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Anyone gotten a -12iS kit recently, or getting one soon?

For those who have recently received kits, did you have many parts backordered?

Fuselage kits being shipped now were ordered last year, around March. Mine is missing (backordered) all four Matco brake master cylinders, and the F-1086 vent bracket.
 
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Fuselage kits being shipped now were ordered last year, around March. Mine is missing (backordered) all four Matco brake master cylinders, and the F-1086 vent bracket.

Missing the brake master cylinders,, vent bracket and F-1204Z bottom stiffener.

Thank you. Given the supply chain challenges, it sounds like they're doing pretty good with the fuselage kits.

For comparison, my powerplant kit has 47 line items on backorder.
 
Been waiting 4 months for nutplates on my power plant kit - seems odd 50 cent nutplates are the thing holding up the backorder....but that's it. Other aircraft suppliers have them in stock so not sure what the issue is getting them at Vans.

My previous kits usually had some backorder items that shipped about a month later.

Ordered my fuselage Feb '21 and got it July '21 so must have been a major hiccup after that to delay orders a month later until May '22. Hope things are rolling smoother now.
 
Got it!

Ordered the fuse kit March of 2021, and finally picked it up today!

A kind of strange thing did happen with the freight charge though…
I have been talking with Old Dominion for about a week concerning the crates. I had been given a cost of about $1000, which I would pay after inspecting the crates at the dock. Today, after telling them I would pick it up today, they told me the charge would be around $2600!?! I nearly choked. I then told them that I had been told it would be about $1000 and I will discuss it with them when I get there.

When I showed up at their dock, they said they were “working on it”. Eventually, after about 45 minutes, they came back with a cost that was lower than the old quote I had. It was actually less than $1000! I wonder what would have happened if I had paid the $2600?

Anyway, no damage so far, and I’m off to the races again.
 
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Received Fuse kit minus Matco master cylinders, 3 tank bulkheads and a the 6 ft hinge in November 21.

Got the parts in March 22 after calling to inquire about status of the backorder & indicating that I was to the stop work point without them. I'm not sure if calling got me any priority but it seems that Van's trys to keep you moving.
 
Hello everyone, my first post here!

I ordered my empennage kit on 3/30/22 and was expecting delivery sometime next winter. I just checked my order status today and it says estimated crating date Jul 29 2022 - Aug 19 2022. I live nearby, so I'm picking it up Will Call when it's ready. I guess I'll have to start cleaning out the garage sooner than I anticipated!

Jeff
Hood River, OR
 
That's great Jeff! I ordered my empennage 9/21 and have the same crating date. I guess Vans is finally starting to get caught up on parts.
 
That's great Jeff! I ordered my empennage 9/21 and have the same crating date. I guess Vans is finally starting to get caught up on parts.

Wow, that's interesting Eric. I will be really interested to see when your wings crate, since you ordered them shortly after your empennage. I'll probably put my wing order in as soon as I get going on the tail.
Jeff
 
I ordered Emp and Wing kit 2/20/22 and have a crate window for the Emp 7/29/22-8/19/22. Wing kit crate window just updated today (6/12/22) to a crate window of 6/20/22-7/18/22.

My birthday is this week so if my wings go into crating this month… I’ll consider it a b-day gift from Vans ;)

- Jacob #121534
 
New RV-12iS Fuselage crating dates

Van’s is definitely catching up! We ordered our RV-12iS fuselage on 2/10/22 and just received a crating date of June 27-July 18. I guess we better hurry up and finish those wings we’ve been slow rolling. :)
 
Sounds like they're getting confident in their ability to produce batches of similar kits. I ordered my wings and fuselage back in August and have had crating dates of 6/20-7/18 and 6/27-7/18 for a couple of months now. Good to hear that others are joining that group. I'm still waiting for the "it's time to pay the balance" email, though, and I wonder if that means I'll be late in that window? (I'm hoping both kits ship together to maybe save a bit in shipping.)
 
