Monthly Archives: October 2013

Let me get this straight…

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*sigh*  I goofed.

 

No easy way to say this, but I goofed. And I thought BIG TIME

We drilled the elevator horns on the tail by aligning the counter weights to the horizontal stabilizer. Straight tail, straight elevators, right?

Nope. Wrong

RV-9 Elevator

RV-9 Elevator

Somehow, I managed to get the two halves out of alignment. Only a degree but my hanger partner (who built a 7) told me that will never fly right.  Now what the heck am I going to do? I drilled the hole!  Move the hole? Hmmmm…. not enough room.  Replace the horn?  OUCH! I’ll have to re-skin the tail!

Turns out there is a simple solution.  Take the entire tail over to Walter the Welder (Yes, his name really is Walter) and have the hole filled. Grind it smooth, repaint and I’ll have a second chance.

 

RV-9 Elevator horn hole filled.

Elevator horn hole filled.

Lost a little powder coating but Walter did a GREAT job of filling.  I filed it smooth, then took a scotchbright wheel to it, and cleaned with MEK.

RV-9 elevator horn repair finished

finished repair

My guess is that I’m not going to be able to do that more than once, so I better be CAREFUL this time.

 

 

 

 

Geek Test..

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This is not exactly related to the building of N18TD, but it is related to a pet peeve of mine.

Since it became in vogue, may folks are calling themselves “Geeks” who are not really geeks. A little insulting that we who are geeks had to suffer the bad times, to have others jump on the band wagon when it is the good times.

So, here is the ultimate Geek test:

1. Have the subject read this aloud, and ask them not to say anything when they are done:

“There are 10 types of people in the world, those who know binary, and those who don’t”

2. After they finish, Have them read it again out loud.

Done!

True Geeks will be able to identify the results of the test. And identify a true kindred spirit.

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