Whilst researching the project I made a scale outline of my double garage and cut out a scaled RV8A fuselage to see what I could fit in. As you can see its very tight with the tailplane on! However with the tailplane off it can be manoueverd to work on the firewall forward area ok. Final assembly of the main components will be done at the local airport. Hope I got the scale right!
I only had one flourescent light in the garage so, ably assisted by my friend Simon, I added 4 more tubes. In addition I managed to get a 500w halogen spotlight on a stand, with a spare bulb from my local market for £6.
I studied other RV7/8 websites of which there are many great ones and I came accross the EAA Chapter 1000 work table. The beauty of this is that is uses 8 (the plans say more because of the 8ft length) 4 x 2, though here in the uk when that is planed it will be 45mm x 95mm x 3 metre. I hadn't made anything out of wood for 30 years and I found it very straightforward using Simon's electric mitre saw. This proved to be a good preparation lesson for building the plane as I failed to heed "measure twice cut once" and so i needed the spare length of 4x2 that I'd bought! I also added an 18mm dowel peg (hammered into a 16mm hole) where the cross beam meets the leg and this added a lot more rigidity.
These are very solid bits of kit and I was well pleased when my digital spirit level bleeped at me without any shims. I built two of these (one modified) for a work bench - fixed- and the work table which I can manoevre around the workshop. I plan to sell/dispose of the work table once the fuselage is supported by the undercarriage.
