Paint!

Posted on June 16, 2025 by adambezanson

Just before Memorial Day, Evoke let me know that the plane was ready to be picked up! Initially, the plan was for the Friday before, however, that was pushed to Memorial Day itself due to wanting the sealant to cure over the weekend.

I purchased tickets to fly commercially down to Atlanta on Sunday, and then rented a one way car from Atlanta to Gadsden. I checked into the Hotel, went to dinner downtown.. and waited for Monday morning to come for the big reveal.

Monday morning, I arrived shortly after 9am and was greeted by the team. Some with cameras and video rolling, others working on buffing the spinner. As Jonathan says, we don’t stop working on it until it leaves. I sort of felt bad, it being Memorial Day and all, however, several members of the Evoke team were there that day.

I was in awe of the finished product. It was simply perfect. Lots of areas that I left passable, but rough, were now perfect. Very happy with the color choices and how the blue came out.

Below are some of the initial pics I took while it was still sitting in the drop off and delivery hangar.

David assisted me in removing cover plates and other things to take a good look at the airplane for a preflight. Seeing all the control surfaces were removed, I really wanted to look over all the push rods etc… Everything was in order. David is the one person who takes the planes apart, takes photos of the process for documentation and reassembly purposes, and puts them back together at the end. That philosophy certainly helps when it comes to making sure things are put back together correctly. It also helps that they have painted tons of RV’s and are very familiar with them. After everything checked out, Johnathan and I finished a couple of last minute items, and then I re-checked the weather..

The weather was pretty socked in earlier in the day.. There was a stationary front over the entire state of AL. Everything around was very marginal at best.. Ceilings were 1500-1800′ in the general area. I had been looking at the VFR sectional charts for what I’d need for ceilings to go VFR.. I really wanted 2500-3000′, and I didn’t have it. I really wanted the first flight after paint to be VFR. I was sort of treating it like a maintenance flight, seeing flight surfaces were removed… Last thing I wanted was to launch into IMC immediately..

Thankfully just before noon, things were starting to break up as you can see in the picture below. It was scattered to broken at 1800′ with some large holes and blue sky above. I decided to give it a go and climb up through it to get on top. I knew once I got to Tennesse/Kentucky area it was going to be severe clear the rest of the way home. The path to the east towards Atlanta and Virgina area was really socked in and IFR all day.. So I chose to go north at first and then up the western side of the mountains headed for the Pittsburgh, PA area for a first stop. So we pulled the plane out..

**Pulling the plane out for departure.**

Seeing it was Memorial day, the gas truck wasn’t around, so I had to use the self serve.. A couple of hiccups happened here.. I initially went to start the engine, and it fired right up, however it ran really rough and quit.. Same thing happened again… before I realized that my gas gauge was showing empty on the right tank, which I thought.. hmm that can’t be right. I only flew a little over an hour on my last leg to get here.. I look down, and I’ve got the right tank selected… hmm lets try the left.. Much better..

I taxi over to the self serve and open the right tank. Sure enough, bone dry.. That’s odd.. As it turns out, I had a weeping rivet that they fixed prior to paint which necessitated draining the tank. I then go to fill up and the self serve pump isn’t working. It’s not powered on for some reason.. We suspect the thunder and lightning storm the previous night might have tripped something.. There was someone mowing the grass, so we were able to flag him down and he helped to reset the pump and got it working.. For a short time there I was thinking great.. I’m going to be stuck here another day because I can’t get gas on a Holiday.. No way I’m taking off with a bone dry tank.. that’s just asking for trouble.

After filling up, the clouds are letting more and more sun through and it’s hot and really humid out on the ramp.. I get loaded up and head out.. Jonathan captured the taxi and initial departure.

**Awesome departure shot just after takeoff**

A couple of pics of the wings in various light conditions.

