Project News

Give five people the same kit and they’ll most likely approach their respective builds in five different ways, with regard to what they’ll undertake themselves and what they’ll ‘contract out’, for want of a better phrase. I suppose that we should also add the potential choice of whether to quick or slow build. Of course, we are all heavily influenced by our own circumstances of finance, free time, known capabilities and past experiences.

My feeble little brain started turning these thoughts over when I first read Andy Miller’s account of his group-built RV-10. A type whose performance and price tag are very much at the top end of our sort of flying. As I read Andy’s project report I was pleasantly surprised by the willingness of the group to paint their own aircraft. ‘Why don’t more people do this?’ started echoing around the empty corners of my head. Of course, one doesn’t want an aircraft that costs many years of free time and a significant six figure sum, to look like a complete dog’s breakfast – but how hard can it be?

On a serious note though, painting a non-covered aircraft is possibly the least risky new skill to try to acquire, start with small parts perhaps, just the internal priming, the underside of a surface that nobody will see, and before you know it you’re tackling the whole thing. In my limited experience, spray painting produces one of three

By Andrew Miller

After building for about four-and-a-half years, our RV-10, G-FFRV, took to the skies for the first time on 13 July 2022.

Despite just being a collection of bits nailed together by three blokes in a shed, she flies beautifully – all credit to Van’s, and of course Dave Groves, Christophe Dupre and myself, our little build team.

As a small group of pilots flying out of Fairoaks in Surrey, we started out to build an aeroplane. Touring was our objective so it needed to be fast, safe, economical and be IFR capable. Van’s was the obvious choice, quickly narrowed down to an RV-14 or a RV-10. The extra utility of the 10 quickly won the day, even if there is a significant cost and build time uplift. Then an advert popped up at the back of the magazine for the five kits of outcomes. A nice finish you are proud of, something that’s as rough as a badger’s rear end or maybe a nice shine that’s full of sags. While we work toward the first of those outcomes, Wet & Dry was invented to help us with the more likely result. a just-started quick build 10 for sale. As soon as we saw it we bought it and transported it back from Swansea! Work was quickly divided up, Dave had the wings and tail surfaces, I had the fuse and Christophe the cabin top. That way we could each make progress in parallel.

But seriously, have a look at Andy’s report, not only have they undertaken the painting themselves, they’ve done all the wiring and a lot of their engine rebuild as well. I suppose what I was really marvelling at was our collective good fortune to take many possible different routes to end up with the aircraft we really want. Interestingly though, I note there is no LAA training course on aircraft painting – just saying!

John Price has sent in a very informative and light-hearted account of his recently completed RV-12iS project. A first-time builder, he had it all to learn and has happily shared the experience with us. There are plenty of tips for the burgeoning first-time builder, along with an early insight as to the performance of his RV-12iS.

Project News is not only about completed aircraft, if you have finished a major part of your project, tackled a process for the first time, or you’ve done some restoration work, please share that with our readers. To get in touch with Project News, and tell your story, report a milestone or just to send a picture, email: projectnews@laa. uk.com. Please share your story!

At last I had an excuse to build and equip a decent heated workshop with air outlets, tools (and more tools…) and, in addition to the usual pillar drill, bench top grinder etc, the key item that no workshop should be without – a lathe. Defo my favourite tool.

G-JOEY, Aurigny Air Services’ famous BN Trislander, donated its slightly used third engine (the one on the tail) to our aircraft. We stripped and cleaned it, sourced all the new parts and, GAMA in Oxford did a complete overhaul and rebuild, finishing off with a couple of hours run in the test cell. We did a lot of the (mostly dirty) prep work and saved quite a bit off the final bill, as GAMA’s job was made that much easier. We modified the engine, fitting SDS electronic ignition and Airflow Performance injection and fuel purge valve – and now have a solid IO-540.

We designed the panel together, and Dave did a superb job of fabricating, wiring and painting. Mostly built on the bench prior to moving it to the aircraft.

Dynon Skyview screen and supporting avionics, Garmin

G5 backup, Avidyne IFD440 navigator, PS Engineering audio panel and a panel mounted iPad with cooling fan. The switches are Carling and the lighting switches are all roof- mounted in the overhead console, which also provides ventilation and a location for the GPS antennae.

For the twinkly bits, we chose Flyleds lights which was another fun little project for Dave.

When it came to painting, we took on most of the painting ourselves, partly for financial reasons, but also because as a small group, we had the space and the time. Dave did the painting while we helped with some of the prep. At first we set up a paint booth in the garden using a tent framed garage, this did not go so well due to cool September evenings and bugs, so we had to retire to Dave’s garage and make that our paint booth. When painting the wings, a rotisserie helped minimise runs by laying paint on a horizontal surface and also enabling us to paint both sides in one go. For the fuselage, we set up our party tent paint booth in the ATS hangar – and with care and good extraction, we managed to avoid painting all their aircraft at the same time.

For the interior fit, we used Robert Lemke in Germany and while there were a few hiccups with deliveries, the quality of his work is excellent. We were very pleased with how it turned out, a real quality finishing touch and every time we swing open the door we are greeted by the lovely smell of new leather.

We opted for quite a few modifications: electronic ignition, autopilot, battery tray, avionics trays, ground power socket, fuel purge valve, overhead console, door latches and several more. Perhaps one or two too many. However, it seemed a shame not to take advantage of the benefits of the LAA approach which supports the builder incorporating mods – it’s all part of tailoring your aeroplane to suit what you want and, while they take time to design, approve and implement, usually they cost very little and add some utility to the aircraft. A good example being the SDS electronic ignition and fuel purge valve as every engine start, hot or cold, has been trouble free.

I loved the build, the problem solving and reviving lots of engineering skills, long dormant since my apprenticeship in the 1980s.

By the way… Did I mention the lathe? Biggest challenge was (and is) not letting the project take over your whole life. The build was a little delayed somewhat by Covid but the timescale helped us spread the cost, although the spend did accelerate towards the end with the engine, some avionics and the interior all arriving in the last year.

We’ve now completed our 15 hour test flying programme and after our steady diet of various forms of PA-28, we are simply gobsmacked at the delightful handling and impressive performance of the 10. The RV grin is a very real thing, and with the additional benefit and capability of 21st century avionics, we are very keen to start the next stage of our RV journey.

We must thank our long suffering wives for putting up with all of this, ATS at High Wycombe for a great facility and a helpful, can do attitude, our test pilot Adrian

Bonwitt and our Inspector Adam Lewis who was resolutely positive, pragmatic, supportive and professional, even during our worst ham-fisted attempts to build this aeroplane. We were unable to create a problem that he couldn’t help us fix.