Partial built kits

Tom-D

Tom-D

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Tom-D
Would you buy a partial built kit, be it aluminum sheet, or fiberglass?

In particular would you buy this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qchV0Om1kOk

what worries would you have.
Lets us not talk price, because we all know one mans treasure, is another's junk.
 
Tom-D said:
Would you buy a partial built kit, be it aluminum sheet, or fiberglass?

In particular would you buy this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qchV0Om1kOk

what worries would you have.
Lets us not talk price, because we all know one mans treasure, is another's junk.
Click to expand...

Sure, I'd buy a partially built kit. I can't tell enough from a video to commit to buying anything... You have to look pretty thoroughly to tell if the underlying structure is properly built (according to plan, straight, and with good technique).

FYI, all glass and foam ships look rough until they are filled and finished.
 
I wouldn't be interested in it. I am very very leery of amateur built composite. I am much more comfortable with the ability to perform a meaningful inspection on welded steel tubes or riveted aluminum to form an opinion of the quality of workmanship. Not relevant to the question but i wonder if the email address is a play on the canard (duck). Ente is duck in German so ENTENVATER is basically "Father of the Duck)"
 
I did buy one (Skybolt) and later sold it just a bit further along to completion.

Rutan published some very specific specs / inspection criteria for things like spar inlay waviness - I would get a copy of those before going out to take a look...
 
Graueradler said:
I wouldn't be interested in it. I am very very leery of amateur built composite. I am much more comfortable with the ability to perform a meaningful inspection on welded steel tubes or riveted aluminum to form an opinion of the quality of workmanship. Not relevant to the question but i wonder if the email address is a play on the canard (duck). Ente is duck in German so ENTENVATER is basically "Father of the Duck)"
Click to expand...


Must be a southern thing......


The build L@@Ks sloppy, I would pass.
 
If I knew what I was looking at, the answer would be yes.
 
I've only done minor work and repairs with fiberglass. I don't know enough about it to make a good decision on something like that. I would be better off building from scratch than hunting through someones unknown work.

Aluminum or wood I can do.
 
I like Lou Reed, but not enough to consider buying this. The older 172 looks pretty nice, though.
 
I might buy it but he's not gonna get whatever he's asking. His work looks like crap. Looks like he used the bulkhead for a mixing board. And he used Bondo for fairing. Bondo! And did I see Liquid Nails on that?

The nice thing about glas is it allows even an amateur to do a fairly nice job. This guy's work is rank. Maybe better than it looks but his little presentation lacks close up pics. The pipe welds at 6:29 look suspect.
 
I think a partially built kit would be the best way to purchase, since you actually get a bit of a discount, and some of the work is done. You do need to inspect very carefully. The question concerning the Cozy advertised is somewhat different, since I have been under the impression that a Cozy is a scratch-built aircraft. I can't say anything about that particular project, as I know utterly nothing about composite construction.
 
steingar said:
I think a partially built kit would be the best way to purchase, since you actually get a bit of a discount, and some of the work is done. You do need to inspect very carefully. The question concerning the Cozy advertised is somewhat different, since I have been under the impression that a Cozy is a scratch-built aircraft. I can't say anything about that particular project, as I know utterly nothing about composite construction.
Click to expand...
The problem with buying a partially-completed composite kit is that so much critical workmanship is hidden. You can't really tell if a layup is starved of resin internally, or if a joint lacks the required number of plies or the wrong cloth was used.

A friend bought a partially-completed composite kit aircraft, and eventually discovered that the "peel ply" layers hadn't been removed when building up one portion of the wing. This meant that any 'glass layers added wouldn't have bonded properly to the others.

I only took a quick look at the Cozy, but remember, it's a moldless-composite scratch-built aircraft. The surfaces are GOING to be rough, until they are filled and sanded. This is slow, tedious, and messy, and is quite likely to be the stage at which a builder might throw up their hands and sell the project.

Ron Wanttaja
 
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