RV-10 Construction Log

Subject: Wing Cradles
Time: 9:13:23 AM EST
Author:  jsmcgrew

I built some very simple wing cradles from the crate plywood my that my QB wings were shipped in. I cut 4 leading edge shaped pieces and connected them with some 2x2s. I lined the inside with pipe insulation. It worked for me and took very little time/thought/effort/materials. (Sorry I didn't have very good pictures of it.)

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Subject: Kit #40134 Takes to the Air
Time: 9:12:00 PM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

One year to the day since my last entry... I spent a lot more time in the hangar than I did posting pictures on the internet. Someday I might get around to putting together a better website. There are a few modifications that I made that I am quite proud of; I might try to point out when I did something above and beyond Van's fine plans. But, first I need to get the wheel pants finished and get it painted

After a marathon summer of 18 hour days, 7 days a week I got 'er in the air on August 13, 2006. Total shop time about 2500 hours. That's a full quick build kit from Van's and an IO-540-D4A5 from Aerosport Power. I did everything else my self including the full IFR instrument panel.

A 40 hour fly off was required because of the experimental engine. Plenty of small issues came up during that time that had to be dealt with. Engine overheating (CHT and oil temp), tunnel heat, nose wheel spacers spinning, a couple oil leaks... each requiring a bit of work, each problem resolved satisfactorily. The solutions for these can be found on my and others posts to the Matronics forum / RV-10 list.

After the flyoff, I packed up my shop into the plane and flew coast to coast. I had 450# of tools and supplies packed in there. I still had room and weight allowance for a front seat passenger and the CG was well inside limits. What an airplane! I averaged 150 KTAS at 10 GPH across the country.

Here are pictures of the final construction, flyoff period, and flight across the US.

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Subject: Quickbuild Rudder Cable routing f@(# up
Time: 6:56:57 PM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

My RV-10 quickbuild fuselage came with these rudder cable brackets riveted on by the fuel selector valve (see holes behind blue fittings). If you look at your plans you will note that this is where the nylon guides are screwed to the tunnel to keep the cables back away from the fuel lines. Why these were put in by Bonanza in the Phillipines, I have no idea. There is no place to route your fuel lines with them in the way.

I had to drill out the rivets, which is a pain with the front seat support in the way. Then I had to undimple the hole, again very difficult. Then redrill the holes #27 for the #6 screws that hold the nylon bracket.

The list of things I've had to do to get the quickbuild fuselage in line with Van's plans just keeps getting longer.

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Subject: Falcon heated pitot and Gretz mounting bracket install
Time: 6:45:29 PM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

I've come to realize that Van's is opposed to heated pitot and anything that might suggest that we are going to do serious IFR flying in one of their airplanes. I can understand their viewpoint... (It's like buying a 4WD truck and getting it stuck in the middle of a swamp... you never would have even tried going there in a 2WD car). I want the capability to fly IFR if required, and even for VFR flying having the added safety of a heated pitot is a benefit. It's up to the individual pilot (me) to make sure that this is done safely and correctly. I have no intention in taking off IFR into forecast or reported icing and think that my heated pitot is going to keep me safe.

Here's my completed install of my heated pitot tube. The Falcon pitot is exactly like the AN standard tube. I bought the "Homebuilders heated pitot" from Aircraft Spruce. It comes from a company in Australia. They say it works with the Gretz mounting bracket, but without doing modifications I didn't see how... so I returned it and bought the Falcon.

I mounted it in the same place that Van's recommends for their bent tube. I used the included Gretz mounting plate and hardware. I put an AN bulkhead fitting on the rib and connected the 1/4" aluminum tubing to that. The big U in the 1/4" tubing allows for me to push the bracket up into the wing and then loosen the connection to the pitot tube. This way I can easily remove and replace the pitot tube from the outside of the wing (there is also an access panel right there if needed)

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Subject: RV-10 Instruction manual falling apart
Time: 6:32:06 PM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

This is sort of dumb, but it's saved me a lot of hassle. The cable binding that Van's provided for the instruction manual started falling apart after I installed the wing sections. Pages kept tearing out and getting out of order. I found that AN3-11 bolts do a great job holding the thing together. Less time arguing with the manual = more time building.

