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Old February 26th 04, 05:19 AM
pacplyer
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Thanks for the great advice John, I would have never thought of those things.

pac



John Ammeter wrote

Pac....

First of all, you don't look at the project as being one big
job. Think of it as being many little tasks. Work on each
little task one at a time. I remember building the trim tab
for my RV-6. It took most of a day of puttering about but,
when it was done, I put it with the growing collection of
finished items.

When you can't find anymore small tasks to work on, it's
time to go flying.

Oh, one more thing... work on the plane a little each day.
Keep the project in your basement or garage, not at the
hangar (unless you live in your hangar), so, if you get the
urge to get up at 2:30 AM because you can't sleep, you can
work on the plane for an hour or so.

Don't forget to take a vacation occasionally from the
project. You'll come back refreshed and eager to jump right
back into building.

I worked on my RV-6 three or four nights a week from about
4:30 to 6:30 or 7:00 PM and one of the weekend days. The
weekend day dedicated to the RV was my wifes choice. If she
needed me for something on Saturday then Sunday was the RV
work day. Don't know if you're married or not but, if you
are, remember that whenever your wife calls down to the shop
with the familiar, "Honey, can you help me?" immediately
DROP what you're doing and go help her. Don't ever let her
believe that the airplane is more important than she is....

It took me 3 1/2 years from first hole drilled to first time
the airplane left the ground behind. I could have done it 6
months earlier if I'd had sense enough to keep the plane at
home until EVERY thing was ready for flight except putting
the wings on the plane. I took it to the airport much too
soon and, since the airport was 45 miles away, I lost much
of my work time commuting back and forth.

John Ammeter