Building the Velocity XL-RG

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January 2011

Now that the doors are looking okay, it's time to get back to work on the wings. Since we're now working on the tops of the wings (where they will be easy to view (as opposed to the underside)) it's important that they are as close to perfect as we can get them. We already did some extensive sanding and removed a bunch of unnecessary filler, but there are still some low spots. And Malcolm (ever the perfectionist) wasn't happy with my strake-wing joints.

So first we located (again) the low spots and marked them. Then we put in the aluminum "dams" that Malcolm uses to retain and improve the joint.

Here's a picture of the pilot side strake/wing with the aluminum in place



Same side from the back.


CoPilot side.


The gap along the back was really high so we knew there'd be no filler going on there.

Right wing with low spots marked.


Then it's time to add the Resin Research resin and microballoon.

Right wing with a layer of filler.


At the wing/strake joint


Right wing aft of the strake.


While I thought the doors were fine (especially compared to how they were), they still weren't "good enough". So some fill had to be added around the upper/aft edge of the co-pilot door.


Here's the pilot side wing-strake joint.


And then the filler has to be sanded down. :-(




But now the tops of the wings and strakes are as good as they can be made until we get some primer on it. Once the surface is is close to being smooth but in full "spotted dog" mode, the variations in texture make it difficult to determine if you're feeling a low spot or a change in surface texture. So once the entire surface is primed, we'll block it out and see if there are anymore low or high spots. Until then, there not much more to do with the wings.
 

February 2011

The transition between windows and fuselage needed a lot of work. The windows are noticeably lower than the adjacent fuselage. So it was time to sand (again). Fortunately, there are only three windows.

Here's the "before" pilot side rear window.



Here's the after picture of the same window. Notice that much of the white filler close to the window has been removed.



After of the right side of the windshield.



Co-pilot side rear window.





After re-aligning the doors, there were some areas that didn't have enough clearance. So those edges of the door opening got sanded down and in some places we went through the glass into foam. So those had to be filled and glassed.


Once that was done, then we had to make the space between the door and the fuselage a uniform width (and straight). This can be tricky and tedious. Since the doors are opening and closes all the time, a wider gap has to be created (unlike the wing-to-strake joint). And it's not a straight line; it curves. So Malcolm obtained some conveyor belt material that was flexible and just the right thickness. We cut templates out of cardboard and then transferred those to the "spacer" material.

Here are some of the pieces ready to go.


The areas of the fuselage that are low have to be marked so we know where to add filler.

The following are pictures of the door with the spacer material inserted and the doors and fuselage marked.








Release wax is applied to the spacer material prior to being inserted into the gap between the door and fuselage. Then a thick cabo and Resin Research mixture is forced between the fuselage and spacer material. Since this will be an exposed edge, using just micro balloon would be too fragile. The cabo will provide a very hard edge that won't crack when hit getting in and out of the plane.

Then regular micro balloon filler is used away from the edge to take care of the low spots on the fuselage.





And then it was sand, sand, sand.

Since the conveyer belt material was only smooth on one side, it was only possible to do one side at a time. So the procedure was repeated for the door side of the gap.







And then it's sand, sand, sand.

I wish there was some way to illustrate the finished product. The lines are just awesome. When you run your hand over the surface from fuselage to door to fuselage, it feels perfectly smooth. But there's no way to get a picture of that. So once we shoot it in white, shiny primer, you'll see.


We have an engine!

The engine showed up on February 25th.

A Continental IO550-N. 2,000 hours total time and 0 SMOH (Since Major Over Haul) just out of the shop. Balanced, blueprinted, ported, polished with overhauled cylinders and a fresh coat of paint.

Ain't it purty?






March 2011

Seats

I received the foam cushions from Oregon Aero for the front seats. You'll remember last year that we had to modify the pilot seat to accommodate my larger-than-average build (height, not weight, mind you). Once I put the foam on the seat bottom and seat back I discovered 3 problems.
 

1) I didn't think about the height of the seat back. In this picture from last year notice where the top of the seat back is in relation to my neck. Can you say "neck injury"? I didn't notice this before because I didn't have any foam in the seat back at the time.

2) When I had them build the cushions I specified to keep the bottom foam as thin as possible (so I would have adequate headroom). It didn't occur to me that the seat back cushion thickness would be a problem so I had them use the normal thickness. But because the seat bottom is angled so much, every inch of seat back cushion thickness moves me forward (and up). So I don't have enough headroom again.

3) Because of the thicker seat back cushion moving me forward on the seat bottom, my thighs are not supported very well.

