Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

The picture Dan posted was so inspirational that I went back out to the garage and deburred the baggage ribs.

Deburred the rest of the seat ribs. Also removed the plastic from the bottom center fuselage skin in preparation for deburring.

Riveted the aft-most 2 bulkheads to the bottom tail skin. It took quite a while to get the bulkheads situated right, and a few of the rivets had to be re-done. Considering how difficult this part is, I think it turned out pretty good.

I was washing the aft bottom skin to get the purple “Alcoa .0025″ stamps off of them, and noticed how nicely the water beads up on the one spot that I primed with the rattle can. I decided to just wash the skin thoroughly and prime the rivet lines and the edges next to the built-in stiffeners. It only takes a few minutes to prime, and I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Speaking of the stamps, it’s funny how they wash right off with water, but are fairly difficult to remove with MEK.

I’m looking forward to getting the aft fuselage clecoed together. A friend of my daughter came over with her little brother to “see the plane,” but they didn’t seem too impressed. Other than the wings and miscellaneous tail parts, there really isn’t anything cool for little kids to identify.

Using a rattle can, I primed the aft fuselage parts that still needed it, namely the stiffeners, the bottom tail skin, and the aft skins where they overlap other skins. I debated about priming the inside of the entire bottom skins, but decided against it. From everything I’ve read, the alclad coating on the aluminum should be sufficient protection.

Enlarged the tooling holes in the seat ribs. It looks like some are for wiring and some are for the pitot tube. Rather than trying to figure which ones I might need and might not need at this point, I just drilled them all out as indicated in the plans.

Also started deburring the center fuselage parts.

Set up the C-frame and dimpled the aft fuselage skins.

Drilled the sides of the center section and then disassembled the center fuselage. In the process of taking things apart, I realized I hadn’t drilled the seat and baggage ribs to the bulkheads. I did that drilling once the skin was off.

I also figured out that the outboard seat ribs didn’t need to be drilled so early. The instructions have you drilling them later in the process. It certainly didn’t hurt to drill them early, though.

One more thing I forgot was to trim the inboard-most seat and baggage ribs for the wiring holes through the F-705 bulkhead. I put the ribs on temporarily and marked the areas to be trimmed.

Speaking of things I need to go back and do: I need to trim the seat belt anchors so the seat ribs will fit. I also need to enlarge the tooling holes in the seat ribs for wiring per the plans. Lots of pick up work to do.

With the center fuselage apart, I should now have enough clecos to put the aft section back together. I definitely need to get more clecos. I thought the wings used a lot of clecos, but the fuselage really gobbles them up.

Finished deburring and dimpled around the edges of the second aft side skin. Now it’s time to haul the C-frame out and make some noise.

Started deburring the other aft side fuselage skin.

I picked up some temporary bolts at Home Depot for holding the center section together. They didn’t have 7/16″ bolts at all, so I went with 1/4″ bolts in the small holes. I put the two halves of the center section together on the center fuselage assembly and drilled out the holes on the front edge. I also countersunk the 4 holes that are indicated in the instructions and plans.

After that, I spent a bunch of time just studying the instructions and plans. The order of assembly is not immediately obvious, but I think I’m figuring it out. I’m not ready for assembly yet, but I like to stay one or two steps ahead of the game.