Fuselage Inventory Continued / Flaps

Finished inventorying the fuselage kit tonight! I believe we did discover one part missing, the F-1059A Baggage Door Forward Frame. I'm sure it's no big deal, the missing part isn't very big at all from the looks of it in the drawings. So far in the build, with 3 kits and thousands of parts (tens of thousands if you're counting rivets) I can handle one little piece being missing. Actually it's still unbelievable to me that they are really this accurate. I'll contact Van's today about it... we're still well within the 30-day window to sort out these kinds of issues. They did get all of my "deletes" perfectly though, so that's a plus!

Speaking of deletes, it seems there is always some interest in questions like "what to delete from the fuse/finish kits and why"... I will try and answer what we decided to do for our fuselage kit here:

1. Windshield and side windows-- replacing with Cee Bailey's windows based on a number of reviews of them versus the stock Van's:
-Delete 1x: C-1005 WINDSHIELD RV-10
-Delete 1x: C-1004-L REAR LEFT WINDOW
-Delete 1x: C-1004-R RIGHT REAR WINDOW
Note: The windows for the doors (and the doors themselves) come in the finish kit. Will be deleting the windows from that kit when the time comes.

2. Heater box-- replace with stainless steel boxes from Plane Innovations. The Van's ones are aluminum that go on a stainless steel firewall, as such they are a weak spot for fire to penetrate.
-Delete 1x: TG-1010 L&R RV-10 HEAT BOXES (2)

3. Fuel valve-- replacing with aftermarket duplex valve (either Andair or Newton SPRL)
-Delete 1x: BAG 487-1 FUEL VALVE RV-10 ONLY

4. Rudder pedals-- replacing with Control Approach rudder pedal system
-Delete 2x: F-1052 RUDDER PEDAL SET
-Delete 4x*: F-1052B BRAKE SIDE PLATE
-Delete 2x: F-1052C BRAKE PDL.DBLER.PLATE
-Delete 1x: WD-1006-L-PC RUDDER PEDAL
-Delete 1x: WD-1006-R-PC RUDDER PEDAL
-Delete 1x: F-6115 CENTER BEARING BUSHING
-Delete 1x: F-8105 BRAKE HOSE 20" 8/10
-Delete 1x: PT-062x1/4x15' HI PRES BRAKE HOSE
-Delete 1x: BAG 1377-1 BRASS FITTINGS/INSERT
-Add 6x: AN822-4D ELBOW 90DEG TUBE-PIPE
*I accidentally only deleted 2, there are actually 4 of these parts.

5. Oil cooler mount-- typically ships with Finish Kit, several builders have commented that it is easier to assemble and install on to the firewall during the fuselage kit. Adding to fuselage order, will be deleting from finish kit order.
-Add 1x: VA-186 OIL COOLER MNT RV-10

Please Note: Our decisions to delete/replace parts were made very carefully, taking into account our mission, goals, aesthetics, ease of build, and most importantly safety. If you are building an RV-10 and reading this list to get ideas on what to delete from your own kit, please use this only as a reference along with doing your own personal research into what options you do and don't want. Van's will send you a waiver when deleting certain parts (such as rudder pedals) warning you about the risks of using nonstandard parts that you must sign and return before they will ship you your kit. Make sure this is something you are comfortable with before making any alterations!

During the inventorying process, I noticed a part or two relating to the stock fuel valve that were still present as a part of other BAG's (handles, spacers, etc), and also I'm not sure if I deleted *all* of the rudder pedal parts. In the end this was the best I could do after discussing with Paul at Control Approach and doing some of my own research through the plans. This list is at least "close" to complete, and I'm happy with the results so far. Of course, the real test will come when we actually start putting this thing together! Until then, we have a semi-organized 4' x 4' x 8' shelving unit chock full of parts:

"Just a few" parts to throw together!

With all that out of the way, it was time to focus back on the flaps. We riveted both the L and R flap skeletons together, which actually went quite well and was a welcome return to building after sorting through all the fuse parts.

R flap skeleton complete, ready to install leading edge skin

View of R flap skeleton at the middle, looking inboard

We clecoed the leading edges and top skins into place, and temporarily installed the flaps back on to the wings to check for straightness (we're paranoid about having twisted flaps). Looking good so far, but it seems quite clear that at this stage the assembly is "vulnerable" to twist. It seems to naturally want to sit straight, but with just a little force it can be twisted in either direction. This was an important observation, and we'll be reinstalling these onto the wings throughout the riveting process until it is rigid enough for us to be confident that we have built them straight.

Looking forward to a weekend of building!!!