Kits - was PL Prod

[BUDDYonRC at aol.com]

Earl
Right on. After going through the availability of a quality  kit Jungle I 
decided to solve my problem by designing my own and building it  myself.
When I started I had to accept the fact that it would be  a long tough road 
as I knew nothing about the process required to do a  fiberglass fuselage or 
epoxy composites at all.
I posed many questions to several of my friends who I  consider experts in 
the field. Mike Harrison advised me not to do it. Lance and  Gray took me under 
their wing and provided me with many of the answers  to my questions. Then I 
had to make a decision the biggest of which was  would it be worth the effort 
knowing full well that anything that I ended up  with would be out of style by 
the time my design was complete and in the  air.
Mike Harrison the one who told me not to do it provided the  answer that 
spurred me on when he said that with current designs the airplane  contributed 10% 
to success and flying practice and natural ability 90%.  Believing this and 
after talking to several other top flyers I came to the  conclusion that the 
Biggest, Best Latest design was not necessary to be  competitive in the AMA 
classes.
So off I went on a two year Journey of trial and error  building two wooden 
port types drawing the plans, building a plug, making the  molds and finally 
completing two airplanes of my very own design  from start to finish.
At that point even though I thought it flew very  well I still didn't know if 
I had succeeded.
Then at the Waco contest I had Todd Bloss fly my airplane. I  think you were 
there. He proceeded to take off made a couple of passes  then put it through 
much of the FAI pattern topped off with a low altitude  rolling circle, a 
rolling loop and a low level knife edge the length of the  field. Upon landing I 
asked him what I could do to fix any problems that he  encountered and his 
answer was absolutely nothing. His advice was to buy a  bunch of fuel and work on 
the 90% part that was required to be  competitive.
At that point I knew it was well worth the effort and you know  what the only 
delivery problems that I should encounter I can control  myself and I don't 
have to worry about shipping cost or  availability.
I don't know if I would do it again but when my memory of  all of the 
difficult time consuming tasks required fades into oblivion you never  know.
Buddy     
   
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