Welcome to the Family!!!
Congratulations on making one of the most rewarding decisions you will make in life. I've built many things in my life, including other types of aircraft but nothing as fun and rewarding as an RV.
It sounds like you have a very good path laid out.
Joining the EAA, especially a local chapter is not just a good idea but arguably a must. If you haven't attended a metal builders workshop and it fits your schedule and budget, you could really save yourself some pain and unnecessary expenses. You have chose to build one of Van's most beautiful aircraft but sadly it does require jigging and aligning. I've worked on other kits that require this and it can be time consuming and frustrating, even for experienced builders. Don't get me wrong, it is extremely rewarding but the stakes are a bit higher. It is easier to make mistakes and they can cost you in both time and money. So if its within your means, brush up on your skills with a local workshop.
Network, network, network. I'm a newbie having only been with the EAA for 17 years but there are no other people in the world like the experimental aviation community. They will usually literally give you the shirt off their back, no questions asked. Where I am building there are only a handful of RV builders (3 including me) and we are all either test pilots or engineers (or both) and still collaborate on even the most trivial detail. I wouldn't want it any other way.
As for making indications on your Building Instructions. What I personally do is not only check off each step but write the date I completed the step next to the paragraph. Once I finish every task on that page I put a check mark at the bottom of the page to indicate there are no pending items on that page. You may find that you need to skip ahead and when you got back, it may be very confusing and frustrating to find the steps (or important details) you may have missed. Also, if you do take a lengthy break, believe it or not you will forget the last thing you had worked on. This is a back up to my hand written notebook I keep in the shop. I try to write my log as if I know nothing about what I am building (Lesson Learned: I had taken two weeks off and went out into the shop and read my notes and it took me at least 45 minutes to re-orientate because my notes sounded like stereo instructions...which is not good when you are building an airplane).
Van's Price Increase Possibly Delayed until Feb. 08 - When I ordered my next kit, the Van's rep. told me they are probably going to delay increasing their prices until February. Of course I would verify this with Van's but that is what I was told. This didn't really matter because I ordered in November but it was good info.
I can't speak for everyone in the forum but by making an empirical observation it seems as if most builders will be repeat offenders...meaning even if they sell some of their tools, they will probably keep the majority on the off chance they build again. Also, may need a majority of the tools you purchase for the odd Service Bulletin, Repair or Upgrade. Granted you probably will not need 325 clecos but these don't take up that much room and aren't that expensive.
The preview plans should have the step by step instructions and a small version of the plans. The larger Blue Prints come with each kit along with any revisions to the preview plans. Your plans will be much more detailed because you will have to do more jigging, aligning and hole locating.
Other words of advice. Stay plugged in. Builders all hit the wall and get discouraged at some point in the build. Depending on your skill sets it will be at different stages during the build. I think the number one reason why there are so many flying RV's is because of the strong community. We will pick you up when you have fallen as long as you do the same.
Good luck and happy riveting!
