Van's Air Force
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Looks better all together!
- Thread starter Mycool
- Start date
Guy Prevost
Well Known Member
Somethings seems really wrong with this setup... Oh, I see it: Your tips are done already!
Most of the time, I see folks get the tips done way late in the game. Nice to see them on early.
I agree. Nicely done on that. I did it the same way. It seems like many builders are in a hurry to call each section done. They quit early on each section to achieve that goal. It makes the end game soooo much longer if you have to go back and finish up all of the details especially since a nice job on the tips takes almost as long as the sheet metal work did in the first place. Sure looks good....
tmbg
Well Known Member
Personally, I'm glad I waited. I'm much more skilled now than I was then, and I probably would have made a mess of it
grayforge
Well Known Member
A buddy of mine, who built a Velocity XL gave me some good advice this weekend: Get all the detail work done early since, once the aircraft is about complete, that'll be the last sort of thing you'll want to spend much time on.
Mycool
Well Known Member
I'm working on the aeroleds sun tail/strobe.
Tell me what you think of work I'm doing to secure the light? I went the extra mile for two reasons
1 I have time before fuselage.
2 the freakin light cost me $340 plus tax/shipping. I dont want to lose this thing in flight!!!!
I had to break from writing this to pull a tooth!
FYI aeroleds are preselling their new wingtip lights for $500 it's a me design and supposed to light up the complete front of he rv7.
http://i42.tinypic.com/2n9assz.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/14ihauv.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/5estwg.jpg
Tell me what you think of work I'm doing to secure the light? I went the extra mile for two reasons
1 I have time before fuselage.
2 the freakin light cost me $340 plus tax/shipping. I dont want to lose this thing in flight!!!!
I had to break from writing this to pull a tooth!
FYI aeroleds are preselling their new wingtip lights for $500 it's a me design and supposed to light up the complete front of he rv7.
http://i42.tinypic.com/2n9assz.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/14ihauv.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/5estwg.jpg
Mycool
Well Known Member
![5estwg.jpg[img]](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi39.tinypic.com%2F5estwg.jpg%5Bimg%5D&hash=15cef02d512c6b878261b4ea522a4253)
Mycool
Well Known Member
Mycool
Well Known Member
Mycool
Well Known Member
I fabricated the plate to the outside.
I originally planned without the plate, but was concerned that the glassed in nylon nuts might pull out if tightened to much. So the plate will be glassed on with 6 blindrivets, that way the entire bottom half will come off before the light comes off. Additionally the light will sit more flat.
I will post pic of it all together soon.
I originally planned without the plate, but was concerned that the glassed in nylon nuts might pull out if tightened to much. So the plate will be glassed on with 6 blindrivets, that way the entire bottom half will come off before the light comes off. Additionally the light will sit more flat.
I will post pic of it all together soon.
grayforge
Well Known Member
The plate is epoxied to the inside of the rudder cap, but the main strength will be when the light is screwed to the plate, sandwiching the cap fiberglass between the plate & light.
The black ground wire, ground from the AeroLED case (that the ground I attached connects to) connect to the cable shielding and to aircraft ground as shown in this AeroLED schematic:
The black ground wire, ground from the AeroLED case (that the ground I attached connects to) connect to the cable shielding and to aircraft ground as shown in this AeroLED schematic:
BSwayze
Well Known Member
Michael, I thought I should warn you about a potential problem you may run into by doing all your empennage fiberglass work at this point. I did a lot of mine, too, while waiting on my wing kit, back when I built my empennage. Here's what I learned, later on, when I mounted the empennage to the fuselage for the first time.
The bottom of the rudder, as it comes in the kit, will most likely need to be trimmed. I spent a lot of time carefully fitting and drilling the fiberglass bottom to the rudder, not knowing this. I assumed that the part, as it comes from Vans, is made to fit. After all, everything else fits to a T. This isn't so! I was shocked, several years later when I mounted the empennage to the fuselage for the first time, to see this. The rudder bottom doesn't fit right!
So now I have to do all that work over again. I would suggest that you put the rudder bottom aside (when you finish your tail light) and wait until your fuselage is finished. You'll save yourself some effort and wasted time.
One other thing I've noticed, after looking at a lot of RV's at fly-ins and out on the ramp at different airports, is the fit of the rudder bottom. The trim on the rudder bottom should be tapered, so that the final fit of the rudder bottom follows smoothly from the bottom of the fuse to the tip of the rudder. I've seen many, many of them, where the aft end of the rudder angles upwards too sharply because it shouldn't be trimmed at the aft end as much (if any) as it needs to be trimmed at the forward end. A tapered trim, if that makes sense. I don't have a picture to help here, but I hope that makes sense.
Speaking of tail lights, I made a similar mistake. I bought an expensive Whelen tail light/strobe, thinking I would like to just get it done now. This was before LED lights came out. Recently I sold my brand new, never used Whelen tail light at a loss, because I'm going with modern LED lights instead. I know you just bought your light and that's fine. My point is, you never know what might come out in the near future, before you are ready for final assembly of your airplane. Maybe we'll see a big price drop, like we're all waiting for. When it comes to anything electrical or to do with your panel, it's best to wait until the last minute before you jump in.
The bottom of the rudder, as it comes in the kit, will most likely need to be trimmed. I spent a lot of time carefully fitting and drilling the fiberglass bottom to the rudder, not knowing this. I assumed that the part, as it comes from Vans, is made to fit. After all, everything else fits to a T. This isn't so! I was shocked, several years later when I mounted the empennage to the fuselage for the first time, to see this. The rudder bottom doesn't fit right!
So now I have to do all that work over again. I would suggest that you put the rudder bottom aside (when you finish your tail light) and wait until your fuselage is finished. You'll save yourself some effort and wasted time.
One other thing I've noticed, after looking at a lot of RV's at fly-ins and out on the ramp at different airports, is the fit of the rudder bottom. The trim on the rudder bottom should be tapered, so that the final fit of the rudder bottom follows smoothly from the bottom of the fuse to the tip of the rudder. I've seen many, many of them, where the aft end of the rudder angles upwards too sharply because it shouldn't be trimmed at the aft end as much (if any) as it needs to be trimmed at the forward end. A tapered trim, if that makes sense. I don't have a picture to help here, but I hope that makes sense.
Speaking of tail lights, I made a similar mistake. I bought an expensive Whelen tail light/strobe, thinking I would like to just get it done now. This was before LED lights came out. Recently I sold my brand new, never used Whelen tail light at a loss, because I'm going with modern LED lights instead. I know you just bought your light and that's fine. My point is, you never know what might come out in the near future, before you are ready for final assembly of your airplane. Maybe we'll see a big price drop, like we're all waiting for. When it comes to anything electrical or to do with your panel, it's best to wait until the last minute before you jump in.
