Fuselage Quick Build VS slow

I am nearly finished with my left wing and am thinking about ordering the fuselage kit for my 9A and can't decide which way to go. I enjoyed building the empennage but am getting tired of the repetition on the wings. It seems to never end. I have heard the fuselage is better and more interesting to build than the wings. Also, how many hours of work is there in the quick build fuselage before I need to order the finish kit? I probably couldn't order the finish very soon after buying the QB fuselage because of the expense. Any advice???
Jim Wright RV-9A wings 90919 Arkansas

There is a lot more building process in the fuselage, but it is not monotonous like the wings. It is more of a challenge, but also more rewarding. If you enjoy the building process at all, then go for the std build. On the other hand, if you are tired of building and have the money, the QB is a bargain. My vote would be for the std build. With all the pre-punched holes even the std build kit is pretty easy nowdays.
Mel...DAR

I am working on the fuse bulkheads and find that there is more fabricating of parts than in the wing, and I wish the plans wern't so vague. I hate wasting time head scratching. good thing for all them good web sites--I check them out before each session. but I do enjoy building so slow is for me.
Frank K
90989
f-706 bulkhead

Qb

I bought the quickbuild. The quality is excellent. I haven't built a standard kit, but I can tell you there is still lots of work to be done, even with the quick build. After finishing the empennage and QB wings I had about 250 hours in the project. I was thinking, with a QB fuselage, this will be a piece of cake. I flew it at 1250 hours without fairings or paint. The 1000 hours difference includes, panel, fuselage, finish, FWF, etc. I was a total newbie, so if you have some experience you could probably cut my time way down. If I had it to do again, I think I could shave a couple hundred hours off, by being more organized, not having to re-do stuff (so much), etc. I would say that you have a good 200 hours (maybe 300) worth of stuff before you need the finish kit. Good luck with your project. It is worth the work and wait no matter which way you go. Jack N489JE

Thanks everyone. I think I will order the QB fuselage if I can spare the extra money. I want to fly BAAAD! I flew Jim Younkins RV-9A the other day and I am at a fever pitch right now. What a great airplane. We did steep S turns to lose some altitude while on final just to let me see how the plane handles when going slow. We were indicating just under 50 KTs and banking the plane hard one way and then the other and it stayed rock solid. There was no mushiness to the controls or anything that would cause concern.

Jim Wright RV-9A wings 90919 Arkansas

Jim'
Check out the lead times on a QB, looks like 4-5 months.
what ever you decide order early. I orderd my fuse when I started my ailerons thinking the timing will be right, wrong-almost 3 months with no parts.
Frank K
fuse

Jim,

Good choice! I?m fabricating all the stiffeners in the forward fuselage and am really wishing I had spent the cash on the QB kit.

Heck, with all the parts I have screwed up and had to replace I could have saved myself a lot of cashing going with the QB!

Right now I am not looking forward to countersinking all the holes along the longerons! That task is going to take forever!

Countersinking the longerons, and the lower longerons, and the aux longerons and the floor stiffeners, and more does get boring. You can always break it up by making the seat backs. I try to break up the boring stuff (deburring, countersinking) with something more fun.

Counter sinking production line...

When I was doing my longerons, etc, I had my countersink set up in the drill press and slid all the work past it quickly. Once you have the stop set on the countersink tool, it goes very fast. Check the picture at the bottom of this page:

http://www.n2prise.org/rv9a018.htm

I hope to be moving the airplane to the Collegedale Airport next week.

Jerry K. Thorne
RV-9A N2PZ

Davepar said:

Countersinking the longerons, and the lower longerons, and the aux longerons and the floor stiffeners, and more does get boring. You can always break it up by making the seat backs. I try to break up the boring stuff (deburring, countersinking) with something more fun.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I did with the rudder peddles and the seat backs are just about ready for priming. Anything else I can do/fabricate when I?m board?

n2prise said:

When I was doing my longerons, etc, I had my countersink set up in the drill press and slid all the work past it quickly. Once you have the stop set on the countersink tool, it goes very fast.

Click to expand...

Exactly my plan, only I might have to move my drill press or something like that. Still a long and tedious task.

Ah, the joys of a slow build kit!