Build a 1-34 from plans?!

(Bob Kuykendall) wrote in message . com...
Earlier, (Gus Rasch) wrote:

Are plans available?

No.

Has anyone ever done it?

Not to my knowledge. Rebuilds, yes. From scratch? No.

I bet SSC could sell the dickens out of
plans and kits if they made them available.

Judging by sales of HP kits and plans for ships with equivalent
performance, that's not the case.

I bet it would be a quick build too!
Thoughts?

To me, it looks about like a 3500-hour job in the home workshop
environment. With production tooling and skilled workers, about 1/5
that.

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com

Bob,

I bet the 1-34 would stand a chance at better sales/completions versus
the HP series for a few reasons.

It's a tried and true conventional platform easily recognized for what
it is with hundreds of examples in the field or parked under a cloud
already. (versus the HP series which are harder to locate and more
likely to have a side-stick, V-tail, etc.)

With easy access to a local 1-34 a prospective builder/pilot could get
a good look at one to see what their getting into. That same local
1-34 could answer builders questions and be used for stick time to
keep current while they build their own.

A modern day kit like the Vans RV series (with prepunched skins and a
high degree of prefabrication) could be shot together in short order.
I think that 500 to 700 hours is do-able.

I would like to think that a short build time, reasonable performance
and low cost (when compared to a new glass ship of similar
capabilities) would be enough to justify someones time and effort.

Could a company get rich putting out the kit? I don't know, maybe.
But it may be just the thing to attract new people to the sport and
give those already in it another option. (versus an older glass ship
with gelcoat worries or 30 year old aluminum bird thats been hailed on
one too many times.

GR