N45HX

I mentioned it before, but it’s huge.  Up until this point, it’s easy to forget that airplanes are large.  This spar is about 12 feet long.

We spent most of the day deburring the front and rear spars for the horizontal stabilizer.  These are the longest single parts in the tail kit.  Ours were poking out of the crate that FedEx destroyed, so these are actually the replacements.  They came right about on time.

I’m really unsure how much deburring is actually necessary.  Randy thinks I’m making too big a deal about it, as I want to make sure that the surface is absolutely smooth with no visible pits.  He’s content as long it feels smooth and you can’t catch anything with a fingernail. He’s probably right, but then my fingernail seems to be more sensitive than his.  So much of building this airplane seems to be this way: how much is enough?  You can always find someone who does more and someone who does less.  And if you spend too much time trying to find the right answer on the internet, you’ll never get the plane built.

I keep telling Randy that none of this matters, because to hear some folks tell it, we’re just going to find a pile of aluminum oxide in the hangar where our airplane used to be because we’ve decided not to prime the interior surfaces.

There’s not much in the way of exciting pictures from today, because deburring is even more boring to photograph than to perform.  Also, the Cleco Vixen usually photographs us, but she apparently had more amusing things to do today.

I now have several pieces of aluminum functioning as tattoos in my fingers.  I’m not sure if I should be concerned about this or not.

Elevator hinges attached:

 

Rear Spar Doubler muchly riveted:

Sorry Tracey, no action shots of Randy today simply because I forgot.

Berck: 10 hours, Randy: 8.5 hours.

Very happy with our progress this weekend.  I worked by myself today, which definitely means things go slower than when there’s help.  So many cleco, and nary a cleco vixen in sight:

 

I also had to drive to the Woodland Park Do It Best Hardware Store (and Aircraft Supply) to acquire a long enough 1.25″ dowel to roll the leading edge.  I had two 1.25″ dowels, but they really weren’t long enough.  I forget to take pictures, so all you get is completed rudder at this point. 

 

And, finally, with a Miata for some scale:

 

We still need to do the rudder trim, but we need to order the servos and such first.  In the meantime, it’s on to the horizontal stabilizer.  We need to clear off some room on those shelves before the wings arrive! (The only reason we’re ordering the wings is that prices go up April 1.  With a 10 week lead time on them, we may be ready for them by the time they arrive, though.)

Berck: 9 hours.