While some of the KITPLANES editorial staff was busy in Florida last week at Sun ’n Fun, I stayed home—because we had some days warm enough to do canopy work! The result: The F1 Rocket project looks much more “airplane-ish,” and I’m quickly reaching the point where it might make sense to put it on its gear and think about mounting the engine.
If we get to that point, it opens up a vast array of work that can be done—firewall-forward connections, baffle work, and installing the cowling. For an RV, that’s about 300 hours of work (most of that baffling and cowling—I can hook up a Lycoming in a couple of days).
Canopy Status
The canopy and windshield have now reached their final trim states. While there’s still a lot of work to do to make the fiberglass frame for the windshield and build the skirts for the canopy, those items can be deferred as I take on new challenges and stay fresh. It’s easy to get bogged down in something like the canopy—day after day, doing a little of this and a little of that—until you’re so tired of it that airplane progress slows to a crawl. Far better to walk away from the task while your brain’s background processes work out solutions to the jiggling problems that slow you down, and instead go work on something more productive. Solutions will appear when they’re ready!
I’ve tried hard on this project not to save things I hate (fiberglass) until the end. With the empennage tips mostly completed (except for final filling), I took a look at the empennage fairing—something that clearly needs some fitting work. But those gear legs are calling, and having it on wheels is always a fun thing to see. We’ll just have to wait and see what task touches my muse next.
The windshield, glare shield and canopy look great, Paul! I look forward to seeing you flying the F1 over Western Nevada one of these days.
Just curious: Will you be following a new-style “Task-Based” Flight Test Plan?
Thanks! Now its an art project to do the skirts….
I do all my Phase 1 testing with a test plan that closely follows the EAA Flight Test Plan (becasue I helped write the EAA book….), so yes – I will technically sign the airplane off using the Task Based option. However, in my experience, it take a good 35 hours for me to get through the entire test program anyway (and I have done it several times before), so the time savings is minimal. However the airplane will be well-tested and well-documented!
Hey Paul, can I go for a ride when you git ‘er done?