6

65 Snake

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The instructions tell me to use an angle drill to match drill the V/S rear spar using the 4 holes in the F-712E Tie Down Bar as a guide. In fact, there is no Tie Down Bar mounted on the inside of the very aft bulkhead of the fuselage (F-812A-1 and F-812C-1) and no hole in the bottom of the fuselage to screw in a tie down bolt if a bar were there. It's shown in the drawing, but nothing there. I talked with Van's and they are sending me stock to fabricate the Tie Down Bar but that leaves me with the problem of drilling out all the rivets holding the aft bulkhead in place so that I can attach it to the inside. I would have thought that this would have to have been installed in Manila during the construction of the fuselage.

Have any of you -8A QB guys had a similar experience?

Bill
 
Not a QB guy, but I believe you should be able to mount that tiedown without removing the bulkhead...it will be tight, but possible. Drilling those holes with the angle drill was pretty darn cramped.

Sorry they left it out:mad:

Joe
 
Thanks, Joe

Naturally, trying not to remove the aft bulkhead is the first choice but it does look a little cramped down in there. There is one positive, however, and that's that I've become quite adept at removing rivets - I learned that skill somewhere around the beginning of the horizontal stabilizer. Initially, I bought a bunch of "Oops" rivets in all sizes but have yet to use very few with my newly developed recovery talents.

I've also learned that I should have bought a standard build kit, as it's much easier to figure out where to enter the build process, as well as being much cheaper. In addition, it would take considerably longer and I enjoy the process of the construction - I'm more of a "Journey" guy than a "Destination" type. Obviously, most of us are, otherwise, we'd be buying Pipers, Cessnas, Etc. instead of Van's kits.............

Bill
 
You know what Bill, I'm not sure I agree with the "would take considerably longer" part. I was past the QB stage with my fuse at the 8 month point, and I'm gone 15-18 nights a month...and I had a little added work with the fastback kit in there too.

I'm guessing the "do something every night" types would rip through this thing way faster than Van's delivery lead time on the QBs. This -1 kit is something!

Good luck with your fix, I'm sure you'll handle it no problem!

Joe
 
-1 Fuse

As the saying goes...How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

Working a little every night and several hours each weekend really keeps things moving. I received my standard -1 fuse on 25 June (2009) and just complete all the final drilling of fuse components.

I've set an arbitrary goal of being flying in exactly two years from delivery of the emp kit on 1 Oct 2008 leaving me just under 14 months to get her airborne.

Anybody thinks this isn't realistic?

Ken
 
Not unrealistic at all...

...Ken,
An acquaintance in Florida built a -6 slo-build from February to August in the same year, working 10-12 hours a day, his son an added 8, plus his Dad helping some. It really depends on quite a few things...are you single, does the wife mind or not...your health/age...cash flow and so on.

Regards,
 
Yes, You Can.

RV8R999 said:
.......I've set an arbitrary goal of being flying in exactly two years from delivery of the emp kit........Anybody thinks this isn't realistic? Ken
Click to expand...
Ken,

Two years *can* be a very realistic goal to complete today's standard RV-8 kit. I say *can* because everybody's circumstances are different. Because of breathtaking, even revolutionary advances in matched hole technology, I consider your goal quite possible.

Admittedly, as a repeat builder I did have some advantages such as a clearer understanding of Van's design philosphy thanks in part to the less advanced and less than comprehensive, even sketchy nature of the RV-6 instruction manual and not requiring many of the traditional tools I already had on hand.

For a variety of reasons, there is no way I would consider the quickbuild kit option and my points are made with the standard kit in mind. The only goal I set was to complete as much work as possible at home before moving the project to the airport for its final assembly. For most builders moving a project out to the airport will prematurely ADD time to its completion date. Knowing that dynamic firsthand, this time I completed and tested the instrument panel and almost all other electrical circuits while the project was at home. When the project was finally relocated to the hangar, the prewired wings merely had to be "plugged in" at the wing root to complete all electrical circuits. Huge time savings. Final assembly took about 3 weeks. From start to finish, the standard kit using Van's engine/prop combo with FWF kit took two years. Is your 24 month goal realistic? It was for me, but then I don't have to spend the better part of every day fighting commuter traffic, toiling to bring home a paycheck anymore.

One other thing. I consider a plane essentially finished when it is awarded its airworthiness certificate and is legal and good to fly. Some builders do not consider a plane finished until it is "painted." Whether that argument is conveniently self-serving or not is yours to decide. :);)
 
Thanks for the inputs...

I built a BD-4 from plans awhile back and it took nearly 6 years so this matched hole kit is truly amazing from that perspective. Luckily a lot of the skills, tools, transfers from that previous experience..especially the engine, wiring and avionics install which is always the most custom portion anyway.

I totally agree about keeping the project at home. In fact my plan is to have it inspected at home and transport when it is legal to fly (paint included).

Ken
 
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