Fuselage Kit Arrives

Imagine what went through my mind when the trucker opened the door to reveal MY fuselage crate stowed on its side! A hole was punched through one corner of it.
On top of that...only ONE crate!


A frantic call to Van's...while the trucker was waiting, revealed that since I deleted the gear legs from the order, they were able to put everything in one crate....whew! They also reminded me to note on the bill of lading the position of the crate and its obvious damage.

Using the wings as tables, fuselage parts are scattered everywhere. Let the process begin.



And all is accounted for.....with no damage.

P.S. That balloon has been inflated for 3 weeks now...I'm curious as to how long it will last.

Rick-

Congrats on the fuse kit! You're moving fast. Just out of curiosity - how did you remove the blue plastic? It looks like just a little around the rivet but is hard to tell from the pics....

Thomas

TShort said:

......Just out of curiosity - how did you remove the blue plastic? It looks like just a little around the rivet but is hard to tell from the pics....Thomas

Click to expand...

Thomas,

Sitting in front of the television set with a skin and a soldering iron. The bits of blue vinyl removed by fingernail. Anal? You bet it is.

Rick6a said:

Thomas,

Sitting in front of the television set with a skin and a soldering iron. The bits of blue vinyl removed by fingernail. Anal? You bet it is.

Click to expand...

Im not really sure what you are trying to acheive by leaving the plastic on. I've seen a few builders do this. I have found with my skins...

1. It is MUCH harder to remove the plastic the longer it remains in place.

2. It only helps protect from the smallest of scratches.

3. It MAY actually promote corrosion at the edges of the plastic. With all of the circles, you have created many edges in the plastic.

Hopefully you are building in a very cool, dry environment and your resuits will be better.

RatMan said:

Im not really sure what you are trying to acheive by leaving the plastic on. I've seen a few builders do this. I have found with my skins...

1. It is MUCH harder to remove the plastic the longer it remains in place.

2. It only helps protect from the smallest of scratches.

3. It MAY actually promote corrosion at the edges of the plastic. With all of the circles, you have created many edges in the plastic.

Hopefully you are building in a very cool, dry environment and your resuits will be better.

Click to expand...

RatMan;

#1. I still have an assortment of vinyl covered aluminum left over from the first project that are over 7 years old now. When I remove the aged covering....never a problem, the aluminum is as pristeen as ever. I too have heard variations on the popular conventional wisdom regarding leaving the vinyl in place too long, but I have not seen nor experienced it first hand.

#2. My real world experience is quite the opposite of what you assert. Once that vinyl is removed, protecting the skins from casual scratching is far harder to prevent, especially during the final assembly phase of the project. Since I plan on polish at least some of the surfaces, I know first hand how much extra time it takes to remove highly preventable and needless scratches.

#3. I seriously doubt leaving it in place promotes corrosion...highly debateable and even if true, the onset of corrosion (at least in the environment I am exposed to) would not likely become an issue for many years....far beyond what it will take me to finish the project.

As always...YMMV.

Sorry Rick, I wasn't being critical of you. I was pointing out what I have found to be true. Debate if you wish but I have found these things to be true.

So you are right. My milage has varied but then again, I'm building my 8 about 5 miles from the gulf.

3 year old wing plastic

pulled the plastic off the other day. was on quite well. yes it was more difficult to remove but not a "problem" so to speak. the metal was very nice underneath. no edge corrsion or blemishes. i live 75 miles from the coast. you can definately tell a difference in its adhesion from when they were new. yes i removed one when new and one a week or so ago. as far what rick did.... no way man, not me. if your painting whats the difference? the clear that vans used to use was on some of my first kit parts and there was some kinda **** under that stuff.
and if i didnt know better id think they shipped them all on their sides with fork holes in the box.....
but there were not any missing or damaged items in mine either. fuse box that is.....

Rick6a said:

...P.S. That balloon has been inflated for 3 weeks now...I'm curious as to how long it will last.

Click to expand...

Rick,
The balloons on my tanks stayed inflated for ~4 months (before I installed them on the wings). I think they only lost pressure by diffusion through the balloon wall since I couldn't really find any leaks.
-mike

Inventory?

Hi

I am about six months into one of the early pre-punch 8 fuselages. My inventory is very vague about the contents of some of the small bags. There have been a couple of pieces missing, but no big deal. Van's has been pretty helpful, but I think they just now realized that it is difficult to inventory a bag who's contents are listed as: Misc Fuselage Parts

Someone started a thread earlier about the pre-punch. Seems like we ought to get all the information of plans omisiions, inventory issues, etc, together in one place. Start a new thread?

Regards,

Michael Wynn
RV 8 (Pre-punch) Fuselage
San Ramon, CA

Mike;

I don't know if things have improved since your kit was packaged but upon completing the parts inventory I started work on the firewall assembly. Sure enough, the plans call out using 2 F-801L backing plates. I sure did not remember seeing those parts during the inventory. Instinctively, I thought that since those parts are small, Van's must have put them in a bag. The inventory sheet only refers to bag 2391 as "MISC. FUSE PARTS 8/8A." But the up to date 4 page Hardware sheet lists the contents of every bag, including those F-801L's I was seeking and were contained in bag 2391.

Be that as it may, 95% of the hardware is nuts, bolts, washers, etc. I always empty the bags into my labeled parts bins finding it it much easier to retrieve a given item without having to figure out what bag it is in.

Bag 2391

Sounds like they have fixed that issue. My inventory only specified misc fuselage parts. I was missing one 801L and a piece of 1/4' bar for spacers in the seat bulkhead. Anyway, nice to know that Van's is improving stuff. Hopefully our feedback is being incorporated.

Michael Wynn
RV 8 (Pre-punch) Fuselage
San Ramon, CA