Joe, You can reserve a number for a year to $10 and renew it each year for another $10. This keeps your number. You can register on line anytime you want to. You can do it when you first get the number or anytime after that. I reserved ours 2 years ago and this year at renewal time, I will register it instead. I did not register before because I did not want the tax people bothering me, which they will as soon as the FAA reports that you have registered a plane.
There is a time for building and a time for FLYING and the time for building has expired. See N64KR at http://KR-Builder.org - Then click on the pics Daniel R. Heath - Columbia, SC See you in Mt. Vernon - 2005 - KR Gathering