Author Archives: pclifton

Wing inventory, Part The Second

Posted on March 14, 2013 by pclifton

Last night, I wrote that Josie and I had inventoried “everything…except for the Big Bag O’ Hardware.”  Whether it was evident or not, I was personally under some kind of impression that we’d gotten a large chunk of the inventorying … Continue reading →

Posted in Wings | Hours Logged: 4.5

Wing inventory, Part The First

Posted on March 13, 2013 by pclifton

First thoughts: Everything from the empennage seems tiny after touching all the wing parts.  From 10-foot main spars to fiberglass wing tips that a small child could use as a canoe, the scale has definitely bumped up quite a bit. … Continue reading →

Posted in Wings | Hours Logged: 2

Wings will be here TOMORROW!

Posted on March 11, 2013 by pclifton

It’s been a little strange not working on anything actively the last few weeks, but I won’t have that problem for much longer.  This morning I called Van’s to inquire about the order status, and found out the wings shipped … Continue reading →

Posted in Random Stuff

Rudder is hung!

Posted on February 22, 2013 by pclifton

I guess this pretty much brings work on the tail to a close for now.  I could start work on the fiberglass tips, but I don’t have any of the materials or anything.  I’m just going to save that for when … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 2

Finished horizontal, started on vertical

Posted on February 21, 2013 by pclifton

Today I stopped at no less than three Ace Hardware stores, trying to find aluminum spacers for my elevator center bearing.  I knew they had them at the Ace I went to over the weekend, where I got the pieces to … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 3.5

Skin cleanup

Posted on February 20, 2013 by pclifton

I managed to make it out into the shop for short while Tuesday night.  I had a couple of things on my to-do list for the night: Fabricate spacers for the center bearing, and clean some of the well-embedded sweaty … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 2.5

Elevators are hung!

Posted on February 19, 2013 by pclifton

Whew.  This post actually covers work done on two days.  I got quite a bit done Sunday, but wasn’t able to get anything written up that night.  I managed to get a little time in this evening as well, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 8.5

Rolled left elevator leading edge

Posted on February 14, 2013 by pclifton

I’m coming down to the end of useful work on the tail.  With the completion of riveting the left elevator on Sunday, the next big task is to roll the leading edge of both elevators.  Since the left one was … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 2.5

Trim tab is DONE!

Posted on February 11, 2013 by pclifton

It finally happened: I had to borrow a tool.  Last time out, I found that I was going to nee a longeron yoke to get the lower trim tab spar rivets squeezed.  I went ahead and ordered one last Sunday … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 3

Trim tab riveting; need a new tool…again

Posted on February 4, 2013 by pclifton

Not exactly the most productive day.  I was out pretty late at a concert, the band of a former coworker of mine. (shameless plug for Atlantans…Seven Handle Circus, AWESOME)  So after getting home about 2 AM, I slept in pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Empennage | Hours Logged: 2