1/2/2025: Since I’m still in waiting mode for QB wing and fuselage, I’ve been trying to do everything else possible to prep for the arrival of the QB wings and fuselage and firewall-forward kit, and also reorganizing basement and garage to hold all the stuff. So, I built a rack to hold all the empennage parts safely and in a small volume. I also spent some time making a 3-D model of my garage using TinkerCAD software, to see if the wings and fuselage-joined-with-tailcone will all fit there. In the screenshot below, the big silver boxes represent the joined fuselage and wing-cradle. It looks like they will fit, but I had to remove one of my engineering benches (back to the basement) to make space. I might work on the wings first to get them to a state of near-completion, and then move them out of the garage. I THINK they will fit in the basement, on their cradle, but it will be scary moving them down the stairs from the driveway. I searched online for a solid model of the RV-14 fuselage, but can’t find anything. I might make a simple boxy model that more accurately represents the fuselage and wings. I’m hoping that, once the wings are out of the garage, the fuselage will fit, on a diagonal, with engine mount and landing gear attached. More modeling/measuring required to figure that out. Along the way, I decided to do a fun little project: I have been using Ridge-like wallets for years (a couple of different kinds), but they have tiny little screws that always fall out and disappear, and are very easy to strip out. So, I thought I would use my new metal working skills to make a replacement wallet that looks like airplane parts. It came out quite nicely!

Time spent: 5hr