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Show us a pic of your FINISHED RV-9/9A!!!

Looks like I finally figured it out. This is the RV-9A of Bruce Cruikshank and Andy Simpkinson based in Vacaville CA. Bruce built it and I have the fun of sharing it with him. It has a Eggenfellner Subaru 4 cylinder engine.

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Is that morse code on the side???

If it is, it means "To Fly" if read top line then bottom line, or "Fly To" if read left to right. My guess is its the former. The nose art and words may have the key...can't tell from this photo...but pretty cool! :)

Cheers,
Bob
 
Thanks to Doug

I would like to thank Doug for putting my RV-9 completion on the front page of VAF's but it seems this may be the only way to do it as I can't find an address for him.
He is probably up to his armpits in e-mails any way.
Hey...Thanks Doug !!!
Ken Klima


[ed. You are very welcome Ken! BTW, my contact info is at: www.DeltaRomeo.com. br,dr]​
 
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Pictures of 446RV

On the first day of the new year (1-1-11) a friend of mine agreed to fly me in his Ercoupe down to Northwest Regional Airport (52F) which is just about a mile away from the Texas Motor Speedway outside of Ft. Worth where I was having my RV9A painted. The painter is GLO aircraft painters. They had called on Wednesday the 29th to tell me my plane was finished and ready to be picked up after having it for about 3 weeks (I flew it down on Dec 3rd).

So Jim and I took off in his ErCoupe around 8:00 am Saturday morning to go pick it up. It was a very cold morning Saturday. The outside air temp gauge showed around 10 deg F when we took off. We had a pretty good North tailwind pushing us along in the Ercoupe so we got there pretty fast showing about 145 MPH ground speed. Grady O'Neal, the owner of GLO and painter of airplanes, met us there and opened the doors to reveal 446RV fully painted.







Well, I was stunned. What a gorgeous plane! I spent the next hour to hour and a half examining every inch of the airplane. I had heard stories of guys taking off to fly their newly painted airplane home only to have an off field forced landing because some component was not reconfigured correctly when the plane was put back together. No worries here however. Grady and his crew do a fantastic job. They pay attention to every detail and make sure everything is exactly the way it was when it came into the shop.

After Jim and I had a quick bite to eat and filled up both airplanes at the pump we took off for home. Although I had done a very thorough critical examination of the airplane and found absolutely nothing out of place I was still nervous about taking off. It was kind of like the first flight all over again. Of course all of my nervousness proved to be totally undeserved. I took off and the airplane flew just as fantastically as it had before the paint. In fact, as Grady had told me, it seemed to fly just a bit faster. All those nice shiny slick surfaces had to be giving me a couple more miles per hour in speed. It sure felt faster.

This plane is a blast to fly. It climbs like a rocket, it has speed to spare (only limited by how much money I want to spend on fuel to go fast), it maneuvers by just thinking about turning, climbing, descending. I cannot say enough about how much fun this plane is to fly.

So, heading back home, the North wind is now a head wind. I climbed up to 6500' (at about 2000 FPM) once clear of the DFW class B airspace; set up the autopilot to get me headed home; leaned out to about 30-35 deg lean of peak and trimmed out for a cruise speed of just around 145-150 MPH. All of this while seeing a head wind of about 12-15 MPH. Oh yes, and all of this while burning right at 7.0 GPH. Did I already say what a blast this plane is to fly?

After 1.2 hours I found myself setting up for approach at Thompson (53OK). I have never been comfortable doing low passes in the past but I could not pass it up this time. I setup for a low pass over the runway, came straight in on 35 for the low pass. Mary (my wife) was waiting outside the hangar along with others around the airport as I flew by showing about 165 MPH on the True Airspeed Indicator. Man is this plane fun!

I came around on downwind and made an uneventful approach with a slick soft landing on our grass runway that was a pretty as you please. I think this airplane really could land itself.

After 5 years, 1 month and 3 days of building I saw my first flight on July 20, 2010. I flew off my 40 hours of Phase I flying between July 20th and October 1st. The 41st hour saw me flying my new airplane to LOE in Weatherford, OK (KOJA) on October 1, 2010. Now on 1/1/11 I picked up my newly painted airplane.

