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RV-8 Andy Karmy

Rudder Cable Fairings

Followed Sam's excellent guide on making up a simple set of cable fairings.

First up, I marked out the part (wrongly of course)

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Eventually I figured out that I didn't have any flange edge distance with my initial layout, so once that was corrected they came out just fine.

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Elevators

With the elevators in alinement your elevator horns lined up ? The must have changed their welding fixture at Vans.
 
Rear fuselage skin

Getting everything lined up and ready to install the rear skin. Still need to do some wiring before closing it up. The Fairings-Etc tail fairing fits PERFECT!

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and then? oh boy oh boy oh boy, the Aerosport 0-360 showed up at the shipping terminal!

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Maybe in the next month or two I can get this thing hung.
 
Great Progress

You are moving along nicely, can't wait to see it in person, are you working at home or in a hangar at PLU. I will have to make a trip up next time I am home and the weather is good, two very swiftly moving targets at times.

Cheers
 
Hi Mike, I'm building at home (up in Auburn) You're welcome anytime you are free. Once it drys out we have a grass strip about 100 yards away, or I could pick you up from Auburn. Would love to get a ride in Gator as well! :)
 
My eyes decieived me.

[QUOTE
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.[/QUOTE]

Proof that we can see what we want to see, I at first thought that was a case of Guinness in the lower left part of this photo. :D

Cheers
 
Painting the interior

First up is a bit of masking to keep the paint in the places it should be, and not everywhere else!





All done. That's smoke gray from Stewart Systems.





Then it's on to the forward top skin fitting and instrument panel.





Lastly, here's my attempt at a right side lunchbox cooler! :)





That's it for now. This week my avionics arrive from Stein!
 
Mounting tail

Wow Andy you are moving along pretty fast, I think I better pick up the pace. You will be in the air soon.
 
Thanks Tom and David, you both are leading the way. I can't wait to get to the point I'm at the airport and doing the final tweaks! :) I'll be watching your progress with keen interest.
 
Avionics Arrive!

YES, My two boxes from Stein arrived last night. Lots of fun new toys to start installing.





I had cut the panel out using the dimensions in the manuals I downloaded from Dynon and Garmin. When the boxes arrived, everything fit perfectly! YES.



 
Great work!!

All done. That's smoke gray from Stewart Systems.




Great looking job you have there Andy!!

I'm just behind you working on the seat ribs etc.

I'm also using Stewart Systems Smoke Grey EkoPrime and would have a few questions if I may...

What did you use as paint, EkoPoly, EkoCrylic or EkoCoat?

How would you rate the finish, Glossy, Satin, Matte?

Did you just scratch the anodized parts or scratch/prime before paint?

Thanks for your time!!
 
Great looking job you have there Andy!!

I'm just behind you working on the seat ribs etc.

I'm also using Stewart Systems Smoke Grey EkoPrime and would have a few questions if I may...

What did you use as paint, EkoPoly, EkoCrylic or EkoCoat?

How would you rate the finish, Glossy, Satin, Matte?

Did you just scratch the anodized parts or scratch/prime before paint?

Thanks for your time!!

I'm using EkoCoat the 1 part top coat over the primer. It's also smoke grey so they match closely. The primer is flat as you know, the EkoCoat is semi-gloss, very satin looking. I'm not sure how durable it will be in the end, so you'll have to decide for yourself what you want to use. I wanted something simple to apply as I hate painting overall?

For the spar carry through I lightly scuffed with red scotchbrite first, then primed like normal, then top coated with everything else. I masked off the areas under the seats that didn't need top coat and just painted the walls and front floor / gear tower area.

Good luck!
 
On the gear!

First up this weekend was the rear turtledeck skin. Curt was game to dive in for the bucking part of the operation.



All done!



Then, once you are on a roll, let's keep going. Time to put the gear on. I figured it's not that tall, and things were getting heavier by the day as I got the avionics installed and wired. Sure was fun installing and removing the gear multiple times to grind down the pinch blocks a touch to get the required gaps. In the end it all came together and we got it done. The final challenge was turning it over with just two of us.

 
Wiring

Ok, it's time to put some wires in this thing! Starting from the rear avionics bay with Transponder, ELT, and ADSB. Antennas are in the rear fuselage so that makes the runs short and easy, then it's serial, and power/ground x 3 to run forward.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

Here you can see some of the dynon boxes getting mounted to the forward baggage wall subsection. With my very simple panel layout I have lots of room for everything.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

Bringing it all together behind the panel. I decide on my fuse panel going on the baggage window door so they are easy to get to and service in the future.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

I put the headset jacks in the central roll bar location for both passenger and pilot facing back to back. Seemed to work fine and allowed the wire to run just under the longaron which kept it away from all of the high current loads and other noise sources.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

Right console going in. Mostly lights and master / alternator control here. I also added a panel power USB plug for iPads / iPhones to be charged in flight.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

Added a supplemental brace and clamp for the manual trim cable on the left side. This really stiffened up the sub panel and trim knob.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

Right side sub panel has the EIcommander and Pmag switches. I also added a remote USB jack for the Skyview to do updates and data logging from the panel face. It's way off to the right under the side deck and out of the way.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

While in the thick of all this wiring, this is what the workbench tends to look like. I feel bad looking at it, but you are using the same handful of tools over and over. The floor is covered in short wire scraps, solder shake off, and stripped wire ends as well. :)

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

But it's all worth it when you fire it up for the first time and everything works!

