Category: General

Typical BS

There are always things that slow you down, make you scratch your head, or make you shake your head in wonder.

As part of my kit, the factory included some parts that were not labeled, I could not find in the manual, and had no clue what they were.  I sent some pictures to Scott S. and he identified them as aileron bell cranks for the V-Twin….. It turns out the V-Twin and the newer XL-RG kits are not using the push-pull cables from the whale tail to the ailerons.  They are replaced with solid push rods and bell cranks, and these parts are part of that new system (completely undocumented). Scott quickly got the correct parts to me, as well as a new Atkinson-type aileron trim actuator/spring mechanism to replace the previous cheesy string-belt trim system. 

I ordered several 6 foot lengths of 5052-O aluminum tubing from Aircraft Spruce to use for brake lines.  The package got mistakenly routed to San Antonio instead of Austin, and it was a few days late arriving at the house.  From previous experience, I know that Aircraft Spruce is pretty good about shipping long lengths of tubing taped or affixed to a piece of wood to keep them straight.  Never mind that – when my package arrived, all of the tubing was folded in half and stuffed back into half the box, which was now only 3 feet long.  The wood stiffener was missing. I can only guess that somehow the box was too long for the guys in San Antonio, so they just shortened it….. I sent the great folks at Aircraft Spruce a photo and they happily sent me another order of tubing.

Velocity kit arrives in Georgetown

The truck from the factory arrived today with the fuselage, wings, canard, cowling, and many, many boxes of parts and materials!  With the center section wing spar attached, the fuselage is too wide for a standard trailer, so the trailer that was used to haul the airplane has a nifty hydraulic device that holds the fuselage at an angle, so that its not too wide, and not too tall.  To unload the fuselage, the hydraulic carriage tilts down, and the airplane rolls off the trailer on ramps.

It was very hot today, so we had to take several breaks while unloading everything.  We finally got it all unloaded from the truck, and carried it all into the garage.  Here, the airplane will live and be worked on until it is time to take it to the airport.  If I’m very diligent, maybe a couple of years, otherwise longer.  The hard part now is going to be organization. I need to find a place for all the parts, and clear out enough maneuvering space in the garage to allow efficient work.

 

Factory Head Start

Taking delivery of the kit!

IMG_3456On 2 May 2016 I showed up at the factory in Sebastian, FL to take delivery of my Velocity XL-RG5 and begin 2 weeks of working on the kit with a factory technician. I had the great pleasure of working with Chad, who has been building Velocity aircraft for over 25 years.  The factory staff worked 9 hour days Monday-Thursday and a half day on Friday.  During my stay, I worked extra hours after closing and on the weekends.  I learned a ton about fiberglass technique and made more progress on my kit than I had anticipated!