Color....On!

 

Sheryl and I flew commercial down to DFW on June 4th to pick up my baby. We grabbed a morning flight, met Doug Reeves at Hard Eight for lunch, and then drove out to the airport with Sheryl's daughter who lives in the area.

 

I gotta say, as the car approached the plane on the ramp in front of GLO's hangar, I let out a whoop and a holler (as unbeknownst to me, Sheryl video recorded)! It was a pretty surreal moment to not only see my plane with color, but also see the paint scheme that Jonathan (Plane Schemers) and I worked so hard on. Almost brought tears to my eyes...definitely one of those great moments of a build that you wont ever forget, right up there with first flight.

 

 

Doug Reeves (VAF) shot a collection of shots (as shown here) before I arrived and showcased it on the VAF front page on Thursday, June 5th. He said that out of the 20 or so planes he has seen come out of GLO...this was one of the nicest. Definitely a nice compliment from a guy that would know. Had a nice lunch conversation with Doug, really enjoyed chatting with him about airplanes....he's definitely one of the good guys in this hobby.

 

Our DeLorme PLB track on the return flight....mostly uneventful. It was HOT in Dallas when we took off about 2pm....96 degs! So we cooked for the first part of the flight...took us awhile to cool down, even at altitude. As we approached Denver, the temps cooled and we dodged some thunderstorms on the way into BJC. The only other thing to mention was my cowl oil door popping open when I showed Sheryl a 3-G turn. It never did that before paint...need to look into the cause of that. We had to land to shut it...but otherwise no big deal in flight.

 

A photo enhanced shot of Sheryl and I in front of the new paint job (I'm learning the plane does photograph well...) And although, I promise it wasn't planned...I sure was color coordinated wasn't I?

 

This shot is one of my favorites that Doug took.

I still have a few last minute details to tidy up the interior, remember I've been under huge self imposed schedule constraints for a few months now...its not quite finished. But this picture gives you a pretty good idea how it turned out.

 

Not sure if I ever posted about this...I added this wingtip storage compartment at the last minute. It looks nice in this pic and my canopy cover fits perfectly in it, but it bulges in flight and it needs some tweaking (stiffening or another latch) to get it fixed up.

Dropped off for Paint!

 

Last Thursday, May 1st, my friend Sean Thomas (RV7A fuse) and I dropped off the plane to Grady O'Neal at GLO Custom. GLO is located right on the airport at 52F (Northwest Regional Airport) in Roanoke, TX (just outside Dallas). Also home to Doug Reeves's VAF and the "Van Cave". As we flew in, we passed right over the Texas motor speedway where we will be watching the Red Bull air races in Sept.

 

Grady has a nice setup with two adjoining hangars. One is used for assembly/disassembly/etc, while the other is the paint hangar. He tries to average about 2 planes a month throughout the year, which he does by staggering planes. The RV12 you see was in its final stages as mine came online. With this setup, Grady said he is closing in on his 200th RV painted! Nice history there, definitely the most active RV paint shop I know of.

 

The flight down, the first outside of my test area, was absolutely picture perfect. We departed Broomfield, CO at just about 6:30am with full (standard) fuel...no need for the aux tanks on this one. The air was as smooth as glass and we had a nice 25-35 kts tailwind the entire trip. OAT was a nice crisp 32 degs and the sun was shining brightly through that glorious tip-up canopy keeping everything but our feet warm (the heater fixed that). A beautiful thing. 

 

There is a lot of hub-bub about joining the 200kts club on VAF...admission is achieved by clocking a 200kts groundspeed (GS) in your RV. For these airplanes, it really should be 250kts to be truly impressive. I joined the "club" on my very first "real" flight as we touched 200kts GS a couple times. Sure enough, my Delorme tracker verified us at 231mph at one checkpoint. Not too bad considering I wasn't even pushing the airplane hard...2450rpm, 8.2 gph, 65% power. I could've easily pushed that up and achieved a faster speed, and fuel flow, but didn't since the airplane seemed to be in a nice sweet spot at those settings. It was pretty damn glorious as we touched down in Dallas just about 3 hrs after we left Colorado. Definitely a magic carpet.

 

Sean hand flew most of the trip. I kept telling him, I have a fancy autopilot we can turn on, but he enjoyed getting the stick time. I know the feeling brother.

 

We talked with Grady and Brandon (real nice guys) for about an hour or two...going over the airplane, talking about the painting process, etc. Grady had to depart for another meeting (we laughed that his "meeting" was probably some honey-do's for the wife), so Brandon drove us over to the famous "Hard Eight" BBQ joint. We stopped by the Van Cave on the way out to see if Doug Reeves was around...no joy. Oh well, next time...onward to the grub, everyone raves about this place, so I was excited to give it a whirl. They were not wrong, the food was awfully damn good! I will be back, as I'm now a fan.

 

We jumped on an aluminum tube later that afternoon and were back in Denver in no time (although, with airport security and waiting around...it was quicker in the RV!). All in all, we spent about 5 hrs in the air...that, my friends, is a good day anyday! In about one month, Sheryl and I will do the trip in reverse to pick the girl up with some color. Grady said he would send some progress pics...but not the completed plane. That, he says, he likes to save as a surprise for the big day! I'm a fan and cannot wait!

 

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!

