Quickbuild prizes

[RV10Rob]

Has anyone found any "prizes" recently under the floorboards of their quickbuild fuselage? I've heard in the past people have found clecos, drill bits, hats, etc. but I'm wondering if that sort of QC issues have been resolved. I'm toying with the idea of not removing the floors, but don't like the idea of that stuff rolling around there in perpetuity. I figure I can use a magnet to detect at least some of that stuff through the floor.

-Rob

[Pirkka]

Originally Posted by RV10Rob

I figure I can use a magnet to detect at least some of that stuff through the floor.

If you can get magnet there, there would be probably entry for a small camera as well? Something like Avery is offering http://www.averytools.com/pc-953-48-...ion-scope.aspx but there are plenty of like these available. You don't have to get your own as this is hardly for daily use but local EAA or similar might have one. Also aircraft (at least sail planes) are often checked with similar scopes so any aircraft shop might have one...

[Rivethead]

I found a cigar box with $1500.00 and a news paper clipping from 1852 in mine.

[roee]

Rob,

Got my QB fuse & wings about 4 years ago, so I wouldn't call that recent, but I found various surprises in there. There was a big deburring bit trapped under one of the baggage floors. There were also about a dozen construction defects scattered throughout the airframe. All correctable, but you can't correct them if you don't find them.

Even if quality control has improved since then, it will never be perfect, and it's ill advised to assume/hope rather than inspect. My advice is take the time and inspect everything against the plans. One way to do it is go through the sequence as if you were building the standard kit from scratch, and inspect the work at every step. It's time consuming (took me a month), but when you're done you'll know rather than hope.

To thoroughly inspect under the baggage floors, you'll have to remove them (at least in the RV-7, I don't know about the 10). For that same reason, I, and many other builders, make the baggage floors removable or add hatches. Having compartments in the airframe that are fully enclosed and cannot be inspected is worrisome not only at the stage where you are now, but also for ongoing maintenance.

-Roee

Originally Posted by RV10Rob

Has anyone found any "prizes" recently under the floorboards of their quickbuild fuselage? I've heard in the past people have found clecos, drill bits, hats, etc. but I'm wondering if that sort of QC issues have been resolved. I'm toying with the idea of not removing the floors, but don't like the idea of that stuff rolling around there in perpetuity. I figure I can use a magnet to detect at least some of that stuff through the floor.

-Rob

[mburch]

Originally Posted by RV10Rob

Has anyone found any "prizes" recently under the floorboards of their quickbuild fuselage?

Friend of mine found a Philippine peso in his (really, I saw it). I got an extra cleco with mine, I wonder which is worth more.

mcb

[LifeofReiley]

Originally Posted by roee

Rob,

Got my QB fuse & wings about 4 years ago, so I wouldn't call that recent, but I found various surprises in there. There was a big deburring bit trapped under one of the baggage floors. There were also about a dozen construction defects scattered throughout the airframe. All correctable, but you can't correct them if you don't find them.

Even if quality control has improved since then, it will never be perfect, and it's ill advised to assume/hope rather than inspect. My advice is take the time and inspect everything against the plans. One way to do it is go through the sequence as if you were building the standard kit from scratch, and inspect the work at every step. It's time consuming (took me a month), but when you're done you'll know rather than hope.

To thoroughly inspect under the baggage floors, you'll have to remove them (at least in the RV-7, I don't know about the 10). For that same reason, I, and many other builders, make the baggage floors removable or add hatches. Having compartments in the airframe that are fully enclosed and cannot be inspected is worrisome not only at the stage where you are now, but also for ongoing maintenance.

-Roee

Roee,

Right on the money! Lack of a detailed QB inspection is why Van's put the bulletin out on the QB wings for checking all bolt torques. (Z brackets etc...)
I have found many loose fuel tank bolts on QB wings and QB Fuse issues too.

[kbmannon]

Didn't find any treasure (not even a peso or cleco) in my vintage 2002 -9A QB. Did find a few production defects - mostly little things: some bad rivets, some deep scratches, and just a little corrosion. Although generally the fuse is left in a state where it can become either -9 or -9A / slider or tipper, there were about 20 or so tipper specific rivets I had to drill out for a slider configuration. All wing bolts were properly torqued.

Overall, very happy with the construction.

[rjtjrt]

Roee
What defects did you find in the QB?
John

[roee]

Originally Posted by rjtjrt

Roee
What defects did you find in the QB?
John

Some of the top defects I remember off the top of my head, without pouring through my log:

- the F-719B-L angle clip was positioned too far forward causing an interference with the firewall. Instead of correcting the problem before installing the firewall, the QB assemblers evidently forced the structure together, noticeably deforming the firewall.

- the apex of the conical bends (both sides) in the fuselage skin in the area near the flaps had cracks. The relief holes were drilled but not deburred, and the bends were imprecise, putting the structure under significant preload. That's asking for a crack, and sure enough. I had to enlarge the holes carefully to remove the cracks and relieve the stress concentration.

- the F-786A upper stringers were installed about 1/2" forward of their correct position relative to the bulkheads. This slightly weakens the structure at the aft end, and also prevented one of the bulkheads from being in its correct position. Correcting this required some delicate surgery on the stringers while being very careful not to damage the adjacent bulkhead.

- the F-728A bellcrank channel had its forward flange insufficiently bent, so it was causing the web to sit at an angle and to interfere with F-787. These two parts which are not rigidly connected to each other would have rubbed against each other with vibration. That's a bad thing. Again, these were already riveted into the fuselage, so I had to do careful surgery in-place to remove the interference.

- the rivet holes that connect the engine mount supports to the main longerons and forward side skins were drilled grossly misaligned. I don't even know how the QB assemblers managed that screw up, unless they drilled the parts individually and not in assembly. Bad... Will likely have to enlarge some of these holes and install structural screws instead of rivets.

- two serious scratches on one of the wing spars that needed repair.

- various other defects along the same lines. Also just general poor fit (parts forced into assembly under stress) and poor deburring, which I felt needed to be corrected in some critical areas.

- and then of course there was the free gift under the baggage floor.

To be clear, I'm not trying to "bash" the QB kits. Despite these defects and other issues, I have no regrets about going QB. The point I was trying to get across is this: There will always be defects, even with the best of vendors. Perfect quality control is impossible to achieve (which is NOT to say they shouldn't strive to do better than they have in the past). In any case, there's always a chance that there will be hidden defects in your QB kit, and they won't necessarily be the same defects that were found in mine or anyone else's. That's why, if you care, you -- the recipient of the QB kit -- really have to just bite the bullet and inspect it head to toe with a fine toothed comb. It's your airplane, and it'll be your a** in the seat ;-)

-Roee

[dmaib]

No surprises and no defects that I can recall. I removed the left side front floorboard and gear weldment, but not the right side. Used a borrowed scope to check out the right side. The process of getting the gear weldment and front floorboard out was very difficult, and I felt like I was in danger of doing some damage at times. Getting it all back together was difficult as well. In the end, I felt like I spent quite a bit of time and effort undoing something I'd paid good money to have done at the factory. I did take the rear floors out and that was no big deal at all. I also installed access panels in the baggage floors.
This is a QB kit delivered in June of 2006.

My $.02 worth.