Status Brantel #72823

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:10 pm

Way to go Brian

Post by **Spike** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:51 pm

That is soooo cool!

Spike

Mike Balzer · Post by **Mike Balzer** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:28 pm

Congrats Brian, Your engine looks like it runs smooth.

Mike Balzer

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:37 pm

Brantel, Way to go, brutha!

You are doing great!

Keep it up!

CJ

Bob Barrett · Post by **Bob Barrett** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:32 pm

Congratulations!!!!!!! Soon you should be ready for the DAR inspection and the first flight! This is a big step in that direction!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:50 am

The build has taken on a whole new life since moving to the airport....

Extreme cold, Holidays, family, travel time back and forth (30 min each way), hardware failures on panel components, etc. have all really slowed this process down!!!!

I always forget to take the camera so the pics are few and far between these days. It is all just nit picky details that nobody cares about.

Here is my plan....I have the plane registered now and will be taking a week off from work the third week of Feb. to make a push for getting ready for inspection early March.

I want to start flying this thing sometime in March. I will start flying without pants and fairings and work on those throughout Phase I. A friend of mine did this on his 6A and it worked out well. I have already done a bunch of that work so it won't be that hard.

Here is the short list of what is left to do before inspection:

- Rivet on the aft top skin right behind the bag area. I finished the last thing I wanted to do in there last night and that was to install the pitch servo mount bracket for later.

- Confirm control rigging and tighten all the locknuts for good.

- Install flap position sensor

- Install rear window for good. I plan to pro-seal the joint between it and the aft top skin

- Finish snaking the pitot and AOA lines from under the seats to the panel

- Connect the trim wires to the Dynon and Switch

- Put the calipers on and bleed the brakes

- Drill the axle nuts and install cotters

- Install Pitot Mount and Pitot

- Loom up all the wires behind panel and under cowl

- Rivet on front top skin for good once all other work is done

- Install baffle seals on top of baffles

- Glass up the area in front of the air scoops created by the front canopy skin at the 10 and 2 position.

Whew, maybe I need to take off two weeks???? Naaa, it is doable as long as I can get a few hours in 3 days a week between then and now like I am trying to do currently.

Anyway I am also fighting for my medical with the FAA. Looks like I am doomed to deal with the special issuance methods for the rest of my flying days!!!!! Dealing with the FAA is better than being dead though so you guys make sure you are getting annual checkups, physicals and blood work done!!!! If you even suspect that you have any risk factors for CAD, go see a Cardiologist soon!!!! http://www.americanheart.org/presenter. ... ifier=4726 Age does not matter!!!!

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:58 am

That looks doable in 1 week. You won't be waiting for parts, so it's just work. Having a list really seems to help stay focused.

Good job and good luck

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:01 am

Yep, feels strange not ordering parts everyday!!!

The only thing I order these days is hardware from ACS. You can never have enough nuts and bolts!!!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:20 am

Oddly enough...your list looks very similar to mine! I have a few more items on my list, but we are close!

Bob Barrett · Post by **Bob Barrett** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:31 am

Good luck on the work list! You may well need more than one week to get ready for the inspection. I had the brakes bled, wheel nuts etc. done, before I took my airplane to the airport and it still took me 6 months to get the inspection completed.

Good luck on your special issuance medical! I have been dealing with that for six years and hope you have an easier tiem than I have had. I strongly encourage every one to get annual physicals and keep exercising to avoid needing a special issuance medical if at all possible.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:53 am

A week of uninterupted, full time work on the airplane will go a long way but that is not intended as the only time I will be working on it between now and then. I can usually get 3 hours a day in two to three days a week and most Saturdays to work on it as well. Planning on Early to mid March as a target for inspection.

I can do it, I can do it, I can do it....I know I can, it is just a matter of doing it. Most of the things on my list are not that hard or time consuming. That work is done and has been done for some time..

The FAA battle is another thing all together. They tell me the key here is to get all they want correct the first time and that makes it easier. Leave one thing out or forget to cross a T and you can cause yourself much pain and delays.

The hard part is not the FAA, it is getting the doctors to do what you need and then get the results back (formated exactly like the FAA wants them) in time.

Lucky for me that my situation is pretty standard these days and the requirements are not that hard to comply with. Some conditions make it almost not worth the effort.

