1192 Days 1925 Hours

We are back from Thanksgiving. I spent about 2 hours cleaning the garage. Then it was late so I just thought I would spend a little time cutting out these negative forms so that I can form the leading edge of the Horizontal. It certainly would have been a lot easier if I would have done it with the foam instead of trying to fix it after the fiberglass is laid down. I don't know how the others are moving forward. Do they have secret directions? I also wish I would have understood that peel ply on seems is what the directions were asking for instead of the big long sheets of fabric that I have been using. I have a terrible sharp edge on the Horizontal that I am going to have to micro over.

1200 Days 1928 Hours

Again no picture while Kim has the camera in CA. Last night I cut out the sides and bottom of the forward fuselage. I cut close to the line and then sanded the rest of the way. When I cut off the extra I tried to test the strength of what I had done. I easily broke the pieces and could see that the weakest link was the attachment of the fiberglass to the foam board. It makes me wonder how strong this stuff is or how strong it should be.

I also spent some time fixing the blue foam into the vertical. I knew that I needed some for the leading edge so I laid out the vertical on some cardboard and traced what I needed. I then could place the cardboard on the foam board to minimize the use. I spent some time fitting and sanding it into place. That was probably not that necessary since I will take it out and install the antenna and cable before fixing it in place. I am leaving for Ca for the rest of the week so I will probably end up with fewer than 40 hours for the month. I want to ramp up and start putting in 60 per month. I don't know if that is possible. Kim has been so good to me. She knows how much I hate work and she encourages me to work on the plane. I feel a little guilty because I don't want to hate work to get permission to work on the plane. It is a complicated.psychological trick.

1202 days 1931 Hours

No picture today. Kim took the camera to CA. I was gone all week on a business trip to North Carolina. Originally the plan was that Kim would leave for CA (Thanksgiving Holiday) on Friday after the kids got out of school before I even got home from NC. Well she decided to wait until Saturday. I couldn't very well come home after being gone for a week and ditch them all to go work in the garage. I didn't even think about looking in the garage until she was gone.

They all left about 1:30PM. I then set out to work in the garage. But first I wanted to load some podcasts on the ipod so I could listen while I worked. After 2 trips to the Apple store I finally figured out that I needed to order and new cable for our old ipod. I found a source online where I could get it for $3. The Apple store wanted $30. The original ipod only cost us $50. Next thing I know it is 6:30 and I had promised that I would go to the temple. I got home from the temple and started working about 10:00. 3 Hours later I had finished the inside of the forward fuselage bottom. I am sure I could have done a better job. It seemed to take a lot more glue than normal. And my overlaps were too frequent. It is supposed to be the inside which could be cover with carpet or some other covering. Once again I am questioning everything that I do, but I keep moving forward. I did find that I could load podcasts on a CD and listen to them. I listened to 2 CDs and threw them away. 5 cents a CD is pretty cheap. I would have to waste 1,000 CDs before I could have paid for an ipod. That is about 3 years of CDs which by then the ipod would be outdated or too old to work any more. It just seems like a waste of CDs I am not throwing anything away when I use the ipod.

I read online about using Mazda engines for airplanes. I am going to stick to the plans and not deviate at all. That is the advice Boyd gave me. He also told me to build a different plane. I also saw the latest version of kitplanes which had a list of home builts. There was one that had enough room for 10 people. A home built. I will be lucky to finish this one. No time to start planning the next one.

1209 days 1934 hours

I pulled the peel ply off of the channel ribs and it was so smooth inside, which is a good thing since a cable will be in there.



Here I am working on the bottom of the forward fuselage. I am sanding the joggles. I know it is important to have a radius at the edge because the cloth does not do right angles. I was really quick at this compared to the first time. This whole fuselage took me an hour. Notice I hung the vertical frame up on the horizontal.





Here I am laying down another section of the second layer of fiberglass. I am getting a lot more comfortable with cutting on the bias. I think I realize that Scott was only applying peel ply to the overlap of the layers. I put peel ply over the whole thing. This layup took a lot more time because I spent a lot of time working on the radius at the edge. I didn't like how the job turned out. I especially unhappy with the bump that is apparent from the joining of the 6" to foam board. I could have done a better job putting those together or a better job smoothing it out before I laid down the cloth. My total time for today was 5 hours. Just to do this one section. I am out of town all of next week so this will be it for awhile.

