What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Texas Fastback -4

acam37

acam37

Well Known Member
We bought this plane in Ohio after it suffered damage in a hangar collapse. After careful consideration we decided to convert it to fastback since it needed a new canopy anyway. After the initial tear down it was determined that the damage was minimal. The airframe was straight, no wing damage and the engine was untouched.
Now most of the damage has been repaired and it's starting to look like a plane again. We are upgrading the panel and going to do a complete re-paint. I read every post concerning the fastback mod and have found Axels to be a blessing. His photos of the process are invaluable. I would definitely take his advice on making the former's fit. After I butchered the ones from Harmon, I wound up fabricating my own formers.

http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/e40a13bd-07fc-4249-8616-30d74fce6d95_zps09958ea5.jpg.html][/URL]
 
Last edited:
Your photo links are to a log in site, you need to link to public photo album maybe??
 
Arlie,

Looks good. I may do the same next year as I have a few cracks in my canopy.

Do you know about how much you had to cut from the vs to get it to fit over the new turtle deck.
 
Last edited:
There you go Arlie. I can see them now. Good luck with your build. looks like you are making progress.
 
Sir, the red lines shown on the pics below is what I was trying to explain over the phone. That will mitigate the canopy and the turtle deck not matching 100%. Hope that helps

New%2520Canopy%2520cut.jpg


New%2520Canopy%2520cut%25202.jpg


New%2520Canopy%2520cut%25203.jpg
 
Good Show Arlie & Axel!! Wonderful seeing a wounded -4 being given new life. Maybe you should call her "Phoenix"?? :D Wonderful!
Best wishes,
 
I had a good phone conversation with Axel about fitting the turtle deck and canopy. One advantage I have is that this has already been done and thoroughly documented. I would suggest to anyone going this route to get all the info you can before you order a single part. Like Axel stated in his thread, the HR Formers 408 & 409 will not fit so you are wasting your money by purchasing them. I found it easier to fab your own instead of trying to make the other ones fit. I will post my former installation as soon as I can get back to building.
I'm currently working on the canopy frame and building it from scratch. Question is, do I fit the canopy first and fit the frame to the canopy or do it the other way around?
 
Jim Winings is also doing a fastback RV-4. If you hit any snags, he's a wealth of fantastic insight and information.
 
acam37 said:
I'm currently working on the canopy frame and building it from scratch. Question is, do I fit the canopy first and fit the frame to the canopy or do it the other way around?
Click to expand...

Arlie,
Fit the canopy to the fuse the best you can without the canopy frame. Use the rollover bar, the top of F407 and the portion forward of the instrument panel. Once you get close to the shape and location that you want, take the canopy off and fit the lower portion of the canopy frame to the fuse. Get that to a point that you are happy with. After that, fit the canopy to the canopy frame and the fuselage. You will have to take those pieces off and on multiple times until you get the right fit (felt like over 100 times). Don?t forget to take the thickness of the canopy into account when your buddy welds the canopy frame.

On my next plane, the canopy frame and skirts will be one piece out of fiberglass. Just like on Long EZs. The metal frame is more flexible than I would like on my fastback. The fiberglass skirts did not add the rigidity the original metal skirt design has.
 
Bulkheads and Flanges

I worked on the formers and flanges today. This is what I came up with to get a perfect fit. These are the formers I had to fabricate. They can be built without any special equipment. Just a piece of particle board as a template to bend the inside flange.
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zpsbd206f28.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zpse4f3b450.jpg.html][/URL]

This is how I'm going to attach the flange to the former. I'm going to put them on the backside so they won't be seen. All you will see are the rivet heads.

http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zps7ce7233a.jpg.html][/URL]
 
Last edited:
Arlie,
Paul and Louise did the same sort of thing with the bulkhead flanges on Tsam, their RV-3. Great idea that provides maximum installation flexibility. It looks great! Please keep the pictures coming!
 
Yes, actually that's where I got the idea from. The first former I made had the tabs attached so you just bend them over, but when I tried to make them fit the curve I just wasn't happy with the way it looked so I abandoned that method and went the separate flange route. The only drawback is you have a lot of extra rivets to buck. But I believe the advantages are (1) a better fit and (2) easier to get a straight rivet line.
 
