Van's Air Force
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Building one kit at a time
- Thread starter Robo09
- Start date
littlemooseprints
Active Member
Welcome!
Nate, Welcome to VAF; Mike will be along shortly to make it official. Building one kit at a time is not an issue. As you peruse the forum you will see many techniques about storage (blue vinyl removal or leaving it on). As far as space goes take a look at Vlad and his building posts and you will find that building in a small space is indeed possible.
Nate, Welcome to VAF; Mike will be along shortly to make it official. Building one kit at a time is not an issue. As you peruse the forum you will see many techniques about storage (blue vinyl removal or leaving it on). As far as space goes take a look at Vlad and his building posts and you will find that building in a small space is indeed possible.
rmartingt
Well Known Member
I think that's how the majority of us do it, whether due to space, money, or other reasons.
MartinACFactory
Well Known Member
If you start fuselage before wings....
Hello !
Just want to share my experience with you, and a small pitfall I ran into...
I started my RV-8 project in a small space, the 12 ft X 12 ft garden shed in the backyard. Because of limited space, after empennage, I chose to build the fuselage first. In the fuselage, there is a lot of smaller sub-assemblies you can work on and complete before needing a lot of space. You can deburr all your parts prior to starting any assembly. If you start with the wings, you will need much more space right away.
My pitfall starting with the fuselage before the wing was the fact that the 15 ft long fuselage longerons are delivered by Van's with the wing kit. Since most people will start with the wings before the fuselage, it is typically not an issue. It turn out for me that I had to order these $60 longerons from Van's, and because they are oversize, shipping cost was $350....
That's my two cents !
Martin
Hello !
Just want to share my experience with you, and a small pitfall I ran into...
I started my RV-8 project in a small space, the 12 ft X 12 ft garden shed in the backyard. Because of limited space, after empennage, I chose to build the fuselage first. In the fuselage, there is a lot of smaller sub-assemblies you can work on and complete before needing a lot of space. You can deburr all your parts prior to starting any assembly. If you start with the wings, you will need much more space right away.
My pitfall starting with the fuselage before the wing was the fact that the 15 ft long fuselage longerons are delivered by Van's with the wing kit. Since most people will start with the wings before the fuselage, it is typically not an issue. It turn out for me that I had to order these $60 longerons from Van's, and because they are oversize, shipping cost was $350....
That's my two cents !
Martin
rapid_ascent
Well Known Member
That is my method of financing the project and distributing the cost over time. The only downside that I can see since you can only work on one thing at a time is that the kit costs do go up over time.
longranger
Well Known Member
You should be able to buy longeron material from almost any metal supplier. No reason to have them shipped all the way from Oregon. It's just 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/8 6061-T6 angle. There are no factory operations performed by Vans other than maybe cutting them to length.
wirejock
Well Known Member
Longerons
One kit at a time will save you a lot of space. Prices typically increase around April 1. Usually a few percent. Time it right and order the next kit just before.
Also, as mentioned, order the longerons for the fuse when you purchase the wing kit. Add one additional as a spair. Cost nothing to ship in the wing spar crate but very expensive separate.
One kit at a time will save you a lot of space. Prices typically increase around April 1. Usually a few percent. Time it right and order the next kit just before.
Also, as mentioned, order the longerons for the fuse when you purchase the wing kit. Add one additional as a spair. Cost nothing to ship in the wing spar crate but very expensive separate.
Aero_Octaveus
Well Known Member
Well if you Canadian..
Well...You inherently avoid this issue, but if you live outside of the US you have the currency conversion issue to contend with.
I bought my empennage kit when the Canadian and US dollar were on par. Now our dollar has tanked so the Kit prices cost me 40% more $$
Now I wished I bought all the kit at once. (Hindsight = 20/20)
Well...You inherently avoid this issue, but if you live outside of the US you have the currency conversion issue to contend with.
I bought my empennage kit when the Canadian and US dollar were on par. Now our dollar has tanked so the Kit prices cost me 40% more $$
Now I wished I bought all the kit at once. (Hindsight = 20/20)
David Paule
Well Known Member
It's possible that other builders in your area have ordered extra longerons, didn't need them, and might sell them to you. It would probably be one longeron per builder.
Dave
Dave
Just keep in mind that there are different cross sections of 6061-T6 angle available, and if someone is new to RV building they may not recognize they are buying the wrong one.
The one supplied in the kit has a generous radius at the inside corner. There is a version available that has a sharp inside corner. This one should not be used.
longranger
Well Known Member
Thank you Scott, I was aware of the sharp internal corner in the stuff you can pick up in the hardware store, but not in 6061.
MartinACFactory
Well Known Member
I am happy to see that my Upper longeron "pitfall" has generated lots of discussions !
rvbuilder2002, your comment is the exact reason why I decided to buy my longerons from Van's and bite the shipping cost. I am 100% sure I could have found those longerons locally. I just wanted to make sure I have the right ones for structural stress reasons. That will be one less thing on my mind for first flight, or when someday I do acrobatics with my RV-8
.I am starting to bend those longerons today, and for sure I will be extra careful when doing it !
Martin
MartinACFactory
Well Known Member
Well...You inherently avoid this issue, but if you live outside of the US you have the currency conversion issue to contend with.
I bought my empennage kit when the Canadian and US dollar were on par. Now our dollar has tanked so the Kit prices cost me 40% more $$
Now I wished I bought all the kit at once. (Hindsight = 20/20)
Hi Garet !
I exactly know what you mean about our Canadian Loony flying very low these days....
Last May 2015, despite not having the space to work on my fuselage, I made the spontaneous purchase of my fuselage kit when visiting Van's during a business trip. The Loony (nickname for CDN dollar) had started nose diving at that time. That was my justification for my purchase, and my plan was simply to store the kit for later construction. I didn't know at the time I would build my fuselage so fast....
I wished I had ordered my wings at the same time.....As of today wing kit would cost me $10,500 CDN without shipping and 15% import tax....
