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Just completed my empennage and ordered the wings

CubedRoot

Well Known Member
Well, I reached a milestone a few nights ago....I completed the empennage!

http://theskunkwerx.com/rv7/drilling-the-elevator-horns/

I waited a little longer than I'd have liked to order my wings, seeing as how Van's ordering process is stuck in the 1980's. heh. Nevertheless the order is submitted and I am waiting on my crating date.

I spent right at 6 months to get the empennage completed, but that time frame spanned through the year-end holidays which included family and travel time so I there were some months I didn't get to work on it as much as I'd liked. Heres a break down of the hours:

Empennage Total time: 178.5 Hours

Horizontal Stabilizer: 51 Hours
Vertical Stabilizer: 15.5 Hours
Rudder: 34.5 Hours
Elevators: 48.75 Hours
Trim Tab: 13.75 Hours
Priming: 15 Hours

I am not sure how that compares with most first time builders, but I took a lot of time reading over things, double checking stuff and enjoying the build.
 
Build time

Well, I reached a milestone a few nights ago....I completed the empennage!

http://theskunkwerx.com/rv7/drilling-the-elevator-horns/

I waited a little longer than I'd have liked to order my wings, seeing as how Van's ordering process is stuck in the 1980's. heh. Nevertheless the order is submitted and I am waiting on my crating date.

I spent right at 6 months to get the empennage completed, but that time frame spanned through the year-end holidays which included family and travel time so I there were some months I didn't get to work on it as much as I'd liked. Heres a break down of the hours:

Empennage Total time: 178.5 Hours

Horizontal Stabilizer: 51 Hours
Vertical Stabilizer: 15.5 Hours
Rudder: 34.5 Hours
Elevators: 48.75 Hours
Trim Tab: 13.75 Hours
Priming: 15 Hours

I am not sure how that compares with most first time builders, but I took a lot of time reading over things, double checking stuff and enjoying the build.

I'm slow plus had to disassemble the HS to fix the SB error. 269 hours.
Did you add two longerons to the wing order?
 
I stopped counting.

I am in the process of fixing mistakes I made when I was at your stage. Apparently I had an affinity for under striking all my rivets on my VS. I get to take it apart and fix those. Though, as my wife reminded me, better under struck than over struck.
 
Well, I reached a milestone a few nights ago....I completed the empennage!

http://theskunkwerx.com/rv7/drilling-the-elevator-horns/

I waited a little longer than I'd have liked to order my wings, seeing as how Van's ordering process is stuck in the 1980's. heh. Nevertheless the order is submitted and I am waiting on my crating date.

I spent right at 6 months to get the empennage completed, but that time frame spanned through the year-end holidays which included family and travel time so I there were some months I didn't get to work on it as much as I'd liked. Heres a break down of the hours:

Empennage Total time: 178.5 Hours

Horizontal Stabilizer: 51 Hours
Vertical Stabilizer: 15.5 Hours
Rudder: 34.5 Hours
Elevators: 48.75 Hours
Trim Tab: 13.75 Hours
Priming: 15 Hours

I am not sure how that compares with most first time builders, but I took a lot of time reading over things, double checking stuff and enjoying the build.

Holy smokes I'm at 138 hours and still have to finish the trailing edge on my rudder and just barely started the elevators, I'd say you did great.

Did Van's indicate current lead times? I'm wondering when I should place my order. (piggy bank will be full mid June)
 
My wing came in yesterday. 12 weeks from order to crate was pretty accurate. Create and ship was another couple of weeks.

Congrats CubedRoot on your order! Whole lot more parts than the emp kit, and it's cool to have another one coming together in TN! Several underway in Nashville area-

No ship damage on mine, everything accounted for. But I swear my center section smelled like beer. I hope I didn't get a "Friday" spar - ha!:D
 
Holy smokes I'm at 138 hours and still have to finish the trailing edge on my rudder and just barely started the elevators, I'd say you did great.

Did Van's indicate current lead times? I'm wondering when I should place my order. (piggy bank will be full mid June)

Supposedly its 8 week lead time, but like Chuck just said, that doesn't include the time it takes for them to actually process your order, send you the invoice for review, take payment and then put you in line for a crating date.