Sounds like they're getting confident in their ability to produce batches of similar kits. I ordered my wings and fuselage back in August and have had crating dates of 6/20-7/18 and 6/27-7/18 for a couple of months now. Good to hear that others are joining that group. I'm still waiting for the "it's time to pay the balance" email, though, and I wonder if that means I'll be late in that window? (I'm hoping both kits ship together to maybe save a bit in shipping.)


I wasn’t sure when that balance email comes through… seeing as one of the crate windows is only 6 days away… I paid the balance.

What I’m curious is if I were to place a fuse order now, would I be on the “fuse train” that has everyone on a June/July crate window?
 
What I’m curious is if I were to place a fuse order now, would I be on the “fuse train” that has everyone on a June/July crate window?

I ordered a fuselage in February and haven't heard anything yet....Looking forward to the Wing and Tail with the rest of the crew tho.

It looks like things are moving- very exciting!
 
Getting Close

I ordered the Fuselage in May of '21 and the Finishing in July. For several months, my status page has been showing a Jun/July crating for the Fuse and July/Aug for the Finish. I've just finished the Wings and am studying up for the Fuselage - it looks like I better get used to nut plates! :eek:

I'm curious about whether it's better (easier) to do the Avionics before or after the Powerplant Kit.
 
I'm curious about whether it's better (easier) to do the Avionics before or after the Powerplant Kit.[/QUOTE]

I went with the avionics first. Not really easier or harder, but I liked the idea of having everything buttoned up all the way forward, then make a focussed push onto the engine side of things. The avionics is really only a day or so of installing the bits and pieces, then tidying up the wiring. Quite a bit more is involved with the powerplant kit. Especially if you’re doing the cowl at that time.
Just one man’s opinion
Cheers DaveH
120485
 
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I ordered the Fuselage in May of '21 and the Finishing in July. For several months, my status page has been showing a Jun/July crating for the Fuse and July/Aug for the Finish. I've just finished the Wings and am studying up for the Fuselage - it looks like I better get used to nut plates! :eek:

I'm curious about whether it's better (easier) to do the Avionics before or after the Powerplant Kit.

I'm opting to install the engine first. You cannot complete the finish kit without the engine installed. Then I plan to have the aircraft painted. After paint then I will install the avionics.
 
Assigned to crating

Noticed my wing kit status changed from “parts being produced” to “assigned to crating”. Getting excited! I’ll probably call tomorrow to make sure they note to include the hardware kit with the wing kit if they ship it before my Emp kit. Or do they automatically do this?

-Jacob
 
Noticed my wing kit status changed from “parts being produced” to “assigned to crating”. Getting excited! I’ll probably call tomorrow to make sure they note to include the hardware kit with the wing kit if they ship it before my Emp kit. Or do they automatically do this?

-Jacob

Interesting. Did you receive a message asking for the balance payment, or had you paid the full cost of the kit already? I put a deposit on a wing kit last August and have a similar crating window, but haven't received the expected email asking for final payment yet. Moreover, I wrote to Van's last week asking about this and have heard nothing but crickets. Seems a bit odd to me.
 
Interesting. Did you receive a message asking for the balance payment, or had you paid the full cost of the kit already? I put a deposit on a wing kit last August and have a similar crating window, but haven't received the expected email asking for final payment yet. Moreover, I wrote to Van's last week asking about this and have heard nothing but crickets. Seems a bit odd to me.

A few days before my crating window was scheduled to start… I made an online payment for the balance and received an email from the kits department with a receipt of my balance payment. I didn’t wait for them to email me as their emails have been going into my spam and didn’t want to miss an email. FWIW, I paid a 50% deposit when placing the order and full payment before they asked… not sure if coincidence or not, but I have a change in kit status a week after final payment.
 
I'm opting to install the engine first. You cannot complete the finish kit without the engine installed. Then I plan to have the aircraft painted. After paint then I will install the avionics.

My take was that you can't finish the engine without the avionics installed and you can't finish the avionics without the engine installed. I ended up hanging the engine, installing the harness, then bouncing around a bit between sections.
 
