Got everything packed out. The preformed angles and bits and pieces looks excellent. I am also impressed with the packing. So I started with the horizontal stab. The reinforcements did not have predrilled holes, only tiny pin holes made by laser (or something). There are some amount of deburring, match-drilling etc that has to be done, but very little measurements and cutting. That saves LOTS of time. The fwd spar needs to be bent, but my brake was just too small so I have to bring it with me to work on monday and do it in a real press.
I forgot that no hardware is included, so I ordered that today from Aircraftspruce. I need some bolts and the hinges for the stab. Some of the stuff was put on back order, and ACS sent me a mail that they have cancelled my back order because to the shipment cost was much larger than the cost of the goods. Then I found that a shop in Germany is the official European distributor of ACS (aircraftspruce.eu). I ordered the rest from them + some drill bits and other small parts at a fraction of the shipment cost. That will definitely be my main source of supplies from no on.
Compared with my RV-4 this kit goes together much faster, several orders of magnitude faster. That is good. If the stab is a measure of the strength of the rest of the airplane, then it is built like a tank.
So far I am very impressed with the kit. The drawings are light years ahead of the RV-4, with both inches and mm measurements. Nevertheless, what I am least impressed with is the drawings. I have already found errors in the drawings, and they are sometimes unnecessary difficult to read. 3D cad is several decades old by now and a few exploded views would make everything clear in an instant. I have also found one major bug: It doesn't say what kind of projection is used. It's American so american projection is used, but it is common practice to state it on each drawings.
I forgot that no hardware is included, so I ordered that today from Aircraftspruce. I need some bolts and the hinges for the stab. Some of the stuff was put on back order, and ACS sent me a mail that they have cancelled my back order because to the shipment cost was much larger than the cost of the goods. Then I found that a shop in Germany is the official European distributor of ACS (aircraftspruce.eu). I ordered the rest from them + some drill bits and other small parts at a fraction of the shipment cost. That will definitely be my main source of supplies from no on.
Compared with my RV-4 this kit goes together much faster, several orders of magnitude faster. That is good. If the stab is a measure of the strength of the rest of the airplane, then it is built like a tank.
So far I am very impressed with the kit. The drawings are light years ahead of the RV-4, with both inches and mm measurements. Nevertheless, what I am least impressed with is the drawings. I have already found errors in the drawings, and they are sometimes unnecessary difficult to read. 3D cad is several decades old by now and a few exploded views would make everything clear in an instant. I have also found one major bug: It doesn't say what kind of projection is used. It's American so american projection is used, but it is common practice to state it on each drawings.
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