A bit late to the thread, but after 5 decades of 'tooling up' for projects, here's input on what/where:
- Buy what you need when you need it rather than assume some other builder's 'complete list of required tools' is necessarily going to be your list
- Leverage your airport network for both knowledge and tool loans (you can spend $$$ and lots of labor and space buying/moving tools for what is a short-term need, or use your buddy's connection at a nearby sheetmetal shop or with a fellow builder at the cost of some beer). Cleaveland or the Yard Store will never stock that special bucking bar that gets inside the flap and aileron trailing edge to set solid rivets... the one that went out of production about the time I was born... but chances are someone in the Chapter or on the field has one or knows someone that has one.
- Craigslist and Ebay are filled with both barely-used, top notch tools and worn out/'never was any good' junk - do your research and ask questions before you buy.
- Pay it forward when you are done... all that wing tooling you will spend months building for a scratch built project will be a near-priceless gift to the next builder in line
And finally... the most important lesson learned on tooling up/shopping up:
Tooling up (or setting up an incredible shop) does not get the project built... no matter how much money you throw at it. Avoid confusing the thing (progress on the airplane) with the symbol of the thing (big, clean shop filled with shiny new tools). Don't NOT invest time and resources in tools and shop, but try to keep things in perspective when doing it.
