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RV-7 #74023

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Looking good Miles.
A warning from my experience on the 705 rear spars. There is one rivet per side that is located underneath the angled part shown in the image above. Dont forget them. I cost me one whole work session to drill a dozen long AN470s out, install the two rivets I forgot, and re-rivet the AN470s
 
Looking good Miles.
A warning from my experience on the 705 rear spars. There is one rivet per side that is located underneath the angled part shown in the image above. Dont forget them. I cost me one whole work session to drill a dozen long AN470s out, install the two rivets I forgot, and re-rivet the AN470s

Thanks for the heads-up Bill. I did notice that, but I didn't want to drill it until after I remove the doubler bars, which I'll do after I fabricate and drill the F-704H spacers. With your reminder, I'll be less likely to have a senior moment at my next work session!:eek:

I know what you mean about drilling out long rivets. Yesterday I riveted in the vertical spacer bars to the F-704 before I riveted on the vertical members, without which the -14 rivet called for in the plans was a perfect fit.:rolleyes: Took me about a half hour to recover. I had to drill off both the factory and shop heads then drill through the rivet with a smaller bit before I could coax the remnants of the shanks out of the holes in the bars. Since -14 is the longest AD426-4 rivet in the kit the shop head came out quite small with the vertical in place. I seem to remember that other builders have run into this and were told that those rivets only hold the bar in position until the bolts can be installed.
 
Would someone please tell me whether or not the sticks are supposed to be parallel? With the interconnect rod bearing centers set at the plans length, the sticks are about an inch closer, center to center, at the top than at the pivot point. I took some measurements, and if I did the math correctly I need to shorten the interconnect rod by about 6 full turns (3 each side), or just under 7/32" to make the sticks parallel.

Hi Miles, the manual doesn't specifically mention it, but I made mine parallel. It just makes sense to me. I remember shortening the connecting rod a bit until they were parallel.

Have fun building the fuselage. It's the most enjoyable part of the whole thing! :)
 
Having visited Miles garage this weekend and looking at his project, I can attest that the craftsmanship looks as good in person as it does in the pictures. Nice work Miles! Thanks again for taking me to the Rosamond Chapter 1000 flyin this weekend and coming down to Bako!
 
Hi Miles, the manual doesn't specifically mention it, but I made mine parallel. It just makes sense to me. I remember shortening the connecting rod a bit until they were parallel.

Thanks Bruce. Since some folks are having an issue with the large pushrod length, I've decided to leave it as is until I get the wings mated. The sticks are only 3-1/2 degrees out of parallel, so you have to stand back a ways to be able to see it.

Have fun building the fuselage. It's the most enjoyable part of the whole thing! :)

I am already! Due to other commitments couldn't work on it last night and won't be able to tonight, and I'm starting to feel withdrawl...
 
Having visited Miles garage this weekend and looking at his project, I can attest that the craftsmanship looks as good in person as it does in the pictures. Nice work Miles! Thanks again for taking me to the Rosamond Chapter 1000 flyin this weekend and coming down to Bako!

Thanks for the kind words Bruce. (Only I know where all the warts are!). If mine comes out as well as yours, I'll be happy.;)
 
Bulkheads Galore!

Not a bad bit of progress over the weekend:
FP02062013A0008R.jpg


I think all the metalwork is done on the F-705 seat back bulkhead including edge and hole deburring, but I wasn't in a prepping and priming mood, so I left it as a pile of parts to deal with later. (Oh yeah, I notched the most outboard lap belt anchor flanges to clear a rivet head BEFORE I noticed that rivet is to be countersunk for clearance. Oh well, what's another $12 worth of parts...:eek:)

I ran into an issue on the F-706 rear baggage bulkhead with the F-729 bellcrank rib. The length called out on the plans for the F-729B angle seems to be a tad short. With the minimum 2D edge distance where it attaches to the F-729C on the forward end, there's only about 1.5D on the aft most hole attaching the angle to the rib. I think it's OK, but if I were doing it again, I'd make that angle about 5/32" to 3/16" longer, and radius the ends for the rib if I had to.

