I have refrained from posting on the partially finished kit I purchased. The following pictures will be enough to win horror story of the year.
The reason for the post was to encourage every second hand kit owner to go over every rivet before they buy. Assume NOTHING meets standard.
Needless to say, I have disassembled most of the fuselage and have $2k worth of replacement parts on order from The mothership. Got to tell you that I am a professional rivet remover now.
The pics below are cut out from the empanage area of the longerons. The builder missed the first cut and tried to do a repair forward of the upright attachment bars. knowing the entire tail cone area (RV-8) needed to be replaced, I found this after removing the aft deck.
Had the empanage attachments been acceptable, it possibly could have escaped discovery. After finding this lovely, if the plane had an anus, it would have gotten a colonoscopy.
I can say I’ve finished taking it apart and can start the build/rebuild.
I have no doubt I saved somebody’s life by buying this mess and fixing it. The other things I found in the tail would have resulted in a catastrophic separation of the empanage.
They say you can’t fix stupid. I’m proof it is possible.
The reason for the post was to encourage every second hand kit owner to go over every rivet before they buy. Assume NOTHING meets standard.
Needless to say, I have disassembled most of the fuselage and have $2k worth of replacement parts on order from The mothership. Got to tell you that I am a professional rivet remover now.
The pics below are cut out from the empanage area of the longerons. The builder missed the first cut and tried to do a repair forward of the upright attachment bars. knowing the entire tail cone area (RV-8) needed to be replaced, I found this after removing the aft deck.
Had the empanage attachments been acceptable, it possibly could have escaped discovery. After finding this lovely, if the plane had an anus, it would have gotten a colonoscopy.
I can say I’ve finished taking it apart and can start the build/rebuild.
I have no doubt I saved somebody’s life by buying this mess and fixing it. The other things I found in the tail would have resulted in a catastrophic separation of the empanage.
They say you can’t fix stupid. I’m proof it is possible.
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