Jun 18, 2023     Sold - (1 hour) Category: Fuselage

This project has been sold to another builder

  Apr 23, 2023     A lot of little parts - (5 hours) Category: Fuselage

Started searching the plans for small parts that will be needed later. Of course if the plans said back drill or drill with a specific part I only fabricated the part to shape and size. The list of completed parts includes:

Seat belt cable attachments
F-707B angle clip
F-635L spacer (2)
F-798 shim (2)
F-710C spacer (2)
F-712D up elevator stop
F-711E down elevator stop

  Apr 20, 2023     More parts - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I have been going through the plans finding parts that can be fabricated now even though the substructure may not be built. For example the elevator bellcrank pictured below was done today. I also worked on the elevator stops, the elevator pushtubes (priming) and fitting the aft deck. The pushtubes still need to be cut to size and riveted, that will be next.

  Apr 19, 2023     Miscellaneous items - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I stopped by Vans to pick up two parts and while I was there I asked about the tail wheel mount. I turns out I am 60th on the list for a tail wheel mount. Yes, SIXTIETH on the list of I don't know how long. Vans forecast was three months, I am betting on five. So what can I do to continue moving forward?

I decided to build as many component parts as possible so they are ready in the future. I worked on the elevator bellcrank, the elevator pushrod and pulled more blue plastic off of parts. At some point work will come to a stop waiting the tail wheel mount

  Apr 16, 2023     Question answered - (.1 hour)       Category: Fuselage

Someone on VAF asked about fitting the J-channel at the back of the aircraft. I took these photos of the aft area so he could see how they fit together. These parts have been clecoed together but not drill to size yet.

  Mar 21, 2023     Fuselage work - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Installed optional battery box on firewall. Installed J channels and ribs in the tail section for drilling. I leveled the fuselage and checked to ensure it was not twisted.

  Mar 07, 2023     Center section - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished drilling the Center section including all the nut plate locations. I skipped the longerons so they will get done next.

  Mar 04, 2023     Center section - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

With the help of my wife I was able to rivet the center section together.

  Jan 29, 2023     Tail section - (2.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Getting the tail section ready for match drilling

  Jan 27, 2023     Priming - (2.5 hours) Category: Fuselage

Continued work on the center section and the tail section in parallel. Today was spent priming parts for assembly

  Jan 25, 2023     Center section - (2.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Finished riveting the seat and baggage compartment ribs. Next is riveting the bottom skin to the ribs. When that is done it will be ready to join the tail section.

I'm still waiting for parts from Vans. I'll start in the tail section and complete as much as I can. I'm afraid this project will stop while I'm waiting for parts.

  Jan 24, 2023     More work after the holidays and travel - (8 hours)       Category: Fuselage

The center section has been assembled, drilled to size, disassembled for deburring, dimpling and priming. I'm in the process of riveting the seat and baggage compartment ribs in place

  Dec 24, 2022     Center section - (4 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continued work on the project

  Dec 23, 2022     Center section - (10 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Lots of work has been done. The tail wheel weldment is still on back order so I am not assembling the aft section just yet. I moved on to the center section and have been working on its assembly. The fight controls were installed, washer stack up determined and removed for storage. The seat ribs have been prepared for the flight controls and primed.

  Dec 13, 2022     Center section - (4.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Worked on center section F-704. It's ready to rivet together.

  Dec 11, 2022     Work continues - (8.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

More work on the fuselage sub assemblies in preparation for starting assembly.

  Dec 06, 2022     Fuel tank mounting bolts - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Torqued the fuel tank mounting bolts and finished riveting F-705 bulkhead

  Dec 05, 2022     Pressure tested fuel tanks - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Pressure tested the tanks. Sprayed them with soapy water, no leaks noted

  Dec 01, 2022     Fuselage parts - (3.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Continued with the tail section bulkheads

  Nov 30, 2022     Started fuselage - (5.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Started working on fuselage. Prepping bulkheads.