1211 days 1939 hours

I came home at lunch again and first tacked in the one side of the channel rib with 5 min epoxy and then locked it down with two layers of Bidirectional Fiberglass. Look how bad the fit was. That gap at the top is not good. I am hoping I can make it up when I glass the whole wing. I also made a mistake in thinking that locking down one side of the channel and then the other would be better. Well it turns out that after all those layers of fiberglass the other side sits on top of those layers and is actually higher than this side.

I am glad that I am finding a use for all that extra fiberglass I had laying around because of cutting on the bias.

I this next picture you can see I used the light and finished locking down the other side. It took a lot longer because it was a pretty tight squeeze and I was trying to be careful. I am understanding that the radius on the corner with the slurry helps lay down the fiberglass. The fiberglass really can't do corners. I will remember that as I sand out the joggles. I will make sure I either radius the corners with micro or I will sand a radius into the joggle.

1214 Days 1942 Hours

I had to wait for the glue to cure on the vertical so I moved on to the bottom of the fuselage. All I did was mark the 10 points and connect them. I had previously attached 6" to the sheet of 23" x 92". I will sand the joggles and cover later. I was much quicker this time around.







I started attaching the channel ribs. I had even tacked in one side with some 5 minute epoxy then I remembered that I hadn't drilled the holes and then I remembered that I hadn't added the two layers of bid for the pully. So I tore it off and layed up the two layers where the pully will go. I know that peel ply is not neccessary, but this is the inside of the channel where a cable will run and I like the smooth surface it creates.

I am still struggling with my fit especially the bottom channel rib cap. I am hoping that I can make adjustments later if I need to.

1215 days 1944 hours. I spent the whole time trying to get the last rib and the channel ribs on right. The first picture shows the channel rib sticking up too high. It fit the template perfectly. Well after sanding to make things fit right I made the bottom rib too short and had to cut another one out. Now things look right, but they do not fit the template perfectly. I am just lucky that I didn't accidently have two left channels. I was on top of things enough to make sure I got the unglassed portion on the outside. I am also quite unclear how that last piece fits. That curved channel rib on a flat piece. I don't know.

1216 Days 1947 Hours

I really don't get this blogger. Yesterday's post was ugly adn I don't have time to play around with it. I came home at lunch and micro'd the edge and layed down the bid on the ribs connected to the spar. Tonight I had to create another piece for the channel that connects to the largest rib (the one at an angle) That was good, because I needed to give the resin a little more time to harden. I then went ahead and edged the rib/leading edge joint and layed down the BID. I did not want to mix another batch or resin so I was really scraping the last bits of it to fully wet out the BID on the ribs. I just have that last rib that runs at an angle sitting there with some tape. I guess I have to do the same with it before I add the channel ribs. I will definitely go back to the manual to just review what I am doing. It seems like so little, yet took over 2 hours to do all of that.

Funny thing Kim came out to the garage to do laundry. I got a little bit of a glimpse of how it would be to be in the garage together. She then smelled the resin. What is that smell? I couldn't smell anything. Is that good or bad?

1218 Days 1950 Hours

I am really stealing time. It is 2AM and Kim jsut went to bed. I cannot even walk into the garage on Fridays. That is our date night. Then after we got home from the movies and the kids were all in bed Kim got ready for bed and I asked if it would be ok if I went and worked in the garage. I have to be at the Scout-O-Rama at 8AM. But I got two hours in. Actually I got a half hour at lunch. I glued the 6 inch left over piece to the 24 inch piece to make the floor of the forward fuselage. I am a little concerned about the gaps and excess glue.








Here you can see the gaps more clearly. Those will get slurryied when I got to lay up the Fiberglass. I am always questioning myself, but moving forward.










I am finally back to working on the Vertical. I used 5 minute epoxy to tack on these 3 ribs. I will verify in the morning that they are still square and then use some of that left over BID to lock them down for good. I should have layed down some protective sheeting before doing this. Notice my fancy shop vac in the background.

