Paint Scheme

This is the paint scheme I am thinking about doing. As I said earlier, red and black are my colors of choice. I once seen a plane (an RV6, see pic below) painted like a white/red Gee Bee racer. I thought it looked pretty slick. Considering almost every factory-built plane seems to be white...that was out for me...blah! I want something different, something you'll remember. I've always liked black, and red is my favorite color and they look good together...definitely bold! So thats how I came up with the color scheme. I do realize, black may be hard to keep clean but I'll deal with it. And since it isnt a composite plane, a dark color should be ok for heat purposes.

This is the RV6 I was talking about, apparently belongs to a gentleman named Troy Munday, painted by GLO Custom Aircraft in the DFW area. Nice looking paint job!
So here is a sketch of my proposed paint scheme. I have seen a few planes similar to this but none exactly. Hopefully no one will read this post and 'copy' my scheme before I finish! :) It is intended to give the look of a black plane that just flew through red paint. Whether you like it or not, it will be a paint scheme that you wont soon forget...and thats what I'm trying to achieve. This is a first pass, it may change slightly as I move toward paint day.

I am considering naming my plane "Dead Red"...short for "sitting dead red". In baseball terminology, he was “sitting dead red” means the hitter has what they call a "hitter's count", 3-1, 2-1, 2-0...or ahead in the count is another way to say it. When this happens, typically hitters have the advantage and are looking for a fastball in a very specific area of the strike zone. An area where they can put a good swing on the ball and drive it hopefully out of the park. It is, very much a position of strength that every hitter likes to be in.

Shop-Finishing up

Today I added a few more minor touches to the shop. I think I have done just about enough work on this for now, so this will be my last post on this topic. I may alter things...add something as I progress through the build but this is what we are going to the starting line with . As a new builder, I am not really sure how to set up my shop 'exactly' right...I have read posts and looked at other builders setups but its kind of personal how you do it. Ask me when I'm done, I bet I'll have lots of ideas to share.

My new rollaway toolbox showed up finally at Sears. Ran down and picked up immediately, another exciting piece of the puzzle. The stainless steel toolbox came from CostCo which I bought previously. I know it doesnt totally match but oh well, life goes on. It will serve its purpose.

I can swing the rollaway into this position while working, make it handy to get to tools as needed.

This is a portable light stand I bought for pretty cheap at Home Depot. I think it was about $20 so I couldnt pass it up since everyone says the more lighting you have in your shop the better. Good news, it puts out a lot of light and is of course portable so I can move it to where I need the light. Bad news, dang thing gets REALLY hot...I have a funny feeling I will burn myself on this thing before the project is done. Maybe I could use it to 'heat' the garage on a cold night. :)
This was my project for today. Added a shelf to put an old microwave and coffee pot on. It was a cheap project, materials cost was only about $15 and it took me less than an hour. I think it will turn out to be pretty handy to have.

The Shop-Part Two

More work on the shop this weekend, added the compressor to the lineup.

My preview plans in the framed display, this is pretty cool it hinges open to swap out drawings as needed during the project. Had this laying around for several years...now gonna finally put it to good use.

Brought my desktop computer out to the shop, wasnt using it much anymore since I use my laptop most of the time. But, it is also a tv monitor so with this little setup I can access the internet, watch cable tv and listen to internet radio (http://www.pandora.com/) which rocks! Gotta love technology!

My assortment of clamps ready to rock and roll. Most of these were purchased at Harbor Freight for dirt cheap, great place to get stuff like this. I may need more as the project goes on, but this is a good start.

Parts bins ready to be filled with aircraft hardware...

Inside/Outside temperature, this will come in handy when it comes time to cut the canopy since it needs to be nice and toasty during this process.
White board for jotting down shop notes...

Table top drill press...

The Band Saw...

Belt Sander...
Bench Grinder...I'll put a 'scotch bright' wheel in this.
Organization...hanging stuff from the ceiling. Home Depot rack kits.

And the "Ron Duren" version. This is a place where I can store scrap wood, foam and finished parts. I was hoping to put at least one of my wings up here but it may not be big enough, possibly my horizontal stab?

And last but not least, a full size fridge stocked with cold beer to help get over those frustrating times that are bound to happen! I will also be adding an old microwave and coffee pot that I have laying around.

Air Compressor

The first big purchase, my air compressor. Since air tools are used alot during the construction of an RV, I kind of compare this to the 'heart' of the shop. It is a 30 gallon, oil, 135 psi, 2 hp, 5.5 scfm @ 90 psi, 110V, with a four yr warranty from Home Depot.

Considering how excited I was to get this baby, I cant imagine what it will be like when I recieve my empennage kit! haha. Fired it up and it ran great, even being an oil compressor, it wasnt exactly quiet. We'll see if that becomes a problem with the neighbors??

Ah, the $400 price tag...gotta love that!

The Shop...Part One

The Aircraft Factory is taking shape. I have been working on converting my garage into an aircraft workshop over the last couple months. I am only about halfway done, but the half I have done is looking pretty good. My garage was insulated, drywalled and taped but that was it. So I spent some time texturing the walls and painting. I hung some storage shelves from the ceiling to get some boxes off the floor. Also hung some flourescent shop lights and painted the floor with one of those fancy expoxy kits from Home Depot. After prepping the garage, then came the fun part, work table construction...I wanted it sturdy so I went with 4x4's, 2x6's and 1/4" lag bolts. Mission accomplished, it is definitely sturdy and should serve me well. I also leveled it since the garage floor is sloped, dont want crooked control surfaces! As you can see, my clamps are already coming in handy...which is nice when you are working alone. I chose a Melamine top for a nice work surface, cost a little more (about $15) but I figured it will be well worth it for all the time I will spend out here. It turned out well so I was happy with the choice. As you can see, had to add some aviation themed posters also. This is going to be not only my aircraft workshop but also a sort of aviation themed clubhouse for



me...I'm digging it! I already spend my spare time sitting out there after getting home from work!! :) After building the main work table, I added on another table to hold all (or almost all...ran out of room for the bench grinder darnit!) of my new table top tools. Looks like a 'Ryobi' commercial doesnt it! haha! That is the tool of choice at Home Depot where I seem to be doing all of my shopping. So anyway, these are the first pics...I have since added some nice features that I will show you in the next post.