  Nov 07, 2022     Selling the A model gear - (.1 hour)       Category: Landing Gear

Gear for an A model

  Oct 13, 2022     Continued work - (6.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

With the firewall riveted I have skipped over the F-704 center section and worked on F-705 bulkhead. It's ready to come apart for deburring, priming and riveting. I also have been fabricating the spacers for the center section.

  Oct 01, 2022     F-705 bulkhead - (4.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Skipped over the center section while I decide on my plan for spacers. Started the F-705 bulkhead. It's located immediately behind the seats and the aft spar carry-through is attached to it. A lot of parts fabricated and the spar carry-through drilled and deburred.

  Sep 28, 2022     Firewall - (4.5 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Riveted most of the firewall. Planned locations of the brake reservoir, the battery box, the battery and starter relays. Drilled attaching location for the brake reservoir.

  Sep 27, 2022     Firewall work - (6.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Several tasked completed. The aileron bell crank came in so that is installed. The firewall is deburred, dimpled, countersunk and ready for riveting. I made a new doubler for the fuel pump and modified it for the throttle and carb heat pass through. I drilled the holes necessary for the brake reservoir, it will be installed later.

  Sep 21, 2022     Firewall - (4.0 hours)       Category: Fuselage

I did not like the way the fuel pump doubler interfered with the location for the throttle and carb heat pass through. So I'm making a new doubler but I need the SS pass through to measure. So that's on hold.

I moved to the center section and removed it from its packaging. It's in perfect condition. The first step is drilling wiring pass through locations. I don't like the edge distance so I'm going to research this a bit before drilling.

  Sep 17, 2022     Firewall - (3 hours)       Category: Fuselage

Waiting on a few wing parts so started the fuselage. First step is the firewall. With the exception of two nut plates it's ready to debur , dimple and rivet together

  Sep 10, 2022     More wing work - (3.0 hours) Category: Wings

Riveted the trailing edge of the lower skins, attached the aileron hangers, made delrin aileron stops.

  Sep 08, 2022     Wing close out - (4. hours)       Category: Wings

Finishing out the wings. Installed flight controls in the right wing and then discovered I had two right bell cranks and no left. So the left wing will wait until I order the new bell crank. So I turned to cleaning the skins.

  Sep 07, 2022     Left wing - (4 hours) Category: Wings

The left wing is out of the jig and setting on the workbench. I finished a few remaining rivets on the top skin, riveted on the aileron hinges (including the modification for the SB), riveted the aileron and flap braces.

I still need to install the aileron and flap, the pitot tube and the flight controls. I'm waiting on the pitot tube parts. All of that work can be done in the wing storage.

  Sep 06, 2022     Ailerons - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished both ailerons except for mounting the hangars on the right side, don't have enough AN3-4A bolts. On order

  Sep 04, 2022     Ailerons - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished the left aileron, the right should be done by Wednesday

  Aug 28, 2022     Finished cleaning - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished cleaning the top skins. They are ready for polish

  Aug 26, 2022     Riveted top skin - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings

My wife and riveted the top skins on the left wing. The skins were pretty dirty after 20 years of storage and movement around the country. I spent an hour and cleaned a lot of it off. Another hour or so and they will look almost new

  Aug 25, 2022     Left wing - (5 hours) Category: Wings

The left wing fuel tank is installed. We have started to rivet the top skins and are about 80 percent done. Tomorrow we should be done with those skins and I will start on the interior of the wing; wiring, Pitot/AOA etc.

  Aug 18, 2022     Left wing - (2.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Busy day so I only accomplished a few things . The left wing is in the jig, the bottom skins are off and I riveted the nut plates in place for the fuel tank retention screws. Hopefully I can test fit the fuel tank tomorrow and rivet the leading edge onto the wing.

  Aug 17, 2022     Right wing close out - (4 hours)       Category: Wings

The right wing is back in rolling storage. I riveted the flap and aileron braces in place. The bottom skins will be clecoed in place as I need to install the roll servo and the aileron flight controls. I did install the wiring conduit and coax for a VOR antenna in the wing tip.

