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v/r,dr
VAF POSTS & RV NEWS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE.....dr:
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Cowl to nose cone alignment
For context, I’m the second owner of a RV-8 and haven’t built an RV. I’m getting ready to do some fiberglass work on my cowl to clean up some lines and design a better cowl hinge pin cover. In the process of looking the project over I noticed the cowl doesn’t align with the nose cone. I’m assuming this has to be causing some drag with a loss of a knot or two and at minimum doesn’t look good. Is this a common alignment issue and what have others done to get the lines to match up?
vansairforce.net
Landing Gear Fairing Tip ….HFS
A couple of pics of what I did on my Rocket (now flying 21+ years) ...
I did split the fairings at midspan to give a less stressful response at times of extreme flexing; and, used hinges (with interlocking overlap at the midspan joint) to close the trailing edges.
vansairforce.net
Tip: Keyboard shortcut to insert pics
…if using a Mac put the cursor where you want the picture and press COMMAND-P. You can also bold and italicize with B and I.
3D Printed Spark Plug Holder
Pictured below my 25 year old piece of 2x4 spark plug holder and my 2 year old printed version.
vansairforce.net
…and remember, there is a 3D Printed Parts subforum
www.vansairforce.net
Looking for data for a very specific airframe engine combo (or a solution)...
Here are some additional pictures. Hopefully not too many. The reason I asked about hoses used is TS asked me my exhaust set up. I'm not sure if the hose length is determine by this exhaust type. It really it looks like mine could have been a bit shorter. As an aside I wrapped my red cube per Vic Syracuse recommendation.
vansairforce.net
VOR Antenna
I just read this thread and I performed some testing and analysis on various VOR antenna concepts today. An antenna mounted on the cowl has some problems associated with the proximity of the engine (heat and electromagnetic scattering from the engine). An alternate approach is to mount the antenna on the inside of the aft canopy. A while back I built a VOR antenna with an integrated balun mounted on a piece of cardstock. I placed this on the top of the aft canopy and used a vector network analyzer to measure the voltage reflection coefficient of the antenna from 100-130 MHz. The attached photos show the installation and measured data. The measured data is the voltage reflection coefficient in dB over the measurement band. Good performance is associated with the portion of the trace along the bottom of the screen. The antenna has been detuned by the structure and could be easily trimmed to center the good performance over the 108-118 MHz band. I also performed some numerical analysis with FEKO and attached is the computed yaw plane performance of the antenna (nose is at 3 o'clock). The feed line could be routed down the roll bar support structure. The balun could also be mounted to this structure making a very clean installation.
vansairforce.net
Empennage Attach bolts
I'm looking at how to get at the bottom of the forward Emp. attach nuts, and I figure I will need to employ a child/small armed person, or take a trip into the tailcone. I have the platforms ready to go, and now I'm wondering if there are "best practice" rules to prevent my from installing the fasteners with the nut's up. This would be much easier to inspect, install and torque. Granted, once installed, a borescope inspection would be fairly easy. Thoughts?
vansairforce.net
OFF TOPIC:
PS: Older issues of the ‘VAF News’ can be found at:
www.vansairforce.net
v/r,dr
VAF POSTS & RV NEWS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE.....dr:
—————————————————————————
Cowl to nose cone alignment
For context, I’m the second owner of a RV-8 and haven’t built an RV. I’m getting ready to do some fiberglass work on my cowl to clean up some lines and design a better cowl hinge pin cover. In the process of looking the project over I noticed the cowl doesn’t align with the nose cone. I’m assuming this has to be causing some drag with a loss of a knot or two and at minimum doesn’t look good. Is this a common alignment issue and what have others done to get the lines to match up?
Cowl to nose cone alignment
For context, I’m the second owner of a RV-8 and haven’t built an RV. I’m getting ready to do some fiberglass work on my cowl to clean up some lines and design a better cowl hinge pin cover. In the process of looking the project over I noticed the cowl doesn’t align with the nose cone. I’m...
vansairforce.net
Landing Gear Fairing Tip ….HFS
A couple of pics of what I did on my Rocket (now flying 21+ years) ...
