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Old school RV-4 building , can it be done?

T

terry.mortimore

Well Known Member
Hi Gang: My nephew picked up an abandoned RV-4 project which included the empanage and wing kit.

We are now suffering from sticker shock on the price and delivery of the fuselage kit. 13,000.00 and one to two year delivery.

I’m wondering if we should scratch build the fuselage. I can see through the aluminum metal work, but I’m wondering about the Steel Weldments.

Since Van’s will no longer sell the individual components (only the complete kit) do we know who fabricated the steel components for Van’s back in the day? Are they still doing it? I’m wondering if they will sell directly to us?

Cheers Terry.
 
I'm pretty sure vans will still sell parts. They just don't allow part deletions from kit orders. With a little patience and some want adds in the classified section on here, you could also likely find the components. Likely even a started fuse kit or damaged/ repairable fuse.
 
Keep your eyes out for a fuselage and finish kit that has been sitting around..there have been several come and gone over the last year that I have seen on various classifieds. The major weldments are all in the finishing kit (roll bar, engine mount and gear parts) other than the sticks,torque tubes and longeron/firewall brackets. i built my -4, and the fuselage could be scratch built, but it would take a while making the bulkhead parts (I've made a few). Importantly, check your wing kit and make sure the match drilled fuselage bulkhead parts and match drilled spar splices are in the kit. The fuselage kit does not contain those parts, and they are essential to get a matched wing/fuselage mate-up. Mismatched parts can be used, but often require using some undrilled pieces (special order)or oversizing. The RV-4 spar components and fuselage center bulkhead carry through are the only factory drilled parts on the RV-4, with exception of some pre-punched skins in later kits which I dont really care for. The RV-4 is hand built and every one has slight variations. VANS has stated in recent years RV-4 parts will only be produced when there are enough orders to tool up and do so. You will also need to procure or build the associated fixtures for wings, fuselage and tail surfaces...you have plenty to keep you busy for a while during your search for the rest of the kits.
 
If you can find someone in your area building a bearhawk, cub replica, or even a race car, they could certainly fabricate the weldments. just another option.
 
Consider building a F4 Raider. A F4 Raider uses a RV4 wing and Tail kit. You can get all the fuselage bulkheads and welded parts from Vince. He has some patterns to make the skins. And you will have a amazing airplane when complete.
If you want to stay with the RV4 model, you can watch for a 2nd hand fuse kit and parts. For example, I'm building the F4 Raider and have some left over RV4 parts I'm not going to use such as the firewall, firewall weldments, the turtle deck, roll bar etc....

Good luck with your kit,
 
Thanks for the replies, good food for thought.

The wing has the Phlogiston spars and we do have the spar plates and fuselage bulkhead.

Wiley, can you send me an email regarding the firewall brackets?

terry dot mortimore at shaw.ca

I tried sending a private message, but I’m not sure about Doug’s new system.

Thanks again, Terry
 
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