Who is making plenums?

[dwranda]

Well I am psyched!! Bill emailed me and will be making me a plenum!! That's right I'm being a wuss and just buying one. I'm very appreciative to Bill for his hard work developing these and passing this beautiful product on to us newbies. Maybe if I build a second or 3rd plane I'll attempt some custom fiberglass stuff.

[BMC_Dave]

Originally Posted by dwranda

Trying not to be thin skinned here(don't have my flame suit on) but in my defense I am not done with the canopy or the cowling and have never done a lick of fiberglass work. Maybe by the time I am done doing the fiberglass on those 2 items I may want to attempt the plenum. Or if I can find a plenum like Bills that looks like a piece of art to me I would rather go that route and save some time. I am trying to get this thing in flying shape next year. Maybe I should have just scratch built a plane from plans. Then I can say I built everything on it!!

Well you're not really a builder until you smelt some aluminum from bauxite you pulled out of the ground yourself and form it into at least 50% of your structure

Glad you're getting your parts though, that's good news!

[KatanaPilot]

The bare plenum was almost too nice to paint, but Jonathan McCormick at PlaneSchemers/Evoke Aviation had a little fun with mine.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nlru8evna8..._3084.JPG?dl=0

[DanH]

Oooo, that is pretty. Look at Bill's diffuser shapes, and the cored layup, and the flange attachment, and the.....

Whoops, sorry Krea, babbling again. The blue paint is nice too.

[dtw_rv6]

Dan is definitely one of the glass masters around here, so you?ll have to just grin and bear it. However, it looks like you are a long way from needing a plenum, so take some time to read up on fiberglass. If you can whittle with a pocketknife and have ever played with paper machet, you?ve already learned enough to do fiberglass. I remade my leg fairings about 5 times now... each time I did it better and learned something new.. all were functional, and they were small enough that I didn?t feel like I wasted time or money on it.

I?m certainly not a master of the process... I was about where you are when I started, but I?m glad I took the time to do it myself.

Originally Posted by dwranda

Trying not to be thin skinned here(don't have my flame suit on) but in my defense I am not done with the canopy or the cowling and have never done a lick of fiberglass work. Maybe by the time I am done doing the fiberglass on those 2 items I may want to attempt the plenum. Or if I can find a plenum like Bills that looks like a piece of art to me I would rather go that route and save some time. I am trying to get this thing in flying shape next year. Maybe I should have just scratch built a plane from plans. Then I can say I built everything on it!!

[6 Gun]

Sam sends you the plans for the aluminum baffles real easy to make for the James plemums.
Bob

[Av8torTom]

Does the Sam James cowl require a plenum?

[Toobuilder]

Originally Posted by dwranda

Well I am psyched!! Bill emailed me and will be making me a plenum!! That's right I'm being a wuss and just buying one. I'm very appreciative to Bill for his hard work developing these and passing this beautiful product on to us newbies. Maybe if I build a second or 3rd plane I'll attempt some custom fiberglass stuff.

I understand the time vs money argument and often take "the easy way out"... No judgement. That said, non structural composite work is not very difficult to learn, very forgiving of mistakes, and not expensive. Here's a thread I have going which shows some of my "self taught" composite work (starting on post # 18).

Simple enough for a caveman:

http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/fo...t=26077&page=2

There is a TON of good info available to learn from on the web. Just buy some raw material and start making a mess!

[dwranda]

Thanks to everyone for all the information. Wow Gmcjetpilot that was quite the informative post! Bill just sent me all his photos, drawings and instructions. Amazingly detailed and I am now assured that getting his plenum is absolutely the right decision. I don't blame any of the guys who told me to just build one myself, but I'd like to get this thing flying so I can start enjoying trips to the Bahamas or hopefully fly to Alaska with Vlad before I'm too old!! It's all good!!

[Plummit]

Originally Posted by dwranda

I don't blame any of the guys who told me to just build one myself, but I'd like to get this thing flying!

The statement ''Just build one" should have been followed by: "I'll be right over to help if you need it!"

-Marc