empennage delivery timing

Well, my wife ordered me the empennage kit for Xmas. I thought that there would be about a 2 month wait like the wing kit, but she was told that it should be at the house in about two weeks.

I guess I will inventory and start cleaning up the edges. I like to find cleaned up parts when I finally start to work on a section.

My wife (Tonya) and I are almost finished riveting on the top skin of the right wing. I wish we could rebuild the left wing. The right wing does not have any dings/dents, while the left does (not major, but a few stray rivet gun marks). Then I will rivet on the outboard leading edge and then it is on to the tanks.

Cheers

Ken

I finally ordered it the day after Christmas. Guess I'd better get to work and also clear out some space...I expected to have 8 weeks to get ready but I do hope you're right!

well, my wife ordered today and they told her that it would ship the end of next week, then about 5 days in transit.

So just for the record, it appears that they have now caught up with the empennage orders and are now carrying the empennage kits in stock. So anyone thinking of starting a -14...your kit is waiting for you....

Ordered on the Dec 27th. Arrived in Michigan Jan 10th. It would have been here a few days earlier if the weather was not so bad.

$234 shipping cost.

Now off to inventory.

cheers
ken

several odd things and an interesting observation about the empennage kit.

1. The "Standard Aircraft Handbook for Mechanics and Technicians" was right on top when I opened the box. Now I understand that people from this point forward will most like buy the empennage kit first, but for those who bought the wing kit we did not receive it (at least I did not). Weird.

2. I did not receive the detailed packing list of the bags. So I can account for the bags in the inventory, but I have no clue as to what is in the bags. This happened with the wing kit, so I assume that this is standard practices. Again weird. I emailed Van's for the list.

3. I found a great way to get the duct tape off the blue plastic on the parts when unpacking. Do it when it is < 30 F in your garage. The cold allows the tape to peel off more easily. I did not have any issues. I unpacked the wing in the summer and ripped a whole bunch of blue plastic off. You still have to be careful, but it is much easier cold.

Cheers
Ken

correction. I found the parts list after a bit more digging.

Actually is was quite amazing. I inventoried most of the stuff inside. After a few of the bundles warmed up it is not worth the time trying to keep the blue plastic on the pieces. It is a combination of the blue stuff getting softer and the glue being warmer.

All of my skins have the blue stuff completely intact. Unpacked cold.

cheers
ken