Finishing Up The DRDT Table and A Van's Update

 I lost track of progress on the DRDT setup because I wasn't in a rush.  Now that I have the wing kit sitting on my garage floor, I had no reason to stall anymore.  After finishing up inventory, I got to work on getting this table put together.  I utilized the plans within the box and made the table. It went together pretty simply using a few nails and some wood glue to hold everything together.  I finished the frame and will be planning to head out to Lowes for some cheap carpet to line it tomorrow.  Once that is done, I can finish up organizing the tools, receive the primer I ordered, and get started.

In other news, I received notice from Van's that they are preparing to crate my empennage kit.  This was estimated to be ready for shipment in mid May.  This is only a month away, so I am debating waiting for the tail kit and starting that first like normal people would.  This would give me a bit of time to finish organizing and also not be in over my head at first.  However, I do need to organize the kits better if I am going to have room to work on the kits together.  I also decided to cancel my practice kit order.  They are backordered through at least May or June and it seems a bit pointless to now wait two months to do those when I will have two kits sitting in the garage.  So once I finish up the organizing of my tools, I think I am going to just get started.  Let's hope this doesn't backfire on me.

Wings Are In Transit!

    Well the news has arrived and my wing kit is now on a truck crossing the country.  I expect the local depot to have it next Thursday, so I presume I will take delivery early the following week.  Now I need to get in gear and finish up prep work.  I just received my RapidAir air hose kit and hung my hose reel in the garage.  I need to stop and grab some mounting gear at the hardware store and to tackle that this week.

    In other news, I received an "estimated" crate date for Early-Mid May for the empennage kit.  I am debating starting my wings until that comes, but we'll see how long that progress takes at first.  It might be worthwhile to wait until the tail comes and just start that. The issue is going to be storing all of it at once, my garage will be quite full with three full crates there. 

    I will try to get some pictures of the RapidAir kit and hose setup as I get the install completed and done.  Then to finish doing the DRDT2 table is on the hit list.

Progress...

So news came yesterday via email. Our wing kit is ready to be scheduled for crating and Van's wants all of my money. I was a bit shocked as we haven't heard anything on the tail kit still. I requested more information but still haven't heard back. I decided to query some other builders and my local EAA Tech Advisor for their opinions.  A lot of people seemed to believe if I wanted to spend time prepping all of the wing kit, that would eat up alot of my time. Then hopefully I will get my tail kit while i'm working on that. Worst case scenario, I finish up the prep work and start on the smaller surfaces. Only time will tell, but I am excited to at least get some information about one of the kits coming. Since I might be getting the wingsn first, I decided to do some research into wing items. The biggest thing that I eventually have to decide will definitely be the lighting. I am torn between the FlyLED's products which are highly recommended and liked by many builders. The other option is the Aveo ZipTips which are a one piece fit all where all lighting is built into the wingtips. However, I have heard a few things about them which doesn't make me happy. I have heard the trailing edge doesn't quite match the ailerons on many planes, the assembly is delicate and some had issues, and the shipping can take quite awhile. To not help matters, the ZipTips are probably triple the cost of FlyLED's solutions.

FlyLED's Original Lighting

Aveo ZipTips

The downside to the FlyLED's is that I probably will need to cut into my wing leading edge for the landing light install. This isn't a super big deal, but it definitely makes you nervous. I have to do some more research into the Van's light kit and an aftermarket one from Duckworks. The duckworks seem to have better documentation, but some of the online talk suggests they have a smaller lens. Will have to report back. Now to wait for more details on when the kit will actually ship or more details on the tail kit.