Reply to Antigravity
AntiGravity said:
Hi Art,
I've ordered a TC FB kit also, and it should get delivered with my fuse kit in mid-Feb '07. I suspect maybe his kit and instructions have evolved over time, especially since you were his first customer, but do you have any gotchas I need to look out for?
Also, why the metal skirts? Any advantages there? And how easy was the whole, chopping the rollbar and leaning forwards thing?
Cheers,
I'm not sure what has evolved in Tom's fastback kit. For me back then, Tom provided new ribs and instructions and mailed me a full sized model of the new skin. I bought a 4x8 sheet of alum and whanged away on it. I really didn't need the skin template, wrapping the full sheet over the new ribs was all I really needed to do. That was the 'kit'.
The rollbar lowering and canting thing is somethign that Tom and I came up with over the phone, discussing what we liked for looks. It's not mandatory, but I prefer the look. It does complicate the fabrication of your canopy frame a bit.
The hardest part about the fastback was fabricating my own canopy frame out of 4130 tubing, then figuring out the closure mechanism. I do not like the looks of rockets with tip over canopies, so I was committed to the slider. The learning curve was steep for me, as I know how to weld but I have never fabb'd something from tubing then tried to get the completed frame bent to the proper fit. I cut up Van's frame to create my fastback frame, which if I were to do it again, I'd probably start from scratch. I wasted a ton of time trying to get Van's to work, not to mention burning and sandblasting the powdercoat off. You'll have to be thinking about where to put the 'dagger pin' that keeps the canopy from lifting. The standard 8 has it at the bottom of the canopy ramp on the centerline. I copied the Rocket guys and put one on either side of the cockpit rails to keep the sides from bowing in flight (thereby eliminating I hope the air leakage on the side skirts.). If your fuse is not started yet, I'd seriously think about how to submerge the canopy centerline ramp under the turtledeck skin. I kept the standard Van's and still have not figured out how to seal that danged thing. I mean, here I was, totally reconstructing my turtle deck into a fastback, I could have probably concealed the canopy rail below the surface. ****, it all comes down to time spent on the plane. For me, the fastback added considerable time, alot of it making and remaking things for the canopy. I also did not enlist the aid of other local EAA guys, which would have probably yielded a time savings.
As to metal skirts over glass, RV friends complain about glass skirts being tight in warm weather, and loose in cold weather (or vice versa, I forget). Anyway, I reasoned that the coeffecient of expansion for plastic is larger than for alum, and since most of the aircraft is alum, they would all expand together. If done correctly the canopy glass will float beneath the mounting screws and the skirts will move with the frame and the alum fuselage. This is all theoretical, as I'm not flying yet.
I ralionalized the fastback decision six ways from sunday, citing speed, lack of air leakage for the back seater, but the reality comes down to looks. That's what kept me going in the months I spent messing with the canopy frame, as I sure spent a ton of time on it, it was fun tho, and my ship will be somewhat unique.
Good luck with yours.
Art
Hiya Guys, When we attended Vans Homecoming we noticed the company RV8 that they call "Dilbert" was nowhere to be seen. We had an interest in it because we were planning to buy a kit. It took some carefully worded questions to the right individual and he released that they had moved it to an employees hangar. Why I asked, and he volunteered that it was undergoing a modification. I guess that is the fastback conversion and recieved a grin from him. The RV12 was behind schedule from when they said it would fly so it probably bumped the RV8 back as well. I read quite a few rumors about what would be announced at Oshkosh and the matched hole RV8 was one of them. I would guess we will be seeing a company built fastback RV8 and since they took the effort to match hole the 8 kit it seems only logical that if others out in the field are offering kits for a fastback, that Vans would pull that back inhouse as well. 
