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Center Section joined to Aft Fuse!

Well, I had a HUGE day of progress with my fuselage kit. Another mini-milestone has been reached. I got busy Sunday afternoon and finished cutting the slots in the longerons. With both of them in place in the aft fuse and the skin clecoed back up to the longerons, My son Daniel helped me flip it over. Then, with his assistance, we carefully joined the center section to the aft fuse. It is now joined and clecoed together! I know many have said this before, but this thing is now BIG!

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Couldn't resist getting under the thing and taking this shot:
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I managed to get the forward side skins clecoed on next, and the arm rests fitted and drilled. The fit of my longerons turned out to be perfect. All that careful bending and twising last December really paid off.
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There are more pictures and details on my log entry for the day here:
http://www.europa.com/~swayze/RV-7A/Fuselage/20090329.html
 
Skin is on!

Top inboard skin is on. Thanks to Jim for helping me buck rivets. They came out perfect!
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And the adventure begins...

I'm sure a few of you will recognize what this is:

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I just unpacked and inventoried everything last night:

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And the adventure begins....

For those who may be interested, I'll post my progress regularly at http://rv7.media-phile.com/.
 
You are starting on a really great journey. There will be a lot of moments like this one where you stand back, with a big RV grin, and say to your self "I am building an airplane, how cool is that". Enjoy the journey and welcome to the club.
 
A picture paints a thousand words.....

and at some time in the future you'll arrive at this stage ! just unpacked it this weekend, how great does that look ?


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shiney is very very happy today! :) :)
 
Ooooooohhhhh.... Shiny new engine for shiney! Seeing all you folks ahead of me gives me hope that someday I'll be hanging an engine on what's now just a collection of aluminum. Now if I could just work up the nerve to actually put two pieces together... :) I'll get there soon... just have a couple more tools to corral first.
 
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We're Registered

Today Sky Terrier N14SE took one more step toward becoming a full fledged airplane. After having my registration paperwork for only two weeks, Okahoma City sent me the registration certificate for N14SE. Now all we need is the pink one :)

Heading down to Georgia, in a few weeks, to spend some time with Pierre and his RV-6A to get ready for the Sky Terrier's first flight. Still need to get the nose art on her but she is getting very close. The RV grin is already starting to appear and I am still weeks from the first flight.

Like Dana says, keep pounding those rivets.
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Look what found itself a new home. I was like a young boy on christmas morning. I will say, this is the only way to do it. No problems what so ever. Now I just have to put it all together.

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Get ready

Lots of dumb questions coming soon to a forum near you.

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It will be slow going for awhile, it's flying/grass mowing/gardening season.
 
Hi Stephen,

Im at the same point as you, and almost the same in hours.... its great to be at this stage of our projects.. Hope we are both in the air soon !
 
RV7Pics


do picasa inserts work or not??....

your wings are looking great! keep up the good work!

this is what i do... it's a pain but it works...
my example is below. if you look at your "embedded link"(in picasa) you'll see this similar looking line in there. basically you're just looking for img src...
(ps... take out the - at the end of IMG)


[IMG-]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1fEHM_YFBqM/SYEXnQ5RXeI/AAAAAAAAAfw/5f2u_qm42XM/s800/yourpichere.JPG[IMG-]



adios
 
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Finished up my front skin access panels and now I'm mainly working on fiberglass parts. I just received my fairings-etc intersection fairings and plan to start on those along with continued gear fairing work.

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Finishing up the punch list

Today was a very good day at the airplane factory. This photo sets the stage for today's accomplishments:
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and now, Drum roll please:

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First engine start was almost uneventful. Had the mag switches wired backwards so off was on and on was off. Starting on the left impulse coupled mag actually resulted in starting on the right mag :eek: Luckily the gear grinding sound didn't result in any missing teethl. When starting on the correct mag, everything went great. Good numbers and the engine sounded nice and strong. Thanks to Tim Mahoney for building a great engine. Also, special thanks to my hangar mate and building partner Larry Helming (Indiana Larry) who's backside is featured in the second picture. Last but certainly not least, thanks to my wife who I think is actually more excited right now than I am, if that is possible.
 
Congratulations, Steve.....

....Yep, Twany got really excited when I gave her her first small airplane ride and punched in Evansville on the GPS. When she saw ETE 2:30, her eyes got big and she said, "Wow, I can live with that!" They had just driven 10 hours to get here! I had told them at the restaurant that you can go almost anywhere in your RV in one fourth the driving time.

Regards,
 
1500 HOURS---3 YEARS

Great milestone for us.

1500 hours and 3 years.
Canopy done---About
Engine done.

 
Wings are on!