Popping Rivets Sitting Pretty

1219 Days 1952 Hours

That far rivet is not a good rivet. I will have to hammer that down to fix it. The rivets I got were just a little bit longer than 1/4 inch. They should sit in the hole before I pop them, but they don't so I have to squeeze them and then push them further in the hole. All the others are fine. This was the one bad one. Look at the gap between the nut plate and the aluminum strip. Again could have been done better. I am learning. I didn't have the first clue about riveting before this project.

This plate is part of the vertical spar which is what will hold the rudder. I made sure that the holes lined up center. Which makes me recommend that the wood hard point not be drilled through until they are fiberglassed in. The hole in the hardpoint will be drilled through once it is locked in place. It is mentioned that centering it is critical

After getting back from Boyd's where I can borrow tools like a pop riveter and drill press I pulled the peel ply off the sides. Scott doesn't say to put peel ply on the inside, but the class I went to at the copper state fly in said always put peel ply on and leave it on until you are ready to use the piece. These are the obligatory pictures of our first seat in the plane. Kim is so good to me.

BID on the backside

1220 Days 1954 Hours

I haven't figured blogspot out yet. These pictures are in reverse order because we read from top to bottom. Here are the finished insides of the forward fuselage side panels. That is peel ply which I will peel off tomorrow. I got back into the garage about 1030PM tonight. This big of a layup is a commitment, no stopping half way. Did I move to quickly? Was I careful enough? Did I apply too much resin? not enough? What am I doing? Can I really do this?

I came home at lunch and decided to try and get some quick work done. I only had a single layer of Bidirectional Fiberglass and no joggles to deal with. I actually thought I could get both halves done, but it took me an hour and half and I only finished one before I had to head back to work. It was warm today and I was a little worried that the resin would harden up before I got to use it all. I had made a big batch. Just to lay down a slurry on the sided was about 200 grams of resin. The exotherm did not happen, but in my hurry I cut my BID bias strips to short and had to use 4 sections when I could have done it in 3. One layer overlapped by a good 5 inches. I don't know if I will get enough time to finish the other half tonight. I have plenty to do, but I am running out of Micro balloons which are used a lot of the slurry.

Laying down 2nd side forward fuselage

1222 days 1957 hours

I emailed Scott Watts the designer of this plane and asked about a template for the Hstab leading edge. He said that he had changed the way the Hstab is built and that this could be used as a template. I just rigged something up to see how far off I was. It would have been easier to sand the foam rather than add micro to the fiberglassed edge. You can see the gaps that I will have to fill in. I don't know how hard that will be

I laid up the other side of the forward fuselage. It took me 2 hours rather than 4 hours.

I am now working on three parts simultaneously. I am not sure that is good. I got the rivets for the Vstab, the template for the Hstab and I have started the forward fuselage. I will have to get some more peel ply before I do more on the forward fuselage. I am running low on Micro Balloons.

1226 days 1960 hours

That's right 5 hours. I was thinking I could layup both of these pieces in one night, but it took me a lot longer than I had expected. I came home at lunch and finished sanding the side panels. I sanded what would be the top joggle. I couldn't see what that was needed for so I contacted Scott and he said it would be used for attaching the turtle deck.

I then redrew the lines since I had sanded them out and removed the nails to prep for the layup.

Cutting on the bias is still kind of tricky. The cloth reshapes a lot when moving it around. I am pulling it tight on the bias I hope that is the right way to do it, tighter seems better.

I learned at the copperstate flyin that laying peel ply serves a lot of purposes. One is that it smoothes out the transitions. I have three on this layup. The transitions (overlaps) on the HStab are sharp and ugly. I am anxious to see if this actually smoothes them out.

The balloon was coated in left over epoxy. I want to see if I can make a Jack Skelington Head for CK.

1228 days Days 1965 hours

I finally got back to work after being out of town for a week and just getting back into the swing of things. I too stuff to CA, but I seemed to never make the time. Here I have inserted the wood hardpoints into the spar and I have laid over two layers of BID on top. I learned at the Copperstate flyin this last weekend that I should trim off the end of the fiberglass so that the sag does not lift the edge up and create an airspace. I definitely saw that on this layup, but too late.

After the fiberglass cured I trimmed off the edges with the dremel tool. You can see the fiberglass in the background. The other thing I learned at the flyin was the real use of peel ply. At the workshop the instructor just made it sound like peel ply was always used and left on until the piece was needed. I definitely could see that it will smooth the edges as epozy fills in the gap between the edges. I had used peel ply once and I did not see the difference. I should have been using it.

