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Flipped my Canoe!

From this morning:
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To this afternoon:
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Spent the rest of the day leveling the plane and getting ready for a right-side-up world! Woohoo
 
Tanks

Yea! I have two leak free tanks. I know it's no big deal but to me it rates as a pretty big accomplishment.
Stupid phone won't give me a vertical pic from Tiny Pic. Sorry
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Larry, congrats! I'm going to be finishing up the sealing and leak testing on mine soon, hope they go well.
 
tanks

Larry, congrats! I'm going to be finishing up the sealing and leak testing on mine soon, hope they go well.

They will be fine. After this I think I stressed way too much over them. Watch the four corners of the baffle where it mates to the inboard and outboard ribs. I actually built that area up a bit when I installed the ribs so the baffle wohld have some proseal to seal against.
Keep us posted.
 
I think mine are just leaking around the access plates. I put the cork gaskets in there -- obviously not enough. I'll pull them apart, use tank sealant to seal it up good and try again. The first time around I had to seal up one of the rear baffle corners, but found no leaky rivets anywhere.
 
Last night I did the wingtip lenses, tonight I cut out mirror acrylic for my wingtip cutouts to go behind my Ztron Labs LED nav/strobe lights. Cutting and finishing the acrylic was not nearly as difficult as I thought, and I didn't create any unintended scrap along the way. Hence, I think I have enough 1/8" mirror acrylic stock left over for 3 more sets. I'll probably use some for another project.

This pic looks less than spectacular because I still have the protective plastic film on the acrylic. Tomorrow night I'll finish and polish the edges and see about securing the plastic to the wingtips with some nut plates and #6 screws.

DSCF1168.jpg
 
Larry, don't sell yourself short on building two good tanks! A lot of folks haven't been so fortunate. Keep on squashing rivets.

Jim Bower
RV-6A N143DJ (flying)
St. Louis, MO
 
Dale,
I did the exact same thing with mirrored plexi but I opted for Green & Red mirrored plexi so it looks like my nav lights are on even when she is sitting in the hangar. Turned out great! Will post photos when I figure out how to share images from Google Drive
 
Ha! Not a bad idea! I didn't even think to ask if they had colored and mirrored. Oh well -- I'm not about to make those again! :) My biggest thing was wanting to get maximum effectiveness from the strobes. Well, that and have it look good.
 
If you hit me up about 5 years ago I could be of more assistance. Here is a company I found from a Google search. I have no knowledge of their products or customer service.

http://www.interstateplastics.com/A...arent-5-Sheet-ACRR4CP.php?vid=201404081951-1p

BTW my wing tips were the "old style" so we had to cut the light coves into to tips. That is why they look a little like Frankenstein Tips. But painted they look AMAZING.

RV-8A-Fresh-Paint%20(19).jpg


One more note. My Green/Red LED's are automotive and have worked flawlessly since install. Each LED with base socket is about $15.00! Sure beats $1,200 for Green/Red Aircraft LED's.

Here is a link to the lights.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/s-series-bulbs/1156-led-bulb-single-intensity-30-led/812/


Here is a link to the Base. Yup $1.00 each:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/more...gleBaseChild&gclid=CJzsiKWe0r0CFaVQOgod3CkA0A
 
How to meet all the pilots in your neighborhood...

I fit my wings today. I didnt get much done, but I'll save that for a different thread.

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N168LW is Airworthy

After my second engine run on 5/18 and final tidy-up on 5/19, I got my airworthiness on 5/20. No issues during the inspection. Now, I need have the test flight plan finalized and get that long awaited RV grin.

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Thanks!

Luckily we have an EAA flight advisor in our chapter, and we work in the same building. I will follow, mostly, the test flight cards for my phase 1. I am getting myself familiar with the plan now. Hopefully the first flight will be pretty soon if weather permits.
 


Got through what I thought I would dread...interior tank riveting.

May not be perfect or pretty, but I hope they will be leak free.
 
Almost?.check my new website

Hi,
The new website of RV-7 I-MKLK Spirit of China is online: www.rv7.eu
I hope it will be enjoyable and useful to Rv family.

Marco
 
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Woo-hoo!

I moved the wings to my storage unit last night, and this came off the truck today:

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This is actually the very first Van's kit crate I have ever unpacked. I'm running a special on brown packing paper, come and get it.
 
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Fuselage Well Underway

Finished all the aft fuselage bulkheads over the holiday weekend (US Independence Day). It's exciting to see some of the big pieces going together. I've made so much progress lately (112 hours since the beginning of June). I'm beginning to actually believe that I could finish this project and actually fly some day.

F-704 Bulkhead
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F-705 Bulkhead
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F-706 Bulkhead
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F-707, F-708, F-709, F-710, F-711 and F-712 Bulkheads
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Primer question

Michael, what is the primer you are using? It glows gold in the photo on my ipad. Looks great!
 
Primer or Anodizing

Michael, what is the primer you are using? It glows gold in the photo on my ipad. Looks great!

The primer is the standard Sherwin-Williams wash primer that Van's uses on their QB wings and fuselages. The primer, here in the US, has a green, almost olive drab, color.

That said, you may be referring to the F-704 bulkhead which is not primed but anodized. The anodizing comes from Van's and is gold colored. The lighting is also not so great for taking high quality photos there in the shop.
 
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Maybe a little off center of the topic, but did you round the corners on the right end of the workbench for a reason, or is that just a sheet that was available at the right time?
 
Maybe a little off center of the topic, but did you round the corners on the right end of the workbench for a reason, or is that just a sheet that was available at the right time?

That's a piece of scrap I had left over after building a poker table.
 
Hello,
Little introduction, not really sure if this is the correct thread. New RV7 started - on the hangar floor:

Ready to be unpacked and counted:

2014-06-17131705v2_zps6519092d.jpg


I did get some of the parts counted and organized :D

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Been looking to build for several years but 'life' sometimes gets in the way. Working on -7; Lurked here a bunch, read a ton and hope I can share this journey.

Jack
[Signature in progress]
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Welcoome!

Welcome to the RV-7 fold, Jack! If you just want to post the occasional build status, this is as good a place as any. If you want to start a separate thread to document your build, you can start one at My RV Build Project. If you're building at the airport listed in your signature, you've got local access to some of the best RV building talent there is.;)
 
Guilherme
Congratulations.Very pleasing and great work.
You are making excellent progress.
John
 
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Lucy has wings

Finally. Lucy has wings. I had so many life interruptions. It feels so good to see these done. Sorry I couldn't get the image rotated correctly.
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Congrats!

Looks great Larry!

Just framed up my wing stand last weekend...hearing about those who have made it through to completed parts helps keep me going.
 
Wings

Looks great Larry!

Just framed up my wing stand last weekend...hearing about those who have made it through to completed parts helps keep me going.
Thanks Chris
KPTR (keep pounding those rivets). I can't take credit but it's a great acronym.
The wings and tanks will try your patience but keep at it. I found friends really help. They keep you occupied and also help with all that deburring!:D
 
Deburring

She'll probably deny it if you ask, but my wife gets mad if I don't let her do the hole deburring! Probably because she hasn't yet met the wings....

Don't tell her there are about 5,000 holes in the wing skins. That's 10,000 deburs!:eek:
 
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