Riveted the second 1/2 flange on the firewall. Still need to squeeze the round head rivets on both halves.
Nov 25
3.9hrs
Deburred the holes in the exhaust port area of the firewall then filed down the stainless steel that was overhaning in that area.
2.2hrs
Riveted the three flanges to enclose the exhaust port area then went back and riveted on the round head rivets.
Nov 27
2.5hrs
Filed stainless steel overhanging the perimiter of the firewall. Test fit up to fuselage.
Nov 28
1.4hrs
Cut new angles on the seat backs so that they would frame the perimiter of the seat backs.
1.3hrs
Measured out and glued up the rivet pattern for seat back frames. Drilled starting hole with centering bit for all holes.
Nov 29
1.2hrs
Drilled and deburred holes in four flange pieces.
Nov 30
1.7hrs
Match-drilled side flanges to seat back frame.
Dec 1
N/A
Spent three hours shaving down rivets.
Dec 2
N/A
Shaved more rivets. Tried riveting but rivets kept squishing on an angle.
Dec 3
2hrs
Riveting frame on seat back. Not easy to do on this part. Part kept wanting to twist when doing the squish. I'm only happy with two out of all the ones I've done. Spent over three hours on it tonight trying to figure out what is what.
Dec 4
3hrs
Riveting the "L" flange to the seat back. Pretty damn happy with the riveting.
Dec 5
1.1hrs
Match-drill top and bottom flange to pilot's seat back.
Dec 6
2hrs
Riveting the "L" flange to the top of the pilot's seat back.
Dec 7
2.1hrs
Prepping the co-pilot's back seat for rivets; cleaned off pattern from outside edges of seat back then started fitting up the "L" flanges to it.
Dec 9
.9hrs
Riveted the lower "L" flange on the pilot's seat back.
Dec 10
.7hr
Drilling holes in one long seat back flange.
1.4hrs
Drilled holes in second long seat back flange. Started to match-drill flanges to seat back.
1.8hrs
Finished match-drilling both flanges to seat back then began riveting them on.
Dec 11
1hr
Filed down an additional 135 rivets. That should do it for the seat backs.
2.1hrs
Continued riveting the first side flange on the seat back.
Dec 12
1.9hrs
Riveted the entire length of the second vertical edge on the second seat back. A lot of seconds there...
Dec 13
1.4hrs
Drilled the holes in top and bottom seat back "L" flanges. Deburred them too.
.8hrs
Match-drilled top and bottom flanges to the co-pilot's seat back. Deburred the holes.
Dec 14
2.8hrs
Riveted the two remaining "L" flanges onto the second seat back. Just a few odds and ends to do on them and they are finished !
Dec 16
1.5hrs
Cleaned off remaining glue from the second seat back. They look beautiful. Also glued down and cut out the first seat pan.
Dec 17
1.9hrs
Drew up the new pattern for the seat pan. Glued it on the sheet of aluminum. Cut out the blank.
Dec 18
3hrs
Trimmed blanks closer... deburred and sanded smooth the edges of both seat pans.
Dec 19
3.5hrs
Made jig for bending sides on seat pans then bent them up.
Dec 20
.6hrs
Bent the edges on the seat pans where I will be riveting them onto the seat frames. Spent an addtional 2.5hrs on cleaning off the paper patterns!
Dec 21
N/A
Spent about 3hrs on the build tonight... cleaning off excess glue and then taking the film off the back-side of the seat pans. Nothing I'm putting down as far as hours on the build though.
Dec 22
N/A
Practicing annealing aluminum and then wrapping around seat frame. No hours put on build.
Dec 23
1.9hrs
Final fitting and trimming of first piece. Figured out the jig for holding the seat pan at the correct height.
1.5hrs
Began the bending process. One boo-boo. One good bend. Made this into a practice piece.
.7hrs
Trimmed second seat pan for additional cuts that needed to be made for fitting. Still need to file it to the line.
Dec 24
1.4hrs
Second try on annealing and bending the sides of the seat pans. Second try a SUCCESS ! Still need to tweak the bends.
Dec 26
2hrs
Spent a few hours figuring out and cutting out the patterns for the airfoil shape for the main landing gear.
1.5hrs
Made jig to square up rear tube attachments then square them up. Issue with glue, gluing jig in second tube. What a PIA. A little MEK and I got it out.
Dec 27
3.6hrs
Airfoil shapes for main landing gear. Made the wood template. Bent, cut and filed to fit all eight pieces of 4130 .375 x .o28 tubing.
Dec 28
4.7hrs
Drew up the pattern for the top airfoil for the main gear. Bent and cut the four pieces and ground them down to size. Wasn't happy with a few of the ones I did earlier and re-made them.