The next day I wend over to Boyds and created these nut plates. I should have made them longer. They cannot be wider since they come close to the edge of the spar, but they certainly could have been longer to leave room for the rivets that would be used to attach then to the spar. Building these was quite a process that was made longer by hanging out talking and Boyd having to walk me through everything. I didn't mind taking the time and working slowly. He had the scrap aluminum and all the tools.

Here the nutplates are laid out next to the spar where they will be attached with rivets. I have to order some more rivets. I am ok with having to wait for orders. I actually placed an order two days ago for some misc parts. I am really reluctant to order more than I need at that exact moment. There will always be something to work on.

Working with Boyd

1247 Days 1968 hours

I went back to the vertical. I was hoping to work on the vertical in CA and work on the forward fuselage now, but I ordered the wrong quantity of foam boards for the forward fuselage so I have to set that aside. In the pictures below I drilled out the holes for the wood hard points. I went over to Boyd's to use his drill press. It is more enjoyable talking to Boyd while I work, but it is a lot slower for both of us. He is working on his brother's plane. Boyd is a real mechanic.

Below you can see that I am aligning the holes before I glue them down.

The instructions are extremely well documented with pictures and simple howto's and yet there is always a question about information that is left out. For example how big are these hardpoints supposed to be. Because the end of the spar is small I couldn't make the hardpoint more than 7/8ths

Home sick still building

1249 days 1970 hours

I am falling further and further behind. I have to just keep moving forward. I stayed home sick today. After sleeping until noon I got up and went out to the garage. Kim was gone grocery shopping. I started working in the garage. After about an hour I had to quit. I was just tired. I did get another hour in later, but I was too tired to do any more.

I started the side of the fuselage. I measured out the lines and I started sanding some indentations into the the foam. The purpose of these indentations is to create grooves where strips of fiberglass will be laid to connect the front and back of the fuselage. Each is about 8 feet so the who thing together is about 16 feet. Add the engine and the tail and the total length of the plane is supposed to be about 19 feet.

This layout and sanding is actually my second attempt and I am much happier with the results. Each foam board costs about $50. I will use the other one I trashed for other things. In one way I am happy about the job I am able to do, in another way I am sad that I do not have the skills to do even the smallest thing right the first time.

Building Tools

1253 days 1972 hours

I have two days in a row where I worked for hour during lunch. I am lucky that I live nearby and that everything is in my garage. This would be a lot harder if I could only get out to the place where I would work when I could commit to several hours of building. I move forward with much trepidation. I am starting on the fuselage, which is where my butt will be hanging out 12,000 feet above the ground. There are some airplane kits out there where it is a matter of putting things together. That is not a trivial task. This is a scratch build and as part of that build I had to build a small tool in order to sand the right depth into the foam side before I lay up the fiberglass. It took me over an hour to feel comfortable with what I had made. I sanded for about 15 minutes and then I had to put it aside to go back to work.

I was going to go into the garage and spend time with my baby, but Kim and I started watching TV on the computer. We don't have regular TV. We stayed up until past 1AM. crazy but it was fun. I wish I could get her enthusiasm to help me build this plane. I have to be happy that she is just supportive in letting me do it. The only reason she is supportive is that it is so far away from flying that she can put it out of her mind. Oh and she loves me and likes to see me happy working on something.

Kim is home maybe I'll get something done

1255 days 1974 hours

Kim came home last night. I should have and could have got more work done. It is only 10:45. I am going to stop at 2 hours. Maybe if I pace myself I will make more progress. One of the things I like about this project is that I only have to spend as I go. Now I thought I was going to be further along and so back in Mar I bought some foam boards called Last-A-Foam. This is what the fiberglass covers to give the substance to the very thin sheets of fiberglass. Well I bought the wrong ones last March. Now we are going back out to CA in 2 weeks so I can pick up the right ones and I might not get to the point where I would have been able to use them, but it is still sad. I make so many mistakes. Tonight I measured a board out and it turns out that for some reason I read 1/2 an inch when it said 1 inch. How do I make a mistake like that? Well I did. So back to measuring and what should have taken 1/2 an hour took two because of my lack of skills. The only bright side is that when I started this project it would have taken me several days. I finished the month out with 24 hours of work. Better than the last 5 months. Next month 60 hours is my goal. That is very ambitious.

