Wings started
Fuselage delivered, fasteners organized, and lessons worth sharing.
A longer update today. Not a ton of build progress, but a lot of setup work and some lessons learned that might save a future builder some headaches. Fuselage delivery
~/rv12is/2026 · 14 posts
2026.
Sport pilot checkride passed
Three flight schools, 72.3 hours, and a 300nm XC to get it done.
As promised, it's been a while. No building progress — the wings are still ready to be started, and that's the goal this week. I'm finally back home and settled, and while we haven't built anything, there's been a lot o…
Empennage complete
167 combined hours, one rattle can, and a garage to reclaim.
The empennage is done! Well, mostly. There's about an hour left on the stabilator fairing, and I'm saving the VS and rudder fairings and all the mounting hardware for final assembly, since the empennage won't fit in my…
Tailcone priming & riveting
Shelby almost laps me on hours, and the priming finally clicks.
Another 23 hours combined this weekend (8 for me, 15 for Shelby). She almost lapped me in hours with all the deburring. Deburring, cleaning, etching, priming
The paint scheme
Settled, rendered, and impatiently waiting to exist.
Just wanted to share the final paint scheme we settled on. Thanks to Scottye at Evoke for his patience and all the options and designs he put together. We're very happy with this and can't wait to see it painted. The fi…
Tailcone deburring & the weight question
Big pieces, fiberglass dust, and running the W&B math early.
Another 13 hours combined this weekend (5.5 for me, 7.5 for Shelby). Tailcone deburring
Stabilator troubles
A month away, a first solo, and the rivets that fought back.
It's been over a month since the last update. Not much has changed on the build, but a lot has happened. Flight training
Bites of the elephant
Rudder, stabilator, tailcone — and the process that ties it together.
We've made a lot more progress. It doesn't look like much because we're priming everything, but it's one more bite of the elephant. Our process
First rivets
The vertical stabilizer is done. Cleco, uncleco, cleco, uncleco.
Another 5 hours each on the empennage. Mistakes happen
Back in full swing
A priming table, a paint scheme, and signing up for wrench school.
It's been a while since an update. Between the basement remodel, family visiting, and flight lessons, the build took a back seat for a few weeks. We're back in full swing now. Another 6.5 hours for me, 8 hours for Shelb…
Administrative notes
No building this time — parts, payments, and plans.
No building update this time, but a couple of administrative notes. Replacement part
Empennage arrival & first weekend
The kit shows up and the vertical stabilizer comes together.
Kit arrival The empennage arrived on Thursday, February 26. Pretty quick shipping from Vans — the kit tracker estimated it would ship on 2/12 and I got the ABF Freight pickup email on 2/17. Shipping came to $947.
Costs & hours
Exact numbers, updated as the build goes on.
I want to be as transparent as possible to help others estimate the true cost and time needed to build a plane. Sorry for the large amount of data. This is as of July 31, 2026. I'll update this page through the build so…
We're building a plane
The first post for our RV-12iS
Here's the first post for our RV-12iS #121708 build log. We're going the E-LSA route, so we don't technically need a build log, but it's a good record to look back on — and a place to collect opinions we can either list…