How did you get started?

[Guest F-22]

Hi guys,

I was just wondering if you could share your story about how you first started your projects.

 

I'd love to hear how some other people dealt with things like finding the place to build, finding the right supplier, managing the financial side of it, getting the right tools, etc.

 

I will (hopefully) start getting my act together early next year and focus more on building a Cozy but I guess getting started in the first place is the hardest part.

Right now I'm working on building a small "collection" of tools, next step, find a garage (I leave in a condo) and from there on buy the plans and the materials.

 

Any suggestions for someone who's just getting started?

And for all those "Cozy Canadians" out there, how do you deal with the shipping, customs, provincial/governmental taxes etc? Any Canadian suppliers that can provide the same quality of service and selection like Wicks and ACS (I know there's a debate about Aircraft Spruce's quality of service but I thought I'd put it in).

 

Thanks a lot for your input.

 

Dan

Toronto,

Ontario,

Canada

[unick3]

I always say the hardest part of any trip is the first mile down the road.

 

I had built radio controled aircraft as a child and always had a love of flying.

 

My final decision to build an aircraft came when I was traveling across the western states, and started thinking 'this place is HUGE' and I needed to get an airplane.... requirements? Seats 4 and flies 200+ mph, and cheap. The best deal I the world is the Cozy. So I bought the plans and started in my 1 car garage, and never regretted it.

 

You can sit back and wait for the "right" time to get started, or set out on the road not knowing whats ahead... At least you will be moving toward a goal.

[John Slade]

Dan,

There's a lot of info about how I got started in my web site introduction at http://kgarden.com/cozy

 

Regards,

John Slade

[Guest F-22]

John, your site was one of the first I visited, lots of information.

 

I was more interested in how the Canadians dealt with finding suppliers in Canada. In the States is easier, you don't have to worry about custom taxes and exchange rate.

When I bought Comm1 VFR from the States, because of the reasons mentioned above, I ended up paying $60 Canadian more that what I would've paid here if I went to Aviation World which is 30 mins drive from where I am.

 

Just like any other home builder, finding parts/materials that are not that expensive always helps.

 

If you guys have contact numbers and/or addresses for Canadian suppliers please do share them.

 

Dan

[Gerry]

Hi Dan,

 

I live just down the road from you in Burlington. I started building my Cozy MklV just before this past christmas. I have been able to source much of the materials for building my cozy from local suppliers, however there are some things that are just easier to get from Aircraft Spruce, but I use a mail box in Niagara Falls, NY for delivery and I drive there to pick it up and do a self clear at the border. Saves on brokerage, plus domestic shipping rates are cheaper than International rates.

 

I'm just on my way out the door for the rest of the week, but I will give you a list of places to purchase materials in Canada when I get back on sunday.

 

 

Gerry

[dust]

We got started by sheer dumb luck. My brother-in-law,dave, and I reviewed the drool pages of the annual kitplanes availability issue, previous to the current multi issue format, and we both independantly fell in love with the looks and performance quoted for the cozy. When you start looking for 200+, 4 passenger planes the 500 vapor/real planes dwindle down quite fast.

 

Fortunatly there were no vapor 4+ canards available at the time and we didn't get stuck with a non supplier.

 

After owning the plans for a few months or so Dave bought a set and then I too looked into improving materials.

 

I spent hours on the phone, bought books and read the newsletters, until I realized that changing the materials is a stupid idea (re-engineering the plane is not a project for someone who wants to ever finish the plane and the "new" materials were not any stronger (carbon fiber has to be laid up perfect to gain it's extra strength) and costs allot more.

 

I also realized that my search was basically one to not start me building instead of one that would start me building.

 

Well, I have a garage that is stuffed with woodworking tools and Dave's garage is HUGE and would be dificult to heat or cool, we do like our comfort, so we decided to build in dave's non walk out basement.

 

it will just require a hole in the family room floor to extricate the plane parts. Similar to what you do when building a stairwell, except - no stairs and we nail the floor back down when fully extracated. Everyone is making a big deal about this, but it is really no big deal and i think that daves wife's viewers that she is selling tickets to may be upset at the simpleness of it all.

 

That was four years ago, the party began, more on that in a later post.

 

The basement is well lite, heated, air conditioned and big.

 

The only change we have had to make in the build schedule is not attaching the main spars or the wings yet and we will build the turtleback and canopy and attach to fus befor removal from basement.

 

We have a a general workbench 2x20 a layup bench 4x10 and a cutting table 4x8 2 tubs, 2 canards,two landing gears, and three wings.

 

We are also slowly stealing storage space on dave's wife side/previous side of the basement.

 

enough for now

 

Mike