MIKE HOWE'S RV7 CONSTRUCTION RIGHT ELEVATOR
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JANUARY 3, 2002

I am waiting for the wing kit to arrive and just puttering around  drilling and deburring the skin and spar for the right elevator, I can't concentrate on anything being so exited about the arrival of the wing.

Yes I will help the delivery person after I take the picture, she is just lowering it so we can get the dolly under it. It is a bit unwieldy, and takes two people to move it.

Wing here, 1 of 2 boxes, It is a lot larger (and heavier than I expected so be prepared with some help)

JANUARY 3, 2002

Took both of us, the driver and myself to move it into the garage on two dolly trucks.

In the garage

JANUARY 3, 2002

I need to unpack and inventory the wing kit before I finish the right elevator to make room. The kit arrived intact and Van's have done there superior job so far of getting everything here and on time. The Wing spars are really beautiful in the gold anodized coat they even have my name on the plastic. Surprise you get part of the fuselage kit thrown in, the fuselage bulkheads are shipped, as the spars are matched to them.  There are a couple of extremely long angle pieces that are fuselage Longerons, that's what makes the box so long, and they come with a warning not to cut them as you will need the full length.

JANUARY 4, 2002

My bins  are working out real well and I am using my webform to put all the bags and parts in a  Access data base on the web server. It works very well when you need to find something and have the ability to run a query. 

Putting rivets away

JANUARY 4, 2002

Using some Avery color file folder labels to make stickers for the parts bin.

Using some Avery color file folder labels 

JANUARY 4, 2002

Started a wing parts access data base using FrontPage web publishing software. It will automatically create an Access Data base and set up all the connections you will need. I just entire my inventory online via the web browser from a form I created. Would be glad to help anyone using FrontPage to show you how if you would like. Once you see the ability to run queries to find things it makes things easy to find. Take a little training in Access if you can, Data bases are quite easy to set up. This software come as one of the programs with Microsoft  Office 2000, or I guess it is 2002 now, anyhow I use 2000 premium and you get Word, for word processing, Excel for a spreadsheet, Access for the Data base, Power Point for a slide presentation, and FrontPage for website creation. I have been very happy with the product.

Click here for PDF enlargement

JANUARY 5, 2002

I decided to fix up some storage crates for the already completed parts. This is a picture of Van's packing crate that I recycled. I cut it the length of the HS and still have enough left over for the VS. I hit it with a belt sander, varathaned it, put some handles on the end, and used the cloth pin clamps made during HS assembly, nailed to gussets on the box bottom  It makes a very nice storage box and was made from recycled wood, which made my wife proud of me. I bought a little more pine 1X8 and am going to make the remaining  boxes for all the completed parts.   Found some 68 cent apiece aluminum letters and couldn't resist labeling the boxes. Who know as I get on in years and the mind gets a little weaker, I might need to read the labels to know which part it is which when it comes time to put them all together.  You can always recognize a Van's crate by the markings, as it has a particular size and font style. I even left one of the Van's shipping mint marks, the up arrow and $ sign. Who knows they might be like old orange crates 50 years from now and become collectable

Made  storage boxes for HS & Rudder

JANUARY 17, 2002

I am organizing and getting all the wing parts inventoried and put away, so have not been doing any building. I am finding that putting the parts in a data base turned out to be a good decision as there are a lot of parts to keep track off. I can query any of the part numbers from the plans by number to find it. I have sorted the hardware in the bins and numbered them. The larger parts are in boxes, on shelves or in the VBB (Van's Big  Box) which is the one the used for shipping which is under my table. A quick parts sub kit query or hardware query will tell me where they are. Warped the common parts together, a good way to use up the teal colored Christmas food Reynolds wrap.

The VBB (Van's Big Box,) they used for shipping, under my table for the skins and larger ribs and other large items

JANUARY 18, 2002

Finally have just about got all the wing kit inventoried and put away. Here is a picture of the boxes I have the smaller parts in and it is easy to find them by the part number in the data base which gives the Box number. I just enter the part number in the query and it will reveal the box the part is in. Give it a try, you might try to use Access to do your inventory it is working very well.

Smaller parts in parts boxes