Were early RV-8 kits match drilled?

[Saville]

As I look at used RV-8's I wonder if the first RV-8 kits out from Vans were all match drilled? Or was that something that came along later?

thanks!

[BruceEicher]

The first kits were not 100% match drilled. My tail kit #80305 needed some layout and drilling but the skins were pre-punched along with some other parts.

[N804RV]

The skins were pre-punched. But ribs and spars had to be match drilled by the builder.

[Saville]

So can anyoen tell me about when Vans started to put out fully match drilled kits? I realize that an older, non-matched kit might be completed after the time when fully match drilled kits were sold.

Is there a way to determin whether or not a finished RV-8 was match drilled or not?

Thanks!

[flywithme623]

The newer kits have a lot more lightning holes in the ribs and bulkheads than the older none match drilled ribs.
Jigs were needed during the building process. So if you get to see pictures on the building log with a jig that's for sure a sign for none match drilled building.
If you look closely on the flenches of the ribs you may find that the edge distance may not be as 100% as they would be on a complete matched kit.

[timandmeli]

Hello,
I started my 8A build in 2006. The empennage kit arrived late march or early april. It was completely matched hole. And went together without issue. You could literally cleco the parts as they came out of the box. The wing kit was ordered at Sun and Fun the next year. This was also the first time I had ever ridden an in RV. It was matched hole and like the empennage was a very easy build with parts going together easily. While building the wings I had contemplated buying a pre-built fuselage as I'm not the best carpenter and wasn't too sure about building the jig for the fuselage. At Oshkosh 2008 they announced the matched hole fuselage kit and I can only speculate that I was one of the first. I literally clecoed the parts together on a work table with no jig. The rest of the build was like the rest of the RV world with the fit and finish. Today I have a great airplane. Tim

[ronschreck]

Originally Posted by Saville

So can anyoen tell me about when Vans started to put out fully match drilled kits? I realize that an older, non-matched kit might be completed after the time when fully match drilled kits were sold.

Is there a way to determin whether or not a finished RV-8 was match drilled or not?

Thanks!

I can't answer your question but I am wondering why you are asking? If you are concerned about buying a plane that was not match drilled I think your concerns are unfounded. Match drilled kits are easier to build but not necessarily better built. A poor builder can screw up a match build kit just as easily as a non match drilled kit, but he can screw it up faster with the former.

[Bartman]

if I remember right the last part of the rv8 to be sold as pre-punched and matched drilled was the fuselage and that came out in 2011, before that the fuselage was just pre-punched and not matched drilled. Sooooo any RV8 that came out after about mid 2011 the whole kit will be pre-punched and matched drilled.

[JoeBlank]

The Emp and wing Kits were pre-punched prior to 2007. In 2007, the -1 Pre-Punched Fuselage was introduced. Prior to that, the Fuselage Kit was partially pre-punched...

[Saville]

Originally Posted by ronschreck

I can't answer your question but I am wondering why you are asking? If you are concerned about buying a plane that was not match drilled I think your concerns are unfounded. Match drilled kits are easier to build but not necessarily better built. A poor builder can screw up a match build kit just as easily as a non match drilled kit, but he can screw it up faster with the former.

I wouldn't say "concerned". I would say it's a data point when comparing prospective a/c for purchase. My impression from reading this forum, reading the Vans web page, and reading articles is that match drilling alleviates the need to build jigs, and assures correct alignment of parts. If that's true, then I would say there's a better chance that a match drilled a/c is straight and square.

I do understand that if the builder is sufficiently poor, anything can be messed up. But by the same token, it seems to me that a careful 1st time builder has much less chance of messing up a match drilled kit.

Put another way, when comparing two a/c *all* other things being equal I might be inclined to select the match drilled a/c vs one that wasn't. You cannot see everywhere inside when inspecting a finished a/c and so you are taking some things on faith that they are ok.

But you cannot make that distinction/assumption unless you know if some -8's were not match drilled and when that might have been. So I ask.