There is good news though - the kit should dock in Australia today. Of course nothing is simple, there are formalities to complete, money to be paid and collection to be arranged. nonetheless the starting line should soon be in sight.
It would be tempting to conclude by the long silence in this blog that nothing is happening. In fact I have been beavering away setting up the Aircraft Production Facility (APF). This project has provided a splendid opportunity to acquire all sorts of tools and equipment that every man needs but in the normal course finds it hard to justify. Some photos of the newly enhanced APF follow.
I've also been cleaning out another space to accept the 5 crates of parts (hopefully) soon to arrive, did I mention I'm looking forward to this? The main item cleared out was the aforementioned small red car which has found a new home in Melbourne.
Oh yes, it would not be true to say all the parts are yet to come - Vans a while back sent me the brake pedals, apparently not available when the kits were shipped and more recently a bag of nutplates to replace some that may be incorrect in bag number whatever. This kind of reinforces a sense that they are organised and know what they are doing, which is quite reassuring in the circumstances.
Oh yes, and I lashed out and purchased a DVD on RV-12 empennage/fuselage construction. I am sure this seemlingly excellent resource will go some way towards mitigating the 'stuff-up' or 'how on earth do I do this' factors. Not that there will be any of these I am sure!
My across the road neighbour called in yesterday to inquire about airplane construction progress. Needless to say it was a short visit, however he did take the opportunity to inspect our brand new very expensive Rooftop Solar Energy Generation Facility (RSEGF) and deliver the good news that it isn't generating nearly enough power. Given our expectation that the RSEGF would eliminate our power bills and possibly even return a small dividend, this was not good news. He is an electrician so we were inclined to give some credibility to his view. This was confirmed by a phone call today from the RSEGF supplier, "It certainly should be doing better than that" and a bit later "We'll send someone out to change the inverters to a different and much better type and check the whole system out" and "this won't cost you anything." This of course raises a question so obvious that I'm sure you will have it in mind already, particularly given the system was only installed a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, taking an optimistic view, all will be well that ends well. I do like it when things just work and this does not seem to be a particularly fine example.
I'm sure that won't be happening in the APF..........................
Until next time.
