Has your project ever been derailed?

[bret]

Originally Posted by txaviator

In all seriousness, my project got derailed for about 6-months, due to an EF-2 tornado hitting my home on 4/3/12.

It was a bad time! $80k plus in damage to house, but my workshop with my RV project didn't get touched. My neighbors house is now a dirt lot, so I am thankful my dogs are OK (they were home and rode out the storm), and that my house was repairable.

.

DANG! Glad you are still here with us! Those things scare the heck out of me. I have never seen one of those in person.

[N546RV]

Heh, I have a bike in pieces in the garage right now, and it's been that way for about a week. It was a classic snowballing project. It started when I rode my bike and my copilot's bike back-to-back, which made me realize how much better hers handled and how badly mine needed a new rear shock to help hold my fat butt up.

So I ordered the shock...and then, since I had to pull the fuel tank to get to the upper shock mount, I decided that the carbs were undoubtedly way overdue for a good cleaning, so I tore them down and rebuilt them. Then I couldn't get the stupid air box back on because to 18-year-old rubber boots have shrunk and hardened too much, so I ordered replacements for those. Then, I was thinking that since I was ordering parts anyway, I should try and track down the intermittent starter problem I had. (it was just a loose connection)

And that's why I currently have basically a frame-mounted bike engine on wheels in the middle of the garage right now.

[John Courte]

There are long stretches when my project has trouble finding the rails at all, mostly due to work and a churlish rebellion at the realities I've committed to in building an airplane.

What sacrifices have I made to keep it on track? Vacations, social events, home recording studio gear, and the act of flying itself.

Mrs. Courte and I don't have kids, so we're not looking down the barrel of college tuition, but there are things we'd like to have and do that we don't and can't due to a currently mag-troubled and unfinished RV-7 sitting on its haunches at OXR.

[PJSeipel]

I've got RV-10 kit # 40032, so that should give you an idea of when I started. Three 7 month deployments to some of the nicest parts of the world, one kid, plus moving across the country 4 times have definitely slowed my progress. My wife has orders to Georgia in 3 months and I don't follow until next Sept. So I'll be living in an apartment until next year this time and the plane is going with my wife. On the plus side, our new house in GA has a hangar-sized garage where I'll hopefully manage to finish up the last 15% of this project and get it flying.

So yeah, I'll say my project has been derailed quite a few times. There's nothing like coming back from a deployment and trying to remember where you left off in plumbing/wiring the engine. Or taking everything apart and packing it up for another move, getting to a place that's too small to unpack everything, and then trying to figure out which box you need to get out of storage and unpack to find that part or tool you need. My wife jokes that if I don't get it finished soon, it'll have more miles on the road than it ever will in the air.

PJ Seipel
RV-10 #40032
80% done, all the hard stuff left to do

[ppilotmike]

Originally Posted by cropdusterdave

Ha!

January 2003 Started Empenage. June 2003 first child born. October 2003 started new job. 2004 Went back to college...so did wife. Ran out of money. 2005 second child born. Still out of money. 2006 Finished college...so did wife. 2006 Moved to a new city. Months later was selected for Air Force Pilot Training. Found out we were pregnant again. 2007 began training leading up to Pilot Training. April 2007 third child born. 4 days later picked them up at the hospital and moved the fam 1500 miles. On the road for a year and a half. 2008 Moved again.

2009 I got to work on the plane again for a little while.

2010 wife starts masters program
2012 wife graduates masters program
2012 we move again
2013 wife starts doctoral program
Winter 2013 I go back to airplane flyin' school for 5 months ish.

I have no business thinking I have time to build an airplane. But somehow...during all that I managed to get most of it done. Just started fitting the cowl today. (all three kids in school now and some disposable incole REALLY helped speed things along)

Now THAT'S PERSISTENCE! I thought I had it bad 'till I read your post... Thanks for the reality check.

[RPorter]

Originally Posted by bret

Well, this is due to college, kinda, well my daughter needed a car for school, so, we gave her my work commuter car. So, folks always demand pics, so here is my sacrifice. What have you had to give up, and prolong the project

Absolutley LOVING the Cafe Racer look! This thing is wicked

[KatieB]

Moving all over the country in the span of 2 years for different jobs has put a crimp in the build schedule. Tony Boy has new parts built in 3 different states, 2400 miles apart. He has accumulated over 6,700 road miles since being pulled from the salvage yard in Atlanta. The main goal is to fly again- in Michigan airspace!

This is one really good reason to keep a detailed builder's log for a kit with jigs and very basic instructions like an RV-3-- so you can remember how you built stuff. Detailed notes and pictures will help you finish similar components months later after "real life" butts in-- and help you avoid making the same mistakes twice!

Here's little Tony as "trailer trash." Note the wings up in the loft we built in the front of the trailer. For the first cross-country move, we basically put the airplane in there, packed all our stuff around it, and whatever didn't fit, we sold or gave away.

[longranger]

Divorce derailed my HRII project about 12-13 years ago. I made a half-hearted attempt about 4 years ago to get it back on the track, but Wife V2.0 actually enjoys flying, and prefers side-by-side. The -7 is still firmly on the tracks, but college tuition has steepened the grade a bit. I THINK I wrote my last tuition check last month, but both kids are girls in their 20's so weddings are a possibility, but nothing on the near horizon...

[scard]

Of course projects get derailed.
The purpose of my current RV project is for a reason to get derailed. I needed to make a bushing for a thingy on a widget and I had had enough with turning parts on the mill (works great). Also, my mill said it was lonely and needed a friend. So, this thing followed us home last weekend. 14.5hrs of old school driving, yuck. I know it isn't pretty, but it is going to be perfect for me after a few weeks of "tightening up" (caugh). It ain't no diamond, but it is very rough. Yes, that IS a piece of 4130 1" rod in it on its first day.

South Bend heavy 10