First Flight!

 So this happened Wednesday evening!

Upgrades

 Weather has been too crummy for a first flight so I used the time to make a couple upgrades.

Removed the factory black rubber fuel fill hose and replaced it with this clear one rated for gasoline.

Removed the 2 blade Sensenich prop and installed this 3 blade all carbon fiber E-Prop.  This includes a much improved and more robust pitot tube system.  Bonus is you also get a nice carbon fiber spinner.

Dialing in the initial pitch is a test of patience.

DAR Inspection

 Mike Lloyd performed my airworthiness inspection and granted me a fresh certificate.

Weight and Balance

 

Tailcone fairing finished!

I dimpled as many of the nutplate mount rivet holes as possible with the squeezer but had to get creative to get the two on each side that were too close to the skins.  Crude but it worked!

I then riveted all the nutplates on.  For the same 4 holes that were hard to dimple, I just installed a 3/32 blind rivet in those holes since I could not get the squeezer or a gun and bucking bar in there that close to the skins.  These are the same CCR blind  rivets that Van's calls out else where for nutplate mounting.

After that was all done, I reinstalled the fairing with the proper hardware and checked for any clearance issues between the fairing and the stabilator skins.  There were a couple places on the top and bottom where I made some tweaks to make the gaps consistent at various points along the stabilator travel.

I then just stood back and admired the work.  It turned out better than I expected and I am happy with how it all fits and looks.  I have seen some at Osh that were a real mess so I appreciate the time it takes to make these garbage fiberglass parts fit properly.

Its hard to show how nice and symmetrical everything is because of the camera distortion/parallax and the fact that the Iphone has 3 different lenses that it keeps swapping around after you frame the shot.

I really have no idea why they have you cut this hole out.  The arms do not contact the bottom of the fairing so I have no clue what the purpose for this is.

I purchased these stainless steel tags from Amazon and used a handheld laser etcher to engrave them with my N number.  They are the perfect size to put just above the center of each EFIS screen using some  thin double-sided foam mounting tape.  Will look much better than a Brady label.  I think I found the sweet spot for marking on polished stainless steel and the results are a high contrast dark black etching.

Even more tailcone fairing fitting.....

Made this special nutplate jig so that I could properly locate the mounting holes on the curved surface of the skin.  This let me do it from the outside rather than trying to drill them from the inside out.

From here it was all off and on again iterations to fine tune the fit and the cutout clearances.  Go slow, remove a little at a time and reinstall...rinse and repeat for as many times as it takes.

I also block sanded the mold seam ridges from the parts as well as used a block to straighten all the edges I have cut.  Improved the consistency of the slot width and straightness of the slot sides.  Use a block at all times if possible.  It helps correct and prevent unevenness. 

Tailcone fairing again!

From this point on, everything I did was done while ensuring that the pushrod was centered in the slot by using cardboard to keep everything spaced properly.

I also made sure that the top of the fairing was properly spaced below the rudder.

I then used the extension marks from the tape as called out in the KAI's to mark the location for the mounting screw holes.  Before doing this, I made sure the front edge of the fairing parts were more or less aligned with the edge line that was drawn on the tape.

After that, I pulled everything as tight as I could and taped it with Gorilla tape,  Then I drilled and cleco'ed the fairing parts to the tailcone.

Same same on the bottom one.

Double checking the pushrod clearance and centering.

Then I worked my way around the cutouts marking for clearance to allow the stabilator full travel without hitting the fairing anywhere.  I also attempted even up the left side with the left side to make the cutouts more or less symetrical.

Double checking the rudder to fairing gap.