Re-do, side instrument panel; drill out round-head rivets, counter sink for holes for new rivets. Re-attach anchor nut plates with new rivets.
Oct 31
1hr.
Fitting up and tweaking of starboard side stringers.
Nov 1
1.1hrs
Port side stringers. Re-make of the center stringer. Fitting up and tweaking of the two additional stringers.
Nov 2
1.3hrs
Fitting up and tweaking of belly stringers. Will probably re-make one of them.
Nov 4
.8hrs
Figuring out the 2 outer belly stringer rear connections.
Nov 6
.7hrs
Staying with the full length outer belly stringers. Otherwise it doesn't flow right. Notched, or un-notched?
Nov 7
1.1hrs
Match-drilled new starboard belly stringer. Still figuring out exactly where to connect the rear point.
Nov 8
1.6hrs
Re-do of port belly stringers. Figured out the rear attaching!
Nov 12
1.3hrs
New middle belly stringer cut and match-drilled.
Nov 13
.5hrs
CAD up brackets for rear-end of port and starboard belly stringers.
Nov 15
1.7hrs
Made (2) brackets for rear-end of port and starboard belly stringers. Kind of figured out the direction I want to go with it all.
Nov 16
2.1hrs
Cut the .050 plate to support the rear port and starboard belly stringers. Test fit after cutting off the two existing tabs I had there originally to connect the rear of the stringers to.
Nov 17
.9hrs
Figured out where to put the back belly attach bracket. Aligned and marked on fuselage.
Nov 18
1.3
Made two new tabs.
Nov 19
1.3hrs
Rounded top of tabs to reduce weight. Figured out angle of backet on fuselage - 5.5 degrees to the bottom longeron.
Nov 21
.8hrs
Welded both tabs onto mounting plate.
Nov 22
1.8hrs
Aligned and welded (top side) of plate to fuselage. Still need to flip it and do the bottom welds.
Nov 27
1hr
Belly stringers - marked and drilled holes for attaching stringers to new rear attachment. Attached all belly stringers on biplane.
Nov 29
.4hrs
Looking up information about the straps for the main fuel tank.
Dec 2
1.1hrs
Measure and mark locations for straps. Simulated with fabric straps to make sure things would fit as planned.
Dec 6
1.6hrs
Clean up bushings. Measure again for alignment of bushings for straps. Made up simple jig to hold bushings in place.
Dec 7
.8hrs
Placed bushing jig next to side of tank and saw that I was off (long story). Re-made jig and tests positive this time!
Dec 8
.7hrs
Align jig in fuselage. Square it up. Ready for tack welding!
Dec 11
.9hrs
Tack weld main tank support bushings onto upper longeron. I now smell like a camp fire.
Dec 13
.9hrs
Strip the fuselage of stringers and firewall so that I can access the bushings without any interference.
Dec 14
1.5hrs
Welded on all eight bushings for the main fuel tank straps.
Dec 16
.4hrs
Check alignment of bushing for fuel tank straps. Reamed.
Dec 21
2.4hrs
Cleaned edges of strips for straps. Made one "test" slot. Made adjustments based on the test pieces then made the first good slot for the straps.
Dec 24
1.4hrs
Drilled, cut and filed two more slots.
Dec 26
1.7hrs
Made last slot. Re-made one slot becuase of cutting off the end at the wrong location.
Dec 27
2.4hrs
Flipped fuselage. Welded up all four slotted ends. Fitting up of the first tank strap.
Dec 30
2.5hrs
First tank strap measured for size, slotted, welded, and bolted on. Bam!
Dec 31
1.6hrs
Second tank strap measured for size, slotted, welded, and bolted on. Bam!
2020
Jan 1
2.1 hrs
Third tank strap measured for size, slotted, welded, and bolted on. Bam!
Jan 3
1.8hrs
Forth tank strap measured for size, slotted, welded, and bolted on. Bam! Now all I need to do is put the rubber strap covers on the straps and I'm finished with the tank supports.
Jan 6
.8hrs
CADing the scoop out... figuring it out; shape and how to make it.
Jan 8
.6hrs
Figuring out how to go about making the increased bend on the seat pans and backs.
Jan 11
1.9hrs
Anneal and bend four flanges on pilot's seat pan. Marked for drilling.
Jan 14
1.8hrs
Mark, drill, and de-burr all screw holes in pilot's seat pan.
Jan 16
.9hrs
Match-drill and de-burr all rivet holes for anchor nut plates in pilot's seat pan.
Jan 17
2.2hrs
Riveted on all anchor nut plates onto seat pan.
Jan 18
1.1hrs
Countersunk existing rivet holes on instrument panel brackets.
