This is what the kit looks like before and after assembly. Pictured below is a "slow build" kit and a real, full-size aircraft (it just looks like a model in the picture but it is a real aircraft). You can opt for the "fast build" kit where the wings and fuselage are 95% complete but...it will cost you! I've chosen to order individual sub-kits and complete them before ordering the next sub-kit. The empennage or tail section is the first kit. Wings are second and fuselage is third. Several people have asked, "Is the metal blue?". No, it's just a protective plastic that gets removed before assembly. I better learn to like riveting because it reportedly takes 14,000 rivets to turn that pile of aluminum into a flying machine (as posted on vansairforce.com, a builder in Normal, IL just finished his RV-7 and he counted EVERY RIVET! He said it took 16,225).
Below is one of the factory demonstrators. Van's Aircraft is the most prolific experimental airplane kit seller in the world. There are over 7000 COMPLETED AND FLYING Van's RV's. Of course, most of those are flying in the U.S. but people from all around the world are building them. Here's a link to a Russian RV builder's workshop. Scroll down and you'll see the picture with an RV-10 in the brackground. Brrr...looks cold!
Van's has several models from single seat to 4 seat. This is the RV-7A. It's has two seats side-by-side. It comes in either tricycle configuration (RV-7A) or tail dragger (RV-7). It flys over 200 mph, has a range of about 900 miles, gets over 25mpg, is fully aerobatic (+6/-3G), and can takeoff and land on very short runways.
An interesting little fact about Van's Aircraft is that they are being used as the Nigerian Air Forces' primary trainer. Nigeria ordered and built 60 of the RV-6A's and named them the "Air Beetle". Scroll down about 2 pages after clicking on the Wikipedia page link above and you'll see "Aircraft Inventory: Trainers".
Below is a cutaway drawing of an RV-7A.
