Thank you for all that replied, I kept wings on stand and had a helper ( fellow RV Builder ) help me shoot most of the I/B skins. It is always great to have good help and two brains thinking at the same time so you dont get trapped. Every thing worked out great and I borrowed tungston bars and what ...

I have read many ways to rivet bottem of my wing skins. Vans says to start on I/B rear spar between wing walk ribs and work in an L shaped patern. Some other builders say to Start on FWD spar and work in L shaped pattern toward o/b. And some builders start in the middle of I//B skin and work there w...

You can use a scrap piece of 1/8 aluminum and when opening up the holes to the correct size drill throught the scrap piiece and then it will act as a guid for the pilot on the counter sink. Remember that you have to go deaper then just flush with an #8 screw so that the dimple in the skin sits flush...

Thanks for the reply
I will cut mine to exact size.

Mike

I am about to build the large and small Aileron push pull tubes. Before I cut them just want to know if they should be cut 1/8 or 1/4 longer. I just want to check with other builders to see if VANS indicated length is good to go or if builders wished they would have gone a little longer. Thank you. ...

I would like to know if every one is countersinking the rear spar where the aileron reinforcing brace goes and also the aileron support bracket goes. The rear spar is built to plans and I cant seem to find out if your supposed to countersink the skins or the rear spar in this area. I have checked a ...

I took your survey,
My biggest block is FAMILY. I have 3 kids and two of them are in sports, all stars and traveling team. Sometimes it seems like a month will go by and no time to work on my plane

The MIN 2X hole distance to edge is for universal head rivet AN 470 and the Edge Distance for Counter Sunk rivets AN 426 is MIN 2 1/2 times the diameter. It is always good to go more edge distance than minimums if you can. You an always order a new hing or go with what you have done it will be fine....

Just finished ONE fuel tank on my 8. It feels like a huge milestone completed. It came out clean and now it is time for pressure testing????

Keep building,
MIke

Thats awesome Chad, That was one of the planes I considered before I started my RV-8. At the time I looked at the CX-4 every part had to be hand formed on forming blocks that you had to shape from the prints. Way to time consuming with my schedule. I am sure you will like the plane. It looks like th...

Awesome Chad,
your feathers are almost grown from being clipped. To be free.

take care,
Mike Balzer

Congratulations,
mine could get me a beer at 1 1/2 out of the refrigerator and be able to tell the difference between diet coke and bud light.

He would climb on my motorcycle and watch me build for hours and want to help too.

You will have a good helper too.


take care,
Mike Balzer

Joe, I am currently building my tanks on my 8 now. The fayed sealing method works great and is less messy. Bruce's Swayze web site gives a good description of how it was done on his right tank. I used electrical tape and taped around the ribs to help keep mess down. It is a 2 person job. I did my st...

Awesome Job Mike,
it gave me the chills to see you take off for the first time in your RV-7.
I got a long way to go. I get to play with sealant putting my tank together this weekend.


Take care,
Mike Balzer

Nice work,
Looks like it will last forever now?


Happy New Year,

Mike

Chad, some 5052-h32 aluminum would be less prone to cracking and maybe you could make a doubler out of .125 and rivet it to your baffle and stop drill the crack so it does not continue. 2024-t3 aluminum is brittle and when subject to vibration and stress will cause it to crack. I also recommend addi...

It looks like the extended fuel tank bungs from SAFE AIR are the same part as the FUEL DRAIN FLANGE. I don't know for sure but if it is the same I could compare prices with VANS and install the Fuel tank bung on the O/B rib. I notice that the bung kit offered by SAFE AIR has a different thread for t...

I know what you mean. Sometimes I forget my pass word and dont have Mozilla to remember it for me. Plus at my work they dont allow Rivet Bangers or any site that can allow you to chat.

Thats when the IRON KEY coms into play to allow me to by pass the security.


Thanks for the comment,

Mike Balzer

While looking over the rivet bangers today I noticed 6+ guest looking through rivetbangers.com. Just to let you guest know there is no spam, e-mails, harrasment, or anything you could think of to prevent your name or identity from being known. This is a great site with a wealth of knowledge and a lo...

Joe, When counter-sinking the spar, you must have a piece of metal as a back up for the pilot of the countersink to keep as a guide. Without the extra piece of extrusion aluminum alloy clamped to the lower spar cap. .050 to .125 thickness would work just fine. What happens is the countersink goes so...