5 Aesthetic Upgrades to Polish off the Bogey (Part 1)

At 11 hours of flight time, The Backcountry Bogey is ready for some fine-tuning. I want this bushplane looking it's finest at airshows before I ding it up to heck in the backcountry! So let's talk about some items that need to be addressed.
Part 2 is found here: (hold tight! it's coming, eager beaver!)
Squawks First 25 hours video: • SQUAWKS! First 25 Hour...
0:00 Intro
4:16 Continental IO-340 Titan Update on operational limits, manuals, etc.
6:39 Quarter-turn hardware difficulties
7:14 Door handle and fitment
9:14 Window blow out fix with 3M VHB tape
10:35 Fixing the perforated vinyl stripes on the doors
11:39 Skylight perforated vinyl installation
12:01 Insta360 x4 wing mount
12:18 To be continued...
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[@cschave]

Not to fan boy, but I'm consistently impressed by how much you know about planes and flying... I guess it has been your life for a minute, but still...

[@yankey4]

Dude I really don't know much about what your talking about. But man you're a hell of a teacher and a inspiration to me. To do my best at all I do. Thanks so much for sharing!! Loving your Attention to detail !! God bless brother

[@gregmanzie6109]

I too have had my upper panel door Lexan pop out on my 21. I hit a VERY big pot hole in the sky. Lifted me off the seat, dislodged my headset & somehow caused me to bash my elbow into the lexan panel. Day 1 of a 14 day flying trip….. Patched it up with duct tape & repaired it when I got home. I used VHB tape in the initial build (finished 2022) but I think the capture strip needs to be about 1/2 as wide again to ensure the lexan is well & truely held in place.

[@martinjmerritt]

Steve, not sure if you checked the fit of the door frame in the fuselage before riveting the Lexan in but mine were twisted. Pretty hard to avoid when welding up a large structure made up of light material. The fix was to lay the door frame on the floor with a bit of 2x4 under one corner and stand on two other corners to get the twist out. Retest fit in fuselage, and repeat till you have a good fit. Once the Lexan is riveted in you have locked in whatever twist the bare doorframe came with. One other Rans door issue…the rivets for the aluminum extrusion across the waist of the door were spec’d too short in my 2019 S20 kit. The VHB tape is a good idea added after a window popped out in an early factory S21….but I’m not sure they called for longer rivets when they called for adding the tape…but they should have. The S20 never called for the VHB tape but I added it anyway, along with longer rivets. My doors fit well.

[@CLEAREDDIRECT]

Yeah I should’ve talked about this. I didn’t feel comfortable bending the frame and the door latch solutions worked fine. Interesting about the rivet schedule. I’m pretty confident the AAPQ-45s were long enough, but I should’ve verified. Thanks for the info!

[@martinjmerritt]

Not sure if you’re planning Orovile on Sat 11 but I should be there with my S20 C-GMDK. Will look for you.

[@CLEAREDDIRECT]

@@martinjmerritt still laid up recovering from shoulder surgery but I’ll be a FULL summer. Thx for the info, have fun!

[@cubman2711]

Thanks for the review, Steve. These really help me going forward. Randy

[@mmgando]

Great job!!

[@ToddWalker-gq3gn]

Please change out your door handles for the new ones! The small weld is known to let go and your door will slam open in flight and dent the bottom of your wing ( ask me how I know). The new ones are pricy but so worth it. I don’t want to see your beautiful paint damaged.

[@CLEAREDDIRECT]

Oh man I hadn’t heard this. Sounds like RANS should send me a new handle kit pro bono!

[@SkyRayden100]

Lookin good! Curious how you mounted the 360 camera?

[@CLEAREDDIRECT]

Part 2 will explain it (releasing in 10 hours)... 1/4-20 nut plates for flightflix mounts...

[@derekradcliffe3313]

Curious what you’re getting cruise wise. Even unfinished.

[@CLEAREDDIRECT]

The best I’ve seen is 125KTAS (144mph). I think I’ll get to 130KTAS/150mph with one more tweak. All coming soon in my flight test series about to drop

[@SteveN3695J]

OUCH, Be careful with the duct tape.... Purchase some wide vinyl tape, (color of your choice), you'll be happy you did. It my be too late..lol..:)

[@CLEAREDDIRECT]

Why? It worked perfect.

[@SteveN3695J]

I’m sure you know, duct, tape, if left in the heat, or the sun will dick vigorously and likely pour some of your paint or vinyl away from that beautiful bird you built. Thanks for the come back, happy Flying :-)

[@SteveN3695J]

I’m sure you know, duct tape, if left in the heat or the will stck vigorously and likely pull some of your paint or vinyl away from that beautiful bird you built. Thanks for the come back, happy Flying :-)

[@SteveN3695J]

My apologies, my fat finger and the tiny iPhone lol

[@SteveN3695J]

My apologies, my fat finger and the tiny iPhone lol