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Finished the Pre-buy book!

vic syracuse

Well Known Member
Advertiser
Mentor
Great News! While I didn't learn how to play a musical instrument during COVID, I did take the time to write a book on Pre-buys for Amateur-Built aircraft. I haven't been able to travel commercially during this time, so I came up with the next best thing. At least I hope it works for everyone.

Anyone should now be able to perform a high-quality pre-purchase examination of an amateur-built aircraft, either alone or with your inspector, with the book in hand. It's 12 chapters long, spiral-bound, on glossy, high-quality paper, with over 200 color pictures, a checklist, and hints for both the*seller and buyer. With the cost of the average pre-buy averaging $1000 (including travel), this book should be of huge value to purchasers and owners.

For those of you who currently own or have built an amateur-built aircraft, you will be able to use it yourself to inspect your aircraft or give it to your mechanic.*I am working on the maintenance book, but it will be a while. I couldn't believe how much work this one took. I think Carol spent more time editing it so it was publishable than I did writing it!




Purchase it at Lulu.com "Pre-Buy Guide For Amateur-Built Aircraft"*or use this link:*

https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/vic...-built-aircraft/paperback/product-jjw2pg.html

Use PROSPER15 as a discount code until August 14th and get 15% discount


Vic
 
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Fantastic!

Any chance you will be selling it at Oshkosh next year?


Working to get it in the EAA store/website. If you currently own an RV I would encourage you to get it now. It is very useful as a “what to look for” till when inspecting your airplane.

The prebuys I do are pretty close to a Condition Inspection, with the difference being we don’t fix anything (unless it is a safety of flight issue), and don’t perform routine maintenance such as greasing props, repacking wheel bearings, etc.


Vic
 
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Is there anyway to sell this as an electronic copy?

Like the EAA flight test book, I would love a copy but the price triples when you try and send a stack of paper around the world!
 
Is there anyway to sell this as an electronic copy?

Like the EAA flight test book, I would love a copy but the price triples when you try and send a stack of paper around the world!

+1 on that. I ordered the EAA flight test manual and have just spent hours scanning it so I can take it on the road in my iPad. I'd love to have this book but I'll wait for the electronic version.
 
Is there anyway to sell this as an electronic copy?

Like the EAA flight test book, I would love a copy but the price triples when you try and send a stack of paper around the world!

Allegedly my shipping to Australia was only $15.

I would also love an electronic copy too though.
 
Please hold a copy for me...I’ll pick up the autographed edition in person in a few weeks!
 
regarding kindle

Just want you to know that your requests for e-reader access are not being ignored. I have created a test kindle version however it limits the user functionality. Fonts are not adjustable and you cannot expand the screen as you can in a normal book. This is due to the format (A4 size) and/or the 200+ pictures. You can magnify the entire screen 200% etc, but not individual pictures. The whole point of the book is to show where to look for problems via pictures. I am still working on it to give options to those who prefer e files. I will update when I figure out the best solution.
 
I have attended a number of webinars that Vic has put on (thank you!) and they are packed full of information. However, Vic’s strength is not showing us what’s wrong, but rather more of an “OMG! This is horrendous! Look what this builder did with their wing build, that could kill someone!” followed by a few pictures. Well, that’s great IF you know what you are looking for. But if you don’t, it is a technique with minimal value. I’d much prefer to see the problem circled on the photos and a text description of what is wrong.

Given the price of this book I am not interested in it if the same technique above is used. Can someone that has purchased the book please tell me if the problem is clearly explained in text and shown, with emphasis added, in graphical format?
 
Much Appreciate This Book

Here we have one of the recognized experts on all things RV, that has more years of experience in the experimental aircraft world than some of us RV’ers have years on the earth, and who has at no small effort put all of it into a publication so that each one of us desiring to improve our skills and knowledge can benefit from his.

And a big body of critique is that there is no digital version? Or that the things he finds are dangerous builder mistakes? Really?

First, is it possible that the target market is so minuscule that big digital book retailer marketing costs would possibly eat up any reasonable compensation to the author for his efforts? Or as pointed out above, jeopardize his copyright and let it be distributed free?

Second, homebuilders, myself included, and apparently even professional assist shops, make mistakes, and aviation is not forgiving of them. So at least for me, I want to know about dangerous mistakes builders have made, and learn from them. There is nothing personal in pointing them out, especially the way Vic does it.

My experience is with building an RV-7 over the past few years, and as an ATP airline pilot, military pilot, and general aviation pilot with a still current CFII and ground instructor licenses earned in the days long before digital publications. I don’t know Vic except through his webinars and writing. But my aviation experience has taught me that when Vic writes something, or posts something, or gives a webinar on something, it merits listening to because it always contains something useful. I always look forward to what he has to say.

