Ron's RV7 Factory: Empennage Fairing Done! HOBBS 1304.5 hrs

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.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Empennage Fairing Done! HOBBS 1304.5 hrs

As much as I bitch and moan about doing fiberglass work...the sanding, mostly. When you finally get it to this point and throw a coat of filler primer on it--it is pretty cool. Very satisfying to see all the hard work pay off. No pin holes and really just a couple of minor low spots to fill. It took me way too long to do this bugger, but I am very happy with how it came out. But mostly, I am just glad to be done sanding the son of a gun!

Painted and installed my transducer manifold. This device provides a mount for individual fuel and oil systems. Each section has three ports, one for the flex hose, one for the transducer and one for a second transducer/switch. Flex hoses will go between the engine and the manifold.

I am using Permatex #3 on my fittings...Van's says to use Permatex #2. I bought the #3 because it is supposedly aviation grade...I looked at the spec sheets and can't see a difference between #2 and #3. If anyone knows otherwise, please send me an email.

Also, I am swapping out all of my alum fittings for steel on the firewall forward install. Long debate whether its actually needed...probably just fine with alum as Van's specifies, but I am going with steel just for a little bit of added margin.

I ordered some 1/8" thick copper bus bar material from ACS. They didn't say how long the piece was, but they were only about $3 each so I ordered 3 of them in case I needed more later. So, I recieved a 3' piece from ACS...they must come in 1' lengths...that should hold me for awhile eh? Local builders...I got extra if you need it.

I bought this to connect my starter solenoid to my relay. I also threw on a piece of shrink tube for added protection against shorts.

Attached the fuel and oil lines supplied by Van's...not sure if they are going to work for me? I may have to send them back and order custom lengths from Bonaco...we'll see.

Bouncing around quite a bit now in tasks. I decided to install my NACA vents. These supply fresh air to the cockpit. I didn't see anything in the plans of how to install these...but at this point of the build, not sure I need instructions for most stuff. I decided to do a 'belt and suspenders' install. I mixed up a batch of ProSeal and also used five CS pop rivets for added security. Probably could get by with one or the other just fine. I wanted the ProSeal for a good water tight seal...and added strength. I put washers on the back side of the pop rivets too...see pic. I will use epoxy filler to cover the pop rivets and blend them into the skin later.

I decided to start hooking up my control systems...sticks, linkages, push/pull tubes, etc. Here is the linkage that connects the two sticks so they move in unison.

I'm not totally crazy about all of these control linkages not having any kind of added security against the nuts loosening....i.e., no lock nuts, cotter pins or safety wire. I'm sure there is nothing to worry about...thousands flying out there without problems. I will, however, put Loctite on all nuts to help me sleep a little better. Of course, finalize your nuts...very important on these so you can get a nice visual verification during inspections.

You can see the red anodized rod in place here to give you an idea. I highly reccomend you get a set of washer wrenches if you haven't already...these are a 'must have' tool when you have to install these buggers.