Greetings form New Zealand!

Hello everyone, I hope I am posting this in the right forum. My name is Martin Carena, I am originally form Fargo, North Dakota but recently moved to New Zealand due to family stuff. I have been into aviation, specifically older WWI and WWII warbirds since I learned to walk, and am currently working on my PPL. I have been building and flying RC models for 8 years now, and scale plastic kits for around that long as well, and volunteered at the Fargo Air Museum from when I was 8 up until around 16 years old, accumulating around 3500 hours doing so. I was an EAA member under my parents years ago, but now that I am 18 thought I'd create my own account/membership. I wanted to ask a couple questions regarding building an aircraft, specifically an Airdrome Aeroplanes Nieuport 17, as I have been wanting to do that for years now and now that I have some cash saved up, I thought I would join here to get as much advice, research and help as possible before I dove into a project this large. I can post my full questions and reasons I want to build this here if you wish, or in the homebuilts section if that is more appropriate. Well anyway, thanks for any help, and I am very glad to be here on the forums!

Welcome!

You're in the right place, if not the right subforum!

There are three WWI Airdrome projects in the Homebuilder's section, a Fokker DVII, a Nieuport 17, and a Nieuport 11. I'd avoid that last one, as that guy really didn't know what he was doing.

But look at everything, as no one discipline has it all.

Haha thank you! Yeah, I have seen all 3 threads and they have given me a TON of information, your Nieuport looks fantastic by the way! I just wanted to ask real quick if you don't mind regarding the overall $$ of the project. I am hoping to build the full scale 17, so I realize that costs may be a bit different between that and the 7/8, but roughly about how much did it end up costing you to finish that aircraft? So far, depending on my engine options and which instruments I decided to put in it, I have come out with a $15k-$16k total if I were to use a Torque Master 2180cc engine, and a roughly $25k-$30k total if I were to use the Rotec R2800 radial (which I would much rather use, but because I am currently on a budget I will probably just drop in the former option and later on in the future swap with a Rotec). This is all excluding shipping, and also depends on what instruments I purchase. If I were to buy older used instruments, which is what I would rather do, it would save me a lot, but if this isn't a recommended practice, or may even end up not getting my airplane certified (although so far I haven't read anything on barring the use of older instruments down here in New Zealand) I will fork over the extra cash for some new ones. I would also like to use a handheld radio if possible, as I feel like an actual radio installed in the aircraft would ruin a bit of the older style. I realize I would probably want to install an external antenna, which I can do, plus a handheld would save me some cash as well. Anyway, I seem to have trailed off a little bit (I haven't even purchased or started the airframe and I am already worrying about what equipment to put in haha). Do those numbers above sound fairly similar to what you invested in your Nieuport? Thanks for any help!

Welcome Martin! NZ is a beautiful place, my son in law is from there (near Wellington) and his and my daughter's wedding was there but they're now living in the US. I was hoping to visit Masterton Aerodrome where there is a lot of WWI replica action while we were there but it didn't work out. Best you figure out what the homebuilding rules are there before you decide on anything, every country is different and none are as loose as the US.

Welcome Martin, Is the current conversion rate still about $1 USD = $1.40 NZD?

It cost around 13K USD for my plane.

Of course I had to repair stuff after I flipped her, including replacing the crankshaft an prop, so I spent another 1,500 on that. ;)

For light aircraft like these, I can't recommend a VW strongly enough. Not only are they up to the job, the costs are far less than all the other options, and not just initial purchase. I rebuilt my VW engine for what just four spark plugs for a certified engine cost!

Thanks for the info guys! Dana, I spent a day looking at all the rules for homebuilts here, basically they have a series of required instruments that must be in your aircraft if it has some sort of propulsion. I do need certification for it obviously, but because it is classed as a light sport and I won't be carrying passengers, I don't need to go through as many requirements as other homebuilts. Frank, then it looks like I will definitely be going with the VW option haha! Randy, the exchange rate is just about that at the moment as far as I know. At least if I build it here under all the regulations, I should be ok when I move back to the US and want to certify it there in the future.