Practice Kits

A forum in which to discuss topics that are not specific to a particular series of aircraft (ie. how to cut alclad)
Post Reply
User avatar
dons
Class C
Posts: 873
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:28 pm
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Practice Kits

Post by dons »

As I had never taken a sheet metal coarse or set a rivet in my life, I figured it would be a good idea to do the Vans practice kits before jumping in on the emp. For anyone else starting out with zero experience as myself, I would have to say this was very much worth it. The first kit I did was the aileron piece (I believe this is used at many of the official classes as a starting project). While you don't get to do a lot of any one task, there are certainly a lot of things to be learned. Curving the leading edge proved to be the most difficult task for me, too much art and not enough science. I learned why people cover their bucking bars with something soft ... oh well, it was only the inside of a practice kit :( . I tried out some self eching primer (after building a small painting chamber to keep the fumes at bay). Before putting the final skin on, I decided to drill out a bunch of rivets, very worth while, now I won't be so scared about doing it in the future when (not if) I muck up ones on the real kit. I had also bought a bunch of oops rivets and tried them out to see how it worked, it did.
Image Image
Image Image

The second kit I tried out was actually a whole lot easier, both in required construction and because of having completed the first kit. To make it more difficult, I tried to not only prime the parts, but give it a finish coat, all with rattle cans. I'll have to get a lot better if I even want to consider painting the outside of the plane myself, but I haven't even tried a real paint gun yet.

Image Image

I have certianly learned that putting the rivets in is a very small part of the effort, getting the parts ready for that is where most of the time goes, but I don't even miss watching tv now :) .
Don Sinclair
CYKF
RV-7A (Fuselage)

tshort
Class C
Posts: 618
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 12:56 am
Location: Indianapolis, IN (KUMP)

Post by tshort »

That tool box looks SWEET!

Nice work - looks like you're ready to go.

Thomas
-8 wings

User avatar
dons
Class C
Posts: 873
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:28 pm
Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Post by dons »

tshort wrote:That tool box looks SWEET!

Nice work - looks like you're ready to go.

Thomas
-8 wings
Thanks. Two weeks of elapsed time to paint the colour (sorry color), half a can of primer, one whole can of blue spray paint, half a can of clear coat, and a lot of sanding and starting over again, not to mention the choice words when the spray nozzle on the can would do strange things. I'm looking forward to trying a HVLP spray gun.
Don Sinclair
CYKF
RV-7A (Fuselage)

User avatar
captain_john
Sparky
Posts: 5880
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:17 am
Location: KPYM

Post by captain_john »

Looks aviation grade to me!

Nice work!

:) CJ
RV-7
Garmin G3X with VP-X & a TMX-IO-360 with G3i
It's all over but the flying! 800+ hours in only 3 years!

Post Reply