| __Date___ | Hrs | |
| 04-Aug-97 | Ordered RV-6A kits at Oshkosh. Tom Green persuaded us to buy the standard empennage kit with immediate delivery, followed in ~3 months by QuickBuild kit. Purchased basic RV tool kit from US Tools &. compressor from Menard's | |
| 09-Aug-97 | Cleared out garage & installed fluorescent lights. | |
| 10-Aug-97 | Set up workbench area & sealed garage floor. | |
| 20-Aug-97 | Met EAA tech counselor, Bill Groeneveld, at West Bend EAA Chapter meeting. He suggested that I get in touch with Milwaukee FSDO right away. | |
| 26-Aug-97 | Ordered additional tools from Avery. Should be delivered before Labor Day weekend. | |
| 28-Aug-97 | Avery tools & empennage kit arrived on the same UPS shipment! Took inventory. | 2 |
| 28-Aug-97 | Cleko’d rear spars to each HS. | 1 |
| 29-Aug-97 | Drilled one of the HS rear spars. | 1 |
| 30-Aug-97 | Started making jig. Practiced dimpling & riveting using the Avery tool, a hand squeezer, & the pneumatic rivet gun. Added another shop light & shelving for parts storage. Bought a bench grinder. | 8 |
| 30-Aug-97 | Drilled second HS rear spar. Deburred both spars & started dimpling. | 2 |
| 31-Aug-97 | Jig building & rivet practice. Dimpled HS rear spar flanges & polished rear spar inserts. | 8 |
| 01-Sep-97 | Finished building jig. Cleko’d & drilled HS rear spar & brackets. Started on HS front spar. | 10 |
| 02-Sep-97 | Fabrication of HS front spar components. | 7 |
| 03-Sep-97 | Complete HS front spar components including 6 deg bends. | 7.5 |
| 04-Sep-97 | Finish up HS spars, ready for priming. | 2.5 |
| 06-Sep-97 | Prime spars using Sherwin-Williams P60G2/R7K44 primer, using two parts of reducer to one of paint. Begin riveting spars. | 8 |
| 07-Sep-97 | Finished riveting HS spars. Started adding HS ribs. Squeezing spar rivets resulted in a few that bent over & had to be drilled out. Rivet gun was easier than we expected. | 10 |
| 08-Sep-97 | Drilled out another couple of HS spar rivets. Set up brackets on jig. | 2.5 |
| 13-Sep-97 | Assembled HS spars on jig. Added skins to check rib alignment. | 4 |
| 14-Sep-97 | Riveted ribs to HS spars. Added one skin, drilled & cleko’d. | 6.5 |
| 15-Sep-97 | Added second skin, drilled & cleko’d. | 2 |
| 18-Sep-97 | Removed HS skins. Deburred & dimpled HS skeleton. | 3.5 |
| 19-Sep-97 | Deburred HS skins & started dimpling. | 2 |
| 20-Sep-97 | Finished dimpling HS skins. Primed skin interiors & stripped plastic from rivet areas. | 4 |
| 20-Sep-97 | Drilled, deburred, dimpled, primed & riveted VS rear spar. | 5 |
| 21-Sep-97 | Started riveting HS skins. Tom’s doing a good job bucking! | 5 |
| 22-Sep-97 | Riveted underside of one HS skin. | 2 |
| 24-Sep-97 | More HS skin riveting with Tom. Had to drill three out & redo. | 5 |
| 26-Sep-97 | More HS skin riveting with Tom. | 3 |
| 27-Sep-97 | Finished bucking HS skin rivets. HS removed from jig & started squeezing edge rivets. | 5 |
| 27-Sep-97 | Started work on rudder & found incorrect hole in pre-punched spar – emailed Van’s. | 1 |
| 28-Sep-97 | Built VS skeleton on jig. Drilled the skin to it. Dissembled & deburred holes & edges. | 7 |
| 30-Sep-97 | Squeezed some edge rivets on the HS. | 1 |
| 01-Oct-97 | Squeezed the rest of the HS rivets. HS finished now except for tip rivets. | 1 |
| 02-Oct-97 | Dimpled the rest of the VS skin with Sue. | 1 |
| 03-Oct-97 | Primed VS skeleton & skin. | 0.5 |
| 04-Oct-97 | Riveted VS skeleton & added wiring conduit. | 2 |
| 05-Oct-97 | Drilled rudder skin to spar. Riveted VS skin with Tom bucking. | 6 |
| 10-Oct-97 | Squeezed the edge rivets for the VS. VS finished except for tip rivets. | 2 |
| 13-Oct-97 | Fabricated the 14 rudder stiffeners from angle stock. | 1.5 |
| 18-Oct-97 | Drilled & deburred rudder stiffeners. Drilled stiffeners to skin & dimpled both. | 10.5 |
| 19-Oct-97 | Primed stiffeners & interior of rudder skin. Started assembling rudder spar. | 4 |
| 25-Oct-97 | Riveted stiffeners to rudder skin. Prepared & primed rudder skeleton. | 5 |
