BUILDERS LOG - January to July 2021

January 7 2021 0.0.0hrs- 3659.0 total. Still no direct work on the project, but thought I'd put a status update here anyway. The new shop building is almost ready to occupy. The first layer of insulation is finished and the hole knocked through the wall between the new shop and the old, so the heat can now come through. Its staying about 60 degrees in the shop now, even with the temp around -20 F outside. The plumber is supposed to be here tomorrow to hook up the slab heat. I've started on the wiring and have the lights hung and partially wired. We had our local EAA chapter meeting via Zoom tonight and my projects, both the shop building and the airplane, were the program. To do the presentation I dug out almost all of the parts, and all of the wing ribs, and laid everything out so it could be displayed. Took some photos and have them shown here. Getting closer to the day I can stop working on the shop and start working on the airplane again!

January 17 2021 0.0.0hrs- 3659.0 total. New shop is getting very close to being done. Heat is done and working, lights are done, electrical sub-panel is done. Just finished wiring the garage door controller and about half of the wall outlets. With any luck I'll get all the wiring finished this week and the city inspector can come and take a look. Then all that will be left will be putting up the vapor barrier. Then I can start moving the tools and parts in and get setup to start working on the Spit again!

January 23 2021 0.0hrs - 3659.0 total. Finished up the wiring. Inspector is scheduled for Monday the 25th. Once he signs off I'll need to put up the vapor barrier, then I can stop working on the building! Spent today cleaning up and moving things around a bit to prepare to move into the new shop. Spent several hours making up a stand/cart for the dust separator for the shop vac. Took a picture of it, but after the latest Windows update my camera won't connect via USB anymore so I can't download the photos. Will need to get this working!

January 25 2021 0.0hrs - 3659.0 total. City electrical inspector came today and left me with a long list of things to change. So its back to working on the shop again. I expect to have everything finished up within the next week or so. Actually called Aircraft Spruce today to discuss shipping on the upcoming wood order for the spar. Spent about an hour yesterday reading over the plans a starting on a shopping list for the spar material

April 11 2021 4.5hrs - 3663.5 total. Have finally finished the shop building far enough that I'm going to stop working on it and start working on the project again! Have spent several study sessions researching the correct material to use in making the built up laminated box spar. Also talking to various potential suppliers. I'm ready to order it now. Just waiting for some calls back from the suppliers. Cleaned up the shop and re-organized so I could locate and extend the work table. The current table is 16ft and it needs to be 30ft. I've got it positioned and made a materials list for the parts to extend the work table. Extended all the legs and sanded the surface down as smooth as possible. In the meantime I got the ribs out that still need to be scarfed. Laid them out and verified what needs to be done. Scarfed rib one and trial fit the rib extension.

April 12 2021 2.0hrs - 3665.5 total. Scarfed 9 more of the inner ribs. Only two left to do.

April 15 2021 0.5hrs - 3666.0 total. Scarfed the last two ribs. Have been talking with the local hardwood shop and have finalized plans to order the spar laminate material. Should verify the order tomorrow. They are saying about two weeks ETA. Will still need to spec and order the ply for the spar webs.

April 16 2021 3.0hrs - 3669.0 total. Picked up the plywood to make the table extensions. Laid out all the ribs remaining to be scarfed and taped the templates to them so final align the extension pieces. Marked up all the scarf joints. They are ready to be glued. Put away templates.

April 17 2021 5.5hrs - 3674.5 total. Glued all remaining rib extensions in place. Started cutting out material for table extensions.

April 18 2021 4.5 hrs - 3679.0 total. Removed rib extensions from clamps and inspected glue joints. A couple of them will need some touch ups. Finished cutting out materials for table extensions. Started assembling them. Finished one of the table extensions.

April 19 2021 2.0hrs - 3681.0 total. Finished building the second table extension. Now need to attach them to the original table and get everything levelled up.

April 24 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3682.0 total. Spent most of the day installing the back door in the new shop. Had some time left and got an hour in working on the ribs. Sanded down the glue joints on all 8 of the newly scarfed 1/4" ribs. Most need some touch up. Still need to work on the 4 remaining 3/8" ribs. Made up some small paper cutouts of the wing spar web templates and used them to determine how they will be laid out on the full size 4 X 8 1/4" aircraft ply. Determined I can get it done with only 3 sheets. Tried to order from Aircraft Spruce, but they can't get me a freight quote till Monday.

April 25 2021 - 4.0hrs - 3686.0 total. Finished prepping last 4 ribs. Touched up glue joints on all ribs. Just need sanded down again. Made reinforcement plates for SB ribs 3 & 4 above radiator opening. Made templates for intercostal gussets. Have to make over 800 of those little pieces!

April 26 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3687.0 total. Sanded down all the glue joints on the last 12 ribs that were just scarfed. Ready to trace the templates onto the scarfed extensions now. Got a quote from Aircraft Spruce for freight charges on ply order. Looks like I should get all the ply all need for the wings at one shot so I only have to pay these freight rates once!

