Spruce doubler to the right side cockpit area |
| 2013-11-05 | doubler | Added side doubler to left side |
| 2013-11-06 | Longeron capping | Added packing pieces to upper fuselage |
| 2013-11-10 | Fuselage braces | Cut and fit baggage area bracing and rear seat parts |
| 2013-11-11 | Panel bulkhead | Glue in panel couple. Fit up rear seat struts. Fit up baggage cross struts and braces |
| 2013-11-13 | Cross braces | Glued on baggage cross struts and bulkhead braces |
| 2013-11-14 | Panel braces | Lay out for panel braces |
| 2013-11-15 | Panel braces | Cut notches in panel former |
| 2013-11-17 | Final fit and glue in braces | |
| 2013-11-18 | Rear seat | Glued in the rear seat bottom struts |
| 2013-11-19 | Lower gusset | Fabricated and glued on 5mm gussets to laminated longeron. I first made a cardboard template. |
| 2013-11-20 | Plywood stiffeners | Fabricated and steamed the rear 1/2 of the upper longeron 4mm plywood stiffener. |
| 2013-11-21 | Plywood stiffeners | Fabricated, steamed and pre-bent front 1/2 of upper longeron 4mm stiffener |
| 2013-11-22 | Plywood stiffeners | Sanded & shaped the 4 filler packings and glued in the 4mm upper stiffeners |
| 2013-11-23 | Shaping | Cleaned up the 4mm plywood. Started sanding, rasping, filing planeing, and shaping the upper Longeron at the front of the cockpit. |
| 2013-11-25 | Shaping | Continued to sand and shape the upper longer on |
| 2013-11-26 | shaping | Shaped the left side of the fuselage upper longeron |
| 2013-11-27 | Coaming | Cut 3mm ply for front coaming. Check the fit and continued sanding and shaping top logeron |
| 2013-11-29 | Birch plywood | Cut and fit the 3mm birch plywood that covers the top of the upper longerons |
| 2013-11-30 | Glue plywood | Glue right side plywood to top of longeron |
| 2013-12-01 | 3 mm ply | Glue on Birch ply to left side top longeron. Continued shaping bevel on Panel former and upper longeron for coaming |
| 2013-12-03 | Front Coaming | Scarf 3mm plywood |
| 2013-12-04 | Front coaming | Glued on the front coaming |
| 2013-12-05 | Coaming porkchops | Trimed & Cleaned up the Okoume coaming Cut and scarfed the birch coaming pork chops |
| 2013-12-07 | coaming porkchop | Glued up the right side birch pork chop |
| 2013-12-08 | Coaming porkchops | Glue up left side pork chop |
| 2013-12-09 | coaming porkchops | trimmed and cleaned up pork chops (panel braces) |
| 2013-12-11 | coaming porkchops | Added spruce packing to to clean up the step and twist from the birch ply gusset to the brace |
| 2013-12-12 | tailplane uprights | realigned the rear fuselage. Double checked the 257mm distance at the tailplane mounting and cut spruce cross pieces to fit between the ASH uprights. THe DR400 uses spruce cross pieces and a 4mm plywood panel instead of the angled tube brace of the D1050 |
| 2013-12-14 | Rear brace | glued the plywood panel/brace that goes between the Ash uprights for the horizontal stabilizer |
| 2013-12-15 | rear brace | Rechecked the rear brace and it was not true/square. The angle of the brace with the right side was different than the angle with the left. I cut it all out and started again The 2 top longerons had a bow in it causing problems. I tacked boards internally to hold the side straight and everything squared up. |
| 2013-12-18 | rear brace | Glue in the new rear brace, nice and square |
| 2013-12-19 | rear deck | Fabricated the upper brace for the rear deck |
| 2013-12-20 | deck brace | Glued in the rear deck brace pieces |
| 2013-12-21 | Rear deck | scarfed & Glued on the rear deck plywood. I only glued on the forward half 2mm ply. the rear half will be glued in sfter the vertical stabilizer is installed |
| 2013-12-22 | Rear deck | Cut opening in rear deck, used router, jig saw and sanding drum in portable drill. Cut up and drilled the 4mm plywood for the empenage fairing nut plates |
| 2013-12-24 | Plate nuts | Fabricated 4mm plate nuts for the rear fairing |
| 2013-12-27 | Bearing support plates | Started the layout and cutting of the Tailplane bearing brackets |
| 2013-12-29 | bearing support plates | Continued work on the support brackets |
| 2013-12-30 | Bearing support plates | Finished cutting and drilling Support plates. Machined the aluminum thimble spacers |
| 2013-12-31 | Bearing support plates | Finished up thimbles and fabricated the spacers |
| 2014-01-01 | bearing support plates | Matched drilled fuselage sides for bearing plates |
| 2014-01-02 | Bearing support plates | Drilled and reamed support plates for 5/16 bolts |
| 2014-01-04 | Tailplane | Test fit tailplane to fuselage. I had to trim a fair amount of material off the plywood bearing holders in the tailplane as they were hitting the support plates and restricting the tailplane travel |
| 2014-01-05 | Bulkhead #4 | Re-checked fuselage alignment and glued in Bulkhead #4 |
| 2014-01-09 | Sealing | Epoxy sealed interior cockpit and rear seat back |
| 2014-01-10 | Baggage shelf | Cut, scarfed and glued in baggage shelf |
| 2014-01-11 | Birch plywood | Trimed and cleaned up baggage shelf. Cut, scarfed and glued in rear 3mm birch porkchops |
| 2014-01-12 | Rear seat change | After a long discussion on the Jodel List I decided to raise the rear seat platform to accommodate a larger main fuel tank. Cleaned up and sanded the baggage shelf porkchops |
| 2014-01-13 | Rear seat change | Milled up spruce for new rear seat raised 80mm |
| 2014-01-14 | Rear seat change | Notched and fit up rear seat frame |
| 2014-01-15 | Rear seat change | Cut and shaped rear seat support for wing attachment bolt |
| 2014-01-16 | Rear seat change | Glued up rear seat support. I used 3mm ply for the front |
| 2014-01-17 | Rear seat change | Glued in rear seat forward support |
| 2014-01-18 | Rear seat change | Glue in rear seat support to BUlkhead #3 and added gussets to forwarad support |
| 2014-01-19 | Rear seat change | Glued in side supports and struts for rear seat. Rolled fuselage bottom side up in prep for bottom skin |
| 2014-01-20 | Clean up | Cleaned up all the excess glue from the underside of the cockpit glue ups |
| 2014-01-21 | Squaring | Re aligned the fuselage again with center line. The lower longerons were excessively bowed so I had to screw 1 X 4 pine straighteners to the outside the the sides below the longerons. These will hold the side straight until the bottom skin is installed. Also added gussets to the rear seat supports. And glue up 2 20mm triangles to make up the 40mm triangle. Also epoxy sealed the back of the rear seat back. There was another snow storm today so I left work early and got some real work done. |
| 2014-01-23 | epoxy sealing | Continued sealing fuselage interior |
| 2014-01-25 | Bottom Skin | Finished up 2nd coat of sealer. Lay out and cut 3.0 mm plywood for bottom skin, the 2mm plywood was unacceptable and I had to use 3mm, this ply measured 2.8mm.Scarfed the end as this piece needs to be longer than 8 feet. Cut and scarfed the extension piece also. I wet both sides of the ply and temporarily clamped it in position so it would take the bend |
| 2014-01-26 | Bottom skin glue up | Glued on the bottom skin. I first checked once again the center line and square. I also once again wet the plywood before gluing. I used the T-88 glue cartridge which is a much faster way to lay the glue down ( just expensive). |
| 2014-01-27 | Bottom skin glue up | Added the scarfed in Okoume skin |
| 2014-01-29 | Bottom Skin | Cut the triangle opening in the bottom skin and when I looked inside the skin had not bonded to the angle cross pieces. I cleaned the glue off the top of the spruce stringers and clamped and reglued. Cut and glued in the square gussets for the fuselage side upright struts in the cockpit area |
| 2014-01-31 | Bottom cockpit gussets | Cut 4mm birch for the gussets over the wing, Scarfed the plywood and the fuselage using the "portable" scarfing jig. Glued on the left side gusset |
| 2014-02-01 | lower gusset | Routered and cleaned up gusset. Glued on opposite side over wing gusset. Added the 4mm ply doublers for the rudder cable outlet. |
| 2014-02-03 | Sealing | applied epoxy sealer on the coaming and cockpit area. Built a craddle to hold the fuselage |
| 2014-02-04 | Gussets | Trimmed and Cleaned up 2nd cockpit gusset. Made a 5' long board sander and beveled/leveled for the cockpit forward floor. |
| 2014-02-06 | Cockpit floor | Glue on the 5mm floor. I had use a pipe clamp to pull the side a little straighter as they had bowed out |
| 2014-02-08 | Cockpit floor | Trimed and cleaned up glue from cockpit floor. |
| 2014-02-09 | Move fuselage | Move fuselage off the work table and on to the dolly. cleaned up sand sanded all the glue lines around the fuselage. Started to remold the workshop to start the main spar |
| 2014-02-14 | Rear seat | fit a template and the cut the 5mm ply for the rear seat platform |
| 2014-02-15 | Set up | Spent the last week rearranging the workshop. I moved the benches against the wall and added tops to create a 28 foot long work table. Also fliped the fuselage top side up |
| 2014-02-18 | Diaphragms | Started layout and cutting for diaphragms. |
| 2014-02-19 | Diaphragms | Glued up diaphragms D-0 and 2nd 20mm ply block for center |
| 2014-02-23 | Diaphragms | cut up more plywood and spruce for diaphragms |
| 2014-02-25 | Diaphragms | cut up and milled ash for D-1 Glued up D-2 |
| 2014-02-26 | Diaphragms | Sealed interior of D-2 and closed up Shaped ply blocks of D-center |
| 2014-02-28 | Diaphragms | close up D-1 |
| 2014-03-01 | Diaphragms | Add spruce blocks to D-1 & D-2 |
| 2014-03-02 | Diaphragms | Add blocks to D-2 Start gluing up D-3….D-6 |
| 2014-03-04 | Diaphragms | Continued gluing main diaphragms |
| 2014-03-05 | Diaphragms | Glued up center diaphragm Started turning Delrin rod for control stick bearing Glued up more main diaphragms |
| 2014-03-07 | Center bearing | Turned 2 Delrin bearings to fit in the center diaphragm for the control stick |
| 2014-03-08 | Spar Beams | A friend with a very complete cabinet shop offered the mill up my spar beams so we drove them over and his guys milled them up very accurately. |
| 2014-03-09 | Diaphragms & beams | Cut first main beam to rough shape Cut plywood for diaphragms D7-10 |
| 2014-03-11 | Spar Beams | Made a template of the upper beam and started routing the beam to shape |
