anaphylaxis
Member
I am posting this as a follow up to my intro message in the new member area. I mentioned that I was looking for a kit to build and just want to see if there is anything I may have missed.
I have done hours of research on this subject, including doing a search here. Basically what I am looking for is something that is appropriate for a low-time pilot (who will probably *not* get the chance to learn to fly with a conventional wheel aircraft), and fairly inexpensive, both initially and in the long run with fuel and maintenance costs. Other factors include the ability to buy the kit in sections, two seats would be a plus but not required, and enough fuel capacity to make the better part of a 1000 mile cross country trip. I also would like to have the flexibility of keeping it stored outside rather than hangered if need be (metal construction?) The last major issue I can think of is that I have a minimum of space and tools to work with right now. Therefore the ability to keep it in my place as long as possible before having to move the subcomponents to a larger work area that I would need to rent would be important.
There are a lot of cool kits out there. Unforunately due to cost I have had to eliminate a large number of them right off the bat. The RV series looks to be awesome but the performance specs (and therefore kit costs, build time, insurance costs, fuel, etc) are a little more than I was looking for. Likewise with a number of other kits. What I have found is that the Zenith 601HD is pretty close to what I would be looking for. The Rans S-9 and S-10 look good as well, just the conventional gear aspect plus the fact that the kits must be bought complete, lack of online info, being less suited for cross-country versus local flying, etc are things that would count against the Rans kits for me. Fisher makes a number of inexpensive kits but I'm not sure how practical wood and fabric would be versus all-metal. Also from what I see online the level of support for them is a lot less than what is available for the Zenith kits. Likewise with the Minimax series.
So at this point, I'm just curious if there's anything that I missed out there? I realize that this is a fairly detailed and specific list but I have given it a lot of thought and a kit like the 601HD seems to be the one that I would have the greatest chance of completing at the lowest cost.
Anyway, sorry for the long post and thanks for reading!
I have done hours of research on this subject, including doing a search here. Basically what I am looking for is something that is appropriate for a low-time pilot (who will probably *not* get the chance to learn to fly with a conventional wheel aircraft), and fairly inexpensive, both initially and in the long run with fuel and maintenance costs. Other factors include the ability to buy the kit in sections, two seats would be a plus but not required, and enough fuel capacity to make the better part of a 1000 mile cross country trip. I also would like to have the flexibility of keeping it stored outside rather than hangered if need be (metal construction?) The last major issue I can think of is that I have a minimum of space and tools to work with right now. Therefore the ability to keep it in my place as long as possible before having to move the subcomponents to a larger work area that I would need to rent would be important.
There are a lot of cool kits out there. Unforunately due to cost I have had to eliminate a large number of them right off the bat. The RV series looks to be awesome but the performance specs (and therefore kit costs, build time, insurance costs, fuel, etc) are a little more than I was looking for. Likewise with a number of other kits. What I have found is that the Zenith 601HD is pretty close to what I would be looking for. The Rans S-9 and S-10 look good as well, just the conventional gear aspect plus the fact that the kits must be bought complete, lack of online info, being less suited for cross-country versus local flying, etc are things that would count against the Rans kits for me. Fisher makes a number of inexpensive kits but I'm not sure how practical wood and fabric would be versus all-metal. Also from what I see online the level of support for them is a lot less than what is available for the Zenith kits. Likewise with the Minimax series.
So at this point, I'm just curious if there's anything that I missed out there? I realize that this is a fairly detailed and specific list but I have given it a lot of thought and a kit like the 601HD seems to be the one that I would have the greatest chance of completing at the lowest cost.
Anyway, sorry for the long post and thanks for reading!
