Follow my Journey of building a Vans RV-8 Aircraft
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In preparation for the painting I need to remove as much of the items I can like the elevators, rudder, flaps and ailerons. I also removed all antennas and fiberglass parts.
The canopy will come off as well but I’m waiting to the last minute so I can prevent as much dust from getting inside.
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So I’m nearing the paint stage of my build and figured I would start the laying out of my P-51 graphics. I have a vinyl cutter and plan on doing most of them at home using Oracal 651 vinyl. This vinyl is 2.5 mils thin and last 7 years in the sun without fading. The silver and red on the RV will be painted as will the star & bars, invasion day stripes, the camouflage and the European theater stripes. I wanted to check out sizing that I was planning on and how each item laid out with reference to seams and screws.
So we are tweaking the final design with little changes but this is how it will look. Hoping to have it in the paint shop here on our Airpark in a week or so.
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I bought a document holder to carry all the required paperwork in the RV from Aircraft Spruce. It was easy to add Velcro to hold it to the side wall for easy access.
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The Thermo-Tec heat shield needs to have its edges sealed to prevent any fluids from being absorbed into the matting that’s under the foil. One of the options is to use 3M aluminum foil tape. Aircraft Spruce sells it in various widths, I decided to use the 1.5”. Applying it was easy, just cut to length and press to seal. I did round the corners to match the matting corners to make it look more aesthetically pleasing.
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The day I started this adventure, with a little push from my girl Tricia, was exactly 7 years, 4 months and 7 days ago according to my blog. Today a friend, who I met online while looking for a specific paint color code, flew his RV-8 up to our home to act not as a friend but as a D.A.R.(designated airworthiness representative). These are extensions of the FAA and do the daily work needs to keep general aviation working. He job today was to look over my RV-8 with a close eye and to ensure I had all the required paperwork. He also was there to make sure I complied with law in that I was the builder of the aircraft.
Well I’m happy/proud to say that my RV-8 passed without a single discrepancy. All the i’s were dotted, the t’s were crossed and all the paperwork was in order. The D.A.R. filled out his paperwork and issued my Special Airworthiness Certificate for N800MF! That’s right, 800MF is an official and legal airplane ready to fly and be free! There is still much to do before an official first flight but we are so close! This was a BIG day for me!