  Aug 15, 2022     Riveted lower skin - (5.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished riveting the lower skin. We will move it to the workbench so the left wing can go into the jig

  Aug 12, 2022     Clean up, prep and priming - (4. hours) Category: Wings

Cleaned up the shop in preparation for riveting the top skins. Collected the needed parts for installation inside the wing; aileron bell crank, bolts, washer etc. The aileron push/pull tubes needed to be primed, did the outside once that dries I'll prime the inside.

No photos today

  Aug 11, 2022     Riveted leading edge - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished riveting the leading edge, installed the fuel tank and clecoed the top skins on the wing.

  Aug 10, 2022     Starting right wing assembly - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

Check fit of the fuel tank, riveted the leading edge to the spar. Those 25 rivets attaching the leading edge to the spar plate are particularly difficult to reach and set. Vans says you can use blind rivets but there is no way to get a puller in to the rivet. I ground down one side of a rivet set so it could reach the rivet . We still had to drill out rivets and replace them. Next the top skins get riveted on.

  Aug 08, 2022     Right fuel tank finished - (6.0 hours) Category: Wings

Finished sealing and riveting the aft baffle of the right fuel tank. Mounted the fuel level sender. Next up is the beginning of riveting the right wing together

  Aug 06, 2022     More tank work - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished installing the ribs in the second tank. Both tanks are ready for sealing the aft baffle. I plan to seal one at a time, install it on a wing and then finish the wing to quick build. That way the wing can stay in the jig until the front skin is riveted on

  Aug 03, 2022     More fuel tank work - (6.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Continued work on the second fuel tank. Today I prosealed four of the ribs, the sump drain connector and the refueling port. Tomorrow I plan on finishing the remaining three ribs.

  Aug 02, 2022     Left tank - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Despite the best of intentions I made little progress today. I did get everything cleaned up and the first row of stiffeners riveted.

  Aug 01, 2022     Second fuel tank - (6 hours)       Category: Wings

Drilled to size, deburred, dimpled and countersunk the second fuel tank skin and ribs. The tank is ready for sealant and riveting.

  Jul 31, 2022     Second tank - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Started the second tank today. Clecoed the stiffeners in places and drilled everything to size. Installed the fuel tank ribs, they are ready to be drilled to size. Worked for a couple of hours until it got too hot.

One of the fuel level senders I purchased from Vans was defective. I'll pick up a new one next and then close out the first tank.

  Jul 20, 2022     Fuel level sensor and tank fit test - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings

I discovered that the right fuel level sensor is broken, Vans has agreed to replace it. After finishing all the rib installations I decided to test fit the tank on the wing. It fits really well. I also installed the fuel pickup.

  Jul 14, 2022     Proseal wing ribs - (4.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Began proseal and riveting process of the internal wing ribs on the fuel tank

  Jul 13, 2022     Update - (10 hours)       Category: Wings

Latest work completed.

Installed nutplates in leading edge section for fuel tank attaching screws.

Started to sealing process on right tank. I have prosealed and riveted the stiffeners, the fuel sump and the fuel cap flange.

The first jig that I built did not have sufficient clearance for me to get the rivet gun to the leading rivets (lowest point of the jig.) I have been using the Vans Aircraft fuel tank video as I am building these new tanks. Their jig is different than the one in the plans. So I made a new one today based loosely on the Vans video and the plans. That is what is pictured here.

  Jun 30, 2022     Fuel tanks continue - (8 hours)       Category: Wings

Continued work on the fuel tanks. Ribs are finished, first tank has been prepped and in jig

  May 30, 2022     Fuel tanks - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Continued work on fabrication of new fuel tanks

  Apr 20, 2022     Polishing - (5.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Its polishing time for my flying RV-7

  Mar 13, 2022     Fuel tanks - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Started work on the new fuel tanks

  Feb 20, 2022     Flaps and fuel tanks - (3.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Finished flaps, performed an initial polish. Started on fuel tank jig.