I ended up climbing up to 7500′ on top of the clouds.. As I got further north, the scattered/broken layer became a solid undercast below me, but about 70 miles later I crossed over the edge of the frontal boundary and the clouds below disappeared. into clear and a million. I ended up landing in Allegheny County just outside of Pittsburg, PA after a 3.5 hour first leg. Atlantic Aviation there was great.. They topped me off, I hit the bathroom and grabbed a hot dog and some peach tea they had.. Made for an excellent quick turn dinner. I then departed for the last leg home, which took me 3 hours. So 6.5 hours total to get home. The last leg had a few storms starting to pop up. I only had to deviate once about 20 degrees for 15 miles or so and once I got around that area of heavy precipitation, I pointed back direct home and any isolated cells that were around were far enough to the left or right that I didn’t need to deviate again.. All-in-all, a pretty uneventful flight and everything worked perfectly.

Below you can see the freshly painted bird tucked away back in the hangar.. The condition inspection is due at the end of May, so I basically just started working on it the next day to get it over with. That’s mostly over now as I write this, with the exception of a couple of minor things to finish up.

I can’t thank the Evoke team enough for making a vision turn into reality. The plane I built in my garage is now perfect. And while I say “it’s done”, we all know, it’s never really ever done.

Looking forward to the continued flight adventures that can now commence.

Paint update

Posted on May 10, 2025 by adambezanson

Just figured I’d provide some updated pics of the painting process, seeing it’s been 6 months..

The bodywork takes up the majority of the time to make perfect. I’m sure it depends on how good the fiberglass is when bringing it in. I did my best, but there were certainly several areas that needed work. At some point it’s a trade off of just wanting to get the plane flying. I’d say my work was probably average.

The following pics are from various stages of the bodywork process.

**Fiberglass pieces removed and organized**

Now onto the paint booth part.. This process moves along a bit quicker and is more predictable.

And now for the most recent pic of the plane with a shiny clear coat applied. It looks stunning.

It shouldn’t be long now before the plane is done and ready for pickup and the full reveal can be done. Looking forward to getting back in the air.

It Flies!

Posted on June 2, 2024 by adambezanson

A couple of videos of the first flight from today.

The weather was good today for a takeoff from my preferred runway, 5 although the wind was a bit variable, it was fairly light. Tomorrow looks to be favoring 23, which puts me over the city, which I didn’t really want. So I chose today to go for it.

I’ve spend a decent amount of time over the last couple of weeks sitting in the cockpit and going over things.. checklists, and developing flows. So I felt as ready as I was going to be.

Thankfully it was an uneventful flight. No major issues.. just a couple of things that I need to look into, which is pretty typical for first flights. I circled the airport between 2200-2500′. I did left and right turns, and I pulled fuel from both tanks. CHTs were reasonable. And a decent landing, which I credit transition training for. Now to get on with phase 1 flight testing.

Officially an Airplane!

Posted on May 30, 2024 by adambezanson

One of the next things to do was a weight and balance on the plane. I used the EAA chapter scales, got the plane level and weighed the plane with and without wheel pants. The main thing is to make sure the plane is in flight level attitude, which I accomplished by raising the main gear up about 2″ and keeping the nose wheel scale on the floor. Some fine tuning was done by letting some air out of the nose wheel.

With all the creature comforts I put in.. she’s a bit heavy. With the wheel pants, it weights 1806. With a max gross of 2800lbs, that puts me just under 1000 pounds useful load.. Of course before paint. That will add another 40-50 lbs.. So I’ll be mid 900’s in the end. For our primary mission with 3 people plus bags.. that’ll work just fine.

Lots of time spent preparing for the inspection working down my list.. until I had nothing else to do. Below is the plane all ready for inspection.

The DAR inspection was scheduled for May 29th. A little over 8 years since starting my first pieces of the empennage. Prior to this date, I had my Tech Councilor come by and do a pre-inspection. Nothing was really found.. He made about a dozen minor suggestions, which I addressed in the couple of days following his visit. I also had a couple of other builders at my field come by to take a look.. Can never hurt to have more sets of eyes on things ahead of the actual inspection..

