Category Archives: Finish Kit

Rack ‘em and stack ‘em

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I needed to get the door pins installed so that I could lock the doors in their proper location to get the final trimming done.  It’s a cart before the horse thing, as it’d be nice to get all the trimming done but you need the pins first.  But to get the pins, you need to trim the doors.  Lot’s of half finished steps to complete the other steps here.

I’m using several aftermarket modifications as well.  The PlaneAround center latch is a no-brainer for its functionality and safety aspects.  It provides a cam in the center of the door to help close the door and ensures both front and rear pins engage the fuselage to keep the door closed.  It also basically makes it impossible to close the door with only one pin engaged.  The danger is potentially life ending, as several accidents have been caused by doors opening and separating from the airfarme.  Nothing to joke about here, you have to do this right and know the severity of the impacts.

I’m also using the low profile handles from Aerosport which are very nicely built and are a bit more high class than the standard Van’s handles.  With that being said, it means following three sets of directions that all leave a bit to the imagination.  Of course, I don’t read directions well so I started off by cutting my door racks according to the stock plans, not in half as I should have.  That looked like an expensive mistake, but VAF came through and I got a new set for the cost of shipping thanks to a very helpful fellow builder.

The door rack and gear system is simple once it’s all put together but is a bit challenging in assembly.  I was able to work through the plans, however, and soon had all of the parts cut, created, and cued for final assembly.  It all comes together very well in the end as long as you take time to ensure a smooth operation of the mechanism.  I’ll be filling in around the nylon blocks on the door’s edges so aren’t too concerned about looks here.

I also added cam locks to be able to lock the doors.  While they aren’t completely bullet proof, they will provide some security and deterence for people to not mess with the airplane or its contents.

Hey don’t forget

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Tip for other builders.  Don’t forget to follow the steps that aren’t in the plans that you don’t know about but absolutely have to do in order even though nothing says to do them in order.  For example, the door strut bracket that attaches to the top of the cabin.  Yup, I forgot that.  I realized that in a moment of sheer panic and terror about 3 am one morning.

The strut bracket is a bit rudamentary from Van’s so I had ordered a very nicely CNCed version from Sean at PlaneAround.  Those have been sitting in my parts bin for two years now and despite all my hard work at the overhead console and finishing the interior of the cabin top, I forgot to install them.  It would have been a five minute job had I remembered.  It turned into a five hour job.

I would have to cut a hole in the overhead console and grind away part of the filler on the cabin top without screwing anything up to make this work.  Fortunately, I took my time and went at it very methodically.  I located the exact position it needed and drilled a few holes to start opening up the rectangle for it to slide in.  I got pretty luck and it proved to be a nice finished fit once all the filing and trimming was completed.

I then made up a jig to locate the screw holes since I couldn’t drill or mark from below due to interference of the console.  The jig allowed me to drill pilot holes from the outside and then enlarge to get the proper alighnment.  Worked like a charm and in no time the first bracket was screwed on.

As with everything, the second one goes quicker and easier so in one evening I corrected a big mistake with really nice results.  I doubt anyone could tell that they were installed out of sequence and looking back I wager it was even easier this way vs trying to sand and sculpt the filler around them while filling in the console.

Dreaded Doors

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The biggest and most dreaded part of a RV-10 build for most people are the doors. The are notoriously tough to trim, fit, and fill to get a nice result. However, they are critical in the safety and looks of the plane. And since I don’t want to mess up my hair while flying, I dove in to start closing up the cabin.

It’s commonly known the scribe lines and reference dimples are useless and my doors were no different. The dimples were a half inch off from each other So I matched up the two shells of the doors by eye and measurements. The first step is to trim the window opening and prepare the shells for bonding.

Fiberglass is messy stuff, so use proper PPE! I then did a rough trim on the exterior of the halves to get ready to bond them on the cabin top. You use the cabin top as a template to get the proper curve set while the epoxy sets. So I payed the halves on the top and prepped by drilling holes for the clecos.

I then began working on the Planearound center latch as another builder did, before epoxying the door halves together. It was much easier to work on the back side of each half before the pieces work together. It also allowed me to insert the gear box through one hole instead of having to cut the slot. Looking back, I wish I had done the entire door handle system while the door halves were apart, but I’m getting ahead of myself. I cut the reinforcement tubes and also ran wire for the door/access lights that I ordered from Sean as well. These are smaller versions of what I put in the overhead console and should light up the wing and step at night very well.

I’m also installing the low profile exterior door handles from Aerosport and again it was easier to do some preliminary work on those before the doors went together. Drilling the skins for the large block as well as the door lock and trim ring saves a lot of work later on.

I had a fellow flyer-buddy of mine come over and help mix flox and set everything in place. I chose to follow a few others by using clecos into the cabin top instead of tape, clamps, weight, etc. to get the curve. This worked very well except for one spot on the right side door where the door just would lay flat against my cabin top. I pressed on knowing I’d be doing some fill and finessing later. It takes a lot of epoxy/flox mix to butter the halves up. I filled the cavities near the center cam we slathered on the flox followed by pinning it all to the cabin top.

We cleaned up the excess flox that oozed out and I’ll start popping these off tomorrow. This is all the easy part!

Almost finished!

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Ha! No, I’m not nearly almost finished. But the finish kit has arrived! I had it shipped to my work and brought it home on our trailer. I wasted no time in unpacking and inventorying the contents. To be honest, it’s almost a disappointment on how little was in the crate, especially considering how much it cost! Granted, I deleted quite a few items, including the windshield/windows, brakes, wheels, tires, and cowling. I am using all aftermarket vendors for those items and have some of them already.

A few days later, another large crate arrived from Show Planes with my cowl and induction system inside. The cowl has a little different shape to it, most notably around the intakes which are circular and the absence of the snorkel. The induction system splits the two round intakes and provides air to the throttle body. I scored a great deal on a quick turn fastener kit for the cowl as well.

This was perfect timing, as I did a few more odd jobs such as pulling some wires and quick clean up jobs on the fuselage but was quickly running out of things to do. The doors are the first job to tackle from the finish kit while I get busy planning and ordering some other things which I’ll cover next.