Empennage in Possession

     While waiting for the empennage to arrive, I took down the paint booth, cleaned and reorganized the wood shop and made some modifications to the C-frame table to increase its tool-holding utility. I added short sidewalls along the 2x4 side braces, which hold my electric drill box and the Dremel tool box perfectly.  I also built in a holster for the rivet gun and air drill on one side.  I'm happy with the result.

     At 3:30pm Friday May 15, 2015, FedEx delivered my two empennage boxes in good condition.  I spent a few hours doing inventory; everything was there.  The game is afoot!

     The next day I organized the parts into four main groups: rudder, elevator, horizontal stabilizer and vertical stabilizer.  I also went through all the small bagged parts and sorted all the rivets into my existing containers.  As long as I was organizing, I built a dedicated rivet container shelf and added it to the front of my large shelf unit.  I suppose it wasn't really necessary... but I like to get as organized as possible before I start working.  Now all the parts are centrally located and categorized.

     I also made my first construction log entry in my KitLog Pro program... and ran into some difficulties.  After taking advantage of the freeware trial period a few months ago, I purchased the program.  Now I get an error message on startup, but it gives me the option of continuing.  I had trouble figuring out how to upload photos into the construction log, so I clicked on help... but help wasn't available.  To make a long story short, I figured out how to upload photos into the constuction log, and although help still isn't available, I'll manage without it.  I also uploaded my construction log to MyKitLog.com; it can be viewed at http://www.mykitlog.com/goatflieg.  So now I've got two building blogs to manage... but that's ok.  I'd rather have too many resources available to me than too few.
     I've been mulling over ideas for a blueprint table.  I had originally planned to build something similar to what Joe Schumacher made for his parts & blueprints on the TV show From The Ground Up.  But that would mean waiting until I have the wood from the wing & fuselage cases, which won't be here for another year at least.  I have a tall easel I built to use as a rudiment chart for my drum students, but I'm not currently teaching lessons at my house.  So I brought the easel over to the shop and modified it to hold blueprints.  Again, overkill... but I like working out these little details.  Then I thought of using one of my music stands to hold the assembly instructions.  That would have worked ok... but when I was taking photos and looking at the easel, I got a great idea.  Since the original easel went much lower than the area I needed for blueprints, I could add a folding bookstand to the easel.  I could build it at the perfect height and angle for reading the plans and examining the blueprints while standing upright, and it would fold up for easy storage.  I had most of the material on hand; I just had to buy some square wood stock to use as a paper shelf, and the cleat for the table support.  It came together very quickly... and I'm thrilled with the results.  It will serve its purpose perfectly!

     My next task is to study the pre-plans thoroughly, and review other builder's blogs.  I've had the current pre-plans for two years... and the previous edition for almost fifteen years.  But it was hard to get into them when the actual building was still a far-away dream.  Now the time has come; it's no longer a dream.  The preparation and practice kits are done.  I actually own some of the parts of my own aircraft, and they await my labors.  I want to do everything I can to make sure I do this as well as I can, and see this project completed and flying.

     To be continued... of course.