Does anyone have stats on past RV announcements--what has the timing typically been from announcement/reveal to kit production/delivery?
I’ve seen me with drills and drill bits, I trust vans machines moreIn addition, assuming the kit will be match holed and final sized a lot more than previous kits, the new machinery and tooling to make this happen is a big investment and that investment has to be amortized across the new kits being produced on the new machinery.
Final sized holes save you a lot of time, but that time isn't free: you've just shifted that work to Van's machines, albeit at a very good hourly rate.
If the old kit took 200 hours to build and cost $2k because it wasn't final sized, and now takes 150 hours (mostly due to final sizing let's say), but now costs $2500, you just paid Van's $10/hr to final size it for you. Seems like a fair trade unless your time is truly worth nothing.
In addition, assuming the kit will be match holed and final sized a lot more than previous kits, the new machinery and tooling to make this happen is a big investment and that investment has to be amortized across the new kits being produced on the new machinery.
Final sized holes save you a lot of time, but that time isn't free: you've just shifted that work to Van's machines, albeit at a very good hourly rate.
If the old kit took 200 hours to build and cost $2k because it wasn't final sized, and now takes 150 hours (mostly due to final sizing let's say), but now costs $2500, you just paid Van's $10/hr to final size it for you. Seems like a fair trade unless your time is truly worth nothing.
Don't the final sized holes still have to be deburred? My RV-10 flaps came with final size holes in the skins and ribs, and I seem to remember still needing to debur them before dimpling.
Aircraft parts with final-size holes may be dimpled and then assembled right out of the box, after deburring the edges of each part as needed.
Except the turrets don’t care what size the tool in the holder is. They can punch an undersized hole, a final sized hole, A DIMPLED HOLE, or a star shaped hole in exactly the same amount of time and effort.
They have to leave something for us to do...but yes, you can still deburr the holes if you want, but at least you don't have to build the part twice (assemble with cleco, drill, disassemble, deburr, assemble, rivet). But, if you read Van's announcement on final sizing in the RV-10, they say you can go straight to assembly:
Of course, they could just shoot bullets at it and make holes.
If they could have always provided final sized parts, they would have. Perhaps someone with manufacturing experience will come along and set me straight, but my understanding is to be able to provide final sized parts, it required investments in the design (older designs were literally drawings vs CAD files), and investments in the tools (older tools probably couldn't consistently hit the mark and/or marred the part in a way that was "fixed" by having you final size the hole). I had always assumed that's why they were never going to go back and provide final sized RV-6, 7 etc parts, because the time needed to interpret the drawings into something usable on the newer equipment wasn't worth the effort, plus I imagine they are still using a mix of new and old machines (gotta work that CapEx down).
Regardless, even if it's free to Van's to produce final sized parts, they are still saving you substantial time providing it for you, and to me, helps justify the more expensive kit prices (which I realize aren't just about final sizing increasing the cost). It goes along with the "to quick build or not" arguments. QB kits are by far the better deal, by the hour cost, than doing it yourself. But sometimes all we have is time...
The RV-12 didn't need deburring. If I remember correctly, you were even cautioned against deburring too much. Just a lite touch if you were going to do it.
The title says.... RV15 STANDARD KIT PRICE GUESSES.
Out of 15 posts only 4 have to do with the subject.... If you want to talk about anything else other than the title of the thread, learn how to start your own thread and hope it does not get hijacked by someone asking an off the wall question.
Guess this is the first time you have experienced "thread creep".
Actually not too bad on VAF but does happen.
My guess is $52,500 for complete standard kit, >$80,000 for QB's.
We need a scatter plot of everyone's guesses and then Van's will know where to price it at to meet our assumptions, once they realize some of us have pretty much decided we will pay anything to have it in our grubby mitts as soon as possible