Finish kit inventory continued

T and N helped me quite a bit in inventorying the rest of the finish kit.  Takes quite a bit of time to go through all the small parts.  The only thing I found missing was the Brake Reservoir.  It didn't look like it was checked on the packing list, so was probably overlooked. I will contact Vans to get that sent.

Time: 4.25 hrs

Small parts for finish kit

Finish kit parts on shelves

Finish kit inventory

I started taking inventory of the finish kit.  Today I removed most of the larger items and found a place for them on my shelves. I will have to work on the smaller items another day.

Time: 1 hr

Top taken off crate.

Fuselage small parts inventory

There are a lot of small hardware and other parts to the fuselage kit. I spent some time today organizing all the parts.  I had to break out a 3rd drawer organizer to have enough drawers for all of them.

Time: 2.5 hrs. 

Fuselage kit here (finally) / inventory started.

Well, it has been some time since being able to work on the plane. Part of that is due to family vacation and other projects around the house. But a big part of it is due to a delay in the delivery of the fuselage kit. Since we live close to the factory I have been picking up the kits myself. Due to a work schedule I wouldn't have been able to pick up the kit until July 3rd.  So I had asked my wife if she would be willing to go get it on Friday the 26th. She graciously said yes.  So on Friday the 26th she traveled to factory to get the kit. The kit was loaded and she was on her way back home. She stopped for gas in Aurora. Since this is Oregon she told the gas attendant to fill the truck with regular and she would pay inside. The truck was filled, gas paid and she was on her way back home.  A little north of Albany she pulled into the rest area for a few minutes. As she started the truck to leave, the truck wasn't running quite right and she said she had noticed it not running very well the past few miles. Thinking about it, she looked at her gas receipt and it said "Diesel".  The gas attendant had mistakenly put diesel in our truck that takes regular. Not good. She called a tow truck and they towed her to a friends auto shop to have the gas tank flushed.

That wasn't the end of the problem.  I went to pick up my wife and son at the auto repair shop and while we were backing out I hit a telephone pole.  I don't know how I did it since the car has a back up camera, but somehow I did. I think we were just so upset about the gas problem that we weren't paying much attention to the back up alarm. So now that needs repaired.

After attempting many many times to get the manager of the gas station to call us back so that we can have his insurance pay for the damages, he has yet to call us back.  The repair took longer then I expected as we were waiting to try and figure out the insurance information, but I finally told the repair shop to get my truck fixed and I would pay for it. My fuselage kit was still in the back of the truck.

With both repairs of the truck and car it ends up adding $2500 of unnecessary cost to my plane.  What chaos a simple act of the gas attendant filling the tank with the wrong fuel can make.

So yesterday after almost a week in the shop I was able to pick the truck up and bring my fuselage kit home.  I am glad to finally have it here and also have my truck back.

Today I spent a short time unpacking and inventorying the parts of the kit. I inventoried all the parts except the hardware. There are a lot of parts to inventory in this kit. I will do that another day.

Time: 1 hr.

Truck being towed

Dent in vehicle after picking up wife from repair shop

Fuselage kit finally home safely after a week in the back of the truck at the auto repair shop.

Fuslage kit packaging.

Wing kit inventory, AST hinge replacement

I went through an did inventory of all the wing kit.  As far as it looks, we have everything.

With the receiving of a new hinge for the right AST assembly, I tackled the project.  I first removed the old hinge and made sure in drilling the new hinge that the holes would be in a position that would allow it to properly fit in the hinges on the stabilator. After riveting them together I attached it to the stabilator and it fit the nicely in the stabilator  hinge. I bolted the AST assemblies together and noticed the ends to line up with the stabilator.  Is this normal?  I will post to Vanairforce forum.

Time: 3 hrs.

Reattaching hinge on Right AST Assembly

Left AST 1/2 inch high when right is even.

Right AST assembly 1/2 inch low when left assembly even.

Emp/cone kit inventory

On the way home from Vans I stopped by Costco and Lowes to get some shelves and some storage drawers for all the parts. When I arrived home I loaded all the parts onto my work tables, put together the shelves, and then inventoried all the parts.  Everything was there except I was short only 2 nut plates. Everything was package very well into subkits.

I put all the parts onto the shelves and will wait until the kids come home and they can help me put the small hardware into the drawers.

Its been a fun day!

Emp./ Cone kit

Emp./ Cone parts on shelves.

Start of hardware organizing

Time: 2 hours