Setting up shop

With the decision made to build an RV12, I placed the orders with Vans for the first 2 kits – The empennage, and the Wing Kits in May 2020. Given the lead-time for the kits (which was increased due to Covid, and also wildfires in the area of the Vans facility in Oregon) I estimated approx 5-6 months before they finally arrived, given they also had to make the journey via sea from the US to NZ.

So that gave me time to get my Mancave/Shed/Workshop ready and research and obtain all of the specialist tools i would need. Luckily I have a pretty big shed as we built it about 3 years ago to accommodate a horse truck, and I also had a variety of tools that were needed (far too often!) to keep the MG in running order. Building an aircraft though requires a bunch of specialist tools – some of which I had never even heard of before. The interwebs became my best friend, and it didn’t take long to track down some specialist tool suppliers in the US and I was able to buy everything from just 2 suppliers. I will just call out that Cleveland Tools were super helpful and great to deal with, so will be my go to for anything else needed throughout the built.

Whilst waiting for the tools to arrive I also built myself 4 new benches and a wing stand. Plans for these can be found on the EAA website should you need them.

Now it was just a case of waiting for the specialist tools to arrive, and using the time to make weekly trips to Bunnings (and not just for the snags!) to sneak a few other tools into the shed when Tina wasn’t looking. In the interim the dogs decided the bench had other uses too….