Ive heard of single piece wing skins — whats the deal there?
This used to be a common mod on RV-6s and -4s — using a single piece of .032 2024-T3 (from Vans or elsewhere) in place of the two-piece (inboard .032 and outboard .025) top wing skins. The main advantages were easy alignment with the spar and elimination of the skin joint. Eliminating the joint is a nice aesthetic touch, but with the advent of pre-punched (plus shipping hassles, the addition of approx. 23 oz extra weight per panel, some extra cost), it really doesn’t make much sense anymore. Van’s has somewhat grudgingly shipped the one piece skins to people who ask for them, but they do so in a large crate instead of rolling them up, so the shipping costs are high. If you are determined to do this, you should investigate whether there is a source for .032 2024-T3 aircraft aluminum close to where you live, and consider getting it from there. What’s a RMI (Rocky Mountain Instrument) micro encoder? It is a 3 1/8″ instrument, which is an altimeter (inches or Millibars), Vertical Speed In
