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Well I’m in deep now

Nice - you're going to enjoy that. Go and fly the heck out of it and get to know it personally. The "6" is a lovely aircraft.
 
Show us more, pls. What’s your panel like?
Looks great. Are you leaving it bright, will paint, or apply some vinyl?
 
Radioflyer said:
Show us more, pls. What’s your panel like?
Looks great. Are you leaving it bright, will paint, or apply some vinyl?
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Very basic panel, steam gauges and a nice engine monitor is about it. I’m going to move some things around to make way for a nice big iPad and call it good for a while. I have some ideas about paint but I’m not sure just yet. I kinda like the raw look in fact, but the wings do flash a lot of glare so I am keen to put something on them at least. And paint the ugly rudder of course lol. Mostly I am trying to focus on getting to know it and some functionality mods that will help reliability and comfort, and most importantly learning how to fly it!
 
Oroyo said:
Very basic panel, steam gauges and a nice engine monitor is about it. I’m going to move some things around to make way for a nice big iPad and call it good for a while. I have some ideas about paint but I’m not sure just yet. I kinda like the raw look in fact, but the wings do flash a lot of glare so I am keen to put something on them at least. And paint the ugly rudder of course lol. Mostly I am trying to focus on getting to know it and some functionality mods that will help reliability and comfort, and most importantly learning how to fly it!
Click to expand...
Oroyo said:
Very basic panel, steam gauges and a nice engine monitor is about it. I’m going to move some things around to make way for a nice big iPad and call it good for a while. I have some ideas about paint but I’m not sure just yet. I kinda like the raw look in fact, but the wings do flash a lot of glare so I am keen to put something on them at least. And paint the ugly rudder of course lol. Mostly I am trying to focus on getting to know it and some functionality mods that will help reliability and comfort, and most importantly learning how to fly it!
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Don't paint it! It just adds weight and a lot of expense. Don't work on it or modify it unless you have to. Fly the ever lovin' snot out of it. You never know when your flying time will get sidelined. Take one of your steam gages out of it and put in a G5 if you have to along with your GPS of choice and Fla-eye it. And stay away from those who will try to make you think your plane is "not good enough". It's already perfect.
koda2.
 
koda2 said:
Don't paint it! It just adds weight and a lot of expense. ...
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My plane is polished and although I plan to use a little bit of accent vinyl eventually, I kinda love the polished look (even after a year of non-treatment). Not a huge factor, but true, the glare in the sun can annoy both on the ground and in the sun. Sometimes I can't find my parked plane because i'm squinting so much!
 
koda2 said:
Don't paint it! It just adds weight and a lot of expense. Don't work on it or modify it unless you have to. Fly the ever lovin' snot out of it. You never know when your flying time will get sidelined. Take one of your steam gages out of it and put in a G5 if you have to along with your GPS of choice and Fla-eye it. And stay away from those who will try to make you think your plane is "not good enough". It's already perfect.
koda2.
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Solid advice. Yes I am trying to keep mods and upgrades to a minimum for now. I do need to paint the rudder and wing tips at a bare minimum though, they are just too funky looking lol. And the dash board and panel too, because they are WHITE. Who the heck paints a dash white?! The reflection on the canopy is just awful.
 
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Oroyo said:
Yes body filler of some sort. Not sure why.
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Looks like it was used to hide the rivets. Not a good idea. I would seriously consider building a new rudder at some point. As long as you’re certain it isn’t a flight safety concern, you can build a new one as you find time. If you decide to do that, do your research as it takes careful layout to match the VS hinge positions. No two RV6 rudders are alike.
Great find and enjoy your airplane!
 
Oroyo said:
Yes body filler of some sort. Not sure why.
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Adding weight aft of the rudder hinge line will reduce the flutter speed of the fin/rudder flutter mode and the aft fuselage/fin/rudder flutter mode. That reduces the flutter margin that was originally built into the airplane's design. The amount of flutter margin reduction depends on how much weight was added and how far aft. At least sand as much off as possible to be on the safe side.
 
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It seems like a pretty minimal amount in fact but thanks for this warning. I’ll investigate that. The riveting otherwise seems very good so I’m a bit puzzled by it. I could get it all off if I really wanted to.
 
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