7a kit questions

I had a couple of questions about the 7a building process

1. How well put together are the assembly instructions? Are there gaps in the steps or do you find they are thorough and complete?

2. If building the kit completely with Van's parts and with no modifications in the design, do you find yourself having to fabricate parts from scratch (without supplied instructions and materials)?

3. Are seats, upholstery, headliner included?

4. What exactly is in the finishing kit?

5. Slider vs tip up. Pros and cons of each?

Thanks guys.

Poolecw said:

I had a couple of questions about the 7a building process

1. How well put together are the assembly instructions? Are there gaps in the steps or do you find they are thorough and complete?

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The smart a$$ answer is good enough that over 10,000 people have built one. The real answer is that they are pretty good, not as good as the RV-10's and above but good enough that if you follow them and can read a drawing, you won't have a problem. If you do have a problem, learn how to use the advance search function on this forum and finally, you can always pick up the phone and call Van's.

Poolecw said:

2. If building the kit completely with Van's parts and with no modifications in the design, do you find yourself having to fabricate parts from scratch (without supplied instructions and materials)?

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The -7(A) is not designed to be scratch built. If you want to do that, you will need to find an RV-6(A) kit.
The plans and instructions are designed to be used with the kits, which are fairly complete. You will have to shape some parts from aluminum angle and bar stock, but not many. The skins are all pre-punched and cleco together without the need of a jig.

Poolecw said:

3. Are seats, upholstery, headliner included?

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No, they are all extra. Also, on the -7(A), there is no headliner due to the design of the bubble canopy.

Poolecw said:

4. What exactly is in the finishing kit?

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Check with Van's. IIRC, it is the canopy, landing gear, wheels, tires, tubes, brakes, cowling, etc.

Remember, wire, instruments, radios, engine, etc. are not included (Unless you are building an RV-12).

Poolecw said:

5. Slider vs tip up. Pros and cons of each?

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Now would be a good time to learn how to use that Advance Search function. There is a LOT of back-and-forth on this subject. So much so, there is an entire sub-section dedicated to it.

Poolecw said:

Thanks guys.

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Welcome to VAF and good luck!

7a Questions

I'll try to help,So IMHO

1. The plans are much improved over the years from the start in 2001.They tend to be all inclusive at the beginning, Tail,Wing and trail off as your experience grows.Whats not in the plans is all the help here and at local chapters EAA.

2. When Vans says everything is included,everything is included.You will become a master of creating parts out of angle that you would never guess started as such.

3. No, you have many suppliers to chose from or roll your own.

4. Engine mount,Cowl,Brakes,Tires, Canopy.The hard parts needed to finish up.

5. I like the visibility of the Tip-up, Some like the ventilation of the slider and roll bar out front.

Like I said IMHO

RHill