October 21, the rudder is finished, my first aircraft part ! The path is still long, very long but the fun is there. The work is huge, I will describe it in an upcoming article but it’s very close to what I have expected and I like it. Yet the beginnings were chaotic. Reading the manual at the first page already, several holes must be drilled at 1/8 and 3/16 of an inch. I can’t find nowhere in my tool kit those drill bit size ! I must have missed something, I have invested in the Rolls of the tool kit, specially prepared for the RV-10 to be already stopped at the first page of the manual ! Van’s luckily run a support service for the builders as good as their products, the next day from my first desperate e-mail to them the answer is coming, absolutely clear : Those diametres are so common in the USA that they are not included in the tool kits…! So the only option is to order those pricey drill bit in the US and wait…

10 days later those precious drill bits are here, I am fully ready to start working again and motivated like never when after 3 holes the pneumatic drill slip from my hand, ends on the floor, broke the bit and lock itself ! Decency doesn’t allow me to put in writing my words, I bluster. I have luckily ordered 3 bits from each but I review my option for the pneumatic drill : Buy a new one in The US and loose another 10 days, find one in Europe, have it or try to repair it… New desperate e-mail to the tool kit seller company this time, he advise me to try dismantle it to see if a pignon didn’t bend following the choc. The hazardous operation is miraculously a success.

The work can be restarted !

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