Final Paint Scheme HOBBS 2351.5 hrs

 

I have debated about whether I was going to "show" my paint scheme before I went to paint, but I decided to let the cat out of the bag now...what the heck. If someone copies my paint scheme at this point, that would certainly be a drag, but at least I'll know I was the originator. I don't have any problem with someone copying it later, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all, just let me be the first out the door with it. :)

 

The top picture is the initial hand sketch I created for my concept, shown here for comparison/contrast to the final rendering below. I felt I could have gone to the painter with that scheme and been fairly happy with it. But, in the back of my mind there was a nagging voice, I knew it was missing something. I also knew I didn't have the talent to really make it pop like I really wanted...to make it look professional and not amateurish. That's where Jonathan McCormick of Plane Schemer came into the picture. I noticed his advertisement on the RV Nation website. At about the same time, an RV7A friend (Len) of mine mentioned that he had used a scheme designer on his plane and said it was some of the best money he spent if you want something a little more advanced with your scheme.

 

I contacted Jonathan and found his prices very reasonable (much cheaper than the competition...at least for now anyway)...it didn't take me long to decide to hire him, he's passionate about this and is great to work with. I justify the added expense like this; the scheme will be something I will look at for many years, the paint job itself costs $10k, it just makes sense to spend a little extra to come up with a scheme that's gonna knock my socks off! That's just my take, you decide what's right for you and your plane.

 

Jonathan will create scaled drawings showing all dimensions and an .eps file for your painter as part of your design package. This ensures what is shown on paper translates to real life. In addition, as a nice bonus, I get nice digital renderings for a poster print for the office or document logo's (flight test cards and POH, for example), decals, embroidery for shirts or hats, etc.

 

Fast forward to now. Below is the final concept we came up with. I am extremely pleased with the end result...it was money well spent up to this point. Bringing it to life will be the final piece of the puzzle...but gosh, it sure looks good in 2D doesn't it?! Grady at GLO Custom will be tasked with this challenge, between Jonathan and Grady, it will be in good hands.

 

A couple notes about the scheme itself. The significance of the number five is; it was my baseball number, inspired by my favorite baseball player and the best catcher to ever play the game, Johnny Bench. The yellow around the numbers will match the yellow tips on the prop...which also comes from the yellow patch on the wings of the red-winged blackbird (see picture in the left column). As you can tell, I like the "raceplane" look with the "race" numbers. The scheme intent was that it look "fast" even while parked on the ramp.

 

As I always say...my disclaimer is this, I wholeheartedly endorse Jonathan if you are looking for this type of service. I am not getting a discount or a kickback for this endorsement, so you can be rest assured its genuine and not bought. I am one happy customer!

Turkey Day! HOBBS 2351.5 hrs

 

Another turkey day rolls around, I'm thinking this is at least my fourth one as an active builder. The fourth time I will be sneaking off to work on the airplane on my days off from work. It sure better be the last... ;) Although, I will spend time with the mistress this weekend...there will be no work tomorrow, some things must remain sacred.

 

No pics this week. I gotta be honest, taking pics and documenting the website really are far down my list of worries at the moment. I apologize to my readers, but hey, there is plenty of information archived on the site for you to spend many afternoons reading. Just hang with me as we get this thing flying, and there will be plenty of blogging then. 

 

Admittedly, the project feels like wrestling with a Grizzly bear right now. Although the new cowl scoop is starting to look real nice as I finish it up, the wiring is still the bugaboo. Progress has been made...in small steps, but several headaches have popped up.

 

The Dynon A/P servo's are not showing up on the SkyView network. They seem to have power, but nothing comes up when I run the "configure" command. Talked to Dynon, and they said send them in for evaluation.

 

I worry I may have toasted my PS Engineering PAR100EX unit. I had to redo one of the high density DB44 connectors and then proceeded unknowingly to install it upside down in the tray (you would think that would be impossible, but its not). I pushed the PAR into the tray and somehow the connectors, even though they were reversed, shorted when I powered it up. My CB on the VP-X popped as it was supposed to...but now the unit wont power on. Not sure whats going on but I've tried everything I can think of...this unit may also be going back to PS Engineering for evaluation...and repair. Ugh.

And lastly, the Pmag's don't power up. Again, checked all of my wiring...but nothing. I will be calling them today to troubleshoot this over the phone.

 

So there ya go, my recent progress, or lack thereof...Happy Turkey Day to everyone...give thanks, we are fortunate to have this hobby in our lives and the people that love us and support (or put up with) it. Even with my latest wiring headaches, I consider myself one of the lucky ones.

Vertical Power on SkyView HOBBS 2328.0 hrs

 

As I work on the cowl fiberglass work, I will do a layup, set it off to the side and then move to wiring work. Whenever you are doing fiberglass work, you need to have a supplemental job going at the same time so you can switch off and stay busy. 

 

So, my next accomplishment was getting the Dynon 262 transponder up and running and configured. Although hard to read, this screen shows the transponder updating on the SkyView after being detected on the network. Since my n-number is now 'live', I was able to go to the FAA website and get my unique transponder code and input it into the SkyView. As far as I can tell, I am good to go...I did not roll it out of the hangar for an actual test, but everything looks good.  

 

Next I moved onto getting the Vertical power to come up on the SkyView. First step is 'finding' the VP-X on the appropriate serial port. I did this, or thought I did...you need to see incoming and outgoing 'packets'...which I thought I saw. When I went to the "Engine" page and then hit the VP-X button it said "Vertical Power Offline". Crap!

