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Quickbuild vs. Slowbuild Fuselage

aarvig

aarvig

Well Known Member
So one of the great questions facing builders...I will hopefully be finishing my slow build wings this summer and will be onto the fuselage. Is the fuselage hard to build relative to the other components? Is it worth the 5K to buy a quick build? To be honest with you I think I would rather slow build it to save the 5K but if the fuse is really difficult, maybe it would be worth it. What are your thoughts?
 
Slow build wings are repetitive, I thought the slow build fuse went much faster. Personally I needed the extra time the slow build provided to save up for the next piece. I think you would miss out on some actual build experience by going quick build, such as forming the longerons with a vise and a hammer!
 
when you look back at the empennage does it look as hard as it seemed? the problem is the steep learning curve. makes it hard to evaluate the past. I spent a year slo-building my -6A wings, but only a month with the pre-punch -8 wings. the rivets are pretty accessible on the fuse. that helps, although fat guys might disagree when it comes to the tail cone parts. having been flying for 15 yrs. I'd say speed things up and enjoy the extra year of flying. if your medical/age isn't at all in question, then it's back to a monetary and how fast do you work question.
 
Hey Aaron,

I, too, thought about the SB vs. FB route. I've been making good progress on the SB route (almost done with the wings at 400 +/- hrs), including (seemingly too many) calls to Vans for a do-over. I like the fact that I've driven every rivet in in the plane and know it intimately. I find it amazing that when the new sets of plans show up, it's all foreign and unfamiliar. Now, I know the wing plans inside and out and know all the parts. If 5k is the differential between SB and QB, I would probably save only $500 for do-over parts, but it's the detailed knowledge of the airframe I find valuable.

It depends on your goals, timeframe, and budget. I'm looking forward to the fuse this summer as well. I don't think it will be any harder than the wings (or tanks!). Larger size usually translates to an easier build, given that you have sufficient space to do the job.
 
The QB fuse by no means is complete. The forward fuse, panel, sub panel, seats, floors, baggage floors, front and rear top skins pedals is all left to the builder. It pry took me about the same time to finish the QB fuse as it did to build the SB wings. Saved me about a year though I'd say. Let's you get to the finish kit quicker, so you do need to be prepared for that.
 
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Think $6K, Plus more time as you will have to send your center section back, add to that the $300 crating charge + Shipping. Now start thinking this way, take that 6 grand add another $1000 and order the slow build fuse and the finish kit at the same time for only a thousand more" What a deal!" Point is the money you save on SB buys you 85% of the finish kit.:)
 
There is nothing really "hard" in the slow build. Bending the longerons is a rite of passage. The passage being about 2 hours on the first one, and 20 minutes on the second one. :D Either way, you will still face doing the canopy, which is by far the toughest part of the whole project.

The quick build will save you about a year. I was OK with that extra year of building, so I went slow build. It buys a bit of the finish kit, which is where you will really start to bleed cash (engine, avionics, prop). :)
 
RV9A Bill said:
You no longer have to send the center section back, and haven't for some time.
Bill
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Makes sense as they are all jig drilled.Now you have an extra center section you paid for you can't use. even more reason to stay the course.I see from the web site you will need to buy extra parts,inferring the center section a good question to Vans would be can you return your parts for credit?
 
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I did the legacy build fuselage first and then QB wings that I bought from someone else. You don't have to have the center section match drilled, mine fit perfectly, you also don't have to end up with two center sections. I just ordered mine with the fuse kit. If I had ordered the wings from VAn's I would have just deleted that part.

Personally I thought the fuselage was the most enjoyable part of the whole project. Except the top/doors which you have to do anyway. Bigger parts and sections and lots of hardware vs just rivets. I also needed access to building the fuse because I had A/C to run and insulation as well.

The wing was boring and I was glad to have it QB.
 
crabandy said:
Personally I needed the extra time the slow build provided to save up for the next piece.
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This is a big part of it... that $10k+ goes a long way to buying an engine. Besides, I enjoy building (building and riding the bike are my get-away-from-everything de-stress routines).

Honestly, if scratch-build plans for a 6 were still available, I'd likely be doing that (though I'd have also started a few years earlier, too).
 
I'm not sure what the lead time right now is for a -9 fuselage, but just a couple weeks ago, I decided to get my order in for my -10 fuselage before the price jump. I did QB wings and I was debating whether to do QB or SB fuse all the way until I called Van's and they told me currently a SB -10 fuse will ship in about 8 weeks, and a QB -10 fuse will ship in late August!!! I definitely went with the SB because I figure with the 3 month differential, I can probably be close if not past the QB point come august and I just saved, idk $7K or so.... So my point is, call them and find out for sure what the two lead times are, and it may make your decision for you.
 
Well, that pretty much answers that. Thanks for all the arguments. I will be ordering a slow build fuse.:D
 
aarvig said:
Well, that pretty much answers that. Thanks for all the arguments. I will be ordering a slow build fuse.:D
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What? Then you wont get the pleasure of disposing of this crate:

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Theres enough wood here to build a fish house:eek:
 
That's enormous!!! It's one thing to read the dimensions of the crate, quite another to see it.

I'm going the QB route for both wings and fuse, and to kill time when I'm waiting on the slow boat from the Philippines, I'm planning on finishing the empennage as much as possible…priming, painting, installing rudder strobe, any fiberglass/foam work on the tips, etc.

Besides, I'm a big dude, and I don't have any little friends to crawl into the tail cone to buck rivets!!
 
did you know that for years the man who built all those shipping crates was blind? I built the mezzanine at van's n plains factory. he thanked me for the "warning pads" I poured around the new columns in his workspace. [actually was more like mediocre concrete finishing by a carpenter] I used to think about what he does with a table saw and nailing gun. OK, let's go to work at midnight, not turn on any lights, and make crates. gives this carpenter the shivers. he had all his fingers and only once shot himself with a nail. amazing.
 
n4e32g.jpg

How much of this space was Brown Wrapping Paper? As we know only a small percentage of a Vans kit is Aluminum,98% of the box's are wrapping paper.The 2% increase every year,you guessed it,Wrapping paper increases!
 
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I was just darn happy it wasnt full of those white peanuts ACS uses:eek: Boy am i tired of those things.

I actually didnt "go" anywhere like this. This was my method for getting it out of the back of the ABF truck. First thing the driver asked was if i had a forklift.... I was like, "yeah, let me go pull that out of the garage":rolleyes: So I improvised. The driver intentionally made me sign for it before pulling this stunt. Let me tell you though; this was one happy day for me!

rhill said:
n4e32g.jpg

How much of this space was Brown Wrapping Paper? As we know only a small percentage of a Vans kit is Aluminum,98% of the box's are wrapping paper.The 2% increase every year,you guessed it,Wrapping paper increases!
Click to expand...
 
I thought the slow fuse kit was a lot of fun! Less than a year working on it after work and weekends.
 
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