Greetings from Central Arkansas

[gonkulator]

Hey Y'all - my name is Brandon, and I just placed my order for a Waiex-B and the AeroVee Turbo. I have been reading/lurking as much as I possibly can here, and am excited to start my build.

I'm a spacecraft avionics software developer by trade, and since all the space stuff was originally (Mercury/Gemini/Apollo era) an outgrowth of flight test, a lot of the paradigms in the aviation world feel quite familiar, but given the 60ish years of separation in our fields, the language of aero has diverged somewhat from the language of space. Anyway, I'm excited to be recombining aerospace in my experience base and getting to know the fine people who devote their energies to flying where there is air, as everything I have piloted so far flies where there isn't.

Words of wisdom are most welcome from anyone who comes across this, as I know that if I treat myself as anything but a n00b, I'm not going to set myself up for success, which is to say, if you have websites or videos or books that provided you with the "aha!" experience about aviation, I want to hear the story and replicate your learning.

Cheers!

[Bryan Cotton]

Hey Brandon! Welcome to the gang. Having a new kit on order is an exciting thing and beware the risk of dying from impatience. I think we almost lost BobDz from that, but he seems to be pulling through.

[gonkulator]

Thank you for welcoming me!

I just got word from Sonex that July 5-19 is my delivery window, which is a whole month less than I was expecting.

Dying from impatience certainly feels like an apt description of how I'm feeling, BUT, when it gets too bad, I remind myself that if I want to get started now, I can absolutely clear out the garage, tidy up the work area, go buy tools that I'll need, try to find some 6160 to practice on, and that is just the start of things that I need to get done in the next 78-92 days.

"Pulling through" should be a mantra for how riveting this build is :)

[Area 51%]

If you don't already have the prints in hand, request them ahead of the kits. There are just slightly less than a million items that are not included in the kits you could be working on while waiting. Drilling hinges comes to mind rather quickly.

If you really want to get going while waiting for the truck to show up, source an un-started tail kit and begin the build. That's where I started. I had the tail completed 2 months before my kits were ready. Yes, you will have a spare tail kit lying around, but you should be able to sell it to a newbie waiting for kits to arrive. Hint...Hint...Hint... I have a tail kit available for sale.

[WaiexB22]

Greetings!

I second getting the plans and studying them as much as possible for now. The better idea you have of where you are going the easier things will be. This will also help you understand the page numbering, drawing flow, and part numbering that all works together. You will be more confident and spend less time flipping pages in the shop if you "know" the plans. You are going to get to know them one way or another if you are going to finish.

As has been said here before, the point of this hobby is to buy tools. You can buy as many as you want now, but you will still need/want more.

[Scott Todd]

Area 51's offer of a tail kit is awesome! I've been telling manufacturers for years they should stock tail kits for immediate shipment. Some used to. People get a bug to build an airplane and go looking. When they hear wait times for kits they get disinterested and move on. If the sales department could tell them they could ship a tail kit the next day to get them started on building while they wait for the regular kit, I think it wold increase sales. Sure you may end up with a bunch of tail kits in the wild but the company made money selling them, and if even just a small percentage go on to builds the airplane, its better than losing the sale to begin with.

[Bryan Cotton]

We asked Sonex to send our plans ahead of the kit. They obliged, there was some fee for shipping.

Edit: I think he still has the plans box in his room 11 years later.

[Area 51%]

Did his smile fade when he discovered the box was full of paper instead of a B-B gun?

[Bryan Cotton]

Did his smile fade when he discovered the box was full of paper instead of a B-B gun?

Nope

[BobDz]

If you don't already have the prints in hand, request them ahead of the kits. There are just slightly less than a million items that are not included in the kits...
.

That is a conservative estimate.

On a serious note, getting the plans ahead of the kits is an excellent idea. Tons of information to digest.