Hours to complete:
Preliminary stuff: 10 hours
Left wing: 151 hours to date (complete)
Right wing: 226 hours to date (complete)
Left tank: 34 complete except testing
Right tank: 56 Complete
Ailerons: 14 hours right, 12 hours left, both complete
Flaps: 37 hours, both complete
Finish stuff: 10 hours
Guide 22 1/2 hours to date
Dec 28, 2003 Wings ordered.
March 21, Wings arrived. Inventory, 4 hours. Think I may be missing a couple of aileron ribs. Will double check tomorrow.
March 22, Sure enough, found the aileron ribs
March 23-April 2, Built wing stands, deburred ribs and misc parts, assembled right wing skeleton (3 hours building stands, 7 hours plus 5 hours Larry straighetening wing ribs)
April 4, Work on skeleton. Larry brought ribs back straightened. (2 hours, began work on Builder's Guide for wings, 1 hour)
April 5, Test fit leading edge, deburred brackets. (3 hours)
April 6, Funeral of Charles Moore, with whom I flew hundreds of hours in our matching Phantom ultralights. May God grant him wings.
April 7, Good day. Installed and drilled leading edge, installed attach strip, prepped rear spar and made some brackets. (6 hours, one hour Guide)
April 8, Primed and riveted read spar. (3 hours, one hour Guide)
April 9, Rearranged shop, started assembling right tank. (3 hours clenup/arranging, 1 hour RT, one hour Guide)
April 10, Finished assembling RT, installed on spar. Checked twist w/o skins on and found only about 0.025". Pleased with the fit and look of everything. Assembled push tube for aileron. (RT 2 hours, wing 1 hour, Guide 1/2 hour)
Note: My first impression of the wing is that it isn't as difficult as the empennage, at least to this point. I have heard some horror stories of getting the nose and tank ribs to fit initially, and these did take a bit of "persuasion," they weren't all that difficult.
April 11-16, Have fitted and drilled all the skins on the right wing, finished the long aileron push tube, test fit all the aileron and flap brackets and am about ready to pull it all apart. (18 hours, 3 hours Guide) Added tip to "Tips" page.
April 17, Started disassembly of the right wing. Deburred and dimpled the bottom outboard skin. (4 hours, one hour Guide)
April 18-27, Disassembled right wing, dimpled all ribs, some of the skins, finished assembly of the right tank (not final assembly!) including the fuel float guage and filler flange, riveted the tank platenuts to the wing, installed and drilled the flap and aileron brackets and started riveting platenuts to the left wing spar. (Right wing 20 hours, left wing 5 hours, right tank 5 hours, guide 5 hours)
April 29, Riveted platenuts to left wing, worked on left front spar, dimpled R skins. (Left wing 4 hours, right wing 2 hours)
April 30, Larry came up and worked 4 hours. We got them right tank close to ready to disassemble, etc. (Right tank 9 hours (Larry 4, me 5.)
May 1, Put in the fuel fittings and vent line. Right tank ready to dimple and seal. (2 hours)
May 2, Dimpled right tank, started cleaning (4 hours) May 5, Larry came up & we started sealing right tank. (Larry 4 hours, me 5 hours)
May 6, Went flying with Larry. 1st time I had been up with him since he got his license. Flew a rented 172SP for 1.3 hours, relaxed and had fun. Larry flies well, especially for a new pilot.
May 7, My son Brian helped me with the tank. Put in several ribs. (3 hours X 2)
May 8-12, With Brian's help, have the right tank about ready to close. Pretty messy work, but not as bad as I had figured. Also assembled the left tank, left leading edge and the left wing except for the bottom skins. Started drilling skins. (Tank 6 hours plus 4 hours Brian, left wing 8 hours, left tank 2 hours) Tip # 6 added
May 13, Death in the family, my father-in-law. Ben Stephenson is also the father of my partner, Larry. A good and decent man.
May 17, Drilled some skin to rib holes, etc. Larry helped, one hour each. A storm forced us out of the shop so didn't do much.
May 19, Finished initial assembly of the left wing. Things going MUCH faster on the second wing. Drilled more skin-to-rib holes. (Left wing 4 hours)
SIDEBAR: My wife flunked her mamogram. Being an RN-OCN who treats breast cancer patients daily, she reviewed the films and really expected the worst. The film looked bad. Thankfully, it had everyone fooled and was benign. Praise the Lord! Encourage your spouse to get a checkup (or get one yourself, if you are of the female persuasion.) Anyway, I spent the worst 18 hours of my life waiting on the results.
