This past weekend, my buddy James and I traveled to Toronto Canada to inspect and purchase a used RV-8 empennage with electric trim.  The seller, Peter Cheney, also had a number of tools for sale, and I was able to buy the large majority of tools I still required.  With this purchase, I have all of the essential tools.  There are still several optional tools that I plan to purchase, but construction can begin. The empennage kit has had some work completed on the left horizontal stabilizer, but no riveting has been performed.  There are a number of scratches on some of the parts, but I think they are all cosmetic.  I will take a closer look as  I go through the build process.  Hopefully, all of the scratches should come out fairly easily.  I was hoping to start building this weekend, but after a week away from work and a thousand things that need to be done around the farm, it is unlikely that I will be able to start.  My first task will be to organize all the parts and tools.  I also need to research priming and start getting that set up.

Peter and his family were very welcoming and have a lovely home.  Shamefully, this was my first trip to Canada, but it won’t be my last.  Peter is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and runs the Globe Drive column focusing on automobiles… I call him the Canadian Jeremy Clarkson.

Here are two interesting articles by Peter among many: Why pilots make better drivers and Globe journalist’s son crashes $180,000 Porsche.

James and Peter (not me) doing inventory.

Here’s the kit in its new home!