January 19, 2012 – 2.1 hours

I finished riveting the aft fuselage. There were perhaps 50 rivets that Steve and I did not get to and these are done. I also did some evaluation of the work we did and found a minor mistake (sorry Steve). I’ll need to drill out two rivets on one side so I can install hangers for the static tube. Otherwise, things looked good and all I did was tweak a couple of rough spots in a way that an old-time P-38 riveter told me about. When he told me, I filed the idea away never thinking I’d actually need it. Maybe I’ll show some before and after pictures as the trick really seemed to work well.

Next I started to fit the roll bar to the canopy and I marked the location of roll bar and started bending it to fit. At this point I think I am with the 1/16″ tolerance Van’s specs (finally a tolerance!).

Not counted as building time was another hour spent reading the plans to see what I need to do to get the canopy frame mounted and bent into shape. This appears to be a frustrating task and talking to my friend in SC, Mike Hoover, he suggested this step will take months. I had an idea about how to do this easily. Now that I see what needs to be done, my idea won’t work…but, I had another idea that might. If it shows promise, I’ll document it here and on Van’s Air Force BB. I’m hopeful that I’ve cracked the nut – no one has yet figured an easy way to bend the frame. I should know if my idea is sound within a week.

January 18, 2012 – 0.5 hours

I reassembled the forward top fuselage ribs and sub panel and installed the roll bar support. My intent was determine if my radio stack would fit without altering the center rib. My plan is to use an Affordable Panel, after market panel and it comes with several options. First, you need to decide on the “regular size” or the “XL”. Personally I think the regular size will work fine but the manufacturer assured me the extra inch lower that the panel extends won’t interfere with leg room. It probably won’t. Next, you need to decide on a center radio stack or an off-set stack. Traditionally, the pilot side has a six pack of primary instruments and then a variety of other gauges and instruments to fit the needs of the type of flying the plane is intended for. This means the pilot side gets filled with VORs, CHT and EGT gauges, maybe an NDB indicator (boat anchor equipment now) and perhaps an autopilot, and ELT control and other backup instruments. My plane will have two EFIS units, one primary in front of the pilot, and a smaller, somewhat less sophisticated (but still more powerful than most commercial planes have) EFIS on the passenger’s side. The radio stack could go in the middle or be off-set to the right. The only other things that might go on the pilot’s side of the panel (other than switches) are the ELT control and the EIS. The EIS is somewhat redundant, unquestionably ugly and may be relegated elsewhere. The ELT will go somewhere else, if I can find an appropriate and legal spot for it.

So, putting the radio stack in the center makes sense for three reasons. First, the radios (and an independent GPS) are closer to the pilot, second the passenger’s side EFIS will be closer to the pilot, which will be important if the primary unit fails. Finally, the centered design appears to have more possibilities for future upgrades – something I’m not likely to do but something I don’t want to rule out.

It appears that my chosen radio stack will fit in the space available without cutting into the center rib between the panel and sub panel. So, now I know what I can use. The only remaining problem is getting the courage to order the stuff; it isn’t cheap.