More Paint Scheme Ideas HOBBS 1705.5 hrs

As I pass the 1700 hr mark (wow!) in the project and start closing in on my first flight, my thoughts have been wandering back to paint scheme ideas. I have a scheme in mind that I have yet to show. I like it, but I will admit its kind of "busy" and might get to be a little too much ten years from now. So, although I haven't completely abandoned that scheme...I have been thinking about a more conservative approach lately. Although, conservative for me is much more bold than most...there wont be an inch of white on my plane...why, because EVERY plane is white and that's boring to me, and I like color!

 

Reading my copy of Flying magazine I saw this dandy of a paint scheme on an XtremeAir XA42. Mostly what I like is the wing and tail details, which are similar to what I was considering to begin with. I also like the added number on the wing...I planned to put a number on my VS, but now after seeing this I want one on the wing as well. It gives it the "raceplane" look, which I like. I want my plane to resemble a high end sports/race car. So picture this with my primary colors of black/red with metallic gray and yellow (like my prop tips) as secondary colors. I am still doing sketches right now.

 

Lastly, I have to admit I like the paint scheme on the new RV14A demo plane. I am considering my fuselage scheme to look something like this...again, with my colors. I envision a scheme that is a hybrid of these two...stay tuned for more on this as I develop it.

Chris Sands RV7 HOBBS 441.0 hrs

Spent a few hours this week, sandwiched between schoolwork and a social engagement, peeling skins and doing edge prep work, dimpling next. Trying to get all of the skins prepped and ready for riveting. My ER tank supplies came in from Van's yesterday so I plan to tackle the 3rd fuel tank this weekend! woohoo!

Check out this outstanding picture (remember you can click on the photo for a larger view) of an RV7 posted on VAF. Simply stunning photography and paint job! I swear to you just so you know I'm not copying Mr. Sands, my fuselage paint scheme (my hand sketched drawings) looks very similar to this scheme (minus the checkerboard). :) Just swap the colors for red/black.

This certainly gives me confidence that my scheme will also look good when done...thats assuming mine comes out this nice. Hand sketches are quite different than real life. Anyhow, hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I did. Nice job Chris and whoever your painter was. In my humble opinion, this is what an RV7 should look like. I am not a fan of the 'bare bones' utilitarian RV's that are out there. Panel work is also exquisite and courtesy of SteinAir.

[On as a side note: I have not obtained permission from Mr. Sands to use these photos although I am trying to get his contact information. I am also not sure if permission is required under the fair use copyright laws of the United States as long as I provide information and/or a link to the rightful owner? (which I have done)] [Edit 01/24/11: I recieved permission from Chris, thanks Chris. Let me add, regardless of the legality of posting someone else's photos. It is, at the very least, ethical and polite to ask permission...which I always try to do. By the way, this plane is for sale, $129,000 and its all yours! Edit 04/11/11: Chris told me he sold this plane within an hour of posting it for sale...not too shabby in this economy.]

Paint Scheme Evolution HOBBS 348.0 hrs

Some of you may have looked back in the archive and seen my first paint scheme post. I have pretty much dumped that idea (too busy) and have developed a totally different scheme. I would guess it is the result of about 50 different hand sketches with colored pencils...what can I say, I'm picky! :) I have looked at it for months now without changing it so I'm thinking it is a done deal except for a few tweaks.

I have yet to find a good (cheap, easy to use and good 3D results) software package that will simulate a paint scheme on an RV...or at least one that I like. So, with my background in CAD, I am working to develop my own model. Its not a high priority right now since I am a good two years away from worrying about the details of the paint scheme, so my progress is slow. I also dont plan to release the full rendering until I am much closer to completion. I dont mind if someone copies my paint scheme after the fact, but not before. ;) So, I will release bits and pieces as time goes on. Here is release number 1...click for larger image.

Paint Scheme

This is the paint scheme I am thinking about doing. As I said earlier, red and black are my colors of choice. I once seen a plane (an RV6, see pic below) painted like a white/red Gee Bee racer. I thought it looked pretty slick. Considering almost every factory-built plane seems to be white...that was out for me...blah! I want something different, something you'll remember. I've always liked black, and red is my favorite color and they look good together...definitely bold! So thats how I came up with the color scheme. I do realize, black may be hard to keep clean but I'll deal with it. And since it isnt a composite plane, a dark color should be ok for heat purposes.

This is the RV6 I was talking about, apparently belongs to a gentleman named Troy Munday, painted by GLO Custom Aircraft in the DFW area. Nice looking paint job!
So here is a sketch of my proposed paint scheme. I have seen a few planes similar to this but none exactly. Hopefully no one will read this post and 'copy' my scheme before I finish! :) It is intended to give the look of a black plane that just flew through red paint. Whether you like it or not, it will be a paint scheme that you wont soon forget...and thats what I'm trying to achieve. This is a first pass, it may change slightly as I move toward paint day.

I am considering naming my plane "Dead Red"...short for "sitting dead red". In baseball terminology, he was “sitting dead red” means the hitter has what they call a "hitter's count", 3-1, 2-1, 2-0...or ahead in the count is another way to say it. When this happens, typically hitters have the advantage and are looking for a fastball in a very specific area of the strike zone. An area where they can put a good swing on the ball and drive it hopefully out of the park. It is, very much a position of strength that every hitter likes to be in.