Perfection is the enemy of completion.

Compromise is the enemy of quality

"Compromise is natural to good design."

A friend built and flew his homebuilt. It wasn't an RV and had poor performance. Some time later, sitting in the cockpit of his recently-purchased Cessna, my friend said "I didn't have to built this. All I had to do was sign my name a few times."

That was good advice -- I took it; and I've only recently gone astray, building my RV-3B. But I still have and fly my Cessna 180.

Dave
P.S. Building an RV-3B is a lot more work than signing my name a few times....

Keep asking yourself, ?Do I absolutely need to order avionics now?? :rolleyes:

" If it can chafe, it will chafe "

Measure twice, drill once.
 

When we first started building, a friend brought over a [ruined] aircraft part. On it was written:

"Measure twice, drill once. That will be $60, please, for this lesson."

We still have it hanging in our hangar (19 yrs later).

Focus on small projects
 

Best advice was not to get overwhelmed by building an airplane and instead focus on individual projects. Keeps the sanity in check.

Use the right tool for the job - even if you have to invent the tool.

There's a simpler way
And a better plan.
Have it done
By another man.

-- Scott Gassaway

Dave