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Comment by Wayne Woloshin on March 23, 2021 at 7:24pm

If you have the time to wait for Zenith to supply what you want, you can always sell off the tail feathers ,keep the fuselage. It is the same,order the Cruzer's kits you  need ,there are people on the list wanting what you have? If you really want the Cruzer go for it or you might not be happy with the STOL version later on.

Comment by Bob Simmons on April 12, 2020 at 9:46pm

Yeah, thanks Daniel. That was mainly a joke, but the thought of getting creative has crossed my mind. I already have a tail number and model number registered. I confess to being slightly curious though. Should I ever get really serious about a model number change, I wonder somewhat if they allow you to change model numbers on existing registrations. But again, it's more humor than genuine intent at this point so that's nothing more than passing curiosity. I do confess to wondering what other creative model numbers homebuilders might come up with if they thought about making their registration truly unique. Many of them have come up with very entertaining ideas on model names, nicknames and other monikers before, so I'm guessing some of them could be downright hilarious. And it might give them something to entertain themselves with while sheltering in place.

Vans has a point about not wanting to be credited for the failure of someone else's engineering, but there's two sides to that coin. Every builder personalizes their aircraft to some degree or another, so it presents a challenge to determine what constitutes 'significant alterations'. It can also seriously degrade the ability to analyze accident statistics for Vans aircraft when there weren't significant alterations made that were a causal factor in the accidents. So it's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't scenarios. Most reputable statistical analysts will make note of instances where the builder caused or helped cause an accident by significantly altering the original design. But as is often the case, it's the 'non-reputable' stuff that gets media attention after an accident, and we can all potentially be susceptible to fallout from such inaccurate and/or ill informed coverage. The recent stuff surrounding the 737 MAX is a good example. That's probably the primary reason I'm not very serious about changing my model number.

Thanks for bringing that up. And happy Easter.

EDIT: I really wish we could edit comments here without having to resort to copying the original post, deleting it and them pasting in a corrected copy. Editing is allowed on the original blog post, but not on the comments, which seems a little strange. I also wonder if other people get repeated email notifications about replies every time I have to do all this just to edit an existing post.

Comment by Daniel Niendorff on April 12, 2020 at 7:21pm

Actually the FAA does allow you to name your model on the registration. Because it is home built, the manufacturer is you, and the model name is your choice.

Vans goes so far as to encourage those who significantly alter their design to please name it something else...... I suppose they don’t want someone else’s engineering to show up on their accident stats.

Anyhow, you can call it whatever you choose when you register it........

Comment by Perry Delano on April 10, 2020 at 11:44pm

Chapter 85 RAA Stolerized its Cruzer to the extent of opting for Tundra Tires, for landing on grass runway of Delta Airpark Delta BC. I have not flown it yet but it does not do a STOL landing very well to my knowledge.