Inspecting QB upon delivery

[climberrn]

I will be picking up my QB-7 wings and fuse at the factory this month. I have been reading some older posts about poor quality, but they are from 2005-2006.

1. How are the newer QB's turning out?
2. Is there anything specific I should inspect upon delivery at Vans?
3. Any other parts I should pick up while up there to save on future shipping/delays?

Obviously, I will go over each step in the manual once home as time allows, but I just want to know what to look for at the time of pickup. The kit will not be crated, since it will be picked up with an enclosed trailer.

Thank You,

Joel.

[Phil]

I just got my -10 fuse, so many of my -10 specific findings aren't going to be the same. But it did require a 'Step - By - Step - By - Step' review and inspection of their work. The work that was completed isn't done specifically as the plans suggest. You have to check every single step and figure it out.

Generally speaking though.

1) Rivet work is fantastic.

2) Deburring is acceptable.

3) The factory's ability to follow the plans. Terrible. (Talking specifically about part fabrication as suggested in the plans).

4) Completeness of the kit. Terrible. (Many factory parts were not shipped with the QB kit. They disappeared somewhere between here and there.)

5) The factory's ability to understand how their decisions to not to follow the plans impacts your build in the future. Non-existent.

6) Torque wrench use? Non-Existent unless you plan on torquing your AN3 hardware into the 80's.

7) Prep work for priming the aluminum. Terrible. I'm now removing corrosion from my QB kit. They never bothered to remove hand or fingerprints before putting on the wash primer. Now I have filiform (around 15 patches of it) between the aluminum and primer. Watch for the darker areas of your primer and watch them very closely. For me the corrosion has appeared to be white filiform in these dark areas.

I don't regret buying a QB kit. It's saving me time. But I've spent more time redoing their work than I have building. That's getting close to 3 months now.

Just check everything closely and keep watching it closely over time.

Phil

[RVG8tor]

It is tough to catch some stuff. I had a bulhead with a buckle in it, I did not see, this until I started working on the fuselage. It did not require any repair according to Van's but I have had several issues with my QB, most I have worked through but like the above poster said, I have had to drill out and replace some parts that were not built to specifications. One console was bent wrong, and I had numerous parts that were not included. I just riveted on my tail skin and did not have enough rivets, I still have the forward top skin to go and I am out of the required rivets.

I am glad I did the QB but the fixing errors is a pain, and frustrating. I also have several rivets to drill out that were supposed to be left out, there a some keeper rivets to drill out but these are regular AN rivets where flap fairing are supposed to attach. I did not have issues with corrosion.

Cheers

[diamond]

Originally Posted by Phil

I just got my -10 fuse, so many of my -10 specific findings aren't going to be the same. But it did require a 'Step - By - Step - By - Step' review and inspection of their work. The work that was completed isn't done specifically as the plans suggest. You have to check every single step and figure it out.

Generally speaking though.

1) Rivet work is fantastic.

2) Deburring is acceptable.

3) The factory's ability to follow the plans. Terrible. (Talking specifically about part fabrication as suggested in the plans).

4) Completeness of the kit. Terrible. (Many factory parts were not shipped with the QB kit. They disappeared somewhere between here and there.)

5) The factory's ability to understand how their decisions to not to follow the plans impacts your build in the future. Non-existent.

6) Torque wrench use? Non-Existent unless you plan on torquing your AN3 hardware into the 80's.

7) Prep work for priming the aluminum. Terrible. I'm now removing corrosion from my QB kit. They never bothered to remove hand or fingerprints before putting on the wash primer. Now I have filiform (around 15 patches of it) between the aluminum and primer. Watch for the darker areas of your primer and watch them very closely. For me the corrosion has appeared to be white filiform in these dark areas.

I don't regret buying a QB kit. It's saving me time. But I've spent more time redoing their work than I have building. That's getting close to 3 months now.

Just check everything closely and keep watching it closely over time.

Phil

This is a surprise to me and maybe others considering the QB route. I had no idea there were such shortcomings in the QB kits. I have considered going this route, but this post has me scratching my head. Have others had similar results? Especially with the RV 7 or 9 QB kits?

[mark schoening]

RV-9 QB. Excellent work ! Happy with it, was built in 2006 BF (before flood) priming somewhat an issue, but not worried as some, as I had a piper with NO corrosion proofing for 30 yrs, and had no corrosion problems at all. Had only one issue, a dinged lower skin, but no biggie, can be fixed.

[Brent Colvin]

My QB 7 was delivered in 06. The work was very good, nothing left out, and nothing damaged. Was shipped before due date. Would go that route again if building another.

[skyking902001]

Wow, this is a real eye-opener. I am just finishing the practice kit and was about the order the tail kit (8/8A), but now I'm wondering what to do. I really thought I needed the QB kit in order to get flying sooner--plan was to have the bird in the air by retirement (about 4 years). Now I'm questioning whether the extra $10k is worth it for the QB. Thought I had a firm plan, but now I am reconsidering my options.

Sky

[diamond]

What concerns me is that I'm brand new to RVs and if I have to rely on my own inspection of a QB kit, I'm not sure I would know what to look for from a quality control aspect.

[Bavafa]

I picked up my QB in April of 08 and every thing looked really good there and upon much closer inspection at home I found essentially nothing wrong and really excellent work. I don't know how I would detect bad deburring but all the rivets were excellent and did not detect any issues with priming either.
As for the parts go, I found a couple a few items on back order but never had to stop because of lack of parts.

It took me 14 months from start to the first flight and that included two months for painting, so if I am to build another one, I will surely go the same route.

Mehrdad
RV7A - IO360M1B

[Sam Buchanan]

Originally Posted by skyking902001

Wow, this is a real eye-opener. I am just finishing the practice kit and was about the order the tail kit (8/8A), but now I'm wondering what to do. I really thought I needed the QB kit in order to get flying sooner--plan was to have the bird in the air by retirement (about 4 years). Now I'm questioning whether the extra $10k is worth it for the QB. Thought I had a firm plan, but now I am reconsidering my options.

Sky

Four years is plenty of time to build a standard kit even when life occasionally gets in the way.

When considering whether or not to go QB, please keep in mind the current standard kits are far more refined than the old RV-6 kits were when the QB option first appeared. The new, highly fabricated standard kits blur the build timeline between standard and QB.

Regardless of which option you take, once the airframe is hammered together all builders are facing the same time frame for completion. Since riveting together the airframe only accounts for ~50% of the total project, a QB will save you at most 25% time on the total project.

The standard kit builder will have a more complete knowledge of his plane. Spend your QB $$$'s on avionics and firewall forward.