[rowd]

Just ordered a training project & recall reading elsewhere that the instructions supplied with the project are minimal.
Anyone able to advise if a set of 'preview plans' (next on the list) is of any benefit or indeed essential for a novice builder to complete the training project?

 

[txaviator]

The training kit plans are VERY vague, to say the least. I don't think that the preview plans would have really helped to make this kit any clearer. This is simply my .02-cents.

The best value for me was a two-day builder's class. Did I know sheetmetal operations before going to the class? Did I personally have the technical skills required? Absolutely, on both accounts. I just didn't want to screw up a $30 training kit, let alone a $1500 empennage A build class solved all of my lingering questions, and gave me the confidence I needed to dive right in on the empennage (I skipped the training kit I had, since we built one in the builder class).

 

[Jack Fromm]

I think I can speak to this since I just helped to teach an RV Assembly Workshop using the training project. To answer your question, no, the preview plans won't be of any help and yes, the instructions leave a lot to be desired. They can be vague, misleading, out of sequence, etc. and I actually wondered if Van's did this intentionally to prepare you for what you'll encounter in your actual project. I can't speak for the -10, but all the other models are plagued by this to some degree.

One of the guys that I worked with on the workshop still had a copy of the instructions from an older training project so we could compare them with the current version we got on the kits we just ordered from Van's. The newer version (drawing revision 10/22/02) does correct some problems from the older kits (for instance, the drawing used to call for the two end ribs to face the same way; i.e., flanges in on one side and out on the other---unlike any real control surface), but still has plenty of problems of its own. One suggestion I made to our Chapter was that for the next workshop, we should give the students a half hour to study the drawing and instructions and see who could spot three problems (not the only ones mind you) and give the winner a prize. Hint: there is one step out of sequence, a part called for that's not included in the kit and a part number discrepancy between the drawing and the instructions. If they can do that, then they will have learned the most important thing that Van's stresses in the real construction manual. Study the drawing thoroughly, read through the instructions several times and try to visualize the construction sequence before picking up a tool. If you do that, you should be successful.

Good luck.