It never gets old.  A couple of weeks go by and it doesn't feel like I've made much progress and I come back to look at these pictures and video and I see how far I've come.  

At this time the right wing has the wingtip removed and when the hinge comes in I'll be ready to swap that out.  The workbench is quickly not being able to support the fuselage, so it'll go on the mains here soon.  That will be quite the milestone to reach.

In looking at some of the pictures here the wiring isn't in the final location after making a couple of test runs on the install.

My nephew Nathan and my father-in-law Harold were over again to help with the build.  Having the extra hands has been super helpful.  As the weather gets warmer I should have the garage door open a bit more and it will be more pleasant to work in the garage.  

Today I took delivery of the finishing kit... but I moved that straight into storage as I don't have the room to get into that right now, but I do need to get the inventory done on it to make sure it lines up with everything they indicated shipped.

At this time the only things needing to be delivered will be the avionics, the interior kit and the engine... I gotta get back out into the garage and keep going!  :D

A lot of building has been done since August of 2021. 

On December 21st I had my first Technical Counselor visit.  I'm a member of EAA Chapter 43 of which their TC Jim Sutton stopped by to review my work.  I've been a bit confused/concerned about how I'm doing and moving through the assembly with reasonable ease and speed, so I wanted someone to double-check my work and he was happy to help.

The consensus on the review was that I was handily on track and addressing all of the major concerns he has with most builds.  Basically paying attention to locations of potential vibration, proper deburing processes and anything else that causes problems in an airplane.  Jim left me with a very positive feeling that I am on the right track of things.  Of course it gets more complicated from here, so buckle up.

Here is the current state of each phase.

Empennage:

• Everything is completed minus installing the trim motor (which will be done after painting).

Fuel Tanks:
While technically the fuel tanks are part of the wings, there is enough work to be completed on each of these it deserves its own heading.

• I should receive the remainder of the rivets necessary to complete the back portion of the second fuel tank.  I'm waiting to complete both tanks as I need a bit of pro seal to tidy up some spots on the first wing I worked on completing.  
• Pressure testing of the fuel tanks is next to make sure I don't have any leaks (let's say a small prayer here to make sure I don't have any leaks).

Wings:

• The flaps and ailerons still need the leading edge rivets installed when they can be matched up to the wings.  This will be done once the main wing is complete.
• The left wing still needs to have the wing tip installed along with the position light
• On the right wing I ran short of zip ties over the past few weeks and the order is taking a bit longer than I was willing to wait, so the wing was put into storage until they come in.  Once the zip ties are in, I can secure the electrical wires in the wing and close the top up.  Once the top is on then the mirror wing tip and position light will need to be installed to match the left wing.
• The rest of the items noted on the wings will take up probably a week or so worth of work to complete.
• Leading edges between the fuel tanks and wing tips will still need to be installed but has to come after the fuel tanks installation.
• Landing lights - but I *think* those come after paint
• Finishing kit will contain the control rods for the ailerons and flaps which will need to be installed as well.

Given I'm waiting on a number of items for each of these parts (Fuel tanks and wings) it is time to move onto the fuselage.  It's crazy to see where things are at now, but I just keep pulling parts out of the boxes and putting them together.  I'm not far enough along yet to have any sort of punch list, but that will come.

A question came up on my YouTube channel about the time commitment along with the build/work/life balance in building a plane.  The question revolved around if I worked full time and how I was accomplishing the work so far. I spent a fair amount of time on my response and thought the response would be good to include here. 

Long story short - yes, I am still working full-time and maintaining a career.  The more verbose TL;DR answer is below.

You know, I've honestly been thinking about this a fair amount during my build process.

I recently watched a presentation done by a Sling4 builder.  As near as I can tell from his presentation he had everything working for him to complete the build in a reasonable amount of time.  He has a mechanical engineering degree (so he knows certain engineering principles), he was building at home (although his garage was a bit on the smaller size) and never throughout the entire presentation did he ever make the excuse of "kids, family, work, etc" as a reason why he didn't get to the build process.  After 5 years of working on it he was only at the phase of having the fuselage on the mains with the engine on the front.  Ultimately he wound up having to hire someone to finish the project up.  I hope to bump into him someday to see about what the reasons why he wasn't able to complete the project as it intrigues me.  I don't fault or shame him for not getting it done - everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but he seemed like he had everything there to complete the project.

