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A few questions from a newbie

D

Darth-Helmet

Member
Hello I am in the process of planning out my 7a project and I have a single car garage to build my plane in. My first question is are there any stages of construction where I would not have enough space (except of course for matting the wings.) My next question is that I plan to do as much construction as possible in my garage and move to a hangar as late in the game as possible so with that said is there any reason you could not do the drilling and fitting of the wings at the very end of assembly. Thank you all for your help.
 
Search the existing posts on the subject.

There have been many recent threads with numerous opinions about building in a single-car garage, mostly positive. Do a search on "garage" and see what turns up. You'll probably find a whole evening's worth of posts to browse through.
:)
 
Greetings,
Your post is exactly what I would have asked back in 2001 when I started my RV. I didn't realize at the time, however, there there was an entire RV world online.

I now have close to 200hrs with my -9 which came from my 1 car garage. You have plenty of room, get started.
 
I assembled everything but the wings in a one car garage.
You should have more room if you mount your tail feathers and
build the tail fairings before you hang the engine.

I had it on the gear in the garage, (I built a 7A), but had the
main gear on a couple of cheap HF dollies. This allowed me to
move the fuselage over to one side for more room.
Tom
 
No problem on the single garage. You will need to store the wings and empennage somewhere if can't be stored on walls, ceiling, etc. It is highly advisable to build as much as possible in the garage. One is much more likely to be more productive on the RV when close by as opposed to having to drive out to the airport, especially if you don't have much time some evening (unless your hangar/airport is real close).
 
I'm building a -7 in a 12x14 shed. I'm on my second wing an have the tail feathers built and so far I havn't needed any more room. In some ways I think it helps with the building. Everything is close at hand when working. Organization is a must though, any clutter and you'll be bumping into things. Someone said you should work as close to home as you can and I totaly agree with this, my shack is 30 feet from my house and I find myself spending 5 or 6 hours a day out there besides an 8 hour day at work and can still make it to bed at a normal hour. Seems to be working great. I sat on the fence for the last 5 years and after jumping in with both feet I wish I would have done it back then. Good luck.

Ted
 
I'm still at wing stage so haven't needed "too much" space. But I would say this space issue is like that you can't never have too much space (but then rent, heating, cooling etc. will finally create some limit but from building point of view). However if you "can't" build plane in a small place I would say it's more like attitude problem than space problem.

It's just better to start building and worry later. :D I would just make sure that you have space for fuselage with engine installed (you can have it without rudder)...
 
Better home in single car garage than hanger far away

I also buid in a single car garage. This can be easily managed provided you can store the wings elswhere when working on the fuselage. Installation of wings on the fuselage can be postponed until very late in the building process. Most important is to be able to build close to your home and familly. It is quite easy in such condition to spend one or two hours in the garage and then back home to have time with familly. Wife and familly management is an important issue in this building story
 
It depends how big your garage is of course!

I'm hoping to move my project to the hangar this weekend because I have reached the point where it's impractical to keep building in the garage... and that's at the end of the finishing kit. so you can see there's a lot you can do in the garage.

But, in my case, once the engine mount is fitted, and it gets on gear, all bets are off in terms of maintaining a happy wife.
 
Thank you all for your responses I never would have thought so many people would be building in a one car garage. I have measured per vans website and the Fuselage should fit with the tail and engine hung Etc. It sounds like there should be no problem waiting to fit the wings until the very end of the build process, so as a follow up question would it be feasable to order the Emp. kit and Fuse kit complete those and then order quick build wings with the finish kit (I know there is a 4-8 month lead time on those but I figure thats how much time it will take to wire and plumb everything anyway) the only reason I consider this is beacause its seems like the wings are nearly finshed in the QB version. Thank you all again for helping me figure this out. Also is any one around the Chicago or Milwaukee area working on a 7?
 
If are go with the Quick Build and want to save money by getting the Fuse, Wings, and finish kit all at the same time, you might find your garage very full. My 2 car garage with 1 small car off to the side was full to the point where I could not longer walk around all the pieces. Here are the rough dimensions.

Finish Crate 4'x8'
Wings on Cradle 4'x10'
Fuse 4'x17

If you can break up the Finish crate and store all peices in your house, then you should probably be all right.
 
Sorry I should have been more specfic my Plan is to go slow build Fuse but order the QB wings at the same time as the finshing kit and finish the wing up and mount at the very end of the project when I am in a hangar.
 
Darth-Helmet said:
Sorry I should have been more specfic my Plan is to go slow build Fuse but order the QB wings at the same time as the finshing kit and finish the wing up and mount at the very end of the project when I am in a hangar.
Click to expand...
This is a pretty good plan. Actually, don't bother receiving the wings until you are done with your finish kit and the FWF and wiring is done--the latter three will take a lot of time. QB wings could be finished and mated to the fuselage in a solid week or two at the hangar, especially if you have help. Save the money and space. Good luck.
 
