Tasks Completed:
Note: A couple of the rivets for the horn did not seem to seat well. I will need to review with the tech counselor. Also getting everything dimpled and riveted together in the trim is a BITCH! I made a couple of cosmetic booboos to the skin trying to get dimple dies and a squeezer in there.
Today I played hooky from work. I got some good quality time in with the construction. Discovered my work on the left counterweight was a screw-up. I could probably add some weight back once it comes time to balance but I decided to keep everything neat and tidy. So I ordered a new E714 from Vans. Next up I etched and primed the left elevator structure. It was in the low 40’s outside but the primer seemed to go on alright.
I began to set up for bending the trim tab cut out on the left skin. I need to go to a friends shop to get a good straight cut on the piece of oak that will be my bending jig. After setting that aside I decided to finish up the servo mount. I built a little wood jig to help me countersink the coverplate neatly. I had previously dimpled the cover plate so I need a small piece of wood the cleco onto the plate without any distorting. It worked out great. With the brackets mounted I installed the servo motor. Only now I can’t seem to get the assembly to fit into its hole on the skin.
Tasks Completed:
Tasks Completed:
–Primed stiffeners
–Riveted stiffeners to left skin
I used Tempo Zinc Chromate on the stiffeners because I couldn’t find any self-etch locally. I does not seem to adhere well at all compared with the 7220. It’s good enough for these stiffeners but I won’t be using it again.
The first few rivets for the left skin stiffeners were poorly driven because I couldn’t get the back rivet set to fit well against the stiffener flanges. I ground down the plastic on the back rivet set to get clearance against the stiffeners. After this the riveting work much better.
–Primed VS parts
–Primed HS skins
–Started rivet front spar
–finished prepping all HS parts
–washed all HS parts
–acetoned all HS parts
–etched all HS parts with Alumiprep
–primed all HS parts with Napa 7220 Self Etch Primer
I debated what priming to use for a long time. After checking with Van’s recommends as well as the many online sources, I settled on rattle can self-etching primer. The convenience is a big factor. Although it technically needs a top sealer, this RV will be hangered and Van’s itself recognizes Mar Hyde self-etching primer. Good enough for me. This first round of priming I tried building a spray booth in the garage. Priming went well but the spry booth performed so-so. There was still a lot of paint fumes throughout the house and the booth itself didn’t vent really well at all. I am gonna have to try some mods before doing the VS parts.