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I mated the wings just before Oshkosh. Over the last year I've done most all of the stuff that comes in the instruction manual just after the wing mating so I'm about done with the fuselage. This week I put the left wing back on (doing one at a time so I can keep the garage door closed at night), and did the flap hole thing and make the little tubing run between the fuel vent on the tank and the vent run in the fuselage (man, getting a wrench on that AN fitting on the tank once you've put the wing on is really rough. I should've done it, perhaps before inserting the wing). Proceeding to the wing root fairing now.

I'm actually starting to think this thing in the garage will fly.
If I had enough money for engine/avionics (I'm a pay-as-you-go guy), maybe I could be flying next year. But I don't...so....plenty of time to go slow and do everything right.
 
I am done with the gray goop!

25 Clear Plastic Cups... $2
100 Tounge Depressors... $5
2 Boxes of Latex Gloves... $12
1 qt. Tank Sealant... $45
2 Leak Free Tanks... PRICELESS!!!!

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I finally got around to leak testing my second tank... what a great feeling it is to be done with the gray sticky stuff!!! :D
 
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Test installed interior to keep the boss happy, and let her imagine our future flights.

Engine on, on the gear, wiring done, just need cowl, canopy and DAR! (and other miscellaneous fiberglass work.
 
[img said:
http://www.rv7factory.com/images/log/060916_004.jpg[/img]

Brad-
How come you didn't use any sealant to seal your tanks?! :)

I don't think I've ever seen tanks that looked that clean after being sealed up! Mine certainly don't! I hope nobody ever looks at them! Great job!
 
Brad, I'm not sure how you kept them so clean but your tanks looks great! Sure is a good feeling when they test out leak free.

Good job!
 
Tanks a lot!

Thanks guys... I am flattered. :eek:

Clean say you? What I forgot is the line "2 Qts of MEK... $12" :D
Seriously, I think taking the pic outside in the bright light of day does a lot to make them look cleaner than they really are. ;)

One more thing... the tanks may have stayed relatively clean, but I sure was a mess!
 
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Me "Again"...I need to stop this...I post far to often here...
The tail is on, interior painted, elevators connected to the control column...time to sit inside and play with the stick and make airplane noises... :D

This is the status at 1211 hours:
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Regards
Rudi
 
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Finish kit updates.

The empennage fairing is completed.

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We fitted one piece canopy skirts after struggling with the aluminium skins.

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The fit is much better than anything we able to get with the standard skirts. All the internal canopy parts were painted to match the interior color. Tomorrow we will fit the windshield.
 
Bottom Wing skins are on!

Finished riveting the bottom wing skins. Probably the toughest riveting so far. I got the bruises to prove it. - Ron

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One year status report

Well kind of anyway. I had the empennage unpacked and inventoried a little earlier but one year ago today I riveted my first assembly together. I?m sure everyone will recognize this one. I riveted it together 10/07/05.

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This morning I finished riveting the bottom skin on the second wing and now have both wings done to the point of just needing to put the nut plates on for the inspection plates. I have the left wing in the cradle and the right one will be there alongside it shortly. My goal when I started was to have the empennage and wings done at the one year mark and I verily made it.

When I logged my time this morning it totaled 500.1 hours. The first year of building has been very rewarding and I have learned a lot. It was a good project for Luke and I to work on his last year here at home before college and provided good experiences that we shared together.

My fuselage kit is on hand and inventoried and I have a little done on the firewall. I am looking forward to the next year of building and the challenges it brings with it.

The main reason for this post is to say thank you to everyone that participates on this board and/or has a web site that I have used as a part of the building process. The information available is invaluable when a question arises. The group of builders and those people who are already flying that I have met in person are great people and I am happy to be involved with such a group.

Thanks to you Doug Reeves for making this resource available. It is one of the best tools I have!

I?ll post some photos sometime this week. Right now I?m going to take my wife out to dinner and celebrate! :)
 
Finally to the point where a photo is decent...

I'm finally to the point, after 4.5 years on a sloooow build where I have a pic. worth posting. The interior is painted, sub-panel installed, and I'm starting to figure out wiring. Paint is SW FetFlex WB and seems to have worked out very well.

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Hey Jim, Lookin GREAT!

Q. Whatcha gonna do with the F-745-L that attaches to the Panel? I too have noticed how it will get in the way of the EFIS display and am noodling about how to get around this.

Can you post up your ideas for us all to stew over?