I also think about the folks that go through the process to get their pilots license.  It's not a trival process and takes some serious commitment and determination.  In discussing this with a friend of mine who is a retired chemistry school teacher.  She's very analytical and very methodical.  In my mind I believe she could build an airplane.  But she knows herself and isn't confident in her abilities to accomplish such a task.  I certainly can't convince her otherwise, nor is it my job to do so.  I do respect her position and don't push.  So in the end, it's just not in the cards for some folks.

As for myself - here are the things that I think work in my favor:

1. I'm married with no kids and an amazingly supportive wife for these types of projects.  In one of my earliest videos I talk about "the talk" every spouse goes through when deciding to build an airplane.  My wifes response when I brought up the subject was "when do we start".  btw - having the spouse on board and approval of the time commitment is ESSENTIAL.
2. I'm no stranger to big projects.  In my adult life I've managed to complete 3 different scratch built basements with bathrooms and bedrooms.  All three took between 15 and 18 months to complete.  I did all of the trades from electrical, plumbing, framing, drywall and finishing.  I leverage in the areas where I'm not as skilled in (or don't want to actually do the work).
3. My work schedule is fairly consistent.  Sure there are the exceptions to this, but I rarely if ever travel for work and when I do it's for a very short period of time.
4. I am building the airplane at home.  Which means I can go out to the garage and dabbble a bit for a few minutes or hours without having to worry about stopping for a moment for a snack or to help on something else.
5. The time between the order placement and arrival of the kit was 10 months.  In that period of 10 months I prepared the work environment to be as organized as possible and started notifying all of my outside commitments that I was going to be less available than normal for a few years due to the plane build.  I haven't given up my outside commitments (I serve on an HOA board and volunteer for a state wide aviation group as their web master), but I do limit the amount of "extra" work I take on from these commitments.
6. I say "no" to a lot of things.  This includes committing to watching TV series/shows or other projects that others may be seeking my help with.  I can return to these activities when I am done.
7. I still say "yes" to the important things that matter.  I still exercise and enjoy an evening out with friends where I can.  The importance here is to find the balance and I think I'm doing an o.k. in managing the balance.
8. Knowing I was going into this project I horded my vacation time until the kit arrived.  Covid has been actually an advantage for me in this effort.  Vacations pretty much ground to a halt anyway.  So by the time the kit arrived I had nearly 8 weeks of PTO accured at my work.  From the week of Oshkosh 2021 I was taking at least every other week or every third week off since July.  This has helped a lot.  Keep in mind I've only taken 6 of those weeks off, and when I do take the time off I focus mostly on the build during that time.
9. I studied a lot of other people's builds during the time between the order and the kit arrival.  Additionally I got lucky as another SlingTsi builder moved into the area and I have made myself available to help with his build.  It mostly was just holding/handing tools to him as he needed them.  I honestly didn't know what I was doing other than just hanging out doing what I could to make myself useful.
10. I have some absolutely amazing neighbors.  My father-in-law lives at the other end of a shared alleyway and have been storing the unbuilt section and completed sections of the kit in his house.  It's a short 2 minute walk to his place.  My nextdoor neigbhors hounded me about why I wasn't using their garage to store airplane parts in their garage.  So when the wings were underway, I would work on one wing while the other was stored in their garage.  I have their garage door code and have been told numerous times that I have access anytime I want - but I am respectful of their time and try to always let them know when I am entering/exiting.  Another neighbor across the alley is a snowbird and is in AZ for the winter and is letting us keep our vehicle in their garage during the cooler months.  By having this support network I don't have to take the extra time to run to a storage unit, I just walk over and grab what I need.
11. I also am constantly staying on top of all the different vendors for delivery times to make sure no one is waiting on me.  I slide this in here and there during my work day.  Having parts and materials all on site is important.  Right now I got behind on zip ties which is delaying me a day until I get the next order in.  Not a huge deal, but if it was a week, then I couldn't complete this stage until it's in.
12. I'm working on multiple things at the same time.  Currently I have the right wing occupying the main bench.  The fuel tanks are waiting on rivets (this is the parts thing to stay on top of).  The wings are waiting on the fuel tanks but even with that - there are plenty of things to be working on around that.  Basically if you think about it as any large project or company.  Airlines don't make money unless the airplanes are flying, so what do you have to do to keep them flying?  I used to work at a newspaper where the presses measured in the tens of millions of dollars - the only way the paper was making money is if the presses were printing something.  So I'm always trying to stay moving with purpose.  Not busy work, but with purpose.