Panel fired up for the first time by akarmy, on Flickr
 
ELT mount

Andy, Looks great, however the ELT location is not the greatest. ELT mounts by nature are not very secure (they are made so you can remove them after a crash in seconds) the over center straps can wiggle loose. Your ELT is mounted next to your flight control (pitch) system, if the ELT were to come loose it could jam your control. I know this area is accessible in an "8", but it should be QUICKLY accessible. Gene
 
Andy, I had the same idea re: mounting your backup battery on the lower bulkhead. I later discovered that the brake line interferes with that location. You may want to think about that...

Also, ditto that on your EMS...those connectors extend a lot farther than you think
 
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great work & documentation!
You certainly won't have any trouble proving you built this plane!
I'm reminded of the dilemma, when to rivet on the fuselage skin over the instrument panel, and fit the forward baggage door?
It's easy and fun to pull in the wire and mount the hardware, but you have to work around that stuff when bucking the rivets. I'm guessing you have a plan for that too.
Fitting the baggage door requires access from the inside, which is difficult at best, and worse with the rudder pedals installed. So I left the reservation, and fit my door from the outside using proseal & clecos, then riveting after it was set up and fit well. I guess it's some kind of composite construction.
I love the electronics workbench. Good tools make it fun and the final product has a better change of avoiding failures. Besides, that's not a mess!
It's organized chaos.
 
Note to self....don't walk through Andy's shop barefoot until he cleans it up! :D

Nice work Andy! Never thought I'd see a Skyview that looked lonesome, but yours almost does. You need to fill in the empty space with some backup instruments or big warning placards or something... ;)
 
Nice job...less than 2 weeks from opening the box of goodies to the "smoke test" is moving right along. Keep it up and you'll be flying in no time. That's gonna be a good looking plane when you're done, I really like that clean and simple panel!

Cheers,
Stein
 
Ok, it's time to put some wires in this thing! Starting from the rear avionics bay with Transponder, ELT, and ADSB. Antennas are in the rear fuselage so that makes the runs short and easy, then it's serial, and power/ground x 3 to run forward.


Lookin' Good! But Tanya would be cussing me once per year when she had to go back there for inspection if I arranged things like that :)
 
Andy, Looks great, however the ELT location is not the greatest. ELT mounts by nature are not very secure (they are made so you can remove them after a crash in seconds) the over center straps can wiggle loose. Your ELT is mounted next to your flight control (pitch) system, if the ELT were to come loose it could jam your control. I know this area is accessible in an "8", but it should be QUICKLY accessible. Gene

Thanks Gene, the ELT manual does show using some zip ties or safety wire around the ends of those over center clamps on the ELT. of course that increases the difficulty in removing it post accident if needed. Of course I'm not that sure that being able to "quickly" pull the ship mounted ELT should be a core requirement, as you would be better off to have a PLB attached to your person for use outside the aircraft.

The mount is very secure with the bolts going through the angle on the shelf so I'm not worried about it moving in anything short of a full crash, and I'll secure the clamps closed when it's all finished.

As for access, a couple of us looking at it really felt like you needed to be able to quickly gain access to the ELT if it goes off accidentally or for inspection etc. So here's the plan for that.

Peep-a-boo by akarmy, on Flickr

Peep-a-boo by akarmy, on Flickr

Should be easy to get to the ELT and inspect the control bell crank with this door in the baggage cover.
 
Andy, I had the same idea re: mounting your backup battery on the lower bulkhead. I later discovered that the brake line interferes with that location. You may want to think about that...

Also, ditto that on your EMS...those connectors extend a lot farther than you think

ya I looked at that last night. Turn out they are right in the way of the lines I had made for the brakes. Sigh? Thanks Mark! :) However the other problem is, I made those lines for the standard gear, not the grove gear. So my brake exits moved in the gear towers as well. So I'm looking at having to reroute things anyways, which seems possible to simply route them around the dynon boxes and still maintain a similar path. At this point I'm also thinking about just going to some -4 teflon lines for these runs which would be easy to route around and out the gear towers.

There are no non connected decisions and parts on these things!
 
