Vision prototype photo

Vision prototype photo
This is the Vision prototype designed/built by Steve Rahm in USA. and still being supported by Pro Composites Ltd. in USA. The aircraft is a 2 seat side by side, scratch built from a series of manuals. Built entirely of fiberglass and carbon cloth material the builder needs to know or learn some of the easy basics of composite construction. Building began Feb. 1998 in my spare time with 7 years where no building was possible. Building Hours at February 28, 2022: 4248.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Some short videos of flights are at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfxJXIwvmfNlNF3gwplFw7Q

Friday, January 8, 2021

Oil Filler Access Door

 January 8 2021

The oil filler and dipstick access was started by making a Splash coat of  3 layers of carbon fiber and then laying that onto the top surface of the engine cowling.  I identified the location and size of the door, marked it on the cowling with a sharpie and taped over area with packing tape.  This was left to harden for a couple of weeks while I did other jobs.  I spoke with a friend who builds Vans RV's on the field and he suggested I build a hidden hinge style for better esthetics.  I was happy to go this route and had a great example in one of his planes to model mine upon.  The splash coat is to form a new oil door from that is a perfect match to the curvature of that location of the cowl.  I removed the splash coat and then carefully cut out the shape of oil door I wanted.  Then I cut and trimmed the Carbon splash coat to exactly fit the door opening I just made.  I taped the inside of the oil door in packing tape then taped the new door into place on the outer surface of cowling.  I then made up fiberglass strips for flanges and applied to the sanded inside surface of cowling, these will support the oil door.  Afterwards trimmed down the flanges and installed the 2 Milspec quarter turn fasteners which will it closed.  I then bent up the aluminum curved hinge adapter out of .062 thick aluminum.  Trimming off the excess aluminum (right hand edge in photos) to get a good fit, finally drilling and cleco in place.  I am only riveting the outer ends of the piano hinge and other holes all have a dab of structural adhesive.  The hinge onto the adapter will have 5 rivets.








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