Also, I didn't final drill the one rivet hole between the F-729C short spanwise angle and the F-729B longitudinal angle. With all parts of the bulkhead clecoed and clamped, there's still a little relative movement between the two parts. I think I can wait until the bulkhead is stiffened up by clecoing it to the skins later in the process:
FP02062013A0008P.jpg


One more thing for those who follow: The F-730 reinforcement plate on the F-706 bulkhead has a definite orientation. The corner with no rivet hole goes in the upper left corner (relative to the airplane). I almost drilled it in backwards, but caught the error due to some misaligned holes.

I still have quite a bit of deburring, prep, and prime to do before final assembly of the bulkheads. I think I'll take my time with that, as the next step in the manual is BENDING THE LONGERONS...
 
....I still have quite a bit of deburring, prep, and prime to do before final assembly of the bulkheads. I think I'll take my time with that, as the next step in the manual is BENDING THE LONGERONS...

Miles,

Beg, borrow or steal the biggest heavy duty vice you can find for bending the longhorns. It makes the job easier for sure.
 
Miles,

Beg, borrow or steal the biggest heavy duty vice you can find for bending the longhorns. It makes the job easier for sure.

Thanks for the heads-up David. I have a borrowed copy of George Orndorff's RV-7/9 Fuselage Contstructon video I've watched once, and his method doesn't use a large hammer, but just body weight (and I have an abundance of that:eek:), to do the bending, and both longerons at the same time to boot. I'm going to go through that video another time or two and give that method a try. If it does come down to the brute force method, I do have several friends with vices much heaver than mine...
 
....I still have quite a bit of deburring, prep, and prime to do before final assembly of the bulkheads. I think I'll take my time with that, as the next step in the manual is BENDING THE LONGERONS...

Miles,

Beg, borrow or steal the biggest heavy duty vice you can find for bending the longhorns. It makes the job easier for sure.

I bought the longeron bending dies from a fellow on here, makes that job easy.
 
You CAN Rivet Bottom Wing Skins Solo...

...but plan on spending a LOT of time doing it! I'm over 8 hours into the bottom of the right wing and I'm only a bit over one quarter through it (by rivet count). Somewhat in my defense, I think I've got the hardest part done, the four inboard ribs. I think just having someone to move clecos and insert rivets would probably cut the time in half.

I started out in the cradle, riveting the first three ribs through the inboard end:
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I then needed to lay the wing over a bit, so I put it back in the assembly fixture:
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That orientation worked for about half of the 4th rib, then I had to lay it almost horizontal. I think this orientation will at least finish the inboard skin. Tip: If you don't have the tanks in place, leave them out until you've got the bottom skins riveted:
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Another tip: FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS telling you to only rivet about half way down a rib before doing the rear spar in the next bay. I riveted the 4th rib all the way to the front spar, and ALMOST kinked the skin at the front spar while reaching the rear spar in the 4th bay.
 
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One Set of Bottom Wing Skins Done

I spent a week of afternoons and a weekend solo riveting the bottom inboard skin. Yesterday local RV-7 builder/flyer Hal Lyons come over and about 4 hours after setting up a makeshift bench we could access from all sides, we were more than half way through the bottom outboard skin. Today after I got home from work Hal came by for a couple of hours and we completed it.

My regular workbenches are too heavy and wide to move out to access from all sides, so Hal suggested using the wing skins box and a couple of sawhorses to ease access for riveting the bottom skins. (KCBerner, you aren't the only one who's miscounted UHaul moving pads after a move):
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The wing makes a decent workbench as long as you're careful with the tools:
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The right wing is structurally complete except for the flap hinge and tank joint plate nutplates. Those SHOULD be a walk in the park compared to the bottom skins.
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One question: What is the hole on the inboard edge between the rear spar and flap hinge? I'm guessing it gets a nutplate for attaching the bottom fuselage skin. If so I guess now is as good a time as any to install it?
FP12082013A0002K.jpg
 
Today Karen and I riveted the left inboard bottom as far as we could go before moving the outboard skin so the overlap is on top. I had the outboard skin clecoed on to ensure the skeleton was being held square, and had it under the inboard one at the overlap so we could lift the end of the inboard skin for riveting access. Karen's getting the hang of riveting and ran the gun on close to half of these rivets! Look for a video of her running the gun on my FB page.

