Today was forecast to the be the warmest day this week, and I had nothing pressing going on at work today, so I decided to take a day of comp time to work on the aircraft.
This morning, I did something I should have done 10 years ago - I cobbled together a way to put the plans on an easel-like plans stand. All through the project, I had the plans laid out flat on a card table. This worked, but I had to pull out a sheet and move it to the top when I wanted to look at it, and it was a pain to get it slid back in order later. Also, I am not the neatest guy on the block, so I have a tendency to allow stuff pile up on any flat surface, including the plans table. I decided that it would be more practical to attach all the plans sheets together at the top, in order, and fasten them to a stand. That way I could flip the sheets over the top to get to the one I need. This morning I bought the hardware, punched holes in the tops of the plans sheets, bolted them between two small pieces of wood, and attached the whole thing to a flip chart stand.
After lunch, I drove to the hangar and assembled the plans stand. I wanted to take a picture of it, but discovered that I had forgotten to bring the camera, which was the first hint of trouble to come. I had one thing I wanted to get done this afternoon, and several more tasks that I could work on. I opened the hangar door, and rolled the wing cradle out to get some light on it. I quickly discovered that the screw holes that I wanted to work on were in a slightly different location than I had remembered, and that I hadn't brought the one-legged nutplate variety that I would need. Drat. I had hoped to get this job done today, as I expected that it would be harder to get to this area once I install the wings on the fuselage, which I hope to do on Saturday. Oh well. I had several other things I could work on.
I decided to install the castors I had purchased on the bottoms of the shelves. It seems that no matter where I install shelving units, I later decide they are in the wrong place. I decided to put castors on the shelves, so I can move them around without unloading them every time I decide they need to be in a different location. But, I quickly discovered that I had managed to leave the bolts that fasten the castors to the shelves at home. Drat.
Next, I attacked the elevators. Yesterday I installed the rudder, and today I would install the elevators. It took a bit of fiddling to get the outer two hinge bolts in place on each elevator, but the bolt at the junction of the two elevators proved much more troublesome. There are a bunch of washers that have to go in between various things at this middle hinge, and it was a real pain to get them in place, as the rudder was in the way. I managed to drop the bolt and two washers down in the bowels of the rear fuselage, and realized that I had not yet brought my magnet on a flexible stalk to the hangar. I bring a load of stuff every time I go out there, but it will be awhile before everything is at the hangar.
I decided that I really should remove the rudder to improve access to the elevator hinge. That was the last straw. I hadn't accomplished anything, I had to undo something I thought I had finished yesterday, and I had run out of patience. I decided that I should stop before I damaged something.
I'll try again Thursday evening, I hope.