N941WR

N941WR

Legacy Member
Mel,

Over the years you have posted comments about your early -6 kit. Could you elaborate?

Things I think I've heard:

1. No holes of any kind
2. All dimples were done with a pop rivet dimpler. Didn't they have a C-frame in that cave?
3. How about the cowl? Did you have to make that too?
4. Electricity, did you have electricity? ;)

I realize how easy us match hole kids have it but would like to learn how rough the true RV pioneers had it.
 
Ha, Ha. Wasn't funny then.

N941WR said:
Mel,

Over the years you have posted comments about your early -6 kit. Could you elaborate?

Things I think I've heard:

1. No holes of any kind
2. All dimples were done with a pop rivet dimpler. Didn't they have a C-frame in that cave?
3. How about the cowl? Did you have to make that too?
4. Electricity, did you have electricity? ;)

I realize how easy us match hole kids have it but would like to learn how rough the true RV pioneers had it.
Click to expand...

1. No holes of any kind!
2. The "C" frame was around. Bob Avery's invention BTW.
I just used the pop rivet dimpler because I was used to it.
3. We got a cowl but it was a pretty poor example. I had to glass the upper and lower halves together with material added in between to get it to fit properly, then re cut it.
4. We had electricity, but Ann had to pedal the generator to keep the compressor going.
5. Added note. The plans ended at the firewall. The firewall and everything in front of it was up to you.
6. The wing plans were converted from -4 plans, so the fuel tank mounting holes were all screwed up. The plans and the drill plans were different and they were both wrong.
 
Last edited:
Mel said:
2. The "C" frame was around. Bob Avery's invention BTW.
Click to expand...
What did they do in WWII and since? Where all those planes built with pop rivet dimplers? Oh, that would have taken a long time!
Mel said:
4. We had electricity, but Ann had to pedal the generator to keep the compressor going.
Click to expand...
She's TOUGH!
Mel said:
5. Added note. The plans ended at the firewall. The firewall and everything in front of it was up to you.
6. The wing plans were converted from -4 plans, so the fuel tank mounting holes were all screwed up. The plans and the drill plans were different and they were both wrong.
Click to expand...
Are you saying you didn't even get an engine mount?
 
The kits showed up on a horse drawn wagon. You had to pay in gold bullion, diamonds, or emeralds. Sometimes they would accept Jade or Amber. You submitted questions to tech support by carrier pidgeon. The answer was always "make it fit". (Some things never change.)

We had to use these wooden fixtures called jigs to hold the parts in the correct orientation. Lots of fun with measuring tapes, plumb bobs, shims, chalk lines, and other apparatus from the stone age.

There were no pre-punched holes. Making sure you hit the centerlines of the ribs and bulkheads when you drilled holes was an excercise in measuring, marking, re-measuring, checking plumb, then drilling and hoping you hadn't screwed up somewhere. I eventually learned to pre-drill the holes in ribs and bulkheads, then back-drill the skins.

The plans were OK, but the manual went from excellent on the empennage (10 or 20 pages with pictures, diagrams, good sequences, etc.) to pitiful (I swear, the fuselage section of the manual was about 2 pages.).

The best thing about it was that RV's were far less common back then. Anywhere you went, you got compliments on your airplane and questions about how it flew, how long it took to build, etc. With the popularity of the RV's today, you just don't get as many of those experiences.
 
N941WR said:
Are you saying you didn't even get an engine mount?
Click to expand...
Engine mount, cowling and spinner were supplied. But no plans forward of the firewall. Landing gear legs were not drilled top or bottom.
 
There is a guy on our field that has one for the first flying RV-3's. A beautiful airplane. When he looks at the "new" kits he just shakes his head.
 
Bauxite

Mining the bauxite ore was easy. Smelting and rolling the aluminum into sheets was the hard part.
 