I did split the fairings at midspan to give a less stressful response at times of extreme flexing; and, used hinges (with interlocking overlap at the midspan joint) to close the trailing edges.
Looking for Gear Leg Ideas.
Looking for a better way. What are your ideas. Hanging my 3rd pair of gear leg fairings. The first two were on an RV-4. The third time is going on an F-4 Raider/Rocket. I do a lot of grass landings so there is probably more movement than most city planes. The first time was done via Vans...
vansairforce.net
Tip: Keyboard shortcut to insert pics
…if using a Mac put the cursor where you want the picture and press COMMAND-P. You can also bold and italicize with B and I.
3D Printed Spark Plug Holder
Pictured below my 25 year old piece of 2x4 spark plug holder and my 2 year old printed version.
Spark Plug Holder
I have a 3D printer but have been unsuccessful at creating STL file from a picture. This is a cool Spark Plug holder. Would anyone have the inclination to produce a good STL file to be enjoyed by all? Possibly a donation could be made? Thanks, X
vansairforce.net
…and remember, there is a 3D Printed Parts subforum
3D Printed Parts
There is some pretty interesting stuff being printed for RVs. Post your projects and questions here.
www.vansairforce.net
Looking for data for a very specific airframe engine combo (or a solution)...
Here are some additional pictures. Hopefully not too many. The reason I asked about hoses used is TS asked me my exhaust set up. I'm not sure if the hose length is determine by this exhaust type. It really it looks like mine could have been a bit shorter. As an aside I wrapped my red cube per Vic Syracuse recommendation.
Looking for data for a very specific airframe engine combo (or a solution)...
Wondering if anybody out there has or is building a: RV-14 (taildragger) IO-390 EXP-50 210 hp Engine (not the 215 hp version which is an EXP-119) Using a Vetterman 2 into 1 crossover exhaust This seems to be a bit of a unicorn as most folks I see are building either an -A model or are using...
vansairforce.net
VOR Antenna
I just read this thread and I performed some testing and analysis on various VOR antenna concepts today. An antenna mounted on the cowl has some problems associated with the proximity of the engine (heat and electromagnetic scattering from the engine). An alternate approach is to mount the antenna on the inside of the aft canopy. A while back I built a VOR antenna with an integrated balun mounted on a piece of cardstock. I placed this on the top of the aft canopy and used a vector network analyzer to measure the voltage reflection coefficient of the antenna from 100-130 MHz. The attached photos show the installation and measured data. The measured data is the voltage reflection coefficient in dB over the measurement band. Good performance is associated with the portion of the trace along the bottom of the screen. The antenna has been detuned by the structure and could be easily trimmed to center the good performance over the 108-118 MHz band. I also performed some numerical analysis with FEKO and attached is the computed yaw plane performance of the antenna (nose is at 3 o'clock). The feed line could be routed down the roll bar support structure. The balun could also be mounted to this structure making a very clean installation.
VOR antenna
I understand there’s VOR antennas that can be bonded on the inside fiberglass and wonder if anyone has tried that inside the RV-12 engine cowling?
vansairforce.net
Empennage Attach bolts
I'm looking at how to get at the bottom of the forward Emp. attach nuts, and I figure I will need to employ a child/small armed person, or take a trip into the tailcone. I have the platforms ready to go, and now I'm wondering if there are "best practice" rules to prevent my from installing the fasteners with the nut's up. This would be much easier to inspect, install and torque. Granted, once installed, a borescope inspection would be fairly easy. Thoughts?
Empennage Attach bolts
I'm looking at how to get at the bottom of the forward Emp. attach nuts, and I figure I will need to employ a child/small armed person, or take a trip into the tailcone. I have the platforms ready to go, and now I'm wondering if there are "best practice" rules to prevent my from installing the...
vansairforce.net
OFF TOPIC:
PS: Older issues of the ‘VAF News’ can be found at:
Van's Air Force
Doug Reeves Vans Aircraft Kit Forum Official Build Experimental RV
www.vansairforce.net
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