1093- Main Spar- p.13-2 step 1-3 & p.13-4 step 6-11

Section 13: Main Spar- 5 hrs 59 mins (Main Spar 5:59, Wings 8:59, Empennage 265:24, Total 292:19)

Rivet count: 16 (Total 5,337)

This post covers three days of work between 4-6 September 2015 and two hours of priming not seen in the video. These were the last days in MS as was discussed in the last post. It marks the official start of work on the Wing Kit. I had shipped the Wing Kit to MS not knowing if there would be lots of free time to build or not. It turned out that I could have saved myself some trouble by not doing so, since it took a year to finish up the empennage and only 6 hours of work were done on the wings. However, I'm sure that this happened only because I had shipped the kit early. I'm sure if I hadn't, I would have had ample time and be wishing I HAD ordered it. Murphy's law!

We started by pulling the plastic off of lots of parts, labeling them, and deburring lots of edges. Then we got the main spar web extension in place to include match drilling and deburring the holes. The last bit consists of fabricating the wing tie downs (cutting and tapping threads), match drilling them to the main spar, and machine countersinking them to allow nutplate installation. This is one of those depressing moments where 4 hrs of work are spent to tidy up a lot of pieces and four pieces to the assembly. I get the impression that the wing kit will have plenty more of this in the coming months. Onwards we go!

1092- Tailcone- p.10-23 step 3-5 & p.10-24 step 1-3

Tailcone- 2 hrs 19 mins (Tailcone 89:52, Empennage 265:24, Total 286:20)

Rivet count: 0 (Total 5,321)

WOW! It's been over two years since my last post. So much has changed on blogger and youtube, and even more has changed in my own life. This post and the next one will actually be old videos and work that were done LESS than two years ago when I was still in MS. 

The last few weeks there were hectic with the move and I obviously never posted anything. We moved our household to NC, then spent 6 months in OK. We moved back to NC but lived in an apartment for a year and there was no chance of arranging space for a build. Then I deployed for 2 months, only to come back home and have a career change (a good kind, and one I was hoping for). That created 3 more months of living away from home for training. In the middle of that training, we had our second daughter which extended training by another month. So there is two years time accounted for in a single paragraph. 

I don't regret a single moment of it, as the past two years were spent ensuring a career path that will allow for the continued build of this project as well as growing a family to fly around in it! There's going to be a lot of technique and procedure that I will have to relearn as I move forward, but I'm sure it will be well worth it.

Anyways, on to the video! This represents the last steps in the construction of the tailcone. All assembly took place with bolts and clecos. There really isn't much to say about it. The video speaks for itself, and of course, I can't really remember much of the detail to be able to tell you about it anyways. 

TAILCONE COMPLETE!! (in just a hair under 90 hours of work...)