April 29 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3688.0. Went through wing plans in detail to put together parts order list for skin plywood and cap strip material. Also need to order flap motor.

April 30 2021 - 1.5hrs - 3689.5 total. Traced rib profile and details on scarfed extension of three ribs. Still nine more to go. Ordered spar cap material. Still trying to order ply for spar webs and wing skins, but have to catch them during the week and talk to the right person. Priced out the flap motor and even used its $800!!!

May 1 2021 - 4.5hrs - 3694.0 total. Traced templates onto remaining rib extensions. Cut lightening holes in the extensions as needed. Started trimming extensions down to final shape. Not easy to trim the ends of these large ribs on a band saw. Have new jigsaw on order. Will make this much easier.

May 3 2021 0.0hrs - 3694.0 total. Not counting this time. Spent about 1.5hrs looking at the landing gear attach point on the spar on the plans. I'm concerned that it will be OK to build the spar and close in the blocking in the area where the main gear attach. Dug out the Navion mains I purchased a couple of years ago to start thinking about potentially using them. It looks like no matter what gear I end up using, the blocking in the spar will be the same, so it won't hold up progress on the spar. Managed to get all the ply on order, but its not all in stock so it will be several weeks before it arrives.

May 6 2021 0.5hrs 3694.5 total. EAA Chapter meeting tonight. Managed to corner the welder and talk to him about modifying the Navion gear legs. He says that what I have in mind is possible - so that's good news! The jigsaw FINALLY arrived. Did a couple of quick cuts with it to try it out. Its amazing! This is going to save me a ton of time and effort. "The right tool for the right job!"

May 7 2021 - 2.5hrs - 3697.0 total. Used new jigsaw to trim up the scarfed on rib extensions and cut out the odd shaped lightening holes in the ribs. They are pretty rough and will need to be sanded down to final shape. Also there are several large cutouts that leave very little material on the outer edges of some of the ribs. I'm thinking that I'll wait till those areas are reinforced with cap strips or the called out reinforcing plates, before I remove the large cutouts. Borrowed a set of junk 6" rims and 600-6 tires to use in trial fitting the landing gear.

May 9 2021 - 2.0hrs - 3699.0 total. Got out the thimble sander and dressed and shape the internal cuts in the oddly shaped lightening holes. Used the handheld router and put 1/16" radius on all lightening hole edges. Found a few more large holes in the the 3/8" ribs that I skipped earlier. Will need to cut those out and clean up the edges.

May 10 2021 - 4.5hrs - 3703.5 total. Stayed home today while the garage door was repaired and a glass panel was installed. Spent some of the time working on the ribs. Cut out remaining large lightening holes, sanded to final shape with thimble sander. Routed 1/16" radius into all remaining lightening holes. Final sanded all airfoil profiles. Started final hand sanding of these last rib - 1 thru 6, port & SB.

May 12 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3704.5 total. Hand sanded three ribs.

May 13 2021 - 2.0hrs - 3706.5 total. Hand sanded 5 more ribs. The 31ft piece of spruce came in at the wood shop. Stopped by and inspected it. They will cut it and two other shorter pieces into the laminates for the spar. Should be done by next week.

May 15 2021 - 3.0hrs - 3709.5 total. Hand sanded last three ribs. Spar cap material arrived yesterday. Went through plans the clarify which ribs have spar caps and where. Not straightforward. Got out ribs 7 to 13. Discovered 7 to 10 have not been finished yet. Still need to do some work on them. Retraced missing cutouts onto ribs 10 P & SB.

May 16 2021 - 4.5hrs - 3714.0 total. Went back over ribs 1 to 13 P &SB and finished up any areas not done. Trial fit cap strips to a couple of ribs to see how tight the bends are. Will need to steam the leading end of top and bottom strips. Made up bending jigs - one for the top strips and one for the bottom. Boiled up four strips for each and clamped them in place to cool and dry.

May 17 2021 - 2.5hrs - 3716.5 total. Removed strips from jigs. Boiled up 8 more strips and clamped them into the jigs. Prepped one side of the lower edge of both rib # 1s (P & SB) and glued lower cap strip onto one side of each. Only about 70 more to go!

May 20 2021 - 0.5hrs - 3717.0 total. Removed clamps from glue job. Sanded opposite side of one of the ribs in prep for its cap strip. Laid out and dry clamped. Marked position. Ready to be glued in. Also removed 8 cap pieces from forming jigs.

May 21 2021 - 2.0hrs - 3719.0 total. Glued cap strip to the other side of the bottom of both rib #1s. Boiled and put 8 more cap strips into the forming jigs.

May 22 2021 - 3.0hrs - 3722.0 total. Removed clamps from glue job and removed cap strips from jigs. Prepped and glues cap strip to top edge on one side of each rib #1. Cut out a few of the intercostal gussets. Need to make about 500 of these little buggers. Spent some time planning how to make them in batches. I've worn out my cheap band saw and my table saw is about dead. The Dewalt table saw that I want to buy is out of stock everywhere, even on Amazon!

