Joshua's RV-9A Project

Inventoried the remaining portion of the wing kit this evening. No damage at all, and only one minor discrepancy on the inventory–the packing list includes a hardware bag named “Bag 1923,” but I received “Q Bag 1923.” The difference is that “Bag 1923″ is supposed to include 6 K1000-4 nutplates that are not included in the “Q Bag.” The bag is just labelled as “misc. hardware,” so I’m not sure whether this is a goof, or a change.

Lots of ribs are stacked up to await their deburring, and the large parts are stored in the spar box for now. I’ll have to come up with a decent way to store the skins and long angles, as having the crates in the shop isn’t going to work.

Killed some time this evening by opening up the sack of wing hardware and sorting through it.  That’s a lot of rivets.  Also sorted the bulk rivets into the drawer organizer and labeled it with the trusty P-touch.  The rest of the hardware will stay in their bags, since they seem to be grouped by area (ailerons, flaps, fuel fittings, etc), which is logical enough–and keeps me from buying another organizer!

Minnesota Wing meeting was this afternoon at Crystal Airport; spent a couple hours and talked with several folks from the local area. The weather wasn’t the best, so only a couple fly-ins showed up. 7A builder and RV Hotline editor Bob Collins has a write-up with pictures here…if you look carefully, you can see my arm & leg.

Installed the trim tab motor when I got home, and spent some more time staring at the elevators before disassembling the empennage in preparation for storage. Not entirely sure how I’ll store them yet, but I believe they will go into the attic and either rest in the trusses or lay on some old blankets that I have up stored up there. I thought about hanging on the wall, but that seems like more work, and I would eventually like to put up shelves along the upper walls of the shop. I put the appropriate bolts/washers/nuts (loosely, not tightened into the locking portion) in the brackets on the HS & VS, to avoid the inevitable question “now where did I put those bolts?!” when it comes time to mount them up later.

Also began to poke through the wing kit, removing packing paper and discovering interesting bits like fuel caps, fuel senders, tie-down bars (I’m gonna need to get me a tap for those), wingtip lenses, and nice golden spars. The next session will likely be wing inventory, cleaning up the workspace, and stashing the wing parts. The hardware bag for the wing kit is the size of a Target sack…might need another multi-drawer storage box. The wing components seem very thick (skins, ribs, etc) after being used to the relatively lightweight tail surfaces.

Picked up the wing kit from the ABF terminal in Owatonna today (about 60 miles away). The delivery charge saved was $75.75, plus any extra cost required for a liftgate delivery, if necessary (I didn’t inquire about the cost of that). The total freight was just over $300; a data point for others at this distance. No visible damage whatsoever to the crates, though one of the 1×1 slats was knocked off the top of the crate (visible in picture below), so it appears I got lucky.

The wing crates haul easily in a full-size pickup bed with the tailgate down. I strapped both crates down, and also strapped the spar crate forward; also elected to avoid the interstate for the trip home. At home, one of the neighbors helped unload the crates-easily accomplished by two men.

Following day: I couldn’t resist taking a peek inside…found the fuel caps, fuel senders, packing list, and other goodies. Tt appears as though there will be a great deal of paper for the recycling when the day comes to unpack…and that will be quite a day. The packing list is 6 pages long. Yikes!

Received the letter from Van’s today, indicating the wing kit is expected to ship on the week of June 2.  That’s 9 weeks from date of order.  They sent me a printout of the order with a stamp on it indicating I need to sign and return it to confirm that it is correct–I’ve not heard of that procedure yet, but I’ll take it as an opportunity to amend the order and add a few things to save on shipping/handling.

Faxed the order to Van’s for the wing kit today.  Should see them shortly after the school year ends.  Another builder recently reported on VAF that they told him 9-10 weeks when he ordered, then sent him a confirmation with a 7-week expected date, so the beginning of June is looking realistic.  I should be able to pick the crates up from the shipping terminal to save a few bucks there.
EDIT: several days later, I realized that I forgot to send a sheet with several amendments that I want, including the locking fuel caps.  Called Van’s, and they need it in writing (fax or email)…add to the to-do list.