Stjohn's RV-7

2 hours.
I suppose I knew better than buying a tubing bender on ebay for twelve bucks and a flaring tool for about fifteen. The tubing bender gouges the hell out of the tubing, and the flare tool die scores the tubing where it grips. So let’s see: Stress risers in aluminum tubing, check. High pressure fuel, check. Inside the cabin, check. Near electrical devices, check. Boo. Hiss. Ordered the Imperial 3-size tubing bender and the nice rol-air (not the $600 one) tool off Spruce this morning.. dammit.. that’s what I forgot. the spring tubing bender. Maybe I can live without it. We’ll see.
Anyway, I got some extra tubing, and went back out to begin the process of mounting the vertical stabilizer. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but the two main longerons and the aft deck stuck out past F-712 about 1/16″, enough to keep the VS from laying flat on F-712. This morning I filed down the offending metal and cut off the 5/8″ from the forward spar to make it friendly with the F-781 mount plate. I drilled the mount plate to the HS forward spar and bolted it in, temporarily. This is where it sits until I can get the VS aligned to vertical and drill the holes in the VS/F-712 sandwich. I need to get this done so I can make the elevator push tube and elevator stops constructed. At that point, I’ll do the control column, and once I’m convinced that rigging the aircraft is actually possible, i’ll put the emp back in the attic until final assembly. I’m also rapidly approaching the singularity point of painting the interior. Before this happens, I should probably figure out what I’m going to do about autopilot servos. I haven’t closed the wings yet either, which is also relevant for that issue, so there’s going to be a prying open of the wallet in the near future. I’m saving that for later, when I know for a fact that all the wiring has been run and won’t need anything new for a long long time.