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RV-7 Z-EDD, Zimbabwe

Outboard Floor stiffeners and F-684 Gussets

IMG_0863 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

To fit the outboard floor stiffeners I drilled them fore and aft first. Then I could use those two holes to hold them in position for match drilling to the skin.

IMG_0838 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

Here is the successful left F-684 Gusset. These took some time to fit correctly and they are an edge distance minefield!! Firstly the bending is not really as shown on the plans. They need a bend right below where the firewall angle ends to fit properly. The other issue is that aft lower hole. It is critical in edge distance on two sides. You need to keep it as far forward as possible to make it easier to drill the forward edge to the firewall angle. This is also the hole that is critical on the aux longeron. I got all this right on the first one.

IMG_0836 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

But then got this problem on the firewall angle. Don't lay out and drill the holes in the gusset until you mark where the firewall angle ends! This was my only replacement part in this section. Thank goodness I didn't drill the firewall!
 
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F-7114 Gusset

I spent a long time researching this thing. It is not even mentioned in the instructions. Apparently Vans attitude is "fit it whenever you like" Since in the tailwheel planes it takes the place of the gear mounts, you could just drill it at the point where the instructions have the nose draggers fit the gear mount. However since it is held in place with 5 AN3 bolts, drilled through the lower skin, lower longeron and F-7101, I surmised that drilling it now was a good time as that would allow proper deburring of those big holes. I needed to adjust the outboard flange slightly to get a good fit.

IMG_0877 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0877 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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F-724 edge distance

I had the typical edge distance issues on both ends of my F-623 Baggage bulkheads. The first 2 pictures show comparison shots of the outside of each conical bend and the relationship with the edge distance on the lower flange of the baggage bulkhead. The moral seems to be if you get the bend to fit nice and tight you'll get better edge distance. The next two photos show how I chose to resolve it with a new flange. This may not be necessary but I'm glad I took the time as this is a complex joint and this flange seems to reinforce and supports the corner of the conical bend.IMG_0845 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0846 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0914 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0848 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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And the top....

On the upper flange I also had an issue on one side. This time I think I failed to ensure the rib was sitting tightly against the skin. I emailed Vans and apparently this is not an issue, so I left both sides at number 40 and will use a 3/32 flush rivet.
IMG_0919 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
IMG_0919 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

And now a gratuitous shot of the fully drilled fuselage before disassembly.

IMG_0917 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Disassembly and F-682D

And here we go with taking it all apart.

IMG_0884 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

Did I say fully drilled? Not so fast! My vagrant (some would say jet setting) lifestyle of flying cargo planes full of rubber dog poop around the world, gives me plenty of time to contemplate and look ahead in the instructions, as well as other guys build logs. Thus I foresaw the problems with drilling the F-682D cover support angles and devised a way to get these drilled and riveted now. Basically these parts seem to be a bit of an after thought. The instructions have you drill them to the F-7101 webs after the skins are riveted on. There is barely a 1/8 gap between the F-7101 and the skin, so this drilling is tricky to say the least. Even after this setting the blind rivets is really difficult since they can't be fully inserted.

So I fabricated and drilled the F-782s to F-7101 with the skins removed. I did not drill the screw holes in the forward flange yet as the forward fuselage was disassembled so I wasn't completely sure these would be accurate.
IMG_0888 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
IMG_0891 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
IMG_0896 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

This was a really tricky job even at this point, can't imagine what it would be like with the fuselage riveted! Had to reach up from the bottom with an angle drill

IMG_0892 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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F-782D continued

I'll skip ahead to show how these came out. After prep and prime, and after the forward fuselage was reassembled but with the bottom skin still off, I match drilled the F-782As to the F-782Ds for number 8 screws. The F-7101s can then be removed, the F-782Ds riveted in place and the nut plates fitted. Then rivet F-7101 to F-902 as per the instructions and cleco the whole assembly back in place.

Note however that I riveted the nut plates first, thus forcing use of 2 blind rivets anyway! Silly, there should be easy access to rivet the nut plates after attaching to F-7101. You can also see where I messed up the position of the lower hole and had to use a single Lug nut plate.
IMG_0932 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
IMG_0935 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/CT7Wgs]
IMG_0937 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Prep and prime

One of the advantages of using a rattle can primer is that you don't need to build up a huge backlog of stuff to prime in one go. I like to do stuff in manageable chunks. These are all the stiffeners and bulkhead parts, prepped, dimpled/countersunk and primed in one day. Big part of the job done.

