This page is completely unorganized – for now. It’s just a bunch of random stuff about paint, avionics possibilities and other options for the future. Enjoy!

Paint Schemes

The following paint schemes are a complete goof, done by converting Van’s 3-view drawings to a CorelDraw format. I applied the paint schemes with CorelDraw, then exported the finished product to a JPEG file.

Red Top

Yellow Top

Mighty RV

Mighty Blue

Blue and Grey

Not super original for RVs, but nice, clean and simple. Ellen picked the colors, which I really like.

“Multi-swoosh” Blue and Grey
New as of Jan 2010

Decided to play around with curved lines. Took Ellen’s colors, tweaked ’em a bit, and added some accents.

Here what this paint scheme looks like in the FFS RV-7 model for Microsoft FSX. My buddy Jim used this technique very successfully for building his paint scheme. Here’s my attempt… Avionics

Take all of the following with a grain of salt! I’m so far from buying avionics that some of the stuff mentioned below may not be available when I’m ready to build the panel.

This is the first cut at an instrument panel layout, made using the Experimental Panel Builder website.
Since I intend to build a slider, panel access will be an issue. There are two ways to get around that. First, I’d think about installing access panels in the fuselage skin forward of the canopy; I got this idea from Dan Checkoway’s project, and his website has a great depiction of this process.

And second, I’d plan on using a pre-cut modular panel from Affordable Panels. Their panels are drop-in replacements for those supplied by Van’s, except that they consist of a subframe that attaches to the fuselage, and a removable panel plate.

The stuff in this panel reflects my basic plan to fly the RV in light IFR, at most. By “light” I mean the capability to fly an approach if need be, but primarily for operations in day VFR.

Avionics Update – March 25, 2012

Here’s my second take on avionics for the Mighty RV. One of the few advantages of being a super-slow builder is that I’ve had extra time for glass-cockpit avionics to evolve. As of now I’ve pretty much settled on a Garmin G3X PFD and MFD. One of the advantages of this configuration is that I can start with one EFIS display and expand to two (or three) in the future. Also note that this layout is for a tip-up canopy…sometime in the last eight years we changed our mind on the canopy type.
I did this latest design with XPanel 5000 Instrument Panel Design Software. It’s not free like ePanelBuilder, but it is a nice piece of software. And considering the amount of money I’ll put into panel, $99 for XPanel isn’t a huge outlay.