Other things that keep me going overall is watching others build processes.  If you have caught the UK Sling build - that guy impresses the hell out of me.  He did the empennage, wings AND fuselage builds in a shed in his back yard.... A GARDEN SHED!  I'm building mind in a 2 1/2 car garage, so my space has to be palacial compared to his... but even with all that - from where I'm roughly at now he was about 12 months from being at first flight.  The gentleman locally was about the same timeframe... so I'm hoping by next xmas I'll be doing first flights.

Anyway - that's all for now.  Look for an update later in January.

Good news!  Good News!  A torque tube has arrived.  And yes, I needed two of them.  At the time of this writing I needed two torque tubes and have one in hand!  That's progress for sure.

Since I was finishing up the fuel senders in the last video I spent the time waiting on the tubes to get a few more items off the checklist.  It's kinda funny.  The previous video and post make it seems like very little was accomplished the past few weeks, but what it feels like is far more was done.  After putting the empennage to bed at my father-in-laws house I pulled out the rear fuselage material to start assembling those parts.  Overall the ribs aren't too bad to put together.  The main trick is getting the parts all lined up correctly.  I talk about this a little bit in the video.  Effectively the parts are all designed to go together in EXACTLY the right way.  If you don't put them together correctly, they don't fit.  So it's a good feeling when things don't appear to be fitting well together and all the sudden everything clicks together.

After a week I got the Rear Fuselage ribs together, the torque tube arrived and I needed to get the fuel tanks tested and wrapped up.  Even though I genuinely thought the tanks were good I took the extra step to test the tanks with water.  I'm really glad I did - not only did they leak, but they REALLY leaked.  Where they were leaking would have been a major pain to resolve if the backs were on, so chalk this one up to being prudent and checking at each phase of things.

I got the tanks re-sealed in the areas where they were seeping out water and did another re-test.  A few ones that didn't appear the first time appeared, so I adjusted again.  The third test was the trick.  Everything seems good to go from the front of the fuel tank.  So I worked on attaching the rear portion of the fuel tank.  I ran a little short of the pro seal, so I've got another tube on order and will crack that open when I'm ready to wrap up the second tank at which time I'll have plenty of pro seal to go around.

Once the tanks were squared away and the rear fuselage ribs were stowed I got the left wing out of storage to wrap up the ribs with the torque tube.  This phase all went together quite smoothly.  At this time the back skins are riveted on.  The next steps I will be taking is working on getting the electronics installed, the pitot tube installed and mount the necessary electronics inside.  I was going to build some mount points out of spare aluminum, however I changed my mind at the last minute to use the ClickBond material which I used a bit in the vertical stabilizer.  Their product works really well.  It's quite permanent, or as permanent as the airplane is going to be, but it is expensive.  

During the week this week I'll fiddle about with the electrical work and getting going on the pitot until I get the last toque tube, pro seal and ClickBond materials - hopefully by this weekend.  I have the last week of the year off from work.  I am hoping I can still get all the control surfaces together here before the end of the year and move onto the fuselage.  Obviously it take as long as it takes, but with due diligence it's coming together quite nicely.  

