JohnR
Final Approach
I started my LM-J3-W (all wood J-3 replica) four years ago next month. To date, I've logged about 530 hours and have the fuselage on gear, seats, stick assembly, and empennage.
Since I'm dangerously close to being able to start the wings, I checked on the price of the wing kit from Wicks (they sell sub-kits for the LMA designs with all the wood cut to profile already). That's when I almost had a heart attack.
The last time I checked, the wood kit for the wings cost around $2400 (up from $2100 two years ago). It suddenly shot up to $3500.
I whined on the LMA Yahoo message board, and someone replied that he built the whole wing assembly, including two wing tanks, for $700 using douglas fir instead of sitka spruce.
So . . .
Time to start shopping for good wood on my own.
Since I'm dangerously close to being able to start the wings, I checked on the price of the wing kit from Wicks (they sell sub-kits for the LMA designs with all the wood cut to profile already). That's when I almost had a heart attack.
The last time I checked, the wood kit for the wings cost around $2400 (up from $2100 two years ago). It suddenly shot up to $3500.
I whined on the LMA Yahoo message board, and someone replied that he built the whole wing assembly, including two wing tanks, for $700 using douglas fir instead of sitka spruce.
So . . .
Time to start shopping for good wood on my own.