I have not got a lot done on the project since the garage floor was sealed in October, but (drum roll, please)... I finally ordered the tailkit from Van's Aircraft earlier this week.  I guess that means I am committed (or should be, depending on who you ask).

I knew I was going to need more space in the garageI found these great EAA Worktable plans on the web.  About a hundred bucks worth of material, and you can build two 2-foot by 5-foot tables... you can just clamp them together end-to-end when you need a long workspace (10-foot by 2 foot), or clamp them on the long sides and you have a 4-foot by 5-foot work surface.  Each table is VERY well built, and can support quite a load, and has a storage shelf underneath. 




Anyway, I knew I didn't have good workspace in the garage, so we made a run to Home Depot (or, as a close friend calls it, Home Despot), and we came home with a small fortune in wood.  I used MDF instead of plywood on the top--it's not as strong as plywood, no, but it's $14/sheet as opposed to the $35/sheet they wanted for sanded exterior grade plywood, and I won't feel bad if I mess these up.


 

Here's part of my work crew.  Linday is the youngest of our three daughters, and is quite excited to help Dad build the airplane.  We hung up some of the pages from the preview plans, and some RV-7 pictures, both for motivation and to show neighbors and friends and kids that stop by what the airplane we're going to build looks like... they all drop their jaw and say "WOW.... I thought you were building a model.  That looks like a REAL airplane, and a SEXY on at that!"  Uh-yup!


 

Lindsay just loves to help.  Gotta love smiles from willing assistants. 




She grabbed the shop vac and vacuumed up the fall leaves that were on the ground so they wouldn't blow into the "hangar".




We got a good deal on a nice rolling tool chest mid December... it wasn't worth writing a whole post about.  It was my anniversary present from my lovely bride (thanks, Red!)... always wanted one of those!! Uh, regarding 'always wanted one of those', I was referring to the toolchest, that is, not 'the lovely bride', I already HAVE the most beautiful bride... what say we move on, before I dig a deeper hole...




Just had to throw this in here... a friend of mine who is a 777 pilot for American Airlines, Stan, gave me this great picture.  Somebody gave it to him, and when he moved from Texas back up to Colorado, he gave me this great piece of art, which now hangs proudly in my garage (er, hangar!).  Thanks, Stan!




Abby, our second-oldest daughter, has aspirations of being an A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) mechanic when she grows up.  Touring the Mooney factory in Kerrville, TX last summer really "set" that goal for her.  She's very mechanically inclined, and loves working with tools.  She came out and helped me line the drawers with non-skid material and put some of my hand tools away.... I haven't yet decided which vendor to use for my airplane tools... research continues.




Lindsay, cheerfully cutting out material for the drawers.  Looks like I didn't do much except snap pictures, huh!?


 

Okay, enough lolli-gagging.  Time to build some workbenches!!  I showed the girls how to use the tape measure and a carpenter's square to make a good cutting line, and how to mark which side of the line is the "waste" side.  Safety first, eye protection must be worn in the shop when using tools!




Moral support:





Here we've got the pieces for the top frame cut out and ready to be assembled.  You can see what "table space" I had to work with--one of those folding "serving tables" that we picked up to bring on our last camping trip to the Frio River in the South Texas Hill Country.


 

A few screws later, and... 




...voila!   We've got a table top.  It was late, we were tired, show's over.  We'll finish these up tomorrow....