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jason

I like your interior. That's exactly what I have waiting to install (except in red).
You appear to be as far along on your project as me. Looking good.
As well, I notice you've trimmed the aft portion of the sub panel suport.
Nice work.
 
My RV7 build starts up again

It's been 4 years since I finished my RV7 emp. and hung it on the wall in the garage. Well as of June 4, 2011 I sold and delivered my flying Pazmany PL-1 to a gentleman in El Monte, CA and I purchased a set of built wings from a builder in Upland, CA that very same day. I made the drive up to Upland (Cable Airport) and retrieved the wings on June 16, 2011. They are now strategically squeezed into my garage until I can organize things. I'm happy to be building again!

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The milestones are dropping like flies!!
2 weeks ago the fuselage went to the airport. The following friday the wings made it down there. Last weekend the plane got assembled, wires connected in the wing roots, and fuel connections. Yesterday was spent doing fuel pump tests, calculating unusable fuel, and the W&B. 1090 lbs by the way.

Today I sarted the engine up for the 1st time. 3-4 blades and she was running. All looked ok except the #2 EGT went from ambient temp to -99 and stayed there. The other 3 read normal. Will have to find out what is causing that. Thursday the DAR is coming by the hanger to get the paperwork started, and the inspection should follow around the 28th.

Oh yeah......I got my tail wheel sign-off Saturday :)










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On a roll

Dave,

Wow...very striking plane. Love the polished and red look. Great job getting the TW endorsement. Be safe on that first flight and I'll look forward to more pics and a report.
 
Wing Mating!

This weekend was a BIG one for our RV-7 project! For the first time we mated the wings and drilled the rear spars. What a site it was! With the help of our local morning breakfast flyers, we successfully got both wings on and 2 hardware store bolts installed within about 30 minutes. It actually went a lot faster than I thought. The leveling process was what really took a long time. The fuselage itself was very level on its stand to begin with, it was the wings that took awhile to adjust. After ensuring the wings were square with the rear deck centerline, we took a look at the plumb bobs and found we had a forward sweep of about 3/8" on each wing. Off came the wings to trim the forward of the rear-spar carry-through. The wings went back on and to our surprise, the forward sweep went away! Measure, remeasure, level, remeasure! Lastly we used the high-tech 3" wood block Van's specifies to set the incidence. After some adjustment, both wings were at -0.2 degrees. That is the best we could do while still ensuring the flaps came up in-trail and kissed the bottom of the fuse skin. 6hrs after starting and after a lot of measuring and leveling, we drilled the two rear spar holes. It was an extremely proud moment in the build process! Not that we need any more motivation to finish the project, but if we did this would have been it!!

Possible GOTCHAS for those who are installing the wings for the first time:
1) The wings have a lot of room to shift around, surprisingly. Measure 5 more times before you drill that rear spar hole.
2) When installing the wings, be VERY sure the bottom fuse skin doesn't get caught on the wing root. We had to have someone underneath pulling the fuse skin down so the wing could slide in above it.
3) Helpers tend to lift the wing-tip way to high when installing.

IT LOOKS LIKE AN AIRPLANE!

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Project visit from Remulak

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Beldar: What do you think of the Earthlings project, Prymaat?

Prymatt: Lot of trouble just to levitate through the gas surrounding this planet, Beldar.

:eek:
 
Aileron Spar Reinforcements

Well, I was going to wait until I had nice shiny top skins to post in this thread again, but I decided this will do.

I swear, I held up these provided plates against the aileron trim spars, and they would only fit one way. Well, after I drilled, I pulled them off and noticed my edge distance on a few of the holes.

(Holding it back up rotated 90?, it would have worked out perfectly. Doh!)

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Now, where's that "Trim Bundle" I saw laying around here somewhere...
 
I've got a wing! No dings on the top skins!

I know it's only the right wing, but it feels really good to have this done.

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Next, ailerons, flaps, then catch the left wing up.
 
Dennis Roberts Super 7

http://www.drrv7.com

Just finishing up the baffeling. Few more days of misc. wiring connections then I should be ready for my airworthiness inspection. Began this project 6 years ago. Can't wait to FLY!!!!
 
Rolled the Canoe Today

Today I "rolled the canoe" over. I'm happy with the way she is looking. 20 months into this project and anxious to fly.

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John Harrell
RV-7A
Mission Viejo, CA
Empennage Done
Wings Done
Fuselage in work
 
Ready to paint !

I've just had the inspector over today to sign off the last few stages before closing up the fuse - he's given me the go ahead so now the it's ready to paint (wings and emp painted, it feels like I'm almost at the end of this long tunnel;

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Martin :)
 
Happy Halloween!

I've lurked on the forums for quite a while now, but this is my first post. Just finished my HS and VS last weekend.

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I also went to a pumpkin carving party the same weekend I thought, "What better way to celebrate finishing 2 assemblies than carving an RV pumpkin!"

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WOW

Paul,

All I can say is wow, from the custom carbon fibre plenum to painting the prop yourself to painting it like a master (more to the point)
to the little do hicky thing to swivel the GPS antenna out of the way so you can use your "behind the panel inspection holes".... wow

I am impressed.

That is a WELL made aircraft.

Thank you for documenting the whole thing and for shareing it with us. Please keep showing us what it looks like till the end.

You have set a new standard in my eyes.
 
Born

This mornings all the parts I have assembled for the last five and a half year officially became an airplane after inspection by the authorities.
First the inspector checked the paperwork ; weight and balance, maintenance schedule, engine, propeller and radio release papers. He then inspected the airframe, found a missing screw on a wing root fairing and two caps that need to be safetywired on the engine.
He finally declared the we have a plane.
First flight will be planned once I get the release papers from the authorities, usually it takes between one and two weeks.

