RivetBangers.com

I noticed that this place has been kind of dead in the past week so I thought I would stir something up.

PIX PLEASE! I will post some up later.

I have been doing cowling and baffle stuff lately. What are you up to???

CJ

I went flying in the C-180 today, after my wife volunteered me to take a co-workers son and girlfriend flying.

All four of us were up sightseeing(her first time in a small plane), and he and my wife had set it up so he could propose to her. She was very excited, and said yes!

We landed at a grass strip near his parents house, and both his and her parents met us there.

Turned out to be a neat day!!

It has been really really quiet lately. I know I have been taken over by the daughter and work. Not many flying stories to tell as of late. Im with CJ, what are we all doing?

John

I've been busily building a Zenith 750!

At home, no airplane building happening right now. I have the new tables built in the shop (in the house) for the Cuby and plans laid out for wing ribs, but no time to work on rib building at the moment.

I also decided to overhaul the boat interior this winter, so I have seats, wood, foam, vinyl, etc. laying everywhere in the shop right now. Too many projects...

I decided it was about time for some paint.

Dropped off the fuselage at the paint shop




and picked up a few finished parts







Shooting for a pink slip by the end of Novemeber.

bob

Not much flying lately.

Been busy recovering from a Dam failure. One of our Rubber spillways ruptured and drained the lake.


but the Overtime will more than pay for an autopilot.

I bonded the canopy bubble on the frame last month and last night finished up installing the rear window.

My momentum on the project is back at full pace after a summer filled with travel (business and pleasure). From here on out it is firewall forward, finish up the panel and buy some seats. The engine build starts soon, cowling, baffles, prop and fairings are all left to do before I move this to the airport and do final assembly.

'Tis the season to be a band groupie



I DID fly down to MSN for a game, so that makes it RV related. Oh wait....not a problem here!

I recently finished installing the servos for the autopilot. Learning a new skill now... safety wiring!



And here's the roll servo in the right wing. Still have the safetying to do on this one:



I'm also putting items on the firewall, working to a big day coming soon when I'll put her on her gear and hang the engine!

Finished off my 40 hours yesterday afternoon after the clouds broke. Hazy, but not bad. My patient wife came by the airport after work for her first flight in the new plane, her first GA flight in almost a year.




Then, back to the hangar to do the 30-hour oil change, and left the cowl off to finish another thorough FWF inspection later this week.

I'm 3/4 done on my 2nd condition inspection. The only squawks were a burnt out landing light, and the aileron trim indication on the EFIS would bounce around intermittently from side to side. (changed the bulb, and found one of the trim relay wires that sends the position to the EFIS was only attached by a couple of strands of wire... I must have damaged the wire strands when I stripped off the wire coating or over crimped it. All fixed now.

Been Flying!!!

I went to a house warming





Logged some dual in hot air balloon











Stopped in Sin City overnight







Tried hard three times to deliver a sack of cash (200K) to Richard Branson no joy







Helped CBP to check for coyotes

WOW! Everyone has been busy!!!

Josh, Congrats on the A/W Cert! You guys look THRILLED! You are married!?! You guys don't look old enough to drive a car!!! hahaha

Seriously, it's awesome that you have this plane at a young enough age so that you will enjoy it for many years to come!

Vlad, what is that "house" picture all about?

Here is my shop pic:



As you can see, my cowl is fitted and my spinner lines up pretty well!



Today I spent most of the day tinkering with baffling while Michele and the dogs kept me company. Perfect weather for working in the shop today. No wind and mild temps with the radio on... not bad!



The oil cooler is a SW 8046 J model I got from Pacific Coolers for $300. It is yellow tagged and should work well! I doubled up the baffle with a sheet of 0.063" stock on the forward side and another that I bent into a 90 on the outside.



I tied the home made angle into the mix pretty securely, I think.



I am still going to stiffen the inboard side of the cooler with an aluminum tubing arm secured to the engine somehow. Not certain on that part yet.

This is really getting to be fun now!!!

CJ

Looking really good John!

Keep your fingers crossed for me. Aiming to be back "home" soon.

Got the struts fit on my canopy today. I shouldn't have done it, but I couldn't resist pushing the canopy up and having the struts hold it in place. No pics, but was a pretty cool thing to see.

I hate to say it, but I am really dreading wiring and FWF. The airframe stuff has been really cool. I know NOTHING about these last two subjects. I guess that's about to change.

Antony

Antony, It will be nice to have you back!

You know, if you stopped all your moving around you could have been done with your project and flying now!

Hahaha

Hope to see you soon!

CJ

Brantel wrote:

Wow this shot is beautiful. Almost depressingly so.

Spike

Spike wrote:

Brantel wrote:

Wow this shot is beautiful. Almost depressingly so.

Spike

OK, I will bite.

That is a perfect turn to final. What is so depressing about it?

I got nuttin'!

CJ

captain_john wrote:OK, I will bite.

That is a perfect turn to final. What is so depressing about it?

I got nuttin'!

CJ

'Ol Spike ain't got no RV to fly and turn final on a beautiful day like that!

Brian, your photos of your recent flying experiences are AWESOME! It really gets my juices going to get this one finished! Thanks for posting them.