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Preparation
1/29/2001  For weeks I have been mulling over whether to build an RV7, RV8 or an RV10. Today, after talking it over with Christine, I made the decision to build an RV8 rather than an RV7. Christine's OK with a tandem! I ordered the preview plans this morning.
1/30/2005 I made a web site for selling the Warrior (www.cchwear.com/warrior). The plan is to start building the RV8 and put the Warrior up for sale at the same time. I will order the tools and empennage kit now but I need to wait until the Warrior sells before ordering the wing kit. Doing it this way is good for two reasons:

1. That's the only way we can afford it. If our annuals continue to be like our previous two, just the savings of not doing them over then next three years pays for the empennage, wing and most of the fuselage kits.

2. We're burning the boats like Cortez. We will become renters until this project is finished. If that isn't motivation, I don't know what is.

I created a for sale flyer for putting up in the local FBOs. It isn't finished yet because I need a picture of the right side of the instrument panel. The weather here in Houston has been really stormy lately and I haven't really had a chance to even go to the airport much less do any flying.
1/31/2005 I bought an air compressor today. It is a 15gal Sears upright. I know it is smaller than what is suggested but the next larger size they had was 33gal. That would have taken up much too much space. I'll soon find out if this was a stupid decision. It's kind of noisy. I don't know yet if I'll build a closet for it or not.
2/1/2005 I called the Houston FSDO today to find out if there are any gotchas I need to know about before getting started. They referred me to the San Antonio MIDO.  The gentleman on the phone was very helpful. He also directed me to http://www.faa.gov/certification/aircraft/Special_Airworthiness_Certificates_Experimental_Category_General.htm for information on certification.

My garage needs a lot of work. Christine and I spent several hours cleaning it up and throwing away a lot of stuff. I have a 2 X 1 tandem garage. The shop is in the forward spot and I'll expand into the right rear spot when the time comes to build the fuselage.
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I took some measurements in the garage. As can be seen in the drawing to the right, the big parts should fit though I doubt I will be able to do any final assembly. The pictures above are the area where the tail is in the drawing.

I found a pneumatic squeezer on eBay for $55. There's 3 days left on the bidding. I have read that one of these is worth its weight in gold so I'll try to buy it
2/2/2005 Yippee!!! Today I received the preview plans. I almost ordered the empennage kit but I thought it might be better to go through the preview plans first. The little angel on my shoulder wagged its little finger at me and made me wait one more day.

From what I can tell only a flat table is used to build the empennage kit. I knew that the pre-drilling they do now precludes the need for a jig but I was halfway expecting to have to build something.

 

As much as I want to start digging into it, I decided to spend this evening copying my notes into this web site and making it look presentable.
2/3/2005 I faxed in my order today for an empennage kit with the optional elevator electric trim. I wish they could do this via email or the web so that there could be at least some confirmation as to whether they received it and when it will be here.
2/5/2005 I ordered the empennage tool kit and a pneumatic drill from Isham's (http://www.planetools.com/) for $739.90. I placed a bid in the last 15 minutes on the pneumatic squeezer for up to $180 on eBay. It won at $157.50. I am not sure how all of this is going to work out so I don't want to buy all  of the required tools until I need them.
2/6/2005 I built a 3' x 6' table out of leftovers I had laying around the "shop". The picture to the left below is of my daughter Monica about to be sucked into a wet vac..

I ordered Alodine, Azco epoxy primer, and Alumiprep from Aircraft Spruce.  My plan is to prime everything except for the inside skins. I bought a 6" bench grinder, a filter/separator for my air compressor and lots of Scotch Brite pads from Home Depot.
2/7/2005 I stopped by Hooks airport and spoke with Tom and Brian. I was there to get something fixed on my Warrior. Both of them are A&Ps (Bill is an AI) and both built and own RV6s. I bombarded Bill with questions. After talking to Bill and hearing how much he has had to deal with corrosion in airplanes on the Gulf Coast, I am now having second thoughts about relying upon Alclad for the inside of the skins.

I went to Home Depot with Monica and bought the lumber to build the wing jig. When we arrived at home, I went ahead and built it. I used 2 x 4 put together as a T rather than using the 4 x 4 as specified in the plans. The only 4 x 4s I could find were pressure treated and thus very heavy and toxic when cut.
2/8/2005 I put an ad in Trade-a-Plane and AvWeb for the Warrior. They both reference http://www.cchwear.com/warrior. I added a shelf to the garage.
2/9/2005

The tools came in today. Everything was there. The Scotch Brite wheel arrived as well. I mounted the wheel and put most of the tools up on a peg board.

2/10/2005 The primer, Alumiprep and Alodine arrived today from Aircraft Spruce. The squeezer arrived from some guy on eBay. I ordered a new yoke from Isham's.

I also built a small play table for the kids. The idea is for it to be kind of like a decoy to keep them away from the expensive and dangerous stuff. That combined with my boom box playing death metal should keep them at a safe distance.
5/15/2005 I built a horizontal stabilizer holder out of a 6 foot length of MDF shelving and some 2" cedar strips. I lined the parts that make contact with metal with foam and strips of cloth. I don't have a whole lot of room in the garage so I decided to keep all built sub-assemblies in the house where Christine has her quilting supplies. So far she is OK with this.

 

email: Luis Luciani