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, January 9, 2011

Right Tank Closed Up HOBBS 426.0 hrs

Today closed a very productive weekend in the factory. Today I started the morning with more work on the left leading edge/ER tank. After a few hours of that I switched over to the right fuel tank that has been sitting in the corner collecting dust...to finally finish that puppy off.

It was just needing a few interior ProSeal details, final visual inspection cleaning, continutity check on the capacitance plates and finally close it all up with the rear baffle. Even though I have done this before on the left tank and know what I'm doing, it still took me two busy hours to attach the rear baffle.

Its a pain, I gotta tell ya, that might be my least favorite part of the fuel tanks? Lots and lots of rivets, pull rivets, tank attach brackets, etc. You  gotta work fairly fast to get it done before the ProSeal sets up which only adds to the pressure. Anyhow, glad to have it behind me!! Pressure test in a few days after the ProSeal has set up and of course I still have two ER tanks to do but they should be quite a bit easier. But the main tanks are done...and good riddins!! Glad to have it in my rearview mirror...onward!


Match drilling the tank attach brackets to the rear baffle for the left ER tank


Here ya go...a 9.5 gallon leading edge fuel tank...kinda cool


I did a very careful layout...I must've checked my dimensions 6 or 7 times before finally drilling the main spar for the tank attach holes. This would be an EXPENSIVE mistake so use due diligence. I think I am good to go. I will match drill the tank attach brackets when the leading edge is clecoed in place later.

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