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RV-8 Pre-build Research

BamBam49

I'm New Here
Hi All,

I am currently in the planning phase of the build for my RV-8, and I want to call on the experience of all you guys before I go ahead and buy my project and build it.

First of all I am looking at buying the standard kit and I read all about it how it is pre-formed and no special tools required etc, but from you guys with the build experience I wanted to know if there was any special tooling you needed or whether it can be built just from air tools and hand tools?

I have decided on my power plant and I am happy with that but I was wondering what hidden bits people forgot or overlooked if any?

Also I'm looking for options on avionics and wanted all your guys experience who have built and flown the RV's what Avionics systems you preferred and work well? Preferably I want to use a digital interface for PFD and Nav.

Thanks in advance for any advice and opinions.

Luke
 
I am working on a slow build RV-8. The kit is fantastic. I had no airplane building experience and it went together very quickly (I'm almost done). There are some parts that are challenging, but nothing you cant over come with some dedication and looking at pictures. a little motivation goes a long ways. It's kind of like a big puzzle with a big support group. If the parts don't fit its because you are doing something wrong.

Can you build it with hand and air tools? Yes. A bandsaw, bench grinder and drill press will help tremendously. You dont need anything fancy, I literally bought the cheapest ones available at the local hardware store.

Avionics are up to you. Mine is fairly basic. They give you a blank panel for you to do whatever you want with.
 
Granted you're in the UK I believe, so things may be a little different, but the risk is fairly low overall. I bought the tail kit figuring if I didn't enjoy it, or it was more than I thought it would be, I'd simply sell it. There's a market for builders who want to start with a pre-built tail kit. Thus you'll be able to recoup most of your investment back - and tools are always resellable too.

The tail, anyway, arrives like this:

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/T7EvsouIujLVEg7ioOLmyxUHLSOlb1vueUTuuytQe8C

There are lots of existing sites out there with progress pics along the way.

I installed a Dynon system, and it's been great, but you can go as unsophisticated or as sophisticated as you would like. You won't have to make this decisions until a long time from now, so don't fret too much. You'll likely change your mind a few times along the way too.
 
Shipping to the UK will be a lot less for a standard kit and availability will usually be better.
No jigs or fixtures other than the support frame for the wing which is quite quick and easy to construct.

The fuselage is more fun to assemble than the wings. Least popular job is prosealing the fuel tanks. Although canopies and glass fibre work aren't too popular either.

Have a look at the recommended tool list. Some items can be got from general tool stores, but you will need to get a lot of it from specialised aircraft tool suppliers. Pete and Diane at Gloster Air Parts in the UK can source most of it for you and can rent out a few specialised pieces that you only need for 1 or 2 jobs.

Leave the avionics decisions until late in the project as the market is always evolving and theirs no need to tie up money. By the time you get to that stage you'll probably have a better idea of how you want your panel. If you want IFR, take a look at the LAA requirement documents before making a decision.
 
Thanks all and thanks for the welcome, all this information is great.

Just query as to how you guys progressed, did you build the empennage first then the fuselage seems like the most logical transition to progress to?

just because I will prioritise which kits I order first.
 
On the -8 you want to do the wings second. The reason is because there are some long parts needed for the fuselage that will more economically ship in the box with the wings due to its length.
 
thanks for the reply and the advice/info, do you have any photos from how it arrived and stage by stage?

Here is one of my favorite series of pictures from my build. My wife is helping inventory the fuselage kit.

The big box arrives:

(Click to enlarge)

The sarcophagus is opened


Almost finished unpacking and inventorying:


(Click to enlarge)

The other kits are packed with similar care and I was stunned that nothing was damaged in shipping. (Your millage may vary.)
 
Here is one of my favorite series of pictures from my build. My wife is helping inventory the fuselage kit.

The big box arrives:

(Click to enlarge)

The sarcophagus is opened


Almost finished unpacking and inventorying:


(Click to enlarge)

The other kits are packed with similar care and I was stunned that nothing was damaged in shipping. (Your millage may vary.)

Hi Bill,

From the photos it looks like most of the kit is either centre punched or pilot drilled? Was that a standard kit or quick build? I assumed that the standard kits would not be pre-drilled or centre punched and i would pitch in all the fastners myself?
 
The standard kit is all match hole cut and can be cleco'd together out of the box (that still leaves final drilling, deburring, dimpling, priming and riveting).

The quick build has the wing and fuselage 75-80% assembled.
 
Hi Bill,

From the photos it looks like most of the kit is either centre punched or pilot drilled? Was that a standard kit or quick build? I assumed that the standard kits would not be pre-drilled or centre punched and i would pitch in all the fastners myself?

As mentioned above, this is the standard kit and almost all the holes are prepunched and line up perfectly.

No jigging is required; however, you will need to finish drill them to the proper size.

When I built my wings, they had a half a string's width of twist over their entire length. Just amazing!


(Click to enlarge)

One thing to keep in mind, being in UK, all the fittings, fasteners, measurements, etc. are in SAE, not metric. This will probably require you to purchase a new set of hand tools.
 
Last edited:
As mentioned above, this is the standard kit and almost all the holes are prepunched and line up perfectly.

No jigging is required; however, you will need to finish drill them to the proper size.

When I built my wings, they had a half a string's width of twist over their entire length. Just amazing!


(Click to enlarge)

One thing to keep in mind, being in UK, all the fittings, fasteners, measurements, etc. are in SAE, not metric. This will probably require you to purchase a new set of hand tools.

Hi Bill,

thanks for the heads up, I presumed everything would be SAE, luckily I'm in aviation in the UK looking after large aircraft, so I'm fully tooled up. are all the fasteners all dimpled rather than countersunk?
 
Better now.

The 8 kits are a lot better now than they were in the early years before everything got match-holed. The way we did it turned out to be the right way for us. Get the tail kit on order. Buy a rivet gun, a good small drill, a few bucking bars. some Clecos and cleco plyers and get started. You can be learning and buy anything you need as you go. It will take enough time to put the tail kit together, but by the time you get that done you will have a pretty good idea what you will want from then on or be able to pick it up on the fly. Go slow at first and study every thing you can about the build, buy the time you get to the wings you will be off and running. We were lucky to have Bob Avery close to us for tools as we wanted. You may need to build in a little more lead time for your ordering. Doing it the old hard way takes more time, but it is a lot more rewording if you do it right and pay attention to all the details.
Pull the trigger and see where it goes, that first step is really the hardest one.
Yours, R.E.A. III # 80888
 
Hi Bill,

. are all the fasteners all dimpled rather than countersunk?

As far as flush rivets are concerned ribs to skin are both dimpled . Skin to longerons and other thick substructure skin is dimpled and thicker is drilled out countersunk to nest.
 
Lots of good advice here, and there will be a lot more good advice to follow. Some general questions to ponder. Do you like building? I mean... do you really REALLY like building? As a quickbuilder, I wanted the advantage of having the factory set the standard for me and give me a large head start. As I've gotten better at building there are a few things that I may have done differently from the factory, but overall their workmanship is excellent. Slow build is a long, very big commitment. The empennage is always the litmus test; if that was fun and successful, you'll probably love doing it all yourself. The building process becomes more difficult as you progress; more jigsaw puzzly, if that's a word. I'm getting closer... and it's getting harder. I will persevere, and it will fly... but there are those days when I can feel pretty overwhelmed by it all. So I limit my scope, go back to just the next step and keep progressing.
 
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