| 2014-03-12 | Spar Beams | Started layout of the second upper beam. After rough cutting I found a pitch pocket in the beam that appeared to be more than just on the surface. I split (sawed) the beam and the pitch pocket was 10mm deep. |
| 2014-03-13 | Spar Beams | Glued up the split spar beam and added 5mm strip to make up for the remove pitch pocket. Glued up some more diaphragms |
| 2014-03-15 | Spar Beams | Started layout of Lower spar beams. Discovered another problem, I ordered 18' lumber and the lower beam is 18' -3" . I will have to scarf on an additional 3". Made template for the lower beam shape |
| 2014-03-16 | Lower beam | Rough cut and routed lower beam. Scarfed on the additional 3" at 15:1 slope. Gled up some more of the diaphragms |
| 2014-03-18 | Spar Beams | More cutting and shaping of spar beams Anothwer round of gluing on diaphragms |
| 2014-03-19 | Spar Beams | Scarfed on 70mm extension to lower spar beams |
| 2014-03-20 | Spar Beams | Cleaned up and trimmed beams to length. Glued up more of the diaphragms |
| 2014-03-23 | Spar Beams | Had to remake the upper 24 X 24mm upper extensions, The plans call for 1805mm length with a 30mm thick main beam but I am using a 36mm thick beam as per the DR253. This requires a longer spar extension piece. Tapered the extensions from 24mm to 9mm. |
| 2014-03-24 | Spar Beams | Cut up the 8 24 X24mm spar extensions trimmed and squared up diaphragms |
| 2014-03-24 | Spar Beams | Beveled ends of the main spars for the angled extensions. I rough cut with a saw and hand planed to the line as the router would have destroyed the feather edge |
| 2014-03-30 | Spar jig | Beveled the ends of the lower spars and continued building the jig/platform for the spar |
| 2014-03-31 | Spar jig | Continued layout of spar jig and started gluing up 30 X 30 pieces. Glued up from left over waste from the spar beams |
| 2014-04-01 | Spar jig | Milled up the 30 X 30 to final dimension and started building the bent up part of the spar jig. I used the CAD program to calculate how much the upper flange beams rise and set the jig to that height. |
| 2014-04-02 | Spar jig | Set up the laser to align the spar jig both inline and horizontal. |
| 2014-04-07 | Spar parts | MIlled up 36X40 ash and 36X60 spruce blocks Started cutting 3mm birch ply on the 45deg angle |
| 2014-04-19 | Bottom Skin | Scarfed the 3mm ply for the bottom skin |
| 2014-04-27 | Spar Skin | Scarf lower skin 2mm ply and start gluing up |
| 2014-04-29 | spar Skin | Glgue up more scarfs |
| 2014-04-30 | Spar Skin | Glue up more scarf joints |
| 2014-05-04 | Spar Skin | Shaped the tapered pieces to add to the rear of the jig to raise the rear boom, And cleaned up all the scarf joints |
| 2014-05-10 | Lower beam | Glue front lower beam to plywood skin |
| 2014-05-11 | lower beam | Glue in rear lower spruce beam |
| 2014-05-13 | Spar parts | Glued in the spruce and ash filler blocks in the lower spar. |
| 2014-05-14 | Spar Skin | Added more filler blocks and scarfed the top side skin of the lower spar beams |
| 2014-05-14 | Spar Skin | Added more filler blocks and scarfed the top side skin of the lower spar beams |
| 2014-05-15 | Spar | Epoxy seal the internal area of the lower spar that will be covered with the top plywood skin |
| 2014-05-18 | Spar Skin | Drilled 1/4" drain holes in all the sealed off chambers and glued on the top ply to the lower beams |
| 2014-05-19 | Center diaphragms | Cleaned up and started layout of the diaphragms |
| 2014-05-20 | Fit up | Dry fit the spar components. I need to figure ou the assembly and glue up sequence so I don't screw myself later in the assembly. |
| 2014-05-21 | Diaphragms | Glued on D1 & D2 diaphragms Cut bevels on upper Longeron extensions |
| 2014-05-22 | Diaphragms | Glued on right side D1 & D2 diaphragms |
| 2014-05-23 | Top spar skin | Started cutting plywood for spar top |
| 2014-05-24 | upper skin | Started scarfing top plywood |
| 2014-05-25 | Scarfing skin | Scarfed plywwod for upper spar beams started gluing up scarfs |
| 2014-05-28 | Top spar skin | Glued more top ply scarfs Glued in center diaphragm |
| 2014-06-11 | Spar Beams | Glued on rear upper beam to top skin. I use the spar jig with the top skin face down. |
| 2014-06-15 | spar Beams | Glued front upper spar beam to the plywood. This beam had bowed slightly requiring extra clamping |
| 2014-06-16 | Spar Beams | Cleaned up glue from upper spar beam. |
| 2014-06-19 | Spar Beams | Glued up splice joints inside ply of upper spar beams |
| 2014-06-21 | upper spar | Glue in support blocks in upper spar |
| 2014-06-22 | Sealing | Epoxy seal area of upper beam that will be covered by the 3.5 okoume plywood |
| 2014-07-05 | Upper spar inside ply | Fit and glued on the inside 3.5 Ok ply to the upper spar beam. I made sure the ply ends matched the 3.5 Okume from the lower beam inner ply |
| 2014-07-06 | Diaphragms | Cleaned up the upper spar beam and started fitting/notching the diaphragms |
| 2014-07-07 | Diaphragms | Completed fitting diaphragms to lower spar beam |
| 2014-07-10 | diaphragms | Fit diaphragms to upper spar |
| 2014-07-12 | Sealing | Sealed up the lower beam and some of the diaphragms in prepartion for glue up |
| 2014-07-13 | Sealing | Epoxy sealer on the upper spar |
| 2014-07-15 | Sealing | Epoxy sealed more diaphragms |
| 2014-07-16 | Boom extensions | Glued in front lower spar booms |
| 2014-07-17 | lower beam | Fit and glued up the rear lower extension booms. I glued them in with the twist already built into the spar jig. This should help maintain the shape |
| 2014-07-19 | sealing | More sealing of diaphragms and lower spar |
| 2014-07-20 | Spar joint reinforcements | Milled up, fit and glued inthe splice reinforcements at the main spar to boom extension splice. |
| 2014-07-23 | Diaphragms | Fit left side upper diaphragms to lower boom |
| 2014-07-27 | Diaphragms | Fit right side diaphragms to lower spar boom |
| 2014-08-02 | Assembly | Glued the top spar to the lower spar. Center lines aligned and edges remained square |
| 2014-08-03 | Diaphragms | Glued in rt and left #4 diaphragm. I intend to glue in one at a time going down the spar to make it easier to assemble and clamp down. Fit & Sealed up the upper 30X30 braces. |
| 2014-08-05 | 30X30 | Glued in left side front and rear 30X30 stiffeners |
| 2014-08-06 | 30X30 | Glued in right side 30X30 |
| 2014-08-07 | Diaphragms | Added diaphragm |
| 2014-08-09 | Diaphragms | Added diaphragm |
| 2014-08-10 | Diaphragms | Added diaphragms |
| 2014-08-11 | boom extensions | Glued on upper boom extensions. Clamped the ends to maintain the proper length |
| 2014-08-14 | Gussets | Glue in dihedral joint gussets |
| 2014-08-15 | Diaphragms | Fit boom extension diaphragms to upper spar beams |
| 2014-08-16 | Diaphragms | Glue in Diaphragms #7 |
| 2014-08-17 | Diaphragms | Glue in diaphragms #8 |
| 2014-08-20 | Diaphragms | Glue in #9 diaphragms |
| 2014-08-21 | Diaphragms | Glued in the last #10 diaphragms. The spar has been kept in the Jig for the whole glue-up, hopefully this will allow the spar to keep the twist at the outer booms |
| 2014-08-25 | Tips | Glue the 4 top and bottom wing tip together.The front boom extensions do take quite a bend. Also continued sealing the interior with epoxy sealer. |
| 2014-08-26 | Plywood face | Cut up 4 3.5mm okoume plywood on 45deg for front face of the boom extensions |
| 2014-08-27 | Scarfing skin | Scarfed the 4 extension skins. This scarf is only supposed to be 20mm wide on 3.5mm ply to sit fully on diaphragm #7. I had to shim the back of the jig to make a steeper (shorter) scarf. |
| 2014-09-01 | Spar Skin | Glue on right front extension face |
| 2014-09-02 | Spar Skin | Glued on left front extension skin |
| 2014-09-03 | Spar Skin | Trimed the extension skins and cleaned up the edges. Moved the spar off the jig and scraped, sanded, shaped and cleaned the back side ready for pywood skin. Because of the twist the rear faces of the boom extensions are not parallel to each other and need to be sanded square. |
| 2014-09-04 | Sealing | Epoxy sealed more of the spar interior |
| 2014-09-07 | Spar Skin | Glued on left rear face of boom extension. I am still working with the spar in the jig to try to keep it in the proper twist and angle. Working on the backside is a little challenging as I have to reach over the spar to glue it up. |
| 2014-09-10 | Spar Skin | Added the right read extension skin |
| 2014-09-11 | Spar Skin | Trimmed rear extension plywood and started sanding the top of the front and rear booms parallel. |
| 2014-09-14 | Spar Skin | Cleaned up and sanded the front face square. Cut up the 5mm and 3mm b irch ply for the front |
| 2014-09-16 | Scarfing skin | Started scarfing the 5mm birch ply for the front plywood. |
| 2014-09-17 | Scarfing skin | Finish the 50mm scarfs on the 5mm front plywood. |
| 2014-09-20 | Front plywood | Finished scarfing front ply joints and glued up splices in 5mm and 3mm |
| 2014-09-21 | Spar Skin | Cleaned up glue from splice joints and Glued left side 5mm to spar. I used the cement block to press down the center of the ply to the diaphragms |
| 2014-09-22 | Spar Skin | Glued on right side 5mm front ply |
| 2014-09-24 | Spar Skin | Fit to length and scarf the 3mm birch ply the goes from the 5mm to the bend. Again the scarf at the benf is 20mm on 3mm ply requiring a different scarf angle. |
| 2014-09-25 | Spar Skin | Glued on 3mm birch to the front face between the 5mm and the dihedral. |
| 2014-09-26 | Front seats | I picked up a pair of seats from a 1976 MGB GT. I intend to strip them down and use Temper foam and reupholster. |
| 2014-09-27 | Spar Skin | Glued on 3mm birch to right side |
| 2014-09-28 | Spar Skin | Router trimmed the front face plywood and cleaned up all the glue joints and drips. |
| 2014-10-02 | Sealing | Seal the rest of the insides of the spar. |
| 2014-10-04 | Seat tracks | Worked out the layout for mounting the seats. I built a 4 foot mock up of the spar in MDF and checked the fit of the seats |
| 2014-10-05 | Spar Skin | Glued on the last center 5mm of the front plywood |
| 2014-10-05 | Seat frame | The MG seats are too long front to back, so I cut 4" out of the frame and will have to weld it back together |
| 2014-10-08 | Plywood face | Cut up the 3mm, 2mm and 4mm 4X4 birch ply for the top of the Dihedral and rear face |
