Storing The Tail Cone & Thank Goodness For Wheels!

Plan A for storing the RV-12’s tail cone assembly last weekend did not go as smoothly as expected. Originally, the plan was to place the tail cone on the shelf along the back of DOG Aviation’s receiving bay. After plenty of measuring it was determined the tail cone could fit … however, one of the beams I erected earlier in the year would have to be removed (no big deal it was installed using screws) but the big kicker was the garage door opener would also need to be removed … that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Enter plan B. There is a shed attached to the rear of the DOG Aviation facility so with the help of my friend Bernie, the tail cone was transported into the shed. Saturday, while working on securing strapping to keep the tail cone off the ground, a cracked beam centered over the tail cone was discovered! So emergency repairs were made by adding another beam adjacent to the cracked beam. Guess I’ll need to keep a keen eye on the snow load this winter. (Please be like last winter … Oh please! Oh please!)  Once the beam was shored, the tail cone was sealed off to rodents by closing off all the holes in the aft bulkhead with foam rubber and clecoing a heavy paper “plug” onto the forward end of the tail cone. The blue plastic film was removed and the tail cone put to rest with a few old bed sheets covering the assembly.

Realizing the current shop lay out was not conducive for working on the wings, a complete  rearrangement was necessary as well as a good cleanup. Van’s crates have been placed on moving dollies so moving them around does not require three people and a small elephant. Speaking of crates from Van’s, decided to temporarily screw the empty empennage crate onto the back wall to turn it into a shelf for the long flaperon skins. Keeps the crate off the floor, yet ready for use later down the road when I’ll need to build storage cradles for the wings.

                                       Empennage crate mounted on back wall of DOG Aviation’s assembly facility.

After rearranging the facility at least three times to figure out how best to be ‘inconvenienced” while assembling the wings, a plan has been formulated.  The wing spars are …well, long!! The facility is square and the spar takes up just about the entire space. I had to pick my poison because no mater where the spar is located, it will be a tight fit and hard to work around. Thank goodness virtually everything is on wheels including the crates from Van’s.

Needless to say, any hopes of working on the wings last weekend were dashed.