Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

Deburred more of the subpanel.

I did a bunch of little stuff on the plane. My builder friend Matthew mentioned that the control stick assembly gets in the way during wiring. Instead of going crazy trying to get it permanently installed, I just stuck in a few bolts and made sure the thing moves around as expected. Pretty fun.

In my attempt to finish up the fuselage kit, I looked around to see if anything else needed to be completed. I realized I never made the forward elevator push tube or the flap push rods. I pulled out the materials, cut them to length, and prepped for priming.

Getting back to the subpanel area, I drilled the forward top skin to the underlying structure. I pre-bent the skin a bit before I put it on, which helped quite a bit. The fit is actually quite good. I only had trouble with the outboard-most holes on the subpanel itself. Those two holes didn’t line up very well. Drilling to the firewall went extremely well. I followed Dan’s lead and peeled back one side of the skin to drill the angle that holds the middle rib to the firewall. I immediately removed the skin and deburred the firewall. It only took one hole in my finger to remember how sharp those stainless steel burrs are.

The holes holding the subpanel to the F-902 ribs were very tricky to drill, especially since I already have my forward canopy decks installed. It might have been better to leave those off until now. I managed by leaning over the sides and using the reflection in the aluminum to guide the angle drill.

I did a bunch more deburring on various parts. It shouldn’t take long to get everything deburred and dimpled.

I took the day off from work and went with my friends Jeff and Keith to the Northwest EAA Fly-in at Arlington. It was drizzly and the first day of the fly-in, so it was fairly quiet. However, that’s the best time to talk with vendors. I picked up a couple of tools (a chip chaser, and a narrow bucking bar) from Clear Air Tools. Clear Air is also making their own adjustable set for squeezers that looks 300% better than the current standard for amount the same price. Too bad I’m almost done squeezing rivets.

I talked with Mahlon Russel from Mattituck for a while. They had a TMX-360 on display that looked very cool. I excited about getting the engine delivered later in the year.

I also checked out Aircraft Extras exhaust systems. The 4-into-1 exhaust looks really slick and claims to increase power by 4-5 hp. I think it was about $1200. Compared to the Van’s crossover exahust for $800, I’m not sure it’s worth that much extra expense.

The highlight of the show was seeing the first public appearance of Dynon’s new big screen flight instrument. They’ll be making a big splash with it at Osh Kosh, taking orders in a few weeks, and delivering soon after that. These guys take a great product and make it even better. It’s the same basic display as the smaller cousin, but everything is spread out more and the text is even more clear. I didn’t measure the unit, but it’s at least twice as big in a wider format. The depth of the unit is also much, much less than the original–maybe 4 inches. It won’t be available at first delivery, but eventually the software will be updated to be able to bring over the engine monitoring information onto 1/3 of the flight display. They are also working on a wide-screen version of the engine monitor. They also have thoughts about adding some GPS-based information, such as ground track but nothing like a moving map. Overall the unit looks awesome.

For something different, I pulled out the control columns and started figuring out the assembly. The first step appears to be putting the crossbar into the fuselage. I tried a couple different combinations of washers, but couldn’t get the thing to move freely. I’ll have to read up on other web sites.

I riveted the ribs to the outboard portions of the subpanel and clecoed the whole subpanel together. I clecoed the skin on in preparation for drilling.

I riveted the seal supports to the subpanel. I also made the big cut on the left rib. Dan outlined this modification on his web site. As supplied in the kit, the rib ends up right in the middle of the pilot’s field of view. By cutting it and moving the aft portion of the rib toward the center of the plane, there is much more flexibility in the placement of instruments.

I drilled the seal supports to the subpanel. I also drilled the ribs to the subpanel and deburred everything. There’s really no trick to the subpanel so far. It’s going together as described in the instructions.

There hasn’t been a lot of progress lately. I’ve been busy with many other activities and projects.

I did manage to debur some subpanel parts.