Thought I would get more done

1258 days and 1976 hours

I thought was going to get so much done. I was caught up in taking the kids swimming and other family stuff. I did get two hours in. I made the oven and baked the HStab. I think I did it right, but I am not sure about anything I am doing. I used Kim's oven / turkey thermometer and built a box of OSB board. I used the heat lamp and the 105 degree AZ summer. I am pretty sure the temperature got up to 150, but like I said I am never "sure" of anything. And after years of unsureness I will have to fly this thing up in the air. Scary thought. I spent about 2 hours studying the plans and I got stuck. I emailed the plan master Scott Watts and he emailed me right back. That was flattering. I need to watch less Hulu and work on the plane and sleep more. I am a moron.

Kim is gone for a week how many hours will I get in

1260 days and 1978 hours

Kim left yesterday. I could have gotten some work done, but I did not. My inertia exceeds my ambition some times. Tonight I got in 4 hours. I debated whether I should keep sanding and micro'ing the Horizontal. Finally I just decided to go for it. I was about 2 feet short on Bidirectional Fiberglass. I am going to have to order some tonight. I have gone through 20 yards so far and I have so little to show for it. This horizontal is supposed to be a learning and building skill exercise and the truth is I need the skill building and exercise. Kim is gone to her sister's for a week. I have to pick up all the household stuff like making dinner and shuttling kids around, but from 9PM the time is mine. I was actually in the car driving around from 3:30PM until 7PM and then I had a cub scout pack meeting with CK. And I still got 4 hours in. I will have to get up in 3 1/2 hours, but I'll deal with that later.

I bought a light at Lowe's. Yeah more tools. I was not prepared for the heat generated by the light. There is a lot of light in the poorly lit garage, however I had problems moving it in the right spot. I was afraid it might heat up something too much. $10, not much to lose.

Accidents at the gathering

1262 days and 1982 hours

I have not been able to get back in the garage for awhile. I should have gone to bed last night, but I just had to get back in there and do something. All I did was sand the Horizontal. I had put some Micro on the foam and as directed filled in the gaps and edges. I am making a mess of it. There was micro dripping everywhere. I also looked at the micro I had placed in the hole where the door hits the wall and it is starting to crack and wear. Boyd came over Sunday and looked at what I had. He was not impressed. I need to make more progress, be bolder. Kim is going to a wedding out of town for a week. I will have to make lunches and run carpool and stuff, but I think I will have more time for building.

There is a annual gathering of KR builders and enthusiasts. This year there were two accidents. Kim was not happy to hear about them. Both pilots lived. One was an accident because of running out of fuel, which unbelievably is the #1 reason for off airport landings / accidents. Kim was not happy to hear about the accidents.

Exotherm

1269 days and 1983 hours

I thought I would get more time in today, however I was up pretty late last night and after Kim and I go play tennis at 9PM I will definitely head for bed. On Wednesdays when they all go off to church I like to think I can get at least 2 hours in, not this week. I was touching up the Hstab with some micro when I ran into some exotherm. The glue used for laying down the fiberglass is a combination of epoxy resin and a hardening agent. They come in separate containers and they don't do anything until they are mixed together. There are a lot of different kinds and brands. I use this one because that is what the plans say to do and with as much experimenting I am doing there is no need to experiment with everything. Anyway the combining of the epoxy and the hardener and the fiberglass is why it is called composite material. The crazy feature of the epoxy material is that it can exotherm. That is if too much is mixed together it can heat up harden and even catch fire. Tonight I was going to slow and I had a bit of a batch in a container. It got hot to the touch. Then it started to harden very quickly. This stuff is supposed to take 24 hours to completely harden. It got to where I had to throw it away. There have been fires and even people killed. It makes me want to go check the trash can one more time. The stuff was HOT!

More Micro on the Hstab

1270 days and 1984 hours

Here is me working on the Horizontal Stabilizer (Hstab). It is the horizontal tail wing. It looks like I am snarling, but I am just not a very photogenic. It was nice to get some work in. I worked from 1030PM to past midnight and was up at 530AM the next morning. I may be adding too much glue to this as I stumble through this project. The only bad part of adding too much glue is that weight is very important or as some one has said whenever possible add lightness. OF course I could take 30 pounds off the final weight of the plane by exercising more and eating less.