May 20, Installed vent line and fuel pickup line in right tank. Ready to close. (RT, 1 hour)
May 24, Dimpled and primed the inboard and leading edge skins of the right tank. Larry helped. (me 7 hours, Larry 5)
May 25, Finished right wing spar prep (#6 platenuts, spot priming) (3 hours)
May 26, Mounted left wing flap brackets. Began disassembly of left wing. (3 hours)
May 27, 28, Disassembled left wing, deburred and dimpled all ribs(4 hours)
May 29, Picked up anodized right wing ribs and dropped of left. Had nice visit with fellow RV-9A builder Phil Perry.
May 30, Assembled right leading edge, started building right skeleton (4 hours)
June 1, Larry worked. Finished right tank (I hope!) and installed it and leading edge. (Larry 5 hours, me 7 hours, RW 6 RT 6)
June 3, Installed rear spar. 2 hours
June 4, Larry and I installed top inboard skin (RW, 4 hours)
June 6, (The 60th anniversary of D-Day) Primed the j-stringers and outboard top skin. Getting the hang of painting. Sort of, anyway. (2 hours)
June 8, Larry and I installed the top outboard wing skin and J-stringers. Wing looks GREAT! (3 hours X2)
June 11, Removed tank for testing, misc wing work (2 hours RW)
June 12, Built up inboard left tank rib. Cut and fitted most other tank parts (3 hours LT, 1 hour RT)
June 15, Deburred, dimpled and countersunk all left tank parts, got tank ready to ProSeal. (LT Larry 5 hours, me 7 hours)
June 16, Found and fixed two leaks in the right tank over the last couple of days. Mounted tank for (hopefully) the last time. (RT 2 hours)
June 17, Larry and I completed the left main spar. Lots of countersinking, etc. (Larry 3, me 4 hours on LW)
June 20, Yesterday received the LED position light/landing light/strobe system from Bill VonDane. Cut the lens for the right wingtip and did most of the mounting. Larry will build the LED assembly (it is a kit.) Hey, when your partner is a professional electrician, turn the work over to a pro! (RW 3 hours)
Sidebar: The lighting system is beyond clever! The kit is very complete (even came with the strobe wire) and the instructions are very well written. It came in a box that is about a 10" cube and weighs very little. It seems to be an ideal answer to RV lighting, at somewhat less cost than "conventional" systems. You can check them out at their website.
June 22, Larry and I assembled most of the left tank. Ready for the rear baffle. (Larry 3 hours, me 5 hours LT)
June 24, Riveted the skin to rear spar. (RW 3 hours)
June 26, Started the right aileron (A 2 hours) June 28, Aileron work. Drilled and dimpled most of it. Was surprised to learn that the leading edge is stainless steel. (A 3 hours)
June 29, Primed and preped right aileron (A 3 hours)
June 30, Started riviting the aileron. Drilled and countersunk the trailing edge. (3 hours)
July 1, Re-cleaned the left tank and did some touch-up sealing in areas that were a bit questionable. (LT 2 hours)
July 2, Larry and I finished the left tank. Looks good. (me 4 hours, Larry 3 hours)
July 3, Finished the right aileron. Trailing edge was good, although not as good as those on the empenage. Think I will go back to using proseal on the rest of them. (3 hours)
July 10, 11, Have left aileron ready to prime and rivet (A 5 hours)
Sidebar: Saturday my trusty pneumatic squeezer quit! Started making bad noises and not squeezing or retracting. Tore it down and found the return spring guide pins broken off. Broke out the old acetylene outfit. Two hours later, good as new. Nice to know how to weld and heat treat. I thank my dad for that!
