Match-drilled stringer plates to tail cone and installed/glued on nut plates.
June 18
1.2hrs
Locked on the nut plates using #2x1/4inch brass screws and epoxy. Reamed the trim handle bracket and three brackets for the rudder.
June 19
1hr
Aligning the stringers on the tail cone. Marking for cutting. Quadruple checking.
June 20
5hrs
Realigned rear points of turtledeck stringers on the tail cone. Measured, marked and made a simple jig to hold stringers in place. Glued stringers into position. Checked firewall blank to first upper former for smooth transition. Thinking through firewall, thurtledeck door and other systems.
June 21
3hrs
Finishing touches on the tail cone. Tweaked the fit of the four remaining turtledeck stringer stand-offs and glued in place.
June 22
2.3hrs
Made the floor for the battery tray.
June 23 - 24
BIG storm - no power
June 25
2.6hrs
Made the end-tips for the turtledeck stringers.
June 26
2.7hrs
Figured out and made the mounting plate for the rear throttle quadrant.
June 27
5.1hrs
Designed and made the bracket for the front throttle quadrant.
June 28
2.6hrs
Re-made the front quad bracket.
June 29
1.6hrs
Not happy with the look of the front quad bracket. Decided to make something that would look the same as the back attachment. Measured, cut and fitted the support tube for the front throttle quadrant. acked then partially welded it in.
July 1
2hrs
Not happy with the way the top part of this tube was welded in. Ground it off today. Will replace with new piece tomorrow.
July 2
6.2hrs
A lot done today; finished grinding, filing, sanding off first weld marks, cut and welded on new support tube, and made the mounting bracket for the front throttle quadrant start to finish.
July 3
2.3hrs
Cut the tacks and re-mounted both throttle quad mounts.
July 6
4.7hrs
Making a "practice piece" for the turtledeck door frame. Will make the new and improved one tomorrow.
July 7
1.7hrs
CADing up notch pattern for turtledeck door.
2.5hrs
Work on the new and improved turtledeck door frame. Drilled alllll those holes and started notching it.
July 8
.3hrs
Cleaned and sanded the back side of the battery tray. Didn't log the hours for looking for a new v-belt for the metal bandsaw.
July 9
4.1hrs
Finished up the tail-end of the turtledeck stringers then started working on the the design of the seat backs. Made the pattern for the pilot's seat.
July 10
2.8hrs
Notched the curved part of the turtledeck deck's door frame/support. Drilled the rivet holes in the straight lower section of th L-shapped aluminum for the lower portion of the door. Cut out the first blank for routing the skin of the door.
July 11
2.8hrs
Cut new door blank from 1/4inch ply instead of 3/4inch MDF. Much easier to get the correct fit. Cut an over sized blank based on this ply pattern then cut closer to size and started filing and sanding. Still needs to be filed a bit more to fit.
July 12
1.6hrs
Drilled and clecoed the top radius on the turtledeck door-to-frame radius.
July 13
1.9hrs
Work on the firewall: cut the sheet to size and worked on the design in CAD. Got it figured out.
July 15
2hrs
Drew the 44" diameter circle then marked out where the bead lines will go and the exhaust ramp.
July
16
2hrs
Cut the firewall shape out of the stainless steel.
July 18
5.0hrs
Glued the notch pattern on the aluminum flange for the firewall and drilled the deburred 252 holes.
July 19
1.2hrs
Rough cut the notches for the first 8ft aluminum "L" for the firewall flange. Need to file and sand it before moving onto the next piece.
July 20
2.7hrs
Filed all 126 notches; both sides. Still need to hit them with a fine sandpaper.
July 21
.8hrs
Filed edges of notches and started sanding them.
1.5hrs
Drilled rivet holes on second firewall flange; used center bit to start hole and finished with a #40 bit.
.9hrs
Finished rivet holes on second firewall flange. Still needed to deburr.
July 23
2.2hrs
Drilled 126 stress relief holes on the second firewall flange.
July 25
3.4hrs
Notched and filed smooth... the second firewall flange L-shaped piece. Looked and found the rivets Gus gave me back in... 2007. No need to buy any of those 3/32nd rivets.
July 27
1.9hrs
All 252 notches have been sanded with 220 grit. Need to pass 400 grit over them and then they're ready for riveting. and... Sanded the tips of the turtledeck stringers.