Jan 19
1hr
Riveted on anchor nut plates to top brackets for instrument panel. Spent the rest of the time trying to figure out how I'm going to reach the rivets for the side brackets. I can't.
Jan 20
.9hrs
Hand tapped rivets in existing holes on brackets and filed them down... to file in holes.
Jan 24
.4hrs
Spent close to an hour and a half on this. .4 hrs to set up the intrument panel and drill the top mounting hole. One hour of trying to figure out the best way to reach the rivet holes before drilling those rivet holes. Only way to do it is to open up the jaws of the riveter then twist the jaws to the right hight and then squeeze. Maybe?
Jan 25
1.2hrs
Drilled holes for anchor nut plate on top of the instrument panel. Just three holes. Squeezed the rivets for attaching. Checked alignment on fuselage.
Jan 26
1.9hrs
Match-drilled rivet holes for 8 anchor nut plates. Counter-sunk all 16 holes. Painted surface for rust prevention before riveting on nut plates.
1.3hrs
Riveted on 8 anchor nut plates to throttle mounts.
Jan 27
N/A
Spent 1.3hrs on writing down and figuring out turtledeck mount and other stuff... again.
Jan 29
.9hrs
More thinking of tabbs to mount turtledeck, the first ones I made and welded on are too short. CAD'd up new tabs with hole location using 5/8" wide x .070 4130 steel strips.
Jan 30
1.7hrs
Printed out patterns for new turtledeck mount brackets, drilled machine screw holes, match-drilled rivet holes, counter-sunk rivet holes, deburred.
Jan 31
1hr
Cut apart tabs. Rounded tops - filed and sanded.
1.1hrs
Measured all 10 tabs for length with turtledeck on fuselage. Cut down to lenght.
Feb 1
1.3hrs
Weld on six turtledeck mounting tabs.
Feb 3
1.5hrs
Cut, grind, sand, eight existing tabs off of fuselage. Were there previously for mounting the turtledeck.
Feb 4
1.1hrs
Final four tabs welded on. Cleaned up some of the left over welds from the tabs I cut off.
Feb 6
.5hrs
Aligned and clamped turtledeck in position for match-drilling holes with tabs.
Feb 7
1.8hrs
Match-drilled turtledeck to mounting tabs. Took off tailcone section. Enlarged holes. Reattached to match-drill holes in tailcone section. Still need to hand-drill one hole in front-right section of turtledeck. Could not reach with any tools. Marked for drilling.
Feb 8
1.2hrs
hand-Drilled remaining holes in turtledeck. Checked for fit. Reamed out the five tabs that are at the rear of the tailcone. Ready for monadnock clip nuts.
.7hrs
Riveted on (10) anchor nut plates on the turtledeck tabs.
Feb 9
1hr
Flipped fuselage and prepped for belly scoop. CAD'd up what I needed to transfer front belly scoop former onto plywood. Welded up new pipe on front of rotisserie (thing I use to spin the fuselage). I actually had two hours on it today... but not putting down the flipping and the welding of the rotisserie.
Feb 10
.8hrs
More sizes on CAD for transfering to ply.
Feb 11
1.2hrs
Sketch scoop dims onto display board.
Feb 13
.5hrs
Transfer that pattern onto plywood.
Feb 14
1.1hrs
Cut first ply former on a sheet of ply I thought was going to work well. Purchased from Home Depot. The outer layers splintered pretty bad. Not a wise choise of material. Found a sheet of 1/8inch ply and transfer pattern... then cut. It's a keeper.
Feb 15
1.9hrs
Attach belly stringers. Fit up of lower belly enclosure.
1.8hrs
Re-do of that same lower belly enclosure. Wasn't happy with it.
Feb 16
2.1hrs
ANOTHER re-make of that SAME lower belly enclosure.
Feb 21
2.5hrs
Tweak the fitting of that 3rd belly enclosure.
Feb 22
3.2hrs
Made fourth and final belly enclosure.
.7hrs
Cleaned up belly enclosure; deburred, cleaned edges.
Feb 23
1hr
Drilled and cleaned the holes to mount the enclosures.
.8hrs
Marked and drilled holes in stringer stand-offs for belly enclosure.
Feb 24
2.1hrs
Deburred all enclosures.
Feb 25
1hr
Match-drilled rivet holes for anchor nut plates for enclosures.
Feb 26
1.5hrs
Match-drilled four additional rivet holes for anchor nut plates. Counter-sunk all rivet holes for enclosures.
Feb 27
1.8hrs
Two new eclosures mounting brackets. Made to replace two that were too small.
Feb 28
1.7hrs
Trimmed down two new tabs. TOO BIG. About 1/2 the size and 1/2 the weight now. Welded one side of them on belly former. Still need to weld other side.