| 2014-10-09 | Spar Skin | Trimmed center front and used the router to trim the control tube and able openings. I was very careful with the epoxy so too much did not drip into the torque tube hole. |
| 2014-10-12 | Spar Skin | Cut and layed out remaining 2mm, 3mm, & 4mm plywood. Routed the scarfs in the 2mm and glued up the splice. |
| 2014-10-15 | Prep and seal | Prep'ed and sealed 2mm for top of boom extension |
| 2014-10-17 | Spar Skin | Glued on Left side upper 2mm ply |
| 2014-10-18 | spar Skin | Glued on Right side top 2mm ply |
| 2014-10-19 | Spar Skin | Trimmed 2mm extension top plywood and cleaned up glue joints |
| 2014-10-22 | Spar Skin | Fit 4mm and 3mm birch for the rear face and mill scarfs Glued up the splice between the 4mm & 3mm |
| 2014-10-26 | Spar Skin | Glued on the left rear plywood to the spar. This will close up the cavities so I checked to make sure all interior surfaces were completely sealed and vacuumed out all the dust & debris. |
| 2014-10-29 | Spar Skin | Glued on the right rear main plywood |
| 2014-11-01 | Spar Skin | Glue on center rear 4mm plywood |
| 2014-11-02 | Blocking | Milled up the ash & spruce blocking for the front undercarriage bolts |
| 2014-11-03 | Blocking | Glued on the front undercarriage blocking |
| 2014-11-05 | Blocking | Glued on the upper 2mm plywood doubler for the undercarriage |
| 2014-11-08 | Blocking | Glued on the lower 2mm plywood doubler for the undercarriage. Had to match up the holes in the double to the drain holes already in the spar. I drilled them 1.5mm oversized |
| 2014-11-16 | Trim tab mechanism | Turned the thimbles for the trim control |
| 2014-11-19 | Trim tab mechanism | Fabricated more parts for the trim tab control. I formed the channels over an Ash form and cut the round notch for the tube on the milling machine. |
| 2014-11-23 | Trim tab mechanism | Fabricated tab control arm and stop Welded and brazed tab controll arm |
| 2014-11-25 | Trim Tab mechanism | Started fabricating trim tab forks. |
| 2014-11-28 | Trim Tab mechanism | Completed first Trim fork and started 2nd |
| 2014-11-29 | Trim Tab | Fabricated jig and started making trim tab ribs Started work on brackets Continued work on fork |
| 2014-11-30 | Trim Tab | Worked on Trim tab brackets Continued fabricating tab ribs I decided to insert a bronze bush in the Brackets so I bored out the bolt holes to 5/16" and inserted a bronze bush, this will be silver brazed in and ground flush |
| 2014-12-01 | Trim Tab mechanism | Fabricated the second bracket with bronze bush |
| 2014-12-03 | Hinges | Made an aluminum male and female jig to fabricate the trim tab hinges. |
| 2014-12-04 | Trim Tab mechanism | Brazed up Trin tab control. I used a threaded aluminum spacer to keep the control square and aligned. The spacer had to be cut out after brazing |
| 2014-12-06 | Trim Tab | Fabricated some more Trim Tab ribs and made a jig to hold the ribs in the milling machine to cut the 1/2 round to fit the tube. |
| 2014-12-07 | Trim Tab mechanism | Cleaned and painted the control and stop bracket |
| 2014-12-08 | Trim Tab hinges | Silver brazed the Stainless steel pins to the hinges |
| 2014-12-09 | Trim Tab mechanism | Silver brazed the bronze bushings in the steel brackets |
| 2014-12-10 | Trim Tab hinges | Silver Brazed up more hinges |
| 2014-12-11 | Trim Tab | Started bronze brazing the ribs to the leading edge tube.I set up a simple jig to hold the ribs straight and vertical. I should have been a little more careful with the wooden trailing edge, will have to make a new one. |
| 2014-12-13 | Trim Tab | Brazed up the rest of the ribs to the first tab and finish silver soldering the tab hinges |
| 2014-12-14 | Trim Tab | Fabricated more trim tab ribs Finished up filing and sanding the Trin tab arms to shape. I filed the edges, the belt sanded with 220G and finished with 500G |
| 2014-12-18 | trim Tab | Started forming ribs for 2nd trim tab |
| 2014-12-20 | Trim tab ribs | Worked on ribs and made a new jig and fabricated the 2 longer inner tab ribs |
| 2014-12-21 | Trim Tab | FInished up the ribs and brazed them to the 1/2" steel tube. I used a temporary poplar wood strip as I set the first spruce one on fire. I also left off the end ribs so I could still use my set up jig for the hinge tubes. |
| 2014-12-23 | hinges | Fabricated Stainless steel tubes for hinges |
| 2014-12-26 | Trim Tab | Brazed on the hinge tubes to the trim tab and test fit to the horizontal stabilizer |
| 2014-12-29 | Hinges | I decded to remake the aerlion hinges using the method where the bolt tubes go through the hinge and are then the excess is cut off . I did not like the way they came out before using aluminium rods to align the pieces as the aluminium got too hot and soft and lost alignment. |
| 2015-01-01 | hinges | Brazed in the tubes for the hinges |
| 2015-01-01 | Control stick | Fabricated the pivot tube and brackets and silver brazed |
| 2015-01-02 | Hinges | Started grinding the hinges to shape and cleaning |
| 2015-01-03 | Tail plane mass balance stop | Started fabricating the stop bracket for the Tailplane. |
| 2015-01-04 | Tail plane mass balance stop | Finshed up Tailplane stop |
| 2015-01-05 | Tailplane trailing edge | I did not like how the first set of trailing edges came out so I built a new jig and made new ones. |
| 2015-01-07 | Tailplane trailing edge | I made a forming tool and bent the flanges of the trailing edge |
| 2015-01-10 | Tail wheel bracket | I fabricated a small press brake and bent the tailwheel washer for the through bolt. |
| 2015-01-11 | Trim Tab | Brazed on the Stainless steel tubes for the left trim tab and test fit the tabs |
| 2015-01-14 | Mass balance | Started cutting up the steel plates and weights for the aerlion mass balance |
| 2015-01-16 | Mass balance | Cut steel blanks for mass balance tube support |
| 2015-01-17 | Mass balance | Cut slot in tubes Ground and shaped mass balance weights Shaped steel tube slot, hammered the ends flat |
| 2015-01-19 | Mass balance | Welded up the support brackets and drilled holes in the bottom plates |
| 2015-01-21 | Sealing | Epoxy sealing interior of Fuselage |
| 2015-01-24 | Sealing | Epoxy sealing 2nd coat and baggage deck |
| 2015-01-25 | Fuselage scarfing | Used a hand plane and sanding block to create the scarfs on the side of the fuselage for the turtle deck skins |
| 2015-01-29 | Avionics access | Cut a square opening in former #3 (back of baggage compartment) fabricated a double and door. Cut 3mm birch for rear deck |
| 2015-01-30 | Rudder cable slot | Made a router template and cut the slots for the rudder cable exit. |
| 2015-01-31 | Avionics access | Glued up the rear baggage former access panel. And continued epoxy sealing the fuselage and formers |
| 2015-02-01 | Block for fin | Fabricated and fit 30X30mm cross strut at the rear of the fuselage that attached to the vertical stabilizer. Put another coat of epoxy sealer on the baggage floor. Also drilled the drainage holes in the bottom of the fuselage. I am trying to remember to do everything before closing up the turtle deck. |
| 2015-02-02 | Sealing | More sealing of formers |
| 2015-02-06 | sealing | Finished up sealing formers |
| 2015-02-07 | Drain holes | Drilled the drain holes in the corners of the bottom struts. Pushed a pin from the top to locate the hole then drilled 3/16 back up |
| 2015-02-08 | Static port | Fabricated a static port |
| 2015-02-08 | Fairlead | Started fabricating rudder control fairleads out of Nylon plate |
| 2015-02-08 | Mass balance | Brazed on the 3/8" steel weights. Had to be brazed as I could not weld thin tubing to the thick steel plate |
| 2015-02-10 | Tail plane block | Glued in the 30X30 block, again checking that the fuselage was still square and in line |
| 2015-02-14 | Fairlead | Drilled and notched rudder cable fairleads |
| 2015-02-15 | Fairlead | Made a hardwood template and drilled the screw holes for the rudder fairleads |
| 2015-02-18 | Static port | I changed my concept re. the static ports and rather than use a slip on tube I will use push-in PARKER type fittings. This necessitated a different style static port with an internal 1/8" npt thread. |
| 2015-02-19 | Fairlead | Started fabricating the beveled washers for the rudder fairleads. Also started tacking in the braided bonding/grounding cable |
| 2015-02-21 | Trim Tab fork | Set up jig and welded fork to trim tab. Then silver brazed the last hinge tube on using an 1/8" rob through the installed tubesand also brazed on the last rib |
| 2015-02-22 | Trim Tab trailing edge | Fit and shaped the spruce trailing edge for the trim Tab |
| 2015-02-22 | Stick torque tube | Lay out and start cutting parts for the torque tube |
| 2015-02-23 | stick torque tube | Fabricated washer for torque tube |
| 2015-02-24 | Static port | finished turning static port |
| 2015-02-26 | stick torque tube | Fabricated the control arm |
| 2015-02-28 | stick torque tube | Cut and shaped the 1 /38" tube and .064 collar for the control arm. Fabricated the pivot tube and silver brazed. Started cutting parts for the pulleys cage |
| 2015-03-01 | stick torque tube | Cut slot in torque tube for pulley. Welded up control arm and welded up pulley cage |
| 2015-03-02 | stick torque tube | Re-boring to ture up control arm after welding |
| 2015-03-04 | stick torque tube | Weld up components to torque tube |
| 2015-03-06 | Static port | Fabricated 2nd static port |
| 2015-03-08 | Control stick | Started fabrication of the control stick pivot brackets, I used .064 4130 instead of mild steel as I cannot find another sheet of 1020 steel sheet. Much harder to bend. |
| 2015-03-10 | control stick | Brazed the tube to the pivot brackets |
| 2015-03-11 | Control stick | Welded the pivot brackets to the pivot tube. I assembled the pivot to the torque tube to keep everything aligned while welding. |
| 2015-03-12 | Control stick torque tube | Welded on the elevator control tabs |
| 2015-03-14 | Control stick torque tube | Turned adapters to fit the 1" dim. stick to the 1-1/4" tube |
| 2015-03-17 | Rudder pedals | Cut up uhe 3/4 4130 steel for the rudder pedals |
| 2015-03-19 | Pulley bracket | Cut up steel for pulley backet. I couldn't find another piece of 1020 sheet steel so I went to 4130 annealed Brazed on the cap |
| 2015-03-25 | Rudder pedals | Welded the pedals Drilled the Delrin pedal bushings for the mounting holes |
