Preping the aft deck for mounting the horizontal stabilizer - 2 hours

 Before I mount the horizontal stabilizer I need to mark out the complete outline of the F-718 longerons and F-710B angle on the top of the F-714 aft deck. Once the outline is made. I marked the mounting location of the bolts in red. They are to be centered in the exposed flange of the 3/4x3/4x.125 longeron. The dimension works out to be 7/16" from the outside edge of the longeron.  

Installed the side steps - 4 hours

 I arranged for my buddy mike to come over and give me a hand bucking the side step rivets. This is best done with two people in my opinion. I installed the steps and then made an outline of the flange on the fuselage. I then buffed the mating area with 3M scotchbrite to help with adhesion.

Before Mike came over...I mixed up some proseal (Oh dear god I hate proseal). And then I applied it to the side step flanges and then installed with clecos. Mike arrived and we went to work riveting. Its messy and stinky work but we got it done. 

I will need to mix up more pro-seal eventually to properly fillet/chamfer the flanges and fill in some gaps under the side step/fuselage. I will add that to the to-do list. After mike left...I could then install the bolts in the UHMW block-step supports. Its never fun installing bolts in these as technically torque bolts in the plastic support blocks. 

Paint touch-ups - 5 hours

 I needed to touch up the interior cabin side rail. While polishing the paint I rubbed some of the corners down to much exposing the aluminum. So, I masked off the interior to isolate the right side side rail, re-prepped and re-painted the side rail. As I have a can of paint all mixed. I ended up sanding and spraying a couple pieces again.

Installing the fuel selector and gascolator. Installed landing gear bolts - 5 hours

 Now the interior painting is complete. I can start the process of starting to install interior cabin components permanently. First I chose to install the fuel selector and the Aerolab gascolator. 

To install the gascolator to the cabin floor, I used blue thread-lock on the #6 screws. 

 Now came the big task of drilling and installing the AN3 bolts for all of the landing gear weldments. This ends up being a tedious process. Having to drill up from #40 to #30, to #21, finally reaming to 3/16". Lets not talk about trying to remove all the shavings that like to stick between the layers of the aluminum. 

The finish kit arrives! - 5 hours

 The call came today that the finish kit is being delivered. A very exciting day and I will be very busy this winter.

I started in on inventory and inspection. I was missing a few pieces. The main roll bar and 1 hardware bag is back ordered. 1 hardware bag was missing. The backordered parts hurt a bit, but given the issue surrounding covid it's totally understandable. 

One item that I notice while inspecting the engine mount, One of the mounting holes seems to be a bit to the side of the engine frame tube. 

All other mounting holes are looking good. I called Van's tech support since I didn't know if this was going to be an issue. Simply put...this is fine and is to be expected. When welding the engine mount the welding process makes the mount move with the uneven heating and contraction. These tubes are oversized to account for the potential movement. The pilot holes are drilled on a jig after welding so they are in the spot they need to be. I just need to open the holes eventually to AN6. Vans said, I might need to jog the hole over just a tad to ensure clearance of the AN6 bolt with the side of the tube. 

Completed painting of the interior and removed masking tape - 5 hours

 Finally finished the interior paint. Then came the very long task of removing the all the masking tape. I'm quite happy on how to turned out.

Finish prep and painted the interior cabin area - 10 hours

 Huge long day on the build today. I finished masking off the firewall area of the fuselage.

The cabin area is ready to paint. Before I did that, I wiped all of the interior down with Acetone and then did a final spray of epoxy primer. This allows for all exposed rivet heads to have a coat of primer

After a couple of hours the final 2K single stage paint is ready to spray. The air is calm and warm...its a perfect day to paint. 

 

Starting prep for interior cabin paint - 4 hours

 One item that is high on the to-do list is to finish the painting of the interior cabin area. The temperatures are starting to fall as we approach fall,and I plan on painting outdoors. I need to get into it. 

For my particular build...I've help off final paint until after assembly. That means I need to mask off a lot of components. ...So much masking tape.

Finished the remaining rivets in the F-705 bulkhead - 1 hour

 I noticed that I haven't installed the 3 remaining rivets in the F-705 bulkhead. It was a bit of a head shaking moment, simply because these rivets need to be dimpled and I hadn't done that yet. Mental note...dimple these 3 before you finish the forward top skin. 

Installing the rudder cables - 2.5 hours

 Before I dismantle the baggage floors and the temporary wood structure for the tail cone. I need to start getting the rudder cables installed in the aft section of the fuselage. I though this would be a bit more difficult than it is. The cables are simply installed through the fuselage from the rear. The only item that you need to pay attention to is that the plastic grommets need to be installed on the cable before you thread the cable through each bulkhead. The clevis takes a little bit of force to slip through the grommet, so doing this is easier when the grommet is not installed in the bulkhead.

I do not want to install the rudder cables through the forward cabin area until I've painted the cabin. So I managed to find a couple of linen bags at the dollar store. I could roll up the cables and slip them into the bags to protect them. I can then place them in the tail cone until the painting is done.