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Jeff & Jackie's RV-8 Project
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Date: 4-28-2008
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Number of Hours: 1.50
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Manual Reference: n/a
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Brief Description: Tom Clark fastback - top skin
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No picture today, but an interesting discovery. A new top skin will cost me just over $400 NZ, sourced locally. Before I screw it up again, and since the existing skin is now pants, I decided to test a theory. That is, if we match the new skin against the Vans skin edge for edge and drill the longeron holes, do things line up better? This more in line with the instructions provided by Tom. The short answer is an astounding NOT ON YOUR LIFE!! We were amazed that having drilled the longeron holes now in theory where they *should* be, the gap on the aft two bulkheads on the left side was big enough to get all fingers of my hand through right up to the heel of my palm! That's a good inch or so. The only conclusions I can draw from this are:-
1) The mthod outlined in the instructions, and the 'hybrid' method that I tried first time simply will not work.
2) I'm not at all convinced that the 'old' Tom Clark kit works as per the instructions with the 'new' Vans pre-punched fuselage.
In this case, it is now up to me to 'make it work'. Not least because the canopy I have is not suitable for the 'standard' RV-8 since it is missing the aft six inches or so (that's how I got it so cheap from Todd). My plan now, again testing with the pants skin, is to match drill the longerons along one side (already done) and then match drill to the bulkheads in an 'up-and-over' manner and see how that works. Slightly different to my other plan of working top/middle down each side, but I think it will work out better. We'll try that tomorrow night. I want to work out the 'correct' method for making this work *before* I cut a new skin.
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