Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/401344
As the day progressed, complacency was starting to build. It looked as if the project was going to be easy. But the team had to keep reminding itself that the devil lives in the details… and the build started to slow down. The "big sections" had come together in a breeze, but the wiring, the plumbing, the joining together and the setting of the controls, etc. were still to be done. The fi rewall-forward team was very quiet; it was now fi tting the expansion tank for coolant and other necessary items for the engine. Day Two saw many people get to pull rivets, but not as many as the team would have liked. The day came to a close with a very tired core team, and just fi ve days left to complete the machine. DAY T HREE: T HE JOINING OF PA R T S Day Three was going to be the day when the team got an idea of where it was going. The sprint had been done; the plane looked like a plane somehow, but this was not the time to give up. Stay calm and keep building. Work started on the fl aperons, but it did not go fast. The vol- unteers shuttled parts back and forth across the table. Just like any other build, something that looks simple can be deceivingly challenging! The mating of front and rear fuselage sections was a breeze; the two massive assemblies simply lined up and were clecoed together! The right wing team surged ahead at this point and completed, minus a few hundred rivets, the right wing. It was sent outside the bull pen for "public rivet participa- tion," albeit they had not completed the wingtip wiring. Later in the day, the plane had to find its feet, and it did so with music from the Border Patrol Pipes and Drums En- semble. It added a great deal of pomp and ceremony, raising spirits and pushing the project forward. The pipers struck up a tune, and eyes were seen to spring hydraulic leaks, emotion seeping out into the crowd, as the wheels touched the ground for the first time—a joy only comparable to that of a parent watching his child stand unaided for the first time. 20 Vol.3 No.10 / October 2014 ONE WEEK WONDER! Jonathan Porter calls the crowd to attention as the fi rst wing is about to be attached to the fuselage frame. A countdown clock on the back wall of the hangar along with a step-by-step "scoreboard" of the construction process. Photography by Jason Toney