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Interview with Van’s Rian and Greg!

Question

At approximately 12:35 in the interview, Rian mentioned something about "making sure the rivet holes meet specification..."

He probably was clear about this, but if so I missed it. Are you disassembling some of the QB kits and then reassembling them after inspection/remediation?
 
I think Rian described a “high end” tubing bender. See https://youtu.be/YHhwwlx0a_s?t=437. I don’t think a high end tubing bender would be needed to make fuel lines, but I’m no expert.

I've got a buddy who has a CNC tubing bender. He uses it to scan/trace existing lines and make new ones. He got (and lost) the contract to remake all of the lines on the WB-57F they resurrected from Davis Monthan a few years ago.
 
Knowing how hot the bush plane segment is, I suspect that one of the new designs will be a high wing, but I doubt it will be rag and tube as that's not what typical RV builders are after. I suspect it will be more like the Rans S-21 outbound where the forward part of the fuse with the engine and wing attach points will be 4130 tube, but then the back part of the fuse more standard RV construction and mated to it.

I think the bigger question is what gear, flap, and wing setup are they going to use.

Cabane-V gear is stronger, but draggy. Maule or Bearhawk gear is less draggy, but not as strong. Spring gear is faster, but it can be heavy, and if you aren't done flying or have all of the AOA out of the wing when it touches, you are going to do a double humper landing.

The flaps are interesting with the bearhawk using a standard barn door flap, cessna using a semi-fowler flap, and the husky and maule using a lower hinge point. I'd love to see a full segmented flap like the performance stol flaps.

The wing is all compromise. If it's a high lift design with lots of incidence then you will get a slow flying airplane, which is what I want. Stumps and rocks suck at 50kts. 30Kts is way better, but that same wing won't cruise at 140kts.

Another point is the size. I'm not building an RV because I want to put a campsite, bikes, and fishing gear in my airplane, then operate off of 500ft of dirt. An S-21 is a little small for this mission. A kitfox I think is even smaller. I'd love to see a bearhawk 4-pl, maule, or C-180 size airplane from Vans, but I really doubt that will happen.

Now that I'm thinking about it, if I could buy a experimental C-180 from vans with a lycoming io-540, large rear door, a Sportsman stol built into the wing, a stick, and sportier handling, then just take my money. ALL OF MY MONEY. But... it won't happen....

schu
 
SNIP

Now that I'm thinking about it, if I could buy a experimental C-180 from vans with a lycoming io-540, large rear door, a Sportsman stol built into the wing, a stick, and sportier handling, then just take my money. ALL OF MY MONEY. But... it won't happen....

schu

I’m just guessing, but if I was Van’s I’d make a “something like a 180”. Four seats but good hauler if the rear seats are out, a little faster, a little lighter and running the new 215HP IO-390 instead of the IO-540.

Carl
 
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I’m just guessing, but if I was Van’s I’d make a “something like a 180”. Four seats but good hauler if the rear seats are out, a little faster and running the new 215HP IO-390 instead of the IO-540.

Carl

Yea, that's called a C-170B, and you can get them with an io-370 from Stoots.

Great airplane, except for the 2200lb gross.
 
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please stop speculating. it's clear how these new models will look like.

RV15 = midget F15 with tailwheel
RV16 = midget F16 with tailwheel

tomorrow i'll start saving money.

PS: there will be no nosegear version due to weight and complexity.
 
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The 170 was improved by calling it the 180 and putting in 230hp. The late model 180s with the longer cabin were under-powered until they called it the 185. But then it's 300hp, guzzles gas and a big of a different beast. 185s are a hoot to fly, I've flew one for a season on floats, couple hundred hours worth. As a personal plane I couldn't afford to feed the thing, 15gph to do 120kts (on floats) is a bit steep.

A 170/early model 180 sized cabin with 215hp (IO-390), and very efficient flap design would be great. The flaps will allow for low stall speed and high cruise speed. The RVs already have a great speed ratio, bigger and more efficient flaps can only improve the situation.
 
My idea

I hope the RV-16 is two RV-8’s connected like an F-82!
 

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I hope the RV-16 is two RV-8’s connected like an F-82!
Only if the video was filmed on April 1st... :)

I'll hold out for a tapered-wing RV-6. That's probably why they've been holding back on RV-6 parts for the last few years, they want to have a lot of kits ready when the tapered-wing hits the market so they can ship complete kits. :)
 
I've got a buddy who has a CNC tubing bender. He uses it to scan/trace existing lines and make new ones. He got (and lost) the contract to remake all of the lines on the WB-57F they resurrected from Davis Monthan a few years ago.

Our new tube bender is a CNC bending machine that allows us to make more complex bends in-house (including some we have either had to outsource before) as well as bring bend quality up a level relative to our old semi-manual tube bender it replaces.

Click here for some quick video. I'll post more next week. :)
 
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Our new tube bender is a CNC bending machine that allows us to make more complex bends in-house (including some we have either had to outsource before) as well as bring bend quality up a level relative to our old semi-manual tube bender it replaces.

Click here for some quick video. I'll post more next week. :)

Greg, that is one impressive CNC bending machine! What is the size and composition of the tube that you are bending in the video?
 
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