August 22, 2024 - RV-10 Build Status

For the next step on the wheel pants, we needed to jack up the airplane. Rich had these really nice jacks, that will go under the tie-down brackets. But then we discovered the tie-down bracket holes had not been tapped yet. So Nhu-An is doing that in this picture. Nhu-An bought a pair of Bogert Aviation Jack Pads that screw into the tie-down bracket holes.

The airplane is jacked! Look at the tires; they are an inch off the ground. You have to look closely, but we have the tail supported by an adjustable stand. The nose is also weighted down to simulate the engine. I'm always nervous about jacking an airplane, but the Bogert jack pads and substantial wing jacks made it easy and safe. The plane is solid as a rock. We used the Smart Tool (digital level) to make sure the plane was level, both logitudinally and lateraly.

Now comes the task of attaching the wheel pant and aligning it. With the airplane jacked, the main landing gear can assume their normal, in-flight position. You want the wheel pant to be aligned with the fuselage centerline. You also want it to be parallel to the ground. Once you get it in the correct position, you drill the four attachment holes over the previously-drilled holes in the attachment plate. But how do you know where to drill? The wheel pant is not opaque. You can't see the underlying hole. The solution is the "magnet method". We bought these little, but strong circular magnets. You tape the magnets to the hole. Then put on the wheel pant. Then move around another magnet until it is attacted by the first magnet and "snaps" into position over the hole. You now know where to drill the hole. It took a little practice but the magnet method works.

The wheel pant is correctly aligned.

The four mounting holes are drilled to #40 and clecoed.

Hnu-An working on the left wheel pant.

Using wire rods to find the underlying holes.

Both wheel pants now have the starter holes drilled.

The holes are now drilled to the correct final size, and nutplates installed in the underlying holes. The gear fairings are installed.

It is now time to work on the intersection fairings, which are supplied with the kit. The lower intersection fairings are clecoed to the wheel pant to hold them in the proper position, then two more layers of fiberglass cloth are applied.

The same procedure is done for the upper intersection fairings.

A messy business!

The intersection are allowed to dry for a couple of days, and then removed. As you can see, they are not quite ready for painting. They need some work.

The first step is to apply some microballoon epoxy flox. Then sand.

The next step was to apply some two-part green glaze. And sand. More glaze, then sand.

The final step was to apply some bondo to fill in all the little imperfections. Then sand.

Multiple iterations of sand and fill with bond were required on the intersection fairings to get them perfect.

The intersection fairings back on the airplane. The fairings hold the gear fairing in proper position.

Close-up of the right wheel pant and lower intersection fairing.

Close-up of the right upper intersection fairing.

Some trimming of the intersection fairing trailing edge was required. And a little more filling.

Then some final-size drilling, countersinking, and nutplate installation.

Some cleanup -- filling in holes, and correcting some overtrim on the wheel pants -- was required. Plus countersinking.

Finally the main gear wheel pants, gear fairings and intersection fairings were complete. They took a lot of effort -- months. Glad they are done with -- not my favorite part of the project. We're holding off on the nose gear wheel pant until the engine and cowl are mounted.

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