A few days before my crating window was scheduled to start… I made an online payment for the balance and received an email from the kits department with a receipt of my balance payment. I didn’t wait for them to email me as their emails have been going into my spam and didn’t want to miss an email. FWIW, I paid a 50% deposit when placing the order and full payment before they asked… not sure if coincidence or not, but I have a change in kit status a week after final payment.

I'm probably being stubborn to my own detriment, but I don't like sending large sums of money into a black hole and hoping everything works out. It'd also be a change from past practices and I hadn't heard they had changed their payment plans.

We're coming up on a week since I asked about making the final payment and I haven't heard anything at all, not even an automated "we got your email and will reply when we can". That doesn't make me feel good. I did order both the wing kit and fuselage kit at the same time so I'm hoping they're just waiting until they start processing fuselage kits next week, but honestly the lack of communication is very troubling and very un-Van's-like.

Does anyone else have recent experience with kit payments they'd like to share?
 
Does anyone else have recent experience with kit payments they'd like to share?

I'm in the same window for wing and fuselage kits and sent an email to Vans on Monday asking about final payment. Got an email reply the same day saying that they would be sending out payment notices shortly.
 
Finally received a reply today -- sort of. They sent me copies of the original invoices, so I'm taking that to mean that it's time for payment. I really would have appreciated a simple "yes" to my direct question, but this is better than silence.
 
1st time poster to VAF.
Emp kit completed Jan 2022.
Today, I received an email from Van's asking for final payment for the Wing and Fuse kits. Took a little over a year for the Wings and 8 months for the Fuse.
I was going to order the Avionics, but Van's has pulled the order form from the website. Must be a price reduction coming. Hee, Hee!

Looking forward to getting back to building.

Jonny
 
Fuselage & Finishing Kits

Yesterday, I received notice that my Fuselage kit was sent to crating. I ordered it in May of 2021.

My Finishing kit was ordered in July of 2021 and is scheduled for crating in July / August (of this year).
 
wing kit

received the final payment request for my wing kit yesterday. ordered in January. much better then expected. now on to the fuselage
 
I also received final payment requests for my wing and fuselage kits yesterday. Very excited to get back to building soon!
 
Avionics kits

Anybody recently received or still waiting for avionics kits? I’m Curious of wait times of those in front of me.
I ordered dual Dynon kit Jan 3rd 2022
paid in full last week of May 2022
order sent to Steinair first week of June 2022

I figure I have at least a few months to go
Thanks
 
Reach out to Stein. Nick at Stein is awesome when it comes to a quick reply with current info. Expect some delays due to avionics supply, but also expect to get a quick answer with the best current estimate and an explanation of where things are. I plan to build again and the communication from Stein has me convinced I'll work with them on what's next.

Also excited for everyone else seeing their kits move. Great new everyone.


Anybody recently received or still waiting for avionics kits? I’m Curious of wait times of those in front of me.
I ordered dual Dynon kit Jan 3rd 2022
paid in full last week of May 2022
order sent to Steinair first week of June 2022

I figure I have at least a few months to go
Thanks
 
Anybody recently received or still waiting for avionics kits? I’m Curious of wait times of those in front of me.
I ordered dual Dynon kit Jan 3rd 2022
paid in full last week of May 2022
order sent to Steinair first week of June 2022

I figure I have at least a few months to go
Thanks

Ordered dual Garmin 10/1/21. Received by Steinair on 4/27/22. Still waiting.
 
3 months

My order went to Steinair 5/20. Jeff just indicated that they have all the parts (including the Radio) but that shipment was about 3 months out because of their backlog. That will make the total time from Vans order to ship about 8 months.
That is not the critical path for me however - I have a Finish kit that is promised to crating in the Mid July to early august time frame. There seem to be others with the same schedule - does that mean that Vans has the "batch crating" process implemented?
 
I just got the same info from Nick at Stein. They have all my equipment but going to be three months or so before production and testing
 
Update from original poster: just got my first kit!

