Dave’s RV-7A Building Log

Continuing in my quest to reduce the punch list, I worked on making the right brake line. Usually doing a task for the second time on this plane is easier, but I had an unusually difficult time with the brake line. It might be because the plane is jammed up against the side of the garage to make room for Julie’s car. Don’t know. I eventually got it right where I wanted it, cut and flared the ends (remembering the nuts this time), and torqued everything down. I slipped plastic tube over the line in 3 places and used electrical tape (per the instructions) to secure the lines to the legs. Doesn’t look super pretty, but is very secure. Crossed that task off the list.

Another easy task was to re-safety wire the oil filler tube. I put this off for a little while in case I needed the tube off again for some reason, but I think it’s there to stay.

It does feel good to knock items off the list.

Extra holiday day. Woo hoo! Slept in, went swimming in the morning, went by Home Depot, sprayed some weed killer around the house, rode mountain bikes with Adele and Leo the dog (his 4th birthday), bought fireworks, and still had some time for the plane.

After getting slightly frustrated at the LED lights and the amount of tweaking I’ll have to do to get the throttle quadrant installed, I decided to go back to the punch list and just knock off some low-hanging fruit. Securing the baffle fin wraps fell right into that category. It took me a couple tries on each side, but I used safety wire, washers and tubing to tie the wrap together. One of the oil return lines lies squarely in the way, but going around it seemed to be no problem.

The brake lines have been on my list for a long time, and it was time to attack them. I first safety wired the brakes, as it seems like I won’t need to take them off again. Again, it always seems to take me two tries to get the safety wire right, but it ends up looking very good. I then did a bunch of trial and error getting the tubing bent just the right way. I know a lot of people install flexible lines here, but the tubing has worked for many people and doesn’t take too much time to install. I only got one side done so far. And of course I forgot to put the nuts on before doing the flares. Luckily, I had enough extra to re-do the flares. What a rookie mistake.

Didn’t get much done on the plane this weekend. Seattle got a blast of summer, and it was just too nice to be inside. I worked on the garage a little bit, but tried to find stuff I could do in the back yard where it was cooler. Maybe 84 doesn’t seem hot, but a few days ago the high was 60 degrees. I think my blood just hasn’t thinned out yet.

I finished drilling the panel attach angles and painted them. It’s going to be challenging to set the rivets for those angles. Might have to resort to some pop rivets.

I also finished up the hatches for the front deck. It involved a lot of measuring, drilling, countersinking, and nut plate attaching that I won’t bore you with. Suffice it to say that they are done.

I waxed the molds and then laid up 3 layers of fiberglass on each for the forward deck hatch covers. 3 layers ends up being almost exactly the same thickness as the forward skins. Laying up these covers onto the forms made from the front deck works out great. The top of the covers will have a nice smooth surface.

I also messed around with the top camloc strip. I was trying to decide whether I needed to add a shim strip or not. The cowl thickness is about .005-.010 thicker than the sandwich it butts up against. I’m not sure it’s worth trying to mess with it.

The list of things I have yet to buy/order is getting shorter. Right now the list is:

Archer VOR wing-tip antenna (Spruce)
Additional Commant comm antenna (Vans)
Back-up 2-1/4″ altimeter (Vans)
Back-up 2-1/4″ airspeed indicator (Vans)
Trutrak 2-1/4″ turn and bank? (Stark)
Trutrak 2-1/4″ Digiflight II? (Stark)
Garmin GNS-430 (Stark)
Garmin GTX-330 (Stark)
PS Engineering PMA-8000B (Stark)
Garmin SL-40 (Stark)
CreativAir wing-tip LED nav lights (CreativAir)
Tail position & strobe light (Vans)
Heated pitot tube (Spruce)
Gear leg intersection fairings (Fairings Etc?)
CO detector (Spruce)

I still haven’t decided how to deal with attitude back-up for the EFIS. That’s why I put a question mark after the Trutrak turn and bank. Ideally I’d get a 2-axis autopilot in their ADI or turn & bank product, but they don’t currently offer that in a 2-1/4″ instrument.

I didn’t do any building today, but I did order leather seats for the plane from Classic Aero Designs. They make two different models seats now. I went for the fancier seat, although without the headrests. I think those headrests will interfere too much with access to the baggage area. In addition to the seats, I also ordered their side panel kit and carpets. I ordered everything in a dark gray, which will go nicely with the harnesses. It was a big order, but I might as well make the plane look nice. They are booked out about 13 weeks. I should receive everything some time in August.

I saw on the VAF web site that Classic Aero is getting backed up with seat orders. The lead time has stretched to summer. That means it’s time to place an order. I called them up and ordered some samples of the leather seat material. They have two models of seat. The more expensive one of course sounds much better. They’re even making some slight modifications to the seat in response to requests from customers. They sound like a really good company to work with.

Today was the exact weather opposite of yesterday’s crazy rain and wind storm. It was very sunny and warm. We took the dog for a super long walk. And washed both cars. And watched part of the Super Bowl. Not much time for building.

I did talk Julie into helping me with some of the rear top skin riveting. I’m done with the wiring in the far back, so I decided to go ahead and close it up. I crawled back there on some boards, and she riveted from the outside. It’s definitely uncomfortable, but we did some great riveting. Just one more session to finish it off.

I decided to create a new category. I still have some major components to work on like the baffling, cowl, wiring, but there are also a ton of little finish-up items all over the plane. For the ones that don’t really fit in one of the other categories, I’m going to put them in this “Endgame” category. I’m not implying that I’m almost done. These are just the miscellanous finishing up tasks.