Certificate in hand, I am taxi testing.  Things are going well, and all the little details are coming together.  I have a bunch of flying to do to build proficiency, and then it will be time for first flight.

Status:  20 July 2003

Final assembly, little parts left to do.  Getting the plane to look decent is a huge, huge job.

Status:  14 September 2001

The plane is contoured.  The fuselage and tops of the wings are also filled.  The bottom of the wings have been contoured, I hope to do a bit of sanding and then shoot the filler yet this weeked.  A bit of terminology, and I am trying to base this on how Nat has it in the plans.  Contouring is the process of bringing the surface to the correct shape with micro or Superfil.  Filling is the first shot of primer/surfacer.  When this is done, it looks like the plane is primed, but it really isn't (my opinion).  You sand on the filler to expose any imperfections in the surface.  I am very close to having the surface where I am willing to fly it, thus it is very close to being ready for primer.  Details are in Chapter 24.

Status:  03 January 2001

The engine is mounted.  The cowls have been glassed in place, they were a lot more work than expected.  See chapter 23 for more details.  Basically, the IO360 cowls were made to fit a C sump, and the induction pipes on the A engine are about 2 inches rearward.  I'm not done with the installation yet, but the cowls are looking pretty good.  They are mounted about 2.5 inches rearward of where they were mounted on the 'C' sump engine.

I am starting on the engine baffles.  The IO360 requires a lot of changes to the baffles, but it seems to be going OK.  I made a copy of the M drawings, glued them to thin aluminum from a printing company, and then cut them out.  Then make the modifications required to get the baffles to fit the IO360.  The valve covers are different, and the engine looks to be about 3/4 inch wider.  I make splice pieces out of extra aluminum, and then cleco everything together.  When it comes time to make the real baffles, I will flatten out the printer's sheet and trace the pattern.

Back to basic construction, I bolted the wings back on, created the fill blocks at the end of the strakes, and glassed over everything.  Now that the cowl lips are in place, I can cut the wings back off and reinforce those edges.  Then it will be time to flip the fuselage, reinstall the wings, and glass the seams on the bottom.

There have been many other things worked on, I need to take some more pictures and update some of the chapters.  The armrests are started and  the instrument panel cover is complete.  More later...

Status:  03 October 2000

Tanks are sealed up and looking good.  Freon 134a and a sniffer found the leak right away.  It was in the area where the fuel drains from the tank into the sump.  I had not glassed it perfectly because it gets cut out anyway, and sure enough it was a bit dry in the middle of the hole.  I chose to do my leak testing before putting the sump blisters on and drilling out the drain fitting.  Trying to minimize the number of nuscence leaks with fittings, tubing, and such.  Most of the tank leakage was through the vent tubes and altimeter connections. Worm gear clamps and vinyl tubing just don't get the job done for good sealing. 

The leading edges and fairing blocks are looking good.  See Chapter 24 for more info on that process.   The front of the strakes seemed to be a bit flatter than I wanted, so it took a bit of fill to round them up a little bit.  I'm not sure where that came from, the bulkheads were right to shape and such.  Maybe I sanded the foam a bit much, or maybe it wanted to stay flat even though it was scored.  A bit of putty, a bit of paint, make a carpenter what he aint...

Engine business is settled and in prcess.  Need a mount shipped, please.  Lots of stuff waiting for the engine to be in place. 

Time to clean out the garage and finish the inside of the big part.  I am losing my daylight and heat outside.  I had hoped to get more of the finishing done outside where I could have it all assembled at one time, but it looks like it will have to be done inside.  The challenge now is to get the garage clean enough and empty enough so that I have room to finish this beast.  As in 'paint' this beast.

Status:  03 August 2000

Control system is complete, but I am not going to finish the installation until the firewall aluminum is in place.  Then all the control system parts will be permanently bolted in.  Still undecided about some of the trim systems.  It seems like the pitch trim is a big thing, and I will probably build an electric trim of some type for that.  Roll trim is very seldom touched up, so it seems overkill to build an electric trim unit for that.  On the otherhand, it is probably about the same effort to build the plans manual trim system, and I am not keen on the way the manual lever looks and works (it flys just fine, it just doesn't trip my trigger). 

Strakes (fuel tanks) went together well, I had a bit of a hangup on actually closing them up because of the sealing problems others have had.  I built some 2 BID angles when I had some leftover BID tapes, and I used those to make the bulkhead tops wider for better flox retention.  Seemed to work just fine.  Got to the point where I realized that there was no reason to wait any longer, so I floxed the top into position.  I cutoff the fronts of the bulkheads so that I could glass smooth across the leading edge pieces and hopefully make it easier to seal there.  Initial pressure test holds somewhat, but there is definitely a leak.  I suspect that it is inside the baggage area near the leading edge.  I couldn't find anything with the bubble solution, so it is on hold until I can borrow a freon sniffer.

