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What did you do with your RV this weekend? (6/12/21 - 6/13/21)

Breakfast in Birmingham

Flew from Huntsville to Birmingham to have breakfast with my son. Flight included an approach to minimums at KBHM.

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I tried to make my standard breakfast run to KGXY (27nm), but it was socked in with low clouds, so I ended up going to Granby (KGNB-56nm) to look at a potential vacation condo.

The look-see didn’t take long and the clouds burned off so I ended up back in GXY after all for a “brunch-ish” breakfast. Low clouds on days when it’s going to be 95 degrees are somewhat unusual around here.

I went up to 13,500 feet for a few minutes and there was almost no wind and zero bumps. Pretty incredible machines we have!

As an aside, I’ve put out a few feelers, but if anyone knows of someone with hangar space for an RV3 in Granby, I’d be interested in talking.
 
Skies clear, perfect morning for some pattern work. Driving out to the airport, uh on, thin wisps of clouds coming in from the west, quickly. By the time we were ready to take off, it was few at 700 and more coming in. What to do? A pair of LPV approaches to different runways, just for practice. 0.8 hour flight, 0.1 hours actual. The most interesting part was that the wind just above the clouds was 35 knots from the west, but only 8 on the surface. Forecast winds at 3,000 were about 20 knots. That was worth calling Flight Service with a Pirep once we got back down. Leaving the airport, the clouds were a broken layer.
 
One photo is worth a thousand words (many of them curse words) but I'll use three:
Basecoat is ON!
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I met a twin, I didn't know I had

This weekend I met a serial Vans builder at Mueritz Airpark in Germany. We did a lot of chatting, had diner and enjoyed the company having a beer late at the runway. I felt almost like meeting your twin. And look at the photo, we almost look alike... ;-) I would have loved to get a ride in his RV-14, but there was no opportunity this time.
 

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This weekend I met a serial Vans builder at Mueritz Airpark in Germany. We did a lot of chatting, had diner and enjoyed the company having a beer late at the runway. I felt almost like meeting your twin. And look at the photo, we almost look alike... ;-) I would have loved to get a ride in his RV-14, but there was no opportunity this time.

Great shirts!
 
VH-SOL refurb "second first flight"

VH-SOL, RV-6 s/n 21068, has been down for refurbishment since mid February.

Engine overhaul. Rewiring. Instrumentation refit. Gazillions of little fixes and improvements.

We returned to the skies with my O-320-D2A rebuilt as an IO-320 by Andrew Jolly at Riverina Airmotive in Parafield, with a Precision Airmotive Silverhawk EX fuel injection system and a P-Mag electronic ignition replacing the impulse magneto (I'll do the other one in a few months, all the wiring is ready and waiting for it). Inside the fuselage I now have a dual-screen Garmin G3X panel with engine monitoring, GNS430W, Garmin autopilot, remote mount GTR20 COM.

The EIS, PFD and primary ADHARS are dual-powered from the main bus and an essential bus with its own battery. G5 backup flight instrument is on an avionics bus with its own backup battery. Lots of redundancy, designed for reliability and IFR.

The refit has also dismantled and rebuilt 25 years worth of modifications by two previous owners. Grounding has been rebuilt, circuit protection has been applied correctly to everything.

And the sub-panel was hacked to pieces over many years of changes. That's been filled-in, reinforced and stiffened.

The rewire extended to the engine bay. All the wiring runs are properly supported with p-clamps, with slack loops in appropriate places. Massive tidy-up and improvement.

The result is a return-to-service of a 25 year old RV-6 that's been updated to 2021 standards. The same airplane, but where everything we touched has been made better.

I put the first 30 minutes on the new engine by flying circles above Goolwa Airport (YGWA) in South Australia at the end of Friday, just in time for the weekend.

https://youtu.be/EBRQhg9LDDA

I put another 1.3 on it this afternoon, doing system tests between YGWA, YMBD and YSFG. I still have some calibrations to do (the G5 ADHARS hasn't been reset since I turned it from standalone into G3X Backup, so they don't quite agree), but they're minor tasks, and it's essentially finished.

CHTs on initial climbout are about 390ºF, at 2400 RPM 150 knots IAS leaned to 28 litres per hour they settle down to about 360ºF, or 345ºF at full rich.

Very happy with how it turned out. I've been carrying a mental picture of this project around in my head for a year now, and it's immensely satisfying to see it rendered into physical form. And, even better, almost all of it worked first time.

Great thanks to Lyndon Tretheway, my LAME (Australian A&P equivalent) who has done most of the work while I've been learning skills, holding wrenches and gophering. I've been incredibly impressed with the way that he's improved on my design ideas. We've spent two and a half weeks of collaboration with pretty long days to get it to this point, and none of it would have been possible without him. I can't recommend his RV expertise highly enough.

Aside from the second P-Mag, the final piece of the project is the interior refit. There's a set of seats, side panels and tonneau covers waiting for me at home in Sydney, delivered while I was 1400km away doing this work. My plan is to get back home next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how it looks when the finishing touches are applied.

- mark
 

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Cornhole boards

First flew north for about an hour just to exercise the plane. Then came home and finish my cornhole board project. Fun game to play when hanging out. Was pretty happy with how they turned out.
 

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This weekend I met a serial Vans builder at Mueritz Airpark in Germany. We did a lot of chatting, had diner and enjoyed the company having a beer late at the runway. I felt almost like meeting your twin. And look at the photo, we almost look alike... ;-) I would have loved to get a ride in his RV-14, but there was no opportunity this time.

