Anyone building Zenith 650/601 or an RV near Melbourne?

[olegusan]

Hi all,

 

I am thinking about building an aircraft and narrowed down the design of my "dream machine" to either RV 12 (or 9 or 7) or CH 650

 

I would really like to talk to someone who has the construction in progress and actually see how it looks like and how it feels like.

 

Would anyone be so kind to invite me to their hangar/garage to show their pride and joy and talk about it a bit?

 

I'll bring beer. :)

 

Oleg

 

 

[Ultralights]

vans airforce has a huge amount of info on all vans aircraft models, lots of rv12 builders there.

 

 

[Thruster87]

Save you the trouble of building one as I have my 601xlB 3300A with only 32hrs TT [same as 650 nearly] for sale. cheers pm me for more info or look under classified adds

 

 

[rgmwa]

The RV 7/9 are obviously in a different class to the RV-12 or CH 601. I went through much the same thought process but decided on the-12 for various reasons. There are a reasonable number of RV-12's in Victoria, so there should be some builders you can get in touch with. As Ultralights said, check here for all things RV12 and RV's generally:

 

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/forumdisplay.php?s=e8243b4b263b639d06b5075c8633884e&f=73

 

I'm happy to answer any questions if you want to send me a PM

 

rgmwa

 

 

[crashley]

Hi I have an rv12 that I would be happy to show you I live near Traralgon in the Latrobe valley

 

send me a message if you want more info or come and have a look

 

 

[olegusan]

Save you the trouble of building one as I have my 601xlB 3300A with only 32hrs TT [same as 650 nearly] for sale. cheers pm me for more info or look under classified adds

Hi Thruster,

 

Thank you for the offer.

 

I actually want to build the plane with my own hands.

 

I may consider buying a partially build kit.

 

Cheers,

 

Oleg

 

 

[Thruster87]

10,000 rivet holes need to be de-burred plus all the edges , then corrosion treatment /priming/painting which was about 70% of my construction time.The fun part is researching and putting it all together.I looked at Partial kits but decided against it as I wanted total control of corrosion proofing . Cheers

 

 

[crashley]

most of the rivet holes on the rv12 don't need to be deburred but there is 14000 rivets to be pulled and about 1500 to be squeezed and lots and lots of deburring

 

 

[Thruster87]

Are the holes pre-drilled to the correct size in the RV kit

 

 

[rgmwa]

Are the holes pre-drilled to the correct size in the RV kit

Yes. There are some holes that need match/final drilling, but 95% of the holes are the correct size.

rgmwa

 

 

[crashley]

how is your plane going rgmwa we have just gone over the 360 hour mark and still flying great no real problems

 

 

[rgmwa]

I'm almost at the finish line.... if only the finish line would stop moving!

 

Seriously, I've got a bit of work to do on the canopy, tighten up a few engine hoses, final test the fuel tank for leaks and install it, finish the spinner and adjust the prop, and put the interior together - that's about it really. So not much to go. I've got an AFR tomorrow so I've been doing a bit more flying than building of late. After that it's ticking off all the items on the SAAA checklist, working through the CoA pack, another tech counsellor inspection, turn on the avionics and hope nothing blows up, engine start, CoA inspection and first flight. Somewhere in there I'll have to move it from the shed down to Serpentine. I posted a photo of it here http://www.recreationalflying.com/threads/rv-12.119208/ a little while back. At least it looks like a plane now. 360 hours is very good going. You've probably got the Australian RV-12 record. Nice trip write-up btw. Hope to get over there myself one day.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[fly_tornado]

zenith are offering a quick build kit now which looks like it will take a lot of the pain out of the build. don't forget the resale, 601xlb are worth nothing, especially if you use a jab3300 while rv12s still seem to go for good money.

 

 

[crashley]

I spent lots of time trying to get the prop set right started with getting 4900 rpm on a static test it is now set for about 5250rpm on take off with full fuel passenger and luggage this gives me a cruise of about 115 tas at 5400 rpm it is very hard to get accurate figures as the altitude and temp affects the figures a lot The philosophy at the moment is set the pitch finer and run it at higher revs and our canopy leaks heaps of air down the sides and from around the hinge area doesn't seem to be any easy fix for it

 

ashley

 

 

[rgmwa]

Thanks for the info. Vans now have a seal kit for the canopy that you can order. I haven't installed it yet but it might help. Craig Catto (Catto props) has plans to develop a fixed pitch prop for the RV-12 that he believes should perform better than the ground adjustable Sensenich. Will have to wait and see.

 

rgmwa