“For the fella that has a young family, struggling to make it, don’t put it off. Do it now. You can always go quickbuild later on if your circumstances improve. What’s a 4 by 8 sheet of aluminum these days? 80 bucks or so. You can build the rudder for your airplane from that one sheet. And then you’ll have a finished part ready to go!” So says Mark Townsend of Can-Zac Aviation, the Canadian distributors of Zenith Aircraft. Mark was waxing enthusiastic as he proudly described the recently released 3.5-hour DVD, which takes the novice builder by the hand and gently leads him into the construction of a complete Zenith rudder and wingribs.
Townsend freely admits that production values may fall a bit short of the Hollywood blockbuster category, but this is more than made up for by the addition of a few humorous elements. “There is a sock puppet,” Townsend says, “who steals lunch.”
Targeted at the budget minded builder who can’t justify the extra expense of the quickbuild option, “Scratch Building Basics for Metal Aircraft” is a two-DVD set that sells for a modest $39. It can be ordered online at www.homebuilthelp.com. If you’re considering the realities of scratch-building, or are just unsure of what’s required of a builder, this series is a good place to start with minimal investment.
