Here's a progress report on my Vector. I removed all the components from the box and carefully examined them. Everything looks pretty good. No shipping damage at all. There was a slight separation of one of the fuse sides at the rear of the tank compartment, I used Gorilla glue and some clamps to mend that. The covering was badly wrinkled, it took me the better part of an evening to get that right. It worked out OK, I'm not sure exactly what the covering is that they used, but careful use of the heat gun and iron, along with some pin holes and a soft rag, and it was looking good. The covering tightened right up with the heat gun. I'll use some trim solvent to make sure the edges don't lift. The canopy is just OK, there's some slight discoloration all around the edges of the canopy where it looks like whatever adhesive they used to attach it must have attacked the plastic.
The wing is not perfectly straight. The leading edge has a slight bow to it, but, hey, it's not that bad. My crude measurements tell me that it's off by about 1/4" from wingtip to wingtip. My flying isn't that great anyway, so I doubt I could tell the difference even if it was perfectly straight.
As I mentioned, the motor fits very well, but it could stand to go back slightly. The cap screws on the back of the crankcase cover are right up against the fuselage former. The fit between the beams is so close to perfect that I actually had to put a slight chamfer on the edges of the beams to clear the machining on the bottom of the case. I drilled the beams and installed the blind nuts. I contemplated drilling some clearance holes in the former behind the motor so that I could move the motor back slightly, and then figured it wasn't worth it. I'll look for one of those plastic spinners that Bill recommended, and if it doesn't look quite right, it doesn't really matter.
The slots that they cut for the hinges in the stab and wing are really long. I suppose it's due to the automated machinery. I guess the CA will strengthen the cut areas when I glue the hinges in. The bellcrank mount looks sturdy, but as mentioned elsewhere on this forum, the bellcrank isn't bushed where the leadouts are attached. Oh well, my goal is to just put it together with minimal work and fly the heck out of it, not spend a lot of time rebuilding it.
The construction looks pretty typical as I remember it. The motor crutch looks like two 1/2" x 3/8" beams, not sure of the material, they seem a tad softer than the old maple beams that I remember. I think it will be fine for my needs. I may try to find some lightweight fiberglass to help strengthen it, but if I can't find any, it will have to do as is. Remember the goal is to make it through one season.
I ordered one of Brodak's Magnum Uniflow tanks for it today along with one of the Aero Products tongue mufflers to keep the weight down. Other than that, it's now time to start assembly. I kind of looked at the cowl and figured out where I want to cut it. There is no hole for the hot air to exit, so I'm going to have to do some carving. I'll have to look for some photos to see what others have done in this area.
I'll keep you posted. I should have this thing together in a couple of days time. With all the snow outside, there's not much else to do anyway.
Do you think I should use 62' or 64' lines to start out with? I've been using .018 x 62' lines on my Cardinal profile with a ST46 and it seems a little quick, but I like the nice line tension they give me. Just wondering. What kind of lap times should I look for anyway?
Vince