  Feb 19, 2022     Flaps - (3 hours) Category: Wings

Continued work on the right flap. I'll finish riveting it tomorrow.

  Feb 13, 2022     Flaps - (1.0 hour)       Category: Wings

Only got an hour today, do something every day. Took the second flap apart and counter sunk the lower flange of the spar. Now deburring, primer prep, primer and dimpling.

  Feb 10, 2022     1st flap done, fuel tank parts arrive       Category: Wings

  Feb 07, 2022     Left flap - (5.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Completed most of the riveting on the left flap.

  Feb 05, 2022     Flap - (2 hours)       Category: Wings

Worked a couple of hours on the left flap. Deburred, dimpled, cleaned up and primered the components. I'll counter sink the spar tomorrow after the primer dries.

  Feb 02, 2022     Flaps - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Drilled skins to the flap structures. Next step is to debur, dimple and prime. After riveting I'll move to the ailerons. Still waiting for the fuel tanks. EDIT, spoke with Vans today (2/3/22) and they believe the fuel tank kit will be ready for pickup early next week. I ordered the aluminum tubing used to fabricate the aileron push tubes.

Spent time cleaning / inventorying fuselage parts in preparation of started the fuselage.

  Feb 02, 2022     Flaps and other parts - (4.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Continued work on the flaps, installed the hinges and fabricated a part for the spar. Started cleaning and priming parts in prep for final assembly.

This is a used kit so I'm still discovering missing parts. Two I knew about are the AT-6 tubing for the flight controls. I'll order them today. I spend a little time each day looking through the fuselage parts making sure there is no corrosion.

  Jan 22, 2022     Wing rack and wing cleaning - (3. hours)       Category: Wings

I finished the wing rack, it needed to be anchored. The first wing is in the rack waiting for the fuel tank otherwise ready to rivet the top skins.

I put the second wing on the work bench, removed the skins and started cleaning. Initial inspection is favorable. Only one questionable rivet and the riveting is further along. I'll finish cleaning tomorrow and get it caught up to the first wing.

  Jan 20, 2022     Right wing and fuel tanks - (3.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Finish all the prep work for moving the right wing to the wing jig. After careful review of the two fuel tanks I have decided to replace both tanks. Due to the previous work I doubt that I can seal the baffle sufficiently to prevent fuel leaks. Folks must have difficulty building tanks as Vans sells a fuel tank kit that contains all the parts necessary to make two tanks.

  Jan 17, 2022     Vans response and other work - (4.0 hours) Category: Wings

I received an email from Vans Aircraft about the spar web damage. They recommended removing any sharp edges without removing too much material. I cleaned up the edges of the damage and primed that area.

I have been working on getting the work completed aligned with the build manual. The original builder jumped around so some tasks are out of sequence and rivets that should be set are not. So I finished the rivets in the aft spar that should be done (the ribs) and continue to fix rivets. I noticed two more that somehow escaped my attention. This are not horrible rivets that are cleaved over, just not full set.

I also fabricated the two wing walker doublers and drilled the right one to match the wing skin. So the top skins of the wing are clecoed and the wing is ready for the jig.

  Jan 16, 2022     More rivets and aileron hinge brackets - (2.5 hours)       Category: Wings

Drilled out a few more rivets. There are 11 more to set. Fitted the inboard aileron bracket with the doubler in accordance with the SB

  Jan 14, 2022     Continued assessment - (5 hours)       Category: Wings

Continued assessment and cleaning, found a dent in the center web of the spar. It looks like a mark from a dropped bucking bar. Talked to a friend who is an engineer and an IA, he said don't worry about it. Just to be sure I sent photos to Vans for their assessment.

As I walk through the instructions and checking work I've been completing task that were skipped.

  Jan 12, 2022     Disassemble - (5.0 hours)       Category: Wings

Time to move onto the wings. I put the right wing on my workbench and removed all the clecos. First step was cleaning all the dust and insects off the material. Found a few rivets that will need to be removed. Next I started walking through the assembly steps, checking to ensure they were completed and to identify any issues that will need to be addressed.