July 29
2.2hrs
400 grit sanding of the firewall flanges. Also tried deburring the edges of the slotting but it wasn't working. Will be ordering the correct tools tomorrow.
July 30
1hr
Spent about 3 hours "working" on the biplane tonight. Most of it looking for stuff or reading up on the seats. The hour... CAD drawing of the seat backs.
July 31
.7hrs
Cutting out tabs for attaching sheet metal skins. Gotta do something when I'm waiting on that riveting stuff.
Aug 1
N/A
On my way back from flying I stopped at Fazzio's to pick up a 4ft x 10ft sheet of .o32, 5052 aluminum. It's for the seat pans and seat backs.
Aug 4
N/A
Spent all night trying to find information on how to use a rivet squeezer. No luck. Emailed Tatco in the end.
Aug 5
1.5hrs
Deburred the flanges for the turtledeck hatch and both 8ft flanges for the firewall.
Aug 7
1.5hrs
Sanding flanges.
Aug 8
2.3hrs
More flange sanding and the start of learning to learn rivet squeezing.
Aug 10
2.9hrs
Cut the blanks out for the pilot's seat pan and back.
Aug 11
2.4hrs
Filed and sanded sides of seat back blanks. Cut the center out of the frame.
Aug 13
2.7hrs
Drilled the rivet holes and bent the edges of one seat back insert.
Aug 14
.5hrs
Re-drew seat back insert. Wasn't happy with the one I made... made some changes to it.
Aug 17
.9hrs
Worked on the turtledeck hatch. Sanding down the sides to make it fit. Discovered that I have the plate flipped instead of flopped. DAMN !
Aug 18
1.9hrs
Traced turtledeck hatch pattern on a new piece of aluminum. Rough cut to size then filed filed filed for a nice snug fit.
Aug 19
2hrs
Final file of aluminum hatch to fit opening. Drilled and clecoed top of hatch for 3/32nd rivets.
Aug 20
2.5hrs
Cut outer hatch cover blank. Match drilled inner hatch cover with outer hatch cover.
Aug 21
2hrs
Finally tweaking of fit of hatch to opening. Notched the flange for possible way of attaching... also allows me to get the rivet tool to the rivets.
Aug 22
2.5hrs
Started riveting the hatche's front, back and the flanges together.
Aug 24
2hrs
Actually spent 3.5hrs on the build tonight; 2 hrs riveting and 1.5hrs re-fiting the hatch in the turtledeck opening.
Aug 25
1.5hrs
Another test fit of the hatch in the turtledeck baggage opening... still fits! Cut the blank for the new seat back insert. Glued on the pattern and cut to shape.
Aug 27
3.3hrs
Seat back insert; filed/sanded edges smooth, drilled rivet holes, bent over edges. It's ready for attaching to ourter frame.
Aug 28
.8hrs
Filed and sanded outer seat frame. Tweaked seat insert... and THEY FIT!
Aug 29
.9hrs
Opened up the seat frame a little bit more for easier fit. Match-drilled insert to frame then deburred.
Aug 30
N/A
Spent about .5hrs taking tape and glued on pattern from seat parts.
.9hrs
More deburring of seat insert and frame.
Aug 31
1.9hrs
Spent 1.9hrs tweaking/cleaning/more deburring of seat frame and insert. Didn't log the 3+ hours of cutting over 100 rivets to length.
Sept 1
2.9hrs
Started squeezing rivets; top, bottom and one side completed. Several of them need to be re-done.
Sept 2
1hr
Drilled out seven of the ten bad rivets. Screwed up the other three. Made this first seat back into a test piece.
1.6hrs
Cut out blank for new seat back insert. Glued on pattern and cut to shape.
1.5hrs
Filed sides to lines... drilled and deburred all holes.
Sept 3
2.6hrs
Bent the sides of the re-make of the seat back insert. Cut out the re-make of the seat back frame.
Sept 4
2.6hrs
Final filing of seat back frame (inside edges) then match-drilled and deburred holes.
N/A
Spent 1.3hrs cutting down rivets for seat back.
Sept 5
4.3hrs
Made both heel rails for the pilot's seat. Still need to drill and attach L-shaped flanges.