N439RC; Ron's RV-12

I was up early this morning, for I knew I only had half a day to work on my project.  We were hosting some family at lunch/dinner time, so  I hit the local gas station for a bagel and a cup of coffee, then it was off to Menard’s with my shopping list.

I purchased an air compressor, fittings, and lumber.  The new lumber, combined with some lumber I already had on hand, would serve as the materials for my new workbench.  Last night I had stumbled across a simple workbench design that caught my eye.  It was at Tony Tessitore’s website.  It was simple, and I had it together in less that two hours.  See photo.

My dimensions are a bit different than Tony’s.  Mine is 43 inches wide and almost 35 inches tall (including the casters).  It is nice and sturdy and should serve me well.

We had a wonderful day with our family visitors, so this was about all I accomplished today.  I DID manage to get cable TV piped into the garage, so I will have my background noise when my kit finally arrives.   Go Packers!

Tomorrow I break in the new air compressor.  Kit arrives Tuesday!

Got a confirmation email from Vans and a tracking number.  As of this afternoon, tracking reports:

‘YOUR SHIPMENT WAS DISPATCHED FROM CHEYENNE, WY TO OMAHA, NE (WITH AN ETA OF 08/27 AT 21:40) LOADED TO SOUTH CHICAGO, IL.’

That’s awesome!  It has already made it’s way from the westcoast to Omaha!  I’ll probably see it next week!

My son and I talked through various N-number scenarios this morning over a bowl of cereal, and landed upon several options.  Most of them were variations on my initials, family initials, and dates.  We considered RC for “Ron Chisholm”; and RF for “Francis”; CH for “Chisholm”; CF for “Chisholm Family.”  We considered birth dates, anniversaries, etc…  But the “coolness factor” came into play, when we sounded out how the radio speak would come over… and “Charlie Foxtrot” won out!  We thought it sounded like a private detective, or a sleuth!  We tried to work the number NINE into the mix, because “Niner Charlie Foxtrot” had even better appeal to my thirteen year old!

 When I got onto the FAA site this morning to reserve the N-Number, I couldn’t get the birthdates or anniversary numbers to work out, so I went with an old fraternity pin number of mine!  Although I haven’t gotten the official notice back from FAA … it looks good that “Experimental Four Three Niner Charlie Foxtrot” will be her name! 

I believe we’ll call her “Charlie,” for short, as we bring her to life over then months and/or years!

I had a beautiful day to spend getting my garage cleaned and rearranged.  Here are a couple photos of the process.

I was pleasantly surprised when a colleague of mine told me his neighbor was building an RV in his garage!  I had just gotten through telling my friend that I had placed the order for my RV, when he shared this information with me.  

Today I got to meet the gentleman, Dick Werling, and actually see him in action!  His home and shop are not to far from where I work, so I shot over there for a brief meeting with him after lunch.  He and a friend were busy working on an RV-7.  His friend was inside the fuselage, working one side of a rivet, while Dick was outside with the pneumatic tool.  They were very nice to me, as I interrupted their work, and were both quite interested in my adventure.  Dick kindly offered his tools and advice, as I dive into my project.  I’m sure I’ll take him up on his offer!

Oh, Van’s acknowledged my order today via email, and said it would ship Monday!