May 29th came and the DAR arrived around 1:30pm. Inspection took place with lots of conversation, asking questions of me, and looking over the airplane. Once he was satisfied, we sat down to do the paperwork… There’s a lot of it! He printed out my airworthiness certificate which is part of my operating limitations to be kept in the plane with the registration and W&B info. So as of May 29th.. I now officially have an AIRPLANE!!!

It’s time to get this bird in the air and fly off my Phase 1 test flights. I have been working on checklists, emergency procedures and cockpit flows as I’ve had some time to start to prep myself mentally for the upcoming first flight. I also went down to PA to see the Van’s East Coast rep to do some transition training in the factory RV-10. Another step to get myself ready to fly (and also satisfy my insurance requirements of a checkout in type.).

**Holding my Airworthiness Certificate**

The Engine Roars to Life

Posted on April 17, 2024 by adambezanson

In prepping for first engine start, I first had to get fuel flow testing done. I started out by putting 5 gallons of fuel in each tank sloshing it around a bit and draining it back out by pulling the sump drain. This flushed the tank of any construction debris, which there were only a couple of small metal chips found.

For safety sake, I had my extinguisher out and ready at all times, and I also bought a metal funnel which I bolted on a wire to with an alligator clip on the other end to ground to the airplane skin. On this same bolt, on the inside of the funnel, I attached a long piece of safety wire which went down through the funnel and was extra long to sit inside the container catching the fuel so it was touching the liquid as well. I also grounded the airplane with a separate wire to the metal hangar building, although this is less important as it is to have the funnel and container/liquid at the same potential as the airplane so no static can build up.

I then put 5 gallons back into each tank and ran each fuel pump, checking for leaks as fuel was circulating through the whole system. I adjusted my fuel pressure regulator to 46psi statically with the engine not running.

Then it was on to the fuel flow tests. First I pumped all the gas out by unhooking the return hose and running the pump until it cavitated. Then I collected what was left in the tank via the drain sump. A very small amount was left in each tank.

Then fuel was added back to the tank and again the return hose was used to fill a 1 Gallon glass container while the pump ran for 1 minute in a flight level attitude. I almost filled the 1 gallon in a minute.

Weighing it, I got a little over 4 lbs. Avgas is around 6 lbs/gal and the temps were in the high 40’s low 50’s, so the density of the fuel should be close to the 6 lbs/gal. Doing the math to convert weight per minute to gallon per hour nets me > 48 Gallons per hour delivery. I did each tank twice once from each fuel pump to make sure each pump can deliver at least 150% of what the engine needs at full power.

I then lifted the nose up as much as I could before the tail hit to simulate a nose up attitude. The 4 tests were repeated and netted close to the same results.

Then it was on to putting oil into the sump and filling the oil cooler.

Once things were oiled up, I left the top plugs out, disconnected the bottom plug wires, shut off the fuel and ignition, and cranked the engine to pre-oil the engine. This ends when you start to build up oil pressure as shown below.

After spending some time double checking that the SDS system was seeing the flywheel magnets, programming all the gauges for green/yellow/red range markings, etc… I was confident that I was ready to try to start the engine for the first time. I used my truck to strap the plane to just in case something happened with the brakes. Fire extinguisher at the ready.. and I asked a fellow EAA member to come by to keep an eye on the engine while I ran it for about 3 minutes. I ran around 1000 RPM for a minute and a half or so, and then went to 1700 RPM and cycled the prop a couple of times successfully.

A quick snap of the engine gauges while it was running. Everything seems normal.

I let the engine cool down and then ran it one more time before putting it away for the day.

I’ve since been able to do some short taxi tests to set the brakes and also calibrate the magnetometer. Now it’s time to do W&B and get ready for the inspection.

Wings finished up

Posted on March 24, 2024 by adambezanson

I test fit the fuel supply and return lines in the wing roots. Everything looked good once I clocked the sidewall bulkhead fitting downward a bit. I plan to put some tubing on the fuel line to avoid abrading the spar and side skins.