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Subject: Elevator trim tab construction
Time: 11:41:03 PM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

Bending the skin on the elevator trim tabs took a while until we figured out the right way to do it. You can see here that we clamped it to a table with a thin strip of wood and many screws. Then it was simply a matter of bending it up until it formed the proper angle.

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Subject: Rudder and elevator double flush edges
Time: 11:37:54 PM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

This picture shows how I clamped the elevator trailing edges while I was waiting for the pro-seal to dry. None of my work benches were perfectly flat. So in order to have a completely straight edge I screwed a piece of particle board to the side of my work bench. The factory edge sticks up just enough to provide a perfectly flat edge for this job.

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Subject: Fuel selector valve and audio speaker
Time: 7:34:40 PM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

The first picture shows the fuselage. I'm just getting ready to paint the interior. I'm going for a dark gray that matches the SW 988 self etching primer. The paint is also Sherwin-Williams car paint, it is mixed with 50% flattener to keep the shine down. I will paint all surfaces (seats, floors, instrument panel) with this paint. Carpet and other niceties might come later.

The next picture shows the fuel valve installation. I used the stock Van's valve with one improvement. I put K1000-08 nutplates and installed #8 screws with a piece of 1/4 tubing. These are set so in the dark you simply feel for the screw and squeeze the valve over to the correct position. This should minimize any fuel selector valve buffoonery.

Beyond that on the tunnel you can see where I will install the speaker attached to my Garmin 340 audio panel.

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Subject: Electric system
Time: 3:14:16 AM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

I want to keep my plane as simple and stock as possible. I bought the RV-10 wiring kit from Van's. I plan on using their design for the most part. There are some changes I'm going to make to have a more reliable system. I added over-voltage protection as described on the Aeroelectric website. I also added an essential buss that is backed up by a 3.4 AH 12 V battery. The essential buss is separated from the main bus by a diode. There are 3 ways to power the essential buss: Main bus (through the diode), backup battery (automatic if main bus loses power) and main battery (can be switched to main battery if needed for extended flight after power loss). The EFIS Sport, SL-30 Nav/Comm and the panel lighting will be on the essential bus. That will give me attitude, airspeed and altitude information and provide me the ability to talk on the radio and fly an ILS or LOC approach if necessary. The back up battery will last ~90 minutes in a perfect world - I think that I could get on the ground in 30 minutes or less if I lost power at night in the weather.

Here's a table showing my power budget. If I turn the the pitot heat on, engage the autopilot, move the flaps, trim in both axi, have all the lights on and transmit on both radios at the same time it shows 70.9 amps. I don't see this happening. Just in case, I've got an 80 amp alternator installed on my IO-540

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Subject: Panel design
Time: 1:40:54 AM EDT
Author:  jsmcgrew

I'm just starting to cut the panel and mount all of my avionics. Here's the almost-final version from www.epanelbuilder.com  I used AutoCAD to draw it out more exactly for the acutal cuts. The design has taken a while to finalize due the conflict between human factors and the structure behind the panel. Van's says to not cut any of the support ribs, and I don't plan to - simply for the sake of not getting bogged down redesigning the structure.

I initially tried to set up the ADI, HSI, airspeed and altimeters to be in their familiar spots on the panel. The structure just would not allow the same configuration as the F-15. I think I have come up with a good layout that, most importantly, allows for an easy instrument cross check.

I want to have the option to fly IFR when necessary, however, I do not plan on making a habit of it. The Blue Mountain EFIS Sport will be the primary ADI, with terrain data. I had a close friend who died from CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) when he was vectored into a mountain while IFR. The F-15 doesn't have terrain, but my RV-10 certainly will. The EFIS LITE will operate primarily in the HSI mode, I will use it as the indicator for the Garmin GNS-430 and to drive the Blue Mountain autopilot. I placed the round dials in there because you just can't have an airplane without plain old airspeed and altimeter. They will (almost) always work and they don't require electricity. I decided to place the AOA Sport indicator on top of the glareshield, just like the T-38 has. In both the T-38 and F-15 final approach is flown using AOA, airspeed is just a backup. AOA will put you at the right speed, regardless of your fuel state...

That's the basic philosophy behind my instrument layout. Hope it all works out.

I'd like to put a plug in for Eastern Avionics (www.easternavionics.com). I talked to Ron Sormrude there and he sold me my avionics at a very competitive price. The harness they wired up was first class. I could not have expected any better service.

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