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174mm reserved

getting ready for the big push. my own V day. hard to describe exactly where I'm at. all over. :)
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sixty more ft of wire from ACS this morning should get the wiring done.
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in need of TLC

www.pbase.com/mark2nite
 
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Empennage, Slow-Build Wings Done, Slow-Build Fuse is Flipped...Working on Fuse Innards.
 
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Not much longer now! Maybe about another ten minutes! That's what I tell people who ask!

This week I am starting on the tanks! My ProSeal is on order along with my flop tube!

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:D CJ
 
Status 70289

This was riveted together over the holiday weekend.

Next step, the center section.

Getting closer to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.



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Steven L. Hild
La Vernia, TX
RV-7 N590SC (res)
 
My RV-7A is almost no longer a project, more like an airplane. I think about five weeks till first flight. The latest pictures are on my
build log , but here's one from when we attached the wings:

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Status N18LC

Another good session of riveting and the canoe will be ready for tipping!

 
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Well, I am not as far along as some of you folks, but I just finished the HS last night and I'm feeling pretty good at the moment!

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I have a simple little website I'm using to document my construction progress: Matt's RV-7 Project

I had an RV-9A for three years that I just recently sold, and I can't wait to finish the 7. Happy building everyone!

cheers,
mcb
 
I got the wingkit and did the Ailerons & Flaps first, they are done...moving onto the wings.
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Started to hang the wing skeleton...still need middle at TE supports.:p
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PS: I updated my Time Lapse Building Slide Shows with the latest photos, well worth a watch. Just go to my website follow the RV links into the Time Lapse Slide Shows.
 
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i've been working on this thing since july of this year (05), and i'm now getting started on the left elevator. wings will probably be ordered around xmas-new year!

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see my full builder's log, linked below.
:)
 
Another Horizontal Stabilizer done! Just finished the HS with ~90 hours on the clock. Quick build fues and wings on the way by the end of the year. Still building in the two car garage while waiting on the new hangar. Building in the garage is really convenient. I'd recommend doing this as long as you can. Also - spring for the pneumatic squeezer. Even with the QB kit, this is the way to go! Try US Air Tools for reasonable prices $350 with yoke...

Gave up on downloading the photo... You'll have to wait on the insipient RV Grin image...

Terry Frazier
RV7A Rudder
 
Painting

Finally ready for the painters after 18 months. Last night we did a dummy run of projecting the colour scheme onto the fuselage.
Flying next month.
Pete Australia.
 
Leading Edges done...moving onto skinning.
PS: I am so proud of my wife (a.k.a) "Rosie Riveter", she did her best riveting to date, not a scratch on the outside skin, if she keeps this up I see a shiny RV in my future ;)
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Regards
Rudi

PS: I updated my Time Lapse Building Slide Shows with the latest photos, well worth a watch. Just go to my website follow the RV links into the Time Lapse Slide Shows.
 
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Rudi, have you done your tanks already?

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Now, on to the right wing! I am deburring the right tank now.

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This one will go much faster now that I understand the process!

:rolleyes: CJ
 
Captain_John said:
Rudi, have you done your tanks already? <SNIP>
:rolleyes: CJ
Hi John,
not yet, i am going to do them over my Xmas break. Next on the plan is to rivet the LE to spar and then the top skins, slightly out of sequence I know, but I want time on my side when I do the tanks to do it right, hence during my Xmas break.

Regards
Rudi
 
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I've got my glareshield glued down as of Fri. night and Removed and Replaced and Removed some rivets in prep for the wing root nut plates. I can't find dimpled K-1100 in ACS so I guess it's Van's next week.

So, windshield hoop and mount a wing sometime soon.
 
Mark

Two questions:

1- Did the glareshield material come as part of the interior kit? Its very sharp!

2- Is your roll over bar chromed? Don't think I have seen one like that before.

Scott
 
glareshield and chrome question

1. Yes

2. Yes
thanks for the compliment-- kinda unique huh? If you get close and want the directions I'll send them to you.
 
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I painted a stripe inside of the windshield but it's kind of
transparent; figured it would hide the glass discolorations.

Plastered an extra patch of 6 oz. glass on the lower corner
since I remember (when I went for a ride)
Rosie kept saying, "Don't kick my plane, don't kick plane, don't..."

think I'll see if I can hang a wing while this resin dries.

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Mark That plane is just too pretty

It makes me jealous - I mean mine is good but everything I have seen on yours looks - well, perfect. One thing I recommend you change though is the subpanel extension beyond the throttle and mixture knobs. I had mine about like yours at first and it became a knee banging problem for both my wife and I and it became down right uncomfortable on long flights. I can't see anything in your installation that requires it. I cut down just the front plate and left the mounting flange of the aluminum angle at its original length so the mounting interface was unchanged.

Bob Axsom
 
Chromed roll bar

Mark, how did you get your roll bar chromed? Are there shops that do this for you? Can you do it yourself? How well does it hold up? It looks fantastic!
 
Bob, I'm already bumping my knee. Can I just trim about a 1/2" off both sides then?

