If I were starting over again, knowing what I learned in a little over three years of building and now a few months of owning & flying (albeit a different RV), here's what I would do.
First, VAF is your best friend and can also be your worst enemy.
There is a vast wealth of knowledge and experience here. There are also deeply held and differing opinions on every conceivable bit of minutiae that can waste valuable building time with debate and indecision if you let it.
Start with the Van's tool kit, and maybe do the airfoil kit as well. Get comfortable with the tools and processes. Join EAA. Find local builders. Go to Airventure and see what everyone else has done, and decide what you like and what you don't. That's how we chose a paint scheme and interior.
I had a cheap hand squeezer kit, and a not-cheap pneumatic squeezer. I loved the pneumatic, but honestly if I were doing it again I'd get a REALLY GOOD hand squeezer and skip the pneumatic. I would advise you to avoid the cheap stainless import squeezer - you'll fight to get good results, especially with longer rivets. It flexes more than you would think.
I wonder how many RVs have carefully etched, alodined and primed tails, primed wings and mostly un-primed fuselages.
It is truly a never ending debate, and the fact that it has not yet been settled by simple examination of un-primed aircraft from the 80s and 90s might tell you something. Automotive paint stores can be a good source of excellent self-etch or epoxy direct-to-metal (DTM) primer for FAR less cost and hassle than something like Akzo.
Van's will tell you to build simple and light, build simple and light, build simple and light. They're absolutely right. There are a lot of options and "upgrades" that will provide marginal benefit if any, and suck up a lot of building time. Of all the "extras" I went with I think the only ones I would do again would be some upgraded vents -- the plastic ones from Van's really do suck. You live where it gets cold, that will matter to you in winter and who wants duct tape in their nice new airplane?
Build the airplane YOU want. There is a never-ending debate over where the third wheel should go, which way the canopy should open, whose EFIS is better, and so on. NONE of the options are wrong. Pick what you like and want. I was dead set on a slider, now I'm flying a tip-up and love it. Whatever.
Congratulations and happy building!
