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RV-10 Blake Gambsky N-----

Blakegambsky

I'm New Here
Well I guess it's my turn to begin posting on the forum. My name is Blake Gambsky, I'm an Embry-Riddle student down in Daytona Beach, FL. Since I was young I had a passion for flight, and of course I wanted my own plane. Well my friend Mary let me ride in her RV-10 after I got my Private Pilot license at 17. After that flight, and learning that her and her husband built the aircraft, my heart was set on it.

Now I'm 20 years old, a junior in the Aeronautical Science degree program at ERAU studying to become a professional pilot. And on top of all of this, I'm working on my own airplane!

I ordered the empennage kit in early March, and March 26th, 2015, it finally arrived and I was super excited to take everything out. I didn't have any of the tools yet, but the time came a week and a half later I received the tools and couldn't wait to begin!

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When I first started on the vertical stab, I was thrilled to see the full assembly put together before drilling. It gave me a preview of what was to come when it was finished and I was also excited to pull the vinyl off and see myself in the reflection of the vertical stab! I couple hiccups such as bad riveting, but Mary gave me great advice for before painting to hide the small dents. It was an amazing experience to finish the first part of my entire plane!

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I was super excited to finish the basic steps of building the part of the plane. When I finished, I wanted to start on the rudder right away! (This was May 17th) But I held off and just looked at the instructions to see what was ahead. Then I saw the trailing edge assembly instructions and was super scared to know that I had 2 hours to finish the trailing edge. (Saying that makes me feel so stupid now!)

A day or two later, I started the construction and for some reason just loved the skeleton of the rudder!

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After doing the trailing edge, which was a piece of work, I finished in only a half hour to an hour. I somewhat regret the speed on which I did it. I didn't realize that it would be a very quick process. Oh, and I also used a 3.5 oz tube instead of 1 oz. NOTE: WASTE OF MONEY!!! Haha, I was disappointed that I put an extra $7 towards 2.5 more oz than I needed! But oh well, it turned out beautifully. There's a slight bend that I have to remove, but its more so the whole rudder with a shallow bend. I'm a perfectionist, and according to the instructions, what I have is no issue, but to me, it is!

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Next, I got to work on a biggy. I didn't realize how huge the Horizontal stabilizer would be! It was fun to walk back and forth along the spars to drill holes! This is where I began to take an interest in each detail of parts that go into the airplane. I love that when someone is going to ask me a question about something, in my head, I'll have a blowup version of the Horizontal Stab, rudder, etc. to describe what I did! A notable time with the Horizontal Stab was the ridiculous amount of dimpling I had to do! But, I do like having a smooth surface versus mushroom head rivets all over!

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Another change in my building habits during the construction of this part, I left the vinyl on as much space as I could to keep the skin from scratches and smudges. It may not look as nice, but I'll love peeling it off before it gets painted!

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Next I got to work on another new challenge after reading ahead. Foam ribs. Never heard of them but I like the idea of less rivets in a tight space! So it was really interesting to work on half ribs again that actually got clecoed BEFORE doing sealant! Thank goodness. This is my current project right now that I had to take a break from after over a hundred OOPS rivets. By OOPS I mean I used 3-3.5 instead of 3-3. Now, in my head, I knew it wouldn't be an issue. I knew there was something interesting going on because it was difficult to backrivet, but after having to wait to talk to the Builder's support because they were lucky enough to enjoy EAA this year without me (Flight schooling can be a drag sometimes), I was relieved to hear from his voice "Does it look like a rivet?" Me: "Yes" Him: "Then it's a rivet!"

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Unfortunately, I do not have the current picture of the elevator due to it still being under construction and I did not upload the photos to my computer yet of its current state. They will be up after I complete the elevator :)

In the meantime between devastatingly waiting for a reply from the Builder's support, I began on the tail cone to boost my confidence in construction again. Seeing the bulkheads get bigger, and bigger, and bigger, gave me such an exciting thrill to what was coming in front of it (where I sit!).

I started the drilling of the stringers, a fun piece of work which went better than I expected when I called again to find out the elevators were a go! The tail cone sits waiting for me to continue drilling after the elevators get a break from being pounded by a rivet gun!

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I did cleco the other side skin to the fuselage cone to begin drilling the holes of the other stringers, but I'm a person who likes to finish things in order!

So that's where I stand today. Almost done with the elevator and partly way through the tailcone!

Thank you to those who viewed the post and thank you also for your support and any advice I get now or in the future! I'm excited to share the rest of the project as it gets put together in the days to come!

Regards!
 
Welcome to VAF.
Don't leave the blue vinyl on the wings too long - as time goes by it will get harder to remove.
 
Nice progress, Blake. Your enthusiasm will take you far!! On my plane, I ripped off all the blue film immediately. There are lots of tiny scratches, but they'll disappear with the first coat of primer.
 
Now THAT is the way to start building an airplane. Next time you fly to KFIN for lunch at Highjackers let me know. I am in T-Hangar C36 and maybe we can meet up.

:cool:
 
If you can plan a training flight to X35, stop by the Itec hangar and see several -10's. Lunch will be on me for you and your instructor.
 
Welcome, Blake. I have my RV-10 hangared just down the road from you at New Smyrna Beach (I'll bet you are pretty familiar with that airport).
We are off on a month long odyssey in our airplane and won't be back to KEVB until around the 12th. I would be happy to show you my airplane and give you one of those morale boosting flights during your build whenever you feel the need. I recommend you take Jesse up on his offer. You will see some mighty fine RV-10 examples at X35!
 
Small world, I go to ERAU Daytona too! I work at the flight desk and I may have checked you in before! Good luck with the build. It's great to know that there are other students interested in homebuilts. Now I can't wait to start my own! :D
 
N326PG

Well ladies and gentlemen,

After two months of agonizing pain on deciding what my tail number for my RV-10 is going to be. While I was in a shopping mall I pulled out my phone and reserved N326PG for my airplane.

My grandfather passed away before I ever got to take him flying after I got my private pilot license. His name is Norbert Popp, but instead of just making it in honor of him (N326NP) I chose to include both sides of my family and use the US leading letter "N" as special emphasis for his name.

3/26 was the day I received the kit and began working on it by taking everything out of the box and unpacking.

Currently on my build, I have completed all of the empennage subparts and have permanently attached the horizontal and vertical stabilizer. Next step is to attach the elevators and rudder and hook everything up to the controls and smile as it gets bigger and more complicated!

Thank you to all of my family for their support in my project and I cant wait to finish and show it off at EAA and to the rest of the world.

I will post pictures as soon as I get a chance to load them to my computer, and when I'm not building the plane ;).

Happy flying,
 
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