Starting to get ready for Oshkosh
July 12-16, Finished the second (left) aileron. Went pretty well. Learned to use an old "C" shaped set in the rivet gun for setting the top skin-to-spar rivets. All in all, the ailerons aren't all that hard. (A 7 hours)
July 18-21, Assembled the right flap. No problems to this point, but will have to build another table. Won't drill all those holes in my nice workbenches, even if they are flat! (Flaps 5 hours)
July 22, Larry came up and we primed wing skins, etc. (RW, 4 hours X 2)
Larry brought up the position lights he had assembled (see above.) He did an excellent job and they will really knock your eyes out! Almost, anyway. VERY bright. Put the strobe, position light and landing light in the right wingtip and it fits well and should really do the job. I recommend Bill VonDane's work. See www.creativair.com
July 23, Finished the left rear spar. Had been putting that off as it is something I could do "later." Am still waiting on my ribs to come back from the anodizer so I can finish that wing. Fuselage arrives soon. (LW 4 hours)
July 24, 25, Deburred and dimpled the upper wing skins for the left wing. Everything is ready to assemble. (LW 5 hours)
Sidebar: Not much work will be done in the next week or so. Off to see the Wizard of Osh! Think my first year was 1982, but I have missed a few. If you haven't been there, plan to go. Not only will it build your love of flying, but it will restore your faith in your fellow man. It is truely a convention of nice people!
Aug 3, Back from Oshkosh. Worked on left wing skins (LW 3 hours)
Oshkosh report: Saw five or six RV-9A's, all very well done.
Signed up for a ride and the field went IFR just before I was to
take off. Another year and STILL have never been up in an RV of
any type. Did get to meet some of the Van's folks and spent some
time with other -9 builders. All a great bunch of guys. Picked
out my panel--more money than I care to think about. I have had
many cars that cost less than that. Heck, I had a HOUSE that
cost less than that. Oh, well, easy come, easy go go go go.
Had a great time and plan on doing it every year. My first trip
was 1982 and I have made over half of them since. Special thanks
to Phil Perry for sharing his hospitality and campsite.
Aug 5, Picked up the fuselage kit (See the Fuselage section)
Aug 6-10, Got the parts back from the anodizer--NOT anodized. Seems he is too busy. Oh, well. There is always primer. (8 hours LW cleaning/priming parts I shouldn't have had to do.)
Aug 13, 15, Assembled the leading edge and skeleton of the left wing. (LW 10 hours)
Aug 14, Spent all day at Airport Awareness Day at North Vernon (OVO) showing off sub assemblies and such. Had a great time.
Aug 16, Larry came up and we installed the leading edge on the skeleton & primed skins (LW 2 X 3 hours)
Aug 17, Getting ready to install the skins (LW 2 hours)
Aug 20, Larry and I installed top wing skins (LW 5X2 hours)
Aug 21, Installed gap seals, ailerons, etc. (LW 7 hours)
Aug 22, Assembled (first time) right flap (RF 2 hours)
Expect to spend most of my time on the fuselage for the next few weeks. Will come back to the flaps, wiring and bottom skins.
Mar 29, 05, After a long layoff (while working on the fuselage and etc) we got back on the wings in February. About all that remained was the wiring, bottom skins and tip installation. We tackled the left wing first. Wiring was through a Van's-supplied conduit attached via angle brackets through the ribs near the bottom skin in the hole just aft of the pushtube hole. WRONG! Don't put it near the bottome skin, but near the top. It gets in the way as you buck the bottom skin rivets. Anyway, we got it done. I worked about 30 hours, Larry 15. The tips went very quickly, taking 7 hours for me and 3 for Larry.
We did both wings leading edge down, working from the opening at the spar, which was fairly low. I can't say this is easier than doing it layed flat, but it is doable. It isn't easy and having three sets of hands (riveter, bucker and person to hold the skin open) is handy for much of the riveting. The right wing went quicker than the left, as would be expected. I installed the Trio Avionics A/P servo using the SafeAir1 mounting system. I hardily recommend it! Installing it prior to riveting the lower skins on makes the installation easier, but creates two hard-to-drive rivets. We managed to figure a way to buck them, but did consider blind rivets here. Installation took one hour. Finishing the wing took 20 hours for me, 10 for Larry, and the tip took 5 for me and 3 for Larry
I wasn't as happy with the bottom skins as with the rest of the wing. We made a few smilies here and there, more than any other place on the plane so far. It IS a difficult job!
August 20-Sept 10, Built the flaps, something I had put off. First built the box that you drill all the holes in. The flaps were easy! I did ProSeal the trailing edges, and they are perfect. I highly recommend proseal on all trailing edges. I managed a slight curve in one aileron TE which I didn't proseal. Also installed most of the wing root nutplates, although we ran out. Have begun sanding the tips and installing the terminal ends in the wiring. Me, forty hours, Larry 8