When I started this thread, five months ago in January, I had four kits on order: tail & wings ordered during Osh 21, fuse & finish ordered a month later. My tail (s/n 121426, order 179443) went to crating in February, then they ran out of parts and bumped me to early May, then the “3-4 week delay” bumped me to late June.

Good news, though: I picked up my wing kit today! Order 179449, it changed to “assigned to crating” a week and a half ago, just before its crating estimate opened last Monday. I heard from them this past Friday afternoon that it was ready for pickup.

My tail and fuse (order 181713) both had crating estimates that opened today - they were both “assigned to crating” as of last Wednesday, so I’m guessing I’ll be driving back to Van’s again soon. My (order 181714) finish kit’s crating estimate opens July 18.
 
I just got a bill of lading from ABF and an email about my shipment from vans for my wings… Should be really close to shipping out 😁👍🛫
 
Sounds like kits are moving! I just received a shipping notice for my fuselage.

On your previous kits… at what point in the delivery process do you find out the total shipment charge due? No dollar amount was on my bill of lading.

Thanks,
Jacob
 
My previous kits have been shipped via Old Dominion and ABF, and the fuselage is coming via ABF. It's taken a day or two from my Bill of Lading notice for the crate to actually be picked up at Van's.

Once it's picked up, the tracking number becomes active in the shipper's tracking system, and then you can inquire with the shipper's customer service (if their online tracking results don't indicate the charge).

With past kits, I've been able to get a "PRO" number from my BoL notices, and I think it's labeled as "Pickup #" for my current Old Dominion shipment.

Worst case, when the shipper calls you to schedule delivery, they will tell you how much you owe. You can typically pay with a credit card during that call, or I've been able to give the driver a check. Some carriers won't allow the driver to accept checks, so I guess credit card payments are required. Keep in mind that different carriers have different payment policies.

As always, your mileage (heh) may vary.
 
Shipping Cost Increase

Both my Tail and Fuselage Kits were shipped via Old Dominion, and the Fuselage Kit is about 20 lbs heavier.

I received the Tail kit in April of 2021 and the Fuselage Kit in July of 2022.

I paid $255 shipping for the Tail Kit and $720 for the Fuselage Kit.
 
Kits on the way...

First post:
On day 3 at Oshkosh 2021, I ordered the Emp and Fuse Kits. Two days later thinking the impending gloom of the supply chain and employee shortages would make getting kits take a bit longer than the estimated 4-month shipping promise (Was I ever right!) I went back to the Van's tent and ordered the wing and finish kits. The following month I ordered the powerplant kit and the next month I ordered the avionics.

Almost a year later still no Emp kit, usually the first or "starter Kit" to arrive!
But on the bright side, A week ago I received my avionics package, followed by an email from Vans that my wing and fuse kits were being forwarded to the crating que, and later that evening another email arrived stating the powerplant kit was in the crating que!
Yesterday, the email came stating the emp, fuse and powerplant kits were processed and ready for pick up! WOOHOO!
Sunday I'm making the trek to Aurora to stuff the van full first thing Monday am.

Builder #121430
 
Powerplant kit in a van is going to be tough, especially along with any of the other kits.

Glad to see another 'local' -12is build. Good luck with the project, and hopefully see you around some day!


First post:
On day 3 at Oshkosh 2021, I ordered the Emp and Fuse Kits. Two days later thinking the impending gloom of the supply chain and employee shortages would make getting kits take a bit longer than the estimated 4-month shipping promise (Was I ever right!) I went back to the Van's tent and ordered the wing and finish kits. The following month I ordered the powerplant kit and the next month I ordered the avionics.

Almost a year later still no Emp kit, usually the first or "starter Kit" to arrive!
But on the bright side, A week ago I received my avionics package, followed by an email from Vans that my wing and fuse kits were being forwarded to the crating que, and later that evening another email arrived stating the powerplant kit was in the crating que!
Yesterday, the email came stating the emp, fuse and powerplant kits were processed and ready for pick up! WOOHOO!
Sunday I'm making the trek to Aurora to stuff the van full first thing Monday am.

Builder #121430
 
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