Joshua's RV-9A Project

Couldn’t resist the siren song of aluminum…and the cool shop on a 90+ day.  The big concrete slab moderates the temperature quite nicely, so when the house is sweltering, I can escape to my cave.

Laid out the rudder skins and cut the stiffeners to length, smoothed the ends on the scotchbrite wheel, and match-drilled to the skins.  Also deburred the skin holes before the dinner bell.  These skins are quite thin compared to the material used in the stabilizers, and the manual warns strongly about over-deburring, so I was careful, and I think it turned out nicely.  I did drill into the tabletop; I built my workbenches to have easily replaceable MDF tops, so it wasn’t a concern.  The one complaint I have with the benches is that if it gets wet at all–water, etch, condensation from a can of soda, anything–it swells up and makes a little hill that needs to be sanded down flat.  when I replace the top, I will look into sealing it with something to prevent this from happening.

Finished up riveting the vertical stabilizer this afternoon; like the HS, the rear spar has been left off at this time to allow for inspection when I get ahold of a Tech Counselor.  (I admit, I haven’t done anything beyond send an email…)  Riveting went smoothly following lessons learned on the HS, and didn’t take long at all–there’s not nearly as much here to rivet.  Ended up with one small smile on the skin, but nothing I’m going to worry about.

I couldn’t resist setting the VS atop the HS on the bench and snapping a picture.  Too cool…can’t wait to get the wings on order.  Once I have a steady income again!

Also finished up my required solo hours this morning, though I expect to put in a couple more practicing for the checkride.  My ground ref stuff has improved; I found that if I don’t worry about holding altitude, I can hold it much better.  Go figure.    I was actually surprised how well it went the last time, considering I haven’t done any of those maneuvers for months…