Our LEU, Treehugger, was started by a friend, but he was suffering from arthritis in his hands, andknew that he would never finish it. He also had to move to another city. So, he offered the project to anyone who would finish it. One factor, the price was right. So, several of us took it.
After getting the project to our shops, we found that the fuse welding was somewhat lacking in quality, and the wings, still uncovered, needed some detail work. I ground and re-welded all the joints that did not look so good (which is probably a reason it is heavier than it should be), re-built the gear and finished all the other welding and metal work.
The other guys attacked the wings, which required some patch-up work. Then, we all worked on covering, rib stitching and coating.
We found the engine was well built, but, when started, found it generated too much oil pressure, which required disassembling it and drilling a relief hole in the oil system, which, I understand, is a known mod, but he apparently did not know about it. From then on, the engine ran well, requiring only tuning work.
So, in our case, we would not have really known about the Eagles if this did not come our way.
I suppose deciding to acquire a partial project, such as this, hinges on the cost, the quality of work done so far, and if you can see it, and some evaluation of how much work, re-work and add'l parts that you have to get. In our case, the state of the project was such that we could see the work, many parts such as the engine, prop, hardware, extra steel etc. were included, and knew that re-work would be required, but the overall size/cost to proceed and finish it would be reasonable.
Like Weasel said, you can get a bargain with a partial project. And, don't worry, there is still a lot of work to do to get flying.
Good luck,
Tom H