Fixing 2 and 3 are easy. I just tell the folks at Oregon Aero to make my seat back cushion like my seat bottom cushion... as thin as possible. That'll give me headroom and thigh support. But fixing 1 isn't going to be easy. I thought about an adjustable headrest (like are found in most cars). But then I discovered that the seat back has a "curve" to it. Around the shoulders, it curves to the front so that the back of your head is supported. But with me, the curve started around mid-back.

So I made the decision to modify the seat back to accommodate me. (I should have done the seat bottom too. But I can do that later).

Here's the stock seatback.


And after the "cut".


Wood sticks are glued in place to hold the two pieces the correct distance apart and keep them aligned.


A section of 1/4" foam is placed between the two pieces and tooling wax is attached to the sides.


Then the foam is covered with a micro-slurry and the inside (front) of the seat back is covered with 3 layers of BID and 1 layer of Triax. Once dry, the seat back is flipped over and the same is done to the outside (back). I then mounted the seat in the plane with the seat bottom cushion and a piece of 1/2" scrap foam in the back.

Here's the result.


I sent the modified seat back to Oregon Aero so they could build up a taller and thinner cushion.

The ugly nose.

"That's an ugly nose". I don't have a picture of it, but the nose of the plane isn't the best looking thing. Malcolm says it looks like it has an overbite (the top sticks out a little further than the bottom). The fix is kind of weird. A thick mixture of micro and cabo is plopped on to the nose.



Once it hardens, it's sanded to a point. This is one of those "artistic" things that I'm not very good at but Malcolm excels at.




The artist reviewing his work. :-)


Then the point is knocked down and rounded over to make a "proper" nose.


The elevators have a counterweight at the outboard end to balance them. A pocket is cut into the canard to allow the elevator through it full movement. The weight on the outboard end isn't enough to completely balance the elevators so additional weight is added to the center pivot. But to get the elevator perfectly balanced requires a LOT of weight at that center position. There were some reports of flutter developing with this setup so the factory has recommended adding the additional weight at the outboard position. This will require making the existing pocket larger. I thought about adding the weight outboard of the existing weight but that would have been a pain as my canard tips are hollow. So I decided to add the weight inboard of the existing weights. I checked with Scott at the factory and he said that would be fine.

Here's the left side pocket with tape marking the cut.


After the cut is made and glassed in, I'll have to make the fairing (the "bump" above the pocket) larger. Rather than make a new foam block and cover it with BID, Malcolm said that since it's such a small amount that it would be good to just mold a addition out of thick micro. This is almost like sculpting. Which is one of the art things that I'm not good at.

So here's Malcolm creating a new fairing addition.


And this is the final pocket and fairing.


During all of this I realized that I've never had the wings and canard on at the same time. Time for a picture!

Unfortunately, the lighting and the flash don't make for a great picture but you get the idea.

 

Sun-n-Fun is coming up so on Tuesday (3/29) me and Ann are heading down to Tampa and we'll spend Wednesday at Sun-n-Fun.

April 2011

We had a great time at Sun-n-Fun on Wednesday. The weather was perfect. Saw Tom Lawson of Firewall Forward who supplied the engine. I picked up some supplies and talked to a few vendors. Wednesday night we had dinner with Richard and Sheri. On Thursday we had some plans to hang out in Tampa. Turns out that was perfect timing. Lakeland, FL got hit by a tornado that destroyed numerous aircraft. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries (to people).

While I was playing in Florida, Malcolm was plugging away with surfacing stuff. Getting the windows just right, fixing the damage from the unexpected nose gear retraction. Other stuff like that. Malcolm doesn't like the way that the factory does the window installation so he spent a lot of time trying to make them "good enough".
 

Now it's time to get ready for the first coat of primer. Like on the bottom, we'll start with the gray primer. There are a couple of places that we simply can't figure out if we have a low spot or an area surrounded by some high spots. Once the gray primer is one, then we will (hopefully) be able to figure it all out.

Before the primer goes on, we need to mount the control surfaces (ailerons and rudders). The ailerons come first. They're six feet long. I start by squaring the cutouts on the wings and the ailerons and making sure the spacing is equal on the ends and that the trailing edge of the aileron matches the wing.

To hold the aileron in place during all this, a 7-foot long aluminum angle stock is clamped to the bottom of the wing.

Here's the right aileron in place.


 

Then the location of the three hinges (per aileron) are marked and the barrel area was cut out. While I was doing that, Malcolm was cutting the hinges.

This is the cut out for the inboard hinge on the left aileron.



