Partain Shipping

The kit was picked up at the Kolb factory in Kentucky by Partain Shipping. It was well padded and secured for the ride, no crating needed. Common carrier freight would have to be crated. Freight might have been cheaper, but it could not have been as well cared for. 1300 miles to North Dakota and it was in perfect condition.

There was a custom Chevy hot rod pickup in the back of this trailer, equally well cared for. I HIGHLY recommend Partain for shipping delicate items.

Here is a video that Travis made of my kit before it was shipped.

Firefly kit at factory

Delivered

The shipment contained the fuselage, two wings, two ailerons and one box full of parts. All off-loaded and carried into the shop on December 18, 2013.

It was a little later than planned, but I was OK with that as it took way longer to clean the shop than I had thought, plus it gave me a chance to take care of deer season.

Quick Build Kit

This was a factory quick build kit with powder coat and toe brake options, along with the larger wheels needed for brakes.

The factory built the wings and tail surfaces as well as properly aligned and rigged the components. The wings and tail surfaces were completely finished and ready to cover. All parts were only temporarily installed using just enough soft aluminum rivets to hold it together. These were easily drilled out for removal. More on that later.

The tail was folded for shipping; just as it is for storage.

Factory Built Wings

These were a thing of beauty. The portion of the root rib that is steel was powder coated as were the steel fittings for the struts.

The wings are so light I thought I might have to put sandbags on them to keep them from floating away.

The one box of parts can be seen under the table.

Pieces

Here are all the small parts that were in the one large box.

Doesn't look like much, does it?

Parts

A little closer look. The gear legs are the shiny rods at the edge of the bench. The aileron torque tube is on top. A couple of plastic organizers with assorted bolts and nuts, all well-labeled.

All the parts that would fit in bags were well-labeled. This is the way a kit should be packaged. I have seen others that had just dumped all the parts in a box.

This is quality work.