Bob Barrett wrote:Good luck on the work list! You may well need more than one week to get ready for the inspection. I had the brakes bled, wheel nuts etc. done, before I took my airplane to the airport and it still took me 6 months to get the inspection completed.

Good luck on your special issuance medical! I have been dealing with that for six years and hope you have an easier tiem than I have had. I strongly encourage every one to get annual physicals and keep exercising to avoid needing a special issuance medical if at all possible.

TomNativeNewYorker · Post by **TomNativeNewYorker** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:37 pm

Brantel wrote:

The only thing I order these days is hardware from ACS. You can never have enough nuts and bolts!!!

Dont you wish you still had access to free mil-spec nuts and bolts? Haha

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:53 pm

You know I thought about that the other day. When I was in the Army, I was a UH60 crewchief and had access to all the Mil-spec hardware I could carry for free.

That was nice. If I had known that 20 years later I would be doing this, I would have been tempted to fill my dufflebags with that stuff!!!!

TomNativeNewYorker wrote:
Brantel wrote:

The only thing I order these days is hardware from ACS. You can never have enough nuts and bolts!!!
Dont you wish you still had access to free mil-spec nuts and bolts? Haha

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 7:15 am

Riveted my aft top skin on last night....

Do you know how hard it is for a fat man to get down with his knees on the spar, tuck his head under the seat back brace, put his arms and head thru the small space under that brace, the side of the plane, the flap motor box and the flap actuator bar and then rotate sideways to pull himself back across the bag compartment, between the aft bag bulkhead and the vertical brace at the elevator bellcrank and then twist and turn to reach all of the weird positions required to rivet that skin on?

Pain! Lots of Pain!

Then the amazing act of getting out of there is takes on a whole new life to create one of the most amazing Circus Acts there is. Sure glad there were no cameras around!

Thank goodness I jacked up the tail of the plane or I would have never got out of there!!!! I went in there a few weeks ago to string the rudder cables and connect the seatbelt cables without jacking it up. That was a bad mistake. I thought I was going to have to yell for help as the more I squirmed, the further down and aft I went! I is a challenge to get back in there and not bend a bulkhead! I take large chunks of mattress foam and lay it on the bottom and then lay a 2x6 on top of that. There is so much surface area, it holds the board up above the bulkheads.

Anyway, it is on and I am sore! I do not think I bent any metal during these articulations... That bag floor would be easy to bend! I should have made me a plywood piece to go in there a long time ago to spread out the load.

hydroguy2 · Post by **hydroguy2** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:12 am

Brantel wrote:....Do you know how hard it is for a fat man to get down with his knees on the spar, tuck his head under the seat back brace, put his arms and head thru the small space under that brace, the side of the plane, the flap motor box and the flap actuator bar and then rotate sideways to pull himself back across the bag compartment, between the aft bag bulkhead and the vertical brace at the elevator bellcrank and then twist and turn to reach all of the weird positions ..........

now add, OLD, to that statement.

and you have me.

dons · Post by **dons** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:19 pm

Glad you made it out in one piece Brian! Sounds like it was quite the adventure, now I know what to look forward to in about 6 or 7 years. Thanks for the smile

Bob Barrett · Post by **Bob Barrett** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:54 pm

I have three shections of plywood cut to fit the back sections of my RV-6A. They have 2"X4" braces screwed to the bottom so you clear the bulkheads without damaging them. I had three stents put in my heart about the time I started having to work in tail. I made it a point to have another adult mail capable of pulling me out in case of any problems. I didn't want someone dialing 911 and have the local fire department cutting me out of the tail of the 6A

Fortunately that never happened but I still won't crawl back there without another person present.

Bob Barrett · Post by **Bob Barrett** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 4:56 pm

I am old and fat I will be 74 in June! I meant that to be in the previous comment.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:22 am

Installed the rear window for good yesterday.

I pro-sealed the joint between the glass and the aft top skin.

Used Vibra-tite on the roll bar screws.

Looks great!!!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:24 am

Awesome! I'll be throwing mine in very soon as well!

RivetBangers.com

Status Brantel #72823

Update

Aft top skin, installed!

Re: Aft top skin, installed!

No Place to Have a Heart Attack!!!!!!!!!!!

Old and Fat

Rear window in for good!