by SteveM » Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:50 pm
I recently paid $51 + s/h for a set of 3 sheets of single sided plans, two of them being close to 3'x3' and the third sheet about half that size. There is no kit or large volume demand for the plans I ordered so someone had to locate the plans I wanted, print them, trim the paper, them package and mail them to me. I would have preferred to pay less, but that's a pretty standard price and it wasn't like I could just pick up the plans anywhere I pleased. If you look at Guillow's prices for the B-17 plans, cardstock, and the other materials that the AMA provides with its plans, I think you'll see that even mass printed plans would cost $25 or so. If I was looking for plans so I could scratch build a B-29 I would probably get them elsewhere and with an eye towards accuracy rather than simplified to suite masses of kit assemblers.
I've purchased a sealed in plastic Enoya Gay kit for not much more than the set of plans from the AMA and I've also sold one for more than the opening bid of the kit mentioned above. Bargains are out there, but they won't come to you in your easy chair, you have to work at it and be ready to close the deal the moment you see an opportunity. Then if you've used the plans in that kit to scratch your own plane and an opportunity presents its self to sell to a fool who is easily parted from his money, go for it then sit back and count your profits.
Life is too short to bemoan that which you cannot control. Learn to adapt, overcome, and move on.