Fitting the baggage door requires access from the inside, which is difficult at best, and worse with the rudder pedals installed. So I left the reservation, and fit my door from the outside using proseal & clecos, then riveting after it was set up and fit well. I guess it's some kind of composite construction.

ut oh, just got to that point in the instructions. Oh how I love dumpster diving under the panel etc! Yea. Guess I'll be unbolting those pedals one more time.
 
Lookin' Good! But Tanya would be cussing me once per year when she had to go back there for inspection if I arranged things like that :)

Ya everything's a tradeoff for sure. Guess I figure it's not that hard to dive back there if needed as you can remove the rear seat and the seat pan and baggage area are flat. Much better than I used to have to dive forward on my 9A to work on things. I also hope there's not much to do with those solid state devices once things are buttoned up and shook out. Time will tell...
 
Thanks Everyone

I do want to say thanks for all of you continuing to provide feedback and ideas. It's kind of humbling sometimes building a plane in a glass box in the center town square, but I'm confident that we are all better for it using the peer review system!
 
Yep, it's the safeair1 kit. I got the EFIS kit which had more than enough parts to do my single AHRS skyview, other than that I did buy a couple more T fittings to put in the fuselage side going to the wings so I could T off the pitot and AOA to go forward to the AFS AOA Pro in combination with the Skyview.

http://www.averytools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SA-A2
 
Fuel lines!

It's hard to describe the frustration of making hard fuel lines in the confines of the structure? The line that goes through the gear tower from the fuel filter to the pump is especially vexing for sure. But eventually I found a combination of bends and flares that got the job done!

Fuel lines by akarmy, on Flickr
 
Very creative! I'm not even close to this stage of assembly, so I don't know exactly what's involved, but is it possible to use braided steel flexible lines for this sort of application?
 
I'm sure it is possible, however, once you get into it, there's not as much room to maneuver as you think, once you accommodate the pump. The bend radius on some of the flexible tubing isn't as tight as what you can do with hard tubing. Fitting the fuel lines was one of the more frustrating aspects for me because you have think about all your bends in 3D and one "tweak" often has unexpected impacts on other bends. I have a a collection of aluminum tubing in exotic shapes in my scrap bucket
 
Interesting. It's gotta help to experiment with soft wire or equivalent to make a template first, but yes, thinking in 3D is invaluable.
 
Mark's got it right. No amount of wire, measuring, drawing, protractors, head scratching, colorful language, will work on this part. 1/4" too short, 1/8" too long (that the worst one) it's an 1/8" just push it to fit? and it kinks, sigh, cut it out and start over. I was ready to cut a 2" hole in the gear towers and call up our friends at TSFlightlines for a teflon line! :) But in the end it all works out.

On to the canopy! for some real fun...
 
Panel Labels

For panel labeling, I'm using a Brother P-Touch printer. I use clear tape with black lettering. This is my 4th plane using this same method and I'm quite happy with it. It's cheap and easy to apply which meet my needs. Ya there's fancier ways to do it, but it's hard to beat simple. The key trick I use is to surround each label with a solid black line. This gives you a cut line and makes the edge blend in when you cut the labels. Without it they don't look very nice, but with the line I think they look quite finished.

Labeling by akarmy, on Flickr
Labeling by akarmy, on Flickr
Labeling by akarmy, on Flickr
Labeling by akarmy, on Flickr
 
And the plexi portion of the Canopy is all done!

Canopy install by akarmy, on Flickr

I decided to hold off on the fiberglass parts until I'm ready to do all of the fiberglass at the end. Kind of like saving your appetite for desert at the end of the meal! ;)

Pulled out all the parts for the axels and wheels. The new Matco parts are slightly different than the plans show, but basically the same things fit just fine. I did do a little trimming on the wheel pant bracket to allow the calipers to slip out and to clear the grove airfoiled gear.

Wheels & Brakes by Matco by akarmy, on Flickr

And finally, who can resist the first picture of the bird out of the nest?

The American Dream. An Airplane in every driveway! by akarmy, on Flickr

Now it's engine hanging time? stay tuned?
 
Great progress. Very tidy wiring, and I really like your labeling solution for the switches. I've looked at the usual suspects for pre-made switch panels, and ultimately I decided I'd go with the standard toggles like yours.
 
Ok, it's time to put some wires in this thing! Starting from the rear avionics bay with Transponder, ELT, and ADSB. Antennas are in the rear fuselage so that makes the runs short and easy, then it's serial, and power/ground x 3 to run forward.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr

Andy, do you have any pics of your antennas installation? Thanks.
 
I put the ADSB antenna just aft of the pitch bell crank on the centerline. You can see the small doubler a bolted in place with it and the wire going in.

Antennas by akarmy, on Flickr

Antennas by akarmy, on Flickr

The Transponder is forward about 2 feet under the baggage floor. Also on the centerline (or just a touch to the right) to clear the elevator push tube.

