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Show us a pic of your FINISHED RV-7/7A!!!

Panel

Yes guys,
its the symmetrical RV-7 panel w dual Dynons, EI-Commander (for the P-Mags) two Becker radios and GMA 240. Switches are from Aveo
 
Finally Painted

After 4 years of flying I finally got round to getting it painted.
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Grady at Glo-custom was a pleasure to work with.
 
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Very attractive. For some reason, perhaps the way A models sit on the ground, the right paint scheme makes a huge difference in "curb" appeal. I would say yours is spot on.
 
Fresh from the print shop

Here's a picture of my freshly painted airplane. I can now truly say it's completely finished! It was painted By Rodney Clay at select aircraft painting in Gulf Shores Alabama. Rodney's expertise and craftsmanship is outstanding! I like it even better than I thought I would. I hope this picture motivates others to keep on pressing those rivets because in the end, It's truly worth it.

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My numbers

BPoletti, You asked about numbers for my 7A with 0320 and D1A fixed pitch propeller. At the max RPM I can turn With this propeller, (2600 RPM restriction), I indicate 155 Knots. My airplane seems to be very clean and well rigged. I believe if I could get the max RPM from the engine I would be pulling very very close to Vans published numbers. The empty weight before painting was 1039 pounds. I'm guessing when I re-weigh I'll be adding about 10 pounds to that. It has 100 hours on it now and if I had it to do over, I would definitely put the 180 hp engine along with a Catto prop! Don't get me wrong here, I was used to flying a Cessna 152 so this thing flies like a hot rod to me! I do love it!!
 
Fresh Out of Glo Custom

I picked up my plane last Friday from Grady at Glo Custom.
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Then it was off to Houston to take her home. John Bixby took me up for the pickup and snapped a few air to air shots.

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Here is a shot in front of the nest when we got home.

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I can finally say its complete. Keep building folks! It well worth the ride.:D
 
I realize that a plane is never really done.....but I thought I'd share some 95% done pictures after I just got her back from the paint shop. I'm looking forward to really being to enjoy having my own plane this summer.

Jason

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Buttons on the throttle?

Jason you have a beautiful plane, I really like that paint job!

I am curious what the buttons on the throttle are for?
 
Back from GLO

All painted up and ready for the formation clinic next month. First flight was November 12, 2012.

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Very nice panel !
Was it a very windy day or did you had a residual pressure (65KTAS on ground) ?
 
took forever to get home:) Actually the panel picture is old, wings weren't on so I had a plug in the pitot line which trapped a little pressure. It showed up as airspeed. At least I knew the line was solid from the wing to the ADHRS.
 
Loren, good looking plane and panel.

Proud you should be.

I'm particularly proud of him. Loren is my brother! He takes particular pride in pointing out that he can outrun my RV-8. He's forcing me to upgrade to a Titan 409 engine. The race is on! :D
 
All painted up and ready for the formation clinic next month. First flight was November 12, 2012.

Painted already? Man, times flies! Last time I talked to ya on the parking lot bus at IAH you were getting ready for the first flight...

Beautiful ship!
 
Well, it's finally done and in the air! It flys hands off level without any heavy wing or anything like that. Infact, the only issues are calibration points with the GRT's.

I have a very strange question. When I put gas in the tanks, it is a very slow process, with the fuel having to flow past and through the holes in the tank ribs. Is this normal?

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I have a very strange question. When I put gas in the tanks, it is a very slow process, with the fuel having to flow past and through the holes in the tank ribs. Is this normal?
...

First of all, congratulations on getting to this point. I'm several years behind you, and it feels like a lifetime!

On the fuel fillng problem, the larger holes at the bottom and middle of the rib are plenty large enough to allow fuel to flow inboard as you fill. What also needs to happen is for the air that's down there to be able to flow outboard as the tank fills. The holes provided for this are the two little ones along the top edge of the internal ribs. In the photo below, they are the ones bisected by the bottom of my fillets. Also the gap at the top rear corner of these ribs should remain open to help with venting as you fill. It's pretty easy to cover these up when you're filleting the rib. Any chance that might have happened on one or more of your internal ribs?

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Miles,

Good question! To save time, I bought quickbuild tanks. In retrospect, I sometimes wish I had built them. I think I'll borescope the tanks and take a look.

Mike,

Thanks for the kind words. I can't pull it out of the hangar without getting gaulkers and comments about how "pretty" it is! :eek:. If planes are ladies, I guess I dressed her pretty well!
 
After 10.4 hrs of test time, finally installed the gear fairings and wheel pants. Still need to install the intersection fairings but wanted to see what difference these would make. WOW! Gained about 15 knots!

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Udpate

Thought I'd post an update on the 7 that I built that is now owned by a supremely nice gentleman in South Africa. Wynn is on here from time to time, but I haven't seen any pics of the airplane since he had it painted. A quick search of the www and I have pics to share...

This is what N755CB looked like on the day I sold it-


And a few shots of ZU-WYN as it looks today!






 
N1991M with paint by Stahr

My son Doug wanted our airplane to be silver. John Stahr, of Artistic Aviation, suggested that silver and grey would be poorly visible in the Oregon sky, so he came up with the idea of a dark belly to give a more noticeable silhouette against the sky and transitioning to a silver top. He also added the chrome stripes on the wings and fuselage, which I think make the plane look sleeker. I just wanted to show off John's excellent work:

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Long time comming

In my quest to burn lots of av gas and get closer to 40 hours, I landed at Arlington (KAWO) today to check things out. There was a gentleman practicing with his new lens for the airshow next weekend so after lunch I asked if he could send me the pictures. Well what do you know, a few hours later I have an email and I love it.

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-david
 
In my quest to burn lots of av gas and get closer to 40 hours, I landed at Arlington (KAWO) today to check things out. There was a gentleman practicing with his new lens for the airshow next weekend so after lunch I asked if he could send me the pictures. Well what do you know, a few hours later I have an email and I love it.

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DSC_4246_zpsd10f26ba.jpg


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DSC_3911_zpsefcca6e9.jpg


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-david

I love the paint scheme
 
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