| 2015-03-26 | Pedal Bushings | Split the pedal bushings and made shims. Not sure whyFrank Rogers had us bore the holes then split the bush. |
| 2015-03-27 | Pedals | Brazed on Keeper on 1st set of pedals |
| 2015-03-28 | pedals | Welded up second set of pedals |
| 2015-03-29 | Rudder pedals | Brazed on bearing block keepers |
| 2015-04-02 | Rudder pedals | Drilled pedal assembly and brazed in 5/16" cable connect bolts |
| 2015-04-05 | Trim Tab | Install trin tab and hinges on Hoz. stabilizer |
| 2015-04-08 | Aileron Pulley Brackets | Drilled holes for pulley bolts |
| 2015-04-09 | Aileron Pulley Brackets | Started cutting the strips of steel for the pulley brackets |
| 2015-04-11 | Aileron Pulley Brackets | Bent stips to shape |
| 2015-04-12 | Aileron Pulley Brackets | Brazed up brackets and started final shaping |
| 2015-04-12 | Tail deck | Preped and glued on upper tail deck |
| 2015-04-15 | Tail deck | Glued on birch doubler for tab control and cut slots for stabilizer brackets and control horn |
| 2015-04-17 | Fin support | Started welding fin support |
| 2015-04-17 | Trim tab mechanism | Started fit up of tab controls Cut disks for Fin support |
| 2015-04-18 | Trim tab mechanism | Installed trim tabs on stabilizer and fit and installed tab control mechanism |
| 2015-04-19 | Horizantal Stab bearing plate | Started fabricating new bearing plate in Stainless steel. There is an AD for factory aircraft for this change so I figure it is a good idea to remake them |
| 2015-04-22 | Rudder pedals | Turned aluminum extensions/plugs for the rudder pedals to accommodate the ACS rudder pedals |
| 2015-04-25 | Floor stiffeners | Fabricated and glued on the forward cockpit floor 18X18 stiffeners. I located and drilled one hole for the rudder pedal bearings in each stiffener before gluing to help locate the blocks on the center of the 18X18's. This did require accurate installation of the stiffeners. |
| 2015-04-26 | Rudder pedals | Drilled 3/4" holes in the rudder pedals and machined the inside of the brackets flat. Cut and reamed 1" X 3/4" aluminum tube to mount the pedals on the steel tubing. |
| 2015-04-29 | Pulley bracket | Mount bracket on fuselage |
| 2015-04-29 | Fuselage rotisserie | Started building a rotisserie |
| 2015-04-30 | Rudder pedals | Fit spacer tubes to locate ACS pedals |
| 2015-05-03 | Rotisserie | Built a fuselage rotisserie. Much easier to work in and around the Fuselage |
| 2015-05-06 | Cables | Worked on a mock up of the rudder cables. I have some interference with the edge of the fuselage at the opening and at the tail plain internal brace. |
| 2015-05-08 | Bearing plates | Re- fabricated the tailplane bearing plates in Stainless steel. Also polished the outer plates for fun |
| 2015-05-10 | Rudder pedals | Re-fabricated the pedal bearing blocks with out shims. I cut them in half then drilled and reamed the holes. Set up a mock up of the installation to figure out the return springs and trim control. |
| 2015-05-17 | Rudder pedals | Working on the mock up of the rudder pedals to help design a trim system based on the return springs |
| 2015-05-18 | Control cables | Made up some temporary control cables to test fit and clearance. |
| 2015-05-24 | Rudder Trim | Fabricated knob and lock plate for the rudder trim control. This is an experiment so it will take alot of playing around. |
| 2015-06-03 | Rudder Trim | Finished up the knob and mocked up with a secondary chain. This was necessary as the springs put too much tension on the #1 sprocket and it woulnt slide up & down. There is a pin between the knob and locking plate so the spring pressure will not pull the trim back to neutral. |
| 2015-06-13 | Bolt holes | Fabricated a drilling jig based on the EAA design and drilled the 2 attachment holes. I had to build up my courage to put the drill to the spar as I could have very easily ruined a years worth of work in a few seconds. But it all seemed to work. Also fabricated a drill bit extension so I will be able to send the bit through the spar and drill into the fuselage. |
| 2015-06-20 | Rib #1 | Cut up and fabricated right side rib #1. Rearranged shop and move fuselage sideways to prepare for fitting of spar |
| 2015-06-21 | Wing Bolts | Threading the wing bolts on the lathe, I am using 1144 "StressProof" steel. Should be good at 115,000 UTS |
| 2015-06-22 | Spar & fuselage | Turned the spar upside down and placed on fuselage for fitting and drilling mounting holes |
| 2015-06-27 | Rib #1 | Glued up second rib #1 |
| 2015-06-28 | spar & fuselage | Spent several hours trying to work out how the rib #1 fit to the spar and fits to the fuselage.The top boom needs to be shaped to the fuselage cut out but should also match the fit up of the standard ribs. Also, the height of the spar in relationship to the #2 bulkhead and then the trailing edge needs to line up with the center line of the spar and, and and...... This is going to take some time to fit it all together |
| 2015-07-06 | #1 Rib | Sanded and fit #1 rib to fuselage |
| 2015-07-07 | Wing bolts | Finished cutting threads on wing bolts |
| 2015-07-17 | Square spar to fuselage | Used lasers, levels , and squares for position spar on fuselage. Also as suggested I put spacers under the spar to provide and additional 3mm of clearance between the fuselage cut out and rib #1 when installed. This was recommended by several members of the Jodel List. |
| 2015-07-18 | Wing bolt holes | Set up , clamped and crossed my fingers and drilled the 2 wing bolt holes thought the spar and into the fuselage. I decided to hold the spar in position and use it as a guide to drill thought #2 bulkhead. |
| 2015-08-15 | Wing stand | Built pivoting wing stand. Still need to set up a locking system for the vertical and horizontal positions |
| 2015-08-16 | Wing Bolt washers | Fabricated the 3mm washers for the wing bolts |
| 2015-08-19 | Assembly | Planning out the fit up of the ribs. I am making a dry run of how to glue up the ribs. |
| 2015-08-23 | #1 Rib | Glue up Right side #1 rib to spar. Set the spar level and plumb and then used a plumb bob to locate the trailing edge of the rib 121mm below the top of the spar. This is the set up according to F.R plans for the D1050. The DR250 plans have no information as to how the rib should sit. |
| 2015-08-29 | Spar fit up | Moved Spar with #1 ribs attached back onto the fuselage to mark the smaller bolt holes and install the bulkheads. Made 1/4" center punch to fit into hole and used an 1/8 steel rod sticking out through the nut plate to push the center punch and mark the hole. |
| 2015-08-31 | Fitting spar/wing | squared the spar back up to the fuselage and marked the trailing edge bolt holes in the #1 rib |
| 2015-09-01 | #1 rib bolt holes | Drilled the 1/4" bolts holes in the #1 ribs using my "Big Gator" drill guide |
| 2015-09-05 | Wing bulkheads 7.1 | Glued in rear wing bulkhead. Pre beveled the edges and lined up the bulkhead even with the rear setback and square to the spar. |
| 2015-09-06 | Front wing bulkhead | Glued in front wing bulkhead. Fit this parallel to the front of the back seat face so the mounting bolt can be drilled square. |
| 2015-09-07 | Rib #1 packing | Marked and drilled wing bolt hole in rear seat front. Moved spar back off the fuselage and glued in 1 of the 12mm packing in rib #1. |
| 2015-09-08 | #1 rib packing | Glued in right side 12mm block and drill through hole |
| 2015-09-16 | Rear floor support | Fabricated and glued in the rear floor supports. Just a light shaping of the 18X18 was required |
| 2015-09-17 | Rear floor | Cut and installed 5mm rear floor. |
| 2015-09-23 | Wing bolts | Brazed nuts to washer plates and primed and painted the nuts, washer plates, and wing bolts. Also epoxy sealed the bolt holes and inside of #1 rib. |
| 2015-09-26 | Wing bulkheads 7.1 | Had to remake the forward tank bulkhead as I installed the first one incorrectly. I set it in with the 5mm space for the floor at the top of the bulkhead insread of the bottom. I had to reset the spar back on the fuselage to mark the mounting bolt hole. |
| 2015-09-28 | Rudder pedals | Match drilled the rudder bushings and fuselage and installed the pedals. |
| 2015-09-30 | Assembly | Dry fit the ribs on the spar and started working on a method to align the #7 ribs. I marked a line on the spar 36mm above the marks for the #1 rib as this is where the trailing edge of the #7 rid is supposed to align. This is from the Frank Rogers plans for the D1050. Since the DR250 wing is otherwise identical to D1050 I am going with that washout. I set the laser on this line to project a beam up to the trailing edge. Also added a piece of plywood to make up for the flaps. |
| 2015-10-03 | Fit up Rib 7 | Squaring and checking rib #7 using laser as a plumb bob. I am still not happy with this method of alignment |
| 2015-10-04 | Rib #7 | Set up the laser at the far end of the spar on the crank and adjusted the beam parallel to the spar. I then made a gauge to set the #7 spar 36mm higher than the #1 rib and gule the rib to the spar. Held in place with a large square and blocks. |
| 2015-10-08 | Other rib #7 | Using the laser in the same position as the first rib I glued in the 2nd #7 rib. Laser can be seen on the spar. |
| 2015-10-10 | #2 ribs | Using an aluminum straight edge I dry set up the #2 ribs inline with the #1 ribs and parallel to the spar. |
| 2015-10-14 | Rib #2 | Glued on 1st #2 rib |
| 2015-10-17 | Rib #2A | Glued in the 1st Rib #2A. this rib must be 4mm below the top of rib#1 & #2. I glue the top capstrip directly to the top of the spar to be shaped later at 4mm below. |
| 2015-10-18 | Rib #2A | Glued in the 2nd rib #2A |
| 2015-10-20 | Shaped #2A | Made a scribe tool to make the rib shape of #2A 4mm below #1 & #2 for the wing walk and handplaned to shape. |
| 2015-10-23 | Main ribs | I maked a line on the #2 rib indicating the height of the 1700 chord ( less the flaps) main ribs and clamped a straight edge from it to the #7 rib. Glued in the first of the 1700 chord main ribs. |
| 2015-10-25 | Main ribs | Glued on 2nd main rib |
| 2015-10-26 | Main ribs | Glued in 3rd main rib right side |
| 2015-11-03 | Main ribs | Set up & glued on left side 1st rib |
| 2015-11-04 | Main ribs | 2nd rib left side |
| 2015-11-07 | Main ribs | 3rd rib left side |
| 2015-11-10 | Wing tips | Fabricate wing tips and test fit. Glue on the remainder of the gusset to the main ribs |