Twin? Not even close! One guy is very handsome and the other has hair... :D

-Marc
 
First flew north for about an hour just to exercise the plane. Then came home and finish my cornhole board project. Fun game to play when hanging out. Was pretty happy with how they turned out.

Those are really cool. I'm going to copy that idea. Oh great... another project!
 
Expensive Free Flight

I was finally able to connect with Beau this weekend and get him up for his first RV flight. It took a while between condition inspection, weather, and work, but we persevered. The standard compliment of maneuvers, a few landings, and he was hooked. Yep, another RV grin.

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First flew north for about an hour just to exercise the plane. Then came home and finish my cornhole board project. Fun game to play when hanging out. Was pretty happy with how they turned out.

Randy, those look great! Are those vinyl graphics? If so, do you reckon that your sign shop still has the files, so they could cut me a set? IE: to copy that great work? :)

Those are awesome!

Thanks.....
 
The Man, The Myth, The Legend

A neighbor at my home/airpark (50F) bought a Cub and was having it delivered this past weekend. It's ironic that my neighbor flies F-16's for a living, but is having to get his T/W endorsement for the Cub. Met the fella who was delivering the new Cub, from Alabama. He told me he also flew an RV-8. I asked him if he was ever on these forums, and he just grinned. He'd told me his name was Dan, but I didn't catch the 'Horton' part. We got a good laugh out of that:
 
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Are those vinyl graphics? If so, do you reckon that your sign shop still has the files, so they could cut me a set?

Thanks.....

The only vinyl are the numbers. Got those off Amazon along with hole light and score board.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004BNBFZQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CNDJ9ZH?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7SRCQJ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

The rest was masked off and painted with rattle can enamel. I just used a thin string taped to middle of top to get the "perspective" right. Did the edges, center lines, and threshold markings that way. Glad you liked them. Here's more pics after lights and magnetic score board was added.
 

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Randy....

Thanks for the follow-up info. So on the bases themselves: looks like you just welded up some thin gauge steel?
 
Thanks for the follow-up info. So on the bases themselves: looks like you just welded up some thin gauge steel?

No steel. Just 2x4's and 3/4" plywood and enamel paint topped with water based polyurethane. Since 2x4's are over $7.50 each, may be cheaper to build out of gold or silver. :)
 
Finished my long weekend with my favorite lil’ dude who demanded to fly home with me. He’s been RV flying most of his life, bottles and carriers to boosters and sippy cups. Last year I had to set him on the wing walk so he can get in/out himself. Several months ago he passed his entry/egress checkride from the ground and has been solo’ing in and out of the airplane without incident.

I’ld finished things up and was ready to push the airplane out of the hangar when I found him here, casually perched on the slider rail with 1 foot swinging. Ready to kick the tires and light the fires......That’s my Boy!
 

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Thanks Gary. Every weekend is an RV weekend, because the the Ramp Vermin are everywhere! Please tell the 50F gang I truly appreciate the hospitality.

Got an RV lunch destination for the gang...can't live on BBQ alone. Try Bulldog Pizza, 603 E Broadway St, Jefferson, east Texas (24F, Cypress River Airport).

Toward sundown Saturday evening I was checking out small towns for a place to spend the night. Easy to do in a Cub; quick circle to eyeball for a hotel, a sideslip into the airport to scout for a courtesy car. Some guys at Vivian said "Oh yeah, you wanna go to Jefferson, they got good food", so off I went.

At 24F a little fellow was pushing a 172 away from the gas pumps. Struck up a conversation, and quick as a wink, the Cub was tucked into his hangar. Meet Hamid, long-time Jefferson resident and Bulldog's owner.

24F has a good car for pilots (yep, got a cop motor, cop brakes, and cop suspension), and Hamid's place is easy to find, straight up the main drag until the street makes a shape bend to the left. It's right there. Food was very good, and the menu was a lot more than just pizza.

Here's the fun part. Like so many of us, Hamid always wanted to learn to fly. So, about 18 months ago he bought a 172, then built a very nice hangar...100% all in, with a fresh student pilot ticket in hand. Covid really slowed the process, but he recently soloed, and is obviously enthused to the max. So, here's my bet...if a bunch of pilots walk in to Bulldog and tell Hamid they came to eat because they heard he was a super nice guy (he is) and a new pilot, you'll be treated very well indeed.

Got him out to the airport Sunday before heading on to 50F, for his first Cub ride, doors open on a beautiful morning.

I love airplane people...
-
 

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Dan I’d never seen your photo so now you can never be incognito going forward. Thank you for your very elevated engineering posts over the years. HR

PS my professional goal is: never have my name attached to a personal image:)
 
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Dan I’d never seen your photo so now you can never be incognito going forward. Thank you for your very elevated engineering posts over the years. HR

PS my professional goal is: never have my name attached to a personal image:)

Yeah, my bad. I guess I ruined his 'cover', with that Cub delivery photo! :D
 
You should get on an FBI poster, write a book, sell some art and then buy some airplane parts. I’ll be your life coach & take 50% of profits. Dang it’s already been done, never mind. Keep delivering airplanes.
 
Finished my long weekend with my favorite lil’ dude who demanded to fly home with me. He’s been RV flying most of his life, bottles and carriers to boosters and sippy cups. Last year I had to set him on the wing walk so he can get in/out himself. Several months ago he passed his entry/egress checkride from the ground and has been solo’ing in and out of the airplane without incident.

I’ld finished things up and was ready to push the airplane out of the hangar when I found him here, casually perched on the slider rail with 1 foot swinging. Ready to kick the tires and light the fires......That’s my Boy!

Next thing you know, he is asking for the keys to the RV because he has a date with a girl in the next town over.
 
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