Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 1.

August 25, 2005:  Wendell received his RV-8 empennage kit from Van's Aircraft yesterday.  I gave him a quick overview of fluting the ribs to straighten them before a simple assembly using clecoes.  I also found out he needed some additional help reading the blue prints after he cut too much off of one of the doublers for the front spar of the horizontal stabilizer.  He ordered a replacement part from Van's today and it is in the US Mail headed this way already.   I made sure he did not drill any holes in the rear spars and doublers until I could work with him today.  He is learning about match-drilling parts and labels to be sure he puts the pieces back together the same way when it is time to rivet them.  I get the feeling that we will be heading over to get wash primer from Sherwin Williams tomorrow.  I will be bringing some of my aviation tool catalogs over to his place tomorrow along with some of my chemicals.  Wendell was very excited today about getting a ride in my airplane after I buzzed the field at 192 MPH!  He insists that it be on a good day with excellent visibility.

August 30, 2005:  I worked with Wendell to get him going on match-drilling the skins of the horizontal stabilizer to the ribs and spars of the HS.  I brought my HS jigs from my RV-9A, but quickly realized that the only place they fit is at the ROOT end of the stabilizers.  The RV-9 has a constant chord stabilizer, unlike the RV-6, -7, and -8 models with tapered horizontal stabs.

Wendell has learned the fine touch to fluting the ribs to align the prepunched holes in the ribs with the skins.  He is working on the tip rib that goes in the skin at the bottom of the photo.  Now that parts are being match-drilled, I have made sure that he labels the various parts to insure they are put in the correct positions during final assembly and riveting.

The end of the day found the HS fully drilled except for a few parts that are not shown in this photo.  Tomorrow will be the start of skin dimpling when I provide instructions in using the C-frame and the dimple dies.

He is getting quick-build wings and fuselage kits along with the finishing kit in October 2005.  He will be using Partain Transport to bring all of them in one shipment to save transportation costs.  Wendell is planning on getting the ECI/Penn Yan O-360 engine, polished and ported to produce 195 HP from the standard 180 HP pistons.

August 31, 2005:  I went over to Wendell's yesterday to learn that he had assembled the vertical stabilizer with clecoes and it was ready to match-drill the skin to the ribs and spars.  We got out my VS drawing and confirmed that they are identical.  Van's uses the same vertical stabilizer on the RV-7, -8, and -9 models.  The weather was so nice, he wanted to go flying in my RV-9A, and that is what we did!

September 1, 2005:  Wendell called to tell me he has finished match-drilling the vertical stabilizer parts and is going to relax for the remainder of today.  He has been bending over the work table and is putting a strain on his back.  I advised him to always sit on an appropriate stool in front of the table to minimize his back pain and strain.  I will not be going to his facility today.

September 2, 2005:   Wendell has his first lesson in dimpling today with the squeezer and the C-frame and rubber mallet.  I also gave him lessons on using my 25-watt soldering iron to remove the plastic strips near the rivet holes in the skins.  His order from Cleaveland arrived with some #30 and #40 drills, and a new Scotchbrite wheel for the bench grinder.  My old wheel was really worn down a long way and pitted badly.  His new one is already mounted on the bench grinder.

Wendell says he has enough family things to do over the holiday weekend, so I won't have to worry that he will do anything costly while I am away.  He is still learning how to read the plans and instructions.  He does best when I give him a head start based on my past experiences.  I seem to remember being at this point in my project back in 2002!  Next week we should get a chance to start him on the elevators and the angle-stiffeners that need to be cut and shaped for the elevators and rudder.