Day 23 - February 25, 2012

The team worked hard today and made some substantial progress.  Over the course of the last many weeks, all of us have been working on different sub projects that are now finally coming together in one place.

First, we finished riveting the sideskins onto the fuselage.

Before lunch, we attached the roll-bar assembly and the tailcone connection plates to the back end of the fuselage section.

Here is the team that worked on the fuselage section.

A couple students worked with a mentor to attach the engine cowling attach hinges.

There was also work done on the fuel lines and fuel systems.

The nose ribs and the aft spar were riveted onto the main spar.

Some time after lunch, the highlight of the entire day was the mating of the fuselage pieces.

There was a little bit of tweaking that was done to align the skins of the tailcone and those of the fuselage.

The flaperons that were begun a dozen or so weeks ago were dusted off and worked on for a few hours.

       

Finally, this week, the TeenFlight crew had to say goodbye to one of our fellow team members.  He is relocatting to the east coast with his family.  In honor of his last day, he was allowed to sit in the mated fuselage.  We wish him clear skies and tailwinds wherever his adventures may lead him.

Day 22 - February 18, 2012

Week # 22 was "hump week".  This means that Saturday was half-way from the beginning of our build to Oshkosh.  According to the Van's website, the RV-12 takes the average builder around 700-900 hours to build (unpainted).  This equates to 700-900 man/hours.  Think about this for a moment.  There are 15 students in TeenFlight.  If we say that there will be about 40 work sessions (where all 15 students participate) at 6 hours each worksession, this equals a stunning total of 3600 man/hours (and woman/hours).  Anyway, here's "hump week" in pictures:

One of the students cleaning out the SWARF (Definition : fine chips or filings of stone , metal, or other material produced by machining.  The origin of the word seems to be in Old Norse . Dated : mid 16th century . Possible translation : 'file dust' . Foreign forms : svarf .)

The side skins were clecoed and matched drilled to the longeron but were not quite ready for rivets.

Production was also started on the left wing.

 

The map (or glove) box was clecoed and riveted.

Preliminary work was done on the fuel lines and other items relative to that setup.

Later in the day, Mr. Vangrunsven clecoed on the upper-firewall-fuselage section for correct fitting.

My friends and family encouraged me to post a picture of myself (because since I take all of these pictures, I am never in them).  So this is "yours truly" clecoing on a side skin.



Day 21 - February 11,12

According to the flow chart that we use at TeenFlight to track our progress, it claims that Saturday was actually week # 21.  I apoligize for the mistake and will correct it.  When TeenFlight 2 started we had 44 weeks until EAA Oshkosh 2012 (our goal) which means that next week will be "hump" week.  With that said, our build is not quite half-way done, so we will need to pick up our pace.

Build day # 21 in pictures:

The first thing that we did was rivet the bottom skin to the bottom of the fuselage.  The forward lower firewall section was attached soon after that as well.  We also got the steps attached and torqued into place.

The optional autopilot servo brackets were attached.

Most of the rest of the team worked on the forward upper firewall and the attach points.

Some of the empennage attach plates were worked on some more.

After two weeks of struggling, we finally got to the point of attaching the longerons to the sides of the fuselage. 

It is really starting to look like an airplane.  The pieces are coming together with more tangible evidence of what we can see.  The finising kit is on order and is scheduled to arrive in a few weeks!  We are still setting our sights on Oshkosh 2012. 

Day 19 - February 4, 2012

So it is February already, and spring is just around the corner; which means that Oshkosh 2012 is approaching very rapidly.  Beacause of the inevitable speed at which time and life seem to flash by with, the TeenFlight crew is working on picking up the pace of building to meet our goals.

After a flight lesson, a TeenFlight 1 student and a TeenFlight instructor flew the TeenFlight 1 airplane over for us to sit in and drool over.

One of the TeenFlight 2 mentors (Mr. Jerry VanGrunsven) flew his RV-8A over as well.

Back to TeenFlight 2: The seat backs were worked on some more and are nearing their completion.

The "Armadillo skins" that are placed over the corners of the center fuselage section were deburred, fabricated, and riveted onto the frame.



The control column stick brackets were added to the center fuselage section.

Most of the fuselage center section parts were connected and the bottom skin was clecoed on.

I helped to finish the other longeron and then prime them both.

It was a very good and productive day.  Stay tuned for more next week.