Ken's widow still owns and controls the plans to the KR1 and KR2 planes. Over the years many people have added new ideas and design changes. As far as I know you can still order plans from Rand Robinson Engineering. I happened to be in CA and I went by the address. It was a post office box in a UPS store. The conventional wisdom is that if one wants to buy the plans they should just mail a check and wait. I have not bought plans. I am following the plans of Scott Watts. He has taken all the changes made over the years and building what he is calling the KR Super. He hasn't finished yet. I am following him as he posts the changes online. It is risky building a plane from plans that have not been flight tested, but his plans are so much more detailed that it really is the only option for me.

1272 days 1986 hours

No hours this weekend. I think I did discover that I could get some time in if I worked in the morning before work and came home during lunch. But that requires that I get up at 4AM. In my mind that seemed doable. I even went to bed at 9PM last night thinking I could do it. I barely crawled out of bed at 530AM and now I am well into the morning routine. This last weekend was Kim's birthday so I was not even going to look at the plane parts in the garage. That may make me sound like a good husband so let me counter that with I have actually thought that when she is gone for a week at her nephew's wedding that I would get some great work time in. A really good husband would be sad that she was gone and would not wish that she would stay an extra day or two. It is all about balance.

I have been listening to some pilots talk about flying. Typical of a non-pilot I thought that being able to see other planes was more important than weather, but evidently weather is a big deal. The way they look for other planes right now is that they look out the window. That seems a little archaic, but I guess the sky is really big. There is a new system being developed that will let pilots get more information, but it is still in development.

1275 days 1986 hours

I actually got some time in before work. If I can work a little before work and a little during lunch then it will be easy to get the hours in. The fiberglass I laid down looks pretty good. I read in a book that Boyd gave me about glassing over an edge. It involves putting some tape down and cutting away the excess. I am surprised that as strong as the epoxy/resin glue is that it doesn't stick to some things like Duct tape. So yesterday I was cutting and pulling up the duct tape. The wing still had some waviness to it, which I am assuming that I will have to sand and fix. Today is Friday so I doubt I will get much work done. Saturday is Kim's birthday so there is a chance I won't be able to get much done there either. Certainly having the work in the garage is a lot better than having it at some distant hanger.

When I have flown with Boyd he has asked if I wanted to fly for a little bit. The actually flying is nothing. It feels like nothing. I guess getting used to looking at the instruments and the horizon is something, but I don't feel like it adds to my experience at all. Steering the airplane on the ground (which is done with the feet) is hard. That will take some practice.

1276 days 1987 hours

I got a solid two hours in yesterday. Wednesdays are turning out to be good days to work. Everyone goes to church and I am left alone. I tried the new sander and I even wore the dust mask. The Hstab was still lumpy but I got impatient and decided to lay the glass over it. The first piece of fiberglass I cut out was too short. Arghhh. I didn't look back I just threw it away and cut another piece out. The second layer was the Bidirectional fiberglass (BID) I was introduced cutting on the bias. Kim knew what it was. I guess it is a sewing term. So I had to cut on the bias and that wastes a lot of cloth. After laying the second layer down I was done for the evening.

Boyd asked me if I wanted to fly to Catalina with him. I do want to do it, but his commercially built plane will cost about $250 in fuel to fly there and back. Even though it holds 4 people it is just too expensive to do something like that very often. That is why I attracted to this project. Supposedly the same trip would cost me $50 or less. That makes a trip to SoCal for the weekend very doable.

1277 days 1989 hours

I didn't get time with the plane at all yesterday. I just had too many things going on. I have to be ok with that happening sometimes. I was talking to Boyd, the airplane expert, and he was a bit discouraging of what I was doing. He just thinks that the plane I am planning on building just takes too long. There are a couple of reasons that I don't agree with that argument. First I can't afford to buy a kit for $20,000 even if I could build it a lot faster. This method lets me build slowly. Second going through all of the mistakes I am making I am learning how to work with composites, which is fiberglass and glue. So I am ok moving forward with my current plans. I know it is going to take 3 years, but in the end I will have what I really want and the expertise to work on the plane.