Here is a video of the first engine start last saturday :
http://www.notreavion.net/modules/weblog/details.php?blog_id=1002
 
congrats

To all these non-US RV's. England, Australia, France, all just on this page. Incredible stuff.

Bet you wish you could buy avgas with help from the weakened US dollar. :p
 
A movement from the bowels of my shop

Starting to relocate to the hangar. Over the last few weeks, I took the flaps and fuel tanks to the hangar. With those items removed from the wing assemblies, I could fit the wing panels into my truck. It took two trips but it was a non event. Help from SWMBO was crucial.

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Crossing my fingers to move the fuselage before the end of 2011.
 
My garage is full of parts again!

Perfect timing...ABF delivered my fuselage kit only three days after finishing the wings! I can't wait to get started this weekend.

If anyone is interested, freight to San Antonio cost $260.

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Empennage Kit Arrived!

Looks like I can make my first post in here.... :D 0% done, 100% to go!

Sadly, I had to head out of town on business about 45 minutes after I got the boxes home.... :rolleyes: ...this weekend should be interesting though.

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The check is in the mail....again.

I ordered a fuse and finish kit in June of this year but had to cancel due to "Life Happening" but as of today I'm making progress and am re-ordering the -7 fuse! I don't have a build picture but the money is on the way to Van's and I'm not stopping this one! Looking forward to seeing a box of part in my garage soon! :D
 
Ready to Start (almost...)

DCat22 said:
Looks like I can make my first post in here.... 0% done, 100% to go!

I'm only a week or so behind you. The race is on! RV-7 emp kit ordered yesterday! I faxed out the order mid-afternoon, and within the hour the Mother Ship had called to issue me builder number 74023. Does that mean there have been over 4000 RV-7(A) empennage kits sold?:cool:)

Got my (hopefully sold) HRII project out to the hangar to make room for the new project. I'm pretty firm on going tip-up taildragger.



Benches and clecos awaiting kit arrival (ordered yesterday). (Don't worry, thats only one of 2 cans and an overlflowing milk jug of #40 clecos.) Still need to bring the compressor home from the hangar (new seat rails for the 170:eek:) and get some new hardware bins. Before the wing kit arrives, I'll have to spread the wing stands apart a couple more feet from what they were for the HRII.;)
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First flight

Yesterday was a great day, not only because Junior made the VAF headlines, but also because F-PSGA (F-WSGA for french authorities for the first 15 hours) made it's maiden flight.
After 5 years and 7 months building, and almost one month waiting for weather, the first flight was unenventful.
No heavy wing, some limits to adjust on the EFISes and the real tests to run in the next flights.


More and the take-off video here :

http://www.notreavion.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=7
 
Congratulations Pascal

Truly a great experience.

Hopefully I might make it to the French rv flyin again next year and be able to see it.

Peter
 
Plus one

Congratulations, Pascal! What an achievement. I'm delighted that it went well. Please be careful in the follow-up flights!
 
I'm only a week or so behind you. The race is on! RV-7 emp kit ordered yesterday! I faxed out the order mid-afternoon, and within the hour the Mother Ship had called to issue me builder number 74023. Does that mean there have been over 4000 RV-7(A) empennage kits sold?:cool:)

:D

I'm 74012 so...they are selling pretty quick! This one will be a tip-up taildragger as well...although I'm pretty sure you will be moving along faster than me.

Got everything out last night. I think touching each part and doing the inventory made it a lot more real for my better half, in a good way. :)

Now I just need to finish building my real workbenches...my little sawhorse table is decent for flattening the plans sheets though. :p

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:D

I'm 74012 so...they are selling pretty quick! This one will be a tip-up taildragger as well...although I'm pretty sure you will be moving along faster than me.

4000 kits in a little over 10 years. That's an average of 7-8 a week, though it would seem more than that last week! I wonder if Santa will be leaving an RV-7 emp kit under a few Christmas trees?:cool:

I'm hoping I can do as the gentleman from Alaska in a recent thread and shun the boob tube. That will allow 15-20 hours/week minimum.
 
507M Flipped!

Last Saturday 507M was finally turned right side up! I'm hoping to finish out the fuse in Jan/Feb and to the Canopy when the weather warms up!

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Let the Fun Begin!

I called Van's this morning to get tracking numbers for the deliver of my empennage kit. Less than 5 minutes after I had gone to FedEx's tracking site and found my delivery date was to be Monday, the doorbell rang... It can't be... Yes it is!... It the FedEx guy with two boxes from Vans.:)

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Rear Fuselage

Just finished the rear fuselage this weekend. Wings in the background just need to bottom skins riveted. Empennage is in the basement. BTW...the 4" wide straps in the background are suspended from metal channels from Lowe's so I can hang the wings and get some floor space back when ready. Got the 10' straps made with D rings for $15.00 each!

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Just finished the rear fuselage this weekend. Wings in the background just need to bottom skins riveted. Empennage is in the basement. BTW...the 4" wide straps in the background are suspended from metal channels from Lowe's so I can hang the wings and get some floor space back when ready. Got the 10' straps made with D rings for $15.00 each!

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looking good Sean!
 
Spent the 1/1/12 installing my prop for the first time...still have to remove it again tomorrow and finish the spinner fab. I am doing the screwless spinner fab which will require me to remove the prop and rear bulkhead one more time...thanks to Mike Stewart for the instrux, http://www.mstewart.net/super8/spinner/index.htm

with any luck I should get this bird flying this year. :D

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