IMG_0921 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

Here's how I dimpled the lower skin at the aft end of the centre section. A piece of scrap .040 drilled and dimpled serves as a shim. Then squeezed as normal.
IMG_0900 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

When I built the F-705 I wasn't sure what I was going to do about painting the interior, so I did not prime it fully. I've now decided it will be easiest to prime and paint as much of the interior now, so I prepped, primed and painted the bulkhead. I'm using a locally available rattle can paint in a shade called "machinery grey"! Its not a world beating finish but should be easy to touch up as required.

IMG_0905 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

I masked off non visible areas on the sides before painting. The bulkheads and stiffeners in the background are also waiting for paint.

IMG_0902 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Pitch servo mount and armrests

I purchased the Garmin Pitch servo mount and fitted it. This does not mean I am now committed to Garmin, as I understand the mounting hole pattern is common to most servos. When I opened the bag I couldn't see any instructions and was stumped for a while before I eventually looked in the G3X installation manual I had downloaded. Sure enough, the instructions are there under GSA28 servo installation. quite straight forward.

IMG_0871 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

IMG_0872 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

The armrests are quite flimsy and most people seem to reinforce them. This seems sensible and I am quite sure I will have plenty of .063 angle left over. I filed it until it nested nicely, trimmed the long edge flush and match drilled for 3/32 flush rivets.

IMG_0906 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
IMG_0907 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0908 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Painting armrests

I found this gorgeous shade of blue rattle can paint. I like it so much I may just match it for my exterior trim. In the meantime I decided to try painting the armrests with it to see how it looked against the grey. I like!

IMG_0909 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

The armrests top off a massive pile of primed or painted parts waiting for reassembly

IMG_0923 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

But first there are a couple of riveting tasks. I made sure all nut plates were fitted as required. Some will be very hard to do later. Also the F-704H side plates are riveted to the skin. I also did the upper 2 rivets, not specified but I could see no reason not to do them now. I also set a solid rivet in the aft lower hole. A blind rivet is called out but I could not see why. The forward hole needs one because it also attaches the lower skin so cannot be done now.

IMG_0926 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

The F-684 is riveted to the firewall angle. This view shows the complex bend quite well.

IMG_0924 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Lower longeron to firewall bolts.

When I fitted the specified AN3-5A bolts they seemed a little long. When I threaded the nut on with only one washer, 4 threads were visible leading to a danger that the nut was tightening on the shank of the bolt, so I added a washer. Unfortunately, I decided to add it under the bolt head. I torqued everything down, but now that I am riveting I have realised that these will interfere with good access to buck these important rivets. So unfortunately they have had to be removed. If I had put the extra washer under the nut I might have still had good access.IMG_0956 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0947 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0947 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0947 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Firewall sealing

I used 3m Firebarrier 2000+ to seal the firewall. Vans won't ship their stuff outside the lower 48, so not even to Alaska where I can pick it up on my travels. 3m costs 20 bucks at ACS and they'll ship it anywhere. This stuff was recommended by Dave Prizio in his "best practices" column. It is silicon based and comes in a large tube that can be loaded in a caulking gun. No mixing required, very easy to applyIMG_0940 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0940 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0940 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0940 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0940 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0940 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Flipped the Canoe!

Well, today was the biggest and most satisfying day in the project since unpacking the kit. I started riveting the "canoe" together around 8 weeks ago. In that time I have managed only 4 sessions, but 2 of those were marathons. It has been frustrating at times, but in the end it is well worth waiting for a highly competent riveting partner. Most of these rivets were shot by my buddy Kev whilst here on layover from his airline job. Kev worked on the hangar floor for a few years before becoming a pilot, so he knows his stuff. If we had to drill out one of his rivets it was probably my fault. My father in law Alistair helped with the final session and today we finally "flipped the canoe". What a momentIMG_0971 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0972 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0973 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0976 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0979 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0980 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0982 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0984 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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It comes like that

I can see why you would think that, but both of those steel weldments came like that. They are actually separate parts, welded nearer the front. The gap is quite narrow between them and the powder coating partially covers the gap, which then leaves a ragged edge when they are pulled apart slightly.
 