| 2015-11-12 | Fitting Ribs | With the wings tip in place (not glued) I started test fitting of the cranked ribs and the aerlion false spar. These parts all need to fit together as they affect the location of each other. It is a real juggling act to hold everything in place. |
| 2015-11-14 | Fitting Ribs/tip | Set up a laser level and checked the wash out and extension of the left and right wing tip. The measured out to be pretty good, with-in the thichness of the laser line. |
| 2015-11-18 | Compression Tube | Fabricated a jig to drill the 16deg. 25mm hole in the spar for the aerlion control compression tube |
| 2015-11-20 | Compression Tube | Turned a birch plug for the compression tube and drilled the tube for the pulleys. I used a 1" X .049 2024 aluminium tube |
| 2015-11-21 | Compression Tube | Drilled and assembled the 2nd compression tube. Drilled the 16degree hole in the spar |
| 2015-11-22 | Compression Tube | Started fabricating the bracket by the hinges for the compression tube. Made a hardwood jig to form the bracket with a 6deg angle. |
| 2015-11-24 | Compression Tube | Remade the first bracket and fabricated the second hinge/tube bracket. The plans which came from the D112 had the bracket at a 6 degree angle. turns out its more like a 2 degree angle on the DR250. |
| 2015-11-28 | Rib #8 | Set a string line from wing tip to #7 rib to align the leading edge chord line and used the aileron false spar to align the trailing edge and glued in the #8 rib, the first of the bent part ribs |
| 2015-11-29 | Rib #9 | Glued in #9 rib. I had to put a small wedge shim between the front face of the spar and rib to get the rib to line up with the false spar |
| 2015-12-01 | Rib #10 | Glued in #10 rib. needed a shim again.after the glued dried I re-drilled the holes for the tie down ring through the newly added gusset. Note to self if drilling through a 2mm gusset it should only take a few seconds, if it takes longer you have drilled through the back up block and into your finger. Ouch! |
| 2015-12-03 | Rib #8 right | Set up and glued in the other #8 |
| 2015-12-05 | Rib #9 | Glued in right #9, needed a wedge shim again |
| 2015-12-06 | Rib #10 | Glued in #10 rib, wedge, shimmed again |
| 2015-12-07 | false spar | Drilled an aluminum angle to match the hinge screw holes and bolted it to the false spar to keep it straight and true. Test fit to the ribs, #7 rib and tip |
| 2015-12-12 | Wing tips | Glued on the wing tips |
| 2015-12-13 | Aileron false spar | Glued on the left false spar. Used the aluminum angle to hold the spar straight. Everything lined up with almost no adjustments to fit up. Just a couple of swipes of the had plane to the spar where it meets rib#7 & a little filler piece at the wing tip. |
| 2015-12-15 | Right aileron spar | Glued in the right side aileron false spar, again only a little swipe of the plane to fit the spar to #7 rib |
| 2015-12-19 | Ailerons & Flap spar | Test fit the ailerons on the wing and check movement and mass balance. Had to do a little more work to fit the Flap false spar to the ribs sanding some of them down so they all met the spar. Used a 6' level to keep the spar straight. |
| 2015-12-20 | Flap spar | Final fit and glued in the left flap false spar |
| 2015-12-21 | Flap spar | Trimmed ribs and glued on right Flap false spar. It also needed an 8mm filler block at the end as the spar came up short. |
| 2015-12-25 | Corner brace | Fabricated corner braces that brace the aileron spar. These were not originally on the DR250 but added on the DR253 and up so I adapted them for my plane. |
| 2015-12-26 | Spar braces | Fit and glued on the braces. Used the edge sander to shape the angles |
| 2015-12-27 | Compression Tube | Marked out and drilled aileron compression tube at the hinge side. I Also filled the tube end with a 30mm birch filler before drilling. |
| 2015-12-28 | lower blocks | Fabricated and glued on the bottom 18mm wedges to the wing tips |
| 2016-01-01 | Rib blocking | Glued in some lower rib blocking |
| 2016-01-02 | wing tips | Used a 2x2 pine block to fabricate the upper shaped wing tip. and glued it on |
| 2016-01-03 | Tip leading edge | Fabricated and started shaping the leading edge strips that go from rib #19 to the tip. Finish shaping will happen after installation. |
| 2016-01-06 | Tip leading edge | Glued on the solid leading edgeto the wing tip Held it 4mm proud of the end of the actual wing tip as the string line for the ribs was set at the chord line which is short to the furthest projection of the leading edge |
| 2016-01-07 | Wing tips | Added a piece of 3mm Balsa on the outside face of the left wing tip. This will make the outside face of the tip nice and clean for covering with out addinf very much weight. Added packing to the right tip |
| 2016-01-09 | Right side | Added leading edge to right wing tip. Also added Balsa packing to bottom and started shaping left balsa and tip |
| 2016-01-10 | Wing tips | Added balsa face to right tip end. Started sanding an shaping aileron and flap spars to fit ribs in preperation for 55mm plywood gusset strips. Also did some more shaping of the wing tips |
| 2016-01-12 | Sealing | Finished long board sanding of the ribs to rear spar and shaped the spar edges to the angle of the ribs. Epoxy sealed all the rear spars and rear portion of ribs that will be covered by the 55mm gusset strips |
| 2016-01-15 | Sealing & Gussets | More epoxy sealing Fabricate 4mm rear seat angle floor Start cutting 1.5 mm wing gussets |
| 2016-01-16 | Gussets | Glued on the left triangular flap spar gusset |
| 2016-01-17 | Gussets | Glued on right side triangular Gusset |
| 2016-01-18 | Gussets | Cut, scarfed and glued in 55mm ply strip for flap spar. |
| 2016-01-19 | gussets | Glued on Right 55mm ply strip. Also clamped the strip to the clamping block between the ribs and this seemed to help keep the plywood straight and not wavey between the ribs |
| 2016-01-23 | Rib blocking | Started cutting and fitting the solid blocking between the ribs and spar. I will have to come up with a method that will allow rib stitching in that area. |
| 2016-01-24 | Flap controls | received the steel tubing for the flap torsion rod. Used 5/8 .035 4130. Bored out a piece of 7/8" tube for a slip fit over the 5/8 tubing. this will be the coupling and also the outboard end with the control levers. |
| 2016-01-26 | Rib blocking | Fit more rib blocking. All the blocking is dry fit for now. Still need to cut notches for the rib lacing cord. |
| 2016-01-27 | Flap link | Fabricated a forked rod end for the Flap link arm from 5/8" 6061 Aluminum rod. |
| 2016-01-31 | flap link | Fabricated 2nd rod end |
| 2016-02-03 | Rib blocking & Flap torque tube bracket | Glued in 4 of the upper rib blocks. Cut slots in the blocks at 50mm intervals on the table saw for future rib stitching. Marked out a square with the measurements for layout. Started bending 1/8 steel for torque tube inner brackets |
| 2016-02-05 | Flap tube brackets | Welded, shaped & drilled inner flap torque tube brackets. Had to weld on the second tab as I couldnt fit the bracket in the press brake for the reverse bend. |
| 2016-02-08 | Flap bushings | Turned 2 bushings form Delrin for the inner torque tube brackets. |
| 2016-02-08 | Rib blocking | Notched and glued in more rib blocking. Glued in the ash blocking at the center rear of the spar for the fairleads and bracket mount. Thinned down the UHMW outer tube bushings. Also trial fit the torque tubes and brackets |
| 2016-02-13 | Flap controls | More work fitting and testing torque tube movement. Cleaned up the edges and shape of the inner bushing brackets. Fabricated 6 arms (double shear) for the flap linkage. |
| 2016-02-20 | flap link | Brazed up the two flap linkage arms. Brased instead of welding as to not distort the slip on tubes. |
| 2016-02-21 | Flap controls | Drilled mounting holes for the flap linkage center bearing blocks and mounted the blocks. Had to shim the left bracket a little to get the 2 torque tubes to line up. |
| 2016-02-26 | Rib blocking | Glue up the last of the upper wing under rib blocking. I hope I can find the rib stitch hole when the time comes. |
| 2016-02-27 | Nylon stop blocks | Fabricated the aerlion and flap stop blocks in nylon. |
| 2016-03-03 | Flap controls | Received the Accele electric flap motor and check fit and worked on a plan for connecting all the bits. Also received the rod ends for the flap connect rod |
| 2016-03-05 | Flap controls | Assembled the flap control system and when trying to get 60 deg's of flaps the control rod contact the wing surface. I had set up the link arms based on the plans for the D150 and there is not enough clearance for 60degs. Original plan was 50mm on center for the bolt holes I remade them at 60mm and all was good. Also change the design a little to look like the arms on the Lancair. |
| 2016-03-06 | Flap controls | Had to work out the flap motor conection arm length. Working out the math using a cad program and measuring a circle it should be 60mm for a 3" stroke but that didnt work. 70mm work just right. Mocked this up wit a plywood arm. |
| 2016-03-07 | Flap controls | Fabricated the motor link arm. Did a folded metal type like the RV's |
| 2016-03-08 | Flap controls | Brazed up center arm |
| 2016-03-10 | Flap controls | Brazed up the other flap link |
| 2016-03-13 | Flap controls | Re-made the center flap link. The folded metal one was too wide and may have interfered with the control cables |
| 2016-03-14 | Flap controls | Match drilled bolt holes to connect links to the torque tubes |
| 2016-03-16 | Flap Motor | Reinstalled the torque rods and mounted the Motor. I used a 3mm doubler under the motor that spanned the 118mm (future) braces under the floor. |
| 2016-03-18 | Position sensor | Set up the position sensor based on the way the RV folks do it. Used an Adel clamp and fabricated a small bracket to attach the sensor arm. Attached the sensor to the floor with a piece of piano hinge. Set up the sensor so the rotation of the torque tube uses about 80% of the arm travel. |
| 2016-03-19 | Flap bushings | Added 2mm birch stiffener to the ribs behind the outer flap torque tube bushing |
| 2016-03-20 | Flap bushings | Added a 2mm birch ply stiffener to the rib on the exposed side of the bushing. This was fabricated in the shape of the soid plywood bushing called for in the plans |