A friend of mine got RV6 kit #7 actually #207 in the Van's numbering system in 1986. It came in flat boxes with almost no prefabrication. How he didn't cut a finger off fly cutting all those lightning holes in the ribs I'll never know. He did get one of the first Phloginston spars but otherwise it was all built by him. He finished it in 1991 and flew it for almost 10 years before selling it when he hung up flying at age 79. N number is 207DC and its still out there flying. Don
 
zilik said:
Mining the bauxite ore was easy. Smelting and rolling the aluminum into sheets was the hard part.
Click to expand...
The hardest part for me was the hours and hours sitting at the lathe turning out rivets.
 
After making the wire at the forge, I found it extremely tedious getting it into the insulation. And don't get me started on the shielding ...
 
AMURRAY said:
And you had only one choice of canopy. The tip up.
Click to expand...

The sliding canopy option became available for the RV-6(A) sometime in 1991.
The trigear option became available in 1988.

yakdriver said:
A friend of mine got RV6 kit #7 actually #207 in the Van's numbering system in 1986. It came in flat boxes with almost no prefabrication. How he didn't cut a finger off fly cutting all those lightning holes in the ribs I'll never know. He did get one of the first Phloginston spars but otherwise it was all built by him. He finished it in 1991 and flew it for almost 10 years before selling it when he hung up flying at age 79. N number is 207DC and its still out there flying. Don
Click to expand...

I built my first RV-6A from an early emp. kit. It was serial # 10 (20010) I purchased it in 1988 from a gentleman who had bought it when the kits first became available in 1986 (but he never did any work on it). I and Tony Bengallis were two of the first builders to recieve a sliding canopy kit. At that time the manual for installing it was one typed page and two blue print drawings.
Side note...up until the early 90's all plans sheets were done on a blueprint machine. They were often hard to read and would fade somewhat over time.

My airplane was one of the first cutomer built RV-6A's to fly (after Alan Tolle's). First flight was March 27, 1993 (will never forget it). Airplane is now on its forth owner. Current owner in northcentral CA has had it for about 10 years.
 
Mel said:
The hardest part for me was the hours and hours sitting at the lathe turning out rivets.
Click to expand...
Turning out rivets wasn't too bad, as aluminum machines pretty easily. The hard part was, in the days before rivet guns were invented, you had to hold the part with one hand, the bucking bar with the other, and hit the rivet head with your forehead until it set.

3/32 flush rivets weren't too bad, but back riveting was really a pain! Thankfully some smart guy with a severe headache came up with a better way.
 
Hey Sonny......

Yessiree....back in the day, (reaching for the tebacky) it was electric that powered our drills and rivet guns. (spit) Getting wifey to pedal that generator faster was the real challenge. She shore was a hard worker and purdy one I'm tellin ya! I reckon ya'all kinna spoilt now. (spit)
 
Last edited:
Whippersnappers

Hmphh. Rivet guns driven by belts hanging from jackshafts in the ceiling was where it started.....:D
 
I'm drilling wing skins on my -8 right now and SERIOUSLY feel like it's cheating. My guilt is my penence and I'll carry it forever and hang my head low in the presence of REAL builders.:p

I'm gonna have to build a -3 next so I don't have to make excuses for the rest of my life to the real builders out there.:D
 
cheating

Yeah, I definately feel that building a plane from the new kits is cheating. That's a big reason why I am building a plane from nothing but plans now. I used to build R/C planes that way.
Hopefully, when I complete my current project, I will be able to look myself in the mirror again. :(
 
rzbill said:
Hmphh. Rivet guns driven by belts hanging from jackshafts in the ceiling was where it started.....:D
Click to expand...

Sure,

...and I hear from the really old guys around EAA105 that they helped Van chisel out those first few canopies from a solid block of plastic, then smoothed it all out over the campfire...

Jerry
 
Last edited:
You builders think you had it tough????

Hey, I remember having to taxing three miles through belly-deep snow to reach the runway for my first flight!;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.