Section:

Hours: 7

I spent the last month working with Evoke Aircraft Design to come up with a paint scheme. I had seen a Mooney painted with a beautiful red, white and black paint scheme and used that as a starting point for the design. Evoke provided multiple sketches starting with that design and we ended up with something entirely different except for the colors. I worked on font design and font tools so I wanted to include some interesting typography in my design. Monotype just published a modern version of Helvetica which I used as a starting point for the full size N number. I found a weight that had stroke widths that comply with the FAA lettering requirements. We slanted the base line so it would be parallel to the ground when the tail wheel is on the pavement and I adjusted the italic angle so the letters would be upright when the airplane is in the air. I also designed a custom Rv14 logo for the tail.

I decided to use Kracon at KLHM to do the painting. My hanger mate had his RV7 painted there last year and the quality was very good. Today I brought the airplane to their shop and helped disassemble all the control surfaces and cowlings.