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The Fun Part!
The bits and pieces on the bottom go together to make the thing at the top!
From the Van’s Website
The Standard kit is far more than just a “materials package.” When the kit is shipped, any work requiring mechanical equipment not readily available to the homebuilder is already done. If a part needs to be sheared, bent, rolled, pressed, hydro-formed, heat treated or welded to be ready to use, it has been done at the factory. The builder’s job is to assemble the parts, not make them.
We do not do the small trimming and adjusting jobs which the average homebuilder in the average shop can do as well as we can. This helps keep our labor to a minimum and the cost of the kits at a reasonable level. Because of the volume of material we buy and the efficient way we run our shop, the price of the kits is not substantially higher than an individual would pay for the raw material. The builder is spared not only the necessity of buying expensive tools and making form blocks that would be used only once, but also the tedious and often frustrating job of shopping piecemeal for materials and parts and the waste of having to purchase larger quantities than actually required.
Although RV kits are very complete and very successful, this does not mean that we are not continually improving them. For example, over the years pre-drilled spars for the RV-4 and RV-6/6A have become standard (and completely assembled spars an option), bellcranks, empennage hinges and many other small parts that the builder originally fabricated are now supplied ready to install. Wing and floor ribs come with all the lightening holes complete. Many of the steel components are now powder-coated at the factory, sparing the builder the tedious task of preparing, priming and painting them.
But the biggest improvement – some might call it revolutionary– in Standard Kits is the introduction of “matched-hole” components. Made possible by advances in tools and techniques, components are now supplied with all the fastener holes punched …and punched so accurately that the need for assembly jigs is eliminated. When the holes line up, the component must be straight!
RV-7/7A, RV-8/8A and RV-9/9A Standard Kits are completely matched-hole. Since it is not possible to “back-in” the matched hole concept to kits that were designed before the tools were acquired and the techniques learned, the RV-3 and RV-4must be content with pre-punched wing skins, which are used as templates to drill the underlying ribs and spars.
