Tools
Tools. Gotta have em.  Even a kit plane like this. I've never worked with metal before so not only did I have no tools, I didn't even know what tools I needed. But Van's instructions are pretty good about what you need.  Then there are vendors who sell tool kits specifically for building RVs. I ended up buying my tool kit from Cleaveland Aircraft Tools primarily because I liked their hand squeezer, used for squeezing rivets and dimpling, pictured below, called the "Main Squeeze". It has gearing that provides mechanical advantage making it easy to squeeze a 1/8" rivet. A lot of builders buy a pneumatic squeezer. I'm sure they're nice, but they're also expensive. The Main Squeeze has served me well and I've never felt the need for the pneumatic squeezer.  Ditto with the C-frame verses the DRT-2. 
  • There are many items that are not in the kits that you will need.  The ones that come to mind are:

    - Big compressor
    - Band Saw
  • - Torque wrench (inch-pounds)
    - Dremel tool with heavy duty cutting wheels, rotary cutter and sanding cylinder bits.
    - Emery cloth
    - Torque wrench (inch-pounds)
    - Digital Level (e.g., SmartTool)
    - Lots of #30 & #40 bits
    - Lots of Sharpie fine tips
    - Scotch-brite pads
    - Tap set
    - Snap-on screwdrivers (phillips head)
    - Shop Vac
    - Metal files: Vixen, flat, triangular, needle
    - Rolo-Flair 37 degree Flaring tool
    - Good tube bending tool
    - Tube cutting tool
    - Boe-lube
    - Electric engraver

    Get a Band saw on day one. Throw away the blade it comes with and order a good metal-cutting blade from McMaster-Carr. This will save you tons of time.

    Every single aluminum piece you put in the airplane needs to be edge-smoothed. If you can find the right tools to edge-smooth aluminum quickly but effectively, you will also save countless hours.

    I have heard great things about the Tungsten bucking bar. If I were doing it over again, I'd get one of those from the start.

    When you get to the electrical system, you will need a good wire stripper, terminal crimper, coax crimper, molex crimper, D-Sub crimper.

I'd say almost every tool I list here is required at some point in the project.

The Cleaveland "Main Squeeze".  The kit also included the dimple dies and rivet sets required.
 
The tool kit doesn't include an air compressor, which is required to drive the rivet gun. My parents gave me this air compressor for Christmas. At the time, it was going to be for my airbrush and plastic model airplanes. When I decided to build the RV, I was concerned about this small compressor having enough capacity to power the rivet gun. Although relatively small, it works fine powering the rivet gun. It is, however, unsuited for powering the air drill. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have asked Cleaveland for some other things instead of the air drill.
I got this electric drill for Christmas just before I started the project.  Five years later and and tens of thousands of holes drilled later it's still going strong.  No complaints.
Drilling in action. 
My bucking bar collection.  The second and third from left came with the Cleaveland tool kit.  I use the short, thick bucking bar the most and whenever I can.  I bought the first one on the left at Oshkosh for instances when I need something thin to get in there and buck.  The one on the upper right I "invented".  It's really a polished steel rectangular paperweight with my company's logo on it.  Believe it or not, I used it a lot on the ailerons.  It was the only thing I could get down inside with.  That brown you see is felt.  It helps prevents scratching skins and flanges.
I discovered this Exacto saw halfway through the fuselage but it rocks!  It cuts through aluminum angle like butter with a very thin, straight line.  It's cuts smoother than the band saw although it can only cut about an inch deep. 
The Dremel tool is another essential tool.  I use it all the time for trimming, cutting and opening holes.  I use the thin and thick cutting wheels.  The rotary cutting bit has also gotten frequent use.  The sanding drum is good for fiberglass. 
Screw drivers.  Given that there are a bzillion nutplates on this airplane, I discovered early on it was difficult to screw the screw into the nutplate.  Then someone on the forums said a Snap-On screwdriver made it easy.  I was skeptical but I ordered a couple anyways.   That person was not wrong, my friend, he was not wrong.  These screw drivers rock.  I don't remember what they cost, but whatever it was, it was worth it.   Get one from the start. 
I got this band saw late in the project -- well into the Fuse kit.  If I had had it from day one, I'd have saved at least 20 hours, probably more.
I bought these organizers at Home Depot to put all the rivets in. Universals on the left, flush rivets on the right. AD3-3.5s and AD3-4s remained in the brown paper bags because there are so many of them.  It takes a little investment of time at the start, but saves a lot of time in the long run. 
Along the same lines, sorting your bolts in an organizer is time well spent.  Unless you like constantly searching among all the brown bags. 
This came with the Cleaveland tool it.  I used it to dimple all my skins.  I just set it on the concrete floor.  It takes two people to maneuver the skins around. 
I use this rubber hammer on the C-frame. 
The drill press is another essential tool.  Generally I use the hand drill but on some occasions the drill press is required. 
This is yet another essential tool!  I must have vacuumed up a trash can full of aluminum shavings. 
This bench grinder has a scotch-brite wheel on the right.  I use it for edge-smoothing when I can, but it seems like most parts I can't.   
I use these a lot!  Files, the edge scrapper and emery cloth.  I've spent a significant portion of the project scraping, filing and sanding aluminum edges.  The vixen file is on the left.  The other files are finer.  The circular file is very handy around corners.  
I bought this angle drill early in the project.  It was expensive.  I wasn't using it much and felt like I had wasted my money, but it ended up being very handy during the forward fuselage so I feel better about it.  I would say that I couldn't have completed the project without it.  There were some situations where this was the only tool that would do the job.
I bought this electric engraver from Harbor Freight for about $7.  I've used it a lot to mark my parts.  The problem with using a Sharpie is that you have to clean the Sharpie marks off before priming.  Yes, the marks will bleed through the MarHyde primer I use, but that looks terrible. 
I use this torque seal to mark the bolts I've torqued. 
I use these steel rulers A LOT! 
 
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