The paint shop is not used to painting airplanes. Typically they paint trucks and other industrial equipment. However, they were excited to take this challange to paint my RV-7.

I helped them to ‘hang’ all the parts on the mobile scaffold. Especially the wings were tricky, because with the wing tips installed they are hard to attach.

As you can see, I used a tube and inserted them through the light openings in the wing tips into the holes of the wing ribs. Here the primer coating is already done.

The big hole provides a strong ventilation of dust and paint particles. This keeps the coatings clean.

With the first (White) layer in place, the masking tapes are set for the next layer. The part that remains white is covered with paper. It turns out the order of the layers is determined by there opaqueness.

I was a little scared when I saw this result, because I was sure the Orange collor was not the one I thought it was. But it actually was the correct color. Apparently the shinny metallic characteristics of the paint requires a finish coat to come alive.

Here are the other parts in the dry cell.

The details on the wings and wheel pants are a meticulous job.

The Red paint is done, so now the last color (Black) is sprayed. After these layers, two layers of clear coat are applied for the final finish.

Wow, in the dry cell you can already see the stunning result. I’m really glad I didn’t try this to do myself.

I’m really mesmerized by the beauty of the paint scheme.

Oops, I see there is a small Black outline ‘forgotten’. We touched that up after we moved to the airport.

Man, also the details on the fairings look great.

The wheel pants look stunning.

Now we have to ship the result to the airport. This time we have to be even more careful, not to scratch the paint.

First we ship the wings, horizontal stabilizer and the small parts.

The second ride we moved the fuselage and the canopy.

Done, all the parts are now in the (temporary) hangar. We can now start with final assembly.

Time: 30 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-07-..)

Time: 30 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-08-..)

Time:  6 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-09-04)

Video

Due to the weather we covered the plane with some extra foil to protect it from the rain.

We used the same ‘movers dollies’ when maneuvering the plane out of the workshop for Engine Start.

The width of the main gears is too wide for the doors. With dollies we can move sideways, which solves the problem.

I’ve, scuffed the entire plane with Scotch Brite pads. Prior to the transport.

In order to transport a 6 meter airplane, I had to rent a special (car transport) trailer.

Fortunately the ramp from the workshop to the orchard goes down, so the height difference we have to push the plane up is limited.

It’s still very heavy, because with the engine installed the RV is starting to become heavy.

Also it is too wide for the trailer, but just a little bit. So with the side boards partially tilted, it fits. Now we have to secure all three gear points.

The RV looks great on the trailer. We drove a second time to transport the empennage and wings.

The paint shop is only 8km from my house, but I found a short route bypassing the ‘big’ roads, because I didn’t want to go faster than 20kph.

Done, unloading the RV from the trailer was even heavier, but we used a leash line on the tail wheel to prevent a runaway.

The glass of the canopy and wind shield are covered with paper.

I’m really excited in the result, this will be the last time my plane is just Aluminum.

After four years of building, the workshop is empty again. I will transform it back from a workshop to a shed

Time: 5 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-06-02)

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-06-06)

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-06-09)

Time: 6 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2021-06-30)

Video

Here’s the first version of the scheme I that I selected. I found the all black wheel fairings rather dull and I choose a chrome spinner.

This resulted in the second version of this design. The next step is to design the Wings and Horizontal stabilizers.

Again the all black Horizontal stabilizers are dull and the pointy ‘arrows’ on the top don’t match the curves on the Wings and Fuselage.

With the Horizontal stabilizers matching the Wings is nicer and I’ve simplified the Wing roots.

This is the final design of the paint scheme (at this point in time).

Update 2020-10-01
Because the ULPower 520iSA is lighter than the Lycoming, I had to extend the Engine mount to move the CG more forward. Hence the Cowl also needs to be extended, which results in a slight change in the Cowl paint.