Just wondering: if you order wing without fuselage you also get center section with it. So if you order fuselage, do you get wing spars with it (which of course have to be returned if you wish to have QB wing)? As center section and wing spars are mated together.

Anyone see this an issue? I would check from Van's to be sure... It's just that sending those spars around may cause some cost.
 
Pirkka said:
Just wondering: if you order wing without fuselage you also get center section with it. So if you order fuselage, do you get wing spars with it (which of course have to be returned if you wish to have QB wing)? As center section and wing spars are mated together.

Anyone see this an issue? I would check from Van's to be sure... It's just that sending those spars around may cause some cost.
Click to expand...
From what I understand, Van's no longer requires center section and wings to be paired. Apparently they are comfortable with the accuracy and consistency of their jigging. Not sure if this applies to all models, but I think it does.
 
single car garage

Darth-Helmet said:
Hello I am in the process of planning out my 7a project and I have a single car garage to build my plane in. My first question is are there any stages of construction where I would not have enough space (except of course for matting the wings.) My next question is that I plan to do as much construction as possible in my garage and move to a hangar as late in the game as possible so with that said is there any reason you could not do the drilling and fitting of the wings at the very end of assembly. Thank you all for your help.
Click to expand...

I built my 6a in a single car garage. No problem. did have to add a 2 foot extention on the garage when I mounted the i-0320.
 
Single Car Garage

I had a four car garage and I filled it up. I am not the most organized person on the planet so the more organized the less space you will use.

One thing that affected me was my garage was open and with my wings stored in the normal "wing caddy", I noticed what looked like an acid spill on my wings. I was horrified and finally realized it was cat urine. With our high humidity, apparently several cats were "marking" their territory in my garage. I decided to paint my wings immediately to stop the corrosion process. **** cats.

RV 7A Finishing,
Lafayette La.
 
So is there a definitive "ok" on building the fuselage before the wings? I'm building in a one car garage and will have to pay for a storage unit for my wings while building the fuselage. Since the fuselage will take a lot longer to build than the wings I'd rather build it first and put it in a hanger while I do the wings instead of paying for a self-store unit for the wings. Van's site still says wings before fuselage...
 
You could build the fuselage up to the "rolling the canoe" step. Soon after that you'll need to fit the wings, flap pushrods, etc.
Steve
 
Yes, but...

tim.randles said:
So is there a definitive "ok" on building the fuselage before the wings? I'm building in a one car garage and will have to pay for a storage unit for my wings while building the fuselage. Since the fuselage will take a lot longer to build than the wings I'd rather build it first and put it in a hanger while I do the wings instead of paying for a self-store unit for the wings. Van's site still says wings before fuselage...
Click to expand...
The only problem with this is that Van's still holds your hands through the wings. By the time you get to the fuse there's much less of that. If you're good at figuring things out yourself, I say go with the fuse first if you're going to go QB wings anyway. If you're going to do slowbuild wings, I'd try to get them done first. For me there was still a lot of learning on the wings that really helped by the time I got to the fuselage.
 
tim.randles said:
So is there a definitive "ok" on building the fuselage before the wings? I'm building in a one car garage and will have to pay for a storage unit for my wings while building the fuselage. Since the fuselage will take a lot longer to build than the wings I'd rather build it first and put it in a hanger while I do the wings instead of paying for a self-store unit for the wings. Van's site still says wings before fuselage...
Click to expand...

Rather than pay for a storage unit, check with some hangar tenants at your local airport and see if you can store your wings in a corner of their hangar. Most hangars I've seen with flying airplanes in them have lots of extra room. In my case, I rented a hangar (180/mo) and then sublet it back out to a Thunder Mustang owner for 130/mo. I currently have my wings, finishing kit and all my Christmas decorations (on shelves) stored for 50/mo. Plus I get to drool over an awesome plane anytime I want :D.
 
Steve said:
You could build the fuselage up to the "rolling the canoe" step. Soon after that you'll need to fit the wings, flap pushrods, etc.
Steve
Click to expand...

So now I am confused can I not wait to fit the wings as one of the final steps (after engine is mounted and plumbed, wiring nearly finshed (except for wing) tail attached Etc.) or do you have to test fit the wings after the fueslage is at the canoe stage.
 
Darth-Helmet said:
So now I am confused can I not wait to fit the wings as one of the final steps (after engine is mounted and plumbed, wiring nearly finshed (except for wing) tail attached Etc.) or do you have to test fit the wings after the fueslage is at the canoe stage.
Click to expand...

You don't have to but it is beneficial in order to get everything rigged and plumbed. Fairings fitted etc. It will shorten the amount of time the plane will sit at the airport prior to being inspected. Several have done this by fitting one wing at a time and by sticking the wing out the garage door while doing this process.
 
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