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Building an RV

Flienlow

Member
After writing pages and pages... I have decided I will just ask this:

How much of building an RV Aircraft (RV-10) is ASSEMBLY vs. DESIGN and FABRICATION?
 
There is relatively little design and fabrication unless you are changing things from the plans. There is a lot of prep work - fitting, drilling, deburring, a fair amount of assembly, and a lot of fit, adjust, lather, rinse, repeat. There is also a substantial amount of thinking about systems and systems installation.
 
What Kyle said.

Stick to the plans and the airframe has little to no design work.

BUT, also as mentioned, the systems installation (electrical mainly) is not detailed by Vans
like the structure and it is up to the builder for the most part. There is a lot of decision making even with the purchase of a prefinished panel from a reputable supplier.
 
Local builders

Hey Justin, there are a large number of RV builders in the Puget Sound that would be more than happy to show you what building an RV is all about. I've built a 9A and am building a 10 now but I live in the Snoqualmie Ridge neighborhood which is a bit of a drive for you. If you ever find yourself in the area though I would be happy to show you whats involved.
 
Hey Justin, there are a large number of RV builders in the Puget Sound that would be more than happy to show you what building an RV is all about. I've built a 9A and am building a 10 now but I live in the Snoqualmie Ridge neighborhood which is a bit of a drive for you. If you ever find yourself in the area though I would be happy to show you whats involved.

I would love to check out your project!
 
You are so close to the factory, have you thought about making a visit. Really wonderful people there who will answer all of your questions, and give you the tour of a lifetime. Be careful with taking a demo flight. Your life will change forever. :)

Vic
 
That is a great idea. Funny thing, I just finished a tour of cub crafters this weekend. Beautiful Airplanes and great folks there. But man oh man they are pricey.
 
All of the aluminum structure requires only assembly. You will need to design and add small items like doublers for antennas, instrument mounting. The instrument panel is a single slab of aluminum. Cutting holes and mounting avionics is for you to figure out. Further enhancements are yours to figure out as well.

Major flight systems are all designed and need only installation with the exception of avionics and the electrical to support it. You will need to choose the electrical architecture, wire routing and how to install into the airplane.

Lighting, both flight and interior, antennae placement, any engine features beyond the Lyc IO540 such as electronic ignition is again yours to figure out.

The interior is very basic with front seat foam and seating structures. Upholstery, including rear seat foam, and enhancements and creature comforts will be on you.

In fact, when I sat in the Vans RV-10 demo at Oshkosh, I almost decided not to build one because it was too Spartan for my taste. Then seeing the beautiful examples from builders, I saw the amazing potential of personalization possible.

My build will end up approximately 50% Vans plans and 50% stuff I decided I want to do.
 
My build will end up approximately 50% Vans plans and 50% stuff I decided I want to do.

Not speaking of you personally, but the Royal "you".... How do you know the stuff that you decided to do will work, and wont be dangerous?

Also, another build question:

Would it work to have 2-3 buddies help you with a build, or is building a plane something you need to do alone with little intervention?
 
. SNIP
Would it work to have 2-3 buddies help you with a build, or is building a plane something you need to do alone with little intervention?

The vast majority of the work you can do yourself. There are however specific times when you need at least one helper (some rivet work in particular). I?d say this will be less than 10% of a slow build.

That said - it is very nice to have a helper for the huge priming session and such. On my first RV build, there were two others builders at about the same place I was in the build that were close to me. We met as needed when one of us needed a hand. The unspoken rule however was the builder getting help was 100% ready to go; parts clekoes, tools ready, coffee made, etc. The #1 sin was wasting another builder?s time. Another aspect of this was as we got to the end of the builds, each of us became ?the guy? for a partiqular skill. I was the wire and avionics guy, we had a ?scrounger? as well as a paint and fiberglass guy.

You will spend a boatload of time reading, looking, reading, etc. before you pick up a tool. This is best done by yourself.

Carl
 
I would suggest you take one of the EAA SportAir intro classes, either the Sheet Metal Basics class or the Van's RV Assembly class. Both classes are similar, so pick the one that is close to you and/or fits your schedule. Either 2 day class will give you a great introduction to riveting and working with sheet metal that will get you started on the empennage work.

Alternatively, I found the Synergy Air Empennage class to be a great way to get started on my RV-10 project. It gave me a chance to use a number of different tools and techniques to complete my empennage with the help and guidance of one of their very experienced A&Ps. I learned a lot, got to ask lots of questions about tools and other considerations, and I left after the 8 days with a completed empennage as a great head start on the build.

And definitely find a local EAA Chapter, and just show up at their next meeting. I think you will find a number of people who would enjoy answering your questions, provide you with advice and the opportunity to see other builds in-progress, and direct you to one of their Technical Advisors who can help you decide what will work and won't be dangerous.
 
Not speaking of you personally, but the Royal "you".... How do you know the stuff that you decided to do will work, and wont be dangerous?

I will go out on a limb and say most RV builders build pretty close to the plans. Modifications tend to be mostly non-structural and/or cosmetic in nature, but where they are structural they tend to be parts/component upgrades, but not always. Some builders have done considerable mods. In some cases they are engineers (or know engineers) and crunched the numbers. Others have just winged it. Hopefully tech counselor inspections, or the DAR/FSDO/MIDO inspector catches anything not airworthy. As an aside, Van's plans are really assembly manuals and are not true plans as they don't contain dimensional data except for the few parts you are expected to fabricate out of raw stock.

IMO it is best to stick close to the plans -- it will be cheaper and faster in the long run. I personally think that most mods are in the nice to have vs. need to have category. But ask 3 different builders and you'll get 4 different opinions. However, in the end you need to build the plane you want, not the plane others want.

Truth in lending disclaimer: I do have a number of mods in my plane (overhead console with air, hard points for a belly pod, ground power point, etc).
 
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Safety of mods

Todd, you are right on target.

With the exception of the rudder trim I added, I can't come up with anything that is a safety of flight issue. And even rudder trim is hardly 'safety of flight' related.

My lighting is extensive. The overhead, I designed and made from scratch as well as the center stack and center console.
I chose to do all of the wiring myself, which is extensive. Many might not consider that a "mod" except that I decided on a very full and capable avionics suite. Basic instruments would have saved a lot of time and expense.

I am working towards a very comfortable interior. That adds time and money over the basic kit.

I chose to add access plates to service antennas, and step bolts with their respective doublers etc.

I added left/right fore/aft control of heating air for comfort. Overhead fresh air vents .....

Not safety of flight, but all time consuming. Since I comfortably work through the aluminum assembly fairly quickly, I estimate 50/50 on the added time to make the plane my own.
 
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