Van's is still very much old school and does this at a snails pace. When I emailed my order form, I got a response saying it would be 1 to 2 weeks and I'd have a confirmation via conventional mail for my review. No idea why they can't just use email as it would save a ton of time.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, good to know that information. Their system does sound a bit outdated doesn't it. Maybe I should put a deposit down sooner! lol
 
Welp, my crate date turns out to be Memorial day! Hah. This has been one of the longest 8 week waits I have had to endure, so excited to get those things in.

I am hoping I'll hear something this coming week about my wings being crated and then handed over to the carrier for freighting.

I've probably cleaned and organized my shop 3 times just to have something to work on :)
 
I'm thinking your build times look pretty good Lynn. I'm at 211.5 hours and still working on the elevators. My totals are:
HS: 116.5
VS: 24.0
Rudder: 36.5
Elevators (so far): 34.5
 
Welp, my crate date turns out to be Memorial day! Hah. This has been one of the longest 8 week waits I have had to endure, so excited to get those things in.

I am hoping I'll hear something this coming week about my wings being crated and then handed over to the carrier for freighting.

I've probably cleaned and organized my shop 3 times just to have something to work on :)

Good to hear Lynn, I just looked backed at another post when you said they would be crated on 5/29 so they stuck to their word! Mine are scheduled to be crated on 6/12. Thanks again for that spreadsheet, made things a bit faster. I'm glad I ordered the wings before I finished the tail as I purposefully slowed down on the elevators so that I wouldn't run out of things to do. :D My results are below so far.

HS-67.4hrs
VS-28.55hrs
Rudder-41.5hrs
Right elevator-33.25hrs
Left elevator-34.6hrs (another 5 hrs estimated needed)
Trim tab-5.4hrs (another 5 hrs estimated needed)

I'm at 210.7 and am guessing another 10 hours to finish the tail entirely. Thought I would post these numbers as another data point.
 
As a quick update. My wings were crated yesterday (Wednesday), and picked up by ABF today (Thursday) at about 3pm Vans time. They are own their way with an expected date of Wed/Thursday of next week.

The ABF freight terminal is about 20 minutes from my house, and I have a truck and trailer, so I am thinking I will save a few bucks and pick up at the terminal, and carry some of my buddies to help load/unload. I'll call ABF tomorrow and see what the price difference is, it may or may not be worth it.

If anyone is wondering, here are the dimensions and weights of the two crates:

Crate one:
186" x 12" x 12"
Weight: 220 Lbs.

Crate two:
96" x 32" x 12"
Weight: 214 Lbs.

Delivery via ABF from Vans to Chattanooga TN, is right at about 5 business days.
 
Delivery from terminal was only about $40 for me and worth it IMHO. You'll get a call soon from their dispatcher to get your COD $ and set a time. That's when I asked about pick up options.

Inspect the bottom of the crates well, my spar box was missing one of the skids and had a hole punched through it (but no damage to contents). The driver was cool about documenting it, and they have a smart phone app that captures photos of these kinds of exceptions.

Overall a positive experience. Enjoy your build, lots of parts in those boxes, you'll get good with a countersink real fast-
 
Delivery

As a quick update. My wings were crated yesterday (Wednesday), and picked up by ABF today (Thursday) at about 3pm Vans time. They are own their way with an expected date of Wed/Thursday of next week.

The ABF freight terminal is about 20 minutes from my house, and I have a truck and trailer, so I am thinking I will save a few bucks and pick up at the terminal, and carry some of my buddies to help load/unload. I'll call ABF tomorrow and see what the price difference is, it may or may not be worth it.

If anyone is wondering, here are the dimensions and weights of the two crates:

Crate one:
186" x 12" x 12"
Weight: 220 Lbs.

Crate two:
96" x 32" x 12"
Weight: 214 Lbs.

Delivery via ABF from Vans to Chattanooga TN, is right at about 5 business days.

I picked up every shipment. They always load. I use a dolly to lift a end and place a flat dolly under. Repeat on the oposite end. Stap the crate to the flat dollys then slide them down the ramps into the shop. No problem.
 
As a quick update. My wings were crated yesterday (Wednesday), and picked up by ABF today (Thursday) at about 3pm Vans time. They are own their way with an expected date of Wed/Thursday of next week.

