Brief Description: Purchace and Inventory of all parts.
I found an RV-9 empennage kit for sale on www.barnstormers.com. The price was right and the part was less than 25 miles away. See the original add below:
RV-9 EMPENNAGE KIT • $1,200 • NO TIREKICKERS • Vans Aircraft RV-9 Empennage Kit complete, inventoried, unassembled. Montgomery Alabama • Contact Wayne D. Stambaugh, Owner - located Montgomery, AL USA • Telephone: 334-306-7994 . 334-578-1294 . • Posted December 13, 2011 •
I went to look at the part and meet the original owner who seemed like a nice enough guy. The empennage was exactly as described in the add and he took off $100.00 dollars so a deal was made we shook hands and I drove away with the first part of my future plane.
Once I got home I enlisted the help of my wife/aircraft building partner and we did an inventory. Uh Oh some parts were missing and another part had been damaged by a nefarious mud dobber. A call to the original owner rectified both issues. The missing pieces were found in an extra box on the shelf and the original seller agreed to order the damaged part and have it sent to me direct from Van's.
The owner also had on display an assortment of tools for sale. They were top quality and just about everything a builder needs to start their project. The price was $1000.00 and we agreed to$900.00.
The extra time spent with the original owner proved that I was correct this is a good man which made me feel more confident about the deal.
Lessons learned:
Van's advice on buy a second hand rv kit is sage advice. Thankfully I was dealing with a good man who made the deal right.
Even though the parts were still in the blue wrap a simple mud dobber built it's nest on a rivet hole which caused significant corrosion to one piece of the skins.
