Newbie Here

[polishpilot]

All of the above are great suggestions. Also, when you order your first kit Van's sends a complete build manual. There are many pages up front with explanations to probably many of your questions; along with illustrations. If you are near Corona, get in tough with Bruce Hill, or another builder to spend a few hours helping you out just to get your started.

[djclarke46]

Welcome Mike:

I concur with the others about the EAA sheet metal class. It really gave me confidence to start my empennage kit. I also took the EAA electrical course and found this very helpful as well. Don't worry about the cost because it will save you more than that in the end.

Derek Clarke

[rapid_ascent]

I took the EAA class and it gives you a starting baseline. Before that you have no idea what people are talking about. I built the toolbox kit and a couple of the airfoil kits. I was still not an expert builder. I'm much further along now and still I wouldn't claim to be an expert, but I'm much better than I was. Take some time to practice and see what it's like. I love the building part of it, but other people are not that type. Make sure you are before you really jump into it. In the grand scheme of thing the Empennage kit is not that expensive but it's still a good chunk of money. If you get through the Empennage kit or not you will know whether you want to continue.

Some people are able to use a cordless drill and fewer tools. I didn't buy a full set of tools at first. I bought the absolute minimum and I kept adding. This is probably not the cheapest or most productive method since you are always in need of a tool that you haven't purchased yet. It did allow me to spread the cost out some until I figured out whether I really did want to do the build.

[rv9builder]

Mike,

Check your private messages.