...It sounds like the drill press and grinding wheel is a must.
Glenn,
You don't need a bench grinder, if money and space are an issue. What you can do, and what I did, was to put a deburring wheel in the drill press. This gives you much more room to work the part on the wheel than what you can do in a bench grinder.
Also, NEVER use a grinding wheel on aluminum!!!! Search the forum, you will find out why.
Put your money towards a bandsaw, drill press, and optionally a belt sander. I used a Delta bench sander (~$100 at Lowes or HD) with a 4" belt and 5" disk. Some like the once inch belt sanders but the size is personal preference.
... I hate to add another item here but how big an air compressor do you recommend for a doing a quick build.
A friend of mine built his -10 slow build with a small contractor's compressor. He did plum in small portable tank, like what you might find at Northern Tool, just to extend the times between it clicking on. This worked great for riveting (I helped with a lot of that so I experienced first hand how often it clicked on.) but for drilling he used his cordless drill.
BTW, I used a 5HP, belt driven, 35 gallon compressor. If you go with a bigger compressor and want to paint your plane with it, you need to buy a BIG one! Don't get a direct drive compressor as they are VERY VERY loud.
I have a small band saw. Has been great for working on my RC models. I had not considered using it for this project because I assumed it wouldn't be appropriate for cutting metal. Can I get a blade that will do aluminum? What width, TPI etc. do you suggest?
Thanks,
ff
I found turning down the bandsaw all the way, using an 18 TPI x 1/4" blade worked great for all the aluminum you will cut in building your RV. I ordered mine from ebandsawblades.com but the site it gone.