:) CJ
 
Pesky Panel Ribs

Capt John,

The current plan is to move it to the left between my GRT displays and standby instruments. I'll wait until the panel is close to finished, or at least has all the components temp fitted prior to making the install. In talking with Dave Parsons, if the radio rack if stabilized at the sub-panel, the main panel may be stable enough where I don't need that additional rub. We'll see how that goes.

Jim
 
Canopy finally done (almost)

Started work on the canopy the last week of July and have been working on it daily. I've only got a few minor details left to do. Of course the windshield won't be completed until much later. It's not real pretty, but I'm happy with the fit and glad to be done.
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I said I would post some photos so here they are. They aren't to exciting but it feels good to have the wings in the cradle.

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Now, onto the fuselage!

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Wow...everything is all very impressive.

Myself, I'm still in the "dreaming" stage. Haven't even ordered plans yet. As much research as I can do, the RV planes seem to be the best thing going for the price (we all can'r afford Lancairs).

Speaking of afford, I'm set to graduate college in 7 months. I hope to get a good job and get my loans squared away and see just how soon and I can do all of this.
 
1/2 Way...I hope!

Hi Guys,

Last week I reached ?MY? calculated ? way mark. I had an ?open night? last night and opened my garage for fellow RVators and EAA members here in South Africa. Looks like they enjoyed themselves, and celebrated with me on the ? way mark.

Here is a shot of the overall progress, before taking it apart for the rest of the project..
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Here is a shot of the open night.
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Here is link to a short Walk Around Movie [11MB] of the ? way progress, for you guys.

PS: I am busy UPDATING my slow stop animation sequences to include the latest photos of this milestone, it will most probably be ready in a week or two. Will keep you guys posted.

Kind Regards
Rudi
 
Brake lines??

Beautiful Rudy,
I have a suggestion for the brake lines. I'd seriously reconsider using the plastic tubing which comes under pressure, e.g. the lines from the passenger side to the pilot's side and also down to the wheels.

My feeling is that high pressure black braided hose will be totally trouble-free down the road. It's a real pain to get to after the top cowl is in place. I'd appreciate hearing from others.
Regards,
 
Steel Braided

We replaced almost every hose that we could with Steel braided hydraulic lines form our local shop. Almost three years of flawless service to this point. More money? Yes but the security is worth it. Oh yeah, they look very nice as well.
 
Wings are finished, except the wingtips/nav/strobe lights. :cool:

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The fuselage will be ordered next week! :D (Planned two month break...)
 
Sweet!

Who is that bearded guy, and what did he do with my friend Chad?!?! :D

Way to go!!!
 
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Chad has just been to busy working on the RV to shave is all. Those wings look mighty nice there Chad. Keep up the good work!
 
72452

By my build number I should be way ahead of you, but I'm not :eek:

Here is my current status:

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I took most of last winter off, but this year I have heat in my garrage, er I mean shop :D
 
Movie Time!!!

Hi Guys,

Movie Time!!
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As promised I updated my slow stop RV7 building animation videos.

If you haven?t seen the first one, then watch it first: Zero-1000 hours
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjZGqu1EyHY

OR you can just watch the latest ? way mark one: 1000-1250 hours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O9cEDDsGn8

If you like what you see you can download and save the high quality versions from my website, and save it to your hard drive.
(I have a 15 GB bandwidth Cap on the website, so if you don?t get through you now it was breached.)

Kind Regards
Rudi
 
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Wooohoooo!

What a great feeling, another milestone, the jig is gone and the wings are in the cradle.

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N622JP Status

Here's the latest status of my project:

Bulk of electrical stuff is done, canopy done, currently fitting the cowl and baffling. Misc. FWF stuff and tidying up remaining. My apologies for not being able to get a complete picture but this is the best I can do in my tight garage.

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And a shot of my VFR (upgradeable to IFR) panel. I'm still missing my Trio autopilot and Garmin 496 GPS. The Trio will occupy one of the lower open instrument holes. The other will remain a spare for now.

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When will it fly? About 65mph (sorry Sam for borrowing your line).
 
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Waiting for final inspection

Here is Mark checking the work on the windshield. We're waiting for the final inspection and in the meantime trying to tie up loose ends. It feels great to be that close.

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I posted a pic of my finished wings a month or so ago, but I have since installed the wingtips, and moved the wings to a friend's private airport for storage where they will remain until the time comes to fit them to the fuselage.

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:cool:
 
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