Monthly Archives: November 2020

Hand squeezing at home

We brought home all the pieces of the horizontal stabilizer that needed to be dimpled so that we could do it from the comfort of the couch! Dimpling is the process of forming dimples in the metal so that they … Continue reading

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Prime Time

It’s getting close to priming! We’re about done with the first part of the horizontal stabilizer, and the instructions are calling for priming. Exciting! Well, in a gut-wrenching, nervous kinda way. So, I’ve never spray painted anything before, unless you … Continue reading

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It’s getting nippy!

It’s a chilly Thanksgiving eve, at least by California standards. Our hangar is constructed of single-wall metal panels, with lots of seams, gaps and holes. It’s basically a sieve. Since we plan on working through winter, in order to keep … Continue reading

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Let the deburring begin!

Now that we’ve disassembled the horizontal stab parts, it’s time to prep them for riveting! WOOHOO! Unfortunately, this is one of the most tedious and time consuming parts of the project…and one that will be repeated a LOT… 1) deburr, … Continue reading

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Hstab left+right skins poked!

This weekend was a couple great sessions down at the hangar. We spent 8 hours working on the horizontal stabilizer, culminating in attaching and match-drilling both the skins. While the initial work was a bit intimidating, this weekend was mostly … Continue reading

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And now, time for a little carpentry

Up to now, we’ve been using an old 6-foot fold-up table we’ve had lying around for a long while. It’s been okay, and got us going through initially when we moved from the garage to the hangar, but it’s ever … Continue reading

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Rear stab front spar issue

I think this is our first real issue with the build. During the preparation of parts HS-702 (front spar), there was quite a bit of modification required. I had to cut off part of the flanges and hammer the scar … Continue reading

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Hangar is official!

I got the lease agreement back from the city today. The hangar is officially leased to us! Shhh… don’t tell anyone we’ve already moved everything in. 🙂

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Moving on to the hstab front spar

This work was a bit challenging. We started with 2 front spars (HS-702s), and had to make a number of modifications to them in order to build the assembly. The spars are basically aluminum channels. The raised sides are called … Continue reading

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