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Wings Structurally Complete!!

Yesterday, local RV-7 builder/flyer Hal Lyons and I finished up riveting the left wing outboard skin and the flap hinge. Both wings are now structurally complete! Hal, being the optimist he is showed up with his trailer, so when we were done with the wings we moved them to the hangar to free up space in the shop to start assembling the fuselage.:)


Hal taking a break after driving 300+ rivets in the left wing:
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Loading up the trailer:
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The future N904KM wings in the company of N3498C. :
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1000-hour Milestone

After finishing in the shop today the build log hobbs stands at 1001.25 hours. I've been working a few days over 21 months, so I'm just under my 50 hours/month goal. I've assembled, drilled, disassembled, and begun deburring the aft fuselage.

Two days ago:
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Yesterday. This is my least favorite part of building any assembly, not because disassembly seems like a step backwards, but because it's time for edge deburring :mad::
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Today, in addition to some devinyling, I deburred edges all the way around the tail cone bottom skin, both side skins, and down one side of the aft bottom skin:
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Hmmm..... Long time since my last update....

I seem to have slowed down a bit.:mad: Up until September, I'd been averaging 47+ hours/month on the project for 21 months; and barely 40 total since then. Some time has been spent keeping my 170 airworthy, some getting involved in some local events, and some has been simply taking a break.;) Momentum seems to be a hard thing to re-establish...

Sunday, Karen and I drove the last rivets in the lower half of the aft fuselage:
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I then got started on the center fuselage. After this photo, I cut the access slots out of these two ribs, and I'm seriously thinking of doing two more to ease access for installing the control column:
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The instructions don't mention it, but I thought it would be a good idea to square the flanges of the seat ribs. I dusted off an old friend from wing building to do the job:
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I also fluted the eight inboard seat ribs to straighten the rivet lines. I'll flute the outboard two ribs to fit the curvature of the side of the airplane after I clamp those ribs in place and mark the rivet hole locations.

BTW, I just remembered a little while ago that it was 36 years ago today that I first "slipped the surly bonds" on my own. The following familiar poem is the background on my solo certificate:


"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
"Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God."



John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
 
Nice.

Hey Miles,

Truer words have never been spoken. Keep pounding 'dem rivets. Get up there where God hangs out. I'm almost done with my tanks. Leak test next weekend (and am praying to the same that there are no holes!)

I like the photo of your flange straightener .. I have the same beast, but with a shorter handle.
 
I like the photo of your flange straightener .. I have the same beast, but with a shorter handle.

I was just too lazy to cut it off.:eek::eek: That's just what I had left over from the 36" maple stick after I made the "anvil". Also, if I had a lathe, I'd turn down the end a bit to make it more comfortable to use.;)
 
A milestone of sorts...

Somewhere under the cockpit floor the 10,000th rivet installed in the project so far is helping hold the center fuselage bottom skin to a seat rib. You say counting rivets is anal? I say NO; knowing exactly which one it is would be anal...

I'm the "headless" bucker, and RV-7 builder/flyer Hal Lyons is running the gun:
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The bottom skin took less than two hours with two people:
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Bent Longerons

Today I put the shallow bend in the longerons using the "Orndorff" method of clamping the two longerons back to back and bending both at the same time. Two advantages of this method seem to be that both longerons get bent identically, and there is no propensity to twist while bending.

The actual bending was quite a bit more difficult for me that it is for George in his video. I'm not quite tall enough to really get my weight on the longerons while they're in the vise, so I tried standing on Karen's aerobics step, which helped, but I still had trouble getting enough weight on both sides to effect much of a bend. I tried clamping the longerons to the vice aft of where I was trying to bend, but it got tedious unclamping and reclamping when checking the bend. The best method was to have Karen lean on the longerons aft of the vice while I pushed with both hands on the forward end. After about a dozen iterations we got the bend to match the curve on drawing 17 within the width of the line.

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Good work Miles. The project is becoming an airplane.

Thanks David, it's really beginning to feel that way! I went out the shop for 35 minutes this morning before going out to the weekly pilots' breakfast and got the downward bends and the twists in the front ends. Now they just need to be trimmed to length and notched for HS attach bars, and they'll be ready to install.