Floxed the turtleback/ canopy in place and rough blocked the deck.  Decided that it would be best to do the canard cover at the same time.  There are some very slight angle differences, and I wanted the transitions to be smooth from the nose all the way back to the turtleback.  The shaping was a bit of a mess, lots of dust everwhere.  Probably should have rolled everything outside but the mosquitos are fierce!

Next on the schedule-  wait for some nice weather and move the whole rig outside.  Bolt up the wings, and finish the strake leading edge and the fairing blocks.  Then start filling and sanding.  If the wether doesn't want to cooperate, the firewall, controls, and trim system will get the hours.  And the engine installation can be worked on as well.  Stay tuned!

Status:  27 June 2000

I found some pieces that I was missing in my order, namely the fittings for the brake lines and some of the tubing for the control system.  So, the NACA scoop cover will hold until the next time I have it upside down, and the canopy will float until I get the Chapter 16 control system complete.

I finished up the installation of the landing brake actuator.  Next time, I will make the plywood piece an inch or two wider to the passenger side.  The actuator sits to the left of the keel about an inch farther than the plans brake, and so it is very close to mount the bottom of the actuator.  Mine is at a bit of an angle, it works just fine.

I found that an angle grinder works great for shaping the rear axle for clearance around the brakes.  The whole process of bolting the axles in place was interesting, but not that big a deal.  I am using the Cleveland 6.00x6 wheels and brakes that were packaged for the Defiant.  There used to be a big price advantage, that has gone away.  But I don't think they are any more expensive than the plans setup, and the larger tires improve ground handling substantially.  (Per my local expert).  As far as the whole argument about brake capacity and such, I am confident that I have plenty of brakes.  Plans setup may be just fine, I went with the larger wheels, tres, and brakes to improve the handling.

Status:  16 June 2000

Seven months into the books.  The last month has been very busy with the end of school, travel, and other such doings.  Another factor which I had not fully considered the humidity factor into the equation.  And the rain...

Today the plane is upside down, the rear axles are in place and curing.  The rear landing gear is tightened down and will stay so (as far as I know).  I will finish out the NACA scoop cover, mount the landing light, and finish the nose wheel.  Then it is pretty much ready to set on its wheels and finish the canopy and strakes.

From a facilities standpoint, I am going to pour a slab in front of the garage so that I can roll the plane in and out more easily.  I would have the ability to set the plane in the garage fully assembled if I take out part of the wall between the unheated and the heated section.  I need to invest some time in the building to clean it out and drywall the big section, that would allow me to dehumidify and aircondition the big section.  If we have a hot and humid summer, it will be worth the time.

So those are the plans, what has happened:

Five months into the books.  It took a bit more to finish up the wings than first appearances.  The ailerons and hardware involve a lot of fitting and adjusting.  I still have some of the small finish layups to do on the ends of the ailerons and aileron cutouts.  The upper winglets are attached, I am holding on the lower ones until I decide if I want to use the hidden bellcranks.  I like the way they look, but they are more complicated and the crimps on the cable are hidden after assembly.  I think I will go with the plans external horns, but am still undecided.  The lower winglets still need to be attached, and then Chapter 20 is done.

The turtleback was a bit of a job, but came out very well.  I had access to a great jig and that saved a lot of time.  I have made the canopy at the TB1 end one inch taller.  The dip where the canopy meets the turtleback is very slight.  The windows were a bit tough to mount.  I think that they will look just fine when they are done.  If I were to do them again, I think I would remove the inside layer of the turtleback all the way around the window.  That way the plex could be pressed straight in from the inside, rather than trying to slide it into place.  The windows are quite close to the driprail and the TB1, and I did not want to cut out all of the structure around them.  Again, I think this is one of those places where you just need to build and not worry about it.  The outside looks good, and the inside will trim out just fine.  The balance of Chapter 18 is dependant on the turtleback being mounted to the fuselage.

I have started the NG30s, F0 and F5 for Chapter 13.  I am holding for a decision on the nose lift.  It looked like there might be an opportunity to swap some web work for some of the parts, but that didn't pan out.  So back to the laser cutter and my previous design.  The springs are captured in the mechanism, it is much simpler to put together (once the laser cutter is programmed), and it is more compact.  I am also finsihing up the castings for the NG6, NG15 and NG16 pieces.  Who knows, maybe I will put a few of these things up for sale.  But my plane needs to fly first.  Note:  I may still buy a nose lift.  I really like the system that Jack Wilhelmson (sp?) has put together, and may spring for it.

The flat parts for the Strakes (Chapter 21) are finished and ready for assembly.  I am about as far in that chapter as I can get until the assembly of components catches up. 

