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rockyfatcat

Active Member
I recently purchased a RV7 project. It is currently a day VFR only aircraft. It has no lights. NONE!

I had assumed that the wingtip was fiberglass and had been riveted on. Upon closer inspection. It looks like there is only a paint line, not a seam where I expected the fiberglass wingtip to begin.

My question is was a metal wingtip an option? I had been planning on removing the wingtip and putting an Archer style VOR/GS antenna in the wingtip at the same time I ran wires for all the lights. Now I have more questions than answers.

Does anybody have any info?
 
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Standard kit wing tips would have been fiberglass.
If you find metal tips on this 7 project, the original builder would have fabricated them, making it unique for sure.
 
One other possibility. The original builder may have riveted the tips on, then filled the rivet heads and seams with epoxy/micro, and finally painted it. The result looks like one continuous piece. Looks great.....unless the tips need to come off. :mad:
 
Stevea said:
One other possibility. The original builder may have riveted the tips on, then filled the rivet heads and seams with epoxy/micro, and finally painted it. The result looks like one continuous piece. Looks great.....unless the tips need to come off. :mad:
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This is most likely what happened.......
 
Stevea said:
One other possibility. The original builder may have riveted the tips on, then filled the rivet heads and seams with epoxy/micro, and finally painted it. The result looks like one continuous piece. Looks great.....unless the tips need to come off. :mad:
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So, an option in this case is to fabricate an access panel onto the underside of the wingtip.

An aside, I really don't get why people fair in the fiberglass parts (wingtips, elevator, VStab, Rudder, etc.). Have they never seen hangar rash? What a mess that will be to replace on your pretty paint job. To each their own I guess. Or are they just hiding the bad riveting, dents, figure 8 holes....

When my plane took a tail strike (on the ground, boarding), and split the bottom rudder cap, it was an easy fix, as it was made to be removable and had been painted separately.
 
blaplante said:
An aside, I really don't get why people fair in the fiberglass parts (wingtips, elevator, VStab, Rudder, etc.).
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Me either, but that's a whole different discussion thread.........;) Didn't fill any of mine.
 
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Richard Connell said:
Sounds unusual.
Is it possible the tips are held on with hinges instead of fasteners? That’s common.
Got a photo?
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Thanks everybody!

I think picture #2 has the clue. In the white area you can see the indentation for the rivets where they attach the skin to the last rib.

In the red area you can see a tiny void where they used cherrymax or pop rivets to attach the wingtip.

Apparently they used a little more filler on the other wing to cover the transition and those rivets
 
We have metal tips on the stab, elevators, fin, and rudder of our RV-8. My Dad made them. No other reason than that he could. They look spectacular! But even he wasn't crazy enough to attempt wing tips.
 
Rallylancer122 said:
We have metal tips on the stab, elevators, fin, and rudder of our RV-8. My Dad made them. No other reason than that he could. They look spectacular! But even he wasn't crazy enough to attempt wing tips.
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Do you have pictures? I am intrigued. Would certainly prefer fabricating metal stab tips over having to deal with finishing more [expletive deleted] fiberglass...
 
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