Like most other of the dreaded tasks so far, this longeron bending thing feels kind of anticlimactic now that it's done.

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PS: I'm going to be in St. Louis (Creve Coeur airport) July 20-26 for the Cessna 170 Convention, and I'd like take a look at your -8 one day. I'm guessing it will no longer be a project by then?
 
Side Skin Conical Bends - Mixed Results...

After spending the late morning and early afternoon assisting my AI with the annual inspection of my 170, I spent a few hours finishing the conical bends in the forward side skins. I had formed the bend in the left side skin earlier in the week, but got a crack so I quit until I could get an answer back from Vans on whether the skin was usable. Tech support said the crack, after being stop drilled, is not a structural issue so I'm going to press on.

Fitting up the left side skin, I found the first iteration of the bend a bit flat at the beginning and end, and a bit sharp in the middle as compared to the aft skin. After removing the skin and taking a guess as to what the final bend should be, it literally fit like a glove.
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Not really pleased with the method George Orndorff demonstrates in his video the left skin, I tried the method described in Van's instructions on the right skin. Instead of using an aluminum angle I used a piece of the 1x1x1/8 steel angle I used to keep the trailing edge of the rudder straight. I used a 3/32 drill rather than a #40 to keep the holes as small as possible, as I had heard of at least one builder that had the clecos pull through. Well, when I started the bend, the forward half of the clecos unzipped so loudly, I thought I had torn the corner completely off the skin.:eek: Fortunately, the noise was just the clecos pulling through the steel angle, and there was no damage at all to the skin. After I re-clecoed and added clamps, the bend went pretty much to plan. To finish up, I did have to remove the forward cleco and clamp to eliminate their interference with the clamping plate.
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Even though the aft end of the bend on the right skin looked slightly uneven, it fit the aft curve fairly well and pulled in easily as it was clecoed.
FP02032014A0010E.jpg



I did have a crack in the forward end of this bend as well, although a bit shorter than the one on the left side. I'm thinking about adding an AN470-4 rivet to nowhere on each side just so the holes look like they're supposed to be there...:rolleyes: If I were doing this again, I would radius the edge of clamping plate, and drill the relief hole out to #30 and deburr it well before starting the bend.
 
BIG Step Backward...

Today I completed disassembly of the fuselage. While trying to get a third support under the fuselage (solo:rolleyes:) so I could take the load off of the center to aft fuselage joint, I inadvertently let the fuselage slide off one of the sawhorses. I caught it before it hit the floor, but the corner of the sawhorse gouged and dented the F-776 center fuselage bottom skin.:mad::mad:

The damage is worse than is evident in either of the first two photos below. I did try to tap the dent out, but only succeeded in making it worse.:eek: The skin is stretched enough to allow gross oil canning. I'm going to bite the bullet and order a new skin; after all there are only about 275 rivets to drill out.:( For the rest of the day?s maneuvering of the fuselage, I enlisted my wife's help. I just wish I had done that earlier...

Just so the day wouldn't be a total loss, I deburred all the holes in the forward and center fuselage skeleton parts, including the F-704 and F-705 bulkheads.

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FP25052014A00043.jpg
 
Oh man...

Wow, that's a bummer Miles. I can't imagine how upset you are. Well, someday it'll just be a bad memory.

Have been busy myself, got the windscreen glued in yesterday and the cowl fitted with the Skybolt system last weekend.



 
Thanks Bruce. I'm not too upset, I just got what I deserved for trying to handle something that large by myself. It took about 15 minutes to go through some the options in my mind:

1. Leave it alone... No, every time I'd hear it oil can I'd be reminded of my stupidity.

2. Install a doubler and/or a stiffener... No, same reason as above; even though that might eliminate the oil canning, I'd still have the visual reminder.

3. Find someone who knows how to shrink aluminum... No, don't know anyone, and quite possibly very expensive.

4. Replace the skin. Yep, just pay the penance, and quite possibly never run out of 0.025 scrap.:p


BTW, how close are you to taking your project to the airport? Let me know if/when you need help.
 