I can see why you would think that, but both of those steel weldments came like that. They are actually separate parts, welded nearer the front. The gap is quite narrow between them and the powder coating partially covers the gap, which then leaves a ragged edge when they are pulled apart slightly.

Nice progress, Ed! An especially thorough job of sealing the firewall. :)

Yeah, that freaked me out when I saw those brackets on my QB fuselage. I had this terrible sinking feeling that I'd have to re-crate the fuse and send it back to Van's. Perfectly normal, as it turned out.
 
Aft deck

First job after flipping the canoe over is the aft deck. First I levelled the fuse longitudinally.

IMG_0992 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

And Laterally

IMG_0995 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

0.3 degrees out at the aft deck, doesn't seem like much.

IMG_0998 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

I used ratcheting straps to remove the twist and drilled. I tried removing the twist by hand and clamping but it just wasn't going to happen. The straps held it nicely.
Also as you can see I could have done this with just the bubble level. Oh well, we like gadgets and numbers!

IMG_1000 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

Here's another view showing the lower strap on the tail spring.

IMG_1001 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
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Finally an update

This is the first update in over six months. The main reason is that Photobucket decided to hold all my photos to ransom. Its taken a while to figure out what to do about it, a lot of time was invested in this thread and I want it to last. So I finally got around to opening a free Flickr account. Although there is still a risk of them pulling the same trick I think it is less likely.

It is also night and day in ease of use. The pages and images load quicker, no obtrusive pop ups, easy resizing and, best of all, a direct upload function from the photos app on my Mac, iPhone and iPad! I think I would pay these guys if I had to.

There seemed little point in updating progress unless I first resurrected the photos in the rest of the thread which I managed to get finished tonight. It wasn't too bad but I sure hope I don't have to do it again.

Anyway, I intend to update details on whats happened but here is a taster of where I am.
IMG_1324 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
IMG_1324 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_1324 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0080 by Ed Fleming, on FlickrIMG_0080 by Ed Fleming, on Flickr
 
Flying!

First flight December 23rd 2020! She fly's beautifully, hardly any problems.

A big thank you to all on VAF who have posted over the years, it is the most incredible resource, could not have done this without the great community :
 

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Congratulations!!!

First flight December 23rd 2020! She fly's beautifully, hardly any problems.

A big thank you to all on VAF who have posted over the years, it is the most incredible resource, could not have done this without the great community :

Ed, big congrats on the new fledgling :D
 
Awesome

Perseverance...gentlemen....under difficult circumstances! A big congratulations from another Rhodesian expat.

Regards,
 
Merry Christmas

Hi Everyone!

The journey begins for me, but in a uniquely frustrating way! A small delay to the ship meant that the kit got caught up in the Christmas traffic, and then the complete shutdown of almost all industry and transport that paralyses Southern Africa every January. I had arranged vacation so I could get started, but in the end I had to leave on a three week trip just 4 days before it arrived. So the pictures here were taken by my wife, and are still all I have seen of it. But its time to start getting excited again as I'm starting on the way home and should be cracking open the crates on Friday!

There is of course a silver lining to this delay. If it had arrived on time I might just have finished the HS by now, and then face having to rebuild it to comply with the SB!

Anyway, here are the photos of the arrival and unloading, African style! Never any shortage of labour to carry heavy stuff around here :)1978862_10151912123891302_631259404_n by Ed Fleming, on Flickr1978862_10151912123891302_631259404_n by Ed Fleming, on Flickr1978862_10151912123891302_631259404_n by Ed Fleming, on Flickr

A very nice six year journey congratulations Ed on a job well done 👍
 
Good job. And the rest of us complain about waiting for parts. Proud of your accomplishment. Let the well earned fun begin.
 
Thanks!

Thanks for the kind words everyone. 7 hours on the hobbs already but it still feels awesome! Can't wait to share the experience.

Very, very cool! Great paint job, did you do it yourself?

Unfortunately I can't claim that. I did help lay out the masking which was WAY harder than I thought, took 3 whole days and I'm still not completely happy, but it still looks good.
 
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