Next steps:  Take 10 days off to do the job thing in Arizona, when I get back it will be garage cleaning time.  I can assemble the plane completly and still close the door, so that will work well for rigging and finishing.  First steps will be to mount the wings to the center section, then the center section and wings to the fuselage.  Then the canard, then the canopy, then the strakes.  The order may shift a little bit with the canard and spar, but basically it all gets assembled.  I have access to a laser transit that will be used to set all of the levels.  We'll see how it goes.

Status:  March 4th, 2000

Well, it has been four months since the big shipment of material.  Section I is moving right along, Chapter 19 should be complete tomorrow, with the exception of sending a few of the metal pieces out to be plated.  But all of the glass work will be done.  The outside skin is on the winglets, should be able to get the second skin on tomorrow.  Along with the second skin on the winglets I will get the inside of the rib ends on the wings at the same time.

I think that the comments about how huge Chapter 19 was had me psyched out.  There are some very large layups, but they go very well.  It takes a good evening to do a skin, and it takes about an evening to cut off the fishtails, put in the antenna, stuff like that.  I took quite a few evenings (and most of the Sundays) off, and still managed to finish up the wings in four weeks.  The wnglets don't look to be too bad, there are a lot of small layups in the attaching phase where you attach the winglets to the wings.  Others have left the winglets off until later in the game, I think I will put them on now and get them out of the way.  The weather is breaking now, but it will be awhile until I can do layups in the unheated part of the garage.

Once the wings/winglets are complete (end of Chapter 19 & 20), I will have all of the big components complete and ready to attach to the fuselage.  Before that can happen, the weather needs to warm up so that I can work in the big part of my shop.  So I will do the flat parts of the strakes, and have them ready for attaching to the fuselage, then go back an catch Chapter 13.  Then I think it will be Chapter 18, Turtleback and Canopy time.  At least to get the Turtleback complete.  I have access to a set of jigs to build those and want to get that done before the weather warms up.

Then it will be shop cleaning and construction time.  Empty out all of the junk I have accumulated in the shop, insulate and drywall the remaining area, finish the wiring, and open up the dividing wall such that the plane can set, fully assembled, inside the shop.  Then, it will be grand assembly time, finish the strakes and attach the nose, and move on to Section II.  No projections on a timetable, it happens when it happens.

Status:  February 19, 2000

Center Section Spar is complete and in cold storage.  Canard has been built to the point where the next step is to glass the hinges.  I am waiting to finish the metal parts in the wings so that I can send them all to the platers at the same time.  I got to the point of calling Brock to order a set of offsets, and found they had jacked the price to over $270!  Forget that, I went back and changed the design a bit so that the welding would be easier, and have my own offsets ready to go.  Once I have the plane in the air I may put sets of parts for sale on the web.  The laser cut steel parts are easy to make and dead nuts accurate and   I have found a number of places that can cut the aluminum parts.  Note:  I decided to by the nosewheel assembly from Brock.  Gotta pick your battles and put your time into the important stuff...

The hotwiring of the wings and winglets went very well.  The templates that I used were made from laser cut steel, and were extremely accurate and smooth.  The hot wire rig works very well.  I switched to the .035 Inconel from Aircraft Spruce based upon mailist reccomendations.  It cuts nice without breaking like the .020 music wire did several times.  I think the musice wire cut easier (less drag) but it was just not tough enough.  I intended to borrow a set of jigs, but ther were tied up with a set of eracer wings, so I built my own set.  I misunderstood where the 17.4 wl was, and ended up jigging the wings with a twist in them.  I caught it before anything cured, and was able to get one wings worth of jigs a day or two later.  Moral of the story-  jigs proven to be accurate and work well are even better than building them yourself.  Not only can you save yourself the time and exspense of building them, but someone else has also worked out the bugs.

As of tonight, one of the wings in glassed on the bottom.

Status:  January 11, 2000

I finished up Chapter 9 work and moved the tub into cold storage.  Things left from the early chapters include obtaining and installing the brakes, axles, and wheels.  I will pick those parts up when I get into building the rudder pedals and such.  Seat belt tabs need to be drilled in, foot step of some type, maybe.  Dennis made a slick retractable one for N92VT, I may do something like that. 

Next on the agenda is to work on the big parts.  Center spar, canard & elevators, and wings.  I picked up the center spar jig from Dennis on Wednesday.  By Friday the foam was in place ready for glass, and all of the aluminum parts ready to go.  Saturday was internal layup.  Some people call this a ten hour layup.  It took me 4.  I think I count my time different then others.  Sunday was glassing the outside, Monday was a day off.  Tuesday was the top spar cap, plans are to do the bottom on Wednesday.

I did not get to work on the plane much over the holidays, ended up working most of the days, and then going to Minnesota for New Years.

I am very satisfied with the progress to date.  I will not be able to maintain the hours per day when we get to summer, so I hope to have as much done during the winter as possible.  This is a blast.

