Weighing in the ol Boomer

Yep, weight and balance. Such a small task yet vital.

The weight and balance was done in a very controlled atmosphere. I had, again , another different builder help me for this skirmish. Someone seasoned in the weighing process. It was just the two of us with an empty hangar.We took our time and documented all the different configurations.  

All scenarios came out within tolerance and now I just need to do up an official document and fill in the Flight manual as required and all will be good.

SO I have two planes now,,,,,,Really need just one :) 

I have to question that though. The other plane flies so well now I almost can't bare to part with it. Still, if I got a hangar bill for two aircraft, I soon could make the decision. 

A New Home

On the 12th Dec the plane went to the airfield.

 Our trusty Transport tech

 The centre figurehead and finance officer

Don't panic, there is a mattress under the wing :)

BTW wings laid out on the wrong sides,,,ooops

It was one of the most nerve wracking things I have done in the last year or so. It all worked out really well. My mate was a bloody legend in helping with the transfer and it went smoothly. 

By the end of the arvo there were people EVERYWHERE, coming and having a look at the new plane. It was a bit of a stress here and there. I was trying to get the wings mounted and so on as I had planned on the weight and balance for the next day. A good friend had driven a 1000km round trip and picked the scales up for me and they needed to be back for the following weekend for someone else so the job was certainly 'on' as one would say. 

We eventually got the wings on toward the end of the day. It was good that I had other builders to help me as it made all the difference. You can always count on another builder to have those bits and bobs in the hangar like the extra split pins and bolts and nuts that weren't quite right. Someone drops a hardware assortment kit in front of you and suddenly your world is all happy again. Another builder came out especially half way through the day at the drop of a hat to help me install the three Solid rivets that the plans call for in the spar tunnel. That was one of those jobs again I thought I would just get around to and then when putting the wings on thought aaarrrrrggghhhhhhhh. 

All in all I rate the 12th of Dec as a 9 out of 10 :)

End result...what's this then?????

A change of scenery

So I have started to make some plans about relocating the plane now to the local airport. I need to sort out the weight and balance and carry out all the final rigging so I can go about obtaining a Certificate of Airworthiness. The best place to do this is at the field so I can have the wings on permanently and do all the fuel calibrations as well with avgas.

Some small tasks I have had to do before this occurred was re glueing the dash matt down, changing the turbo boost line as requested by my TC to a braided Teflon hose and sorting out a multitude of bits and bobs that come into play when doing finalisation work. All in all I am travelling well on the "to do" list. 

It seems my other plane has been a little harder to sell than first anticipated. I was banking on the folding wings to be a real drawcard in this day and age of ridiculous hangarage prices but I guess not. I still have some interest in it so I will give it a few more weeks and if it's a no go I will bring it home and wait until the market improves while I carry out the list of things I would like to optimise. 

I am not sure why, but my Tacho has been a real issue to sort. I at first had a real variable reading and thought I would sort it out sometime later. Well that later soon came and I had a good time trying to fix it. I changed wiring routes, changed wire types and many things in the settings on the RPM 1 and 2 lanes. Eventually I wiped all of my settings and inputted them again. This gave me a reading, finally, and you wouldn't believe how happy I was to see it reading correctly as I was at the stage where I was almost certain it would have to go back to the factory for some fix or another. Still it worked well so all in all a good outcome.  

Registration

Finally have my rego sorted

Remembering where the shed is

So, I have, in what I think, found my spine again, and am going to get my act together. Since starting a new job and a few other cards being thrown out on the table, the poor ol Sonex has taken a place on the priorities list somewhere near house cleaning.  I have ordered a few things from the outcome of the TC inspection and they basically arrived today. This mostly was bolts and fuel fittings, but all jobs to be done none the less. One of the big players to arrive in the bolt order however were the prop bolts. SO......... basically one could not resist in fitting that fine specimen that I received in the mail some time ago.

Photos, I hope got it from every angle.........just in case you missed it....  it does look pretty. 

I did do a little work on the fuel lines too tonight. I was never happy with the routing of the lines and after the inspector mentioned it, I sat down and had a good look on how I could improve it, in accordance with the Aerocarb manual. I hope that I have interpreted it right. Uphill from the gascolator, No big curve backs, shortest path possible. I have flown with this exact carb with some serious burps before on the other plane so if I do encounter some on my first flight at least I will know what they are and not freak out.  I also still need to insulate the Gascolator but will do that later.

So anyway, hopefully I can start to get some momentum happening again and get the project back on track. 

Here is a parting shameless selfie from my last flight in the old plane. Was a good local flight over my house.  

Cob webs, Cob webs everywhere !!!

So it has certainly been quite some time since my last post. Needless to say, not much has happened in the way of work or finalization. I have however had my plane inspected for the second time during the build and this time I had both the A+P and the TC present. They were both very happy with the work to date and had a few minor ideas to help me along and some tips and advice that was greatly appreciated. Since the inspection however I still have not done one thing on the Sonex unfortunately.