Off topic

I used to work with the son of the original builder of that plane..he helped his dad build it. Somewhere, I have some pictures of it from long ago. I immediately recognized the paint stripes. I like the FB look, and you are doing a great job with it.
 
Bill, I am keeping in touch with Chris T. on our re-build progress. Even though I can't say I'm an actual builder, I can tell you I will know every inch of this plane as if I did build it. Especially the tail section.
 
Turtledeck Finished

We hit a major milestone today. We finally finished the turtledeck, so now I can work on something else. I'm not sure if anyone has done our approach to riveting the formers but it worked out great. First we fit, drilled, and clecoed everything in place. Then removed the turtledeck, made some temporary stiffeners out of 2x4's and back riveted the formers. When finished we test fit it back on the plane, and to my surprise it went back on like a glove. Everything lined up perfectly.

http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zps4ae8075e.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zps7ebe4a90.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zpsd080368a.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zps76b1c071.jpg.html][/URL]
 
tail repairs

Things are going a lot faster now that the turtle deck is done. I finished the floorboards, put the seats back in, and fit the tail.
During this process we ran into a few boo boo's the original builder made. I had to replace the rear wing spar carry through and the F-411 upright bars due to mis-drilled holes. These repairs were not near as bad as first thought and had to be done in order to pass inspection and also be airworthy.
http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/slideshow/
[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zpsd799fc5e.jpg.html][/URL]
[URL="[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zps36aec705.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r680/aconner7/image_zps36aec705.jpg[/IMG][/URL]"][URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zpsbe464e02.jpg.html][/URL][/URL]
[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zpsce688505.jpg.html][/URL]
 
You might want to check your plans

On my kit / plans only the upper longerons were notched to fit the tailplane attach struts, from your pictures both the upper and lower longeros have been notched. You may want to verify that this is correct.
 
Good eye Derek. I looked at my plans and it does indeed say to notch the bulkhead and the upright bars on the lower longeron. Now I've got to send Vans yet another email and see what I need to do to fix this problem.
 
Notched Longerons

I sent an email to Vans along with the pictures. They promptly responded and stated that there was nothing wrong with the lower longerons being notched at the F-411 frame. What a relief. I'm only praying that when I pull the tanks off the wings I don't find any surprises there.
 
Rebuild continues

The turtledeck is officially done, so now it's on to removing the engine mount for painting and changing out the mount weldments. The canopy frame has been welded up and waiting for paint and skirts.
I've been reading that a lot of folks have headroom issues, so we put the seat cushions in and sat in the plane with our headsets and helmet to check clearance. I'm 6'-1" and with maximum cushion height I have no problem.
One thing we did was to sacrifice a perfect canopy to turtle deck angle by keeping the canopy a little high in the front, but the angle is still very close.
I think it turned out great. I can't wait for the day it goes in the paint booth.
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/image_zps75bf9dac.jpg.html][/URL]
 
Last edited:
Interior primed

I changed out the weldments and added gussets to the bottom brackets and when the engine mount was removed it was discovered the lower firewall was cracked. I was going to leave it alone and stop drill the cracks, but ultimately decided to go ahead and change it out. they were a lot worse than first thought. Also got the interior primed with PPG epoxy primer. one step forward two steps back.
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-02/97A0A814-D312-4C4B-80EA-3226E9F4A340_zpsbloigrio.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-02/4C422035-233E-4541-9BE8-B9565FBC947F_zpsbqr3ir31.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-02/7766CF30-B69C-400B-835B-4AF28EE470D1_zps902onc3j.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-02/6F23B1F2-4DC2-4B4C-AA6A-8E2E55A0AEDB_zpsjkatqgc4.jpg.html][/URL]
http://[URL=http://s1361.photobucket.com/user/aconner7/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-02/2DAAD932-5681-415C-BDE9-391D84A69999_zpsbctpcpbh.jpg.html][/URL]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top