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Build Order

mlwynn

Well Known Member
Hi all,

I am about to become a two-time loser. I built an RV8, have about five hundred hours on it. Great fun. My son in law and I are planning to build an RV 10. He needs room for his family and my wife refuses to travel in the back seat of an RV8. I am mailing off for the empennage kit today. The question I have is, wings first or fuselage first. When I built the -8, it was tail feathers, wings, fuselage. I know now that the fuselage, canopy, engine controls, all that take a lot more time and effort than the wings. If I go from empennage to fuselage, I won't have to store the wings for months to years. I think for newbies, the wings first is a good idea just to get more riveting experience. That doesn't apply to me. So does this make sense? Empennage, then fuselage, then wings?

The other mistake I made last time was buying the engine too soon. Actually, about four years too soon. It would be nice to put that off till the rest is nearly complete.

What do those of you who have built this airplane think?

Regards,

Michael Wynn
Livermore, CA
RV8 Finished 2014 and flying
 
Instead of the biggest RV, I'm building the smallest, so feel free to neglect my comment.

Whichever order you chose, wings first or fuselage first, you'll be storing the other for a while. Base your decision on how much storage and work space you have - if it's limited, do the wings first, because they don't take as much room as the fuselage and are easier to work around. If you have more space than Elon Musk, then it doesn't matter.

Dave
RV-3B, now setting up the cockpit
 
I'm building a 7 so I'm no expert but Jason Ellis is building a 10 on YouTube and from what I've seen it looks like just like the other kits you can build the fuse first but you'll need a set of wing spars because the fuse is built off of the center wing spar.

Fwiw I'm building in a 1 car garage and have had to get creative with space. I have most of the parts hanging from the ceiling and walls.
 
Build them both at the same time. Have your son-in-law build the wings while you build the fuselage.

Good points above, it takes up less space storing the wings vs the fuselage.
 
I found the fuselage took a lot more time than the wings to complete, and the fuse connects to the tail cone that is part of the empennage. However, I think you can build in either order. I completed the wings first, and then they sat in the wing cradle for a long time until I moved everything to the airport for final assembly.

Just be aware that lead times on the kits are quite long right now, so you may want to order one or the other quickly in order to not be waiting after finishing the empennage.

Regards
 
Definitely order the next one now. You will still have a lot of downtime between emp and the next one based upon current lead times. Being a second time builder, you will probably move through the kits faster than normal anyway.
 
I was planning to finish the quick build wings first, but I’ve been waiting 7 months and I have no idea when they are coming. My slow build fuselage is essentially complete. Are you doing it all slow build?
 
Fuselage first

I did the fuselage first on my 10 build. That allowed me to do most of the systems work (including wiring) without the $10K wings hanging in the shop for years. Vans will ship the center spar with the fuselage order. That's really where it belongs anyway.

The slow build wings took about 400 hrs and 6 months to complete, while I spent 1500 hrs and several years on the fuselage and systems work.
 
I'm a first time builder and ordered fuse first. Now days the center sections come in the fuse kit, not the wing kit like some earlier posts mentioned. I'm about 340 hours and 6 months in on the fuse and close to half done with section 29, the last major chunk of sheet metal work. I had a couple deviations from plans like installing access panels and putting a piece of titanium/fiberfrax on the belly in addition to a couple screw ups that took a good chunk of time to redo.

I was going to order the finish kit next (before wings) but the lead times pushed out far enough that I felt I had a good chance at getting final sized holes on the wing kit about the time I am going to finish the fuse and wings are cheaper than finish kit so I ordered the wings.
 
Seems to me that build order on any RV these days is going to be largely influenced by the parts availability and Van's impressive shipping delays/backorders. I would (did) check with Van's and get their guidance. You may not get to choose the build order if you're expecting timely availability of the various components.
 
Michael, you didn't mention whether doing quick or slow build. If QB, I'm guessing you'll have the empennage done long before the wings and fuse show up together, but then the wings go real quick and you're on to finishing up the fuselage, doing canopy, wiring, FWF, yada, yada, yada. So that's the order I'd recommend.

If you're doing SB, the wings have a lot of "rinse and repeat" efforts, so I'd probably do those first just to get it over with, IMHO.

As others have said, you're going to be storing something. I have the benefit of a hangar at Byron, so I've just stored parts there as I finished them; I'm able to put wings and an empennage there and still fit another airplane in. I don't think the fuselage would fit as well as the tail and wings do, so either way, I'd still do the fuse last....and I'm still working on the fuselage.

You're welcome to wander up the road from Livermore and commiserate if you want.
 
Thank you all for replies. Looking at the lead times, I think I am going to plunk down the money for all the kits now. I am pretty sure I can pound out the tail feathers in a few weeks. Waiting months for the next kit will drive me nuts. I will then address which ever kit comes next.

I have plenty of room in my hanger at KLVK to store wings. The fuselage might be a squeeze. There is no doubt that the fuselage, systems, wiring, fiberglass work will be the most time consuming. If the wings come first, I can get them assembled and stored while I wait for the rest.

I would have my son in law do the wings while I do the fuselage but I am planning to actually fly this airplane and he does not (at this point) know which way a rivet goes in :).

Stay tuned.

Regards,

Michael Wynn
 
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