mistakes – Above it All

Beware Page 26-5!

In searching the internet for another topic, I came across the following blog post from Justin Twilbeck in 2012:

https://buildingrv10.blogspot.com/2012/10/fuselage-frustration.html

This set my senses tingling, and I slowly turned around from my computer to see F-1015A-L happily waving its joggled flange at me–from OUTSIDE the F-1004D-L channel.

Subsequently, I searched on VAF for F-1015A-L and found this gem of a post from 2010:

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=56456

This is going to require some re-work, and while it shouldn’t be too bad, it brings to light a serious deficiency in the RV-10 plans. While I was working on Page 26-5, I kept thinking that something was wrong with the 1015A ribs, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. There is very little mention of them at all in the plans.

I’m hoping that by posting this and adding to the VAF thread, I can help other builders who might be running into this problem.

Fitting Top Wing Skins – Part 1

Today, I got the top wing skin parts out of the crate and began fitting them to the left wing. Way back in the beginning of the wing construction process, I had made a mistake in drilling the J channel wing stiffeners in the wrong position. I had contacted Van’s Aircraft about this and they confirmed it was not a big deal to simply extend the length using a short piece of J channel at the wing tip, so I fit and drilled this piece today as well.

I used up every silver cleco I could find and still didn’t have quite enough for the whole wing. I guess I’ll have to order some more eventually.

Time Lapse Video:

Also, today I worked on drilling out and re-setting some rivets on the rear spar on the left wing that I didn’t like.

I Knew Better, but I Wasn’t Thinking

I spent a hell of a lot of time preparing the left wing ribs. Finally all the deburring was complete, and I prepared to prime them. By the time I got all the roadblocks out of the way, it was dusk when I began spraying. Outside. I think what happened is that the relative humidity skyrocketed right as I was priming and caused this failure: