Eric,Eric wrote:Capt. John
Feel free to elaborate. Perhaps I am too ignorant. I was under the impression that the Fuse kit was pre punched. Am I wrong? I was planning on going slow build on the whole project. I think you can enlighten me. Eric
The Fuselage kit for the 8 is pre-punched, but not match drilled.
The skins come pre-punched, and you align them and drill them to the bulkheads, longerons, firewall, etc using the Jig to hold everything in place while assembly is done.
The Jig is basically a ladder jig, laid horizontal with crossmembers at each bulkhead position. It's not really hard but a little thought and precision measuring are in order for it to turn out well.
I had roughly 300 hours in a tricycle gear Grumman AA-1B before deciding I want to build and fly an RV-8 tail dragger. I now have 500 Grumman hours, and 45 tail dragger hours. (32 in my RV-4, and about 12 or so in a Citabria) The RV is a much easier taildragger to taxi, and landings are not so bad either.
When I first bought my Grumman, I started out conservative with crosswinds of about 8 to 10 knots. After 5 years of ownership and 500 hours, I felt very comforable with crosswind landing up to 20kts (even did one at 28 kts once) I'm treating the Tailwheel RV's exactly the same, by flying very conservative crosswinds in the beginning and getting a comfort/skill level built up slowly with time and experience.
I can whole heartedly recomend that you "build what you will be happy and comfortable with" and not worry about what others say too much. Just do it, and go get the proper training before you fly. (that's key)
Good luck in whatever you decide to build/fly.