Finally, all the practice kits and training classes have been completed! Now the REAL work on the airplane can begin. Van's Aircraft divides the construction manual into sections encompassing the entire build of the airplane. The Empennage Kit is divided into Section #1 through Section #12. The first five sections of the manual are:
Section #1: Introduction
Section #2: Design Philosophy
Section #3: Tools and Workspace
Section #4: RV-14 Parts Index
Section #5: General Information
Section #6, Vertical Stabilizer, is the first actual construction section of the build manual. Because the build manual is divided into these sections, I will organize my build based on the section assigned in the build manual. You will see these sections listed at the right under the corresponding portion of the kit being built.
Today, I started on Section #6. I only had about an hour to work on the plane today, so I didn't get very far. Initially, I collected all the associated parts for this Section.
My first ACTUAL step of building the airplane was to match drill the Front Spar Doubler to the Front Spar. Secondly, I used the cut-off wheel on my dremel tool to remove the excess aluminum from the Front Spar Doubler as described in the plans. Finally, I used a scotch brite wheel on a bench grinder to debur the Doubler. The picture below shows the Doubler clecoed to Front Spar.