So my heartfelt thanks to Vic for publishing this book. Given that my most recent small envelope from Aircraft Spruce contained just a few nuts and bolts, and the enclosed bill was for well over $100, the price he is asking for this storehouse of knowledge is a bargain.

I bought the book, immediately after reading the post that it was available. I know it will help me.
 
Good for users but bad for authors. It's impossible to protect a copyright once a PDF gets into the wild.
Copy protection on e-books is a fallacy anyway. All of the common formats have methods for removing the protection. So the protection just annoys customers, who won't be able to move from one device to another while reading.

People who want to "pirate" your book will do it anyway. If you want to block 99% of that, don't sell an e-book (the remaining 1% is the crowd that will scan your book and digitize it into, probably, a PDF).
 
And a big body of critique is that there is no digital version? ... Really?

First, is it possible that the target market is so minuscule that big digital book retailer marketing costs would possibly eat up any reasonable compensation to the author for his efforts? Or as pointed out above, jeopardize his copyright and let it be distributed free?

Yes, really. This isn't the 1950's. We have computers in our pockets now, and the ability to zoom into any image we want to while reading to get more detail. I hardly buy paper books anymore.

Save the digital book retailer marketing costs, advertise alongside the paper copy. Zero additional marketing cost. As I pointed out above, copyright isn't any worse off.
 
Hi Vic,

Any chance another discount code will be coming around. I was just a bit late seeing your post.
Congratulations on the new book.
 
discount code

Lulu runs discount codes quite often. It shows up at the top of the page. Currently, the code is for 10% off. It is SUMMER10
 
Great News

Great news. The Pre-buy books are starting to arrive. We ordered one on Aug 10 and it arrived today. Another customer received a shipping notice.
 

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review from a purchaser

Don Hazie from Australia-the first person to receive the Pre-Buy book has kindly
agreed to let me post his review of it.

Hi Carol and Vic

Ok, so it took 5 days to arrive in my PO Box, 2 of those 5 days were weekend. I assume the book was printed and shipped from a Lulu facility here in Aus. Comparatively we aren’t really affected by COVID and South Australia is one of the better states in Aus with very few cases. Likewise NSW the most populous state and currently has less than 15 cases reported per day. My point here is, the effect on us is almost negligible compared to some other parts of the world. I didn’t have the option of expedited shipping just normal and ‘tracked’ for a few extra $. I chose the latter.

The front and rear cover are full color glossy printed on what I’d estimate is 250-300gsm card. The artwork is simple but effective in my opinion. The internal pages are maybe 100gsm, (feels heavier than the 80gsm copy paper I’m using for comparison), and while not full glossy have a nice satin sheen not present on my copy paper. All full color. For reference 80gsm = 0.003” thick. The front & back cover are 0.012” and pages are 0.004 - 0.005”.

The spiral binding is a pretty standard plastic spiral with punched holes in the pages that are clean with little tearing. No visible paper dust or ‘swarf’ either.

My impression is that its a quality publication, (better quality than some ‘coffee table’ photo books I’ve seen). It’s an expensive book when converted to Aus$, and I delayed buying it until the 14th localtime before deciding to go ahead. My reasoning was that if the knowledge contained in the book saved my buying a lemon it will be a cheap book. I’m very happy and see the benefit not only to help educate me in my search for an RV6 or 4. But also in then learning to maintain it.

I like the font size, I’m not especially old, but I do wear glasses so the larger font size is great, it definitely aids readability and is an advantage in what can be poorly lit hangars.

The photo’s are all sharp and nicely exposed. They’re nicely cropped and it is immediately obvious as to the fault or flaw being highlighted. The captions provide enough additional context such as location that may be lost due to cropping.

I like the logical grouping of each chapter and the way it progresses from identifying the aircraft type and features etc. through to information collection and review followed by logical/functional grouping for each part of the aircraft. Finishing off with a list of recommended tools and test gear is just genius IMHO.

I own and fly an aircraft, an unrestored 1946 Auster J4 - think British version of a Taylorcraft BC12 with an inverted inline engine. I do my own maintenance under the supervision of my LAME, (our equivalent of an A&P/IA), and have worked with my father restoring his ‘47 Aeronca Chief and ‘46 Stinson 108. I guess I have some exposure to maintaining at least old Rag and Tube aircraft.

I feel the book is so good I could almost dispense with the services of a LAME in inspecting aircraft I’m interested in buying, except for the fact I get emotionally invested in a purchase and my objectivity diminishes greatly at that point

I think you can be very proud of your hard work. As I said on the forum I’m very grateful you’ve chosen to share your hard earned-knowledge. I’m very happy I chose to buy it.

Thank you,
Don Harvie
Auster J4 VH-CRR
Sydney NSW
 
Kindle Direct Publishing(KDP)

Vic,
Did you check out KDP? I have been happy with their quality and price. I entered a forum post about them, primarily because of your earlier post about books. It is under general discussion titled "aviation book publishing"
 
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