Haha, guess you'll have plenty of scrap!:D

I'm not exactly sure when I'll move to the airport. I want to do as much of the fiberglass work in the garage as I can before I do, especially with it getting hot again. So, I'm thinking somewhere in the July/August timeframe. I'm not working very fast these days, the new job is keeping me way too busy and such. Thanks for the offer, I might need the help!
 
Ahhh Maaannnnn!!!!

Sorry to see this set back Miles. That would be months worth of a set back for me up here. Time in the garage is getting harder and harder to come by lately. I don't know about you, but I don't know how I would get through this building business if it wasn't for the 170 standing by for the occasional piece of mind flights.
I think your decision to re-do is the right one. Much nicer to continue work on a nice project from here on out, rather than a dented up mangled one.
Keep up the nice work.
Tom
 
Step backward

Miles, I feel for you on that boo-boo. I've always said that the the measure of a. Great builder is to "adjust" screw ups so they are invisable to everyone but the builder. However in some cases such as this, replacement is most advisable. You will be glad you did......see ya an a couple months.
 
Sorry for your mishap.
I know how you must feel. My wife accidently drove her car over my just finished canopy frame.
I drilled it out and rebuilt it in half the time it took the first time and I expect your experience will be the same. Always faster the second time around.
Once you get over the initial shock, its not too bad.
Good luck.
 
...I don't know about you, but I don't know how I would get through this building business if it wasn't for the 170 standing by for the occasional piece of mind flights....Tom

Just the opposite for me... until yesterday. I had gotten so caught up in the -7 build that I was seeing the 170 as just an obligation sucking time away shop time. Even though I still have plenty to do on the -7 while waiting on a new skin, Karen and I decided to spend yesterday just bouncing around central California in the 170. I had forgotten just how theraputic that can be. We spent 3 hours in the air, spent $100+ on gas, didn't find any open restaurants, but we both somehow feel recharged. '98C and I have been together over half of both our lives; I think I'll keep her around a while longer...
 
A nice flight would indeed be good therapy

Sorry about the setback, you got it right, get your mind right before you go at it again.
I agree with the others, you have made the right decision.
 
My replacement F-776 center fuselage bottom skin came Friday, a day or three before I expected it. I worked late several days last week, and had to work Saturday, so I hadn't got the old one drilled off yet.

I like the new admonition to shippers that Van's is applying to their boxes and, I assume, crates. It's a bit more directed to the shipper than the old "HIGH $ AIRPLANE PARTS":
FP03062014A0004W.jpg


It works, at least in this case, as the scar evident below and to the left of the sticker doesn't go all the way through the box, and the rolled up skin inside is pristine.

Yesterday, I center punched all 376 rivets, and did the initial drill into the heads on one baggage rib. I clecoed the seat pans and baggage floor in place to keep the skeleton somewhat rigid after the bottom skin is removed:
FP03062014A0004X.jpg


However it was an extremely nice day with single digit winds at KTSP, so I couldn't not go fly the 170, and this was as far as I got on the RV...
 
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I had a minor epiphany on the way to work this morning. It occurred to me that I could use the new skin as a guide for drilling out the rest of the rivets. I clecoed the new skin to the old one around the edges, and through some of the rivet holes I'd already drilled. Worked like a charm! In less than 2-1/2 hours I drilled out every rivet in the skin and final drilled every open hole. The new lower skin is ready for de-vinyling and deburring.

FP03062014A00051.jpg
 
Just to give you an idea of how well the new skin worked as a drill guide. A #41 bit left complete rings inside most of the holes. Most of the heads had to be snapped off.
FP04062014A00042.jpg
 
That looks like a good technique, Miles. Love it when the drilled rivet head snaps off, nice and crisp with that satisfying click. :)
 
I needed something to get my mind off of having my 170 heavily damaged (while parked) by a runaway Cherokee in St. Louis, MO on July 19, so I thought what better way than to jump back in on the RV-7 project. Today I finished countersinking the right longeron, including the seven #30 holes in the forward end.