Life is Good!

Keep bucking those rivets because it will very much be worth it one day!
 
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Gorgeous Airplane!

Beautiful, Steve. But then again, I have a prejudiced view....
Check out pg 15 of this topic.
 
Beautiful, Steve. But then again, I have a prejudiced view....
Check out pg 15 of this topic.
Carl,
Now that is VERY FUNNY! Isn't it amazing how this forum has shrunk our world. Perhaps you saw the same picture I saw. The picture I saw had totally different colors than what I chose, other than the white. My wife and I chose the same flow of lines as that plane's on the fuselage but I changed the paint scheme on the wings and the wheel pants. Your scheme is very similar to mine.

Needless to say, I am very pleased with the outcome.
 
Well Sort of...

Actually I found a photo of the paint scheme in similar colors, a bit darker red and a tip up if I remember. I think I still have it on my laptop at work. If I get a moment tomorrow, I'll see if I can find it and post it. Smaller numbers on mine as no plans to cross the ADIZ.

Grady did a beautiful job for you.
 
Great looking plane

Steve,

That is one great looking plane. Congratulations and well done.

Next time you are in the area send me a note, 52F is just about 45 minutes from my house. I?ll grab Smitty and we?ll come over.

Grin on,

Dean
 
Steve and Carl,

Really good looking 9's. Of course I may also be a little biased--see page 5 of this thread.

All the Best and of course,

Cheers,

db
 
Thanks guys for all of the compliments. I am very proud of this beautiful plane but like everything else in life I cannot take credit without acknowledging all the many people who helped me get it built. This airplane just serves to prove that no man is an island.

I have to thank my wife for picking out just the right colors and putting up with the expenses and time of a 5 year project. Thanks to all my friends who helped buck rivets and help with the many decisions that took lots of hangar flying to figure out. Thanks to Brent Fisher from Steinair for helping me finish my panel wiring. Jay Pratt, Troy Thompson for helping me finish the fiberglass work and all of those 90% done 90% left to go tasks. Grady at GLO for an absolutely fantastic paint job. There are so many others that helped in all kinds of ways. To everyone of those people I could not have done this without you.
 
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Dave B - any other shots of your RV9A?

Hey Dave,

The links on page 5 of the thread were dead ends. Do you have any others?? Would enjoy seeing a larger image than your avatar.
 
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Finally after 4 years and 3 months, I got myself an actual airplane. In Canada we have MDRA inspectors that do the work for Transport Canada. Mac on the left was the very competent inspector, my father in law Harv in the middle who has logged tons of hours keeping this project going and ensuring top quality on ever single piece. First flight hopefully in the next week. Final inspection took all day with tons of tests and paperwork but all was excellent and its good to go. Now I just have to put her all back together and get on with flying.

:D
 
Rick - Check your PM

2j1ldhy.jpg


Finally after 4 years and 3 months, I got myself an actual airplane. In Canada we have MDRA inspectors that do the work for Transport Canada. Mac on the left was the very competent inspector, my father in law Harv in the middle who has logged tons of hours keeping this project going and ensuring top quality on ever single piece. First flight hopefully in the next week. Final inspection took all day with tons of tests and paperwork but all was excellent and its good to go. Now I just have to put her all back together and get on with flying.

:D

Great to see you're nearing the finish line (or is it really the starting line?)
Best,
Terry
 
Nice

That is a great paint job. I have the honda jet blue tips on my catto, that would look really good on my plane!

How did the front wheel fall off? :confused:
 
RV9/9A

I flew it for 250 Hrs and decided I didn't want to worry about the weak nose gear anymore So I converted it. Wasnt as big a deal as you may think. I live on a grass strip and for the last 180 hrs I havnt even thought about it! 435hrs now and love every minute in it.
 
Another Flying 9A in France

I had the pleasure to assist my good friend Bernard Besnier in preparation of his first flight which took place on Thursday 12, May 2011.