| 2016-03-21 | Flap motor | Added a 3mm doubler to the floor under flap motor bracket |
| 2016-03-23 | Flap controls | Primed and painted the links with Hammerite |
| 2016-03-24 | Flap motor | Fabricated a doubler for the flap sensor Glued the screws in from underneath similar to the way the Lancair folks do attachment plates. |
| 2016-03-28 | #1 Rib | Closed Left #1 rib now that flap tube and controls are finished |
| 2016-03-28 | Rib #1 | Closed out rib#1 right |
| 2016-04-03 | Leveling ribs | Checked the ribs to each other with a long straight edge and found the #9 outer rib on both side to be low just over the spar. I added a couple of thin <1mm strips to make up the difference. I then marked the tops of the ribs with pencil scratch marks and the used the longboard sander and leveled the main and outer ribs. |
| 2016-04-06 | Nose rib 7 | Fit and glued on #7 nose ribs. I blocked across the #7 & #8 ribs to locate the nose rib |
| 2016-04-07 | Blocking | Added the 8mm wide packing stips that support the back end of the trailing edge plywood. These need to be individual fitted to each pair of ribs height wise |
| 2016-04-10 | Blocking | Continued adding leading edge packing and Leveling the packing to the ribs. Made up the 20 X20 false nose rib gussets |
| 2016-04-14 | Compression Tube | Leveled up the rest of the leading edge packing and glued on the 5mm doublers to the spar for the aileron compression tube |
| 2016-04-16 | RIbs | Flipped the wing bottom side up and started sanding and leveling the trailing end of the ribs. |
| 2016-04-17 | sealing flaps | Epoxy sealed the flaps with S3 S1 penetrating sealer |
| 2016-04-24 | Rib blocking | Cutting and fitting rib/spar packing on the lower surface |
| 2016-04-30 | Cut stitching notches in rib blocking | Notched blocking same spacing as upper ribs |
| 2016-05-01 | rib blocking | Glue in more rib blocking |
| 2016-05-04 | #1 Rib | Carved the lower surface of rib #1 to match the other ribs |
| 2016-05-14 | Rib blocking | Finished all lower wing rib blocking |
| 2016-05-15 | Spar blocking & rib sanding | Fit front edge and 2 rib shaped packing on underside center of spar. Sanded and leveled all the lower ribs and center with long board sander. |
| 2016-05-17 | Leading edge | Layed out and cut the 1.6 C for the leading edges |
| 2016-05-18 | Wing walk | Shaped and glued in he 4 pieces that support the wing walk adjacent to the ribs over the spar |
| 2016-05-25 | Gussets | Glued on the 55mm wide gusset for the alerion false spar |
| 2016-05-26 | gussets | Another 55mm strip gusset |
| 2016-05-30 | Gussets | another 55mm gusset |
| 2016-06-05 | Gussets | Adding the remanding 5mm strip gussets to the read alerion and flap false spar. Started cleaning up the glue joints |
| 2016-06-11 | Sealing | Epoxy sealed the spar and rib in preperation for installing the tip leading edge plywood |
| 2016-06-12 | Leading edge | Glued on the first plywood for the leading edge |
| 2016-06-15 | Leading edge | Attached right tip upper leading edge |
| 2016-06-19 | tip leading edge | Fit, scarfed and glued on the wing tip lower leading edge. Sprayed with water and clamped in place overnight before glueing. sprayed with water again just before glueing. |
| 2016-06-22 | Leading edge | Left wing tip lower leading edge |
| 2016-06-25 | Outer wing leading edge | Cut 1.6mm ply for the outer leading edge and soaked in the shower under hot water for about 20 minutes. Test fit on the wing and founs that due to the od angles formed by the bend I was short in the corner by about 20mm. Pulled off the wing and scarfed the additional 20mm |
| 2016-06-26 | outer wing leading edge | Soaked the ply again ad refit on the wing to dry in position |
| 2016-06-29 | epoxy sealing | Sealed the inside of the leading edge. |
| 2016-06-30 | Leading edge | Glued up left leading edge for the outer wing.I needed to redo the scarf joint at the wing tip as the shape changes as the ply wraps underneath.This was definitely challenging to get it all tight and straight. |
| 2016-07-04 | Landing Light | Cutting and fitting parts for the landing light |
| 2016-07-05 | Leading edge | Soaked the right outer leading edge and pre-formed over the ribs. |
| 2016-07-09 | Leading edge | Glued on the Rt outer leading edge. Fabricated more pieces for the landing light opening |
| 2016-07-10 | Leading edge | I found the left side outer wing plywood did not glue properly to the ribs so I removed it, scraped the rib back to clean and cut a new leading edge plywood |
| 2016-07-11 | Landing Light | Fabricated aluminium plates for the anchor nuts for the landing light lens |
| 2016-07-12 | leading edge sealing | Epoxy sealed the inside of the replacement plywood and landing light parts |
| 2016-07-13 | Leading edge | Glued on replacement plywood for the left outer leading edge. |
| 2016-07-14 | landing Light | Added nuts plate and glued on the 8X18 strips |
| 2016-07-15 | Landing Light | Fabricated aluminium mounting plate for Light |
| 2016-07-17 | Landing Light | Glued on 5mm plywood on either side of the ribs to hold the inner 1.5mm plywood to the proper shape. This was not on the plans but I cant figure out how the inner ply double would hold shape. Fabricated the second aluminum light plate and cut the inner ply doubler |
| 2016-07-20 | Landing Light | Glued on the inner 1.5 ply for the landing light bay |
| 2016-07-23 | Landing Light | Fabricated the landing light retainers. Used the newly acquired shear and brake. |
| 2016-07-24 | Landing Light | Made a template and drilled the holes for the mounting screws for the light retainer in the back plate and retainer. Made up the aluminium backers ( again using the new shear) and mounted the nut plates on the light parts. Glued the 2 spruce blocks to the ribs. |
| 2016-07-27 | Landing Light | Glued in the inner parts for the right side landing light and cut the inner skin |
| 2016-07-30 | Landing Light | Cut holes in light mounting plate and retainer and primed them |
| 2016-07-31 | Landing Light | Painted the light mounts white and glued on the inner ply for the right light |
| 2016-08-05 | Landing Light | Painted the inside of the Landing light well white |
| 2016-08-06 | Landing Light | Added nutplates to light frame and bent the 1/16 plexiglass using a heat gun to warm the plexi. |
| 2016-08-07 | Leading edge | The under side of the outer wing leading was very wavy. I added 4 X 8 spruce to straighten out the loose edge which helped a little. The plans do not call for any spruce there but it needed something |
| 2016-08-12 | Landing Light | Another coat of white paint inside the landing light and cut the outer plywood |
| 2016-08-13 | Landing Light | Scarfed and Glued up the left side Landing light outer skin |
| 2016-08-14 | landing Light | Scarfed and glued on the right side outer skin. Fabricated an form to bend the plexiglass. I did not like how the first attempt came out using the wing itself as form. |
| 2016-08-17 | Leading edge | Cut and fit the 2 1.5mm ply pieces that fit between the landing light and bent rib #7. These required careful fitting as the shape is complicated as it wraps around rib #7. Glued on the false ribs in that bay. |
| 2016-08-18 | Leading edge plywood | Scarfed and beveled the plywood. scarfed to meet the landing light plywood and hand sanded/shaped the bevels at rib #7. This requires an bevel on the underside of the plywood at the upper surface transitioning to a bevel on the outer surface on the lower side |
| 2016-08-20 | leading edge plywood | Glued on 2 outer sections of the main leading edge |
| 2016-08-22 | Leading edge | Glued on the remaining 4 false nose ribs |
| 2016-08-24 | leading edge plywood | Epoxy sealed plywood and false nose ribs |
| 2016-08-25 | Leading edge | Glued on rt side plywood leading edge |
| 2016-08-26 | Leading edge | Installed the Rt side leading edge plywood |
| 2016-08-31 | Leading edge | Glued on the 8X8s at the bottom of the leading edge plywood at the main section of the wing |
| 2016-09-02 | leading edge plywood | Cleaned up all the glue joints and sanded/shaped the cranked joint and al the plywood edges |
| 2016-09-04 | Wing walk | Cut up the 8X12 for the wink walk support and layed out the 4mm step |
| 2016-09-05 | wing walk | Glued on the first 8X12 |
| 2016-09-07 | Wing walk | Glued on another 8X12 wing walk support |
| 2016-09-08 | wing walk | Glued on the right side wing walk supports |
| 2016-09-10 | Nut plates | Fabricated counter sunk nut plates for the outer flap torque tube UHMW bearing. |
| 2016-09-11 | Trailing edge | Notched the trailing edge to fit the 4mm wing walk. Plans were very unclear about the wing walk plywood cutting into the trailing edge but all the photographs I have show that nit does. F.R plans for the D1050 do show this and that what I did. Glued the trailing edge to the ribs |
| 2016-09-12 | Trailing edge | Cut and fit the trailing edge bracing and some of the 1.5mm gussets |
| 2016-09-14 | Trailing edge | Glued on the trailing edge braces and some gussets |
| 2016-09-17 | Trailing edge | Glued on the gussets for the trailing edge brace sand trailing edge to #1 and #2 ribs. Again the plans did not show the rib gussets but photographs did. |
| 2016-09-18 | Trailing edge | Sanded all the lower trailing edge gussets to a feather edge. Turned the wing over and started the gussets on the upper surface. Also played with the landing light plexiglass again |
| 2016-09-23 | Wing walk | Scarfed and glued up the 4mm Birch ply wing walk skins |
| 2016-09-26 | Wing walk | Glued on left side wing walk |
| 2016-09-28 | Wing walk | Glued right side wing walk |
| 2016-09-30 | Trailing edge | Glued on the upper gussets from wing walk to trailing edge and sanded feathered edge |
| 2016-10-01 | Undercarriage Packing | Milled the parts for the upper surface packing around the undercarriage mounting. Used Ash for the packing as per plans |
| 2016-10-02 | Undercarriage Packing | Glued on the left side undercarriage packing |
| 2016-10-03 | Undercarriage Packing | Glued on the right side packing |
| 2016-10-07 | Undercarriage Packing | Milled parts for underside packing around undercarriage. This was hard to decipher form plans but once again I was fortunate to have photos from other Jodel owners |
| 2016-10-08 | undercarriage Packing | Glued on the undercarriage packing |
