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Panel's Fired-up

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Wow, after many, many months of wiring I finally got the panel all fired-up.

Bill Rambo
RV-7A
 
Status Brantel

Well by the end of today I should have the canoe flipped! All that is left to do is a few rivets aft of the seat back bulkhead.

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D
 
Brantel Milestone! Canoe Flipped!

After a trip to Vegas for three days (work related, no fun:() I flipped the canoe! :D :D :D

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And of course I threw in some padding and made airplane noises!

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Man I need a hair cut! :eek:
 
Fun With Wingtips!

Just finished putting the lighting in the wingtips.

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Wiring runs are done, but no connections yet. Still need to figure out if 15 feet is enough strobe cable.

Checklist for completing wings is:

1. glass-in VOR antenna
2. bend/cut pitot-AOA probe tubes to fit
3. fasten pitot probe to mast
4. install platenuts and wingtip ribs in wingtips.

And by 'completing,' I mean getting the wings to a state where I can store them until moving the whole shebang to the airport for final assembly.
 
Got it up on the gear tonight !!

I did it by myself with a chain hoist.

I'm feeling good now. This is a milestone I've been working toward a long time.

Mark

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Two cilinders engine for RV7

Hi, here is my RV7 ;-) fuss is almost finish,, waiting for a bigger and something but powerful engine,, :eek:

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All the pieces fit!!

I have reached a major milestone at last...the empennage, wings, and fulelage have been married! There were no fit-up issues at all, and the aerodynamic surfaces are aligned within the 0.1 degree precision of a SmartTool digital level. The finish kit shold be here in about two weeks.

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Finally got around to routing out my work table for my new back rivet plate. I back riveted my rudder yesterday and it turned out great! Trying to finish the tail up - the wings will be here in three weeks!

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Status of Brantel

This weekend I got the rear baggage compartment bulkhead cover completed, the baggage floors and side walls installed, and the rear seat floors fabbed with the hinges and installed.

The girls after getting ready for bed, came down to give their daddy a good night kiss. Well they just had to get a "ride" in the airplane. I guess I should have started building a 10. :p

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Hi guys,

This weekend I passed the 2000 building hours, slow build kit, first time builder.

Sorry no videos, borring stuff between 1750 and 2000 hours, does not make for good video.

The engine install and baffles are done and I am preparing to paint. (Ja I know about the paint before fly debate :p)

All that remains is to fit all the instrumentation, wiring, lighting, upholstery and final assembly. I guess another 500hours or so, hopefully it will be fly still THIS year.

I am outsourcing the painting to vehicle panel beater down the road from my house. He will do it in batches, first batch all the fiberglass parts, second batch the wings and tail, last batch the fuselage and canopy.

Well here is my final baffle picture and my latest picture worthy progress.
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Kind Regards
Rudi
 
Hi Guys,
We are now at 560 hrs. Quick build, tip-up. Second time builder.
All fairings done. Motor and exhaust done. On wheels.
Starting on the cowls now.
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Jan Hanekom and Hugo Stark.
South Africa.
 
Got this skins on the HStab yesterday. I was particularly proud of the stands I made. They took about an hour to construct (including the run to Lowes), and cost me less than $15.

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- 1 standard 2x4.
- Wood glue
- 4x3" #10 bolts + washers, nuts (if you can get longer bolts, do so -
I had to grove out the uprights to get the skin on).
- 2 packages of 4 "L" bracket thingies

You can flip them.
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As you can see, they work well even when a clumsy, hunchbacked ogre is drilling on your plane...

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update

Making some progress on my RV 7A wings. A picture should be available if I did the imageshack correctly.
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Status Brantel

After helping my friend Tim get airborne for the first time in his RV6A, I returned to my pile of aluminum to finish my seat backs.
Also be careful not to build any twist into these units. Lay them on something flat while drilling and keep checking them while riveting or they can twist.

I used a table saw with a carbide blade to cut the relief in the side angles underwhich sandwiches the hinge. This worked better than trying to use the 1" belt sander to make these reliefs.

I squeezed the side angles, bottom angle and hinge. Shot the top angle and used the C frame tool on the angle adjuster hinge.

I now have seats!

These things are simple but take some time. Also when drilling the skin to the long side angles, be careful and drill both ends first and cleco. The problem is that the corregations in the skin will allow it to flex and this can cause it to shrink or grow in relation to the angle. If you just start on one end and work your way up, it can cause the skin to be longer or shorter than the angle.

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Finish kit is here!

