Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

Started countersinking the holes in the stiffener angles. I started a pile of parts that are essentially ready for priming.

I’ve been debating about what to paint the interior with. I decided it would be easiest to paint the parts before they get assembled, as long as I can keep from scratching them up. Even then, I’m planning on covering most of the interior. The paint is mainly for the few parts that will still show.

I thought about using Aircraft Finishing Systems 1-part polurethane. I’ve been using their primer, and it’s been working pretty good. A few builders have used Rust-oleum, which would be even easier. I picked up a can of satin black at the hardware store and test painted a few parts. I’ll let them dry a few days and see how resistant they are to scratching.

Deburred one longeron, and did part of the other one. After dreading the deburring for so long, I have to admit it’s going pretty fast.

Not many pictures for a while. I’m just deburrin’, dimplin’, primin’, and the one I really don’t enjoy, countersinkin’.

Deburred the edges and removed all of the nasty gummy labels from the small parts of the forward fuselage. I really wish Van’s would use a better label. I’ve probably spent 10 hours on this project just removing labels.

I started the long process of prepping the fuselage parts. I deburred the holes in most of the small parts. I also marked where counter-sinking will be needed, mainly so I didn’t bother deburring those spots.

We’re having some record-setting high temperatures here in Seattle in the low 60’s. I’m going to try to prep at least the non-alclad parts including the longerons for priming this weekend. I need to take advantage of this weather.

I drilled a few more parts (the aft straps for the corner ribs) and started taking everything apart. Julie helped uncleco parts and I caught them from inside. It came apart remarkably fast. I realized that I forgot to drill the aft end of the baggage ribs, so I stopped just short of separating the aft and center sections.

The horizontal baggage ribs and the arm rests have this weird notch at both ends. Not sure why it’s there.

Not much plane-building happened this weekend. It was the annual boat show weekend where the guys druel over million dollar yachts and bar hop around Seattle all night in the freezing rain. I also checked out two RV-7’s in the area, one flying and one being built, and talked RV’s for quite a while with Bob and Mike. It’s very helpful to be able to see other projects that are further along. It’s especially inspiring to see a nice finished product like Mike’s.

I did manage to fit and drill the baggage ribs and drilled out the remaining holes in the fuselage, including the joints between the sections and the seat rib to side skin holes. I just have a few more odds and ends to fit and drill and then things will start getting disassembled for prep.

Did a bunch of miscellaneous stuff on the fuselage. I drilled the inner floor stiffeners to the support angle on the firewall. The new angle drill attachment was very handy for that. Julie helped me drill the outer two floor stiffeners. I then drilled the straps that hold the longerons to the F-704 bulkhead. While I was at it, I drilled most of both side skins to the underlying structure. There’s more drilling left on the fusleage than I realized. I should be able to start taking things apart after another few hours.

Went to the EAA chapter 326 meeting last night. It’s a great group with something like 50 RVs being built, but it’s just so darn far away from my house. I went to something like 3 meetings last year.

Tonight I drilled the middle two forward floor stiffeners. (Edit 4/26/2005: If you’re using the Airflow Performance fuel pump kit from Van’s, make sure the pump base fits between the middle stiffeners. I had the stiffeners 1/8″ too close together for some reason. Or you can use the forward cabin cover to see how far apart to space the stiffeners.) I ordered a right angle drill attachment from Cleaveland last week and it showed up today, not a moment too soon. I needed it to drill the aft end of the stiffeners to the cover brackets. Cleaveland doesn’t include the right angle attachment in their standard tool kit, and I’ve gotten around it so far using the long bits or other work-arounds. I really don’t see how I could have drilled those holes without it tonight, though. The second picture shows the little joggle that needs to be filed in the forward end to clear the firewall angle, as has been documented on other builder sites.

I didn’t order Cleaveland’s whole right angle drill kit. I just ordered the attachment and one drill bit of each standard size (40, 30, 21, 19, 12, 10). The thing worked really well.

I removed the firewall recess for better access to the center rudder brace. I clamped the brace to the firewall angle, laid out some holes on the angle, and then drilled. It would have been quicker to drill from the other side, but my angle drill attachment hasn’t arrived yet from Cleaveland.

With the center brace firmly clecoed to the firewall, I positioned the center plastic block in a good position and drilled it to the center rudder brace in all four positions of the rudder tubes.

I then worked on lightening the center brace. I trimmed about an inch off the end of the brace, which wasn’t needed. I also cut two of the lightening holes depicted on the plans, and trimmed some off the top of the brace to the dimensions on the plans. The brace is now much lighter than it was.

I removed the rudder pedal assembly and set it aside. I shouldn’t need it again for a while.

Yesterday, as expected, was a full day job of installing french doors. It was actually fun to spend a day away from the plane on a different project. It will be awesome to have a nice patio out back this summer with the big french doors wide open. After a hard day of working on her doors, Julie didn’t even bother taking a picture of the completed project!

Today I managed to get some work done on the rudder/brake pedals. I drilled the brake cylinders to the brake pedals as I described in the previous post. With the brake pedals in just the right position, I swung one rudder tube at a time forward and marked a location to drill. I spent more time getting this perfect than was necessary.

Next I drilled holes through the plastic blocks that hold the tubes. I did that on the drill press. I used the Dan C method of measuring back 3″ on the side skin stiffeners from the firewall, removed them, and then drilled the plastic blocks to the stiffeners. I made 3 additional positions for the rudder pedals, each 7/8″ back from the prior one. I think that should work out ok. I’m pretty tall, so I’ll probably need the furthest forward position anyway.

I then put the stiffeners back in, and mounted the rudder tube assembly to it. I had to really pound on the plastic blocks to get them far enough onto the rudder tubes to fit between the side skins, but it eventually fit very nicely.

The next step was to figure out the center brace assembly. I cut the plastic center block in half with the band saw, after drilling it. The plans do not give a useful measurement for the relief cut in the center brace to clear the firewall recess. According to the plans, part of the brace should already be cut away, but it wasn’t. I just put the brace in place and marked how much to cut out. I also laid out the holes for riveting to the firewall angle, although I might have to move them since they could interfere with the rivets on the other leg of the firewall angle.

I clamped the center brace in place with the center plastic block to figure out the position of everything, but that’s as far as I got for today.

I bought a new toy that is absolutely essential for working under the fuselage. Highly recommended!