1.8hrs
Drew up the paper pattern for the first (actually third) seat pan and cut out the blank from the 4x10 sheet of aluminum.
3500 hrs !!!
Dec 29
4.2hrs
Two session on the main gear today. Final fit of the airfoil shaped tubes and then tack to the gear.
.9hrs
Cut the pattern out for the second (third actually) seat pan blank. Modified the corners: re-drew the side lines to meet at the bottom of the stress relief hole instead of intersecting the sides. Better look.
Dec 30
4.8hrs
Welding on all six airfoil shapes to the main landing geaer.
.9hrs
Filing edges of second seat pan blank to line. Still need to deburr and sand.
Dec 31
.4hrs
Check and file down any of the welds that need filing down on the airfoil shapes on the main gear.
3.8hrs
Initial bends on seat pans. Clean off pattern. Put into seat frame... mark where I need to cut out back a little bit more. Cut out back. Anneal. Bend over seat frame.
2015 Total: 538.1hrs
Jan 1
.7hrs
Trying to make the corners of the first seat pan look like the second seat pan.
2.3hrs
Re-making the first seat pan. Got it to the point of having the shape cut out and filed to the line. Still need to deburr, bend, anneal and wrap around the seat frame.
Jan 2
.7hrs
Deburr and initial bending of the seat pan.
1.3hrs
Clean off paper pattern from seat pan so that I can heat it to anneal.
1hr
Anneal and wrap seat pan around seat frame.
Jan 3
3.4hrs
Figuring out the look of the back cockpit sheet metal and opening. I have the first iteration cut-out and taped in place.
Jan 4-7
N/A
Do you put all that time down that you think of what you need to do? If so... I'll need to start logging my drives to and from work. Spent a lot of time thinking of what I'll be doing with the sheet metal around the cockpits. Decided to make doors on the port side for easy entry.
Jan 8
1.4hrs
Made a progression of one pattern for the former for the rear pit. Final iteration was a pattern made of masonite. Looks like this will work.
Jan 9
1.8hhrs
Bend former for rear pit overhang.
Jan 10
1.2hrs
Confirmed that the shape and size of former for rear pit was correct. Cut to size and tacked onto fuselage.
Jan 11
N/A
Figuring out the faceted windshields. Ideas right now... not actual work on the biplane.
Jan 12
4.7hrs
Figuring out the pilot's faceted windshield shape. Made two patterns.
Jan 13
1.7hrs
More work on the rear windshield. Firmed up the shape.
Jan 14
2hrs
Work on the rear instrument panel. Figuring out the final shape/size.
Jan 15
1.5hrs
More work on the instrument panels. Cutting and fitting up of pattern to fuselage. Final pattern for the back pit ? Still working on the panel for the front pit.
Jan 16
2.7hrs
Back pit's instrument panel: cut out final pattern shape. Transferred to wood and cut jig out. Cut rough blank out of aluminum.
Jan 17
1.6hrs
Match-drill aluminum blanks to wood jig. Routed the rear cockpit's instrument panel's face plate and back plate.
Jan
18
1hr
Route front, raised plate on rear instrument panel. Cut out cirlces and played with the look of the instruments on the panel. Spent 2.5hrs... only putting down 1hr.
Jan 19
1hr
Measuring and marking holes for instruments
Jan 20
2.3hrs
Cutting first two holes in the center, back pit instrument panel. Brutally slow.
Jan 21
1.8hrs
Cut the remaining three holes in the center, back pit instrument panel. Got it down from 1hr a hole to 1/2hr.
Jan 22
1.7hrs
Two more holes; holes in the back pit's main panel.
Jan 23
5.5hrs
Drilled the additional holes in the rear cock-pit's instrument panel. Figured out, measured and notched both "U" channels for supporting the face plate for said instrument panel.
Jan 24
3.8hrs
Notched out the back-pit's main intrument panel.
Jan 25
2.6hrs
Fine tuning the front pit's instrument panel shape.
Jan 26
1.3hrs
Drilling and notching flanges for the center, curved sections of the back instrument panel. .
Jan 27
2hrs
Made the wood jig for routing the front instrument panel pieces.
Jan 28
1.7hrs
Routed main panels for front cockpit's instrument panel.
Jan 29
1.6hrs
Routed the face plate for the second instrument panel.
Jan 30
6.6hrs
Spent all morning re-thinking what instruments to put in the panel. Made a big change to the look of it. Re-routed the back pit's face plate. Cut (6) 2 1/4inc holes.
Jan 31
4.7hrs
Cut final four holes in instrument panels. Notched the front cockpit's face plate support channels.