Van's Air Force
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-4 Pre Punched
- Thread starter Aussie 7
- Start date
garnt.piper
Well Known Member
RV-4 Pre-punched
Hi Guys,
I guess it is not as popular as before, but it is still desirable to many people. Van has said reason not pre-punched is that with declining sales it is not worth re-engineeering the design for pre-punched production. Better to invest on updated madels. I'm still enjoying my -4, and many say they are better flying than later designs.
Hi Guys,
I guess it is not as popular as before, but it is still desirable to many people. Van has said reason not pre-punched is that with declining sales it is not worth re-engineeering the design for pre-punched production. Better to invest on updated madels. I'm still enjoying my -4, and many say they are better flying than later designs.
RV-4 updated?
I asked Van's staff, maybe a year or two ago, specifically - any plans to drop the RV-4? Answer: no. Said they in fact had just shipped a couple kits out in the last week or so. The philosophy seems to be just keep the product offerings expanding, heck you can still buy an RV-3 kit, and people are still doing so. The only model that's "gone away" is the -6, but the -7 is really the same airplane, just somewhat re-engineered with an emphasis on easier to build mods, ie. pre-punched.
RV-4 sales did drop somewhat with the introduction of the RV-6, but the real replacement airplane was the RV-8, which addressed a couple percieved shortcomings of the -4, the desire to hang something bigger than 180hp, and a snug cockpit. The -8 was designed for up to 200hp and the fuselage was widened to accomodate the "bubba factor". But in doing so, one of the coolest design features, IMHO, was lost - the cheek cowling and the swept back gear. The cheek cowls on the -4 and -3 look like it's going 200mph just sitting on the ramp. The widened cowl on the -8 looks like, well, maybe a spam can Grumman Tiger. But hey, somebody likes them, sales have really taken off and it's certainly easier to build.
Doug Seward
RV-4 wings
I asked Van's staff, maybe a year or two ago, specifically - any plans to drop the RV-4? Answer: no. Said they in fact had just shipped a couple kits out in the last week or so. The philosophy seems to be just keep the product offerings expanding, heck you can still buy an RV-3 kit, and people are still doing so. The only model that's "gone away" is the -6, but the -7 is really the same airplane, just somewhat re-engineered with an emphasis on easier to build mods, ie. pre-punched.
RV-4 sales did drop somewhat with the introduction of the RV-6, but the real replacement airplane was the RV-8, which addressed a couple percieved shortcomings of the -4, the desire to hang something bigger than 180hp, and a snug cockpit. The -8 was designed for up to 200hp and the fuselage was widened to accomodate the "bubba factor". But in doing so, one of the coolest design features, IMHO, was lost - the cheek cowling and the swept back gear. The cheek cowls on the -4 and -3 look like it's going 200mph just sitting on the ramp. The widened cowl on the -8 looks like, well, maybe a spam can Grumman Tiger. But hey, somebody likes them, sales have really taken off and it's certainly easier to build.
Doug Seward
RV-4 wings
