How to pre-qualify a Flybaby project for sale?
- Thread starter valittu
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Howard Wilson
Line Up and Wait
Hi Marvin,
One thing to think about is the availability of parts for the O-145. There are people who have stashes of the engines sitting in their hangars, in order to have enough parts. Go search Lycoming O-145 on the 'Taylorcraft Forum'.
The last time I bought a good cylinder head for my Lyc. powered T-craft, it was $750.....
That said, one in good condition is a nice little engine.
h
One thing to think about is the availability of parts for the O-145. There are people who have stashes of the engines sitting in their hangars, in order to have enough parts. Go search Lycoming O-145 on the 'Taylorcraft Forum'.
The last time I bought a good cylinder head for my Lyc. powered T-craft, it was $750.....
That said, one in good condition is a nice little engine.
h
steingar
Taxi to Parking
Looks more like a lawn ornament baby than a flybaby.
Is Ron W. around? If he's not here, he can be found on the EAAFORUMS.ORG boards.
AdamZ
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There is a lot of Flybaby knowlege here, Ron, Jesse and Matt all own or have flown them. I'm sure they will chime in soon enough.
JOhnH
Touchdown! Greaser!
If it were me, that would be more of a career than a project. And hoping all those boxes of parts contain anything useful would be quite a gamble.
But if you do buy it, please keep us updated on your progress. That would be very interesting. And I mean that in a good way.
wanttaja
En-Route
I'm around but on the road. I'll post when I'm back on the desktop and can be more prolix.
Ron Wanttaja
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retro
First thing to do is to determine whether the owner has deep pockets or not.
valittu
Pre-takeoff checklist
When I first saw the listing on Ebay, the first thing I did was completely ignore the boxes and the powerplant. I was wondering how you would determine if that air frame has ANY value beyond scrap metal. Mind you, when I first looked at it, the price was like $600 and I've heard of pilots paying that for cowlings alone.
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
If you owned a Flybaby there might be a few parts on it that could be useful, but doubful.
The quality of work looks really really poor, it's also in poor condition, hard to say without looking closely in person but I think it looks like firewood.
The quality of work looks really really poor, it's also in poor condition, hard to say without looking closely in person but I think it looks like firewood.
valittu
Pre-takeoff checklist
Thanks Jesse(et al).
How did you evaluate your flybaby? Was it as much about the builder as it was about what you saw when you went and looked at it? How exactly did you "prequalify" it before traveling or taking any other steps?
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
I bought it from a friend that I trusted, it was current in annual, and was an actively flying aircraft.
That said it wouldn't be difficult to prebuy a flybaby - they're an incredibly simple airframe - and I'm getting to know mine very well. I'd be quite comfortable doing it for someone at this point.
wanttaja
En-Route
It certainly does look in poor condition. I question why the fuselage is overall painted in primer... the wings have their original paint, but why is the fuselage all gray...even the inside? Hard to inspect, at minimum.
Keep in mind that the hardware itself is valuable; there's probably $500-$1000 worth of turnbuckles, alone. Wheels, brakes, fuel tank, etc. will add to the value, but one will have to examine the condition carefully. The brakes look mechanical, not hydraulic. The wheels/tires don't look right; they appear to be light 5" units. Fly Babies need hefty wheels and tires, it's the only shock absorbing capability on the gear.
The O-145 is worth core value only. You have no idea what sort of storage the engine has been under...could be significantly rusted in the interior. I'd recommend a Continental in any case.
If someone is looking at an (allegedly) operational Fly Baby, I've got this page of advice for them.
http://www.bowersflybaby.com/safety/used.htm
I'd be nervous about trying to restore this aircraft to operational condition; you really don't know under what conditions it was stored.
If one were BUILDING a Fly Baby, this one could yield up some components that would save significant building time. On that note, the original starting price of $500 was a pretty good deal. It's up to $750 right now, which is getting close to what I could bid without a much more thorough inspection.
About ten years ago, I was contacted by an estate regarding a project. This aircraft had never flown, but all the hardware was brand new (Scott brake cylinders, Cleveland wheels) and the wood wasn't in bad shape. I told them to list $2,000 for an asking price, they eventually went for $1,200. Much better stuff than the gray project.
Ron Wanttaja
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
It's hard to tell what there really is for hardware looking at it. The hardware that I can see in the pictures looks like it's in pretty poor condition.
The more I look at the pictures the more I think someone that had no clue what the hell they were doing got their hands on it at some point. It literally looks like they covered it all in a latex primer, interior as well. You'd have to strip all that **** off to have a clue what you were dealing with and I just can't
imagine what you'll find will be good plus that'd be a bunch of work.
I'd throw a few hundred dollars at it without being able to inspect it in person if they'd deliver it to me, lol. Otherwise..it just looks like a lot of headache for minimal benefit.
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I'd give $750 just to get the two engines to sell.
yakdriver
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Looks like a real POS to me. The Lycoming 145 is isn't worth trying to rebuild. The fuselage shows poor workmanship and the primer and the new tail group screams ground loop/rear fuselage damage. The wings look in poor shape and need a re cover at a minimum and if it was built with the old type glue would need a complete rebuild. Don't ever get enamored with a project like this because it is cheap. They usually end up costing a lot more than just buying a nice flyer. Run away! Don
yakdriver
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yellow peril
There is a nice looking one on Barnstormers right now for $10,750. Believe me you will spend a lot more than that to try and make this basket case into anything. Don
Tom-D
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But,,, it is worth a bunch o bucks for parts.
yakdriver
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yellow peril
That engine is worth nothing but maybe a museum exhibit. It was a crummy engine when it was new. Why do you think there are maybe a dozen that might be in a flying airplane. As far as brackets and other parts on the airframe judging from the workmanship that can be seen in the pictures it is probably junk. Don