Just about everything concerning the RV-15 tail kit has been a huge success. The company has really learned, and this kit lives up to the hype. First, I was scheduled to pick up my tail kit on June 9. Then, a call from Van’s in early May told me that they were releasing 20 kits during the week of May 4 and I could have mine shipped or I could pick it up between May 5 and 8. The timing didn’t work for me to do the otherwise planned pickup, but other local builders, Mike and Karen Catron, could collect mine and theirs on May 8. Another local builder, Chris O’Neil, volunteered his trailer and, together, we made it happen! Score another victory for the RV-network built by Doug Reeves and his Van’s Airforce site. I had my kit on May 10 and started the inventory right away. I completed the tail on May 29, representing 2.5 weeks of part-time work and nearly two weeks before the originally predicted release date. Wow!
The instructions were almost flawless. I only found one mistake, and it was easy to catch. As with the wings, the drawings were reliable and the tail drawings are even more complete and clear. One, relatively small elevator piece was mis-punched, but I caught it before installation. A call to Van’s confirmed that it was mis-punched and, a little later, that the others in that batch were also mis-punched. Replacement pieces were quickly on their way. While I completed the rest of the tail on May 27, I spent a couple more hours completing the elevators with replacement parts on May 29. This part, thankfully, was installed at the end of the elevator section and didn’t really slow progress. It shows the value of releasing a small number of kits to experienced (beta) builders to find any problems and only have to replace a part for 20 builders instead of 50 or more.
Van’s also provided a more generous amount of many of the rivets, washers, and such, for this kit, which will be greatly appreciated by new builders without a stock of such items. These materials appeared to have been counted to the minimum number needed in the wing kit. We all (well, at least nearly all) drop small rivets, washers, and nuts on the floor. Somehow, they disappear until weeks … or months, or years … later. It would suck to have to make an order for three AN426 3-3 rivets! Having a few extra is a great service. Even better for rivets, IMHO, is to have a stock of the basic rivets of each type (in the case of the RV-15, AN426AD3, AN426AD4, AN470AD3, and AN470AD4) in a long length (say, -8) and a rivet cutter. When I find myself short on rivets, I just cut these longer ones to the needed size. Progress continues.
We bought a Numatx squeezer as a shared Valentine’s Day gift soon after starting this project. It was expensive, but I love it. My hands—smaller and weaker than the average man’s—make manipulating the more common, much larger, handheld squeezers difficult. This tool is small and light. When faced with 84 nut plates (and 168 rivets) along the horizontal stabilizer leading edge skins, I cut a wooden wedge at the appropriate angle, then taped it to a no-hole yoke to provide the perfect squeeze in line with the rivet. Back-riveting tape held the rivets in the upside-down position. The work was done in no time! The leading edge of the HS is held by screws in order to make the leading edge easily replaceable. It is a bush plane, after all.
The horizontal stabilizer is also a long piece that I didn’t have room to build until painting of the F1 Rocket (in background) was completed and the paint booth dismantled.
Van’s also seems to be upping its social media game, as well. There have been numerous Facebook posts in May, many featuring the RV-15. Particularly interesting is a very cool video showing recent spin testing and an earlier one. They also have a video addressing concerns that the dividers in the RV-15 tackle boxes containing small parts move around and parts get mixed. The video shows how the factory deals with this problem (wood burner tool melting the corners of the partitions) but leaves it unclear if future boxes will have this done for the customers. Since the video acknowledges that the dividers have shifted during shipping, it suggests that this will be done in the future, but I was unable to confirm that policy.
I still have a starboard wing to finish. The skeleton is done, but a previously backordered part and a lack of workshop space put it in temporary storage. Once the backordered parts arrived and I had completed the port wing, which allowed that wing to be put into storage for the time, our have-air-gun, will-travel aircraft painter (John Stahr) was about to arrive and there would be no room for work on the wing while he painted my husband’s F1 rocket. I was able to claim a small end of the workbench for the smaller tail parts, however. Now, the rocket is painted, Stahr is home in Florida, and I will return to finishing the starboard wing. It will likely only take about a week or two, once I get started. Then, it will be a long wait before the next kit arrives. I don’t expect to see that kit, presumably the fuselage, before 2027.
Lots of time to catch up on other projects, fill in rivet holes, and look for an engine. Anyone have an IO-360 angle-valve core sitting around that you want to sell?
