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RV-14A #140494

kbalch

Well Known Member
Fuselage join accomplished this morning. A complete non-event, as everything clecoed right together as expected. For anyone who?s built an earlier, pre-matched hole, kit, these -14 kits seem like cheating. I built an early -8 and the difference is night and day. I love it!

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Nice! I started the Fuse last night. Kit 499. Right behind you!

Excellent! Keep on building. I'm about six weeks into the fuselage kit at this point with about the same again to go before my finish kit ships. Lots to do... :)
 
it ain't cheating... its called assembling, as opposed to building ;)
I have built a 7A and a 14A and I wouldn't go as far as to characterize one as building and another as assembling. For me, it nearly took as many as man hours to build each but the 14 is has far superior instructions and the canopy part is much easier and more repeatable. The canopy of the 7 (mine was a tip-up) required more work and it did not come as exact as the 14.
 
Beyond the excellent quality of the -14 kit (including matched-hole prepunching) and instructions, the biggest difference from the -8 I built (#81125, started 12/99 and first flew 5/02) is the amount of fabrication necessary.

The -8 kit was full of raw angle, bar, and plate stock with many pieces having to be fabricated from scratch. The -14 kit has had, to the best of my recollection, zero such fabrication tasks. That's a huge timesaver right there.

I'm looking forward to the canopy install improvements... :)
 
Just a quick update on my fuselage progress:

Rudder/brake pedals are in, as are the brake lines and flap actuation system/position sensor. Section 35 is well underway, with the upper forward fuse and wiring channel assemblies riveted in today. Tomorrow will see the canopy decks completed.

Moving along here as my finish kit ship date (still a few weeks away) draws ever closer...

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Hi Ken,

I am planning my build space and would appreciate the length, width and height of the combined fuselage and tail as shown in your photo.

Thanks,

Tom
 
Hi Ken,

I am planning my build space and would appreciate the length, width and height of the combined fuselage and tail as shown in your photo.

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Tom,

As it sits, my assembled fuselage is 15'2" long, ~39" high, and 45.5" wide.
 
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