RV-7A construction begins

[sweetpea]

Actually, now that I think about it......Nope, I have not. Only Trike gear.

[vwchad]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Flyfalcons
	Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far. Although the vertical fin is a very simple structure, it's taking me a bit of time to get through, as all of the processes are brand new to me and I am taking my time to make sure I'm doing it right. I'm pretty lazy, so to avoid doing everything twice I'm putting in the effort to do it right once. Doesn't mean I won't make mistakes; I'm just hoping to minimize the mistakes I do make. As of now all of the parts have been match-drilled, deburred, and dimpled. When I get home from my trip I'll be cleaning the parts and priming the skeleton parts and internal rivet lines on the skin with some self-etching primer. It's cold outside so I'll be needing to build a small paint booth in my garage to hang the parts in and shoot the primer. After that the fin will be riveted together and set aside as I move on to the next part. Also shown is the organizing bins I'm using for the different hardware parts - should make them easy to find later when I need them. I do have to say that this newer, prepunched kit has made putting the parts together nearly brainless. Much respect to those who build their RVs by jigging and measuring everything before drilling any holes.

Don't worry about speed on this build. Take your time. It took my dad 7 years to build his RV-4. He had an early kit without the predrilled spars, skins, and rib lightening holes. A lot more work than the new kits. Also, when it comes to priming those parts, in case you didn't already know, make sure you alodine them first then just use a rattle can zinc chromate primer (usually the green or yellow stuff). More than enough protection that way.

Also, in you later post you mention that you may go tail dragger.....DO IT ! Don't let it intimidate you. The RV's are way easy taildraggers. People get all freaked out over it but I have heard from more than a handfull of RV pilots that are amazed at the ground handling characteristics of these planes. They are absolutely top notch in that department, and many others .

[JohnVH]

I dont think a taildragger intimidates Ryan, he is the best pilot I have ever flown with. He wanted the trike for the better view while on the ground I believe..

[Flyfalcons]

That's correct, there were a few reasons for wanting the trike gear, although the problems associated with trigear RVs do have me a little worried. An RV-4 has excellent vis in the three-point attitude due to the very narrow cowl - not sure how the 7 will be. With a self-etching rattle can primer, there is no alodine needed - just clean and spray. Should work fine for corrosion protection, especially over the layer of alclad already on the aluminum.

[sweetpea]

Me thinks Ryan is just scared


LOL

[JohnVH]

Only thing Ryan is scared of, is all of us flying our HK450's!

[Flyfalcons]

More scared of a broken nosegear flip-over than anything else. I've seen enough idiots flying tailwheel RVs to know that I can probably handle it too. Remember that joker at Concrete last summer?

[Flyfalcons]

Oh yes I'm scared of the HK's too but then again I get skeered flying my own T-Rex.

[sweetpea]

	Quote: Originally Posted by JohnVH
	Only thing Ryan is scared of, is all of us flying our HK450's!

Yes, 4 of us flying those at once will be quite scary~



Ryan do you have a color scheme in mind? Something like the P-51 RV or keeping it straight Civvie?

[Flyfalcons]

Straight civvie for sure; a P-51 scheme on a side-by-side plane would look gay.

[Yakov]

	Quote:
	Quote: Originally Posted by toc pilot I have a 'tail kit' for a RV-7 that I bought. I hope to also have an RV-7 with a sliding canopy and 180hp CS prop combo! Bill Hempel Quote: Originally Posted by pitviper51 when you going to RC one?? the RV is dang near the size of some of your models I couldnt help it.. 50cc rv8 would be sweet.. or you can do a 60%er mike

HELL YEAH 50% -60%, somthing for a 100cc, RV7 or 8 and I'd be No.1 on the list... well after you Bill, of course.

[Yakov]

I went to Sun-N-Fun in 2005 with the intent on building an RV7 or RV8 and camped out at the Vans tent for the whole week bugging them to death.

Got a demo flight in an RV6. I am a Super Spam Can Pilot (Cessna C-172) so got to fly the RV6 during the demo. Man-O-man is she ever responsive. We weren't suppose to do aerobatics as the demo pilot was not an aerobatics instructor so that meant nothing over 60 deg of bank and definitely no loops. Now I am us to a slower lumbering C172 so when the pilot told me to make a right turn I slammed the stick over, thinking I was stil in a 172 and before I knew it we were at 75 deg of bank, the roll rate is amazing.

Good luck with the project. I decided, at the time, that I could build a lot of models, like 100+ for the price of an RV. Now that I fly IMAC I think that number has shrunk to only about 10. Hmmmmmm maybe it's time to rethink this.

SUBD

[JohnVH]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Flyfalcons
	More scared of a broken nosegear flip-over than anything else. I've seen enough idiots flying tailwheel RVs to know that I can probably handle it too. Remember that joker at Concrete last summer?

[Flyfalcons]

After getting news of my pending layoff in early November, the RV project took a bit of a back seat to me trying to figure out what to do in terms of my job. While I haven't found anything yet, I did decide the other day that working on the tail kit won't cost me much, and it'll keep me out of trouble during the bad weather that we've been having. So over the last week or so, I got a paint booth set up to prime the vertical stab parts, cleaned and primed the parts, and riveted them together to finish the subassembly. Here are a few pics of the primed parts being assembled for the last time. Many thanks to Jeff, a fellow RV builder and RC pilot, for coming over today to help buck the rivets that I couldn't reach with a manual squeezer. Next up will be the Horizontal Stab, which is a bit more involved than the Vertical Stab.

[JohnVH]

awesome!