May 23 2021 - 1.5hrs - 3723.5 total. Removed clamps and prepped for gluing cap strips to other side of the top of both #1 ribs.

May 25 2021 - 0hrs - 3723.5 total. The plywood for the spar web and the wing skins has finally shipped. Ordered a new table saw. There are none in town, in fact there's a waiting list. My old one has finally gotten to the point its just unusable.

May 30 2021 - 2.0hrs - 3725.5 total. Glued last capstrip onto the #1 ribs.

May 31 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3726.5 total. Removed clamps from last glue job. Stored away both completed #1 ribs. Got out #2 ribs in prep to attach cap strips. New table saw came in. Went and picked it up and assembled it and its stand. Did a test cut with it - big difference from the old one!

July 10 2021 - 0.0hrs - 3726.5 total. Wow! Six weeks have gone by since I've updated this! Haven't done any more work directly on the project, but have done a lot of prep work. The large plywood order form Aircraft Spruce came in, so I should have all the wood that I need to finish the wings. Also, after a LOT of hassle and waiting, the laminates for the spar are in the shop. I've used the new table saw to build a large rolling scrap wood storage rack, primarily to have somewhere safe to put all that plywood, and secondarily, to get the shop cleaned up a bit. Also built a crosscut sled for the detail work on all of those intercostal gussets that need to be made. Hoping to start prepping for the spar build in the next few days.

July 11 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3727.5 total. Made room on the long worktable and got the laminate pieces up on there. Sorted through them all and it looks like I'll be able to make them work, even if it means having to do a couple of scarf joints. A couple of the 27' pieces are almost unusable do to surface marks that look like saw blade skipping. One of them has a crack just about in the middle. The good news is that of the long pieces - over 30ft - three of them are probably good enough to use as is. The bad news is that most of all of them, long and short, are warped quite a bit about 6 ft from the end. I don't know if this will be a problem yet. Will forge ahead for now.

July 15 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3728.5 total. Traced, rough cut, and sanded to shape about 20 intercostal gussets. As I've mentioned before I need to make over 800 of these things. Don't remember if I mentioned that I got a used flap motor from a guys collection. I need to try it to see if it will work, then we can negotiate a price.

July 17 2021 - 1.0hrs - 3729.5 total. Traced, rough cut, then sanded to shape about 25 or 30 more intercostal gussets. Also, the local Lowes has finally gotten in some 3/4" MDF that I've been waiting for to finish prepping the workbench for the spar layup. Still need to get it home and built, but at least they have the material now.

July 18 2021 - 1.5hrs - 3731.0 total. Made about 20 more gussets. Went and picked up 4 sheets of 3/4" MDF to prepare workbench for spar layup.

July 21 2021 0hrs - 3731.0 total. Spent about 2hrs cleaning up the shop and cleaning off the workbench so I can start the process of tying the two table extensions onto the main bench and getting it all leveled up. Also planning to add some braces across the bottom between the legs to allow somewhere to stack some cement blocks to stabilize the whole thing. Then I'll add the 3/4"MDF.

July 24 2021 - 4.0hrs - 3735.0 total. Aligned and attached the table extensions. Put some cross bracing under the table between the lower legs and put large cinder blocks on them to hold table from shifting. Went and bought a 72" straight edge/level and started leveling the table in preparation for the MDF top.

July 25 2021 - 4.5hrs - 3739.5 total. Had to replace most of the washers and bolts on the leg levelers to get them to grip properly. Finally got the entire table level and very close to flat, and sanded it down one more time. Laid the MDF pieces on the table and started to mark them for cutting. Decided to doublecheck the dimensions of the spar dihedral offset to make sure a 3ft wide table will be enough. Am having trouble locating the measurements from the datum to the reference points.

July 26 2021 - 2.0hrs - 3741.5 total. Got the MDF cut down to size and laying on the tabletop. Still going to need a little shimming here and there to get it flat.

Bruce's Spitfire

BUILDERS LOG - January to July 2021

All of the wing ribs in one shot. All those standing still need the scarf extensions.

The engine is here! Arrived in early December

Good shot of the massive PSRU. I will be using different exhaust stacks - not those shown.

Starting to get things arranged so I can start working again. Current work table is 16ft - needs to be 30!

Preparing to put the scarf on the end of the remaining ribs.

Both table extensions temporarily set in place to figure out best location for the table.

Used wide angle lens to get this shot of this surprisingly long table. 30ft is beginning to be real!

Ply stiffeners and templates for intercostal gussets.

Templates traced onto these three rib extensions

Still nine more to go

Navion mains - Trying to figure out the angles on the trunnions.

New DeWalt jigsaw finally arrived from Amazon - its fantastic!

Rough cutting the rib extensions and odd shaped lightening holes.

Four upper cap strips cooling in forming jig

Gluing cap strips onto lower edge of one side of both rib #1s (P & SB)

Gluing the 4th capstrip onto one of the #1 ribs

Rolling scrap wood storage cart - already almost full

All the new aircraft plywood on the new cart. The spar laminates on the floor - 31ft long!