Minimum Tools for all the practice pieces

Went to AirVenture for the first time this past year and I spent lots of time at the Vans tent...

I'm looking to dip my toes into the Vans water to see if this building thing may by right for me. So when my family asked me what I wanted for Christmas I suggested the Vans practice kit. Well, I got the practice kit, the toolbox, the lightbox, and a hat!

Is there a list of tools required to accomplish the various Vans practice kits? I've seen the Cleaveland and Isham specialty RV-x kits, but I was hoping I wouldn't need to invest that much just yet.

Any help and guidance is appreciated.

In short, you will need the following -
Drill and #30 / 40 bits to match drill the holes
Something to dimple the rivet holes with - either a DRDT or C frame. Maybe a pneumatic squeezer. These will be the most expensive tools you will need to buy. I suggest finding another builder to use theirs for your test run.
Riveters - a rivet gun with a flush set and a back rivet set, plus bucking bars. Probably also good to borrow.
Rivet puller for the wing kit. borrow or $20 at Ace Hardware

The parts I've outlined are the bulk of the expense of one of the kits. Everything else is conversation. ((and the drill and the air compressor for the squeezer and riveter are normally NOT included in those kits. I found that the compressor for my nail guns (a medium sized Porter Cable compressor) worked just fine))

As I mentioned above, find another builder through your EAA chapter or local airport or this website and borrow the tools. The other builder will likely be happy to walk you through the project, too.

Thanks Yoda! I joined EAA to get my AirVenture tickets and there hasn't been a lot of activity in my chapter that I've seen yet, but I'll keep knocking on the proverbial door.

Practice kits

Don't spend a bunch of money building a tool box.
Find a local, or Loco , Mentor. Build one of the Christmas present kits. Drill it apart then rebuild it. By the end of the rebuild, you will have skills, you will know which tools you might want and have a good idea if building is your goal. Plus, you'll have made a new friend and maybe a little Loco like the rest of us!
Then, spend the kids inheritance!

I took a slow approach to tool gathering for the practice kits just as you did. Best option is to borrow the tools as wirejock said. I didn't. Assuming you have household tools like a hand drill already, if you want something to own, you need to be able to

• trim metal (hand shears or band saw)
• debur edges (hand files, emery cloth, scotchbrite pad or wheel)
• drill holes (hand drill and #30 and #40 drill bits)
• debur holes (hex shank debur bit)
• dimple (see below)
• rivet (2x or 3x rivet gun, mushroom set, 1/8 domed head set, bucking bar)

The only dimpling you need for these kits is for AD426AN3 rivets, which you can do with a "close quarters dimple die" (need a pull rivet hand tool). The investment there is $60, compared to your other options (squeezer/c-frame/drdt2 and dies), which are in the hundreds. The dimple it forms is meh and it's not an enjoyable process, but I considered it good practice with the toolbox and helped me pull the trigger to buy a pneumatic squeezer for the lightbox.

The practice control surface kit required countersinking, back riveting, and a 12" #30 drill bit. I did that kit last, and by the time I did, I had already acquired a lot of the tools for plane-building, which really do make things easier.