I started out the day with the rudder pedals. I wanted to sand off the powder coat on the edge of the tubes so they would fit inside the mounting tube. I did sand it off, but I think it was a little too abrasive. I'm going to wait and finish it with a finer sandpaper. Plus, I'm not sure how much to remove-I need to fit it into the fuse but I can't do that because 1. the fuselage is crated up and ready to ship back to Rans (damaged during shipping) and 2. the floorboard is on backorder. Here's a pic of the one end I did work on.
I can't start on the plane yet because of the fuselage situation. I can't even start with the wings because the main spars are on backorder! So pretty much the only thing I CAN do is build the horizontal stabs.
Here's what I started working on...
These tubes were cut from a 12 foot long piece of stock and are the inserts for the horizontal stab front and rear spars. They double the spars where the flying wires attach. I don't have a metal cutting band saw so I used a saber saw to cut them. I put the red speed tape on the saw so I didn't scratch the tubes. Obviously you will want to file and clean up all the ends.
This was a lot of work to get to this point! I spent about an hour trying to figure out how to orient the rear spar. There are a few extra holes that the manual doesn't tell you about. So I didn't know if they should go on the outside or the inside. Eventually I figured out they two holes go on the INSIDE.
See the two lone clecos? There's one on the front spar and one on the rear spar. That is where the 6" doublers I made are located.
The tube on the very left is the compression tube. Both ends have to be trimmed to fit between the front and rear spar. I totally goofed up and trimmed off way too much and ruined it. So I used the other one and will have to order a new on from Rans. The second time around though it came out perfect! That's it for today. I stopped here because I don't have the ribs.
Update
Spent some more time in the garage and almost finished the right horiz stab.
First I installed the nut planes. Make sure you drill the holes to 3/16" first! The manual doesn't tell you this.
Then, put a bolt through the hole to hold the nut plate...drill one hole...
Then insert a rivet to hold the nut plate and then drill the other hole.
Rivet both holes, and you're done!
Next I finished riveting on all the gussetts.
And I have an almost finished stab...
(There is one more rib that goes between the two shown here)
NOTE: The rear spar looks curved in this photo. It's not. It is perfectly straight!