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There’s an old saying that I’ve heard..

If you want something to fly.....buy
If you want the experience.......build

That’s why I chose to build. The time factor in building has intrinsic value to you as the builder and no monetary value. In fact your time is essentially free to the next guy buying your plane. Just look at all the build projects out there for sale. The guys that loose the most money are builders that have to sell for one reason or another that have it “up on the gear” so to speak. Hundreds of construction hours that they won’t be able to recoup.

Personally I’m building for both the experience and skill gained and having a customized plane to fly when I’m finished.

I have a friend that has a Glass Air II TD that took him 6000 hrs. :eek: he’ll never recoup those dollars, but he has a custom bladder busting machine that can go nonstop halfway across the country on a tank of gas.
 
My saying is a little different:

I want to fly but can't afford to buy what I want outright so I'll build

I do like to build but like flying better, lucky enough the wife knows not to ask me to go somewhere every weekend, yet...

I'm also going to edit this because I'm sure someone is going to chime in and say buying is cheaper in the end, maybe for some but I sincerely doubt it for most. I have been keeping all of my receipts and a running tab. I have also planned everything out quite in depth and it is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than what a comparable sells for from what I have seen.
 
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Anyone ever build a kit just to say they accomplished it

Sure! I did. I built for a ton of different reasons, but one big reason was to earn the personal satisfaction of having built an aircraft...a real aircraft...and then FLYING what I built.

I can?t wait to build again. Some day...
 
Building (or doing anything, for that matter) merely to say that one accomplished the task carries the implication that the primary motive is to impress others. Who cares what anyone else thinks of anything?!?

If the object, on the other hand, is one's own pride of accomplishment, that's quite another matter and an excellent motivation.
 
I built for the experience and sense of accomplishment. I enjoyed it to a point, but gave up on my second build, an RV3, as it was the same tasks as the 6 and I just didn?t seem to enjoy the repetitiveness.
I owned the Bucker, and had flown a RV3, and the 3 just didn?t offer anything more other than speed, which I have in the 6. In fact, the Bucker flies better and is more fun and challenging. I also realized I could only maintain two airplanes and still keep other hobbies. All personal decisions.

So, once I accomplished the build on my 6, did the first flight thing, etc.... I was done with RV building. I know many builders that did this and went on to build another but it didn?t offer the same satisfaction. I also know many serial builders and they can?t wait to build another. For some, itnis their primary hobby, just like some hot rod guys.

What I can guarantee, the feeling of accomplishing a build and flying the machine you built is amazing and lasts a life time.
 
Now there's a name I haven't heard in a while! Welcome back Ken!

Hey Jerry,

It?s been way too long; I?m really happy to be back and about to rejoin the riveting brigade (my tail kit should arrive this week).

I recently came across a photo of us at SnF back in the day checking out a Texan II. Great to hear from you!
 
Hey Jerry,

It?s been way too long; I?m really happy to be back and about to rejoin the riveting brigade (my tail kit should arrive this week).

I recently came across a photo of us at SnF back in the day checking out a Texan II. Great to hear from you!


I'm glad you're back! Boy, I would love to see that picture! You should post it here on VAF. The paint job on your 8 partly inspired my paint job.
 
I'm glad you're back! Boy, I would love to see that picture! You should post it here on VAF. The paint job on your 8 partly inspired my paint job.

Thanks, Jerry!

These four pics are from SnF '04. That was the first major show for my painted -8 (it had been at SnF the year before unpainted) and it got lots of attention. I recall being saluted on my taxi to parking and lots of folks wanted not just photos of the plane, but photos of themselves with the plane - that usually only happens to the warbird guys. Very cool. :)

SnF '04 was a great show! I met both Curtis Pitts and Paul Tibbets that year and was interviewed/photographed by Budd Davisson & Jim Koepnick for Sport Aviation. Anyway, I'm about 50 pounds lighter now and a lot grayer...

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Ken,

When I try to open any of the links in a new tab, it says (and I'm not kidding!): "Adult Content. You must be logged in to see this content."

Bizarre. Some sort of weird Flickr thing, apparently. No matter; I've hosted the pics on my own domain and the previews are working now. They're coming through full-size (it seems that the VAF forum software doesn't have any photo handling functionality enabled), but they are visible.
 
WOW!!! That?s awesome. That goes back a few years. Thank you for posting these! Looks like we were having a good time.
 
I always wanted to build, but the building was not just for building's sake. I wanted to get flying again. Now that I'm flying, I'd rather fly than build. Maybe another build some day, but it might be after I am retired and have more time. Maybe a -10 or -14? Nah, the -9 is perfect for my mission. Maybe a -12 if LSA is the mission in my later years.
 
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