Vans RV-7 N853DF Custom Paint Scheme
“Our quest to find a designer for our RV-7A paint scheme began at Oshkosh in 2017. My son Keith was there and I had asked him to check out the design firms that were present. Specifically, I knew of Evoke Aircraft Design and one other. Keith went to the other firm first. He is a twenty something Airline Pilot and A&P. The other firm wouldn’t give him the time of day, so he went to visit Jonathan. Jonathan spent a substantial amount of time with Keith and answered all his questions. I followed up after Oshkosh with a call to Jonathan and got the same, “answer all your questions”, response. I asked him if he knew of Evoke Aviation, as I had seen pictures of airplanes they had painted. When he told me that he also owned Evoke, I knew we had found our design firm and our paint shop. Keith and Jonathan worked back and forth for about six months refining the paint scheme. I personally found the design quite a bit “out there” and completely different than anything I had seen on an RV, but we went with it. We delivered the RV-7 to Jonathan, spent half a day in disassembly and went back to Atlanta. We got the airplane back about a week before Oshkosh 2018. It was stunning. We reassembled the plane, flew an additional 25 hours of Phase 1 testing and got the airplane to Oshkosh in time for judging. We were fortunate to win an Outstanding Craftsmanship Award. That was thrilling, as this was our first airplane build. We are currently building an RV-10 and are already on Jonathan’s schedule to design and paint this plane, too. I hope this is as strong a testimonial as I can give. The RV-7 turns heads everywhere we go. I expect the RV-10 will as well.”
OWNER: Krea and Keith Ellis
AIRCRAFT: Vans RV-7 N853DF
PAINTED BY: Evoke Aviation
AWARDS: "Outstanding Craftsmanship Award", Oshkosh 2018; "Exceptional Achievement Homebuilt Award", SUN 'n FUN 2019
Krea and Keith are a father/ son duo who built this aircraft together. Krea reached out to us after meeting one day, and referred our services to his son after flying in to check out our office and paint facility. Once he and his wife took the tour, they knew immediately that their RV would be in the right hands. We worked with them to come up with something we knew they would be pleased with for a long time. This design defines the latest trend we've helped develop in the homebuilt community; sporty, straight lines paired with tactful color choices. This sort of combination lets the aircraft stand out on the field without being overly demanding of one's attention.
Once we had the perfect scheme, Krea delivered the aircraft to our facility, where we transformed the 2D concept into the final reality. A few coats of paint later, it was finished... and just in time for Airventure 2018 where this beauty rightfully won the Outstanding Craftsmanship Award and later went on to win the Exceptional Achievement Homebuilt Award at SUN ‘n FUN the following year.