I returned the orbital sander from yesterday and bought a $30 version from Lowe's. I actually had to research on the difference between sanders. I can't believe I own a jigsaw and an orbital saw. I should have a pretty extensive tool collection when this is all done.

1278 days 1989 hours

Even though it was labour day and I had the whole day off I only got in 2 hours of work. I am sanding the Hstab still. I think I have really messed it up. I just keep at it hoping I can get back on track. I was sanding so much that Kim suggested I get a power sander. After awhile I decided to bite the bullet and go buy one. Then I made the same mistake I have made before. I went to Harbor Freight (which is the Walmart of tool supplies) and bought a cheap orbital sander for $10 and like always it was inadequate and at one point one of the clips popped off and dinged a hole in the surface. I am taking it back and going to Home Depot. I will probably have to learn this lesson again and again. It doesn't pay to be cheap sometimes.

1,279 days 1991 hours

I got over four hours of work in on Saturday. Today is Sunday and I don't work on Sundays. Tomorrow is labour day so I should be able to get some more hours in. I am struggling with the final touches on the Horizontal Stabilizer. I am still learning about the uses and epoxy and micro. I have to be patient and keep moving forward without fear. There are so many parts of a plane and terms that are completely new to me. I included a picture of the tail of a plane to show the part I am working on.

Keeping a build log is not just nice, but critical. You have to prove that built at least 50% of the plane in order to qualify as the builder of an experimental aircraft. As a builder you can then work on the plane without having to worry about the all the rules of what is allowed on a plane. It sounds like a good idea to have such control on private planes, but it is crazy strict. If some one wants to add something simple to their plane, for example a larger gas tank, if there isn't one that has been certified they can't do it. Or if they do they will have to remove it to pass a required annual inspection. With an experimental you can do your own annual inspection.

1,281 days 1995 hours

No work tonight. It is Friday night and it is the night that Kim and I always set aside for our date. 17 years of marriage, we have to keep it current. She is so supportive of all the crazy ideas I have. At one point in our marriage I wanted to live on a boat (with 6 kids). She even went to a boat show with me. Tonight I wanted to ride our bikes on our date. First we went out to eat, then to the local high school football game, and then finally to the movies. We rode 11 miles in 100 degree heat in Phoenix. She is so good to me. Some of my dreams never happen. Some do. I want this dream to happen.

I learned after researching about building an airplane that there is a class of airplanes called experimental. There are two big gatherings for experimental aircraft. The biggest is in OshKosh WI. This is not a gathering for those who buy planes. This is a gathering for those who build. This huge (700,000+) gathering of people has existed and I had never even heard about them. It is like finding out suddenly that San Francisco was always there.

1,282 days 1995 hours

I spent way too much time yesterday trying to figure out this blogging. I tried posting a picture and the layout just looked lame. I think I will stick to words for now. This has been a good start. In terms of building I don't know if I am making the right enough progress, but just getting out in the garage and doing something keeps me moving forward. Tonight I did some sanding on some glue and glass bubbles I laid down on some foam board. I sanded for 2 hours. I have heard that there is a lot of sanding. I dreamed of flying to LA for the day. Can you imagine flying 300 miles, which is how far it would be from Phoenix, for a movie. It sounds dreamy. When I first started flying around with Boyd I liked the idea of flying somewhere easily. I had no idea that an individual could land at almost any airport. Then Boyd told me how much it would cost. I think he said it was something like $300. Wow, for that much money I will drive with all the kids and our stuff. When I started checking into these "homebuilts" it turns out that they can actually make the trip for $25. That is when I started getting excited. I am so cheap.

Ken Rand died in a low fuel difficult weather situation. The FAA tracks every incident no matter how minor. The number one reason for problems is running out of fuel. That seems like such and easy problem not to have. I guess I don't know enough about flying to understand why that would be such a common problem.

