Warren_C wrote:
Dan,
Whats your guess for getting this thing in the air after purchase. I'm going to say about 50-60K and 2 years of effort. I just don't see a bargain here, whom ever purchases this plane will have as much into it as any current flying example for sale.
The really cool thing about that one is that it's pretty much all there and you'd probably be able to re-use some 90 odd percent of it (less the wood) in the restoration. Plus, never having been a duster there's no extra tabs welded onto stuff and no extra holes drilled into things. Both of mine are ex-sprayers and they were missing probably more stuff than they came with, so you can spend alot of time chasing parts down, making pieces, de-modifying the basic airframe, making phone calls, emailing people, and basically undoing a lot of work that was done to make them into sprayers in the first place. This one is stock and complete so apart from the stuff that has corroded excessively, rotted away, turned to dust, etc you have a very complete "kit". And it's never been restored before which means that you also don't have to undo stuff that somebody already redid (but maybe did really poorly and thus created even more work for you.) Being able to study and record things like how the rib stitching was originally done, where the inspection covers EXACTLY went, how the stenciling was done, etc, etc really makes for an interesting and enjoyable project. Is it a moneymaker? Probably not. Will it be a fast turn around into a flyer? I doubt it. Will it be cheaper than buying one that is already flying? NO!
But, would it be a heck of a lot of fun to study and restore and do I wish my basketcase N2S-3 looked like that? Absolutely!
(Anybody got one of those starter "pull" handles that's sticking out the left hand side? I'm serious!
Dan
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