**Left side before return line clocking.**

**Looking at the supply shutoff/filter setup.**

**Looking up on the whole supply line/filter**

I then went down the road of finalizing my rigging. Everything went well except for my elevator rigging, which was somewhat expected. I was fighting a couple of different things. The first was that my stick hits the switches on the Aerosport panel, like so many before me. Some end up bending their stick to get more clearance. I decided to solve it by adjusting the forward and aft stops as well as changing the aft rod end of the forward (F-1089) pushrod from a MD3614M to a MD3616M to get more thread length to allow me to unscrew it more, resulting in the stick not going as far forward, while still having enough thread engaged in the pushrod.

Additionally, I was very close to needing to do the elevator stop service bulletin. So I took the opportunity to do that as well. To do these changes, I needed to take the rudder and Vertical Stab off to get better access.

**Unbolting and unriveting the original aft elevator stop.**

**Showing the elevator horn angle and how close it is to being able to jam on the stop.**

**New aft elevator stop installed to address service bulletin and adjust travel as needed.**

I also installed a forward stop as well to help further limit the down stick travel by limiting elevator down travel to the min of 20 degrees.

**Horn sitting against new forward stop installed**

I then battled another issue with the control stick travel and a bolt head hitting the control column mount. This seems to be due to the angle of the stick weldment not being 70 degrees. It is causing the travel in the space cutout for the aileron pushrod to be biased forward as shown below.

**Stick forward only 3/4 travel in slot**

Van’s tells me that this is usually due to the pushrod lengths being off. So I spent a ton of time removing all 3 of my pushrods and re-checking their lengths. They were really close as they were. Then working on setting things up properly from aft to front. At the end of the day, even with the stock measurements of the pushrods, I still have the same issue, so that is not the root cause.

Below I show the interference with the bolt and the mount.

**You can see where the bolt was hitting.**

So I decided to carve out a half moon as shown above in the mount to create clearance for the bolt. At least one other builder has told me they have seen this a bunch of times and done the same thing.

One other problem that resulted from this forward bias, is that the aileron pushrod that connects the 2 sticks through the tunnel was rubbing on my fuel lines as shown in the video below.

There was no possible way to move the lines forward anymore due to me having a brake line in the way.

In talking with Tom, I asked him to make 2 new lines for me that were 1/2″ longer to solve this issue.

**New lines in place and rubbing problem solved.**

With that saga behind me, I then bolted the wings on permanently. There are 8 bolts holding each wing on.

I also finished wiring the wings. Below is the air temp sensor under the 2nd access panel on the right wing.

Wingtips were also installed and tested out.

Now there are a couple of things left to finish up and then it’s time to get ready for my inspection. Calibrating gauges, fuel tanks, doing fuel flow tests, etc…

Tail and Wings

Posted on February 4, 2024 by adambezanson

Lots of progress since moving to the hangar. It started by getting the tail pieces back on.

I then worked to get the emp fairing cover trimmed and in place and matched drilled to the holes in the metal using a strap duplicator. Then added nutplates so it can be held down with screws.

I needed to double check the nose wheel nut break out force and get a cotter pin installed. I really should drill a hole in the floor to thread a ring into for the strap, but I was able to use some blocks I had lying around and my creeper to pull the tail down, lifting the nose wheel off the ground.

I also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to bleed my brakes. In the end, I had to use a garden sprayer type setup to be able to build up enough pressure to push the hydraulic fluid from the brake caliper all the way up to the cylinder on the firewall. All other methods I tried (oil can, and also a vacuum bleeder from the top) failed to be able do the job.

I knew when I got my hangar that the single halogen light was not going to be enough. Still, in order to make progress, I made due with the use of some portable lights in the area(s) I was working. One day the bulb burnt out and rather than replace it, I took it as a sign that I needed to stop and just upgrade the lighting in the hangar. Below is the result of adding some new LED lights.

Once my ZipTips were done at home and before the first snow, I was able to get some help to transport the wings to the airport and subsequently get them onto the airplane!!!

Since getting the wings on, I’ve been able to get the flaps and ailerons on and rigged.