| 2016-10-09 | Skin reinforcements | Fabricated the plywood reinforcements for the pulleys access, aileron cable and tiedowns |
| 2016-10-12 | Tie down | Glued on the tiedown reinforcements |
| 2016-10-16 | Sealing | Epoxy sealed the left upper surface of the spar |
| 2016-10-18 | sealing | Continued epoxy sealing of the bottom of the spar |
| 2016-10-21 | Pitot Mast | received my Pitot mast from Dynon and started layout and fitting. No drawings for this so on my own. I decided to fit it in the landing light bay so I will have access after the wing is covered. Fabricated a 4mm birch ply doubler |
| 2016-10-23 | Pitot Mast | Cut out in the wing skin and fabricated an .040 aluminum plate for the exterior |
| 2016-10-25 | Pitot Mast | Glued in 4mm doubler and epoxy sealer on lower surface of spar |
| 2016-10-28 | sealing | Epoxy sealed the upper spar surface |
| 2016-10-30 | Leading edge | Used SuperFil to fill and shape leading edge at the wing tips |
| 2016-11-03 | filling | Continued filling and sanding leading edge. THere were wrinkles in the 1.5mm plywood due to the changing shape around the #7, #7 false rib and the #8 rib. The left side was worse than the right side and needed more filler/work. I think I tightened the strap clamps too much on the left side |
| 2016-11-07 | Filling | Filled some of the waviness on the underside of the leading edge |
| 2016-11-20 | sealing | Well the US elections are over and I have just now come to grips with the reality of what happened. I was very upset and had no desire to work on the plane until now. Started slowly by completing the epoxy sealing of the spar |
| 2016-11-25 | Foot rest | Fabricated and attached the 2 angled 8X12 strips for the 4mm foot rest/cable cover at the rear spar |
| 2016-11-26 | Painting | Primed and painted some of the metal pars of the wing |
| 2016-11-27 | sealing | Continued epoxy sealing the wing |
| 2016-12-03 | Parts Painting | Painted more parts |
| 2016-12-07 | Sealing | Sprayed water borne marine varnish to seal all the wing ribs, spraying is much faster for those type of parts |
| 2016-12-10 | Trim Tab hinges | I pulled off the Stabilator aluminum trailing edge to paint. I noticed the holes for the screws for the tab hinges were way too close the tip of the HS ribs. The plans show the hinges to have the hole drilled at 9m from the edge but the HS plans have the hole at 18mm from the tip. I decided to remake the trailing edge and the hinges. |
| 2016-12-11 | trim Tab hinges | Cut Stainless strips and bent to shape. Got to use the new metal fab tools |
| 2016-12-14 | Trim Tab hinges | Set up drilling on the mill and drilled mounting holes |
| 2016-12-17 | trim Tab hinges | Silver soldered the hinge pins |
| 2016-12-18 | Trailing edge | Formed new aluminum trailing edges |
| 2016-12-19 | Trim Tab hinges | Drilled holes and mounted trailing edge,trim tab and hinges |
| 2016-12-21 | Parts Painting | Primed and painted trim tab and aerlion compression tubes and some othe parts. |
| 2016-12-28 | Cable fairleads | Fabricated fairleads in phenolic sheet |
| 2016-12-29 | Cables | Temporary set up and tested the aileron control cable system |
| 2017-01-01 | Parts Painting | Continued priming and painting metal parts |
| 2017-01-03 | Vertical Stabilizer | Set up the laser to provide a vertical plane along the centerline of the fuselage. Also confirmed the fuse. was level laterally. Then proceeded to epoxy the tail fin to the fuselage confirming it was aligned with the laser line. |
| 2017-01-05 | Vertical Stabilizer | Cleaned up and flush sanded after the install of the Vert. Stabilizer |
| 2017-01-07 | Bottom Skin | Preped 45deg 3mm birch for the bottom skin close out at the rear fin. Scarfed, cut the 12mm access hole and sealed the inside. I fabricated some pins to fit in the bolt holes and then marked the bottom skin to accurately drill the holes to match the existing holes. |
| 2017-01-08 | Bottom Skin | Glued on the rear bottom skin. Flipped the fuselage back up so the glue would puddle at the seam and not run down the sides, makes the joint cleaner and have a nice fillet. |
| 2017-01-11 | Vertical Stabilizer brace | The first brace didnt work out so I fabricated a new one and set up a better jig to hold the angle. |
| 2017-01-15 | Access Panel and nut plates | Added the 4 nutplate for the tail faring to couple #7 I decided to install an access panel to the fuselage bottom. it is on several of the DR250 I have pictures of and all of the DR400s. |
| 2017-01-16 | access Panel cut out | Glued in the rest of the 5mm birch reinforcements |
| 2017-01-20 | Former #2 | Made a panel with an 82deg angle to position Former #2. Lined up, squared up and glued in former #2. Had to get creative with the clamping. |
| 2017-01-24 | Access Panel and nut plates | completed nut plates. Cut and match drilled aluminum panel and attached. Cut the panel slightly oversized with snips ans clamped it between two boards and cleaned up with a router. |
| 2017-01-25 | Turtle deck formers | |
| 2017-01-25 | Turtle deck formers | Fit and glued on the Turtle deck formers. It did appear that the formers were sized to fit evenly in height and width and at the proper locations. I just had to move the first one about 2mm |
| 2017-01-27 | Baggage Turtle deck | Cut and fit the 8X12 sticks and gussets |
| 2017-01-28 | Glued Sticks | Glued in the 7 baggage ceiling sticks |
| 2017-01-29 | Sanding | Made a board ( Comb) with notches and wedges to hold the Formers plumb and stiff for sanding. Put 80 grit paper on the longboard sander and started sanding the former to align and at the proper angle. Had a few low spots that would have required extensive sanding of the other formers so I glued on some 1mm strips at the low points. |
| 2017-01-30 | Sanding | Finished sanding the turtle deck to shape |
| 2017-02-01 | Turtle deck skin | Started fitting the TD skin. PLans call for 2mm over the baggage #2 & #3 and 1 piece of 1.6mm for the #3 through #7. I will do the 1.6 in 2 pieces and scarf over Former #4. Apparently there is a slight side curve between #3 & #4 and doing it a separate piece should help prevent buckling |
| 2017-02-04 | Turtle deck skin | cut, fit, scarfed and glued small extension to the width and trial fit 1.6mm turtle deck skin. Scarfed the join edge at former #4 and long edge where the skin meets the fuselage. |
| 2017-02-08 | Control cables | Temporarily install horizontal stabilator and fabricated mock up cables to stabilator and rudder |
| 2017-02-09 | Rudder pedals and control cables | Fabricated steel links from pedals to cables and set up temporary rudder control cables |
| 2017-02-10 | Seat belt mounts | Fabricated the parts for the rear seat belt mounting hooks |
| 2017-02-11 | Canopy frame | Used the new tube roller to bend and snap the middle canopy tube frame. I used a plywood template to guide the shape but ended up making it a little wider coming down for more shoulder room |
| 2017-02-12 | Canopy and seat belt mounts | Drilled holes under rear seat for the seat belt mounts Refined the shape of the middle canopy frame and drilled holes for the shoulder belt mount. Plans called for a 1/4" O.D tube welded in and a #10 (3/16") bolt. I decded to weld in a 1/" bolt, 3/16 just doesn't seem strong enough for a seat harness. |
| 2017-02-15 | Canopy welding | Welded the mounting plates to the canopy frame and welded up the seatbelt mounts |
| 2017-02-17 | Hand grip | Fabricated parts and glued in extra support for handles to assist steping onto the wing. Found these Southco concealed pulls and mounted them with Ash blocks and spruce fillers. |
| 2017-02-18 | Turtle deck skin | Glued on the rear turtle deck skin. I used staple strips to hols the skin against the formers and then straps over the strips. I should have used strips angainst the lateral edge of the fuselage as well and would have got a better glue joint instead of just the 1" clamping cauls. |
| 2017-02-20 | Turtle deck skin | The plywood skin at the joint between the turtle deck and fuselage has a pretty bad bump. I will try to feather it out with SuperFil. |
| 2017-02-21 | Windscreen frame | Started forming the tubing for the windscreen frame |
| 2017-02-22 | Filling turtle deck | Started filling turtle deck plywood seam |
| 2017-02-23 | Windscreen frame | Finish forming windscreen frame |
| 2017-02-25 | Windscreen frame | Formed the windscreen frame mounting brackets |
| 2017-02-26 | Canopy frame | grind and fit frame to brackets and tack (braze) welding wire to hold frame and brackets in position for welding |
| 2017-03-05 | Canopy frame | Weld up front canopy frame |
| 2017-03-08 | Front Canopy Frame | Grind and shape front frame mounting plate, fit and drill holes in fuselage. |
| 2017-03-09 | Rear frame | Grind, shape rear frame plates and drill fuselage. |
| 2017-03-11 | Canopy frame | Bent, coped and fit center bar to canopy and then welded it in. Added tabs and fit aluminium channel from bulkhead to frame |
| 2017-03-12 | Door frames | Brazed in seat belt bolts in rear frame and started bending steel tubing for door frames |
| 2017-03-14 | Door frames | Bent up more tubing for the doors |
| 2017-03-16 | Door frames | Bent and mitered the upper and lower door frame pieces |
| 2017-03-18 | Door frames | Tack welded the door frame on the fuselage the remove and completed the welds |
| 2017-03-22 | Door hinges | Started fabricating the door hinges |
| 2017-04-26 | Door frames | Cut and miter door frame top piece |
| 2017-04-29 | Door frames | Mitered and fit the rest of the door frame pieces |
| 2017-05-03 | Welding door | Tack welded door frame in situ. Tried not to set the wood fuselage on fire! |
| 2017-05-04 | Welding door | Finish welding door frame |
| 2017-05-07 | Door hinges | Fabricated a steel alignment bar to hols the hinges in line and at the right distance. The ends were squared, drilled and tapped on the new lathe. Brazed hinges onto door frame |
| 2017-05-08 | Door hinges | Refit doors to canopy and tack brazed hinges to frame. |
| 2017-05-12 | door hinges | Removed the canopy and finished brazing the hinges, under side on hinges and lower hinge |
| 2017-05-14 | Doors | Fabricated the alignment pins and keeper for the doors. I decided to use a tube to fabricate the keeper instead of trying to bend and shape .080 steel sheet. |
