[LittleJoeA]

I had my first major woops yesterday. I had the flaperon spar with counter weight and all the ribs attached on blocks on my workbench. I backed into it knocking it to the floor. The heavy weight put a 30 degree bend in the spar. Ordered a new spar from Van's, $27.00, and will spend today drilling out rivets.

Warning to newcomers, the flaperon spar with the counter weight attached is long, awkward and fragile. Clamp and/or screw it to the bench while working on it. It's all part of the learning curve.

 

[thomasyost]

Good to know. I'm coming up on that part soon.

I just had my first significant mistake a couple weeks ago while deburring the top winglet skin. For some reason I thought I could use the ScotchBrite wheel inside of the handhold. It took a fraction of a second for the bench grinder to go all "Cookie Monster" on it. A $25, plus shipping, lapse of judgment.

 

[Dave12]

Sorry to hear that Joe. Last week, while working on my 12 I heard a noise up in the loft where my tail was stored. A plastic storage box feel over and landed on my rudder, just missing the Stabilator. I am now awaiting a new rudder skin. Shirt happens!

 

[GDS]

When N523GT was completed we had spent $363 on replacement parts. That included a second set of fuel tank parts. (if you do a search you can find out about that problem, I'm not going to admit it a second time)

Not bad for a $70K project, we were pleasantly surprised with the cost of replacement parts.