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Just flipped the "canoe" over. getting ready to rivet the cockpit rails and pilot seat back support in.

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I painted the fuselage and hooked up the GRT Horizon.
 

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RV8 Kit

At Corona airport
I’ll Move Fuselage to paint soon
 

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Ready to drill horizontal stab onto upper longerons. Waiting for tech advisor visit before doing the deed!

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Looking good. Love that jig for rotation. Got me thinkin.. ;)

A friend of mine welded it up out of spare steel tube stock he had. He used it on his RV-7A build, then passed it on to me.

I was all set to buy an expensive auto-body rotisserie. But, this was free so...

I use a lift-table from HF as a dolly for raising it up and down and moving it when needed. Its also useful for leveling when needed.
 
Ready to drill horizontal stab onto upper longerons. Waiting for tech advisor visit before doing the deed!

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Hi Ken,
is that a QB fuselage? The reason I ask is that the F-801L backing plate on the firewall for the rudder pedals, is upside down on the (aircraft’s) right side. Refer DWG 60.
I have seen this same thing on another QB fuselage, where one was inverted. It would make it a lot of fun (not) setting up the pedals!
Rob.
 
Hi Ken,
is that a QB fuselage? The reason I ask is that the F-801L backing plate on the firewall for the rudder pedals, is upside down on the (aircraft’s) right side. Refer DWG 60.
I have seen this same thing on another QB fuselage, where one was inverted. It would make it a lot of fun (not) setting up the pedals!
Rob.

Ha! Good catch. Thank you!

Glad you pointed it out now, before I drilled those holes. I'd like to think I'd have realized it was upside down before I drilled it. But, ...
 
Li’l Red

Getting There
 

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Fuel Tanks!
 

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So close

7.5 years, waiting for a hangar, ugh!
 

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on the ramp

Its ugly but i have finished a couple of RVs on the ramp, my first airport was a 10-12 year wait for a hanger and now my new airport is a 5 year wait.
I'm in the final blows building my 6th RV and if needed I will finish her on the ramp if I cant barrow a hanger, tie her down on the ramp so I can get up in the sky ASAP. :)
 
First start

After 3 1/2 years the round engine sputters and comes to life
Tried several times to include the short video from my iPad mini but keep getting an invalid message. Here’s a teaser still picture for the meantime until I get the video posting figured out
 

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Second engine start

Let’s take another wack at the video posting
Well that didn’t work below is a screen snap of the error message I’ve kept getting :confused: technological assistance will be required, but I’ve sure gotten the still life photo posting figured out :)
 

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First start video trying again

Shortened video to 18 seconds

Well that didn’t work ether. Paper clip icon page seemed to work, noted video compression and loaded

If anyone wants to offer assistance, and guidance please do .
 
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Rv8

Just have to finish a little wiring ( So Cal Avionics). Then time for W&B.
 

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Ready to fly

Status:
After roughly 2800 build hours and 15000 rivets, RV-8 C-GEMQ is ready to fly !!
I just received the Special Certificate Of Airworthiness so first flight is around the corner.
Waiting for appropriate weather... November here is mostly gray/white/windy/wet...

What an adventure all this was!!!
A new chapter will start shortly enjoying flying this fine bird.
Obviously, my first thank you goes to Magali, thinking me a bit crazy at first but never doubting and fully supportive at all times. Love you babe.

Thanks to:
Bernie and Mickey in Switzerland.
Pierre and Denis here in Quebec.
All my occasionnal helpers, this is not possible with only 2 hands and an extra brain is often very useful.
Doug and this site, with all its people giving out advice and support.
Vans Aircraft and its awesome staff.
The suppliers/makers of goodies that we have the option to install.


Will report back with first flight.
 

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Status:
After roughly 2800 build hours and 15000 rivets, RV-8 C-GEMQ is ready to fly !!
I just received the Special Certificate Of Airworthiness so first flight is around the corner.
Waiting for appropriate weather... November here is mostly gray/white/windy/wet...
...

Awesome, Eric! Congrats, looking forward to that first flight report!
 
That's excellent, Eric! Looks awesome. My -8 looked pretty much EXACTLY like that (you have a fancier $$$ prop than I did; I had a 3 blade Catto) when I did my first flight 17 years ago. I didn't paint it until the following year.

You are going to be blown away by how that airplane flies. I miss mine, although I do get treated to aerobatic airshows over my house by the new owners regularly (essentially the grown up version of "NA-na-na-NA-na").
 
When is the inaugural flight? What airfield? Would love to fly my 8 over to watch!

Don
Hi Don, weather prediction being a iffy science at best, I'm hoping this Saturday morning, close to dawn for first flight.
I'm at Neuville airport, CNV9, about 10 NM west of Quebec City airport.
 
Status:
After roughly 2800 build hours and 15000 rivets, RV-8 C-GEMQ is ready to fly !!
I just received the Special Certificate Of Airworthiness so first flight is around the corner.
Waiting for appropriate weather... November here is mostly gray/white/windy/wet...

What an adventure all this was!!!
A new chapter will start shortly enjoying flying this fine bird.
Obviously, my first thank you goes to Magali, thinking me a bit crazy at first but never doubting and fully supportive at all times. Love


Will report back with first flight.

Bonne chances

Scott at CSE4
 
Wings

The wings are installed with temp bolts. I have a head cold so I'm not going to drill the rear spar until I'm completely clear headed. I did level the aircraft and do some preliminary measurements with a string. When I'm ready (clear headed) I'll lay down a blue chalkline, get it all straight, set the incidence and drill the rear spar.



 
Shortened video to 18 seconds

Well that didn’t work ether. Paper clip icon page seemed to work, noted video compression and loaded

If anyone wants to offer assistance, and guidance please do .
Post it to youtube and then share the link.
 
