Fastbuild

    526EJ is a Velocity SE-RG that was purchased with the Fast Build option. Most kit manufacturers have that kind of option. You can either start from scratch for cheaper initial investment or for a bit more the factory will do some of the work for you before you start your own work on it. 

    The first part of our build process was to go through the manual and read it from cover to cover.

Our plan was to then verify that everything the factory and Stabells had marked off as done, was done. Not just done, but done correctly. We were going to go through the plane with a fine tooth comb, make sure bolts were in the correct direction, make sure no fiberglass layups were missing, etc. 

     The first thing to verify was the Factory Fastbuild portion. This went by rather quickly. We used the Fastbuild "checklist" to reference the sections in the manual that had been accomplished and then stepped through the manual instructions to verify that everything had been done to spec. Some of the Fastbuild items are listed below.

• Windows installed
  
• Wiring ducts
• Gear bulkhead
• Firewall
• Gear pockets 
• Triax (triaxial fiberglass) layups on the fuselage between firewall and gear bulkhead
• Gear legs are wrapped and steel collars are installed
• Fuselage halves are put together
• Doors cutout
• Door flanges, hinges, locks, latch pin tubes, and carbon beams are installed
• Instrument panel flanges 
• Finish work on nose
• Wing cores bonded to wing spar
• Nav/comm antennas installed
• Rudder conduit installed
• Wings fiberglassed and trimmed with bolt access cut
• Winglets fiberglassed 
• Winglets attached to wing, filled and sanded
• Ailerons cut out of wing and wells fiberglassed
• Rudders cut out of winglets and wells fiberglassed
• Lift Tabs and cores bonded to spar of canard
• Canard fiberglassed
• Elevators constructed and sanded to contour

     As expected, the factory did everything they said they did on their checklist, and we continued into the amateur part of the build.