Another observation, it looks as if you have cowl plugs in place for the air intake and possibly in the air inlets behind the prop. I am sure these do not weigh much but, none the less, should not be in place when you weigh the plane. After all you do not fly with them so make sure they, along with any other items you would not be flying with, are not on the airplane (i.e. gust locks, etc.)
Well, I knew I should have gone into more detail about the observation. Yes indeed they would be in the baggage area so just like my comment about the position of the canopy being open or closed, this will affect the CG calculations more so than the overall total weight. Additionally, as I suggested in my original post, these should not weigh very much anyway so not too sure how vital the difference would be.I fly with mine - where do you put yours? I pull mine on preflight and throw them in the baggage compartment.
...On the other hand, many builders are so worried about a pound here or there would be great...simply eating a little less would be the easiest way to lower the gross take off weight!
I would be very interested in the weight of each piece of the airframe. Any builders that have a scale and could weigh the VS, HS, Rudder, Elevator, Wings
I've weighed my completed and painted RV-9A. Its empty weight is 1190 lbs. I've been quite unpleasantly surprised. So, the maximum empty weight stated by Van's is 1075 lbs. Please, share by your experience with the weight of RV-9A.
I would be very interested in the weight of each piece of the airframe. Any builders that have a scale and could weigh the
VS
HS
Rudder
Elevator
Wings
It looks by the camber angle of your main gear that you placed the plane on the scales with a jack, if that is the case you should roll the plane back and forth on the jacks to relax the mains. The side loads on the jacks could reduce accuracy. Gene
I weighed some of this stuff using a nice fish scale and a bathroom scale for the wings. Keep in mind I don't have some of the parts for the wings installed yet. ie push-rod and control surfaces. A good fish scale always adds a few pounds when measuring fish and subtracts a few when measuring airplane parts...
all internals primed, no fiberglass, lead counterbalance installed
Right elevator = 7.2 lbs
left elevator = 9.0 lbs
Vertical stab = 7.5 lbs
Rudder = 8.6 lbs
Horiz = 19.7 lbs
Left wing = 51.0 lbs (no flaps, no ailerons, no tips.)
Note: the weights reported by frez1001 and myself are very similar, except for the wings. ~20 lbs per wing is too large to be a scale error. One of us has a OOPS.
Note: the weights reported by frez1001 and myself are very similar, except for the wings. ~20 lbs per wing is too large to be a scale error. One of us has a OOPS.
If and when I get the wings, engine hoist and scales back into formation I will re-weigh my wings.