I got most of the horizontal stabilizer assembled this past weekend, save for the skins. Everything went together fine. I learned it’s a little tricky to get holes lined up just right for all the rivets to fit – especially when lining up overlapping parts with many holes, like...

I decided on the RAMI AV-12 antenna to mount inside the VS. This antenna is optional, however I plan to fly IFR and want to be able to fly ILS approaches, which, for the moment, are still pretty common. It was hard to decide which antenna to get, but...

After about 2 days of drying, my freshly-primed parts for the horizontal stabilizer started showing spider lines in the paint, then flaking off and looking like this horror: It took me a while to figure out what went wrong, but it looks like I failed to properly clean the...

I spent another two hours last night prepping the last of the horizontal stabilizer parts (minus skins) and then priming them. Primer appears to have adhered well to the aluminum. Gonna need to refine my spraying technique though – I went through a whole 15.5 oz can spraying 3...

I decided I needed a more comfortable chair to sit on while I work. Here’s a pretty nice drafting chair from Amazon that I just got today. Also notice, just behind the chair, I bought an anti-fatigue mat to stand on while I’m working....

This weekend I completed inventory of both kits I received, so it was time to get started! The first assembly in the manual is the horizontal stabilizer. I’ve spent the last two days deburring and cleaning all the parts, and then will be priming them in a little “paint...

The first two kits arrived, so I can finally begin! First I’m doing a full inventory and inspection of the kit pieces.. it will take some time as there are MANY parts, especially in the wing! I thought it might speed things up to scan all the parts with...

Just in time for my kits arriving tomorrow, I received my Milwaukee M12 rivet gun today! It’s quite substantial, more so than I was expecting. It just came out this past weekend so I must be one of the first people in the whole country to own one. I’ll...

Before I decided to buy a kit plane, I had no idea that there were so many choices for priming metal parts (or even to prime at all!). But given the New England weather, I decided I’m going to prime mating surfaces. I’m going with SEM Self Etching Primer...

I spent a few hours today finishing up the work tables, they look good! I added some retractable casters to make them easier to move around. The last 1% is a attaching some vinyl fabric over the MDF tops – I’ll get that done during the week. Really hoping...