I decided that it was important that the hinges be perfectly aligned. So I took the angle stock and clamped the hinges to it and clamped the angle stock to the wing.

Inboard hinge on the right aileron.



Then the (unclamped) part of the hinge is held in place and holes are drilled into the wing.

The next step is to cleco the hinges in position to the wing and verify that the fit is still correct.



Next foam is placed in front of the hinges to push them against the aileron (when it's put it position). 5 minute epoxy is mixed and applied to the aileron-side of the hinge.

Here's Malcolm putting the epoxy on the hinge.



Once the epoxy sets, the cleco's are removed and then we drill into the aileron. After a hole is drilled, a cleco is used to hold the hinge in position just in case the hinge comes loose.

Here, after the first couple of holes are drilled into the middle hinge of the left aileron.



After all the holes are drilled, the hinge is popped off the aileron.



Then the hinge is disassembled. Structural adhesive is applied to the hinge. The hinge is put in position and rivets are used to permanently attach the hinge to the aileron.

Finished product:


After the structural adhesive cured, we put both ailerons on and sanded around the opening to insure that they moved without any binds.

Priming

Here's the "before" shot with the (top) in full "spotted dog" mode.


Since Malcolm has only one respirator, he did just about all the spraying. I mixed when he ran low on primer.

Spraying primer.


Almost done


The "after" shot. (we put the canard on hatch covers on just because)


Malcolm suggested painting a mouth with teeth under the nose since it looks like a shark.

And here's another reason to prime at this point. The plane is COVERED with pinholes. They're almost impossible to see until the surface is in a single uniform color. Once it is, they are VERY easy to see.



Rudders
 

The procedure for mounting the rudders is similar to the ailerons... Just backwards. First the bottom of the rudders are squared up and the fit is verified. Then the hinges are mounted to the rudders with structural epoxy and countersunk rivets.

One of the hinge pads drilled and countersunk ready for the hinge.


Next two holes are drilled in the winglet.


Then Malcolm held the hinge in place and with a thin piece of steel, pressed hinge against the inside of the winglet. While he was doing that, I drilled through the hole in the winglet into the hinge. Once the hole was drilled, a cleco held it in position and a the second hole was drilled.

All three hinges drilled with two holes each.


Close up.


A third hole is then drilled in each hinge.

Here's an interesting tidbit. What does Malcolm do when he's not building airplanes? He builds scale WWII tanks (insert original Flight of the Phoenix movie reference here).

Here's one of his masterpieces.




See the tow cables on the side of the tank? The little helmet on the side of the turret? Oh yeah... and the treads; they actually move.

The back of the tank.



How about that little tiny bucket? It's hand made... Out of metal. I'll bet it actually holds water.

Back of the turret.


Check out those canteens.

And this tank is about SIX INCHES LONG. Many of the parts on this tank are fabricated from scratch in Malcolm's model building facility. He uses pictures of actual tanks, maintenance manuals, construction drawings (the original 70 year old documents), etc. when building these tanks. The detail is almost scary. Most of the times when he shows me what he's working on, I can barely see it. He makes bolt heads that are only a couple thousands of an inch across.

Back to the plane.

Now that the rudders are mounted, the control of the rudders is the next task. The rudders are activated by a "horn" (basically a bellcrank) that is attached to the bottom of the rudder. But there's a slight problem. The book says "Place your rudder horn on the bottom of the rudder." But there's no part number. Which would indicate that this is not a supplied part. But there's also no template that is typically used to make one. A phone call to other builders indicate that this is supposed to be included in the kit. I'm sure that I could get the two horns shipped out to
me. But where's the fun in that???

So the first thing I had to do is make a template.

This is the bottom of the left rudder. I've drawn a line to indicate how far the horn will extend.



Here's the template held against the right rudder.



Since the rudders are a symmetrical, I only need one template. I'll just need to flip it over to for the other rudder.



The rudder horn is mounted to the bottom of the rudder by means of a hardpoint embedded in the foam. But the hard point provided is a puny piece of 1/8" aluminum about 1 inch x 2 inch square. I decided to upgrade to a 1/4" hardpoint the covers the entire area under the rudder horn.

First I removed the foam where the rudder horn and hardpoint will go.



Then the web (fiberglass) is removed at the front of the rudder.
 

Here's the hardpoint dryfitted.



And the rudder horn.



Then I filled the pocket with an epoxy/cabo mix, pushed the hardpoint in place and covered it with 3x BID.

After it cured, I trimmed away the excess and was left with this.



Then the rudder horns were sanded along the edges to remove any nicks from cutting and the fit was checked again.