 

I sent emails to Marc at Vertical Power and also Dynon support with no luck. Then, I decided to check my wiring. Sure enough I had wired Tx(Transmit)-Tx(Transmit) and Rx(Receive)-Rx(Receive), instead of the correct way of Tx-Rx. This is an easy mistake to make when you get in the mode of red wire goes to red wire, yellow wire goes to yellow wire, Tx goes to Tx...d'oh, no it doesn't! My only excuse is, I wired this way back when I was a "rookie". For the wiring rookies out there, always remember for data lines Tx goes to Rx.

 

Once I swapped these around, up came my Vertical Power screen. So cool! You can see the green checkmarks indicate which devices are powered up and their current draw. I can toggle through these and turn them on/off at will. This can serve as your 'E-buss' pretty easily (which I don't have because of this). If I have an in-flight problem where I need to shed load...I can pick and choose what equipment I need for that particular flight emergency. I also tested the 'short' feature...although not intentionally. :) A red box comes up on the screen that says "short" and the device shuts down when the electronic circuit breaker 'pops'. You hit the "reset" button and then turn it back on and you are back in business lickity split! Love this technology.  

Of course, another gratuitous shot of the panel and lighting fired up...this always makes me smile. I am working through each piece of equipment, one by one, and getting the wiring finalized. Next up are the A/P servos...

Mounting the Spinner HOBBS 2328.0 hrs

 

Just a quick tidbit of information I wanted to share with you. While I was installing my Whirlwind spinner and backplate, I noticed something that wasn't readily obvious. The spinner backplate is marked for blade 1 and 2, notice the white lettering. You can install it either way, but its important to install it the way it was balanced...and it just fits a little better when you do it the way it was intended. You will see the blade number stamped on each blade.

Same deal with the spinner...

 

...and the blade cover. Just something to be aware of when installing your prop.

Detour! HOBBS 2328.0 hrs

 

First off, I apologize for my long pause in updating the site (notice the large jump on the HOBBS). There are several reasons for this, and some of them are actually good ones. I had a two week absence from building as I had a business trip to Wichita, KS where I got to tour the Cessna plant which was pretty cool.

 

Following the business trip, Sheryl and I spent a week with friends in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico at the all-inclusive Riu Palace resort. Sheryl finished her four open water dives to become a certified diver and I did four dives as well, including a pretty cool wreck dive where I seen a bull shark. We had a great time and I didn't think about the airplane, work or school for the entire week! It was a great recharge of the batteries as I am now "pedal to the metal" to finish this sucker!

 

From my last post, you remember I was working my way through the finishing touches on the cowl fiberglass work...trying to get it primer painted and off my plate. Here is some microballoon finish work to make the cowl match up nicely with the spinner.

 

I installed my lower scoop inlet ring with some flox. Notice the polished ring, looking good.

 

I also spent a fair amount of time polishing my hinge pin covers. I realized guys with polished airplanes and spinners can have them! Polishing is a pain...and messy. But, the results are pretty good....its not chrome-like, but passes the '3 foot' test nicely.

 

Doing the finish work around the lower inlet ring...I really liked how this was looking.

 

Getting the cowl sanded and prepped for paint...I was feeling like I was almost there. Little did I know...I wasn't, details coming.

 

Several shots of the finishing touches...

 

This is when the "detour" started. I was looking at how my Rod Bower ram air unit was lining up with my inlet ring and really wasn't happy with it. I kept thinking, well, it doesn't line up perfectly but I can make it work. But in the back of my mind, I knew that wasn't going to cut it. It was then, that a friend stopped by (a fellow RV7A builder/flyer) the hangar and I showed him my dilemma. After we talked through it, he said he would fix it if it were him...and I knew he was right. It would bug me forever if I didn't.

 

So, even though I knew this was going to cost me at least 20 hrs of work, it had to be done. I had to move the inlet opening down and slightly aft. All of the work I did to make it look pretty was for naught. As I always say, "if building one of these was easy, it wouldn't be any fun". It hurt to cut up my nice looking cowl...but onward I marched.

 

This pic shows how the alignment looked prior to the change. I had done a fitting with the ram air unit about a year ago and thought I had it looking nice. Only to find out that I had the ram air unit mounted wrong. After I mounted it correctly, this is what I was seeing.

 

So, the cutting begins...and in hindsight, I made this much harder than it needed to be. Suffice it say, there were times during this reconstruction that I thought the entire cowl had been lost and I would have to start over. It was that desperate at times. I kept sloggin' through it and kept my spirits up. Luckily, fiberglass is easy to fix if you screw up.

 

Here I am using a piece of soft aluminum as a sort of mold to lay up from the inside of the cowl. Getting that inlet ring in just the right place was a royal pain.

 

And the hodge podge patch job. Please don't think what you are seeing in these pics is in any way an elegant way to do fiberglass work. This just illustrates how I did this...and the fact that no matter how ugly it gets, it can be fixed. Don't lose hope...as you'll see. I know a lot of builders who have had to do major surgery to their cowls, this is not that uncommon.

 

 

Doing a fit check for alignment. Now she is lining up the way she's supposed to. I am already glad I spent the time on this detour.

 

 

Now to add a nice radius with my modeling clay.

 

Squint your eyes...it looks ugly here, but once I do my finish work, the beauty will come out. I am happy with it at this point...it was a painful process to get here.

 

The secondary benefit to moving the scoop down was I now no longer needed my bump to clear my mixture cable linkage. Len and I discussed this before I started as a nice added benefit.

 

 

A side view. I promise you this lower cowl is now "one of a kind". It probably could no longer be called a Sam James cowl...its a "Ron Duren special!"

And again, one last look at the front view. This was a painful, but satisfying detour. Next step is gluing the inlet ring back in place for a second time. While I do this fiberglass work, I am now shifting back to finishing up the electrical finally.