| 2017-05-17 | Door latch | Did a mock up of how the door latch will fit |
| 2017-05-18 | door latch | Fabricated steel plate for latch mount |
| 2017-05-19 | Door latch | Fitting and shaping right latch plate |
| 2017-05-20 | Door latch | Drill and mounted latch for right side, started fabrication of Left latch plate |
| 2017-05-22 | Door latch | Finished fitting and drilling left latch mounting plate |
| 2017-05-31 | Door latch | Finished up fitting locks and welded latch plates to the door frames. |
| 2017-06-01 | Latches | Fit up door catches |
| 2017-06-03 | Door catches | Fit and brazed pins and door guide, Tack welded door catch |
| 2017-06-06 | Door catches | Fit pins, guide and catch to left side canopy |
| 2017-06-07 | Front door guides | Fabricated pins and receivers for front door guides |
| 2017-06-09 | Front guides | Brazed front guides to door and canopy |
| 2017-06-10 | Rear door catch | Brazed on a plate and installed upper rear latches. Used a Destaco style clamp as a latch and decided to use 2 individual latches instead of one single |
| 2017-07-01 | Seat frame | Cut out 2" of width from the MG seat backs anf welded them back up. Decided to keep the MGB seat backs because they folded forward and had adjustable seat rake. Threw out the bottoms as they were heavy and wrong size. |
| 2017-07-20 | Seat frame | Built a tubing bender using Harbor Freight dies and bent the seat bottoms. |
| 2017-08-12 | seat frame | Welded the back of the seat frame and Fabricated tabs and hinges and welded to the seat bottom |
| 2017-08-13 | seat frame | Fit the seat tracks and welded the mounting tabs to the seat frame |
| 2017-08-26 | Left seat frame | Bent tubing for left seat bottom. |
| 2017-08-27 | Left seat frame | Chopped out 2 inches of width and rewarded seat back |
| 2017-08-29 | seat frame | Weld frame |
| 2017-09-05 | Seat frame | Fit tracks to frame, frame to aluminum angle supports and welded tabs for folding back |
| 2017-09-15 | Seat frame | Brazed on rod for seat back catch |
| 2017-09-19 | Seat frame | Fit seat frames into fuselage. Match drilled the mock-up (pretend) spar for the seat mounting holes and mounted the seats in the fuselage. I wound up moving the seat one inch more forward. |
| 2017-09-30 | Seats | Tuned up the seat mounts Added Ash blocks to support the seat tracks Installed a .032 6061 bottom seat pan and a 2mm plywood seat back I used the aluminum seat pan in the interest of safety. I an accident springs can snap back and add energy back into your body causing increased damage. The aluminum pan will simply deform and absorb energy. Confor foam is next. |
| 2017-10-15 | Seat foam | Layout and carve SunMate temper foam for seats. Trial fitting of lumbar support. Tested one seat in the fuselage. Need to add some side bolsters. one inch of firm, 1" medium, & 1" soft. Bolsters are 1/2" soft foam. |
| 2017-10-20 | Seat foam | Glue up and shape seat cushions |
| 2017-10-22 | turtle deck skin | Cut and scarf 2mm turtleneck skin for over the baggage area |
| 2017-10-27 | Seats | Fiinish up seat foam and fit seats in cockpit |
| 2017-11-08 | Fabric support | Fabricated and installed the 1.5mm skin support around the undercarriage cut out |
| 2017-11-11 | Turtle deck skin | Cut, fit and shaped, and scarfed the 2mm plywood skin for the baggage area |
| 2017-11-16 | Rudeder trim | Still playing around with electric rudder trim |
| 2017-11-22 | turtle deck skin | Epoxy Sealed the inside of the baggage skin |
| 2017-11-25 | Glue baggage turtle deck skin | Prepred and glued turtle deck skin over baggage ares. Band clamps used just to hold in place and staple for clamping to fuselage and formers. I used pieces of safety wire to pull the skin and the 8x12 stick together |
| 2017-11-26 | Turtle deck skin | Trimed and cleaned up baggage turtle deck skin |
| 2017-11-27 | Turtle deck skin | Cut and shaped final close out turtle deck skin. This section has a slight bend as well as the curve around so I felt it would be better as a separate piece. Scarfed and glued |
| 2017-12-06 | Fabric support | Glued on the lower fabric support arounf the get leg/flap openings. Added the supports for the flap opening cover plate |
| 2017-12-19 | Fuel Tanks | I have made the decsion to fabricate my fuel tanks in fiberglass composite. started with the control cable tube that goes through the main tank. Made a foam plug and covered in duct tape for demolding |
| 2017-12-20 | Fuel Tanks | Fiberglassed with 3 layers of BID cut on a 45deg bias and Aeropoxy. |
| 2017-12-21 | fuel Tanks | Demolded controll tube |
| 2017-12-23 | fuel Tanks | Vacuum bagged the first side of the main fuel tank 2 layers of BID on each side of 1/4" Last-A-Foam. Inside down against platen and peel ply for the outside Aeropoxy. |
| 2017-12-24 | fuel Tanks | Next side piece |
| 2017-12-26 | fuel Tanks | Glassed up the rear side |
| 2017-12-30 | Fuel Tanks | removed 1/4" of foam core and micro'd panel edges |
| 2018-01-01 | fuel Tanks | Turned 4 aluminum fittings for fuel drains |
| 2018-01-04 | Fuel Tanks | Front panel vacuum bagged |
| 2018-01-10 | Fuel Tanks | Vacuum bagged the botton panel, main fuel tank |
| 2018-01-20 | Fuel Tanks | Vacuum bagged the fuel tank top and started prepping for fuel sender and filler neck |
| 2018-01-21 | fuel Tanks | Floxed in sender back plate |
| 2018-01-22 | fuel Tanks | Vacuum bagged the 2 bid glass for the fuel sender. Used duct tape to close off the hole from underneath |
| 2018-01-23 | Fuel Tanks | Prepped (sanded with 60g and washed with MEK) fuel fittings and bedded in with Flox. Once the flow cured I covered the fittings with 2 BID |
| 2018-01-27 | fuel Tanks | Fabricated bung for vent on filler neck and welded to neck |
| 2018-01-29 | Fuel Tanks | Did 2 layers of pure epoxy on interior sides of tank panels. Waited for the first layer to tack up (4-5 hours) before painting on 2nd coat. |
| 2018-01-31 | Fuel Tanks | Floxed the 4 side together. Floxed the joint and added the fillet inside.Held the shape with cleats nailed to bench |
| 2018-02-03 | fuel Tanks | Reinforced the side joints and cable tube with 2 bid 2" tape. |
| 2018-02-08 | fuel Tanks | Duct tape "release tape" on 1/4" plywood. clamped to the top of the tank and flox fillets formed. Started laying the 2" 2 bid reinforce tape for the top gluing flange |
| 2018-02-09 | Fuel Tanks | Clean up an trim top gluing flange |
| 2018-02-10 | fuel Tanks | Flox glued and filleted the bottom to the sides |
| 2018-02-12 | fuel Tanks | 2 bid reinforcement bottom sides |
| 2018-02-13 | fuel Tanks | 2 bid back to bottom |
| 2018-02-14 | fuel Tanks | 2 bid tape bottom front joint. |
| 2018-02-15 | Fuel Tanks | Finish 2 bid tape on bottom joints |
| 2018-02-16 | Fuel Tanks | Flox epoxy top panel. Mixed up a wet flox and liberaly spread it on the preformed flange. Turned the tank upside down to cure so the excess squeeze out would stay at the joint and not drop down |
| 2018-02-20 | Fuel Tanks | taped the exterior bottom |
| 2018-02-25 | fuel Tanks | Finished 2 BID taping all corners and cable tube. |
| 2018-03-02 | Fuel Tanks | Epoxied a 1/4" grounding strap into the fuel tank. attached it to a screw that will come out one of the mounting holes of the filler neck |
| 2018-03-07 | Fuel Tanks | Test fit , alligned and floxed the filler neck in place |
| 2018-03-09 | fuel Tanks | Fiberglassed the filler neck in |
| 2018-07-22 | Wing tank Form | Build form for fiberglass wing tanks. I shold be able to diassemble this and reassemble for opposite tank |
| 2018-08-18 | Wing tank ribs | Layout and cut masonite templates for the tank ribs |
| 2018-08-19 | tank ribs | Cut foam tank rib blanks |
| 2018-08-22 | Fuel Tank Ribs | Glassed the inner ribs. The plan is to 1Bid the inner ribs w/o vacuum bagging and 2 Bid the outside ribs with bagging. Inner ribs will 1/4 lastafoam and outer 3/8 Lastafoam. THe skin will be 1/8 dyvinalcel foam as 1/8 will bend easier. |
| 2018-09-01 | Fuel Tank Ribs | Glassed the #1 & #5 outer ribs,2 bid, vacuumed bagged. |
| 2018-09-01 | Ribs | Lay out and start cutting lightening holes, Test mock up of ribs |
| 2018-09-08 | Skin reinforcements | Glassed the inner surface of the tank skin, 2 Bid, Just too difficult to glass both sides at the same time. I didnt like the way the came out and wound up vacuum bagging the skin. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures |
| 2018-09-10 | Tank back | Layed out and vacuum bagged 2 bid tank back |
| 2018-09-23 | tank ribs | Cut lightening holes in inner ribs. Cored and Micro'd all edges |
| 2018-09-25 | tank supports | Machined the tank support hard points. 3/8' 6061 drilled and tapped for a 5/8" aluminum pin. Hard point will be embedded into the outer ribs |
| 2018-09-29 | Mounting pins | Threaded (3/8 NPT) Aluminium pins for the tank mounting |
| 2018-10-01 | Hard points | Mounted hard points into ribs. T-88 to glue the flow filler. |
| 2018-10-07 | Fuel sender mount plate | Floxed in sender plate. Fabricated a Nylon disk to mold the flox |
| 2018-10-23 | Hard points | Glassed in (2 bid) hardpoints and mounting plate |
| 2018-10-25 | Assembly | Lay out for rib installation. Mark locations of ribs and Chord on leading edge |
| 2018-10-27 | Fuel Sending unit | Mock up and shape Fuel level arm |
| 2018-10-28 | Assembly | Prep and flox in the 2 end ribs #1 & #5 |
| 2018-11-03 | Wing tank | 2 BID outer wing skin, In retrospect I should have waited until all the ribs were installed, the skin became too stiff and hard to form to the inner ribs. |
| 2018-11-04 | Wing tank ribs | Fit inner ribs. Packing tape on inner skin then stiff micro on the sdges of the ribs and pushed then into position. This created a rib that fit perfectly |
| 2018-11-09 | wing tank ribs | Floxed in the inner ribs, one at a time |
| 2018-12-04 | Fuel Tanks | Cut hole and floxed in the USHER fuel filler ring. Set mine 360mm from spar edge. Various measurements from other Jodel owners and plans had it from 190-370mm. |
| 2018-12-05 | fuel Tanks | Fiberglassed the filler ring and fuel drain fitting |
| 2018-12-06 | Fuel Tank Ribs | Packed out the back of the ribs with Micro and form fittid to the back panel. Put 2 layers of Duct tape on the back panel where the ribs will meet it. Plied on stiff micro on the matching edge of the ribs and pushed the back panel into position and let cure. This created a perfect match for the ribs and panel. |