Two holes were drilled for mounting




Then I put the horn in position, drilled into the hardpoints and tapped the holes.

After that I drilled a hole in the end and mounted the rudder cable attach pulley.



Here's the finished product.



And this is a factory hardpoint.



Not much meat there for mounting.

These rudders aren't really rudders in the traditional sense. They're actually vertically oriented ailerons that can only be deflected in one direction. End result is that to get them back in the neutral position, a spring is used. The spring is embedded in the winglet. A one inch diameter hole is drilled into the back of the winglet five inches deep. To keep the hole from damaging the navigation antenna, it's important to keep the drill laterally aligned. It's also important to keep the drill aligned vertically so that it's perpendicular to the leading edge of the
rudder.

So a line is placed on the side of the winglet.




Then a hole saw drill is chucked into the drill. Malcolm will make sure the drill is aligned laterally. I will watch from the side tell Malcolm whether he's high or low. Once the hole is drilled, the spring sleeve is sanded, the hole is coated with an epoxy/cabo mix and the sleeve is inserted.

Here's Malcolm drilling into the winglet. While he's drilling, I'm saying "up" and "down" so he can keep the drill on line.



This is the rudder return spring epoxied in position.



Finally, the rudder and aileron ends need to be covered with a layer of lightweight fiberglass.

This is the inside surface of the right aileron with a layer of fiberglass and peel-ply.



In the middle of all this I had to teach a Nexus 7000 class in New Jersey at the end of April. Ann was in New York at the same time. When she was done with her business on the 28th, she came to New Jersey. After the class was over on April 29 we drove down to Wilmington, DE to attend my neice's graduation. She was receiving her MBA that she obtained in 18 months on her own while working two jobs. Beat that!!!

Kris.


Kris and her proud papa.


The following Saturday, I drove Ann to Philly to catch a flight home. Then I took Kris to lunch and then we went for a sightseeing flight over Delaware and New Jersey.

Kris at the controls.


She's got a real good touch on the controls. Most people over-control but she seems to have a knack for it.

Pitot tube install.

The pitot tube is what measures the airflow so that we know how fast the airplane is moving through the air. This sucker was pricey too. Malcolm had some steel stock with the same cross-section as the pitot tube. So I cut a length of it and drilled four mounting holes in it.

The manual calls out the location of the pitot tube as 6.75 inches below the canard and 18 inches forward of the door.

+ marks the spot.


Closer



And the hole is cut out.



The sleeve and pitot tube dry fitted.

Then the structural adhesive is mixed and the sleeve is permanently installed. The alignment is important to insure a correct airspeed indication. Forward alignment is accomplished using a framing square clamped to the canard bulkhead and visually referencing the pitot tube to the framing square.



And we used a digital level to verify that it's... level. The tripod is used to hold the position while the epoxy sets.
 

May 2011

NACA modification

The NACA ducts provide cooling air to the engine. To obtain the maximum airflow (in my opinion) the path must be as smooth as possible. But I noticed a problem with this.

Here's a picture looking up at the back of the pilot side NACA duct.


When the engine cowling is installed, there will be about an 1/8" flange on the inside of the top of the duct.

To illustrate, here's a couple of drawings

This is the side view showing the bottom of the duct (sloped) and the top/rear of the duct.


Here's the same view but with the cowling installed (Red). Now instead of a smooth surface along the top, there's a "step". The other problem is that the factory ducts are missing an important feature which is a large radius along that top lip.


And now my solution. I'm going to glue a strip (Blue) in front of the engine cowling which will be the same thickness as the flange.


This will accomplish 1) smooth surface on the inside 2) a thicker radius and 3) a more rigid surface across the top of the duct.

Here's the same view as before with the strip installed.

Then it's time for Malcolm to work his magic. Creating a proper, uniform radius is an artistic thing. And I've come to learn that when it comes to something like that, it's best left to Malcolm.

It was hard to get a picture of the leading edge of the lip. This is the best I could do.


Rudders... again

Now that the rudders have been mounted, the stops need to be created. This is what determines the "rest" position of the rudders. The stops are the trailing edge of the wing.

This is a picture of the pilot side wing at the bottom of the rudder cutout. The red circled area will be the stop. The other opening at the bottom has since been filled with foam and 1 layer of fine BID.



Normally, foam is inserted into the opening and a couple layers of BID are applied. but in my case, it was going to be a LOT more work. Seems the wing was cut back much too far. So here's what we did.

First, the opening was trued up. The existing line was very ragged and uneven. Then we shaped foam for the opening and used micro to bond it in place. (In this picture, you can see where the opening on the bottom has already been filled.)



