I built mine piecemeal;wings first then fuselage (these two can be done in any order), landing gear, firewall fwd, then avionics. Works fine this way. Then you don't have an engine or avionics sitting around for several years getting obsolete, etc.
I built mine piecemeal;wings first then fuselage (these two can be done in any order), landing gear, firewall fwd, then avionics. Works fine this way. Then you don't have an engine or avionics sitting around for several years getting obsolete, etc.
Jim Ott
Portland, OR
Kitfox SS7 flying
Rotax 912ULS
Fortunately my stuff is still the very current Garmin G3X, 912is. I made those purchase at the time of the Kit. Im near completion 2.5 years later. You comment about having lots of time available to a build. You could be done in 1 year and Ive heard people do it in less than that. I am not retired and I am raising two teenagers. Even so, I could have finished this already, even 2 as early as 22 months under those circumstances. So, it sounds like you could consider buying the whole deal at once and avoid possible build delays while waiting months for something to arrive from Austria or someplace.
Eddie
Eddie Forward
Flying
SS7, 912iS, Garmin G3X
I have considered that. And you're right that it would speed up the actual build by getting everything in at the start of the project. My thinking is that I could have 2-3 years to set aside $60k or thereabout, and I could be building meanwhile. I would think that if I get all the money saved up first, make the purchase, then build my plane it would take longer.
Granted, that doesn't account for time lost due to the inefficiency of not having what I need when I need it. And you may very well be right that I'd be ahead by making the entire purchase all at once.
Granted granted, I could be devoting more time to work projects if I'm not building for those first 2-3 years, and I could potentially earn the money faster. So it might be that I'd be ahead that way as well.
I guess another consideration is if I build it piecemeal, and if I get $6k into the project (by starting with the wings) and discover building an airplane just isn't working out for me or my family, then I'm only out $6k. And at that point I could look into purchasing a prebuilt aircraft. I don't really see that happening. I love construction projects and I definitely anticipate having a lot of fun with this project, but there is always an element of uncertainty as with anything in life.
I feel like I'd like to dive into the actual building sooner than later. My hope is that I could be budgeting my money and building at the same time. But if it'd just prolong the building process and make me frustrated for months at a time not being able to progress, then it really would make more sense to get it all at once even if I have to wait. It'd be easier to stay motivated if I've got at least some aspect of hands-on building to start with.
I really appreciate your input on this. I will give more consideration to purchasing the entire kit at once.
I count more things in your reply that suggest a piecemeal build would be more appropriate. I didnt mean to suggest many of your parts are going to take months to recieve. The engine was the lengthiest wait, next was all the Garmin stuff in my panel and that was only 4 weeks. Checking with the engine and avionics sales folks early in the build will help you understand how soon to order those.
Eddie
Eddie Forward
Flying
SS7, 912iS, Garmin G3X
As Eddie said, you can check with the manufacturers and get a good idea of lead time on each of the upcoming things you will need. Then as I got into the build I could gauge roughly how long it would be until I was ready for the next items, so I ordered them ahead so they would arrive when I needed them. I never waited for anything in my piecemeal build. Wait! there was one item-the interior kit that the factory misjudged the lead time and I did have to wait a few weeks for that one. It takes a little more planning and looking ahead to make this work efficiently, but is definitely doable and does spread the cost out over several years.
Jim Ott
Portland, OR
Kitfox SS7 flying
Rotax 912ULS
I suggest cutting that $60K in half. About half to the kit purchase, and then later on the other half to the engine and avionics.
SS7 O-200 Whirlwind