The ABF freight terminal is about 20 minutes from my house, and I have a truck and trailer, so I am thinking I will save a few bucks and pick up at the terminal, and carry some of my buddies to help load/unload. I'll call ABF tomorrow and see what the price difference is, it may or may not be worth it.

If anyone is wondering, here are the dimensions and weights of the two crates:

Crate one:
186" x 12" x 12"
Weight: 220 Lbs.

Crate two:
96" x 32" x 12"
Weight: 214 Lbs.

Delivery via ABF from Vans to Chattanooga TN, is right at about 5 business days.

Thanks for posting those dimension Lynn. I was planning on picking them up myself so now I know how big a trailer to use. Also, good luck and may the shipping gods be in your favor that there is no damage.:D
 
Today's the day!! Wings are here in my garage!

They were actually ready for me to pick up yesterday, but I had promised a friend I'd help him with something, so I didn't get them until this evening. The total cost was $315 from Vans to Chattanooga, TN. via ABF.

The crates are sitting in my garage, ready to be cracked open, which I am about to do :)

The crates look undamaged except for the widest box. It had one of its skids ripped off but looks unhurt. I took plenty of photos after the ABF guys loaded them just in case.

Heres the build log entry for the delivery: http://theskunkwerx.com/rv7/wing-delivery-day/

WgXJI9Ll.jpg
 
Today's the day!! Wings are here in my garage!

They were actually ready for me to pick up yesterday, but I had promised a friend I'd help him with something, so I didn't get them until this evening. The total cost was $315 from Vans to Chattanooga, TN. via ABF.

The crates are sitting in my garage, ready to be cracked open, which I am about to do :) ...

Yea!. Must have killed you to wait!
 
As a quick update. My wings were crated yesterday (Wednesday), and picked up by ABF today (Thursday) at about 3pm Vans time. They are own their way with an expected date of Wed/Thursday of next week.

The ABF freight terminal is about 20 minutes from my house, and I have a truck and trailer, so I am thinking I will save a few bucks and pick up at the terminal, and carry some of my buddies to help load/unload. I'll call ABF tomorrow and see what the price difference is, it may or may not be worth it.

If anyone is wondering, here are the dimensions and weights of the two crates:

Crate one:
186" x 12" x 12"
Weight: 220 Lbs.

Crate two:
96" x 32" x 12"
Weight: 214 Lbs.

Delivery via ABF from Vans to Chattanooga TN, is right at about 5 business days.

There must be at least 300 Lbs of paper in those boxes :rolleyes:
 
Larry: Indeed. the wait was horrible!! Like a kid having to go to bed on Christmas Eve :)

Bret: Dude..... SO...MUCH...PAPER!!!

IMG_1575-768x576.jpg


And that was just from the Skins crate. There is an equal amount I pulled from the Spar crate.
 
Paper

I saved a lot of mine. Rolled the sheets for storage and later use for paint work. Some was donated to local shops for packing.
 
I saved a lot of mine. Rolled the sheets for storage and later use for paint work. Some was donated to local shops for packing.

Thats a good idea. I went through all the packing paper to make sure no parts were hiding in it, and then tossed it in the corner of the garage until I figured out some use for it. I really hated the idea of just trashing it. I may save a bunch of it for stuff like that.
 
Great news Lynn! I can't believe shipping costs were that low, I live in Wyoming and was expecting about $500 to be the norm. When were the boxes shipped and how long did it take? Van's just processed my final payment so I think my wings will be shipping sometime next week.
 
Great news Lynn! I can't believe shipping costs were that low, I live in Wyoming and was expecting about $500 to be the norm. When were the boxes shipped and how long did it take? Van's just processed my final payment so I think my wings will be shipping sometime next week.

Jereme,

The wings were picked up by ABF on June 1st (Thursday), and they were delivered to the terminal on June 7th (following Wednesday). I was surprised that LTL freight was that quick from all the way across the country, but they did a great job.
 
Congratulations

i finished my empennage kit.... are you ready?

10 years ago!

You are making great progress, I saved and built, oredered and built so that the airplane when built is debt free. But it takes so long!

I am closing up the cowling with only the engine and final panel stuff to do.

Congrats and dont worry bout your time spent just enjoy every minutes as you are as that will make it the most fun

Dave
 
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