On Jan 30th, I placed an order for the first part of an RV10, the empennage. The empennage kit consists of almost everything to the
The saga begins…
Category: Empennage
Unboxing
After a fierce 2 day battle with the flu, I was able to get into the garage and see what the FedEx man had brought
Sorting itsy bitsy parts
After staying up late sorting sheet metal, tonight we dug into sorting lots of small parts… like rivets and bolts. Colleen helped inventory, Sawyer
First build day!
As of 7:45PM on Feb 21, 2012, I can be considered an RV-10 builder… not just an empennage kit owner! With an RV kit, you
Vertical Stabilizer Prep
This is the step where you start seeing recognizable airplane parts. Tonight I put together the vertical stabilizer for final drilling. Started off deburring and
Vertical Stab Skin
Tonight we Colleen got her first taste of deburring holes, and the DRDT-2 got it’s first shot at dimpling real airplane parts. Both did a
VS Deburring, dimpling, and counter-sinking… OH MY!
This afternoon was spent doing to final prep work to the VS components before priming and assembly. A whole lotta holes needed to be deburred
Beginning Rudder Construction
Since I can’t proceed with the VS final assemble until I the primer arrives, I put the VS parts away and began on the rudder.
Rudder Construction – cont.
After the initial prep of most of the rudder parts yesterday, today was the initial assembly. This involved building the stiffiners, working the rudder horn,
Rudder: More deburring, a little counter-sinking, and a little slip up
Colleen was nice enough to come out to the airplane factory and help me do some deburring tonight. Just like all the other parts before,
Rudder: Last bit of prep
Today was the first day my father was able to come out and help get us closer to having a flying plane! It isn’t the
Vertical Stab and Rudder Priming!
Today was the first primer day. First, Colleen helped me scuff everything up with Scotchbrite pads. After that everything got a good wipe down with
VERTICAL STAB COMPLETE!!!
Big day today! The first rivets were set, and the first part completed. Not much to say, but I got a lot of use
Baby got back (riveting)
Got a lot done in a fairly short amount of time tonight. I got all the rudder stiffeners back riveted in. They are shot in
Short but sticky: It’s rudder Pro-Seal time!
Tonight was a quick one at only one hour, but that was because we were time limited with one of the materials we were working