  Jan 11, 2022     Wing jig - (3 hours)       Category: Wings

Holidays have prevented me from getting any more work done. I have started fabricating a wing jig.

  Dec 29, 2021     Elevator - (2.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Mounted the elevators on the horizontal stabilizer. The left elevator is weight neutral and the right is forward heavy. I need to adjust a couple of bearings and recheck the balance. Together they are about right.

  Dec 28, 2021     Empennage work - (3.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

Finished several tasks including:

1. Finished installation of trim tab and electric trim motor. Made initial pitch trim adjustments .
2. Made a drill bushing for drill elevators to the bearing mounted on the horizontal stabilizer. Elevators are ready for initial mounting.

  Dec 22, 2021     Horizontal stabilizer riveting - (2.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

Finished riveting the center section of the horizontal stabilizer main spars including riveting the inside the inner ribs HS-404 & HS-405

  Dec 20, 2021     Horizontal stabilizer - (2.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

Finally got back to riveting the HS. I'm running a bit behind my self imposed schedule but I'll catch up.

  Dec 15, 2021     Left elevator trim tab - (2.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

The previous builder got the trim motor installation a little out of sequence. There are seven anchor nuts that hold the motor inside the elevator. Those are normally riveted in place before the doubler is riveted inside the elevator. I could have drilled out a bunch of rivets and disassembled the elevator but just wasn't in the mood. So working in a small space I managed to get them installed but I doubt I saved any time. Next is fixing the trim tab hinge. As you can see there very little distance between the rivet holes and the edge of the hinge material. I have some wider hinge material so I will replace it.

  Dec 14, 2021     Rudder finished - (2.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Finished the rudder. Riveted the trailing edge, formed and riveted the leading edge. Installed the bearings with the jam nuts.

Pulled out the left elevator for detailed cleaning and inspection. The trim tab is not finished and the trim motor needs to be installed. The right elevator needs cleaning but is otherwise finished.

  Dec 13, 2021     Rudder work - (2.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Finished riveting the rudder skins with the exception of the trailing edge. I'm waiting for the sealant in the trailing edge to set up. I'll rivet it tomorrow.

  Dec 10, 2021     Rudder work - (2.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

Drilled all remaining skins and rivet holes to size. Disassembled for deburring, dimpling and final priming.

  Dec 05, 2021     Rudder - (2.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

I picked the new skin Friday and today I moved forward with completing the rudder.

1. Yesterday I finished priming the rudder ribs

2. Riveted the ribs to the skin

3. Clecoed the skins to the rudder structure.

Next is drilling the skin to the structure, dimpling, deburring and the riveting the skin in place.

  Dec 04, 2021     Rudder - (2.0 hours) Category: Empennage

I picked up the new rudder skin from Vans Aircraft yesterday. Today I trimmed, shaped, drilled, dimpled, deburred and primed the ribs that are riveted to the two skins. I also drilled, dimpled and deburred the two skins. Primer will dry overnight and I will rivet the ribs in place.

  Nov 23, 2021     Rudder structure - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Without the rudder skin to work on I started the rudder structure. It's at a point of clecoing the skin on to drill to size. As soon as I get the replacement skin I can finish this up.

  Nov 21, 2021     Rudder - (3.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

Still waiting for the parts for the horizontal stabilizer to finish the service bulletin so I moved on to the rudder.

Pulled the skins out to clean and prep and I ran into the first really bad corrosion. I thought about trying to save it but the skin is 0.016. Not enough material to try any cleaning. At $43.65 to replace it it wasn't worth my time either.

The second skin was fine. I started cleaning it up and the blue film seemed like it was welded on. It took an hour to slowly heat, pull and repeat to get it off. I got the ribs initially trimmed and clecoed in place.

  Nov 20, 2021     HS rebuild continues - (4. hours)       Category: Empennage

The HS rebuild continues, taking a bit longer than I anticipated. Today was awash with errands and other chores so I only managed about four hours over the course of the day. The right HS skin is completely riveted to the substructure except for those areas affected by the service bulletin and the aft spar.

