Smitty's RV-9A - Experimental Aircraft from Van's Aircraft The RV-9A from Van's Aircraft Monday, September 06, 2010 -
Howdeeeeee! I'm building an RV-9A from Van's Aircraft. Take your shoes off and sit a spell. Give me a holler if ya' got questions or ya' just wanna chew the fat about RV's.
 
Howdy Ya'll!
Howdy! I building an RV-9A! I'm an aviation nut and am excited about building my RV-9A from Van's Aircraft. Have a look around!
Do what yer' Momma said...
Go Play!
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Construction Log
Preparation
Empennage
- Horizontal Stabilizer (49:40)
- Vertical Stabilizer (21:15)
- Rudder (32:15)
- Right Elevator (35:45)
- Left Elevator (30:50)
Wings
- Inventory & Setup (9:30)
- Left Wing Prep (54:30)
- Left Fuel Tank (45:20)
- Left Wing Skins (46:10)
- Right Wing Prep (34:15)
- Right Fuel Tank (47:50)
- Right Wing Skins (40:15)
- Ailerons (54:30)
- Flaps (40:30)
- Rods and ends (18:45)
Fuselage
- Fuselage Parts List
- Inventory and Setup (7:15)
- FireWall (14:30)
- F-704 Bulkhead (13:25)
- F-705 Bulkhead (14:20)
- Other Bulkheads
   and Longerons
(17:30)

- Tailcone (29:30)
- Center Section (35:15)
- Forward Section (52:40)
- Forward Assembly (24:30)
- Skins/Baggage Area (46:30)
- Seats & Seat Floors (30:15)
- Flaps & Gear Mounts (18:15)
- Fuselage Plumbing (14:0)
- Tail Feathers (16:35)
- Front Deck/Firewall (58:50)
- Electrical
Finish Kit
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Tailcone
 
Getting strung out on stringers 7/13/2008 - Getting strung out on stringers
OK, let me paint you a picture. My wife and kiddo went to a party, leaving me home alone to work for 5 HOURS in the garage! I was really excited about working on the tailcone, seeing something come to ... read more
Ah-ha! I figured out the J-Stringers thing 7/15/2008 - Ah-ha! I figured out the J-Stringers thing
I figured that if I just clecoed things together, the answer to the J-Stringer cuts would become obvious. I found that the forward ends of all 6 J-St ... read more
All clecoed together and ready for final drilling 7/21/2008 - All clecoed together and ready for final drilling
After I figured out the J Stringers, I clecoed everything together.
... read more
Getting ready for the final drilling of the skins 7/25/2008 - Getting ready for the final drilling of the skins
The instructions talked about a plumb-bob for keeping things in line, but I decided to use my digital level to make sure things were sitting level for the final drilling. It seems to me that the most ... read more
Finished final drilling all of the Tailcone holes 8/14/2008 - Finished final drilling all of the Tailcone holes
This took quite a while to giter' done. I used a regular car crawler to drill the bottom of the tailcone. I marked as I drilled to make sure I got all the holes done.
... read more
Started work on the F-779 tail bottom skin 8/17/2008 - Started work on the F-779 tail bottom skin
I deburred the holes and sanded the edges of the F-779. Now it's time for the old C-Frame whackarama. I have plenty of these chunks of 4 inch foam laying around. They're perfect for holding whatever y ... read more
Finished work on the F-773-L side skin 8/21/2008 - Finished work on the F-773-L side skin
I taking my time (as you well noticed) working on this tailcone. I'm doing each individual part one piece at a time, rather than moving the parts around for deburring, sanding, dimpling, priming, etc. ... read more
Finished the F-773-R right side skin 8/28/2008 - Finished the F-773-R right side skin
Here's the F-773-R side skin, ready to go, all deburred, dimpled and primed.
... read more
Started riveting the most aft bulkhead assemblies 8/30/2008 - Started riveting the most aft bulkhead assemblies
Here's where I get a little confused. The instructions say to "Debur the structure and skins, dimple as required, and cleco the rear fuselage back together". Then it says to rivet the F-712 and F-711 ... read more
Ready for riveting! 9/1/2008 - Ready for riveting!
I noticed on a lot of other builders websites that they flipped the tailcone over for riveting. Sounds good to me. I'm glad I bought the Avery pneumatic cleco tool. That's a lot clecos! By the time I ... read more
The "cover your butt" section
This website was built to document my work on my RV-9A in compliance with the FAA requirements needed to certify my aircraft. My experiences and comments are by no means to be considered as instructions on how to build an RV-9A or any other aircraft.
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