Then the Com antenna is a bent whip mounted just behind the spar, again slightly offset to the right. You can see the riveted doubler in this picture.

Rv8 wiring by akarmy, on Flickr
 
Engine's Hung

Time to get the FWF done. The engine is hung, all accessories placed on the firewall and engine and cables and wiring is starting.

Engine mounted by akarmy, on Flickr

I'm using the new Vetterman 1.5 inch crossover pipe system with mufflers. It fits nicely on the RV-8.

On the left side I have the muffler heat muff configured for carb heat. So half the can is open to the top to radiate excess heat out, then you hookup the single outlet to the carb for carb heat when needed.

Mounting the exhaust by akarmy, on Flickr

Here you can see the mounting solution. They have you mount to both the sump bolt as normal and one mount to the engine mount tube instead of linking the two pipes together.

Mounting the exhaust by akarmy, on Flickr

Mounting the exhaust by akarmy, on Flickr

Mounting the exhaust by akarmy, on Flickr

Then on the right side is a heat muff covering the muffler in the normal location.

Mounting the exhaust by akarmy, on Flickr

This weekend I installed two eyeballs and routed the throttle and mixture cables. Took all day! Can't believe how much work it is to punch holes in stainless and line everything up. Also it's very challenging to get to those nuts on the back of the throttle quadrant to adjust and tighten everything up.

Would be nice if the engine bracket was designed to be a half inch longer as both ends of the cable are pushed to the max to get the throw needed. If the mount was a touch longer you could use the cable thread adjustment like it was designed to do. Oh well, it seems to work, I get full open and hit the idle stop so for now it's good.
 
Nice work! On the exhaust hangers, is the strut a continuous piece sheathed with rubber tubing as a vibration damper, or separate ends with the tubing linking them? The latter would be more like an automotive application, but I don't know airplane convention (yet!).
 
Nice work! On the exhaust hangers, is the strut a continuous piece sheathed with rubber tubing as a vibration damper, or separate ends with the tubing linking them? The latter would be more like an automotive application, but I don't know airplane convention (yet!).

the "struts" are stainless tube that's had the end squashed and drilled. You cut them to length so that there is about 1" - 2" of hose between the two ends. Then clamp them on the struts. So the center part is 1/4" fuel hose only to get some bend and twist as the engine shakes.
 
Brake lines for Grove / Matco combo

So following the lead of DanH for some neat brake lines I had Tom at TSFlightlines make up some custom hoses. The problem is, With the new Matco brake puck's being shipped with the new kits the geometry changes a touch when matching them up to the Grove gear legs. The 45 in the bottom of the leg hits the caliper so you have to go to a straight fitting. Tom was able to make a nice package with two 90's to fit the new setup great! Tom is so easy to work with and really knows his stuff.

Final brake line by akarmy, on Flickr
 
So following the lead of DanH for some neat brake lines I had Tom at TSFlightlines make up some custom hoses. The problem is, With the new Matco brake puck's being shipped with the new kits the geometry changes a touch when matching them up to the Grove gear legs. The 45 in the bottom of the leg hits the caliper so you have to go to a straight fitting. Tom was able to make a nice package with two 90's to fit the new setup great! Tom is so easy to work with and really knows his stuff.

That sure is spiffy!
 
Canopy fiberglassing

Next up it was the weekend to get some fiberglassing done. Fitting the skirts was the first agenda item. I searched the forums, scoured all your websites and build logs, and took the best ideas I could find to make it easier.

This picture says it all... Look at all those cutoffs. Just take your time and work it bit by bit into shape.

Weekend progress by akarmy, on Flickr

I took the approach to first fix the front side using a combination of tape and measuring to the top holes, templates for some of the lower ones, and a hole finder for the lower tubes. Once that was done I pulled the back into shape to close up the gaps. Unfortunately as I pulled one side in, I pushed the other side out so by the time I had it all drilled I had 3/16 gaps in the usual locations at the aft corners.

Weekend progress by akarmy, on Flickr

Weekend progress by akarmy, on Flickr

BUT, no fear, these things have happened before (in the archives) and the solution was to flox in the holes I drilled in the rear and start over, this time pulling both sides at the same time and using my favorite duct tape to hold everything in place. After I had them fit initially they moved up another 1/2" and overlapped another 1/2". So retrim and attach with new holes and both sides are tight without gaps! YEA.

Weekend progress by akarmy, on Flickr

Little Glasswork to close up the rear end, then I'll finish out the slider track with some flox and glass layer up in place.

Weekend progress by akarmy, on Flickr

Next up is to fill and paint them before attaching for good. As I think Paul Dye said, really they are not that hard, just like everything intimidating before you start on it.
 
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