I have a few items I need to sort out before I take it out to the Airfield like painting that lower floor and attaching the wing tips and so on. All small details but mostly I have been holding off as I still need to sell my other plane to make hangar space.

I have been doing an Aerobatics endorsement lately too and that has been taking up some time.

Flying the Super Decathlon has been quite a good learning experience. It has such a docile landing compared to my Aeropup, which makes it a real pleasure to fly and land. It's not that my Aeropup is a nasty plane to handle but I know that it would be much less forgiving for a late rudder input or something like that. I really need to dance on the pedals when doing wheeler landings to make it track nice and pretty. The Decathlon seems to hold its direction with a lot less control inputs... perhaps that would be a better way to explain it. Anyway moving on,,it's been good. Aero's have been progressing well and it sometimes almost looks like I have half an idea :)

So signing off now, I shall hope my other plane moves on soon so I can get cracking on the Sonex. It will be a shame to see it go but that's life!

Thinking seriously about adding a smoke kit now to the Sonex. I think I will enquire with the guys in Oshkosh. 

Stalled just a little turning onto Final

Well it's been quite some time since any significant work has been carried out. My new job seems to be impeding my progress significantly.  But really, without a much needed final TC visit, I couldn't have done that much more in realistic terms anyway.  This weekend I am scheduled for a visit from the SAAA guys so I am looking forward to seeing what they think.

I have been busy again with maintenance on the Aeropup. This continuous oil leak has been driving me up the wall. The engine runs so well now but the leak has just been driving me nuts. I hope it is fixed this time.

I have also been doing some final work on the cowlings and been trying to tidy up those small bits and bobs. I am sure once the cowls are done and repainted it will look great. 

The Sensenich Cruise prop has also arrived in the mail. Oh what a sweet piece of work this prop is. I am really keen to bolt it on but I will hang off until the aircraft is at the airfield. I would hate to damage it or compromise it in any way just for the benefit of seeing it on the nose. I am getting really excited about how it's all turning out. I feel it will be such a great aircraft with the turbo'd engine. 

So with essentially nothing else to report, I guess that is it. 

Stay tuned :) 

Turning Base

So I feel this build is drawing to a close. I'm not ready to say turning final yet, but certainly further down the track than downwind. There is really not that much left to do. Painting is all but complete apart from the front section as mentioned before on the fuselage, but that will happen this week. I have run out of paint again and need to buy my last 500 ml, I hope. I don't need that much for the floor but I need also to paint my old plane's cowling and wheel spats so the extra will be required there.
I have painted the red wing tips this week and the Ailerons.

The red paint really sprays on so well. It seems to cover so much better than the white that I am sure if I painted the whole plane red, it would weigh a heck of a lot less compared to white. To cover all the primer with white, seemed to require around 1/4 more paint, I think, as an estimate.  If I was to paint again, I would research the paints in more depth,rather than relying on the local paint shop guy for advice, who, I think, doesn't give two hoots. Maybe the paint I used was the best who knows. Either way, it's done now. It looks ok so lets see what the scales say when I weigh it in.

I balanced the Ailerons tonight as a last, end of light job, before the sun went down. The stand they were sitting on looks, and was, crude I guess.  But it was perfectly adjusted by height and at the end measured up the same. I temporarily fitted the control surfaces to see if I 'measured twice' and painted once I worked it out in regard to mating up the red stripes. They came out well, so I was stoked. I will leave the wing tips off now for my next, and hopefully last, pre finalization inspection. I will see what the inspector says I guess then go from there.

I have lost quite a few days building lately as I needed to go to Perth to carry out my MPC for the ongoing maintenance, once completed. The course was good and opened my eyes to the administration side of maintaining through the SAAA. I just need to sit the exam now so will do that in the next few days. I am very quickly running out of time before I have to go back to work.  I lost a day today, and probably the next 3 to come as well doing maintenance on my old plane. I have been fixing a niggling oil leak today and replacing some fuel level indicator fuel lines. I need to do some cowling fibreglass work tomorrow and paint the spats then I really must put it up for sale. The plane flew again so well on Sunday it really breaks my heart to sell it. I had a quick flight around the block doing 5 circuits and a trip over my house and the river.Landings included 3 x wheelers and 2 x three pointers. There was a nice 10 knot crosswind to make life interesting. A low level circuit and a PFL for the last landing. All in all close to 1 hour in the air. The Aerovee seems to just run nicely now it has run in. Around 50 hours on the rebuilt engine. I have heard people mention it before, but I am experiencing it for myself now.  I think the new engine in the Sonex will be just as nice, and if not nicer, due to the turbo, and the cooling should be ok from the first flight.

I guess the next move for the Sonex will be to take it out to the airport for the final wing install and the weighing and final adjustments. I am very confident that it will be a straightforward affair.

BTW...I have a UPS shipping notice about a Sensenich Prop in the mail. Due to arrive in the next day or so...excited ? ...Oh yes.