If I had to do it all over again, I'd chrome the whole canopy--I just wanted the pedals and rudders at first.
I paid about $700 IIRC;
chroming stuff gets you criticized a bit.
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bob, I lucked out and got a really smooth transition top skin to the glass; can't feel anything and I'll just
have a paint line. so I'm really pleased at the moment.


mark
 
The subpanel size

Reference the photo that includes your engine controls. Mark I tried to send a private message but the system told me your message box is full - so here it is:

I made an assumption that you made the sub panel the way I did - cut it from an aluminum angle. You have it radiused as I did but it extends into your leg area way beyond where it has to, to support the engine controls. I initially had 4 controls down there so mine was really wide. I disconnected all four controls from the engine and completely removed them. I drilled a hole in the main panel and moved the carb heat up there. Then I dismounted the subpanel and cut the exposed face width down to where it was just wide enough to hold the remaining three control mounting hardware with no excessive overhang (it looks like you could reduce your subpanel width about 1" on each side). Then I put everything back together and we have had no more problems. In my case it was so bad that I believe I may have actually redrilled the mounting holes in the sub panel to allow me to move it over to the right to recenter the remaining three controls as well. My experience made me sensitive to the problem and when I saw your subpanel extending sideways beyond where it had to, to support the controls I said "thats something that could be done better." It will not keep you from banging you knee directly on the control itself when getting in but you will become deft at contorting your body just so to slip it into the pilot hole without injury (procedural fix). It is on those 3-12 hour flying days that you become irritated (sometimes painfully) by any hard narrow edges that extend into your leg space and that requires a hardware fix.

Bob Axsom
 
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Why a subpanel?

I'm fitting up my panel right now and I've been considering putting my engine controls on the panel itself in order to maximize knee room. I have fairly big legs (due to my old days of collegiate wrestling...yeah...that's my excuse). I've got most of my RV time in Kahuna's -6A and I found the subpanel to be more annoying than the gear leg weldments in terms of ergonomics. Does anyone see why you couldn't just put the engine controls up on the panel? My panel is going to be fairly straight-forward VFR and I don't forsee any sort of real estate issue.
 
There is none

There is absolutely no reason you cannot put the controls in the panel if you have the room. The cable lengths and routing need to be completed by you and there is nothing that dictates where they have to go.

Bob Axsom
 
engine control placement

Hey Jamie:

Hope you don't mind me butting in here -- I was just thinking two things, first that the only other concern you have re engine control placement is resale value, and second have you thought about putting the engine controls on a center console between the seats. The console wouldn't even have to extend all the way to the panel so that you could still have room to spread out on long flights. The Diamond Star that I fly has center console engine controls as well as a stick, and I like the setup quite a bit, except for the quandary of what to do with charts when I have someone in the passenger seat.

Antony
 
As of today...

Wings are in the fixtures and leveled... skins are in the works now.
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Pictured is "Sonoma", she is co-pilot and designated quality control inspector. :)

Not too bad from my last status picture in June.
 
Inspiration

Here's some inspiration.
Off to the painters after 20 months and 1700hrs.

Pete.
Down Under.
Australia.
 
Eww, Jet A? And make those Piper parts please... I need all the cessna ones to fix my dad's airplane :).

*Sonoma just told me that the camera adds 10Lb's*
 
osxuser said:
*Sonoma just told me that the camera adds 10Lb's*
LOL! Are you guys calling my little girl fat?!?!? Watch out or I will tell her what you said... she will come and chew up your shoes if you aren't careful. :D

You are right, she looks a little ummmmm, shall I say thick, but it is just the way she is angled in the photo. The vets all say she is just perfect... and so do I! :)
 
Enthusiasm

What can I say? Here's my son Nate dreaming of the future. We are done with the wings (flap in background) and already tired of deburring bulkheads....it reminds me of ribs. :D

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A few months to go before we can sit and make imitation engine type noises.
 
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Interior painting is done. Putting stuff in and building up my nerve to tackle the canopy :D
 
One year building anniversary

Hi Guys, This week is my one year anniversary, and the wings are done (well kind of, I?m leaving the outboard bottom skins and wingtips of till late in the project).


So far I have invested 665 hours in the past year, which is well above my 400 hour a year projections.


I have just started on the firewall and is looking forward to the fuselage.


Regards

Rudi
 
Wow Rudi! That is great!

I have just skinned the top of my left wing and am completing the right tank this coming week, with February school vacation and all.

I expect to be onto the ailerons soon!

:) CJ
 
Fuse works

I bought my kit from a fellow MN wing member in Jan 2004. Tail feathers complete, wing in box for $5000.

I just added the wings to the fuselage on St. Valantine's day and will take a break from buidling in April as I only build during the cold winter months in WI.

I Currently fly my Titan Tornado II (Rotax 912S 100HP, 120MPH & 1500 FPM ROC, mild aerobatics) built in 2000 from my own grass strip at WI05.

My goal is to build the lightest, all manual, least expensive RV7, 320/wood prop.
Simple and easy to maintain. No frills, No Gadgets.

I have about 750 hours to date.

I estimate summer of 2008 as the finish date.

Jose Borja
Elk Mound, WI

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