Category: RV-7 Builders Log

Anything related to the construction of our RV-7 airplane

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Aluminum Foiled the Cowl

The interior of N50KB’s cowl was starting to discolor from the engine heat. 8″ wide adhesive backed foil came from Amazon. After wiping the inside with acetone I found the wide foil wrinkled during application. It was cut into 4″ wide strips that worked much better.

Application Method: Cut a strip. Remove about an inch of backing. Align and start sticking. Grab the end of the paper backing from underneath and fold it back on itself while pressing on the aluminum side with a cloth. Slowly pull the backing while pressing with my palm. Follow the fold in its travel to the end of the tape. Burnish as necessary to seal any wrinkles.

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200 Knot Club

In the world of Van’s RV Homebuilt Aircraft there is an event known as “joining the 200 knot club”.  It’s for aircraft that have surpassed 200kts (230mph) groundspeed in level cruise flight.  By far the majority of Van’s RVs have a top speed in level cruise around 175 kts or 200 mph.  So a pretty good tailwind is required.

Thursday 4/7 on a flight retrieving N50KB from Michigan to Florida we (I and the plane) joined the club.  Click on the photos to see the detail.  What a ride!

There was a 72 kt tailwind component at 14,500 ft msl. That plus the 143 kt full throttle (59% power) true airspeed pushed and pulled us at 215 kts over the ground.

215 kts

9.9 gallons per hour.  24.9 miles per gallon. Hooah!!!

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Oshkosh Airventure 2019

Sent a photo of N50KB in response to a query on Vans Airforce forum. Doug Reeves passed it on to Vans Aircraft where Rick Hayes passed it on to Lycoming. I received a call that Lycoming would like to have the aircraft on display at their Airventure booth in Oshkosh.