I am waiting for the two spar stiffeners to arrive from Vans. The previous owner had ordered the SB kit but somehow ended up with the version for the RV-8. So as soon as the new parts arrive this will be completed.

  Nov 19, 2021     Horizontal stab skin - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

After the primer dried I started riveting right horizontal stab skin and substructure. I am now at the point where I can apply the service bulletin changes.

  Nov 18, 2021     Horizontal stabilizer rebuild - (6.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

Rebuilding horizontal stabilizer continues. I found jumping between the old plans, new plans and the service bulletin was getting confusing. So I decided to take a different approach. I am going to finish rebuilding the HS as if I was building it from the old plans. I will get it ready to close up and rivet, then remove those components that need to be modified for the service bulletin. That is primarily HS-405 ribs and the HS-702 spars. After completing the service bulletin I can close everything up and finish riveting. This will allow me to focus on completing the HS and not skip or miss any steps. So to that end here are the tasks completed today:

1. The HS-404 rib flanges that are riveted to the forward spar had some significantly oversized holes. It made sense to fabricate new flanges for the ribs, something I ran by Vans technical support. They did not have a problem with the plan so I moved ahead. Understand these ribs are there for support of the stressed skin horizontal stabilizer. The flight loads are handled by the beefy aft spar not by these small ribs. This was definitely a case of NOT adding the value of my time to the equation. Two new ribs would have been $20.00, it took a couple of hours to design, fabricate, test fit, drill, dimple, prime and rivet two flanges. Oh well, they are done now.

2. There are four flush rivets on the spars so there was dimpling and some countersinking completed of HS-702, HS-710 & HS-714.

3. I clecoed all the ribs in place and then clecoed the new right skin in place. The new HS-702 spar and the new skin were pre-punched (there were about thirty rivet locations that were not prepunched on the spar. I match drilled the skin to the existing structure being careful to not make the holes in the existing ribs oversized. I drilled those 30 rivet locations in the spar using the skin for match drilling. I match drilled the HS-404 & HS-405 to the spars.

4. After checking the structure to make sure I did not miss any locations I removed the skin and spar for deburring and dimpling.

5. Dimpling went fairly quickly, so the skin and the spar are ready to be prepped for limited primer. But alas I am out of primer so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

This portion of the project has moved ahead fairly quickly. Again I have not found any corrosion on the older components. Certainly by the weekend (it is Thursday evening) this some be closed up, riveted and in storage. Probably move to the elevators next as they are almost complete and then the rudder.

  Nov 17, 2021     Rebuilding the HS - (3.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

After a trip to Vans Aircraft for parts I started rebuilding the HS. The first step was cutting the radius in the new HS spar and shaping the new components for the HS center section. The tail was originally made in 2002 and the new parts made in 2021 fit if they were all made together. After jumping back and forth from old plans to new plans to the service bulletin I have decided to complete the HS up to the point of riveting as if it was a repair (which it is.). Then before riveting it together I will make the necessary changes as directed in the service bulletin. This service bulletin addresses the potential for cracks in the HS spar. That will make it easier and clearer for me.

  Nov 16, 2021     Vertical stabilizer - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

While I am waiting for parts for the HS I moved to the vertical stabilizer. The rear spar had previously been removed for inspection. I cleaned the spar and inside the VS, then inspected the skin and all riveting. I found six rivets on the skin that were sitting proud and seven on the spar that were not set properly. I removed the rivets on the skin and set new rivets. Only two of the spar rivets needed to be removed, the rest could be set properly with a rivet gun and bucking bar. Once that was completed I riveted the spar in place and closed up the VS. It is done.

  Nov 16, 2021     Horizontal stabilizer - (2.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today I spent time cleaning and inspecting the HS aft spar as well as the inside of the remaining skin. I found two rivets that I decided to remove and replace on the aft spar, but everything else looks great. There is an area on the aft spar that should have been removed and wasn't. You can see the marked area in the second image. The bearing in the image is the connection for the elevator horns. The spar flange will interfere with the movement of the elevator horns and prevent them from reaching the stop. I will fix that when I reassemble the HS.

