IT'S HERE!
It's been a few days in reality, but with so much excitement going on, I've hardly had time to even think.
It's here! The long awaited RV-14 empennage kit. It actually arrived on 4/16, but I' have been busy every day since, so here's a small update with the process.
[full size]
![[full size]](../static/box-arrival.png){kind=link}
Arrival
The arrival process was rather simple- It was hauled in by ABF freight, you have to call them to schedule delivery. After picking a specific day, I swipe my credit card for 943$, and that Thursday I get a call from the driver. I let the driver know what to look for, and where I am, and he manages to find me no problem.
[full size]
He was happy to unload it and move it the 50 feet needed to get it into my garage.
A single signature, and the truck was out of my hair. Thus we're at the first picture.
![[full size]](../static/driver-arrival.png){kind=link}
I was so very excited at the time to open the box and get right in, the allure of a $10,000 box of aircraft parts gave me a sort of decision paralysis that I think was only rivaled by the time I went to the Lego storefront when I was a child. Speaking of 10k, yes, that is what the box cost. the Vans website said $8,400, that's accurate, add $950 for delivery, and sales tax gets you to 10gs easy. This means that 16% of the cost of the kit isn't even the kit itself. If you can do a pickup, definitely consider whether saving the money would be worth the time. Vans is selling this kit for ~34$ a pound of material, which seems like a deal for what they're doing, and I would not expect prices to stay this low for long.
So you get to unpacking and vans makes sure to put all the relevant documents right at the top. you get two manila envelopes right at the top, one with the inventory information, and the other with the build instructions, and my oh my are the build instructions thorough.
[full size]
You can see that I opened to a specific section, this splits the manual in 2 parts. 1: the build instructions (right side) and 2: everything else (left side). There's also the vertical stabilizer on the left- besides that, they give you a LOT to read through. From this kit, there are at least 150 of these 11x13 pages of instructions that you need to follow, not before you're 1/4 of the way done, but before you're 10%-15% of the way done, depending on how 'optimistic' you are about your time.
So, what is this stuff that isn't build instruction? Well, it's more build instruction! This stuff however is general advice, which is meant to be considered throughout the lifetime of the build. General things, like, what's a good rivet, what do you need to redo, what's up with primer, how to dimple, deburring, countersinking, so on and so fourth. They touch on so many things, but it's only an inch deep. A quick brushover says that the deepest topics are written about in no more depth than 3 paragraphs, with the exception of course of the most important thing to get right: Riveting!
Inspecting the instructional booklet in awe is something that can have its own logbook, but eventually one must remember that the booklet is not a fictional construct, and that you're here to do the important task of converting the booklet into reality- and that's what I think I'll go do.