Status Brantel #72823

RV7Factory · Post by **RV7Factory** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:40 pm

Well said Chad, well said.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:56 am

Instead of doing the repetitive deburing dimpling and priming of the rear fuse, I decided to back up and finish the longerons before moving on.

Got two decent looking longerons with the shallow curve, downward bend and now all I need to do is put in the twist. I need to borrow a friends smart level to do that.

One note, If I were doing this again, I would disregard how the directions tell you to use a rubber hammer to set the bend. I started that way but quickly realized that I would make a mess if I did it that way. The bottom line is that it is way easier just to hand bend them. This gives a much smoother curve with less off axis movement.

The other thing is to use the template as a guide but to use the aft canopy deck parts as the ultimate test in getting the correct curve in that area.

I really like how they turned out. This is another one of them voodo areas that people like to scare newbies with that turns out ain't so bad if you take your time and don't go to the extreme to try to make them "perfect"!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 3:55 pm

Got the tail spring mount installed, everything dimpled, debured and primed on the rear fuse.

Tonight I will cleco it back together and start riveting!

These rivets are a pain due to the wierd angles and the poor fit of the bulkheads to this skin. If it were not for the tungsten bar, I would have been in big trouble trying to find something to buck these with.

I riveted the rear bulkhead first, then installed the spring mount, then the second to rear bulkhead (never remember #'s) and did not install the bolts until the riveting was complete.

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Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 8:03 am

Everything is back together and ready to rivet.

The spring mount area was easy this time to go together. I put the bottom skin together with the spring mount skin and then added all the bulkheads and the J stringers. I then put on the side skins one at a time and everything just fell into place. Much easier than trying to wrestle that area together after the side skins are on.

Now for a little fun..

My wife made my youngest daughter a costume and I can't tell if she is now a candy corn or ???

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Sat Nov 10, 2007 8:04 am

Finishing up the instrument rating over the past month slowed the RV progress down allot.

Anyway the rear fuse is all preped and ready for moving on to the center fuse.

RV7Factory · Post by **RV7Factory** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:08 pm

Congrats! With this post, you've officially caught me.

Looks familiar huh? Except mine is currently configured for inverted flight.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 3:55 pm

Hahaa,

Yep, I have one section upright and one section inverted. Hope I get it connected together correctly.....

Your's looks great Brad! Funny how these planes all look the same hu?

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 11:16 pm

Hey Brantel, looks like you got the Van's coffee table there!

BTW, when you get to the side skins, look into deviating from the plans and putting the center bottom skin underneath the side skin!

The plans show it the other way around, but the QB's do it do it that way and if I were to do it again I would too. It just makes more sense and lays down better.

Let us know how you do.

CJ

TomNativeNewYorker · Post by **TomNativeNewYorker** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:55 am

Torquestripe? First use I have seen here.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:18 am

TomNativeNewYorker wrote:Torquestripe? First use I have seen here.

Yep, I am an ex helicopter mechanic so everything that is torqued and never to be removed again (hopefully) gets torque seal.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:24 am

captain_john wrote:BTW, when you get to the side skins, look into deviating from the plans and putting the center bottom skin underneath the side skin!

Will take a look. Did my corner ribs last night and like several others, they do not match the angle of the bottom skin well. I decided to make the front half match the side of the bottom skin and let the back half fall where it may. My thoughts were that the side skin conical bend will cover this up if I put it on the outside or go under it and I can trim if I put it in the middle. Edge distance is a problem with the tie strap though and I had to do like Brad and make a custom strap.

I sure wish Vans would replace that leftover from the RV6! Oh well... it is done now so

tmbg · Post by **tmbg** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 6:04 pm

I've been putting torqueseal on all my bolts also.

Just seemed like a Good Idea

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:49 am

Well, I finally got my center section floor structure all riveted together and dimpled and could not resist attaching it to the rear fuse for a moment!

I also got my bottom center skin all debured, dimpled and primed.
There must be a million holes in this thing! Thank God for the DRDT2! It is just big enough to get to all the holes in the center.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 9:02 am

Wow what a great long weekend for progress on the RV!

Started by notching and fitting the longerons for the first time, finished riveting the center section bottom skin on, mated the center section to the rear fuse for the first time, clecoed on the side skins, drilled all the bazillion holes in the longerons on both sides back to front, drilled the side skins and bottom skin to the rear fuse, drilled the side skins to the bulkheads and side seat ribs, and made two conical bends and drilled the corner baggage ribs to the side skins.

WHOHOOO no cracks on the conical bends!

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:48 pm

Brantel,

Heed my advice! Don't do as we have done!

Put that side skin OUTSIDE of the bottom skin!

Things will line up better. That is the way the QB's are done.

CJ

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:25 am

captain_john wrote:Brantel,

Heed my advice! Don't do as we have done!

Put that side skin OUTSIDE of the bottom skin!

Things will line up better. That is the way the QB's are done.

CJ

CJ,

I actually have tested it outside and you are correct, it is very much better in that position. All the layers line up correctly that way...

I talked to Vans about it and they said it did not matter to them. They said some QB's are in and some are out. I also asked my friend to look at his older QB 6 and it is in.

I asked the question on VAF and got zippo responses.

It definately looks better as far as all the layers laying down smooth. The prepunched holes prevent you from being able to get the side skin pushed in tight enough to eliminate the gap when you tuck it in.

Everyone I talk to about it always goes back to the fact that it must be tucked in for aerodynamic reasons but how much can that little .032 edge do to performance?

I am going to ponder it for the weeks to come before I actually have to rivet it.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:34 am

I have a firewall! The big pile of parts now is actually looking like an airplane!

Lorin Dueck · Post by **Lorin Dueck** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 10:44 pm

Brantel -
That's looking awesome!!
Great job...

CJ -
Good hint on skin order...
Hope I remember it when I get there.
All -
Remember this is not a laminar flow aircraft.
I agree w/ B - how much can .032" matter?!!

Lorin D
9A Wings
(N194LD reserved)

TomNativeNewYorker · Post by **TomNativeNewYorker** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:00 pm

Brantel wrote: Everyone I talk to about it always goes back to the fact that it must be tucked in for aerodynamic reasons but how much can that little .032 edge do to performance?

You could always make an aerodynamic seam seal.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:00 am

Spent all my time this weekend finishing up the fitting and drilling of all the parts of the forward fuse. I am now complete will the fuse up to the pre install of the brakes.

If I had it to do over again, I would throw out Vans directions on how to fit the lower and aux longerons. If you do it their way, you could and most likely will run into problems with the parts shown here. The spacing between the two longerons is critical to get the gear leg doubler, fuel tank attach angle, and the bulkhead shown here fitted properly. Vans method leaves too much margin for error which causes allot of work to get these parts to fit.

If I were to do it over again, I would use these parts to locate the lower and aux longerons instead of the centerline in the hole method.

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Status Brantel #72823

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