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Buck's RV-8
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Date: 12-7-2006
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Number of Hours: 1.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: QB Quality Control inspection
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I spent some time going over the fuselage in detail, now that I have it mounted in its rotating stand (see previous entry). I noted several places where the quality of the QB construction is not exactly up to my standards. None of these discrepancies is serious enough to have to re-do, but they're slightly surprising, considering the overall quality of Van's kits and reputation.
The first photo shows one of about six locations in the belly where rivet edge distance has not been merely pushed, but murdered. It's not worth it to me to drill out the offending bulkheads, match-drill new holes, dimple the skins, and install new rivets. They're not structural, and the judges will certainly never see these rivets, so I suppose I could still be a contender at Oshkosh ;-)
The second photo shows some rather severe gouge marks in the bottom of a gear tower weldment, left by God-knows-what kind of tool or process in the Philippines. I can fix this pretty easily, but it's an annoyance that I shouldn't have to deal with.
Third photo: On the advice of an award-winning RV-8 builder buddy of mine, I dug out the F-810A upper bulkhead and put it in place in the tailcone. Holy cow. It fits like a square peg in a triangular hole. The distance between the bulkhead and the skin (right side is shown in photo 3) is about 1/4" on each side! That bulkhead is going to require some serious re-work. (It's obviously a bulkhead issue because the skin curve is flawless...)
My general opinion of the Quickbuild kit is this: It is still VERY worth the approximately $8,000 surcharge (especially if time is money) but don't expect utter perfection. There will still be workmanship issues and imperfections that you'll have to deal with. Perhaps that's all part of "Van's Master Plan to Make You a Better Builder."
And that's OK with me.
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Nice edge distance. Not.
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Gouge on weldment. I have no idea how they did this, but it's a pretty easy fix.
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This one, however, is gonna take some time to fix.
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