As I mentioned in the previous post I have the firewall forward kit on the way, the finishing kit not the way, the interior on order/on the way, the instrument panel order in (which basically means I'm in queue to get built) and the engine on order.  I have the prop already here.  So a number of very major items are all in play at the moment.  If the fuselage goes together as quickly as I expect it to, I may actually be stuck on waiting for the engine/instrument panels, but that's how the ball bounces here.  The good news is I think everything but figuring out the paint scheme is settled or in progress at the moment.

Anyway - next update should be either the last week in December or first week in January.

I'm catching up on some of the past work with this post as the video was done a about a week ago (yeah past-date availability on blog postings!!)

The later half of October we got moving on the fuel tanks.  There aren't many stages of this project that I somewhat dread, but the fuel tanks were definitely one of them.  In following the videos from Sling (youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQcGDbAAIZb00QsNn6om0xTirTiVaLn3h) put out through Evan Brunye who finished his sling earlier this year.  His hints, tips and suggestions make a lot of the prep work and assembly go so much smoother.  Quite often I just sit down, watch and re-watch the given task video I'm working on so I know the steps well.  Then leveraging the documentation in the build kit and then the online updated PDF's from the Sling Factory.

The assembly of the fuel tanks is a big messy project - or at least it can be.  I didn't find it too bad as it was an "all hands on deck" day with myself, Laurie, her dad Harold and then recently joined by my nephew Nathan for the second tank.  

We could only go as far as assembling the lower section of the tank as I'm going to go with a non-stock fuel sender.  For those of you who aren't familiar with what a fuel sender is (which I can't say I was until a few years ago), it effectively is the device which sits in your fuel tank with a float and tells you how much gas is in the tank.  So why go with a non-stock (and thus added extra cost) fuel sender?  Well, when I was a partner in the T210 we put in a whole new modern panel which required upgrades to the fuel senders as well.  Cies makes a fuel sender which is very modern and provides accuracy to within 1/10th of a gallon of gas in the tank.  To read more about the differences, check out their site at ciescorp.net/documentation/comparative-fuel-sensor-technology/. 

This is the nice part about building an experimental kit in that I can upgrade where it makes sense in the process.  I have a few other upgrades planned, but this is the first one where I am deviating from the basic plans - and it makes sense.  I think it's rather important to know how much gas is in the tank.  Although I have to say, my general rule/habit of flying is to always land with an hour of fuel left in the tank.  Given the SlingTsi burns around 8gph, that's not a lot of fuel to be sensed.

The other part of the build that I'm kind of amazed by is how fast it's going together.  Granted building an airplane is an exercise in you're 90% of the way done with 90% more to go, but the timeline in my head didn't fit it was going to be at this stage by now.  I'm waiting on some parts for the wings still and have been assured by TAF in Torrence and Sling proper in South Africa that the parts have been shipped.  They aren't coming by boat, but by air.  By air doesn't mean a direct flight from SA to CA, but it does go cargo.  So it may make a few stops in-between.  I probably have about a months worth of work to do on the wings to get them wrapped up.  The next few days are going to be spent finishing up the other control surfaces I have left to work on and the ones I can work on.  If we don't have any new parts before then, it'll be time to crack open the main fuselage box and get working on that.

The other news that has evolved the later half of October is the finishing kit has shipped as well.  Now I'm nowhere near ready for that to arrive yet, but it's good to know it's "expected" arrival is the first week in December.  Given they have a bunch of cargo ships sitting off the coast of LA waiting to be unloaded, even if it takes an extra month I'll still be in fine shape.

Before the end of the year I expect to pull the trigger on getting the engine and avionics ordered.  Timing is definitely the bigger challenge on this project as with the upset delivery schedules around the globe and manufacturing bottlenecks it's tough to gage when things may arrive.  Sadly, engine and avionics warranties start when they are bought, not when they go into service.  So even though I may have an expected tight timeline on this project, it could be six months before either the engine or avionics get turned on after they are received - and that is even i I take them out of the box and install them on the day they arrive.  That wouldn't be the case.  It's more likely the materials would arrive and they get worked into the build cycle somewhere.  Possibly a few weeks or months.  The idea is to just minimize the exposure to the warranty slowly drifting away.

Anyway - the next video likely will be a few minor parts being tidied up and the fuselage start to take shape.  let me know if you have any questions.

