Its here!

Post by **Spike** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:50 pm

The Eagle has landed. WoooHoo! I picked it up from ABF's terminal in Hagerstown MD this afternoon and saved by doing so. Thanx for the advice guys! In all shipping to MD was ~$330.

John

Post by **bullojm1** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:15 pm

Spike-

Congratulations!!! You will soon find out why the fuselage is so much fun to build.....once you get past the aft thick skin!!!

FYI, for the finish kit you can tell Van's to ship it to the Elkridge ABF location for a terminal pickup since that is the closest to ya.

Enjoy the build!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 9:12 pm

That's great news Spike!!! Can't wait to see some pics!!

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:43 pm

Doggone it man you might actually build an airplane if you're not careful.

Post by **Spike** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 6:47 am

I am hoping. It looks like I might be out of an airplane in the somewhat near future. I need to get this RV cookin!

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 12:20 pm

Spike wrote:It looks like I might be out of an airplane in the somewhat near future.

What's the story there Spike?

svanarts · Post by **svanarts** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 7:15 pm

Need to buy an engine? Ain't a good time to sell an airplane.

Post by **Spike** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 8:45 pm

My partnership has come to an agreement to sell out. It might take a while in these conditions, but its the right thing to do. Besides, I need less things crowding my life and my budget

dons · Post by **dons** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:43 am

Since there was no mention of damage, I'm guessing the new fuse kit arrived in good shape, glad to hear it.

Post by **Spike** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:47 am

Yeah, I picked it up Friday and it was in excellent condition. I have inventoried all of the parts and am now inventorying all of the bags and hardware. I was a bit taken back by the parts count in this kit. It makes the wings look like a pack of Lego's.

I am looking forward to getting into this one. The wings have been very monotonous.

RV7Factory · Post by **RV7Factory** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 4:18 pm

bullojm1 wrote:Congratulations!!! You will soon find out why the fuselage is so much fun to build.....once you get past the aft thick skin!!!

Ditto.

A further note... if the sides of the aft skin aren't bent vertically, get a new one. I went through 2 of those (long story) and the second one came bent from Van's more accurately. It slid into place with almost no muscle required where the first one was a total PITA! Pictured are the old on bottom and new top. It may not seem like much, but that little extra bend in the new one makes a huge difference with this thick .040. BTW, I even improved the old one by bending it more, and that's the best I could get.

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BSwayze · Post by **BSwayze** » Wed Nov 05, 2008 2:17 am

That's great news, Spike! Congratulations.

I'm about 70 hours into my fuse right now, and I can tell you it's a whole lot more fun than the wings. There's a lot more detail, fabrication of little parts, and you really have to study the drawings and pay attention to details. The written manual isn't so detailed. It's assumed that by now you pretty much know the basics and know what you're doing. I've ruined a couple of parts already (cheap ones, fortunately), but you just order new ones and move on.

Right now, my firewall is finished and I'm working on the bulkheads. Here's a shot of the completed F-704 bulkhead with the control stick assembly put together. It felt so good to get this done and feel how smooth it works, I was almost tempted to put it on the floor, sit over it and make airplane noises!