To countersink the #40 holes, I set the countersink depth per the chart I had worked out earlier (see Tools section of my build log, July 6, 2014). For the # 30 holes I experimented on some scrap and discovered that the setting for an AN426-4 rivet is 9 "clicks" LESS THAN two full turns deeper than for an AN426-3 rivet (for my particular set of countersink bits ONLY!). Just as with the -3 shank size, the countersink for a dimple in 0.032 sheet using a standard die set is 7 "clicks" deeper than for a rivet only.

I did not countersink the holes for the forward deck on the top leg of the longeron, as I'm not yet 100% sure how all of that fits together. The side skins fit flush with the top of the longerons, so the deck rivet holes can be countersunk after the side skins are installed. The right longeron is now ready for scuffing, cleaning, and priming.

Stabilizing the longeron for countersinking:
FP27072014A0002Y.jpg


Countersinking in progress:
FP27072014A0002Z.jpg
 
Miles, quit posting that picture. It makes me sick to my stomach every time I see it!!!

I have been following your work on replacing the bottom skin. I have moved my fuselage so many times that I have bent one corner of the back near where the flap will be. I do not want to take the skin off and will most likely just bend it back and hammer it smooth with a body hammer.

Best of luck with your Cessna. Hopefully they can make it right or at least get you another one!
 
Nice progress, Miles. Nothing better than full immersion in the build process to take your mind off the 170 incident. I can't believe that happened to you?.so very unlucky.

On the countersink cage, I cut a couple of index marks on the two halves with a Dremel cut-off wheel, one for 3/32" rivets, the other for 1/8", and filled the marks with different colors of Torque Seal so they were more visible. No more counting clicks to set it up.

Too many sets of index marks could get confusing, but for two depths it works fine.
 
Thanks Doug.

I just made a sharpie mark across both halves of the cage where it was set perfectly for a #3 rivet head, and reference the various sheet thicknesses and dimple die combinations from there. I like the temporary nature of the sharpie mark, as I just started using a different brand of #3 bit that happened to be longer than my old one. I just wiped off the old mark, experimented until I found the new setting, and marked it.
 
Scuffing, Cleaning, Priming Longrons is a PITA!

To cut down on the sheer boredom, I'm scuffing, cleaning, and priming the main longerons in sections. I did the inside faces of the forward half of both longerons in one session, then the inside of the aft half in the next session, etc, etc. As of today, I have the inside faces DONE, and the forward half of the outside faces.:eek:

In this photo I've already done the inside of the forward half of the right longeron, and am about to do the aft half. My wife's potting table doubles as my scuffing/cleaning table, and is only about 5 ft long, so I had to tie the longerons to the BBQ to maintain control...:p
DSCN5368-1.JPG


Here, I've scuffed and cleaned the outside faces of the forward half of the left longeron, and am about to shoot primer.
DSCN5370.JPG
 
Looking good!

Looking good Miles! I'm still on your tail .. been prepping fuse bulkheads all day. I'm looking forward (??) to doing the big bends. Keep it up!
 
Looking good Miles! I'm still on your tail .. been prepping fuse bulkheads all day. I'm looking forward (??) to doing the big bends. Keep it up!

Thanks Bill. I had hoped to be ready to order the finish kit by now, but the issues with the 170 have taken a little time and a lot of motivation away from the project. I did finish getting the bottom skin replaced on the center fuselage a few weeks ago. Since then I've been piddling with getting all of the myriad ribs, angles, clips, and spacers ready for fuselage final assembly.

Don't let the longeron bending scare you. I used the "Orndorff" method, and though it was a bit harder for me as a first-timer than it was for George, it wasn't bad at all. I think I spent more time measuring than I did bending. The best part of that method is that it uses no hammers and no dies.;)
 
Fuselage Now Has a Permanent "Inside"!

