Tiger Meet

Instead of building (Saterday), two of my boys, my father and I went to Ørland Air Force Base for the "Open Day" at the Tiger Meet. Tiger Meet is an annual training event for NATO fighter pilots. At the Open Day they show off their planes and flying skills for the general public.

The show consisted of lots of F-16 flights, single and formation. Formation flying with F-16s and a Mi-24. Mi-24 maneuvering capabilities and a breathtaking display of the F-18.

Just as interesting was the static display consisting of 20 someting airplanes with "Tiger camoflage", several helicopters and an E3A.

I had to smile when my 7 year old son entered the E3A and said; "Look at all the rivets". The all tigered up F-5 is the last one registered in Norway, and the Tiger Meet was the last time F-5 was used.

Priming solved and HS-409

HS-409 flange strips are filed and ready for drilling. I will postpone most other work untill monday when my tech counselor takes a visit to show me how to operate the vareous tools for best results, and how to prime the parts.

The priming headache has finally been solved. After a long conversation with my tech counselor on the phone I have decided to follow his advice for all internal parts:

• All parts will be alodined.
• Zinc chromate will be sprayed on from cans.
• MEK will be used to clean the parts.

This process is, according to my tech counselor, easy and a lot less messy than two component mixing and spraying. This is the method he uses when fixing damaged airplanes and restoring warbirds, and the corrosion protection is well documented through years of experience.

Tools arrived, more on primers

The tools from Averytools arrived today. These tools were efficiently and orderly packed, and the delivery went smooth, recommended!

Regarding primer, the epoxy option seems to be better and better. Stewart Systems uses Aeropicardie as an exclusive importer to Europe. Stewart Systems use a water based formulae, much less toxic than epoxy. An European importer seemed OK, but the prices will increase by at least 45% going through him compared with ordering directly from the USA. A quote for primers for the empennage only was 393 € ! I think that with 393 €, I can get enough epoxy primer for several RVs.

A very simple but hopefully functional drill press was bought at Biltema for 200 Kr (25€).

Unpacked and ready

The kit is now unpacked and all nuts and bolts are counted. The shop has received one more table and I have set up the structure to build wings and tail. The structure is made according to the drawings, but I used two 2x4 beams bolted together instead of 4x4 beams. I also got a proper sign on the door leading to the shop from the rest of my house :-)







The parts have now spread to three rooms (including the shop). I am now waiting for the tools from Averytools, a full RV builders tool kit. Somehow I had got the idea to shop for tools when needed as I build. This was of course is a very bad idea when everything has to be ordered from across the Atlantic, so today i ordered the tools that i could have ordered months ago. At least it leaves me with more time to study the drawings.

I am still confused about priming. It seems like the "correct" way is to use epoxy based primer. On the other hand, to have a house full of poisonous epoxy fumes simply cannot be good for living organisms. Hmm

I have contacted the insurance bureau and Van's about the damaged parts. Hopefully everything will turn out OK.

The kit is here

Today, the kit came. 5 crates full of aircraft parts. Everything looked OK with the first 3 crates, but then the driver told me that one crate had been damaged, probably on the boat. One of the side walls of the crate were missing. The roll bar was totally loose, and I suspected that alot of parts were lost and possibly damaged.

I did a complete inventory of that crate containing the fuselage this afternoon/evening. To my surprice nothing was missing, but two of the aliminum parts were bent. The gods are fully insured, but I guess it is much easier (and faster) to just bend them back to shape, than to argue with some insurance bureau. Well, I will see how I feel about it tomorrow... I also found out that I will need ALOT more shelf space to store everything, and I still have 4 more crates to unpack.

All in all the best Christmas ever, and it is only August.

Still no kit

The kit should arrive this week, on Friday the latest. Now it is Saturday 25 and no kit is in my shop. The transport bureau said that there was not enough space left on thursday, but that it would arrive on monday morning.

The shop is getting ready

The kit should (finally) arrive this week, and the shop is getting ready. It's the previous living room/kitchen of an apartment in my house that i used to rent out. From now on it will se much better use as a manufactoring shop for an RV-4. The shop measures 3.5 by 7 meters and is heated.

The kitchen furniture is still there. I think hot/cold water, a sink and lots of drawer space will come in handy. I have added proper lighting, a compressor and a working table.

The working table is an old door i had lying around. I mounted it to the wall and added 3 feets, so it should be both flat and sturdy. The compressor is a belt driven Einhel AirTek 4000. It can deliver 300 standard liters per minute at 10 bar, and should more than enough for all the tools (except painting). I still need another table for table mounted tools, this will be added in the coming days.