S

Steve Sampson

Well Known Member
I would be very interested to see some pictures of how people terminate the fairings (presumably) at the trailing edge of the flaps. Cant find any appropriate pictures anywhere. VANS plans are not too clear on this point.

The bit of metal I am wondering about is this one.

Also, assuming the fairing continues to the rear of the retracted flap. is it vulnerable to passenger feet getting in and out?

Thanks yet again!
 
I think most folks taper the fairing in towards the fuse. In my case I opted out of the fiberglass/metal two-piece thing and instead made a single flat strip fairing that wraps around the entire wing root. It is cut off even with the aft edge of the upper wing skin. I have no fairing for the flaps. I simply trimmed the upper inboard flap skin to within about 1/16 inch of the fuse side. I'm pretty sure this is how the -7's do it.
 
Fairings

Here is mine

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10003751fl.jpg
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Wing / Fuse intersection fairing.

Dayton / Steve - you guys are great! I have hardly posted and you are replying. Dayton, am I correct thinking that in fact the forward part of your fairing is not in fact the VANS part? It looks like you have made up your own design? Did the VANS one not work out. Do most builders give up on it?

I havnt given up on the forward fairing yet. I hope someone has a picture of that also. I wonder if it can be made to fit with a heat gun. I think with the borrow of a stretcher/shrinker, the rear one can fit well, but I have to work out how to tighten the bend radius so it reduces to nothing at the aft corner.

Thanks,
 
Fairings

Steve
I worked on fiberglass fairings with a heat gun, grinder and a number of other tools at my disposal. I was unable to make them conform to my airplane so I discarded them. The aluminum fairings required an afternoon to fabricate and fit to my RV4. Done! I moved on to the next task. :D
 
F-473 wing root fairing.

I am still trying to use the glass and aluminum solution provided by VANS for the wing root fairing. The glass parts work well, but the F-473 is hard to terminate so that it looks good. Did ANYONE use the VANS parts? I would be really interested to see a picture of a completed fairing, particularly the back end of the F-473. Anyone got one?

Thanks as always,
 
Flat aluminum?

Mornin' all,
Dayton and others, is there any reason why you can't just use a flat sheet of aluminum like the 6's and 7's use? A couple of years ago, a poster who had bought an RV 6 removed the radiused fairings on the airplane and put on Van's flat fairing and gained like 7 MPH over the radiused one.

Regards,
 
Curved wing/fuse intersection fairing.

Pierre, the reason for the curved fairing is the theory says it should provide a lower drag interface, though in the case of the RV6 you mentioned it appears it was not the case! 7mph either way seems huge though I have no doubt that was what was reported to you.

I would like to use the VANS parts because:
a) I have them, (not the case with that length of flat ally.)
b) It looks good .....except I cant decide how to terminate it.
c) It should be the lowest drag.

Dayton and SZ's input is helpful, but both non standard.

What i cant understand is am I alone in trying to use the VANS provided part or what? I wish I had a flock of -4 to look at!
 
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