Bernard built a very nice and lightweight aircraft, sporting an overhauled 150hp O-320-A1A, two P-Mags, Catto 2-blade, MGL Xtreme EFIS, CAD interior.
Empty weight (no paint, no main wheel pants, temporary CAD seats) is 450 kg (992 pounds).

Bernard jumped in this build when he first saw the quality of Van's kit in my garage. Now the big difference between being retired and active is that he IS flying while I'm still in the middle of my fuse :eek:

But this kind of post is useless without some pictures:

Ready for first flight
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Taxiing
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First take-off
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First landing
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And of course, first RV-grin
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Congrats Bernard, now I have to finish mine.
 
N91RV Flies on Summer Solstice

After 4.5 years of building N91RV flew on 6/21/11. No issues reported - WOW - flies like a dream! Many thanks to all who helped along the journey . . . Bob Devaney my EAA tech advisor, EAA chapter 1250 at KPTW in Pottstown PA, in particular Al Rubin, Wayne Long, Ned Gibson. Finally, Dave Austin who conducted first flight and transition training - first class service.

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"The journey is part of the dream!"
 
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Congratulations Mark!

You beat me to it :) Could you fly the box boundaries some time to test APRS?:)
 
Okay, I finally get to post in "Finished" thread.

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RV9 - Tailwheel tip-up
OX-320 ECI Titan (built it myself)
Catto 2-Blade
Dynon Skyview
Aera 510
Garmin 327 and SL30

Flies great. I have no heavy wing and no added trim wedges. (lucky I guess). Louvers solved my CHT issues. Stalls at about 43-48 KTAS (solo and gross) Climbs at about 1300 FPM at 110 KTAS. Vx climb around 1950 FPM. I flight plan for 150 KTAS at around 2500 RPM and 7.5 gph. Though if I am not in a hurry, I will cruise at 2350 RPM, 140 KTAS and 6.2 gph. I have about 180 hours on it, about 70 hours dual given from the right seat. I enjoy flying from the right as much as from the left (I am ambidextrous). The paint is from Gene Mason of Mason Aircraft Finishes, Wadesboro, NC. I highly recommend him.
 
WOW, beautiful bird. Congratulations.

It sure will bring you unforgetable times.

Safe landings.
 
Wow tony, looks a little different than the day you took me up, can't wait to see it and go for another flight!!
 
I just completed repainting most of my -9, "Catalina" after 600 hrs of flying. I used an olive drab urethane base and clear coat. There is still a bunch of polishing and buffing to do but I am pleased with the results so far.


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Bruce...she's a beauty. I love the wood prop by the way. The paint looks very nice. Did you say you painted it yourself? If so, I'm impressed!
 
Thanks! Yes, I painted it myself. The gray on the underside is from the original paint job I had a pro do about 5 years ago. I repainted all the olive drab myself, and the gray on the cowling and wheel pants and fairings. I removed all the parts I could and painted them in my garage, then painted the rest of the plane in my hangar.
I used an HVLP system which works very well once you get your gun dialed in. Spraying the clear can be a pain because you can't be too thin or too thick and I only spayed one coat of clear because I didn't want to add too much weight. The N-number was painted using a mask stencil and the other graphics are vinyl decals.
 
I have pondered a repaint on the RV6 I purchased. Did you strip the original paint or simply spray over the top?

George
 
I sanded the existing paint using 400 grit and only went as far as the primer in some places but not down to bare metal. Keep in mind that I only painted the top side of the plane so I was not too worried about adding a lot of weight. If I ever paint it again, it should probably be stripped to bare metal. I plan to weigh it again soon.
 
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Beautiful Job!

I sanded the existing paint using 400 grit and only went as far as the primer in some places but not down to bare metal. Keep in mind that I only painted the top side of the plane so I was not too worried about adding a lot of weight. If I ever paint it again, it should probably be stripped to bare metal. I plan to weigh it again soon.

Bruce you are an inspiration!!!!!!!! Thanks for giving me a ride in it!
Congrats,
Rich
 
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