[Guy Prevost]

I finished clecoing on the aft part of my fuselage last night. Total time from F-807 back was less than 3 hours. So far there are 500 silver clecos and 250 copper clecos in the assembly. I know because I'm out of clecos!

Right side installed:

Tail-cone clecoed in place:

Upper (main) longerons dropped into place:

Cheers,
Guy

 

[AntiGravity]

Nice

Great photos. Thanks Guy. My kit still hasn't left Vans (was due to go Monday), and man am I ever impatient...

 

[Steve Ashby]

Caramba!

It makes me want to holler. I got one of the very last non-prepunched 8A fuse kits from Vans before they dropped the bomb. When this thing comes out of the jig, I am going to have a big bonfire. Oh well, c'est la vie!

 

[Rick6a]

Now I'm getting REALLY excited! Its a good thing I ordered the fuselage kit 5 weeks ago when I was just barely into the wing kit. Delivered after Thanksgiving, as you can see the wings are now practically complete.

Working the tips now.

After slowbuilding and hundreds of dollars in replacement costs for botched parts on my 6A, this matched hole technology truly is an astonishing improvement, dead nuts precise, and really is a revolutionary development in aircraft assembly. Van rightly deserves the highest accolades for what he has achieved and for all he has given to the world of experimental aviation.

 

[grantcarruthers]

Hey Rick, is that a quick build wing or slow build. Just curious as I placed my wing order yesterday (slow build), am having Evan build my tanks, and wonder when to order my Fuse??


How many hours to get where you are?


Thanks and nice work.

 

[AX-O]

How many hours of total work do you have on picture 2 and 3? I can't wait to start on mine. I am about half way done on my wings. Looks nice!

 

[Guy Prevost]

How many hours of total work do you have on picture 2 and 3? I can't wait to start on mine. I am about half way done on my wings. Looks nice!

There's about 3 hours between picture 1 and picture 3. I've got 766 hours in on the project total, including very thorough fiberglass work on the empennage and custom LED position lights on the wingtips. Landing lights are installed on the wings and most of the rigging is figured out too. I don't subscribe to the "leave it 'till later" philosophy. I try and get everything as complete as possible while I'm working on it. I don't want to be overwhelmed with thousands of seamingly insignificant tasks at the end when all I want to do is fly the thing.

I've got 132 hours on the fuselage as of last night.

Good luck and have fun!

Guy

 

[Rick6a]

Hey Rick, is that a quick build wing or slow build. Just curious as I placed my wing order yesterday (slow build), am having Evan build my tanks, and wonder when to order my Fuse?? How many hours to get where you are? Thanks and nice work.

Thanks for the compliment. Technically, it is a slowbuild kit. I epoxy primed all contact surfaces, installed an AOA, landing light and Gretz pitot mast. I really cannot say how many hours I have invested in it....I just work on it when I feel like it. Truth be told, I'd rather build at home than fly when the weather is as lousy as it has been this winter! Knowing there is an 8 week lead time on the Fuselage kit, I knew early on I better order early if I wasn't going to come to a standstill. The first picture shows cleocos in the only rivet holes (44) I needed help with when I installed the (dent free) upper skins.

 

[dreamweaver]

rv-8 slow build

help me out, I'm about to open up the fuse crates and looking at the jig plans in the book. Not sure if I need to build a jig yet. It would make my day here at work today and maybe go home early too.

 

[Brian Denk]

That's just not fair.

I remember spending an entire weekend not touching a single part of the airplane while my dad and I built the fuse jig. "Tell me again what we're building...a plane or a boat?", dad said. Oh and then there was the endless angst of getting the gear boxes installed straight...bending longerons, dropping plumb bobs... with it never looking right and pacing the floor wondering if my fuse would fly like a corkscrew through the air.

Now the early builders (who had to mine their own bauxite) can REALLY thump their hairy chests and grunt loudly at their prowess over the matched-hole girly-men.

Heh.

 

[Jerry Kinman]

StoneAge Aviator

Brian,
I couldn't have said it better myself..(grunt..ugh)

 

[N282RV]

A week on the jig?................I remember about a month of just fussing with my jig to be sure that it was flat ect ect.. I am amazed at those pics.. I remember back when you had to hand craft your RV.... I knew these were coming out but I could not wait this long to get my fuse going and besides its all done now anyway, chalk it up to experience.

Have fun guys

 

[briand]

That's just not fair.

I remember spending an entire weekend not touching a single part of the airplane while my dad and I built the fuse jig. "Tell me again what we're building...a plane or a boat?", dad said. Oh and then there was the endless angst of getting the gear boxes installed straight...bending longerons, dropping plumb bobs... with it never looking right and pacing the floor wondering if my fuse would fly like a corkscrew through the air.

I too was unfortunate enough to get one of the last NON-matched kits. When I placed my order I hadn't even heard of the Vans Osh announcment rumor otherwise I would have waited to place my order.

I spent the whole week between Chritmas and New Years building the jig and mntg. all the bulkheads also wondering if I will be flying the perpetual corkscrew. I had a feeling of relief last Friday watching Dogfights when a guy mentioned how poorly the migs were made, no flush rivets, big gaps in the skins and these were mach 1ish jets.