Gordon Arnaut wrote:
Hey Guys,

I'm not trying to promote Jime Bede. I've never even owned a Yankee or any
of Jim's other designs -- alhtough I know several Grumanns owners and they
are excellent flying airplanes.

The BD-18 does seem like "vaporware" right now, but the smaller single-seat
BD-17 has flown and I don't see why the BD-18 shouldn't fly just fine.

Another possibility for building an aluminum two-seater from plans is Chris
Heintz's Zenith 601 series. With a Lyc 235 max cruise is "only" 138mph, but
stall would be lower than on an RV-9. The Zenith actually has a little more
wing area than the RV with a max weight that is conisederably lower.


What does a Zenith stall at?


You can use a Rotax 912, Jabiru, Continental O-200, or Lycoming on this
plane, or even a Corvair. Lots of people build these from scratch and they
use pulled "Avex" rivets, so no bucking -- which means they go together a
lot quicker.

Personally, I understand Netgeek's point about wanting to build from
scratch. While Van's prices are very attractive compared to what's out
there, I think the actual material costs are probably only a fraction of
that.

Don't count on the material being cheap if you if you only buy enough
for one airplane, Van buys in large volumes.


There are lots of people who build metal planes from scratch. I know a
couple of guys who are building all-metal Polliwagons.

I know of one beautiful RV-6 built from scratch right here practically
in VAN's back
yard. :-)

Jerry