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.



Thursday, March 29, 2012

Another Learning Curve HOBBS 1181.5 hrs

As I start down the path of using SikaFlex for the first time...another learning curve is in process. Gosh, there has been a lot of them so far...and more to come. Its not a particularly difficult system to work with but since its the first time being exposed to it, I am once again learning as I go. Reading posts from other builders definitely helps...but in the end, you wont really know what its all about until you dive in and get your hands dirty.




So, here I am getting everything prepped...tape, scuff, cleaner/activator and primer...in that order. The ink black primer is the one to be careful with...it is blacker than black and doesn't come off easy. So tape well and be careful with the application. I used the foam brushes for applying both the activator and primer...worked good, no brush marks. I also bought some expensive 3M fine line tape...a lot of guys use electrical tape with good results.



Applying primer to the roll bar...let the activator sit for 10 mins...primer for 30 mins.



Popsicle sticks for proper spacing...and now applying the goop...the 295UV SikaFlex.





My approach was to tackle this in two separate work sessions. First one is to glue the canopy in place. After its set, then go back and do your cosmetic fillets. First go 'round I tried to do this with my finger and it didn't work very well...I ended up taking it all off because I wasn't happy with how it turned out. In discussion with my friend and fellow RV7 builder, Sean Blair, he suggested trying a plastic spoon and that really worked great...definitely a good tip.



I recommend removing the tape soon after application unless you are really good about not getting any on the tape (which I wasn't). If you wait until it dries, it will try and peel away the good with the bad.



Here are a couple shots of me filling time with the empennage fairing...this thing has really turned out to be a pain in my rear...kinda tired of dealing with it. I know it looks like crap in these pics...but once I put a coat of filler primer on it, it will look much nicer. :)


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