Wings

After church today I spent the afternoon in the garage working on the project. I mounted both the W-724 aileron gap fairings by drilling, deburring and riveting them on the rear spar of both wings.

3.5 Hours

Wings - 30 hrs

Empennage - 195 hrs

Total hours on project = 225

Wings

Donna had a trip to Oklahoma City planned for me today but I managed to put in a little time on the project this morning. It sure was hot and humid in the garage even though I had the doors open and a fan blowing on me.

I mounted the flap brace on the left wing and drilled the mounting holes to final size. Then I pulled it off and deburred the holes and edges and smoothed it up. Then I riveted it in place with the cherry max and MSP-42 rivets.

1.5 hours

Wings - 26.5

Empennage - 195 hrs

Total hours on project = 221.5

Wings

Today I was able to complete the assembly of the aileron bracket assemblies for both wings. Once they were assembled I was able to rivet them on the wings. The squeezer wasn't able to reach all the rivets so Donna helped me. She started out shooting the rivets but changed her mind pretty quick and took over the bucking duties.

Once the aileron brackets were finished I pulled out the W-721 flap braces for both the wings along with the aileron gap fairings for both wings. I mounted the flap brace on the right wing and then final drilled the holes where you attach it to the spar of the wing. The plans call for using blind rivets to attach the flap brace. You have to use cherry max rivets on the root end and then MSP-42 rivets for the rest.

It was quite a long day in the garage as all the holes had to be drilled to final size and then deburred. I also had to radius the edges of all the parts to smooth that out with a file, sandpaper, and then polished it up with a scotchbrite pad.

7 Hours

Wings-25 hrs

Empannage-195 hrs

total hours on project=220

Wings

Today I studied the plans and started assembling the W-413 and W-414 Aileron bracket assemblies. I riveted the outboard bracket for the left wing and figured out how the W-724 aileron gap fairing mounts to the rear spar. Things should go quickly now that I actually know how it all goes together.

3 Hours

Wings - 18 hrs

Empennage - 195 hrs

Total hours on project = 213

Wings

After church this morning we came home and I grilled some ribeyes on the grill while Donna made some potato salad and baked beans. By the time we had finished with lunch and the clean-up I was ready to get back to work on the RV-7.

Most of the afternoon was gone already but I managed to install the rod-end bearings and jam nuts on both ends of all four pushrods. That was pretty easy and didn't take too long. Then I installed the aileron bell cranks in both wings.

2 hours

Wings - 15 hrs

Empennage - 195 hrs

Total hours on project = 210

Wings

Today I was able to finish the W-716 bellcrank to stick pushrod. I had to install and rivet the VA-111 to the pushtube and then applied a coat of primer to both the W-716 and the W-818 pushrods.

3 Hours

Wings - 13 hrs

Empennage - 195 hrs

Total hours on project = 208

Wings

I got out in the garage workshop late this afternoon to try and get back in the spirit of airplane construction. During my last session I had gathered up the parts for the pushrods so today I got started on them. I primed the inside of both sets of tubes and let that dry. I decided to wait to prime the outside of the push rods until I finished the installation of the rod ends. Then I measured and drilled the the ends of the bellcrank to aileron pushrods. Then I riveted the ends to the rods. The first one was the learning curve and I wasn't real happy with the way the rivets ended up. but I did a much better job on the second one and I think I can live with the results.

4 Hours

Total hours on project = 205

Empennage - 195 hrs

Wings - 10 hrs