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Looking at the RV-12, have a couple questions

Eric B

Member
I *was an RV-10 builder, but life came along and now those little feet need something to do. Why not build a plane?
First, I sold all the tools along with the kits and components a while back but the longeron yoke was my favorite for the pneumatic squeezer. Would a pneumatic squeezer be a benefit on he RV-12? I'm thinking of all the nutplates. Would a longeron yoke be useful for those?
Secondly, how much room is there behind the panel before you get to the subpa el? Looking to add an IFR navy to the mix, maybe Avidyne and the dimensions say it is 11" deep.
Thanks in advance! Looking forward to getting back. Hopefully.
 
You won’t use a squeezer as much as you would on a -10, but you will have plenty of opportunities. I have a longeron yoke, but I haven’t used it on the -12; like you said, lots of nut plates, and several other solid rivets you can squeeze.

For the avionics, I have a GTN625 and it fits fine (the GTN650 and an IFD540 have the same dimensions). The connector will be a tight squeeze, so I recommend a right angle connector for the extra clearance, but it will work with a standard DB connector as well.
 
I added a VOR/ILS by hanging a small sub panel on the main instrument panel centerline underneath the instrument panel, so if you are worried about panel space you do have an option to expand it.
 
I managed to squeeze an IFD540 into my RV-12 panel and there is almost no clearance at the firewall side even with 90 deg coax connectors. I ended up with just over a finger width of space. Also had to build a custom mount/rack frame and one-piece panel with front insertion of the 540 and a Garmin GTR200. I also reinforced the panel base with a 3/4" angle across the base to handle the 11lbs of extra weight. Plan ahead for all the wires, especially all the coax (5 or 6 cables) that go down the tunnel.

John Salak
RV-12 N896HS
 
Driftdown,

I have not had much luck posting pics. Send me your email on a PM and I?ll send you the pics.

Rich
 
Our (new) RV-12iST SLSA trainer model has a GTN 650 in the panel, so yes - it fits. You'd need to carefully research how to properly register and certify the aircraft assuming you actually wanted to operate it in IMC of course.
 
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