need advice for buying pre-owned 7A QB kit

[suprspooky]

Hi All,

I'm a soon to be RV builder (hopefully). I'm thinking about buying a pre-owned 7A QB Kit that I saw in the VAF Classifieds. I'm new to the build process (toured Van's and got a ride in a 6 some years back). I have lots of questions but I'll focus on the QB kit for sale in this thread.

The kit for sale has a finished Emp. some work done to the Wings an an un-touched Fuse. Will I be able to get a Repairmans Cert. if I do the rest of the build?

I also would like input on the risk factor/pitfalls of buying an already started project (please only respond if you have personal experience or have helped someone work on a second hand project).

I'm thinking about buying it after seeing photo's (it's 1700 miles away), I'd rather have an experienced builder look at it first but don't know how to make that happen. Does anyone have any recomendations (the Kit seller is in Bend OR), I could budget some extra travel expense $ if someone in that area was willing to look it over for me.

Thanks,

Dave

[alpinelakespilot2000]

You might want to call Gary Brown out of Independence, OR. He's a DAR and has built his RV that he flies around to do inspections with. It would be just a quick hop over the mountains for him. If you do a search on the forums here you'll see a few times where he's posted his contact info.

FWIW, even though it's a quickbuild, I would never buy a kit sight unseen (in person).

Good luck.

[MikeyDale]

I just got my repairman's certificate last week. I started with a quick build kit farther along than the one your looking at. I brought all my logs, build manual, ect, and the guy didnt want to see any of it. He asked me a couple of simple questions like, how many hours did it take and what is the cruise speed.

[BillL]

Originally Posted by alpinelakespilot2000

You might want to call Gary Brown out of Independence, OR. He's a DAR and has built his RV that he flies around to do inspections with. It would be just a quick hop over the mountains for him. If you do a search on the forums here you'll see a few times where he's posted his contact info.

FWIW, even though it's a quickbuild, I would never buy a kit sight unseen (in person).

Good luck.

+1 Have someone look at it that knows the kits and workmanship. I bought mine in process , QB+, and inspected it myself. Even to a virgin builder (but experienced engineer/mechanic), the workmanship was perfect, so I bought it. It was a divorce sale the guy was an airplane pilot. In retrospect, I was lucky.

[posterman]

There is more of a learning curve for first time builders that put the empennage together first so give some thought to checking that carefully. In the past I've asked for pictures of the shop head rivet lines, particularly of the rear HS. Another typical difficult spot I've seen is the VS leading at the center forward ribs - I've seen lots of dings and dents there.

You might also ask if the owner has complied with the HS crack service bulletin from earlier this year (SB 14-01-31) and the elevator cracks SB (SB 14-02-05). If not you probably will want to do at least the HS SB, and perhaps the elevator one should you decide to build new elevators.

The current 6A QB I'm working on which was purchased from the original owner - I jettisoned the entire empennage due to workmanship and took care of the SB's during the new construction.

[RKellogg]

Dave,

I picked up an orphaned project at a similar stage 7 years ago. In retrospect I got a good deal. Saved a year of building time and about 7AMU. Got me started on a truly fun project at a time when tuition bills were draining the checking account faster than I could refill it.

Each deal is different, get a knowledgeable expert to evaluate it prior to committing. Could easily go the wrong way. All lemons appear to be apples in emailed photographs.

Some of the PO's mistakes still show through, but I wasn't looking for a trophy plane anyway. I'm sure I would have avoided some of those mistakes if starting from scratch. Reworked some, tolerated others. The perfectionist in me is irritated every time I see these errors, but the pilot in me climbs in and starts grinning.

If you are a perfectionist, the afore mentioned 7AMU isn't that significant when you look at the overall costs, and a lousy rivet lasts a long time.

Project transportation is part of the fun, but consider the costs of a 1700 mile u-haul trip.

BTW, I did get the repairman's certificate.

Best of luck,

- Roger

[Mel]

The 51% rule does not apply to the repairman certificate.
To qualify for the repairman certificate, one must be listed as a primary builder on the registration and have completed enough of the project to competently perform the condition inspection.