We mounted the wings on my 7 on Friday night...had several VAF buddies over, as well as my dad, and a few other airplane guys. Thanks everyone!

She's really looking like she wants to get outta the hangar!!

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:cool::cool:
 
Fuse is upright!

Next time this fuselage is upside down will be in flight! :) Just sitting her enjoying a good cigar and relishing another milestone passed...and thinking about what's coming next...lots and lots and lots more work LOL!

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Tonight...

...my friend Brent and I finished up riveting the forward fuselage and...

FLIPPED THE CANOE!

w000000t! :D

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Still a long way to go, but it sure feels great to see 'er upright.
 
Now where did I put that paddle?

Despite my efforts to make this the longest build in history, I do sometimes make progress.

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Nice Job Brad!

I am jealous,:eek: that looks real nice.:)

I just finished b/h 604 and am almost done with 605.

The fuselage appears to be more of a challenge than the wings.

What was your experience?
 
The fuselage appears to be more of a challenge than the wings.

What was your experience?
Thanks!

Yea, I would agree. There seem to be more oppotunity for mishaps with the fuse. I've had a few issues, most of them self-created (as you know ;)), but with the help of friends and VAF I've managed to stumble through them and forge on.

I keep telling myself... the next one will be perfect!
 
Continue

Well this week I:
Removed everything from the panel, primed and painted it:

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The color is screwy in these pics...It matches the trim in my seats better than what shows on these shots..........

Installed the MP hose and fittings

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Installed the top half of the exhaust

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Labeled the panel

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Riveted a few spots that I have been dreading and putting off for what seems like years. Not so bad, IF you have a tungsten bar and snap socks from Avery's!

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Cleaned up the area where I hacked off the rib that centers my Dynon's and used the part I cut off to make a new rib... Just added a piece of angle and riveted it on. I also ordered a new rib and cut it off and made the third one. I used the original PP holes to rivet it to the subpanel. I just cut it and folded it over to make a flange.

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Installed a bunch of nutplates, made the lower panel to fuse brackets and riveted them suckers in...

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.
 
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Now I am ready to put all that stuff back in the panel for good and get this thing wired up! I still neet to paint the mapbox door.

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How is this for a future aviator?

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I did a bunch of other stuff as well but I am tired of posting pictures so you will just have to trust me!!!!
 
Wife See's the light

My wife Kathy helped me drill my side rails today. Had to give her the
electric drill but she can see the light.:eek::eek:




Boomer and KAT
 
holy moses, that was quite the read! you certainly have a knack of writing that makes we want to keep reading! i'm SO GLAD you got it finished... i was laughing while i was reading that.... no not at you but just the whole process of what happened. geesh
 
900 hour update

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wow, lot's of great progress lately... last week we loaded up the biggest u-haul available and moved to the airport. the hangar is cavernous; much bigger than the shop... so much bigger that i had to consolidate my benches into a smaller area to regain some efficiency and stop walking back and forth so much.

it is exciting to start thinking about the panel but i do not want to get too distracted prematurely; now bring on the canopy!
 
The 4 Boys and Their Toy

Huge sense of accomplishment getting the plane on the main gear. now we can wheel it around the garage.

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It's been a great week. On Friday we got our Aerosport O-360. Sue and Bart of Aerosport are awesome, with TDY's and a deployment we have changed deliveries a dozen times and they have been very understanding. Aerosport rocks! Cant wait to get this beauty on the plane.

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We're getting there!
 
Looking good Paul! Keep on pullin' those wires! Hope to see you at KOSH. We'll be camped in homebuilt camping all week.

Guy
 
Sika Flex T/U Part One Pics

here's the front canopy in place and sika flexed up - rear window to follow next week !!

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Fuel pump plumbing

Finally got around to borrowing a RotoFlair tool and tackled the HP fuel pump spaghetti. I used plastic tubing to get approximate tubing lengths with bends, then whipped up a beautiful double bend...that was 3/8" too short.:( But the next 3 went like clockwork. Fit was good, no kinks, and looks pretty well also.

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only wasted 10" of tubing, I'm happy.
 
Finished the VS

Finished the VS. This is my first completed component! HS should be done in a day or two.

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Here I go (trying to post some pix)

Time to show some pics on the status of 4X-ORV, to your critical checking.
The panel will be MGL Voyager on the left with the classic six on the right. Radio will be the MGL V-10 VHF. I'm still working on the missing details.
Plumbing of fuel and brakes systems is done, with the use of some extra pieces of AN fittings. Adds to weight, to cost, to whatever but saves on work and pain...
Static lines (two of them, one goes to the EFIS, another to the six-pack) are in, now I'm doing the rudder cables installation.

BSTRGRDS
Mike

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