Plans for Model B wings only?

[Westward_Flyer]

Hey all,

Does anyone know if it’s possible to buy just the wing plans?

For context, I’ve been interested in Bearhawks for a few years. I’m about to graduate medical school which means 5-6 more years of training before I can start building. In the meantime I’ve been having a ton of fun learning everything I can and planning my future build.

Recently I have been teaching myself CAD in hopes of modeling the Bearhawk Model 5. I’d love to model the wing as a starting point since the cost of the entire plans is a little difficult to justify to my wife at this point given our finances haha.

Anyways, if it’s not possible no big deal, I’ll just keep biding my time!

Thanks!

[Redneckmech]

My personal opinion is that you would be better off to budget "X" amount per month and then buy the full set of plans if that is at all possible. I recently purchased a set of Model 5 plans after budgeting for a couple of months and am slowly modelling most of it myself while saving up for the requisite aluminum order.

What CAD program are you learning? If you do not have it already, the student version of SOLIDWORKS is free with EAA membership and there are a lot of tutorials available so it will be the cheapest full-featured program that I am aware of.

If you are set on just getting the wing plans, your best bet is going to be to call Bob and discuss it with him. I have seen where a Bearhawker with a flying "A" wing had expressed interest in just getting plans for the "B" wing so Bob may have pricing decided although it is hard to say whether he would be willing to sell just the wing plans separately.

[Westward_Flyer]

That's a good point. I think I'm going to save up and get the full plans. I've been using onshape mostly for the flexibility of being able to do it on my laptop (mac) or my pc. I don't have SOLIDWORKS but would definitely consider getting it via the EAA membership if there's a good benefit of onshape. So far I haven't been too convinced based on what I've read but I am a total novice in CAD so that may change. I'd love to hear how your modelling ends up, I think it is a really good way to speed up future build time for those of us stuck in a "holding pattern" since you get a very good understanding of how things go together which should cut down on all that "head scratching time" later on. Thanks for your advice!

[nborer]

The short answer is... call Bob and ask. He may be willing to do so, but I personally doubt it. I think close to half of the pages of my Model B plans are related to the wings, so we're not talking about a huge discount. I understand that $150+ is a lot when you're in grad/med school (I spent six years in grad school, and my wife was in med school for four years and residency for three), so I'm not arguing with your plight... but just understand that there is little incentive for Bob to sell plans at 50% off just for the wings. At 300-ish dollars, it's less than a flat screen at Walmart. (But I get it - I at ramen for years, and learned to tolerate cheap beer.)

No matter what, I think it's worth a call to Bob. He's amazingly approachable and is happy to chat, at least in my few interactions.

[Westward_Flyer]

I appreciate your perspective and understanding, it is a pretty peculiar stage of life as you know, going from living around the poverty line for so many years to suddenly making a really good living. I think I'm going to just save up and get the whole thing. I've spent about a thousand hours thinking about the Bearhawk for the last 2-3 years so why not just make myself and official plans holder haha.

[nborer]

Sounds great, you won't be disappointed. I thought about purchasing my plans in grad school and didn't do so until I was on the other side of the poverty line for a long while. I should have done it sooner. We'll see what happens first - first flight or kids going to college. (For reference, my oldest is in 3rd grade. A betting man would say college at this pace. But it's nice to hope!)

[Proi]

Hi WF: As a fellow physician who spent my younger years dreaming about various aircraft I wanted, my regret now is that I didn't go on a limb and make the purchase earlier. Your income potential is excellent, and inflation is raging, so the kit prices today will look like a bargain in 5 years when you have time to build (or find help for that!). My recommendation is speak to your significant other, get some storage space at parents or relative, then beg or borrow, and purchase the QB wing kit (or complete kit if you can somehow add the 68K to your education debt). Drive used cars, live modestly, and in 8-10 years you will have a brand new Bearhawk worth double or triple what you paid! Plus your kids can help you build it!

[Westward_Flyer]

Hi Proi, your comment gave me some amazing confirmation bias! In all seriousness, this is something that I have thought about a lot. One day I'll almost certainly be in a good to great financial position and I imagine that looking back I won't regret the money that I spent but I will definitely regret the memories that I didn't make and the happiness that I deferred. Thanks again for your advice!
-WF