Bon voyage!

 So my wife and I will be off continent starting tomorrow as we head to LA for our 16 day Hawaiian cruise on the Emerald Princess.

This will slow me down on the build but I think it will be worth it!  LOL

Try not to be too jealous!

Fuse Kit Inventory complete

 Fuse Kit inventory complete.  There were a few missing items and I have notified Vans.  The back orders are enroute to me as I type this.

Amazing how many parts they can fit in these crates!   There were only two small parts missing.

The hardware takes a loooong time to inventory.  Glad I did though because there were several items missing.

Wing kit inventory, some issues noticed!

 The joy of unwrapping everything and completing the inventory!

Only missing one small plastic tube out of one of the bags.

I did have a couple back orders.  The bag of misc bearings and the stall warning stuff.  Hopefully that stuff shows up before I get around to that section of the directions.

Amazing how they get all these parts in these crates!  Once you take em out, it seems they expand and multiply!

Did notice some issues with my right spar.  There appears to be two smiley's on these rivets and the one rivet has what looks like two places where a drill started a hole.  Also one of the rivet heads looks to be a bit shifted out of its concentric position.  Finally there is a few minor scratches.  

My RV7 and RV10 wing spars were pristine out of the box so this surprises me.  I have sent the pics to Van's for advice.

Also on the flip side of these two rivets is this mystery material and what looks like a more serious scratch.  I have no idea what this stuff is but it looks nasty!

Pickup day!

 Van's surprised me and ended up shipping both my wings and fuselage kits at the same time.  They saved me a ton of money by doing so.  They also negotiated some better rates with ABF as well as pre-paid the shipping which was nice.  Overall I saved over $1000 with this shipment which is awesome!

Borrowed a friends gooseneck flatbed trailer to pick up the kits.

ABF was very kind to these crates which in the past has not been true.

All strapped in for the ride home.

Thanks for not damaging my crates ABF!

Kits have shipped!

 Won't be long now as both of my kits have shipped together!  I have a few backorders but nothing that should hold things up too bad.

Waiting on wings and or fuselage kits....

 So Van's took my final payment on the wings and fuselage a good while back (almost 2 months for wings and 1 month for fuse) and the status page shows both are assigned to crating.  I assumed a similar time to ship as the empennage kit once that happened but we are well past that time.

I emailed and got a response from Kelsey at Van's and she said I am still not being crated yet.  She is gonna check to try and get a better status.

My problem is that I will be off the continent for a 16 day Hawaiian cruise starting May 31st and won't be here to handle receiving any kits if they arrive during that window.  I also don't want to lose my spot in line by delaying delivery.  My hope way back then was that the kits would arrive before I left for that trip.

Empennage Fiberglass Fairings/Tips

 Since I am out of parts, I decided to go ahead and fit/attach the fiberglass fairings/tips to the empennage parts.  - 2 man hours.

The rudder fairing has extra material that has to be cut off to allow it to nest into the end rib/skin properly.

Match drilled & cleco'ed as I went and eventually riveted the fairing on.  One side done.

The other side done.

Fitting the vertical stabilizer fairing the same way.  This one is open in the back and has to be trimmed up for a nice fit.

Match drilled with the end rib/skin.

Trim even with the aft edge of the skin per the plans.

All trimmed up.

And riveted on.

Next the stabilator fairings get trimmed.  These need to be trimmed a little more than the other two did.

Notches have to be cut out for the spars and the existing rivets holding the end rib in place.

Match drilled to the stabilator ribs and skins.

All done! 

Now I am officially waiting on more parts!