1,283 days 1997 hours

I went out and started messing with the glue. The ideal temperature for the glue is around 70 degrees. It was at least 95. I would mix some and it would be too thick. I would mix another batch and it would be too thin. I never seem to get it right. I put a bunch on the Horizontal Tail. I am hoping that I can spend time sanding tomorrow and get it looking better. When I first started this project in January of this year I had no tools and no skills. I still don't have much of either. I did buy this Dremel like rotary tool for about $25. It was worth it. I know I will be buying more tools. Kim is hoping that this project will make me more handy. That would definitely be a bonus

I have learned that the FAA really tries to protect the skys, almost to a fault. Every accident is investigated and every part for every plane must be certified. A simple piece of aluminum can cost hundreds of dollars more than it is worth because of the certification. Homebuilts so far have escaped scrutiny. Once I build this plane I can do almost anything to it with out certification or permission.

1,284 days 1998 hours

Phew I finally got out in the garage and did it. I had the podcasts going and I just kept moving. It is 100 degrees in the garage. It is summer in AZ. The weather channel is reporting that it is 95 degrees outside at 11:45 PM. I won't say much about the time in the garage tonight because it is time to go to bed. I am happy just to see the hours move down one notch.

There are many things about the KR that I like, but one of them is that I don't have to have thousands of dollars up front to build it. I can spend a little at a time. If I am short on cash or waiting for supplies or parts there is always something I can do to keep moving forward. Did I mention that I don't really know the first thing about flying. I will have to get my pilot's license eventually.

How do I fit in the time

1,285 days 2,000 hours to go.

I logged no build time today. Obviously my hours stayed at 2,000. It is hard with life happening all around me. I got up at 4AM to start the day with a little exercise. After gathering the family for breakfast and getting ready for work it was 6AM before I headed off to work. I got home a little after 4PM and was immediately accosted with pleas for help with the piano and homework and the evening just slipped away. It is now 10PM and I have some church work to do before I head to bed. I am hoping that this blog holds me to the task.

Ken Rand built the first KR in 1972. He and Stu Robinson sold plans under the business Rand Robinson Engineering. They both worked at Douglas Avionics. Stu sold his interest in the business in 1979 and Ken died in a KR2 crash shortly afterwards. His wife Jeannette continued to sell the plans and run the business. I want to follow Ken into the air. He had very little flight time when he test piloted the first KR, about 80 hours. I will probably have less. I do not want to follow him to death, but the reality is that the first time I fly this plane it will be the most dangerous thing I ever do.

What is that a go kart?

What I want to do is build my own airplane and fly from AZ to CA. I am going to give myself 3 years and 2,000 hours. I hope to strap myself in and fly to CA before I turn 50. Before I moved to Chandler I never even knew that people really did things like this. My only experience with airplanes was LAX. When we moved to Chandler we found out there was a small airstrip in our neighborhood. When I say in our neighborhood, I really mean in our neighborhood. A couple of people we go to church with have planes in their garages (they call them hangers). They can start up their plane, drive out of their garage over to the airstrip and take off. I had heard and seen small planes, but this was something new.

Wanting friends I got to know Boyd. He is a cop in Phoenix. He has a plane parked on the airstrip. He invited me to go on a couple of flights with him. It was interesting, but I could tell there was some strange addiction to flying that he and others had. I did not have that, nor do I have it now.

On one of our flights we went to a hanger across town. I was so new to flying was still trying to understand what all of the things were that made a plane fly. Obviously there were the wings and the engine, but there were so many other things that were completely new to me. In the hanger were sitting a couple of partially built KR2's. I had no idea what they were. I thought they were go karts. Boyd told me what they were and that the guy who had been building them intended to fly them. I was incredulous. Later that evening I got on the internet and found a website dedicated to the building of KR's.

The original KR was designed and built by Ken Rand. Could I do this? Would I drive Kim crazy before I was done?

Julie and Julia

I just went and saw the movie Julie and Julia. I don't know anything about the real Julie Powell or the real Julia Childs. If I ever refer to them it will be the fictionalized version of them and in my head and looking like Amy Adams (Julie) and Meryl Streep (Julia). But the movie inspired me for many reasons. Unlike Julie I am old. (46 already? How did that happen?) And unlike Julie I have 6 kids and a so called middle age life. Similarly I work in a cubicle for Bank of America. I have a sense that others have figured things out and I am still waiting for something. And I need a deadline too. So here it is my derivative of a derivative, Kurt and Kim and Ken. And my goal is 2,000 hours in 3 years. 2,000 hours doing what? You may ask. That will be the topic of my next post. It is nearly 3AM and I have to be at church with kids dressed and ready in 7 hours.