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Introduction, Intentions, and Inquiries

S

StickNRudder

Active Member
Alliteration aside, I am excited to announce I have a tail kit on order!

Let me back up... HELLO, I'm Rick. After a significant dream period, followed by another significant planning period (during which time I have consumed most of this site) I am joining the ranks of a real builder. I have been a good student and have taken many notes. Here are my thoughts as currently envisioned. There are still a few questions which will resolve themselves in due time. Anyway, glad to meet you all, if any of the following raises an eyebrow, give me a shout out.

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Aircraft Choices:

  • 99.99% per plans
  • RV-7 with Slider Canopy
  • Pax side brakes (I intend to do aero from right, x-country from left)
  • Lightweight tailwheel
  • Electric elev trim
  • Lycomming or equiv IO-360 (Titan ECi, Superior, used from Wentworth?)
  • Constant-speed prop
  • Half-Raven oil system, one flop tube, and a brake check valve
  • 2" Crow 5 point harness
  • Stein Air Vents
  • Upgraded fuel caps
  • Autopilot
Avionics will wait until the last minute to take advantage of rapid improvements.

Andair fuel valve?
Camlocks?
Cap fuel sender?
Cleaveland tie down blocks (pn rvtdk Djm)?

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Shop/Tools:

Isham kit (on order) with DRDT2, tungsten bucking bar, 3", 4" no hole, & longeron yoke, pneumatic squeezer with adjustable set holder...
 
Good five year plan Rick! Spread those one hundred kei evenly it won't hurt that much. Welcome! You will love every minute of it building and flying. Looking forward to your 2020 first flight! :)


 
Welcome

Welcome and congratulations.
You've got plenty of time to think about it.
I didn't see anything about primer!:eek:
 
Sounds exiting!................. During my study period of reading other peoples build sites, which never really ended, I had a MS word document that I constantly added to. Every time I saw a picture or a tip I wanted to remember, I copied it off the builders site and pasted it into my document. I cant tell you how many times I went to that document while building............... "99.9% sticking to the plans" is very wise if you want to finish in less than a decade!....Reading your post makes me want to start another one!:rolleyes:
 
Humor

StickNRudder said:
The last day I can fly is fixed (I just don't know the date yet), so my plan is to not prime. I figure the plane and I can die of old age together.
Click to expand...

Sorry
That was a feeble attempt at humor on my part.
Build the plane you want. That's why we're builders.
 
Fantastic, another -7 in the great state of California.

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey. FYI, if you order a (very occasional) replacement part from Van's on Sunday night, it will be on your doorstep by Thursday shipped via cheap ground service. Ready to go for the next weekend... (yea, I bet you can guess how I know)
 
Hi Rick

Welcome to the 7 club

Im a Noob by all standards myself. There isn't a day that goes by that i don't read something new and interesting or even flight critical about the 7 on VAF.
Many many good resources on here and make sure to bookmark peoples blogs and build logs to help you through. If you are hard and fast set on not priming your build will go fast. You will still need to do some priming for non alclad parts like ribs etc. What i have found is that most of the time the parts require so much deburring and scratch removal that i don't know how its possible to not prime most parts because by the time i get done with deburring and scratch removal, half the alclad is gone anyway. If you have not done so already i highly recommend the practice projects from vans. They are cheap and good fun for a weekend. The best part is, when you put your back rivet set through the practice parts because you forget to turn the air pressure down you get to say, o well its a practice kit not airplane parts :D ask me how i know :eek:

Have you picked up a tool set yet? If not let us know, we have lost of recommendations. I have had both the Isham tool kit from plane tools and also the avery kit. There are some big differences. Also check out Larrys "wire jock" build blog. Its very good.

Goodluck to you sir! Stay calm and rivet on!
 
ijustwannafly said:
...If you have not done so already i highly recommend the practice projects from vans.
...Have you picked up a tool set yet?
Click to expand...
The practice projects are coming with the emp kit. I also have some scrap aluminum sheets that I will be abusing.

As for the tool set, I did order the set from Isham plus some extra stuff. Frankly, I spent too much time thinking about tools. From what I read, all of the major players (that advertise here) are good. Experience (you all and eventually me) will dictate the other stuff I need. I am all ears.

Thanks!
 
StickNRudder said:
The practice projects are coming with the emp kit. I also have some scrap aluminum sheets that I will be abusing.

As for the tool set, I did order the set from Isham plus some extra stuff. Frankly, I spent too much time thinking about tools. From what I read, all of the major players (that advertise here) are good. Experience (you all and eventually me) will dictate the other stuff I need. I am all ears.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I think either kit is a great starting point. I purchased the Isham kit and then sold it when i foolishly sold my initial 7 project. A year later when i bought another 7 project with tools it had an avery kit with many many many and again MANY extras

The only thing i can say is that over time i have realized that lots of the kits have stuff in it ill never use. That solely depends on what kind of builder you are. For example. Do you like power tools? Own a band saw? Then i would bet you will almost NEVER use the collection of tin snips in the kit. Don't like power tools or own a band saw, then the tin snips will be your best friend.

A few friends of mine tried to talk me into not buying a tool kit a while back and putting one together on my own. The jury is still out on that but i think it is 100% a viable option and would strongly consider doing that knowing what i know now if i had to do it all over again. However, since you have a nice isham toolkit coming including my favorite thing of all, the DRDT2 Dimpler you are going to be all set!

I have found a few little extra things extremely helpful.
The additional yokes for the squeezer is a must
Adjustable set holder a must
and lots of little odds and ends. I like the Isham fluting pliers much better then the vice grip ones i currently have.
Get yourself a second microstop for convenience.
The tungsten bar is about as nice as it gets.

A few favorites of mine for you to consider
http://www.averytools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1044
http://www.averytools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=59010
http://www.averytools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=3700
http://www.panamericantool.com/novar-pneumatic-instalation-tool.html (thanks to ppilotmike spoiling me)

I think your in good shape Rick. Have fun with the practice kits. Lots of people have different recommendations for air pressure settings but someone told me once 10 * the rivet size
30 for #3
40 for #4
etc. You can fine adjust from there but has worked for me so far.

Also here is a fluting video you may find useful. It helped get me going when i was working on ribs for the VS from my original kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqNoVAQLo0M

If you have not gotten involved with your local EAA already definatley do that and find some local builders to BS with. The community is wonderful! Almost as good as VAF :D
 
Hi Rick and welcome to building. This project will teach you all of the intricacies of 'paralysis by analysis'. Try not to let it. You have a long way to go before you need to worry about whether you want to use the Andair valve or the stock valve. I wasted 2-years, at least, doing the same thing.

I dont know what your experience is with smashing rivets, but you might consider an EAA Sportair workshop. There are two that are equally good for the beginner. One is the Vans RV Assembly workshop. I took this and it was a wonderful jumping off point. The other is the Sheet Metal Basics class. I did not take this one, but many people here give it high marks. In the RV Assembly class you'll build the airfoil cross section kit that Vans sells.

Good luck.
 
Lemmingman said:
I dont know what your experience is with smashing rivets, but you might consider an EAA Sportair workshop
Click to expand...
None, but I'm pretty mechanically inclined. I am signed up for the sheet metal class but unfortunately it is in October. So, being the cocky SOB I am, I will do the practice projects and have them inspected at my local EAA chapter. Then I will still go to the class! I figure there is always things to learn.
 
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