I accomplished two tasks today. First I completed the movable stand for the plans and drawings. I was sick of taping up the schematics everywhere and this setup lets me reference any drawing I want at any time.  

Its a basic tripod. I used a spare bit of angle and two c-clamps to hold the drawings in place. A simple hinge and a chain holds the third leg in place. Beautiful? No. Effective? Yes.   

Then it was time to set about connecting the firewall to the front engine stand. I drilled out the engine mount bolts a few sizes smaller than the eventual engine mounts will require and attached the engine mount. I carefully maneuvered and measure the fuselage position several times.     

Here is the end result. It might look trival, but I’m being super careful about this and as precise as I can be. I don’t want any damage to my precious fuselage!  

On this absolutely gorgeous day at the airport, I set about making a fuselage rotisserie. The difficulty I have is that my rotisserie must also be movable inside the hangar for space constraints. Mike Rollison had two engine stands that belong to the chapter in his hangar. One for each end!

My basic plan is to secure these to the top of a rolling platform.    

I removed the wheels in order to make the engine stands perpendicular to the floor.   

Here is the nearly finished product. I’m not entirely happy though. The end result seems too high. So, I’m not sure.     

I started making the mount for the firewall. As you can see, I’m using scrap from the hangar. So far, I haven’t had to buy a single thing for this platform except 4 of the 6 wheels.     

I had a tripod drafting board setup in my old garage for the plans. But I had not brought it with to the hangar, and it was a shoddy setup anyways. I was really sick of posting all the plans all around the hangar and constantly switching back and forth. I used the old backing board I had and some two by fours to make the stand. I still need a hinge to attach the third leg, and a chain to hold it in the tripod position. I used some spare aluminum angle and c-clamps to clamp ALL of the diagrams provided by Van’s. They are in order so I’ll easily be able to find what I’m looking for. Further I can move the stand wherever I want in the hangar for easy use. I clamped a board down the bottom to help straighten out the schematics since they are all curled from transport. 

Fuselage inventory actually spanned two sessions in the shop. There isn’t much to report, I am only missing three items. I had to buy some more small parts containers and organize the shelves appropriately.