I’m now working on finishing up section 44 which is mostly about wing root fairings, fuel tank vent lines, and connecting the fuel lines between the tanks and the fuselage.

In testament to the user friendliness of avionics these days, Declan seemed to pick up on how to use the EFIS right away. 🙂

I used some of the soft aluminum tubing to make the vent lines for the tanks as shown below.

So what remains is to finish the wing root fairings and get my fuel lines connected. Then I will need to take the wings off one last time to debur some things and finish some nut plates on the tank. Then I can bolt the wings permanently and finish up the electrical wiring.

After that it is mostly getting ready for first engine start and preparing for inspection.

Houston, The Eagle has landed!

Posted on October 23, 2023 by adambezanson

Some additional tasks to finish up in prep to move to the airport.. Below you can see the small wrench I had to grind down in order to fit into the very tight spot and tighten the top arm of the main alternator. This had to be done after the prop was installed.

I had another tech councilor visit and he reviewed my FWF wiring/plumbing. A couple of minor suggestions for changes were made. One thing we discussed is getting the prop governor cable able to hit the stops on the governor itself before the lever in the throttle quadrant hits. I was having a hard time with this specifically. No matter what I did I could adjust one way and hit that stop, but not the other and vice versa. In the end I was able to rotate the face of the governor after removing the safety wire and loosening the face plate screws to fix the cable geometry issue. It just couldn’t pull aft and downward.

**Working on getting the throttle and prop cables to hit the stops fore and aft while also having a little extra between the control lever and the end of the slot it travels in.**

I also needed to get the AC hoses hooked up to the compressor and the dryer. In order to do this and charge later, I wanted to make sure that a vacuum could be held and that there were no leaks. I followed the procedure in the Airflow systems manual for evacuating the system. I hooked my gauges into the high and low side hose ports and pulled a vacuum on the system. I let that run for 10-15 minutes and then shut the vacuum pump off and let things sit for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes still a -1 bar vacuum being held. Success!!

I also built and installed my light control circuit that turns the lights on when the doors open. Quick couple pictures with the main flood light and baggage area flood lights turned on by that circuit.

I the completely buttoned up the airplane for transport, getting the aft skin in place, cowling on, and speed tape on major openings because rain was in the forecast.

**RV-10 plate to cover the side cowl pin.**

Then the day came.. I got the plane moved around so I could get it out the middle door of the garage.

Not the best day.. A decent example of the rain before we started loading and the speed tape doing a decent job of keeping it out of the plane.

I helped the driver get the plane in position and also kept the nose wheel straight with the tow bar as we pull the plane up onto the ramp. With the castering nose wheel, this really needed to be done to keep the plane coming up the ramp straight.

**On the road.. nerve-racking ride behind my baby!**

Now work has started on getting the tail pieces on. I’m still finishing up the wings bottom skins and ZipTips at home. It’ll be good to be able to work some at the hangar on the emp, while I still make some progress at night from home for the next few weeks.

**Horizontal stab is on and elevator trim cables fished through.**

Working the punch list

Posted on September 4, 2023 by adambezanson

I’ve gotten down to a short enough list of things to do, it was time to write them all down and formulate an approx. schedule to move to the airport. A Punch list of sorts. That approximation had me moving on Oct. 1st. I’m still within about a week of keeping to that schedule. Below are lots of the items that I’ve checked off that list.

Ask Van’s for a bill of sale, fill out registration paperwork, and apply. Done!

I do have to say, the FAA was rather quick. I know that they expedite new registrations, but still they were quick. The tracking said they received my paperwork on a Sat. So figured no sooner than Monday would they look at it at the earliest. My mid week I noticed they cashed my check. By the end of that week, my info was live with an online lookup, and by the end of the following week, I had the paper cert mailed and in hand.

I needed to still drill holes in the cabin top and countersink for screws for the front seatbelt attachment. I wanted to do this before getting the interior done going as well as needing to locate this hole through the headliner material used on the rear ceiling. You drill a 5/16″ hole in the center of the reinforced section of the cabin top. Then countersink it. I bought a countersink bit just because this hole is so large and I didn’t have a bit that would properly do it.

