I am a year into my RV-10 build and have gotten much better at metal work, to say the least. To that end, I want to remake my VS. There were a few cosmetic defects in the skin during my first rivets. Can I just order a new VS kit for RV-10? Any experience with this? I called Vans and talked to someone in parts and she said I need to provide her with all the part numbers I want, down to the number of rivets and hardware I need. This seems very laborious and sort of annoying that vans can't just send me all the parts needed for a new VS? Any input on this is welcomed.
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Ordering just a new VS kit?
- Thread starter 5KiloXray
- Start date
No subkit is available. An educational approach (and might also be interesting) is to dissemble the VS and see which parts you actually need. If you only need the skin, that is easy to order. If you have received other kits, you probably have all the rivets etc you will need to move forward with this rejuvenation.
I'd just order spare rivets by weight, not count. Perhaps 0.25 lbs. You can get them from all the usual venders and they are not expensive. Bought to many for the VS? Don't worry, they'll get used. I don't know how many we've drilled out... ..forget the ones dropped!
Best of luck!
Mike
Best of luck!
Mike
I don't have any help related to actually finding the parts to order, other than it doesn't seem too hard to go through the plans and itemize everything mentioned in there. I also like to have extras for all of the hardware anyways, so perhaps a good time to order a bunch of extra hardware.
But I do have other thoughts that are somewhat contradictory:
But I do have other thoughts that are somewhat contradictory:
- I decided to rebuild my VS, Rudder, and both elevators due to LCP. I will say it was quicker, easier, and better the second time. So you don't have a bad idea.
- On the other hand, as mentioned, unless you did a really bad job originally, your VS will probably look great after paint whether or not you rebuild it.
- If you do rebuild it, I second the advice to go ahead and dismantle what you have now -- maybe not even all the way depending on where your issues are. I used to be stressed about every rivet I had to drill out. Now it's no big deal at all and I rarely cause any damage drilling out a rivet. If you fully disassemble your VS by the time you are done you'll be much better at drilling out rivets and will probably have tons of parts you can reuse.
- Finally, consider saving the rebuild for the end of your project. By that time you may have different opinions on whether you should rebuild it at all. Or you may get stuck at some point (e.g. waiting on your engine) and you can do it then. If it's flyable you may not want to delay your project upfront.
The only way you'd be able to order the whole thing would be if Vans already had an inventory list/kit set up for that individual sub-assembly.
I get that it's a hassle, but that's just the way that it works. If you called up Beech and told them you wanted all the individual parts for a Bonanza stabilizer you'd get the same response: "sure, just tell us the part numbers"
