...Still tweaking the new experience, and 'The VAF List' continues to grow - check it out.
...I'm in and out of comm still (in King Air 350 initial), so apologies in advance for spotty returns. Amazing aircraft and the RV absolutely helped prepare me.
...Averaging around 275-300 posts and 20+ people creating accounts daily. Call it 2,000 active daily users and growing. More and more a mobile experience. Hope you're getting more comfortable with the new forum software - I'm getting used to it too ;^). I find I use my phone now more than the desktop/laptop. Didn't expect to transition so fast. Checked it about a hundred times during class today ;^).
...If you've gone to Account Upgrades and chosen a subscription/donation level (displays as a badge under your username), my heartfelt thanks. I spent a Mt. Everest-sized pile of our family's savings getting this modern product in front of you, and it's a scary business world with no guarantees, so thanks for helping keep this 1-person small business in the world. Not out of the woods, but hopeful. The names with badges under them are helping keep the lights on.
...Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend. Back to the books...
v/r,
dr
VAF POSTS & RV NEWS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE.....dr:
---------------------------------------------
Prop PIREP from Greg
"Props are being produced. The timeframes for that we cannot specify just yet. Most of the props we sell are Hartzell brand, and the fine folks there are certainly stepping up and doing everything they can to make things happen for customers. We will be working with each of the prop companies to get/keep things moving as best we can. The financial aspects of that mean we will be ramping up. The next couple weeks are going to be fairly hectic, and probably less than optimal from a planning-time-availability perspective, but as we move forward things will return to something closer to "new-normal" operations.
I'll try to update when there's more info to share. Until things are solid, we don't want to estimate or guess about timelines that we are not yet certain of. I hope you'll understand that."
vansairforce.net
Emp Fairing PIREP ...PaulvS
There's a lot of time and effort involved in finishing the emp fairing, for what looks like a small part. Here's a pic of mine, this is after micro and sanding and two coats of epoxy primer with sanding in between. It needs another coat of epoxy primer and then more sanding. The West System free tech guides on their website are good and I used their method of applying micro, which is to brush on a thin coat of epoxy first before icing (or is that frosting?) the cake.
vansairforce.net
DIY Control Stick....David Paule post
Here's the one in my RV-3B I'm slow-building. My flat-coat retriever, Sawyer, made sure that I completely understood the ergonomics of tennis balls before he passed. Since the push to talk switch is on the throttle, the tennis ball didn't need switches.
I mounted it by drilling a 1" hole into it, and riveting several universal-head rivets on to the stick at the correct location to act like buttons. The tennis ball is secure, yet removable and washable. Sawyer taught me about washing them, too. If it's ever needed, it's easy enough to install a new tennis ball stick grip.
It's light, meets the goals of KISS and best of all, I like it.
vansairforce.net
'7A with Elastomer nose gear - request for as-built information
This is theoretically correct.
When Ralph originally installed the new mount and leg on his RV-6A, he felt sure that the ground attitude changed from what it was with the original mount and leg.
Since we had never actually installed one on an RV-6A at Van's we had no way to confirm what the before and after pitch attitude on the ground was so a custom strut length was provided to Ralph to get it where he wanted it.
This is also the reason for the Disclaimer Document.
As has been mentioned in this thread, an RV-9A or RV-7A sits very close to level in a 3 point attitude, in contrast to an RV-6A standard build which sits quite tail low in a 3 point attitude. This should be true whether it has the legacy engine mount and nose gear leg or the new version.
In theory the ground attitude should not have changed just from swapping the engine mount and gear leg of an RV-6A to tthe new style because the RV-6A, RV-7A and RV-9A have always used the same engine mount and gear leg (except for a slight variation on the RV-7A if an O-320 engine was used but that doesn't change the nose gear leg geometry).
vansairforce.net
How Constant Speed Propeller Works
vansairforce.net
Registration Number Specs
I searched all over for the FAA requirements for the registration number requirements and cannot find it. I know it must be at least 12" if plane goes over 180, flies to foreign lands, and must be Roman type (which is confusing because Roman type is with serifs, and that might be considered embellished, which is not allowed). Also, 'contrasting' colors, which is subjective, at best. Anyway, I can't find the spacing requirements or acceptable fonts. What I want is what I have below, but before I commit and buy both sides I would like to know I didn't blow $50 for nothing.
vansairforce.net
OFF TOPIC:
.
...I'm in and out of comm still (in King Air 350 initial), so apologies in advance for spotty returns. Amazing aircraft and the RV absolutely helped prepare me.
...Averaging around 275-300 posts and 20+ people creating accounts daily. Call it 2,000 active daily users and growing. More and more a mobile experience. Hope you're getting more comfortable with the new forum software - I'm getting used to it too ;^). I find I use my phone now more than the desktop/laptop. Didn't expect to transition so fast. Checked it about a hundred times during class today ;^).
