VR3 tube kit.

[Shay King]

Does anyone have experience of assembling the VR3 Legal Eagle XL tube kit?

[Dan_]

Does anyone have experience of assembling the VR3 Legal Eagle XL tube kit?

I'd do it like this and spend the money you save on other things you will need to get flying...

[Chuck in Indiana]

Joey on "welding tips and tricks" has many tutorials on TIG. He's good.
https://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/welding-4130.html
TIG is a fairly steep hill to climb.  Gas welding is easy in comparison..at least for me. There are many subtle things with TIG to be mastered.
The above EAA video mentions a silver pencil might be better for marking tubing. It is.  They used to be used for marking blue prints (!) Blue prints.. what are those you speak of?  but you can still get them.
For instance..
https://www.amazon.com/Markal-96101-Silver-Streak-Welders/dp/B00B71J9WG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2W2WZ4OT9Q1UX&dchild=1&keywords=silver+pencil&qid=1593615532&sprefix=silver+pencil%2Caps%2C620&sr=8-2
One is a life time supply.
I don't know what the VR3 kit is.. I searched here to no avail.

[Shay King]

Thanks for the replies guys.
They’re at VR3.ca and make pre-cut tube kits for a variety of homebuilt aircraft including the XL.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I had a look, and it would certainly simplify fuselage construction. Only you can decide whether cost plus time savings pencil out. Also, there *is* the hassle of getting something from Canada eh?    right now..

[NASH]

I bought the VR3 xl kit about a year ago. It is pricey and some would say not worth it. I liked the idea of the cnc cut joints. So for me it was worth it not to have to do all the grinding. My build was delayed due to buying a house and getting moved in but I am finally getting rolling. Very nice set of drawings come with the plans. Each piece is numbered and corresponds to the plans. a little time spent on the CNC for my jig, and now it is just like putting a model together. I can see the argument about vthis getting away from what the legal eagle is meant to be, extremely cheap to build. This is my first time building an airplane and At this point early in the build I can already say It was money well spent for me.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Nice. (Still looking for that thumbs up emoji)  My guess is it will cut the fuselage building time by half.

[scottiniowa]

Does anyone have experience of assembling the VR3 Legal Eagle XL tube kit?

While the question is from 2 months back, I can say without question, that Don Vanray at VR3 has things figured out.  I have welded up 6 different frames of his...(aircraft) and one race car frame (cafe racer)  Some at old school, have said his pieces fit to tight, >>

As has been mentioned, if time is money and saved time is saved money, then one can argue the cost pretty easy... if you have MORE time than money, maybe not. 

Best of success to all.

[Chuck in Indiana]

*I haven't built it yet* but to me, the fuselage structure looks to be roughly 3 weeks. I, personally, wouldn't pay a lot for a precut kit to save half that. After all, I'm doing this for fun.
The wings, however, are pretty labor intensive.   

[Tom XL-7]

The precut fuselage is an LE, not an Xl.

[NASH]

I am building the XL. So it is definitely available

[Tom XL-7]

If you say so. Here is an isometric of his legal eagle kit. Look at the wing mounts. Clearly LE. If you have XL drawings see page 7A.

[NASH]

You are showing a picture of his legal eagle kit and saying "see it looks like a legal eagle" I guess I am confused. Why would his leagle eagle kit look like the XL kit?

[Tom XL-7]

You have the drawing that calls out the xl and the correct mounts. I got the drawing from his website today.There was no XL listed in his library. Why would they look the same? not a lot of difference appearance-wise. The double mount is easier to assemble as opposed to having both wings in the air at the same time. They share bolts. one wing 1/8' in front of the other. The thickness of the root fittings. Glad you are correct. You could put the XL mounts on the LE fuselage. In fact, LE flyers were doing it before the XL was drawn. wings are the same except for length of wings. The main difference between the two beyond the extra span is little things like that. Even today you will see buiders try this and that. Some of them make sense
look at his list of aircraft kits, he calls out the LE only. stupid me, I believed him.