  Nov 16, 2021     Drilling out rivets - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

I purchased this kit from friends, but they are still interested in helping with the build process. Many hands make light work. While I was out of town Helen drilled out a lot of rivets to salvage the ribs from half of the horizontal stabilizer. All the ribs came out without any enlarged holes. That means we are able to use the left side of the HS, the ribs from the right side and the aft spar. When I got home I cleaned up the ribs, lightly sanded some minor scratches, then primered those areas. The new parts cost $162.00. With Vans Will Call I can drive down to get them in the morning.

  Nov 09, 2021     Repair work begins - (2.0 hours)       Category: Empennage

We started the repair work on the empennage today. The empennage is the first kit that folks work on so it is not too surprising that we found a few errors. While the rest of the empennage seems okay the horizontal stabilizer is not. As you can see in the images there are two suspect rivets. The first one has a small square of aluminum underneath it that servers no purpose except to hide something. That something was an oversized hole, but interestingly only in the rib flange not the underlying structure. That rib will get replaced. On the other side you can see an AN-5 rivet where there should be an AN-4. After drilling it out and looking at edge distance we decided to replace the rib and the underlying structure. That decision led to replacing the right side of the HS. We will attempt to salvage the internal ribs but certainly replace the spar, the skin (due to a scratch) and the two angles that attach the two spars together.

Parts will be $162.00 if we don't replace all the ribs on the right side.

EDIT: After talking with Vans Tech Support and discussing a repair the forward two ribs can be repaired. I will replace the flange on both forward ribs.

  Nov 08, 2021     Cleaning and inventory - (10 hours)       Category: Research

I purchased an unfinished RV-7 kit that a friend decided not to complete. He purchased it from the original buyer who ordered the kit on 2002/2003. My friend and his family had organized the parts quite well, so I'm going through the components and the completed work. I'll be jumping back and forth between this kit and my plans built Patrol.

The empennage kit was purchased in 2002 and completed except for the rudder. At that time (02/03) Vans decided to go to the RV-9 rudder for the RV-7 and offered any RV-7 builder a new rudder. The original builder received the new rudder but never completed it. The elevator work is fine, riveting work is well done. Everything was primed. The VS is partially done, the aft spar needs to be riveted in place but that is all that is left to do. I have inspected the work and about 10 rivets at the top of the VS need to be replaced. They are sitting a little proud, easily fixed. The HS is another story. I'll be replacing the right skin, it has a rather nasty scratch that is at least 0.010" deep. The center area of the HS forward spar was not well riveted, there are a couple of oversized holes. There is a service bulletin that strengthens this area so while I am fixing the problems I will incorporate the service bulletin. I can replace all the components of HS for about $400.00 and I may do that. It depends on how well it comes apart. At some point it just makes more sense to replace stuff. No fiberglass work has been started.

He must of moved to the wings while waiting for the rudder kit. The wings are partially built. The fuel tanks are partially done but not the back that mounts to the spar. The proseal work seems well done, but I won't know until I dig into the work. Vans sells a kit for access panels on the fuel tank aft bulkhead, I am going to install it as insurance in case of weeping rivets. The wing ribs have been riveted to the spars and the skins have been match drilled and dimpled. I will be changing the fuel level sensor from capacitance to the traditional float style. More on that as I investigate further.

The fuselage kit has not been started but all the parts are there.

The blue plastic is still on everything. I was concerned about getting it off and the potential for corrosion underneath. I found that applying heat from a paint heat gun warmed it sufficiently that it just peeled off with minimal effort and there was no corrosion underneath it. There was some surface corrosion around the edges of the plastic. He had removed the plastic along the rivet lines, as many builders do. In some of those areas there was some surface corrosion, but it was easily removed with a red scotch bright pad. This plane will be painted so I wasn't as concerned with scratching, but I really didn't have to bear down to remove the corrosion. Something to watch as I build to see if it returns.