All aluminum cowl for an RV-4

pierre smith · #1 03-04-2007, 06:49 AM

Mornin' all.
I saw an RV in Florida earlier this year at Lakeland with all aluminum tail tips and it was really beautiful. Who knows of a fabricator that could/would make me an all aluminum cowl for a -4 and also the empennage fairing? Any leads as to the owner of the aforementioned RV also appreciated.

Thanks,

Captain_John · #2 03-04-2007, 07:07 AM

Pierre, The plane you saw was likely to have been Dick Martin's RV-8. He has the emp tips all bent up real nice with AL sheet.

I am guessing that an all aluminum cowling might be cost prohibitive. Unless you find someone who is an exceptional fabricator and is willing to tinker for free. A rare combination.

CJ

Ironflight · #3 03-04-2007, 07:30 AM

"Mighty Mouse" is Mike McCain's beautiful polished RV out of the Waco area - he brought it out to eh Big Bend Fly-out. I looked at the tips and asked "how did you get the fiberglass to look so much like aluminum?"

His response was "They're made out of aluminum!!" The cowl was painted, so I don't know if it's metal, but I bet that anyone that did tips might know if anyone has done a cowl....

Paul

DanH · #4 03-04-2007, 08:35 AM

Near you, Clyde Stanfield was reported to be doing exactly what you describe:

http://home.hiwaay.net/~sbuc/tvrvbg/barn.htm

Also near: John Neal's shop was on the Griffin airport; call Sportair and ask them. He was doing an advanced metal shaping class for them at one time. Good guy.

Farther from home (CA), pro metalshaper and Model 12 builder Jimmy Kilroy can do it. Go to www.2wings.com and drop Darin a note for contact info.

Rick6a · #5 03-04-2007, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pierre smith

............ Who knows of a fabricator that could/would make me an all aluminum cowl for a -4 and also the empennage fairing?.....

http://www.liming.org/aircraftmetalarts/index.html

rv8ch · #6 03-04-2007, 10:38 AM

It would be cool to have metal tips and cowl. The people that can do this are magicians.

Paul Tuttle · #7 03-04-2007, 02:11 PM

I was talking to this gentlemen at length about his aluminum tips at SNF. He made it all sound pretty easy. But I'm not to sure about that.

Captain_John · #8 03-04-2007, 02:39 PM

Paul, that is Dick Martin.

CJ

Paul Tuttle · #9 03-04-2007, 03:52 PM

Dick Martin it is.

Good talking to him.

brianwallis · #10 03-04-2007, 09:07 PM

Hey Pierre... I'm buying an english wheel and the rest of the sheet metal stuff if you want to get together.... I'd love to be able to build all metal fairings... clyde is in the tenn valley group and I emailed a couple of guys that do that and they should get back to me soon....
Brian