| 26-Oct-97 | Built rudder jig & bending brake. Assembled rudder on jig. Drilled ribs. | 7.5 |
| 28-Oct-97 | EAA Technical Counselor, Bill Groeneveld, & EAA 1158 president, Howard Kaney, visited to inspect the project. Discussed different aspects of construction & examined the completed pieces. | 1 |
| 30-Oct-97 | Further work on the rudder. | 2.5 |
| 01-Nov-97 | Began right elevator. Fabricated, drilled & deburred stiffeners. Began assembling spar. | 7 |
| 02-Nov-97 | Drilled stiffeners to elevator skin. Deburred & dimpled skin & stiffeners. Further elevator spar assembly. | 8.5 |
| 03-Nov-97 | Built elevator counterweight assembly. Prepared & primed all elevator parts. | 3.5 |
| 04-Nov-97 | Bucked some rivets on the rudder spar assembly. | 1 |
| 05-Nov-97 | Added RTV to the rudder stiffeners at trailing edge. Hand squeezed rudder skin rivets. | 1 |
| 06-Nov-97 | Bucked rudder skin rivets. | 4 |
| 06-Nov-97 | Started riveting right elevator spar assembly. | 1 |
| 08-Nov-97 | Riveted stiffeners to right elevator skin. Assembled in jig. Drilled skin to end ribs. | 3 |
| 14-Nov-97 | Visited Van’s Aircraft. Sue had demo RV-8 flight. I took 1.3 hrs RV-6A instruction from Mike Seager. | |
| 22-Nov-97 | Final assembly of right elevator. Put RTV at stiffener trailing edge & squeezed as many rivets as possible. | 3 |
| 22-Nov-97 | Rolled & cleko’d rudder leading edge. | 2 |
| 23-Nov-97 | Drilled & riveted rudder leading edge. | 1.5 |
| 23-Nov-97 | Started bucking rivets on the right elevator. | 2 |
| 28-Nov-97 | Prepared left elevator skeleton. Drilled skin in jig. | 8 |
| 29-Nov-97 | Fabricated left elevator stiffeners. Drilled to skin, deburred & dimpled. | 8 |
| 29-Nov-97 | Bucked final rivets on right elevator. | 1 |
| 30-Nov-97 | Prepared & primed left elevator parts. Back riveted stiffeners & began final assembly. Added RTV at trailing edge. Bucked all the main spar rivets. | 11 |
| 01-Dec-97 | Squeezed all the left elevator edge rivets, except where the trim tab hinge attach. | 1 |
| 03-Dec-97 | QB kit arriving tomorrow! Built two large dollies & cleared the garage. | 2 |
| 04-Dec-97 | QB kit arrived. Thanks to Joe, Dave, Matt, Larry & Brian for helping to get the three huge boxes off the truck. Tom & I opened the crates, but inventory will have to wait till I get back from Florida. QB instruction video was back ordered :-( | 3 |
| 12-Dec-97 | Built a shelf to hold the various sheets of aluminum. | 1 |
| 13-Dec-97 | Spent the day reorganizing the garage. Dismantled the empennage jig. Moved the wing crate to the jig corner. Constructed more shelves & a plans desk. | 6 |
| 14-Dec-97 | Inventoried the entire kit – no problems. Emailed RV-list & Van’s about fuselage twist. | 4 |
| 15-Dec-97 | Visited Gerry Thorpe’s RV-6AQ project with Tom. Gerry has had his kit for more than a year & had several good tips for us. | |
| 16-Dec-97 | Decided to follow Tom Green’s suggestion to remove the aft deck to correct the fuselage twist. Emailed Tom requesting the new part & rivets. Not looking forward to drilling out 40 rivets, but I think it’s a better plan than just shimming the HS & VS. | |
| 19-Dec-97 | Started installing the nutplates for the baggage compartment floor. | 2 |
| 20-Dec-97 | More baggage compartment floor work. | 3 |
| 21-Dec-97 | Started on the seat floor parts. Looked at the electric flap kit. | 4 |
| 22-Dec-97 | Worked on the seat back structure. New drill press makes it much easier. | 3 |
| 23-Dec-97 | More work on seat back & seat floor. | 3 |
| 24-Dec-97 | Drilled baggage & seat floors to ribs. Drilled three position hinges to seat floors. | 6 |
| 26-Dec-97 | Worked on electric flap structure. | 7 |
| 27-Dec-97 | More on electric flaps. | 4 |
| 28-Dec-97 | Electric flaps, baggage & seat floor work. | 6 |
| 29-Dec-97 | Final fitting & drilling of electric flap mechanism covers. Cleko’d nutplates in place. | 3 |
| 30-Dec-97 | Drilled & countersunk for nutplates on electric flap structure. | 2 |
| 31-Dec-97 | More work on seats & electric flaps. | 3 |