Ron's RV7 Aircraft Factory


Welcome to my personal blog. This site was created as an informal description of my build progress in the construction of a Van's RV7 aircraft. A place where family/friends/builders/curiosity seekers can follow along. It is not intended to be a detailed description of every step in the building process as that would be much too time consuming. There are plenty of sites that do a great job in that arena, that is not my intention with this site. My intention is for this to be a philisophical/motivational/inspirational account of the emotional ups and downs of the life changing journey...and it will change your life. I hope this will give you an idea, through my eyes, of what its like to make this transformation. A note to other builders, I am not an expert so do not put your safety at risk by attempting anything you see on this site until you have done your own research, or send me an email so we can discuss it. Any deviations from the plans are not approved, nor endorsed by Van's Aircraft or myself. Thanks for visiting.



Sunday, February 28, 2010

Speed Modifications HOBBS 180.0 hrs

I am filing in the open cavities on the elevators with contractors foam and then glassing over the top of the foam and filling/sanding them smooth. The reason for this is twofold, first, for aesthetic reasons, second for speed improvement. This should slightly cut down on parasite drag to give me a cleaner airframe. It has been done various ways by lots of builders with good results in the past. I was somewhat worried about moisture getting trapped inside and causing corrosion. To combat this, I primed everything first. I also am using contractor foam that is guaranteed not to retain moisture. My examination of it seems to show it is very resistant to water. I figure, worst case scenario is I will be rebuilding my tailfeathers in a couple years because of cracking or corrosion! :) It will be something I keep an eye on as the airframe ages.





Edit (08/05/10): This mod idea turned out to be no good and I had to remove it. I couldnt get the AN3 bolts into the hinge brackets...whoops. Oh well, every idea is not going to be a success! :) 

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