Monthly Archives : February 2021

Fun with brakes


I finished up the co-pilot door strut. Then made some adjustments to the door lock blocks, sprayed some silicon and bam the doors open, close, and lock perfectly. Then it was on to floxing in the carbon fiber door sill. Once that was clamped down I added a nice edge and filler to the rest of the door opening and…

Read More »

I guess I am getting faster.


I knocked out the major sanding in a couple hours on the pilot door. Getting the door lock blocks mounted and operational was definitely much faster today. However, the sanding for the McMaster door seal took forever. Eight times I would sand to a gap I thought would be good, vacuum, apply the door seal, close the door, and check…

Read More »

Sure, I’d love to sand fiberglass for 11 hours


Blerg, what a day. I learned a lot about making the doors fit tight and have a proper gap. So that will be helpful tomorrow when I finish the pilot door. As mentioned in the title, I spent the entire day working on the co-pilot door. First I had to get the door lock blocks located and mounted. But before…

Read More »

She is alive!


Huge day! Cross off the first engine start. Boy did that feel great to have an near instant start and for her to run so smooth. Whew. Backing up, I started with installing the fuel tank vents, attaching the rudder cables to the rudder, and attaching the yaw damper cables. This is was engine prep time; flush both fuel lines,…

Read More »

Gull Wings in Flight


Guess what. I started the day with sanding. Knocked out of outside of both doors and lots of sanding on the windshield. Hours upon hours of bliss. Later in the day I put on, what I hope is the final fiberglass layer on the windshield. After sanding I’ll make a final determination. The big excitement for the day was getting…

Read More »

Can’t put off sanding any longer


Well the rear windows are sanded. That was a fun start to the day. Tomorrow the outside of the door windows and then I will begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Ha. Still have to sand/fill the door gaps for the McMaster Carr door seal. After that excitement I moved on to the continuing ER…

Read More »

Final steps on the ER tanks


Boom two and a half hours later the right ER tank was installed. Of course it is a totally different position from the left or the first set of tanks. No surprise at this point. But after some monkeying I got it installed. Then filled it with fuel. Actually filled both tanks. Turns out they hold 14 gallons and not…

Read More »

Such a relief, my registration was entered


Okay first off, I didn’t realize how long it takes for the FAA to process aircraft registrations and I really painted myself in a corner. Hell I even forgot to enter the engine serial number requiring a second notarized form to be sent UPS red. But today my registration came through. Huge relief to know that my inspection/first flight won’t…

Read More »

Hotel Whiskey ER Fuel Tanks – Do not buy them


I have held off on this post until things reached a conclusion. My fuel tanks were about two months late but finally arrived back in October. The weld and metal forming quality was not good. I talked to a couple of other builders who recently bought tanks and one of they got replacement tanks. I have learned that the original…

Read More »

I’m building an aluminum airplane, right?


I feel good about today, only because of what I got accomplished. It started with two and a half hours prep’ing windows and sanding the windshield. Still more sanding on the fiberglass tomorrow but I couldn’t take any more. I moved on to the poorly built Hotel Whiskey ER fuel tanks. Troy at Hotel Whiskey warranties them for life and…

Read More »

Windows, so much effort on the windows


Yep, still taping/sanding windows. I got the rear windows finished on the inside and I got some prep work done on the windshield on the inside. Put down another layer of fiberglass around the windshield on the outside. Of course this meant more sanding first. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy sanding? The replacement ER Fuel tanks arrived today.…

Read More »

Right wing fairing complete!


Wow baby, that was a bigger pain than one would think. Lots of nutplates – check. Metal forming – check, minimal room for riveting – fucking check. Only had to drill out two nutplates that interfered with the rivets to the fuselage, that would have been nice to note in the manual. Yep, I’m a little salty. Still remaining is…

Read More »