Seth from Partain trucking pulled up at 9am sharp today to drop off my finish kit! I had help from my dad, and several local builders who braved the -20 wind chill to get the box in to my garage!

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No cowl...SJ will be ordered later...

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Canopy out...

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Non powdercoated engine mount...it'll be powdercoated red soon...

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The rest of the stuff-

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Time to get back to work!!
:cool:
 
Status

Finished drilling the rudder pedal mounts and floor stiffeners today. Just a small handfull of things left to do before the big disassembly and weeks of prep.

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More Tools and Cabin Progress!

Sold some tools I did not need any longer and replaced them with some I did!

New tube bender, flaring tool, washer wrenches (sure hope these are worth the cost), debur bit from Avery's (wore the original out), new 3/32 countersink cutter (broke the original's pilot off), and a new #19 threaded bit. Also got some more torque seal, a really thin flat set, and the hex flap rods.

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I finished the flap motor, mechanism and covers this weekend complete!

Now it is time to mate the wings! :eek:

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Tail almost complete!

Just about to begin on the wings. I am wrapping up the finishing touches on the elevators other than the glass work. It needs to warm up just a tad bit more before I tackle that. Here are some pictures of the tail.
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I saw his truck

Hey I was going to peoria ILL. and saw Partains truck going down 74 and then stoped at the rest stop and he pulled in their as I was leaving I wanted to turn around and ask him where he was going and hauling but I did not have time. This is where he must of of ben going. That was Sat. night. I know it was the same truck driver that delieved my kit to me.
 
Hey I was going to peoria ILL. and saw Partains truck going down 74 and then stoped at the rest stop and he pulled in their as I was leaving I wanted to turn around and ask him where he was going and hauling but I did not have time. This is where he must of of ben going. That was Sat. night. I know it was the same truck driver that delieved my kit to me.

Yep! He pulled in to Bloomington/Normal Saturday night around 7:30, and delivered to my house Sunday at 9am. He was then off to drop off an RV-10 in Indiana. He had a 7 or 7A and another -10 in there also...his trip ended in Maine!! Oregon to Maine! I think he was hauling a couple cars back to the west coast to complete the trip.

:cool:
 
Yup, I started out with the, trim the blue stuff rutine.
By the time you get into the wings you just say heck with this and just rip it all off. If you plan on painting the plane you end up scotch brighting the whole thing, so who cares about a few scratches.
 
Just about to begin on the wings. I am wrapping up the finishing touches on the elevators other than the glass work. It needs to warm up just a tad bit more before I tackle that. Here are some pictures of the tail.

You need to get busy Mike! My wings will be here on Monday and I'll hopefully be able to complete the tail in about a week or two. I'm almost done with the left elevator, and then all that will remain is the trim tab.
 
What are you talking about? I have been "starting on my wings" all winter!! The hiatus is about to end my friend. :D Good luck on those wings!
 
Thank you

Thank you for the info I would always be wondering where he was going. We were going to the monster truck show in peoria and had to keep going or I would of went back and asked him.
 
Jim P Update

We'll a big milestone finally got here. I'd been plucking away at the small stuff in prep for the airport move and the time has come. Joe Hull, local Cozy builder, provided the truck, and John Adams, who owns Monroe Motorsports, provided the trailer for the move for the big move up to Arlington. The trailer is designed for ATVs, but works perfect for tailwheel RVs' The wheel well humps won't let the nose draggers fit, but for tailwheels, this is great. I hadn't drilled for the wing root fairings when we first fit teh wings, so that was the first thing on the agenda. Unfortunately, I'm out for a month of recovery for some knee work, so progress is going to slow for a bit. Bummer. This is pretty motivational.

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Status Brantel

Well after 8 years, my emp finally was mated to the fuse!
No matter how long it takes, this plane will fly one day!
Never give up! Even if life does cause some periods of delay!

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Milestone Reached! Wings Mated!

Here it is, wings all mated!!! I also got the elevators mounted and the horns drilled. Thanks Chad for the bushing!

:D :D :D :D :D :D

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Another canoe flipped

I can't believe how cool it looks right side up. Very exciting!

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Hi Jeff L.
 
Finally got everything fitted in the instrument panel. The switch sub panel is already in the fuselage with the rest of the wiring.
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Jekyll, Yea---- looks funny now. At this stage merely a false plate and will be a black faced box . This will become the box that will house two dimmer circuits. The two "eyes" are the two potentiometers. The bottom hole is the power outlet for GPS's etc.
 
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