Matt's RV-8 Project



Matt Dralle's RV-8 Project
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Date:  6-3-2011
Number of Hours:  0.10
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Rebuild Kit Arrives - Part 01

In an interesting coincidence, the replacement fuselage and other materials for the 'ol RV-8 rebuild arrived on Friday June 3rd 2011, three years minus one day from when the very first kit arrived for the RV-8. The original tail kit arrived on June 4th 2008.

The FedEx dispatcher called on Thursday to schedule a delivery on Friday between 1 and 4pm. Friday I took the afternoon off and hustled downtown at noon to pick up the mega-forklift again - the exact same one I used to unload the original kit! The FedEx dude arrived about 1:30 and there were two huge boxes tucked inside the trailer. The smaller of the two was the Canopy and Canopy Skirts and was pretty light and easy to move around. The other, however, had the fuselage and all of the misc. paraphernalia needed to rebuild an RV-8. It was 20+ feet long and weighed in at nearly 800 lbs.

The first time I unloaded the fuselage kit back in 2008, I wasn't quite sure how to do it and the whole process was a bit precarious to say the least. This time, we opted to gently pull it out most of the way and set one end on a saw horse and then drive around and pick it up in the middle, then drive the truck forward. It all worked like we knew what we were doing! Super slick and hardly scary at all! ;-)

As soon as the FedEx truck left, I took the forklift back downtown and was able to get it returned in the 2-hour minimum window! I'm getting to be a real pro driving that giant forklift. Hum, do I smell a new career? NOT. :-)
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Rebuild Fuselage Arrives

Rebuild Fuselage Arrives

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Rebuild Fuselage Arrives

Rebuild Fuselage Arrives

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Rebuild Fuselage Arrives

Rebuild Fuselage Arrives

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