Thinking of building an RV-3

I built in RV8 and completed in 2012 it now how has about 350 hours on it. I always liked the RV 3 my goal would be to build it as cheap as possible using steam gauges no electrical system and a used motor and get it done within two years. The only thing that is intimidating is that the fuselage in the tail section are not pre-drilled so my question is this: do I have to locate and drill all the holes or do they provide occasional pilot holes to give you somewhere to start.

Ha! Prepunched holes? Pilot holes? On my kit, they were limited to the elevator bellcrank, the wing's access panels and the major holes in the F-303 bulkhead. And the spar - the spar like the RV-8 spar came pre-made. And that was it, about a dozen parts with holes.

Anything else, ribs, rear spar, empennage, skins, bulkheads, you get to drill a hole wherever you want to.

If you haven't read it already take a look at my blog here on VAF.

Dave
RV-3B

Mark and drill ?

You have to fit , mark, drill and dimple/ countersink everything. Not hard, you just have to think ahead and do the work. That said, Dan at Panther told me the -3 is lighter than Panther although Panther is easier to build. It appears general concensous is the -3 is still the altimate flying machine. There is a complate 3A available with no engine for 12,500.

"do I have to locate and drill all the holes or do they provide occasional pilot holes to give you somewhere to start", Most if not all of the holes will be drilled by the builder and then some .

Best of luck

No holes are punched because you need to trim or flute or tweak all the parts and skins to final shape before you assemble them together. It's not difficult, but you do spend a lot of time studying plans, studying parts (because you can't blindly follow the plans or some things won't fit), and thinking about what you need to do before you put a drill to it. And you'll spend time building jigs. Contrast that to the 8 where you mostly cleco the thing together out of the box. My hubby tortured me with that many times when he built his 8 tail kit and his Panther. "Look what I made! A Vertical Stab in a Weekend! What? Yours took 4 months? You're slow." Aaargh...

RV-3 Build

flyenforfun said:

I built in RV8 and completed in 2012...The only thing that is intimidating is that the fuselage in the tail section are not pre-drilled so my question is this: do I have to locate and drill all the holes or do they provide occasional pilot holes to give you somewhere to start.

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As mentioned so far regarding drilling all the holes...yes. I restored an RV-3A after building an RV-9A to the FWF / glue the plexiglass is all that is left phase. When I went through the 3A, I found the original builder had done a poor job on the vertical stabilizer and it had multiple cracks that had been stop drill and covered with a doubler. I therefore spent the $70 or so for the metal from Van's and proceeded to redo it. From what I had already learned building my 9A, building the vertical stab gig and doing it was very doable, but quite a bit more time consuming compared to the "pre-drilled" kits! The vertical stab. took about 35 hours to build, to include the gig, laying out the parts and riveting it all together. With what you know from building the "8", the project will be very doable. I loved flying my 3A and it was fairly light with an old O-290 "G" modified as a pseudo "D". Good times!

Doug Lomheim
RV-3A sold
RV-9A Mazda 13B / FWF

The 3 fuselage is not that bad. Just mark the holes and then strap the skin over the skeleton and drill from the inside out and cleco as you go...

If it's like the RV-4, there is no predrilling anywhere. The plans and instructions are, um, primitive and replete with contradictions and errors. Building a predrilled kit like an -8 is a doddle. Not so much building as assembling. The legacy kits - 3,4 and 6 are more challenging and fun, but don't underestimate them.
I think that the RV-3 has QB wings as an option. Makes life easier but more expensive!

Chris

Yes, QB wings are available. Having built the standard-build wings, I'd recommend the QB ones.

Dave

David Paule said:

Yes, QB wings are available. Having built the standard-build wings, I'd recommend the QB ones.

Dave

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We did the QB wings, and yes, well worth it if you want to save some time - but beware, they don't mass assemble them, they are built to order (I suspect), and we foudn a few errors when measuring for a few items. All part of the fun of building a -3, and yes - I really enjoyed it!

I would be real interested to see the response on the -3, and -4 kits if they were pre-punched. They are such nice flying airplanes. I enjoyed building the -4, and still marvel at the fact that I built it.

Panther Instead

Well the 3 is a great plane. It would appear many never get completed because they are not "easy" to build as opposed to what is out there now. I would think the Panther is a much more favorable build and the result is very close ...in some ways superior for todays larger sized folks. I wish Vans had offered this a few years back however it looks like SPA is on track ...the alternative brand X is looking pretty darn good.