Then, the foam is trimmed back to be flush with the opening.

Two layers of thin duct tape are applied to the rudder where it will meet the wing and masking tape is applies to the surrounding area. Then the fiberglass starts getting applied. On the copilot side, we ended up with FIVE layers of triax and 2 layers of BID while on the pilot side we only needed 1 layer of tirax and 2 layers of BID.

Here's the co-pliot side with the fiberglass in place and the rudder held in position.



Once the epoxy cured, the rudder is removed.


Then the glass was trimmed and sanded to create an extension of the wing.

Radius

Before starting on the sanding of the primer, the radius at the strake/fuselage intersection has to be done (again). The bottom is already done, now it's time for the top.

This is another one of those artistic things. :-)

Malcolm whips up a batch of thick micro and puts in the corner. Then he uses his custom build radius tool to create a uniform radius. (I have to remember to bring my camera. These are with a camera phone)




The intersection between the winglet and the wing gets a radius too. Just slightly smaller.



Return of the spotted dog

With the pin holes filled and the radius done, it's time to sand. Most of the sanding should be uneventful. But some areas will be... enlightening. There were a couple spots on the wing where we just couldn't figure out what was going on. High spot? Low spot? But
with the whole area in gray, once we started sanding these areas, it became crystal clear. On the copilot wing, there were some low spots. But they aren't low enough for micro and they were too low for primer.

Time for some backyard chemistry.

We decided to to mix micro balloon with the Akzo-Nobel gray primer. Since the micro balloon is inert, there shouldn't be any reaction with the primer. I thought that we should do a small amount on a test area but Malcolm was absolutely certain there wouldn't be a problem so we charged ahead. I mixed up the concoction and applied it with a roller (no way to spray it since it was real thick).

Here's the result.

I had to head home the following morning but Malcolm says that it cured fine, sands easy and filled the low spots.

June 21
I hate sanding!!! Just spent the last week sanding in prep for the final priming. Between sanding, filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling... I'm just done. No pictures because there's just nothing worth taking a picture of. But... I finally got the copilot wing figured out. Well, maybe not "figured out" but it's right. I don't know if it was a high or a low spot, but now it's true.

Hopefully, before I leave, we'll at least have the final coat of gray. The biggest problem now is heat. We had to quit at 3pm today. I went to pick up a countersink bit and the thermometer in the Explorer read 116 at 4pm today. And yes, that's Fahrenheit. At these temps, the primer will kick before we can spray it.

In the middle of all the sanding, pinhole patrol and final prep, I had to work on the "human factors". After I got my seat geometry figured out and Oregon Aero modified the foam, I wanted to verify that I could fit inside the cabin and reach everything. So brought the seat down with me along with the foam and mounted it in the plane... And it still wasn't right. It took me a while to determine what was wrong. I could reach the stick and instrument panel but I literally had to reach. If I moved the seat forward, the stick and panel were within reach. But then my knees were sticking up too high.

I tried tweaking the adjustments on the rudder pedals but I couldn't move them far enough forward. So I decided to modify them.

Here's a side view of one of the rudder pedals.

On the right is where you would put your foot. The white triangular piece is where the pedal assembly mounts. It's allowed to pivot up and down to activate the brakes. The hole to the right of the mount is where the brake master cylinder attaches. What I did was to drill a new set of hole 1.5" aft. This results in the pedal being 1.5" forward of it's original position. Now with the seat adjusted so that my feet are on the pedals, the stick is at my right hand and the instrument panel is easily within reach. It could be better. But for now, it'll do. Here's the "after" picture.

After spending the week working on the fuselage, all we accomplished was to get the final coat of gray primer/filler/sealer. And of course, there were more pinholes. Malcolm's philosophy is that every time you find/fix 90% of the problems. There will always be more. But eventually, you reach the point of diminishing returns.

July 2011

I have a weekend between a Nexus class in Washington, DC and one in Richmond, VA. So after class on Friday, I flew into Greenville and on Saturday morning we started the final sanding. When I landed on Friday afternoon, the thermometer on the plane read 63! A really bizarre cold snap for the middle of July but perfect for spraying. We spent all day sanding, washing, rinsing and masking.

Here's that damned right wing. I thought we were done with it. But after the final sanding, the spot reappeared. It feels like a low (or flat) spot in the middle. But we keep sanding through to what seem to be ridges towards the front and rear. We went back and forth about what to do. We settled on looking at it when it was wet from the washing. When we did, it looked fine. So in the end, I made the call: Charlie Mike.