983RV Life

Author: olanandkate

  • Paint Scheme Research

    Paint Scheme Research

    I always love to have an image to drive towards. I’m kind of a short sighted guy, and having an immediate vision of what I’m going towards is awesome and motivating! So I started, of course, with a Google Images search of just “rv-10.”

    So many good options came up from just that single search. I originally felt that having a white plane with a colored accent would be the way to go. I found this image that was on Van’s own website material for the RV-10.

    Awesome blue and silver accent colors on a white fuse

    The metallic blue from this plane was so beautiful. I’ve seen a few trucks like this that we also very beautiful especially in person in bright sunlight.

    I continued looking instead of just settling on that very common paint scheme scenario (white with an accent) and then I ran across this plane which was sold on Tomahawk Aero Services LLC website.

    Bright red and white scheme

    This was a little bit of middle of the road to me. Almost half and half in a way and with the color visible to the pilot while flying. But the white was still very nice looking. My wife knows that I am a sucker for white, especially if it’s done well like a metallic or a pearl. I still felt like it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. So I continued my search.

    That’s when I hit the motherload of awesome paint schemes! It was on the website named Planeschemer.com. This company has made some excellent paint schemes! I saw three specifically that were on an RV-10 and this dark cherry really caught my eye. It is such a deep rich color, and there’s still lighter accent colors that go well along with it. I also loved the silver that was used in the scheme. I felt this was very close to what I would want for my plane so that’s what I had settled on, well at least for now 🙂

    Courtesy of Plane Schemer
  • The adventure begins!

    The adventure begins!

    I’ve been contemplating building an airplane for a quite a while. I remember seeing the EAA displays at airshows where they would have a wide array of RV’s, Kitfoxes, Highlanders, and the like. I remember getting the chance to see my first RV up close was when I was taking flight lessons with Monarch Air in McKinney, TX. The local high school and EAA chapter had built an RV-12 (pictured below) which peaked my interest and made me think this might not be too difficult after all.

    • Awesome yet simple panel
    • The front of this wonderfully built RV-12 in the hangar at Monarch Air
    • Awesome color scheme!

    I had also watched Trent Palmer’s YouTube channel quite a bit. I loved seeing what he could do to his plane without having too many hassles to go through, and I loved the flights he would go on whenever he wanted. But, my mission was different for my desired plane though. I don’t have much land that I can go land on freely here in Oklahoma like they do in Nevada and Idaho. And I really wanted to travel more with my family and especially my wife when we become empty nesters (in a long time lol)

    That’s when I caught the content that FlightChops had put up about his recent visit to the Van’s Aircraft Headquarters and trying out many of the different RV models. I was fascinated by each of them and curious about the possibilities of what I would put in it. Then he started posting his build videos of his RV-14. That’s when the bug really hit hard. I saw that the process (though tedious, time consuming, and very detail oriented) would be something that I could take on and could get a fast airplane, custom built for me, by me, at a decent price.

    I ordered a practice kit after seeing it on the Van’s Aircraft online store (as well as a shirt… I’m a sucker for a t-shirt). I haven’t started working on it yet as it just arrived, but I’ve now found other channels and websites covering RV-10 builds specifically. I saw Brian and Brandi’s website with their build, videos, photos, cost log, etc. I then saw the Plane Lady YouTube channel as well as Jason Ellis’ YouTube channel covering their build’s and how they were doing. I was encouraged even more by seeing how the process went in detail through their videos.

    I then posted to the Central Oklahoma Aviator’s Facebook group asking if any local pilot’s had an RV-10 that they wouldn’t mind walking around with my wife and I. I quickly had 9-10 answers of people telling me where they knew an RV-10 was and I even had a few pilot’s willing to give me some of their precious time to see their babies. We plan on going to see them this weekend if everything plays out and I know I am super excited. So excited that I reserved a tail number and created this site! The tail number will be…

    N983RV

    I hope you join along with me while I go through the practice kit and go with me all the way through till the day I finish her! I plan on then converting this to a site covering our flying adventures, costs associated with the upkeep, and my whole experience with the RV-10 platform as it becomes a part of our life.