Ordered parts and supplies from Vans

I made some corrections and added some clarifications to my previous post about resolving the potential build problems with the left elevator and trim tab, so please review it again if needed.

I also put an order into Vans yesterday. Consisted of the following:

24 MK-319-BS pop rivets (for closing up small ends and hard to reach areas of the riblets, elevator and trim tab)
24 AD-41-ABS pop rivets (Used for closing up the leading edges of the elevators. I drilled a ton of these out trying to close up the skins on the rudder.
1 E703 elevator tip rib (to make the riblet for the inboard end of the trim tab)
1 E720H5 predrilled stiffener angle (to replace the one that I screwed up while cutting)
2 K1000-3 Nut plates
2 K1000-4 nut plates (Will decide which size to put on the forward area of my elevator tip ribs to provide an attach point for additional lead after paint is applied. Great tip from Steve Riffe and others.)
14 AN470AD4-6 solid rivets (To replenish those that I cut down and used to attach the control horm to the right elevator)
1 Flop Tube IF-4/6  - This is a special fuel pickup tube for the fuel tanks on the the wings that can "flop" up or down or from side to side to allow continuous fuel flow during acrobatic flight, unusual attitudes, or times when fuel levels are low in the tank and you experienced turbulence that causes shifts in the fuel level that need to be followed by the fuel pickup line. I have had quite a bit of experience with this from my RC airplane building days, where even the "trainer" airplanes are capable of sustained inverted flight. they use a "clunk" tank system that basically contains a heavy weighted tip on the end of flexible fuel line so that the fuel line will follow whereever the fuel happens to be in the tank. This is just a bigger version of the same principle with a few more parts and functional aspects to consider. I will only use one in the left wing tank, and will plan on switching to that tank for all aerobatic maneuvers..

Time to start thinking about the wings and the several things that will be needed as wing construction progresses.
I spent considerable time over the past two days catching up on ALL of Ron Duren's Wing constructions posts. Tons of good info in there. SO much so that I will be revisiting it often as I begin building the wings in the not-to-distant future.

I can't remember where I read this recently, but it is so true when you start building one of these things. You have to think about building the airplane from the inside out in order to make it easier to include consideration for things that will be added to the airplane much later in the build. These include such things as:

- attach points for wire runs an routing
- wire needs for various components, such as nav/position and strobe lights, landing lights, heated pitot tube, antennas, pitot static lines, tank vent lines, etc.
- Light assemblies and locations
- Pitot tube style, function, and location
- fuel pumps

and so on....

I also have one other suprise that will require additional electrical wires in both wings, but I will save the details of that for later. I am still in research mode trying to determine what electrical system needs I will have, but I will need to account for additional electrical wires for what I have in mind. It will definitely make my airplane one of a kind I think, and I am excited to get to the point where I will implement it.

So right now I am waiting for stuff to arrive from Van's, and will continue with stiffener prep for the left elevator tomorrow.

Front and side views of the batwings

Front shot showing the cutouts where the lights will be installed

Here is a shot that shows the distinctive batwing flared design of the wingtips. This is pretty much a Van's trademark, and is one of the easiest ways to identify if the airplane is a Van's RV or something else. I'm not sure if there was some aerodynamic consideration for this design, but knowing a little about the designer of the airplane and his background, I would imagine that there is.

The fiberglass wing tips

These are the two fiberglass "batwing" wing tips that will fit on the end of each wing. The cutouts in the front are designed to fit the lexan cover for the strobe and navigation lights that will be installed for night flying purposes. the lexan comes in one piece, so you get to cut this in half and trim it to fit the cutout in the wing tip. The plans state to be sure to store these in the position shown, with the open end on a flat surface. Otherwise they will warp and become distorted. THe P-47 in the background is not part of the Van's kit, but is an RC model that enjoy flying quite a bit. I don't have any real traildragger time yet, but I have about 30 hours of taildragger time on this model, which requires much of the same skill and know-how as it does to properly fly a real taildragger.

Fuel Tank skins

At the top of this photo are the wing tank skins. You have to build the fuel tanks in much the same way that you build the rest of the wing. In the foreground are the leading edg wing skins. These two skins will basically fit next to each other. Each wing is about 9 feet long when completed, and they will attach to both sides of the Fueslage kit,which is the next step in the process after the wings are done.

Flap skins

Custom formed flap skins. The trailing edge is folded over, and the leading edge has a very distinct bend to it.

Aileron skins unpacked

These are the aileron skins unpacked from the bundle in the earlier photo

tubing for the fuel tanks

This is aluminum tubing. I know that it is used for the vent lines for each tank, and I believe it is also used for the fuel pickup line. It's only a 1/4 inch in diameter.

Finally down to the bottom of the box....

These are the remaining wing skins, all nice and flat on the bottom of the crate. These will be the final stages of completing the wings - still just  dream at this point, but also a goal that will be acheived.

Flap and Aileron Skins

All wrapped up and assembled neatly for shipping, On the left are the fuel tank baffles, and on the right are all of the skins for the ailerons and the flaps.

Leading edge Wing skins

These are the leading edge wing skins.Notice the bend. Just as they were for the tail skins, they are only bent at the factory to a certain point point. They are then pulled and clamped over the skeleton and riveted into place. I am very intrigued by the method and math they use to determine just how much bend to apply to these parts, and even more intrigued with the equipment and methods used to do this sort of thing at the factory. I see a trip to Oregon sometime in my future.......

Wing ribs

These are the nose ribs and main ribs for each wing. They are a lot bigger than the ones for the tail section, so they should be easier to work with. There is more to prime, so I'll probably be getting larger spray gun to do that.

Working the parts list

Checking the list, and checking it twice.........

What's in that little bag anyway?

This is just one of many, many more hardware bags that come with this kit. Every rivet, nut, bolt, washer, etc. needs to be counted and organized. The bag in this pic contains the hardware for a capacitive fuel sending unit that will be used to determine the fuel levels in both wing tanks. The stock parts for this from Van's consist of a float unit mounted inside the tank. I opted for less moving parts, mostly because the airplane is aerobatic, and while I don't really plan on spending most of my time upside down in the airplane, I did not see the point in having a system that will be subjected to the wear and tear of this kind of activity. There are also no bearings or shafts that might get stuck, or float parts that may become loose or dislodged in the fuel tank. The capacitive sender option is a better one all the way around as far as I am concerned.