Draker
Well Known Member
Just felt like venting. I've probably made more mistakes and sent more E-mails to Van's Support while building the first three fuselage subassemblies than I did for the entire empennage and wing kits. So many gotchas! Latest fun: Did the same thing that a few other builders did in this thread: missed the note on the plans that suggests I should not drill through the F-605C bar doubler where it angles down to meet the center bar. I wouldn't have even noticed the mistake if one of my favorite build logs I'm following didn't point it out. Too bad I reviewed the log after drilling the piece. Also, despite trimming the F-605C bar to the exact dimensions called out in the plans, it's end is 1/16" misaligned with the end of the center bar. This piece is a lost cause at this point, fortunately it's cheap.
I used to think I'm being efficient by pre-cutting all the parts I need for an assembly in one go, and I am learning the hard way about delaying cutting or drilling pieces until the latest possible opportunity.
As more and more of the build moves from "follow the instructions" to "read the plans carefully and do everything pictured", what methods do you guys use to ensure you're not missing anything, or doing a step too early? For the empennage and wings, you could treat the instructions as a checklist:
1. Read the instruction
2. Do what it says
3. Inspect the result
4. Check the box and move on to the next line
With the fuselage, a single line in the instructions can be 20 steps, not all of which are obvious before scrutinizing multiple drawings. I like to "follow along" each step with 6-7 other builder's logs while building to try to learn from their mistakes before I do a part, but even that's not foolproof.
I used to think I'm being efficient by pre-cutting all the parts I need for an assembly in one go, and I am learning the hard way about delaying cutting or drilling pieces until the latest possible opportunity.
As more and more of the build moves from "follow the instructions" to "read the plans carefully and do everything pictured", what methods do you guys use to ensure you're not missing anything, or doing a step too early? For the empennage and wings, you could treat the instructions as a checklist:
1. Read the instruction
2. Do what it says
3. Inspect the result
4. Check the box and move on to the next line
With the fuselage, a single line in the instructions can be 20 steps, not all of which are obvious before scrutinizing multiple drawings. I like to "follow along" each step with 6-7 other builder's logs while building to try to learn from their mistakes before I do a part, but even that's not foolproof.