983RV Life

Category: Fuselage

  • Control Column Bolted and Control Sticks Measured

    I didn’t get much done today but I got something. I bolted the control column to the elevator mid push tube assembly and got the safety wire in place. I then measured the control sticks to make sure they were equal distance. I adjusted it a bit as it was 3/32 out from each other comparing the top and bottom measurements. I ordered both of the remaining servos to get that done. I wanted to make sure all of the control surface components were ordered and installed so I could make sure everything played well together. I am still contemplating on whether I’m going to have aileron trim but for how simple it is I might just do it. The last thing I need to do for this section is to put the elevator bell crank in its neutral position and validate that the control column is at the correct location and this section will be done.

  • Controls Installed

    Vans gave me an answer that I would need to massage it. Apparently these parts have issues as I’ve seen some on the Facebook RV-10 group all the way back to 2021. So I shaved the amount of material necessary off the rear portion of the control stick base and made sure that the brass bushing was slightly longer on both ends so that the base wouldn’t come into contact with the control column. I got everything bolted together and all I need to do when I get back from my son’s band competition this weekend is to hookup the elevator push rods and do the final adjustments to make sure the controls are in proper order and lock them down and put the tamper wax seal on all of the nuts.

  • Front Seats Complete!

    I got everything put together today. I also got my Aerosport seat levers today so I installed them as well. I just need to figure out how to attach the seat foam to the seat. I’m going to guess it will be some velcro but I just want to make sure.

  • Seat Track Slides & Recline Housings Attached

    Most of my time tonight was searching for all the hardware as I had not put these bags of hardware into their own bins since I was out of space and I knew they were all specific to the front seats. But I got it all sorted out and got everything bolted together. Luckily I did wait to tighten everything as there was a future step that said to tighten everything LOL. Now I hope to get the seat backs attached tomorrow and all of the contents of the recline housing installed.

  • Seat Pans Riveted & Bolted

    I got everything riveted and bolted for the seat pans. I left all of the bolts loose still as they instructed but I honestly believe they should already be tightened at this point. Maybe I missed a step where you tighten it LOL I’ll have to go back through and double check tomorrow.

  • Front Seats Started

    Since I’m waiting on Vans to report back on the control column, and everything else required too much time to start working on, I decided to start working on the front seats. I can get them ready and put them to the side when I’m done with them. I should only have another hour or two to put into them when I get back from Utah, as everything is pretty much just simple bolts and a few rivets for the bottom and rear pans to the frames. That will be one more section done and then I can wrap up the control column section when I get back (hopefully) and then attach the upper forward fuselage so that I can start working on the cabin top which will probably take me months to finish due to the amount of work that goes into it.

  • Cabin Heat & Ventilation Complete (Almost)

    I decided I wanted to go ahead and get the scat tubes installed so I had a good idea of how much room I have left in the center. It didn’t take too long to do as there’s really not much to do here. I just need to add the RTV on the rear scat tube to protect it from abrasion which I need to see what they mean by that. Do I need to slather the top of the scat tube near the rear where it will make contact? Or what? lol It doesn’t provide alot of details on that so I’ll figure it out when I get to that stage of the game.

  • Fuel Pump and Filter Installed

    The auxiliary fuel pump, filter, and transducer have arrived. I need to get bolts now for the transducer but I used some extra long bolts to at least hold it in place for now while I do fuel lines. Trying to make small fuel lines out of hard lines is such a pain LOL I’m still working on the last two fuel lines which goes between the fuel pump and the transducer and then the transducer to the firewall connection point. Hopefully I’ll get that done tomorrow but it is taking quite a bit of time to bend them to just the right angle with such a small piece of tube.

  • Flap System Complete!

    I exercised the system today and got the rod end bearing adjusted as best I could. I’ve never found a good way to accurately measure the middle of a bolt hole on two ends. There must be some tool that allows you to do that or some process but I’ll have to look it up. Either way, I got that all done, everything bolted up (which the flap horns were absolutely the hardest and the worst to reach) and I went ahead and put the access panels over it for now until I need to come back and finish other things up down the road.

  • Flap Torque Tube and Motor Installed

    I got the bushing blocks cut first. I decided to skip shaping the blocks to minimize the weight of the blocks. They couldn’t weigh more than a pound all four of them together so cutting off all of the optional parts wouldn’t make a huge difference. I cut off the required parts and moved on. Little did I know that the radiusing was also a requirement not just the cut. I ended up having to pull them back out to make that radius but it wasn’t too bad. I also had to shave a small amount of material from the outer skin to get the torque tube to go through like it was supposed to. After all of that I got the tube put in and everything bolted together. I then installed the flap motor but I will have to power it on tomorrow to its shortest and fullest reach to make sure that everything meets the requirements. Once that is done I can bolt up the flap motor to the torque tube and then bolt the flap horns to the torque tube.

    Oh, on a side note all of my front seat components came in today! So I now have a complete front seat kit which I can get started on soon.