It took me a few weeks to get this website going, so I’ll bring the log up-to-date by summarizing what I’ve been doing the last few weeks.
On December 10/09 I flew to Minneapolis then drove to New Richmond WI to do a final inspection and crate up the Velocity project I would buy. I had made up my mind to build a plane and done a lot of research on different type of homebuilts to eventually settle on the Velocity and finally on this project that I was going to see. Because a Velocity with its strakes on is ~12′ wide, it needs to be mounted on a flatbed truck at a 45deg angle to transport it without a wide load permit. So, with the help of the Hayes family, we got the plane securely crated and all the ancillary parts loaded into the fuselage. I arranged a truck using uship.com and it was transported to from WI to MA in a snowstorm the week before Christmas.
After dragging it off the truck and de-crating it, the next challenge was to get the fuselage into my workshop. I have a nice workshop in my basement, but it only has a single car garage door entrance. It opens up wider once you get into the shop, but getting a 12′ wide plane in was going to be a challenge. Even before buying the plane I made a scale model of the plane and my workshop out of paper and found that with proper maneuvering and tilting the plane would fit. And, to my relief it did fit. The wings are complete and I won’t be needing them for awhile, so I stored those up in the attic.
Having the plane in my workshop, the next week or so was spent going thru the plane and all the additional supplies to understand exactly what I had and where I should start. Overall, I was very pleased with all the work Jack had done, but it sank in how much work there was yet to do. Because its winter and I don’t want to do any sanding to finish the exterior (that’s a great job for the summer when I can wheel it outside), I will be working on the interior, finishing the retractable gear, plumbing the fuel system and probably a bunch of other little jobs.
So far, every job I’ve tried I’ve been slowed down by the lack of parts, so I’ve made a couple orders to ACS already (I’m sure there will be many, many more). I’ve partially plumbed the fuel system (waiting for some AN fittings to come to finish this job) and installed some micro limit switches on the RG (waiting to get the proper aircraft-grade hydraulic fluid before I give it a try).
I’ve also mounted the seats. This sounds like something you’d save for last, but I am 6’4″ and one of the reasons I chose the Velocity is because it would accommodate my height. So, I wanted to get the seats mounted just to be sure that I could sit comfortably and didn’t have to make some modifications. I did have to make a slight modification to the pilot’s seat so that I could mount it far enough aft. Once I made this modification, though, I can sit very comfortably. I need to mount the seats to the sliders, but the front sliders are mounted to the hardpoints.
This week, I’ve been working on closing in the firewall interior and make a package shelf. I’ve cut out foam pieces for this and now need to layup fiberglass onto them. But I’ve never done a fiberglass layup and have a bunch of questions. I’m not sure if I should just go ahead and give it a try (and make mistakes), or talk to someone and get some advice. This is a non-structural part that will be covered with carpet or upholstery so I can probably screw up a bit on my first tries. I think I’ll wait and see if I can talk to someone first, tho.