Simviation Forums

As some of you are well aware I'm building a plane (the missus keeps complaining about the piles of wood!)
Now I wanted to start looking into buying off-the-shelf parts and their cost, so I contacted a number of suppliers both in America and Europe, so far I've had a lot of "If you send us a wad of cash we might send you a catalogue" type messages, one letter to the same effect. A number of non-responses (oddly all the British companies, I guess we are still far behind America in customer service About a century or so behind), but one American company has totally impressed me.
Wag-Aero sent me their full catalogue for no charge! I was so impressed by this customer service that I'll be buying quite a lot of bits off them! In fact I won't be using anyone else!
So well done Wag-Aero, a really nice bunch of people who care And set an example to the rest of the aviation industry

Ozzy

PS. They even do some Spitfire type gauges These guys are great

Ozzy, is this a full size job or a model?

Will

Full sized real flzing aeroplane. I figure its going to take a few years (try about a decade!) to build this. The wing plans give me nightmares, and I've only just started making fuselage ribs..... Eeek

Mark

Whoah!  Go for it Ozzy.  I have been thinking about getting a scrapped plane from somewhere and doing it up, but to build one from scratch is very ambitious.

Best of luck, and if you need a tea boy at any point, give me a call!

Will

As some of you are well aware I'm building a plane (the missus keeps complaining about the piles of wood!)
Now I wanted to start looking into buying off-the-shelf parts and their cost, so I contacted a number of suppliers both in America and Europe, so far I've had a lot of "If you send us a wad of cash we might send you a catalogue" type messages, one letter to the same effect. A number of non-responses (oddly all the British companies, I guess we are still far behind America in customer service About a century or so behind), but one American company has totally impressed me.
Wag-Aero sent me their full catalogue for no charge! I was so impressed by this customer service that I'll be buying quite a lot of bits off them! In fact I won't be using anyone else!
So well done Wag-Aero, a really nice bunch of people who care And set an example to the rest of the aviation industry

Ozzy

PS. They even do some Spitfire type gauges These guys are great

I worked as a purchasing agent for a medical manufacturing firm for 13+ years, and have much experience in sourcing materials. If you can show yourself as representative of an established business organization (in your case a school?), you should have no trouble getting loads of free product literature (in some cases, free samples) of everything you're looking for (I used to get inundated with product lit. & sales brochures). Maybe you could use your institutions letterhead stationary when requesting information......tell them it's an advanced school project....even register your own company and run it out of your garage! The key here is that suppliers want to know that you're a serious buyer with money to spend, not Joe Schmoe idly looking to pick up a loose component.

There are loads of sources of new & used aircraft components here in the U.S. I'd suggest using the Thomas Register for the major manufacturers and distributors; there are also many sales ads in the popular aviation magazines (try Trade-A-Plane for starters). Good luck!

Hey Ozzy, can we see some photos of your project?

Are you building a full scale flying spit or a home build lookalike mini? Either way it sounds pretty cool .

When she is finished she will be a full sized Marcel Jurca MJ100 copy of the Spitfire, only made of wood.
Aerobatic capable to +6 and -4Gs, for more info visit http://www.marcel-jurca.com its a site in French and English. There are a number of other replica aircraft include Fw-190s, Me-109s, P-51s, P-40s and other aircraft types.
All the aircraft are wooden, but if you look at the notes you'll see it takes about 5000 hours to build one. I've done nearly 20 hours!!!
At the moment I have a 4 oval shaped bits of wood to show for my work! Once she is a bit further along I'll look at making a website so you can watch my progress.

Ozzy

Ps. Check out the pictures of the completed ones on the site. AMAZING

can i ask what color you intend to paint it in??
incidently working 6 hours a day, for 2 days a week(weekend) will take roughly 416 days which is about 8 years??? maybe a little less
however when you add in school holidays breaks and personal holidays, your prob looking at about 3 years possibly less. assuming there is a constant work rate and no major hold ups.

The airframe I don't think will present too many problems. Its woodwork, and I'm good at that. Which is part of the reason I chose this kite.
The problems will be things like fitting the engine and electrical systems, and certain custom made parts (e.g. canopy, the in-flight dancing girls, and the Last Will And Testament dispenser), the mini-bar is sorted

Ozzy

cool ozz,   i have a set of plans for the 3/4 scale MJ,  but i'm really short on funds so i haven't begun any work at all.  are you going to use a big beefy v8 or are you looking for an Allison or some other V12?

oh.... you should check out Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Co.   they have tons of goods,  i think i even saw custom canopy adds.

                                              .....rooks

I looked at Spruce, but they wouldn't send me a catalogue with a wad of cash, and I feel as I'm too be a paying customer they should be looking for my business. Wag understood this, and it'll be worth a fair bit of dosh over the coming years to them for simply posting me a catalogue!
The engine is looking like it'll be a V-6 or a V-8, unless I can find a reasonably priced V-12 with about 800-1000 bhp (the more horses the better, but the missus said something that isn't too thirsty). We shall see, but I want lots of horses to pull me out of mischief, and I'm v.good at getting into that
The engine stage of the project is still a long way off at the moment. First I've got to get the airframe together, and that alone is going to be a heck of a lot of work. The wings in particular are giving me nightmares whenever I look at the plans for them.

Ozzy

PS. Craig she'll be a MkIX in the green and grey scheme.

Its woodwork, and I'm good at that. Which is part of the reason I chose this kite.

Come one, we all know that's not the real reason your doing the spitfire

Well okay you got me there Andrew! If it was a metal only construction I'd be taking welding classes.....
I'm just lucky this one is a wood based model, its easier for me to work it.

Ozzy