(LAA 363-15643) Van’s RV-12iS

By John Price

If I was to write a book, it would be: The Complete Duffers Guide to Building an RV-12iS… I’ve no idea how it started. I just acquired an itch, you know the type, one that you eventually have to scratch.

I was lucky enough to have started flying in my teens and have continued all through my adult life.

When I hit 40 my wife suggested that if I didn’t buy an aircraft soon then I never would. So along with an old friend, Steve (ex-Airbus Captain), we bought an Europa Monowheel. This we still have, then along came that itch, about eight years later. You know the one. The itch that goes something like ‘wouldn’t it be fun to build an aeroplane’.

Now, there’s a huge factor that should be understood here, which is, apart from mending a lawnmower or wiring a plug, I’ve never undertaken anything like this! I must admit some of my friends did think I was completely bonkers and would have some sort of breakdown mid-build – and told me so, more than once. There was an exception to these voices, my wife, the woman with the knowing smile!

So, I planned and thought a bit about what I wanted. Two-seater, comfortable, easy to build, modern, fun to fly and must run on mogas. (I know that this is a bit controversial but, hey, look at the price of avgas at present…).

So, we came down to a Rotax power plant. Now what to wrap around it! I just kept seeing Van’s Aircraft everywhere and people talking about them. In the end, given the engine that I wanted, it came down to RV-12 or

Above left In the autumn of 2019, all of John’s Christmasses seem to have come at once.

Above right It’s time to set about taking an inventory and notifying Van’s of anything that’s missing.

RV-12iS with the fuel-injected engine. I liked the look of it, the build methodology and the fact that it comes as a complete kit. Previous experience with removable wings, as on the Europa, also is found to be a benefit. All you need to source are fluids and paint – oh and tools – the instructions tell you what, and most of the suppliers have complete tool kits. Just add or remove what you want.

Ordering is very easy, if somewhat expensive. Download a form from its website, fill it all in, with colour choices etc – and part with a deposit. The remainder of the shock comes just before Van’s start to crate everything. Now you can order as much or as little as you like, as the build is in a number of stages. In simple terms, the back bit, the middle bit, the wings and all the neat, cool stuff in a finish kit. This I took in one delivery, door to door, by sea. I left the engine and avionics for a later date as I figured out it may be a few years before they will be needed. There were also a few posh options that I added, lights and cabin trim being two.

By this time, you should have registered your aircraft and obtained a build book. This will guide you to what needs to be inspected and when. Getting in touch with an Inspector now is a good idea and having a chat with him is another. He’ll probably want to have a look at your workshop to make sure that it’s OK. Here, a word about workshops. Realistically you cannot have too big an area to build in. But in winter it can get quite cold in a big space, and heating energy, at present, isn’t cheap. A single garage is minimum. In here you will become an expert in ‘Garage Tetris’ (easy to play but after a while, extremely tedious), but with clever designing, it can be nice and warm in a cold winter. Most builders seem to opt for a double garage which seems a good compromise.

Now, as to the build, well I was planning to retire within a year or two and this was going to be my project to keep me out of the way and give me a smooth transition into a life of leisure. So, spring 2019 all the paperwork went off to Van’s and after a few emails late August 2019 the kit was put on a truck in Oregon and moved by several modes until autumn 2019 it arrived at home. Now to say I thought that all my Christmases had come at once is a bit of an understatement. I had masses of stuff to look through and unpack. Wheels, brake calipers, every nut bolt and rivet, tubes and enough shaped aluminium to make you feel that you should’ve bought shares in an aluminium manufacturing outfit. The dogs looked completely baffled by it all, but loved grabbing discarded packing and running off with it.

It is a must to do an inventory of what’s missing or not. I should point out that Van’s is exceptionally trusting in what you say is missing. You let Van’s have a list, and generally, this arrives by return postage within 10-12 days.

I had everything I could need to begin; retirement was about 18 months away. The wind was set fair. Then all of a sudden came Covid. Within a couple of months an awful lot of us were being paid by the government to stay at home. Never in the field of human homebuilding had there been such an opportunity to say to my wife, “I’m bored, I think I’ll start on the aeroplane.” “Good,” came her reply, “it’ll get you out of the house and from under my feet.”

At this point, looking through all the delivered stuff, I had some doubts and a serious crash in confidence. ‘What have you got yourself into? Where do you start? Will you ever finish?’ It’s strange how your mind runs amok while you ponder the enormity of your decision and cash outlay. As a bit of a confidence booster, I read through two great sources of information. The kit assembly instructions (the plans and instructions) and a free book, The Standard Aircraft Handbook, both of which are a goldmine of information.

Above Every few days there is a little success, soon these come together to look like they should be part of an aeroplane. Below Save all your inspections up so there are as few visits as possible. Alan Bennett-Turner, busy between cups of tea.

Starting at the beginning, you find pieces of numbered aluminium, remove the blue sticky stuff – fun at the beginning, but later a bore – and deburr. For this there are many, many useful tools. But two come to mind, a Scotchbrite wheel and a Scotchbrite P120 radial bristle brush. The latter being the best. There’s also a hex bit that you put in an electric screwdriver that makes really easy work of the 18,000 odd holes.

Once you have offered up the parts, put in a lot of cleekos, fiddle about with them, measure and fettle, remove a lot of cleekos, you then come to your first go at drilling, deburring again or countersinking something.

The first time you do all this it’s a bit of a trauma, as there is always the dreaded… ‘What if I cock it up? Have I read the plans correctly?’. But by the 30th hole it all falls into place. It then comes to the time when you dismantle everything and move into that world of debate, counter debate, intrigue and, to be honest, complete bafflement. It’s like an MI5 interrogation but without the humour! It comes in one phrase ‘the application of primer’! Ask 30 homebuilders about how they primed their pride and joy and you get 30 different ways or opinions… so no clues here. You’ll just have to figure out what suits you best and how to go about this yourself. All I will say is that most of it is rather nasty to inhale, so be careful. After drying it’s a matter of reassembly and then riveting it all together. This is another reason why I chose this kit – 95% of the rivets are pulled and that does remove an awful lot of faff!

What you quickly discover with the RV-12 is that there is a complete ethos or methodology, if you like, on how the kit goes together. You assemble 10-12 odd bits that make a small assembly then three or four small assemblies go together to make something that resembles something that might look like a bit of an aircraft. You then put three of these together and you will have success. Actual green-coloured, fabricated pieces of aluminium that looks like a part of an aircraft. Moments of success are always ‘just a few days away’. As you go along you begin to learn all the skills necessary, and things become second nature and you do things without really thinking about it. Breaking an edge, for instance, has nothing to do with bad language and damage!

Eventually you will have fabricated something that needs to be looked at by the ‘Font of all Knowledge’ – your Inspector. This is a bit daunting the first time around, but as I’ve known ours for a good many years there’s always plenty of chat, tea and biscuits. I would generally say having as many things as possible to look at and sign off at a single go is a good procedure. But sometimes it isn’t always possible and multiple visits may be necessary to look over the same areas.

As the build progresses you become very skilled at storing pieces of airframe, some quite large, all over the place. Some will even find their way into other people’s homes and garages. The easiest way to describe this is as a ‘micro production line based on a sole operative’. I loved making the wings and the middle bit but found the flaperons somewhat tedious, no idea

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Then suddenly you will look around and realise that you have run out of green things to assemble, and you will have to order more. Here planning and foresight work very well. I messed this up and ended up waiting six months for engine and avionics. This can be frustrating, but it’s something we all go through.

Part two of John’s tale will be in Project News next

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