Standard fuselage arrived Jan 2021. Now working on baggage door. And I took two months off. Plus some laziness.
 

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Building the fuselage has been very enjoyable. I’m glad I opted for standard build. And today the baggage door is as far as I can go before I rivet the forward skin and that won’t happen until it’s on gear. So I am pretty much out of stuff to do as my finish kit isn’t here nor are the quickbuild wings. So I will start stringing wires and building the panel to keep progress moving.
 
I posted the link to the latest Blogspot entry in my build thread here, but the obligatory teaser photo didn't really show anything. So I want to share the final photo of my airplane in 2021. So... close... yet, not very far...!
AM-JKLUqd-tCTweYaRxOYpbCGVUmzveb_IAGnnS1oeICDOMe3FmY3xlH8FN82aw281AZOu5224azvY3_9Q-Laftl4eAJIHh_MmJFrCX7EmgIfE28zAfmubxyp5b7iph_zK3podd-L5QOAQFp_9j_GnV2EkwQ=w900-h600
 
Sweet lookin' ride!

Looking good Marty! I assume the "target" in the background is for sighting in the guns eventually, right?
 
VS and Rudder Done

I had originally planned on waiting to do the finish work all at once, but with the delays in shipping my wings, I've been wanting to work on something and staring at my empennage parts. Decided to go ahead and give the rudder a whirl. All mounted and looks good. Going to go ahead and start on the fiberglass for lack of anything else to make progress on. :)
 

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I had originally planned on waiting to do the finish work all at once, but with the delays in shipping my wings, I've been wanting to work on something and staring at my empennage parts. Decided to go ahead and give the rudder a whirl. All mounted and looks good. Going to go ahead and start on the fiberglass for lack of anything else to make progress on. :)

Congratulations! Looks great!
 
I posted the link to the latest Blogspot entry in my build thread here, but the obligatory teaser photo didn't really show anything. So I want to share the final photo of my airplane in 2021. So... close... yet, not very far...!
AM-JKLUqd-tCTweYaRxOYpbCGVUmzveb_IAGnnS1oeICDOMe3FmY3xlH8FN82aw281AZOu5224azvY3_9Q-Laftl4eAJIHh_MmJFrCX7EmgIfE28zAfmubxyp5b7iph_zK3podd-L5QOAQFp_9j_GnV2EkwQ=w900-h600
Good job Martin! I've been on a silence race, but you have won. I'm right behind you. Good luck with airworthiness. Appreciate your time on your blog site. Some helpful stuff there.
 
Its been about 2 years since I posted an update to this thread. I have made a ton of progress since then. I just started on mounting the empennage, but found some errors from the previous builder I need to fix.

y4mJWNfDIErONk3sTa-uhJlwegWg8vDvI4s15aKdHcFfdwYAW54IepIvGuCaCXHuKgMCC_XbcFixWOsmAEGTLwVPP2zFdl9WnUAbXlxtIe_c23P6DhK1ucSuolLrmGTbthx88Nlm7ZpA7Td6o63Z_B0K20YAayvl7UOP5ztpMRJvu2MS0f3Sgii86gUI6EAdzg6


I also purchased an engine core that I am in the process of tearing down and sending parts out for overhaul.

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It feels like a real airplane at this point.

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Check out my build log here:
https://mattdecraene.wixsite.com/website
 
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A year lead turned in to about 3 months with some pieces of the kit on back order. Still too busy with getting the flying airplane right. My schedule is to start next year probably about the time the wings show up or later. This will be a tortoise style build. Slow and steady. So this is it for now. Figured those of you in the cue would be interested that Van’s delivery is improving.
 

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Weighted the planed today.

1096 lbs
76.88 CG

Still need wheel pants and paint. The red on the cowling is 2080 wrap. It’s a failed project. The engine heat causes it to bubble. Wingtip wrap is looking good.

 
Weighted the planed today.

1096 lbs
76.88 CG

Just curious. I'm not trying to be a downer here but I notice this CG is out of the CG range in Van's plans, at least per my earlier RV-8 (1999 start and 2005 finish). My plans reference says the CG Range is 78.70 inches - 86.82 inches aft of the datum.

I know you haven't painted this yet but assuming my numbers are still the standard are you concerned about the final CG location? Paint will add weight and change the CG but you can't know how much until you paint it. Also Van's illustration shows the measurement taken from an aircraft in level flight mode (some folks forget to do this :rolleyes: but a leveled aircraft will move the CG aft compared to an aircraft weighed with its tail on the ground (the weight obviously doesn't change.)

Just for reference, I recently weighed my -8 and the numbers were:
EW: 1138 lbs
CG: 79.81 inches

Chris
 
Just curious. I'm not trying to be a downer here but I notice this CG is out of the CG range in Van's plans, at least per my earlier RV-8 (1999 start and 2005 finish). My plans reference says the CG Range is 78.70 inches - 86.82 inches aft of the datum.

76.88 is probably an empty CG. With 40 gallons and 180 lbs in the front seat, he will be at 79.14. Good to go.
 
Just curious. I'm not trying to be a downer here but I notice this CG is out of the CG range in Van's plans, at least per my earlier RV-8 (1999 start and 2005 finish). My plans reference says the CG Range is 78.70 inches - 86.82 inches aft of the datum.

The CG range in the plans is for the plane in flight with a pilot and gas not the empty CG. The empty CG in the Vans sample WB document is 76.26”
 
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76.88 is probably an empty CG. With 40 gallons and 180 lbs in the front seat, he will be at 79.14. Good to go.

This is correct. My battery (EarthX) is on the firewall, I have an RV200 composite prop and the grove one piece gear. CG with me, wife, fuel and baggage will be right around 83”.
 
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