aeronut67

aeronut67

Member
Hey guys,
I'm looking for some imput in on the construction of the rv4. A few years agoi I had to sell my 7a due to financial considerations. I didn't finish it but got close enough to know that there wasn't anything with the construction that I didn't think I could do. Well I believe I'm ready to build again and I a thinking the 4 is the plane for me. I just received the preview plans but my concern is with the amount of work involved. Can anybody help me with some question? How much is left up to the builder in the way of fabricating parts like bulk heads and ribs? it looks like the plans call for making those from scratch. Im not sure if I'm up for the challenge of making those or are they hydro formed like the 7A? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Glenn
 
If it's like the RV-3B....

I hear it's a lot like the -3, which I'm building, and certainly the -3 uses a lot of -4 parts (this surprised me.) Assuming it's like the RV-3B kit -

Ribs, bulkheads, major bends and weldments are done. Long straight bends are made. Certain smaller parts and shorter straight bends are not made. The few machined parts are made. Very little is pre-punched so you'll need to locate and drill almost every hole that there is. You'll need to make or scrounge a fixture for the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, the wings and fuselage.

You'll need to straighten flanges and flute them too.

There's going to be quite a bit of thinking required compared to some of the other kits. For those of us building these older designs, that's part of the fun. But the overall progress will be slower than for one of the later kits.

I've only gotten one ride in a -4. I'm 5' 8" and 160 pounds. I found the rear seat small and the forward visibility negligible. If this is important to you, I have heard that the -8 is better in that regard, but don't know that first-hand.

Dave
 
I bought a flying -4 and just started building one also. Building a -4 is much easier now that it was in "the eraly days", but it is definitely more challenging than say a -7. The skills required to do the work are still essentially the same, but there is a lot more left to the imagination, so if you enjoy problem solving it is fantastic.

The information about forming the various bits is just there, I believe, in case you ever have to fabricate a replacement in a Van's-less world, but who wants to live in that world? The ribs, formers, frames, etc all come preformed, they just require a bit more effort to get to final configuration, i.e. nothing is drilled, with some exceptions.

Some of the parts are common with many aircraft in current production. For example, the steel powder coated brackets in the tail are the same as in other kits so they a come pre-drilled. The spars that they mount to are not. It is somewhat easier having one pice pre-drilled rather than neither.

Take a good look at the wing plans, for instance. Note that the aileron part numbers are all 7 or 8 part numbers as the aileron is now the same on the -4, -7, and -8. What that means is that the ailerons will all be pre-drilled (punched). Also note several 7 part numbers in the fuel tanks.

I don't know how he did it, but I had a friend who built a -6 in 3 years. I worked on my -7 for 7 years and only had the tail, wings, and partial fuselage done.

It's a lot of fun and a really good airplane and as long as you don't expect every last detail to be explained and are comfortable making decisions on your own, and remember to measure once and cut twice, it will be well worth it.
 
4 V 7 build.

Hi

Having build both a 9 and a 4, I can tell you the 9's and 7s are much easier than 4's.

With a 4 it is much more a case of building it tan assembling it, though neither are like building from plans.

You will have to fabricate a lot more parts on the 4 than the seven but as has been said all the rib and other parts are made by the factory.

One point...... it is probably cheaper to buy built than build at the moment.... consider this.
 
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