**The Countersink bit I bought for these 2 holes.**

I then started working on interior items. I got the new McMaster door seal in place and installed the door handle plastic.

I then needed to install the seats, but first up were the seat rails. These are pretty straight forward, however, I did do one useful mod to easily remove the seats. I took the seat stop bolts out, placed the out-most rail in place and drilled 1/4″ holes into the seat pan below. I then installed nutplates. This allows you to simply install the aft seat stop with AN-4 bolts (slightly longer bolts are needed) from the gap between the door and the seat with a socket. The seat then glides backwards off the tracks and can easily be taken out. I also took out the plastic slides in the rails themselves and cut the first 1/2″ off to help get the seat tilted down a bit earlier to clear the flap tube cover.

Below is a picture of the seat rail sitting next to where it goes and the 2 new holes with nutplates drilled.

**Seat rail stop installed and is easily removable to slide the seat out.**

I also installed the Aerosport Products seat levers to have the seat adjustment knob just under the front of the seats to more easily get to. I didn’t seem to take pictures of that install.

Then I installed the front seats.

Sticks and stick boots were also test fit.

I will say I’m up much higher than I’m used to. I’ve gotten so used to just sitting on the seat pans themselves.

I then got the seat belts installed and the center console loosely in place.

Before I could get the front seat belts anchored to the cabin top, I had to install the Aerosport Products headliner onto the previously trimmed fiberglass substrate. Headliner adhesive from the autoparts store was used to adhere the fabric. I followed the videos on how to make cuts and wrap the material around the backside of the substrate dealing with the inside and outside corners.

**All finished up with the window gasket installed.**

I then used some various widths of velcro to install this into the rear portion of the cabin top as shown below.

**Just had to take a fuller pic of the panel while I was sitting in the rear seats**

Then some things to finish up in the wings prior to riveting on the bottom skins. I installed the aileron trim motor and springs along with the roll servo.

Then I mounted the prop once again and got it safety wired and the spinner installed.

Panel is Powered!!!!

Posted on June 19, 2023 by adambezanson

Continuing from where I left off. Wiring continued… Pulling wires to where they need to go. Cutting to length, stripping, crimping a pin on, and inserting into the connector.. Rinse.. Repeat! It’s always a fun time contorting myself </end sarcasm/> on the front seat area to get underneath the panel..

**Working on some wiring behind/under the panel**

I got the remaining GPS antennas installed.

I also got the switchpod finished up and wired down the A-pillar conduit.

I installed the GA-57X on the aft metal portion of the airframe. Just behind the AC evaporator to avoid interference.

One other thing I wanted to do before closing up the panel was to put the leather glareshield material in place with the two GPS pucks mounted on top of it. Below you can see me getting it lined up properly and the final product.

**Wider view of it all done and tucked under/between the glareshield overhang and the carbon panel.**

**Closeup to see the detailed stitching. Also a defrost fan grate in place.**

I then installed the Pitot static and AOA tubing, distributor blocks, and connected them up to the G5, GSU25’s and the alt static switch. I then mounted all the avionics back into place in the panel.

I also decided to pin out the harness that will go out in the right wing. It houses the roll servo and magnetometer. Without it the CAN bus wouldn’t have been terminated properly and communication errors would have happened. I have those things laying in the footwell for now. I’ll have to depin from the CPC connectors later to route the harness through the wings, but that’s easy enough.

A number of triple checks to make sure I didn’t see any shorts between power and ground and making sure +12V was connected to the + side of the battery and negative to negative.. The moment of truth came…..

The panel powered up and everything seems to be working!!! A bunch of wiring work to get to this point, and it represents another major milestone in my build.

I really can’t say enough about the work that Aerotronics did to build this panel. They make it really easy to put it all together.

Now on to pushing forward and getting the remaining pieces finished up so I can get this bird to the airport and signed off to fly!

Adam's RV10

The story of my RV-10 project.

Category Archives: Build Log