.... except for the firewall, for which I'm still waiting on high-temp sealant, and making a final decision on a cowl attach method.
DSCN5413.JPG




Before starting on riveting the forward side skins, I measured the twist of the fuselage at the firewall, the F-711, and several bulkheads in between. Just like last time, I measured about 0.5 degrees clockwise twist of the firewall relative to the F-711. I was hoping that clecoing in the F-772 forward bottom skin would correct at least some of that twist but it didn't. The manual says that twist can be removed after riveting the side skins, but I wanted to get the fuselage as straight as I could before riveting. I was able to untwist the fuselage and hold it in that state by clamping the aft deck in place. I overshot by about 0.2 to 0.3 degrees on the first try, but got all bulkheads within 0.1 degrees of each other on the second try. l sharpie-marked the top of the longerons along the edges of the aft deck to see if anything moves as time goes by.
DSCN5409.JPG




I then took the rivet sizes and lengths from Dwg 28, and wrote them on the side of the fuselage. Following the riveting order called out in the manual, I started by riveting both side skins to the F-704 bulkhead, then riveted them to the main longerons back to, but not including the F-705 bulkhead. From that point aft to the F-709, the main longerons will remain unriveted until the aft and rear top skins are installed (except for the 6 "keeper" rivets along each side of the aft fuselage). Note my alternative method of attaching the forward fuselage stiffener to the F-704. The original part wouldn't allow the skin to sit flush to the stiffener at the transition, and caused an unsightly "wave" on the exterior. This is just an angle clip and an 0.62 spacer.
DSCN5412.JPG




I had a little extra time, so I riveted the left side skin to the F-705, F-722, and F-724 aft fuselage bulkheads in the baggage compartment area. I've been told it's a good idea to not install the arm rests yet to allow a bit more elbow room for working in the cockpit.
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About the same

Hey Miles,

I'm about at the same stage as you are right now with my 9A - Thanks again for all your advice over the past year.

P.S. I made myself a rotisserie for the fuselage. Cost me about $50 in wood and other bits and pieces. This morning I saw that Harbor Freight has their 1000 lb engine stand on sale for 50 bucks. Think I'll go buy one and use the one I made for the tail. (if you want a coupon for the engine stand let me know).

Cheers,

Tom
 
Thanks for the kind words, Tom.

I thought about making firewall and tailspring adapters for my rotating wing stands, but with my el cheapo Harbor Freight sawhorses at their lowest setting I can stand on the floor and solo rivet down to the level of the cockpit floor. Any lower than that I'll need a riveting partner anyway, and we'll just roll the fuselage over on its side on the sawhorses.

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Miles,I got one of the HF engine stands and made the extensions for the engine to fit. It works better than I could imagine. I believe it is plenty sturdy to spin the plane on. I
As said, it is on sale now. Worth it even if just for the engine. It is fun spinning it around and since we are bothe building 9A's, it is the only inverted time the engine will ever have. Well, as long as we don't hit a bump on the runway! Ha!
 
Would a moderator please delete "Tehachapi" from the title of this thread?

WOW! I can't believe it's been nearly 8 months since an update here!

The holidays account for some of that, but the main "excuse" is that back in February my wife and I decided to pull the trigger on starting the retirement process. Since then we've sold the house and hangar in Tehachapi, sold the HRII project, off loaded a couple thousand pounds of junk, finished our careers, and said our good-byes.

In the meantime, I managed to get my RV-7 fuselage well into the quick build stage, and clecoed most of the remaining parts on in prep for the cross country move. It was a no-brainer to contact Tony Partain to arrange for the move. I have nothing but good to say about the way Tony's driver Michael Rabe loaded, secured, transported, and unloaded my project. He could not have been more professional.

It is a tribute to the very real sense of community we have here that fellow VAFer Gary Konrad graciously offered to store my project in his shop on the receiving end until Karen and I can get settled in a new home (and shop!). Even though Gary and I didn't meet until a week after he took delivery of my project, just a few emails and phone calls with him gave me the assurance that it would be in good hands. Thank you Gary!

We crossed the California state line eastbound for the last time on June 27, and arrived safely in Howell, MI on June 30 with two cats, a few house plants, and everything else we could wedge into an Accord and a Civic. Our plan was to wait until after attending our Cessna 170 Convention (this week) to get serious about house hunting, but while we were introducing ourselves to the locals after a breakfast at the Brighton Airport (45G) we were introduced to a gentleman who was planning on putting his house with attached hangar on the market the following weekend. Long story short, we expect to close about mid August and move in sometime in late September.

We look forward to integrating into the SE Michigan aviation community soon, but I imagine it will be well into fall before there's much progress to report on the RV-7.
 
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