Building an airplane is an interesting experience.  It's been a month since my last update and it feels like I've accomplished little to nothing, when in reality I've got a good chunk of the wings together.  Having a week off at a time has helped a lot and the coming week is no exception.  What is slowing me down is parts.  For the wings, as I mention in the video, I am missing one very key part to be able to close out the bottom skin on the wings which will allow me to work on getting the wiring installed on both wings and the pitot tube on the left wing.  Apparently this part is very constrained because even the kits arriving now in Torrence are missing this part.

Thinks I need to get better on are working in the evenings (as I had planned) and taking more pictures.  I do continue to make progress as time goes by, but with the weather getting cooler and the days getting shorter it's harder to go out and spend time working on it.

At this time I have most, if not all parts for getting the fuel tanks at least underway.  I am looking at using a CEIS fuel sender vs. the stock one that came with the airplane as the CEIS has a much more modern way of sending fuel information to the Garmin system (think digital vs. analog).  I had these CEIS installed in the T210 I was part owner in for a while and I think we had an accuracy down to a half a gallon of what was actually in the tanks.  Another owners of a Tsi has reported some "stickiness" of the fuel level information and a need to "bang on the wing" to get it to read correctly, or in other words, loosen up the sensor so it takes a good reading.  Obviously something I want to avoid if I can.  I don't know if CEIS makes a sender for the Tsi, but I have reached out to them to find out at this time.  If they don't, no biggie, I'll use the stock ones that came with it and work with the issues as they come along.

Unfortunately this change may add several weeks in allowing me to close out the fuel tanks completely, but I think the time involved in going this route will be worth it, even if it is an added cost.

At this time I'm still hopeful that I can get all of the control surfaces finished before the end of 2021.  If I can meet that goal, then I feel like I'm on track to a 2 year build.  That is of course baring any delays in other shipments.  Instrument panels can take between 6 and 10 months as well as the engine delivery.  Those aren't small windows of guesswork delivery, so I'm inclined to order these very big ticket items sooner vs. later as I'd rather have them on-site waiting on me vs. weeks or months waiting on them.

I've been talking with Midwest Panels to do my panel and wiring work.  I haven't had much engagement with them other than in passing, but even at that level, their customer service makes going any other route other than to use them a no brainer.  I've experience nothing but responsiveness and clarity in all of my engagements, so I'm certain I'll be happy with that process.

Oh - and we did settle on a color for the plane and interior.  As for the paint scheme - that's a whole other level of "what should we do".  We needed paint schemes so we can pick interior colors and get that process going as well.

Anyway - enjoy the pictures that I have and the video.  Hopefully in a month you'll see fuel tanks!  :D

Since the last post we've made some good progress on the left wing.  The spar and ribs are pretty much together at this minus a few key parts.  I'm working around the items I'm waiting on the best I can to keep the project moving forward.  The past week I have been a bit under the weather so no real progress in that area. 

​Once we got the empennage mostly together we started working on the right wing.  I say "mostly together" because we do have a few parts here and there that we need to be able to close out the horizontal stabilizer, elevator and I'm working on some slight customization for the vertical stabilizer including the VOR antenna.  

The wing's aren't too bad to assemble.  The biggest problem I had so far is the torque setting on the wrench.  I'm still fiddling with that to get it right.  I'm missing the Flap Torque Tube Assembly which needs to go in before some of the ribs.  I'm working around that at the moment but trying to get as much done in the process of waiting.  I think I'm also missing one of the leading edge ribs, but I'm going to work on that this weekend by checking to see if the skin for the fuel tanks fit up to that point.  If it does I may be mis-interpreting the build plans.  We'll see.

​Beyond that, this go-round was just a lot of removing the protective covering, cleaning the skins, deburring and assembly.  Much of the next couple of weeks will be working on the left wing.  I got the electrical wires and upgraded pitot tube ordered from Midwest Panels this week, so that will be a bit of a waiting game now.  

What else?  Let me know if there is anything I can answer questions on, or if you'd like to see more of anything during the build.