Upgraded RV-12 Kit

[FlyingMonkey]

Honestly, as complete as the RV-12 kit is and and as little finishing as the parts required (e.g. they are match drilled and deburred), I'd probably save the $15k and build it myself.  The sheet metal work might be a lot of the build, but with this kit it's also some of the easiest to do.

[sandpiper]

Andy - there is a fair amount of match drilling to be done.

And, all edges need to be finished and almost all pre-drilled holes require deburring.

Edge finishing and deburring take up about 50% of the build.

Of course, you don't have to do this. But, if you take pride in your work you will put this effort into it.

I have seen a good builders work, and the work of builders that are incompetent or who don't care. 

When you sell the plane shoddy workmanship will affect the price. Worst case scenario will be cracks where you can't easily get to them.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I live in an airpark full of builders. Some are repeat offenders. Others have built three or more aircraft. The EAA is very active here. I can't get away with anything.

[Runtoeat]

John, you may not be getting away with anything but you will have no doubt that you did things right when you're done.  Can't think of any application where this is more important than building a airplane.

[WmInce]

13 hours ago, FlyingMonkey said:

Honestly, as complete as the RV-12 kit is and and as little finishing as the parts required (e.g. they are match drilled and deburred), I'd probably save the $15k and build it myself.  The sheet metal work might be a lot of the build, but with this kit it's also some of the easiest to do.

From what I understand, the Sling 2 and Ran's S-21 Outbound are no different. The RV-12 does require some fiberglass layup (canopy support structure), but the Sling does not, as it uses a preformed slider style canopy.