With the DOG Aviation RV-12 nearing the end of the build, there are really
no big tasks left to complete … however, that said there is quite a mound of
small tasks that need to be knocked out to get ready for the air worthiness
inspection only a week away. Quite a few tasks have been completed but the two
that required a little tweaking are mentioned below.
Decided it was time to install the two shin whackers (the steps) which are
passed up through an elliptical slot in the fuselage skin and bolted in place
using AN4 bolts. I discovered the clearances were a little tight for both steps
(probably due to the powder coating on the steps) which required filing away a
little material from the fuselage skin. Came up with the idea of using O rings
on the steps to protect them from being scuffed as opposed to placing an anti-slip covering over the powder coating which would hide it's beauty. Two years ago some rubber O
rings were installed as an experiment to see how well they would hold up ... not well they cracked, so
switched to Neoprene O rings and they seem to be holding up well after over a year. Not sure how
well these will hold up in actual use … if they don’t, will cut them off and
switch to a traditional non-skid covering.
Installing the powder coated left shin whacker (step) was just a matter
sliding the step up through a cutout in the fuselage skin and securing it to
the F-1202F bulkhead using two AN4 bolts … once the opening in the fuselage
skin was filed a little larger. A close observation will reveal neoprene O
rings have been placed on the step so shoes don’t mar the powder coating. (I
also have some O rings for the hollow tube as well).
One of the items I had been putting off was trimming the aft edge of the canopy on the left side. I have known about this for quite a while and had been
putting it off but have now finally gotten around to tweaking the fit. This was
a self-created issue, in that, it seemed having the canopy slightly skewed
allowed it to fit better on the canopy frame… so I went with that knowing the aft edge on
the left side would likely touch the rear window, and it did. Coarse sandpaper was
used to remove a little material from the aft edge of the canopy so the canopy
could be closed without touching the rear window. Once the optimum fit was achieved,
the aft edge of the canopy was sanded more using progressively smoother sandpaper
until the edge was polished smooth.
Sanding some material away from the aft edge of the canopy on the left
side so the canopy doesn’t touch the rear window when closed.