Paint my wingtips?

Hi all,

I took the decision (well, "she who must be obeyed" did) to paint my 7a before flight. I have the fuel tanks, wingroot fairings and wingtips left to do.

When I first rigged the controls I had to slice one of the wingtips down the aft edge to align it with the aileron, then epoxied the tip back together.

I'm a little nervous about painting the wingtips in case after first flight I might have to adjust them again.

Have others had to adjust the wingtips after first flight or should I just paint 'em?

Not a big deal to adjust and paint 'em after but I sure would have to do that with painted tips.

Thanks

Frank

Just fly it first if in doubt, not too hard to take um off and paint them afterwords.

While you are in the painting mode, I would paint them. Any wing heavyness will be adjusted by squeezing the opposite aileron trailing edges, anyway. If they are in line with the trailing edges of the aileron and flap, you should be good to go.

FYI,

I installed the wingtips during construction of the wing kit. Later, in final assembly and trying to get everything rigged and in perfect alignment, my efforts proved futile. Both trailing edges of the tips are approximately 1/4" higher than the aileron trailing edges when the ailerons are in the neutral position. My airplane flies just fine.....even hands off when trimmed and in calm air conditions. Just recently, I finally got around to removing the wingtips for paint and reinstalled them a few days later.

Mine are "off" too

I just finished installing the wings and tips. RV-7A. The ailerons are set to neutral with Van's alignment device. When they are equally down from level (to 1/10 degree), the stick is less than a degree from vertical. Given that you have to take a 1/2 turn on the pushrods, I don't think it can get any better. However, the aft ends of the ailerons are about 1/4" higher than the wingtips.

Can I just lower the ailerons equally? This is a cosmetic issue for now - first flight maybe next month. Paint next year. Has anyone tried this? Are there any efficiencies to be had (think reflexed flaps, for example)? Thanks.