...If you've gone to Account Upgrades and chosen a subscription/donation level (displays as a badge under your username), my heartfelt thanks. I spent a Mt. Everest-sized pile of our family's savings getting this modern product in front of you, and it's a scary business world with no guarantees, so thanks for helping keep this 1-person small business in the world. Not out of the woods, but hopeful. The names with badges under them are helping keep the lights on.
...Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend. Back to the books...
v/r,
dr
VAF POSTS & RV NEWS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE.....dr:
---------------------------------------------
Prop PIREP from Greg
"Props are being produced. The timeframes for that we cannot specify just yet. Most of the props we sell are Hartzell brand, and the fine folks there are certainly stepping up and doing everything they can to make things happen for customers. We will be working with each of the prop companies to get/keep things moving as best we can. The financial aspects of that mean we will be ramping up. The next couple weeks are going to be fairly hectic, and probably less than optimal from a planning-time-availability perspective, but as we move forward things will return to something closer to "new-normal" operations.
I'll try to update when there's more info to share. Until things are solid, we don't want to estimate or guess about timelines that we are not yet certain of. I hope you'll understand that."
Engine, Prop and Avionics Update posted
We have the lists of customers' backordered items and we're working to fulfill those, too. You won't be getting an offer on the web portal for backordered kit items, because we plan to ship those to you without price adjustments. Ah, well, if y'all have the bandwidth I can send an email with...
vansairforce.net
Emp Fairing PIREP ...PaulvS
There's a lot of time and effort involved in finishing the emp fairing, for what looks like a small part. Here's a pic of mine, this is after micro and sanding and two coats of epoxy primer with sanding in between. It needs another coat of epoxy primer and then more sanding. The West System free tech guides on their website are good and I used their method of applying micro, which is to brush on a thin coat of epoxy first before icing (or is that frosting?) the cake.
Empennage Fairing
Micro thinned 5% with denatured alcohol. It's thinned enough to spread and the solvent flashes off before it starts to flow. A few drips. I rotated it every few minutes to keep from getting pools of micro. Why thinned 5%?
vansairforce.net
DIY Control Stick....David Paule post
Here's the one in my RV-3B I'm slow-building. My flat-coat retriever, Sawyer, made sure that I completely understood the ergonomics of tennis balls before he passed. Since the push to talk switch is on the throttle, the tennis ball didn't need switches.
I mounted it by drilling a 1" hole into it, and riveting several universal-head rivets on to the stick at the correct location to act like buttons. The tennis ball is secure, yet removable and washable. Sawyer taught me about washing them, too. If it's ever needed, it's easy enough to install a new tennis ball stick grip.
It's light, meets the goals of KISS and best of all, I like it.
DIY stick grip
I’m sure this has been done, but has anyone made their own stick grip? I’m looking for ideas.
vansairforce.net
'7A with Elastomer nose gear - request for as-built information
This is theoretically correct.
When Ralph originally installed the new mount and leg on his RV-6A, he felt sure that the ground attitude changed from what it was with the original mount and leg.
Since we had never actually installed one on an RV-6A at Van's we had no way to confirm what the before and after pitch attitude on the ground was so a custom strut length was provided to Ralph to get it where he wanted it.
This is also the reason for the Disclaimer Document.
As has been mentioned in this thread, an RV-9A or RV-7A sits very close to level in a 3 point attitude, in contrast to an RV-6A standard build which sits quite tail low in a 3 point attitude. This should be true whether it has the legacy engine mount and nose gear leg or the new version.
In theory the ground attitude should not have changed just from swapping the engine mount and gear leg of an RV-6A to tthe new style because the RV-6A, RV-7A and RV-9A have always used the same engine mount and gear leg (except for a slight variation on the RV-7A if an O-320 engine was used but that doesn't change the nose gear leg geometry).
7A with Elastomer nose gear - request for as-built information
Any flying 7A's out there with the new Elastomer nose gear? What is the clearance from your prop tip to the runway? What size prop do you have and how many blades? I am documenting existing application to compare with my 6A that has the new Elastomer nose gear. Thanks,
vansairforce.net
How Constant Speed Propeller Works
How Constant Speed Propeller Works
Ran across this video and thought it would be helpful for others.
vansairforce.net
Registration Number Specs
I searched all over for the FAA requirements for the registration number requirements and cannot find it. I know it must be at least 12" if plane goes over 180, flies to foreign lands, and must be Roman type (which is confusing because Roman type is with serifs, and that might be considered embellished, which is not allowed). Also, 'contrasting' colors, which is subjective, at best. Anyway, I can't find the spacing requirements or acceptable fonts. What I want is what I have below, but before I commit and buy both sides I would like to know I didn't blow $50 for nothing.
Registration Number Specs
I searched all over for the FAA requirements for the registration number requirements and cannot find it. I know it must be at least 12" if plane goes over 180, flies to foreign lands, and must be Roman type (which is confusing because Roman type is with serifs, and that might be considered...
vansairforce.net
OFF TOPIC:
.
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