RV-6A plans and/or kit built?

[Radioflyer]

I was talking to a non-builder owner of a 6A who said his plane was "plans built", not from a kit. Well, this was news to me and actually the issue had not occurred to me until now. Were any early RV-6s built strictly from plans and builder sourced raw materials? I assumed all the RV-6s were built from kits as directed by the plans.

[PaulvS]

The plans for a -6 (and -3, -4) enable construction from raw materials and include for example details of form blocks to fabricate ribs, bulk heads etc. and components for weldments.
But it would take a tremendous amount of extra work to turn raw materials into: wing spars, gear legs, canopy, engine mount, cowling etc. and would require heavier equipment and more expertise than is common.

[Jpm757]

My -6 was an early "kit", and a far cry from today's pre punched slow build kits. The early kits included pre formed ribs and bulkheads, steel weldments and skins that needed to be cut to fit. Pretty much everything else needed to be fabricated. I agree a , "plans" built -6 would be a monumental undertaking.

[rvbuilder2002]

There may have been more, but I am only aware of one RV-6 that was scratch (plans) built.
The builder did purchase a canopy, cowling and other molded fiberglass parts, if I remember correctly, but the rest was done from raw materials.
I think he estimated that the the materials and hardware probably cost as much as a standard kit would have since nothing was purchased with any level of discount that comes from buying hardware and aluminum in quantity.

[Caveman]

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...=Joe+underwood