Web site maintenance is an issue.  This takes time that could be build time, but then again, I am waiting for spar caps to cure now. 

Status:  December 17, 1999:

Finishing up Chapter 9.  I still have some odds and ends in previous Chapters to finish up, this weekend is punch list time for those items.  Outstanding things-  Finish rear duct and keel, headrests are going to wait until discussion with others.  Material Status:  I am just finishing up the first 5 gallon kit of Aeropoxy.  I have ordered a second kit, the hardner was out of stock but hopefully I will receive the materials Monday.  At one time, I had planned to order ten gallons with the initial order.  In retrospect, that would have been appropriate.  I was a bit conservative about how fast the initial chapters would go.

Progress seems to be good.  I am coming to the end of my vacation year at work, and as such have been using up some vacation by taking afternoons off.  Works well for getting ahead of the game.  I am fortunate enough to have significant time off over the holidays, and hope to make good progress on the big parts.

The workshop is working great.  It is 12 foot wide x 25 foot deep.  I can rotate the fuse tub end for end by pivoting it on the table.  This weekend it goes out into the cold part of the garage for storage until warm weather.  I could bring it back in to attach nose section, but right now my plan is to build those parts and wait to attach them until warm weather.  I will be fabricating my own nose lift and such, and will need some development time on that. 

Cold weather projects include the center section spar, wings and winglet assemblies, canard assembly, and turtleback.  I suspect that it will be warm weather before I run out of things to do... 

Updating the website is not as regular as it could be, but building is the primary activity.  I am rough tracking the hours, and they are amazingly low.  (I will post them after I convert them to a web style page...)  I suspect that several things are happening.  First- I do not count any study or reading hours.  I count the hours speant in the shop working on the plane.  Second-  I have speant a lot of time reading the plans and studying other peoples web sites before construction.  In retrospect, I would have been further ahead to start construction, but the October 99 start date was as early as possible.  Third-  I am fortunate to exist in a Mecca of Cozy construction.  We have at least 3 under construction, and at least two flying in the local area.  I collect questions and run them past the experts.  Fourth- following other's learnings (Slade's comment-  Cage the Innovator), when I find myself looking at the project I say to myself-  quit thinking, start building.  It is amazing how many of these problems resolve themselves once you lay out the cloth and start working it into the corners.  That, along with being willing to cut the cloth a bit larger and trim it to fit later makes thing go much faster.  Fifth-  be willing to throw things away.  I use the drill press and mini-paint mixer to mix resin.  Largest batch so far was about 16 ounces for doing the bottom and sides of the fuselage.  I would guess the exotherm time would be two or three minutes for that quanitity, but I mix for about 20 seconds and throw it on to spread it out.  Worked great.  I go through a lot of latex gloves and resin cups (Solo ten ounce plastic cups).  Faster to throw them away than to fight with messy supplies.  I am reusing the brushes and squeegees by soaking them in Acetone.  A bit of a hassle, but seems to work fine.

Quality of Workmanship:  I had some concerns about layups being too dry.  I have stopped being so aggressive with squeegeeing the last resin out.  I think that working with the epoxy at 120 degrees takes care of some of the excess weight problems that others are concerned about.  There is a huge difference in workability of the resin based upon temperature.

Status:  November 20, 1999

Just got back from 6 days at Commdex in Las Vegas.  Time would have been better speant building airplanes...

Chapters 4 and 5 are essentially complete, Chapter 6 starts tomorrow.  The landing gear strut is built up and ready to start working on the tabs.  It will be nice to get the fuselage sides off the work table so that I have some build space again.  I need to make the firewall out of the real birch plywood, but I am going to wait until I see how the assembly matches up with the temporary firewall.  Also, that is a project that can be worked on while resin is curing.

I find that there is a lot of small jobs in the process that require cure time.  I try to get as much done in sequence as possible, but will work ahead when I am waiting for the resin to cure.  Once I get the fuselage assembly started, I will probably start glassing the LG30s and such.  Also work on completing the big tabs on the landing gear.

Words of wisdom from others that seem to work very well-  Use lots of cloth and resin, don't waste time trying to save scraps of resin or small amounts of epoxy.  I cut the cloth comfortably oversize, and mix plenty of resin and slop it on.  I use the squegee to spread it around.  Lots of squeegee to remove the excess resin once the glass is all in place.  I have found that using peel ply and a hair drier can result in dry layups, so I no longer use a hair drier.  I keep my resin at 120 to 130 degrees when I lay it up.  It will exotherm if you leave it in the cup too long, but I tend to slop it on, spread it out, and move on.  I am using a drill press with a tiny paint mixer to stir the resin.  Works great for mixing resin, micro, and even flox.  If you are making a dry mix you need to get after it with a wood stick to finish the mixing.  I use a foot switch to spin the motor, keeps the mess contained that way.