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RV-3: Stuffing the Cheeks

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
It pays to look at other people?s RV?s at Fly-ins?.you find so many good ideas that you can steal! One of the things that I have planning to do for some time (ever since we saw Shawn Scott's very nice RV-4 which is loaded with clever ideas) was to build hatches in to the cheek cowl extensions and use them both for stowage and as access points for the cowl side pins. The cheeks are usually just empty space, but can easily store tie-down ropes, a few tools, a couple of rags, oil funnels ? all of the things that normally bounce around the baggage compartments on most RV?s.

Taking a cue from several recent RV-3 builders, we discarded the sheet metal parts supplied in the kit and built fiberglass extensions over male foam molds. Once we had rough them out and done some initial filling to get the surface where we wanted it (relative to the cowl), we finished up the cowl fastener flanges and made the whole external structure rigid. I then played around with hatch sizes using some heavy card-stock. While my initial plan was to build a hatch large enough to insert a quart bottle of oil, I quickly realized that with the small size of the RV-3 cheeks, I was going to have to make the doors awfully large in order to get the bottle inside ? the hatch would have to be close to the side profile of the bottle, since the cheek is fairly shallow. I settled on an opening ?That Looked About Right? at approximately 5?x5? ? the same as the oil door.

After laying it out on the cheek with marker, I cut the hatch out with a thin cutting wheel on a Dremel tool, carving the corners with a very small diameter die grinder bit on the same Dremel ? this minimized the kerf losses. I used some 0.032? Alclad to form the flanges, drilling it to the inside starting from one corner to allow it to lay where it wanted on the inside of the tapering conic surface ? I then straightened up the lines after clecoing it on using a sanding disk on the angle grinder. Piano hinge on the bottom edge could have been replaced with a hidden hinge if I wanted to take that much extra time, but it would also have taken up some useful storage space, so I went with the simple option.

Latches will be two Hartwell?s per door ? one forward, one aft. When I get those installed, I?ll add a glass stiffener rib to the door to make sure it doesn?t bulge out into the flow in flight.

These little storage pods should be really nice in such a small airplane ? they don?t add but a couple of ounces, and should keep the baggage compartment clean and organized ? at least that?s the plan!

The cut-out ? done with a thin cutting wheel on a Dremel:
IMG_5942.JPG


Door Open (clecoed in place) ? note aluminum flange:
IMG_5944.JPG


Door Closed (needs finish trimming to make the gap neat of course) ? need to add latches:
IMG_5945.JPG


Paul
 
Paul, was one mold used both sides? What are you going to do with your mold(s)?

Also, depending on if you have already used the space, you could "box" into the fuse for deeper storage.............
 
Paul, was one mold used both sides? What are you going to do with your mold(s)?

Also, depending on if you have already used the space, you could "box" into the fuse for deeper storage.............

The molds were male plugs built up out of foam insulation sheets - one for each side (the cowl is not perfectly symmetrical) - and they didn't really survive intact.

I don't think I'd want to carve into the monocoque fuselage at that pint - and at any rate, it woudl cut into legroom (yes, it is a tiny airplane!).

Paul
 
With the cheeks stuffed like that, you might need to christen the RV-3B "Chipmunk"... But I guess that's already been used by mister deHavilland. Maybe "Squirrel"? They always seem to be darting about the yard with something in their cheeks...
 
Jeremy - not fair! I wanted to throw out the Rocky & Bullwinkle joke! :D

Paul - exceptional work as always. It's little things like this that make me want to build. It's the big things that remind me otherwise :)
 
You have to be kidding ACS

I just checked,

Wicks $13.50
ACS $148.95

You have GOT to be kidding. Both list the same p/n H5000-2. This one of the largest price differences I have seen between ACS and Wicks. Is there something different about them?

BTW Nice work Paul, can't wait to see more pics

Ryan
 
Why not hinge the whole thing?

Why not just put a piano hinge on the bottom edge and let the whole cheek hinge down? Has anyone tried that?
 
Why not just put a piano hinge on the bottom edge and let the whole cheek hinge down? Has anyone tried that?

That's an original thought! I think in my opinion, it would be hard to stop it from rattling around a bit - I want the lines to flow right in to the fuselage (the flange will be blended in after riveting). But theoretically, you could hinge the whole thing since it really isn't structural. You'd have to do something creative with the flange (or hinge) that attaches it to the cowl at the front.

Paul
 
Hmm. Rocky. Good name for a geologist's airplane! ;)

Excellent point:D I'm also partial to it because my Aircoupe's name was Rocky! Now as for Bullwinkle, I'm thinking that because he was so big in comparison, you guys might have to build a 10 next:D:eek:

HumptyBump: sorry for stealing your limelight:eek:

Jeremy
 
My wife names almost everything in our life; the Rocket that has been under construction for way too long in our basement has been named "Rocko" - kind of a tough-guy take on rocket. Whenever I get to fly it it should be fun.
 
Before this thread drifts to far...

Does anyone see why a similar latch couldn't be installed on the wing tips of a 9A giving access to the wing rib lightening hole in front of the spar? My intent would be to secure and carry fly rod cases.

I had another scheme all planned to put two rod cases behind the baggage bulkhead. I mentioned this to Ken Kruger and while he said my idea sounded reasonable, he mentioned he'd seen someone do this and thought it clever. The more I ponder it, the more elegant the solution seems to be....and cost effective too. Those hinges would only cost a fraction of what the rods are worth.<g>
 
Yep

You could. The Air Tractors that fly to Oz and South Africa, store the spray booms in the holes in the ribs....that, and the spray pump lies in the aft fuselage, secured to the structure.

The, the hopper is filled with Jet A for 12-18 hours endurance!

Flyrods in the wings?...Excellent idea, near the CG too.

Best,
 
I like the fly-rods in the wing idea - the hatch would have an interesting shape due to the slope of the wingtip, but it would certainly be do-able, and weigh essentially nothing. And if it doesn't work out...heck, it's just fiberglass - you can make the holes disappear real easy!

Paul
 
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