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over 18,000 sold. Where are they?

V

VETE76

Well Known Member
talked to vans and they stated that they have sold over 18,000 tail kits, there are only 6600 finished and flying and some not reported to vans so maybe 7000+, just wondering how many tail kits vs wing vs fuse etc.
f
 
37% completion rate...

Considering all the work that is involved, that is not bad at all.
 
Benchmark

Just as a sort of benchmark, my RV-7 tail kit was number 3083 (based on my builder number), whereas my wing spar serial number was 2500. Now I'm assuming that these things are numbered sequentially so this implies that I jumped ahead of 583 other tail kit buyers in my construction process. I suspect that a good number of those will never be completed for various reasons. Others may just be moving along more slowly. According to Van's there are currently less than 900 completed RV7/7As out there so there is obviously a lot of uncompleted stuff floating around!
 
I know of at least three...

...tailkits hanging on walls. I have a -4 emp and a friend has a -6 emp (for $1,000) and another hanging in Sandersville, Ga. Not really surprising since it's the first kit recommended and also not very expensive.

Best,
 
I've got one rv3 tail kit i bought from a local guy and i don't plan on doing any work on it for a year, i've got my plane to work on first. I don't know that there are very many of these instances, but i got it cheap enough i can hold on to it as long as i want and not feel it was a waste of money or have to much money tied up in it. I'm sure there are a couple of other instances of this, i know of a couple guys here on VAF that have advertised second tail kits that they don't need any more.

this would obviously increase tail kits sold without related completions until much later time.
 
I just bought one

...from another local VAF friend. It will hang on the wall for awhile until I get to the rebuild of number 3 below...

Thanks Richard!!!


*
 
It's my guess that some builders have gotten the tail kit, started it, realized that :eek: they were way over there head and said - "Ain't no way I'm gonna build an airplane!"

I'd also be willing to bet that some got started and put it all on hold because of the expenses involved in starting a new family. :) Then there are those that put it all on hold until because of a loss or reduction of income. :(

My entire build process has slowed way down because of the uncertainty of my current income. I've been laid off (for short periods of time) twice in the last two years and there are more to come. My original plan was to have it finished on a schedule such that I would have one of the sub kits finished per year - 5 years?!?.

Now my hope is that I can get it finished before I die. :D
 
In my case, I bought a -6 tail kit, started it, put it down and never went back to it. After I started on the -9, which was a better match for the type of flying I thought I would do, I sold the -6 tail kit to a fellow VAF member who wanted it to replace some less than perfect parts on his -6. So that is one RV-6 kit that will never fly, even though parts of it will fly on another airplane.
 
Wow, my tale is almost identical to Bill R's, but just sold the RV-6 tail kit to Jerry yesterday.
 
Overseas

A lot of kits are sold abroad and no statistics on that. UK, Australia, Brazil, Russia, African countries and others. Very often kit numbers are the property of exporters.
 
VETE76 said:
talked to vans and they stated that they have sold over 18,000 tail kits, there are only 6600 finished and flying and some not reported to vans so maybe 7000+, just wondering how many tail kits vs wing vs fuse etc.
f
Click to expand...

37% completion rate isn’t bad at all. It would be interesting to know what the tail kits sales were at, say, five years ago, and look at the completions of total aircraft today. Another 10-20% are probably also going to be added to completions when you consider the time involved to build an entire aircraft. Some can do it in a year, some take nearly 20 years or more for a completed plane, but I imagine an average figure might be in the 3-5 year mark to finish. If memory serves me correctly, Van’s is having 11 completions of aircraft per week right now. Multiply that by 4 years (2288) onto the completion 6692 figure (just got the latest) (8930) and you then have a 50% completion record. Builders are always going to be about five years behind Van’s kits sales.

I've read from a few builders who order a second tail kit, after feeling like their first one wasn't up to the quality they were hoping for.
 
Another 'skip-ahead' data point

Just another example of the "skip ahead" when you finish an airplane:

My RV-8 tail kit number (builder number) is 2718.
My fuselage number is 1638. So mine jumped past 1000 other kits right away.

Then, I no doubt jumped past a lot of kits that will eventually be completed, by finishing in 2 yrs. There are 950 RV-8's, so at least 1800 RV-8 tail kits are out there.
 
Orphanage

Sorry, but I'm running an orphanage here:
Orphan 1. Early RV-6 empennage and wings, with match drilled center section pieces.
Orphan 2. Late RV-6/RV-8 empennage I plan to use in my rebuild to an RV6.5

gh
 
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I purchased my unstarted wing kit from a guy getting a divorce. It seems his wife was "helping" him load his stuff on moving day by flinging the empennage parts into the moving van. He lost all interest in starting (the build) all over again.
His builder number won't ever make it to the "completed" column.
 
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We have a complete, nearly untouched, RV8A kit here at the tech school. It was bought about ten years ago with the idea that our aircraft sheet metal students would build it. Anyway, there was never enough time in the curriculum to do it and it sits in our tool room gathering dust.
I would love to get the project going, even had some of the advanced students put the horizontal stab spar together.
Here's my grand idea - the sheet metal program could build it, our A&P program could install the systems, and the electronics program could wire it up. Then we could paint it in school colors and use it for recruiting at airshows. Great PR.
Alas, looks like that will have to wait until some day when I am in charge.....;)
 
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Built tail feathers in a week.

Went to Eugene Oregon, Wally Andersons place called SYNERGY. I took the saturday class to introduce me to RV building. Learned a lot! Came back for the week class to learn building. Greatest thing I ever did! Learned the building process with aircraft materials.Drilling out bad rivets and not making the the orginal rivet hole BIGGER! Using the bucking bars of steel for four days and then using a tungsten bar the last day. You learn the tools to have. Avery and Cleaveland and Yard store are the places to shop. Watch for specials at all of them.The best of ALLL of them is right here on VANSAIRFORCE. THANKS TO DOUG AND HIS STAFF and all the fellow builders whom answered my goofy questions.QB 9A Ron in Oregon
 
I know where one is. I'm builder number 70240. As far as I know, only my pal Rich Emery -- 70238 -- have lower builder numbers and aren't flying.

It'll get done when it gets done.
 
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