Author Archives: pclifton

V-stab fitting: pt 1

Posted on November 23, 2019 by pclifton

I managed to get in a solid afternoon of work today, after meeting my brother and his wife for lunch as they were passing through town. As fun as it was to clamp the v-stab in place yesterday, the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage, Fuselage | Hours Logged: 4.5

H-stab fitting: done!

Posted on November 22, 2019 by pclifton

Welp, my shiny not-new (used) angle drill came in today. I picked up the materials I need to remake the elevator center bearing spacers, but I decided that I preferred to pick back up with the stab fitting and then … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage, Fuselage | Hours Logged: 1.5

Elevator stuff

Posted on November 21, 2019 by pclifton

So tonight was kind of an exercise in not wasting time. After the failure of my angle drill attachment Tuesday night, I decided it was time to pony up and buy a real pneumatic angle drill – which I did. … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage, Fuselage | Hours Logged: 1.5

H-stab fitting: making some actual holes

Posted on November 19, 2019 by pclifton

With last weekend’s track event behind me, it’s time to get back to work on this thing. Tonight I decided that I really wanted to actually get some holes drilled (but not at the cost of doing them wrong). Last … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage, Fuselage | Hours Logged: 2.5

H-stab fitting: Deep Thought edition

Posted on November 10, 2019 by pclifton

Well look, here we are after another break in getting stuff done. My excuse this time revolves around the two weeks we were out of town in early October, which of course 100% explains the six weeks it’s been since … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage, Fuselage | Hours Logged: 1.5

H-stab fitting: the beginning

Posted on September 23, 2019 by pclifton

OK, so this is really a post for the entire weekend, sort of. I didn’t really have anything like a dedicated work session, but I did still get some stuff done. In short, I moved on to the beginning of … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage, Fuselage | Hours Logged: 1.5

H-stab v2.0 – finished!

Posted on September 12, 2019 by pclifton

Well, so ends this little detour on the road to a complete aircraft. Tonight I wrapped up the stab, so I can move forward with more fun stuff again. Basically all I had left to do was to rivet the … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 1

H-stab v2.0 – yet more riveting!

Posted on September 10, 2019 by pclifton

And so the theme continues, chipping away at this a bit at a time. Previously, I was happy to be finished with the “annoying” riveting. In my mind, I just had to go around the perimeter squeezing skin rivets, plus … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 1

H-stab v2.0 – even more riveting!

Posted on September 8, 2019 by pclifton

So this hasn’t been a productive airplane week – in addition to the usual household chores, I’ve been working on getting the car ready for my next track event next weekend. That took up more time than I expected since … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 2.5

H-stab v2.0 – more riveting!

Posted on September 1, 2019 by pclifton

Well, this wasn’t the productive day I’d hoped for. I got up early and got started on some riveting before heading over to the neighbor’s hangar for the usual Sunday morning coffee. Came back over and shot a line of … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 1