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<< Lancair Builders' Mail List >>
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As I wrote about a month ago, the stars and planets all aligned so that I
could spend about 6 weeks half-time at AirCrafters Builder Support Center in
Watsonville, CA with my Lancair. In a very real sense, I am trying to
recreate the "close your wings in a week" program that is available to Legacy
and 4-P builders, but not to those of us with earlier kits. (Mine's a 360
Fast Build)
My goals are to:
1) Skin the stub wings
2) Install all outer wing fuel system components (filler cap, drains,
outlets, vents, gauges)
3) Close the wings
4) Close the tail
5) Mount the horizontal tail to the fuselage
6) Mount the vertical tail to the fuselage
7) Go home
So far, I am very pleased at the results. In the last three weeks I have
spent almost ten days at Aircrafters and put in 80-90 hours on the project.
They have put in about 20 hours -- some working with me and some working
alone. The stub wings are skinned and part of the fuel system components are
installed in the outer wings. The workmanship has been outstanding.
Progress is fast and productive. Probably the most valuable resource is
having experts available at a minute's notice to help puzzle out how to do
the next task. Five minutes of consultation can save me an hour of
head-scratching. Plus, if there's something I don't like to do or am not
particularly skilled at (like driving rivets through pushrod ends), someone
there is good at it and can do the job for me. They have a wealth of talent
and are eager to help out, but will only do what I ask them to. It's way too
tempting to pass off a lot of work to them, but my overall budget constrains
me to about 60 hours of assistance (or maybe a little more) over this 6 week
effort so I have to pace their involvement carefully.
Setting common expectations up front, having all the parts on hand when you
need them, and generally being organized help a great deal. I try my best to
give advanced notice of when I'll need help whenever possible, and at the end
of a week I give them my plan for the next week. It's a very fluid process
but the communication effort pays off big time.
It's a total-immersion thing. As a bonus, the annual Watsonville Airshow was
this weekend. It was very much like building my airplane at the Hangar Cafe
on the Oshkosh flight line. I told myself yesterday that there was nothing
else I'd rather be doing than being there, building my airplane and watching
(and listening to) all the neat airplanes arriving for the show.
It's been a great vacation so far, and I'm not quite half done with it. It's
gonna be a hell of a summer! If any of you get a chance to do this, take it.
You won't regret it.
- Rob Wolf
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LML website: http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html
LML Builders' Bookstore: http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair
Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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