Airplane build
- Thread starter CESLAW
- Start date
I came [[[[this]]]] close to buying a Rutan Long-EZ kit.... The wife and I had a very long discussion about that one... I had done my research and found at the time that it was o ne of the safest planes out there with good range, great speed, great fuel conomy and reasonable gross weight along with some cargo capacity...
suffice it to say - I never built it - but one day......
suffice it to say - I never built it - but one day......
True enough, but you must build it by the book. John Denver purchased a Long-EZ that had been built by a guy who made some "improvements" during his build. His tweeks ended up costing Denver his life.
Jeff Young
GT40s Supporter
If I recall the accident report correctly, it was something about the positioning of the fuel selector switch. It was easy to kick the rudder pedal over when reaching for it, again if I remember correctly.
Chuck,
I am an airplane builder. I have built a gyrocopter and now am finishing the building of a sportplane. It is a two seat side by side taildragger called a Rans S16. Cruise is about 150mph for 800 miles. If you have any questions, send me an email mchristian at canetics dot com.
Mike Christian
I am an airplane builder. I have built a gyrocopter and now am finishing the building of a sportplane. It is a two seat side by side taildragger called a Rans S16. Cruise is about 150mph for 800 miles. If you have any questions, send me an email mchristian at canetics dot com.
Mike Christian
Looked at building an aircraft many many times over the last few years. However, here in the UK, its just too expensive. With AVGAS about £1.80 a litre, even when they are built the expense continues.
Anyway, a friend of mine has just built a Falco. Its taken 6 years and cost £100K.
Here's the write up on it.
Anyway, a friend of mine has just built a Falco. Its taken 6 years and cost £100K.
Here's the write up on it.
Chuck,
I was on a team of A&P's that built one of these for a private individual in Ct in 1984.
It had very complicated sheetmetal work and was completely flush riveted using hand bucked rivets. A T70 tub would be childs play by comparison.
SX300 Home
I would not want to do it again.
I work on airplanes every day so I'm not really all that interested in building one in my spare time. If I was, I would think this would be the one I would build.
Van's Aircraft - Aircraft Models: RV-8 8A Introduction
At the end of the day I think you have to figure out if you want to enjoy building and flying a general aviation aircraft for the experience of it or buy a certificated aircraft, say a Piper Archer. Both have their own advantages. The certificated aircraft is a far better investment.
Personally I'd go with the Archer and some Knots2U or Lo Presti speed mods.
If I can help just ask.
Scott
I was on a team of A&P's that built one of these for a private individual in Ct in 1984.
It had very complicated sheetmetal work and was completely flush riveted using hand bucked rivets. A T70 tub would be childs play by comparison.
SX300 Home
I would not want to do it again.
I work on airplanes every day so I'm not really all that interested in building one in my spare time. If I was, I would think this would be the one I would build.
Van's Aircraft - Aircraft Models: RV-8 8A Introduction
At the end of the day I think you have to figure out if you want to enjoy building and flying a general aviation aircraft for the experience of it or buy a certificated aircraft, say a Piper Archer. Both have their own advantages. The certificated aircraft is a far better investment.
Personally I'd go with the Archer and some Knots2U or Lo Presti speed mods.
If I can help just ask.
Scott
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Ron Earp
Admin
That's it! I have just painted mine in the three color Pacific Theater WWII paint scheme (dark blue on top, grey-blue on the sides and white on the bottom). Then I put period correct roundels on it and a digitized copy of my Father-In-Laws nose art. He was a Marine and flew SBDs and TBMs.
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I would have to look at his logbook Jim. He flew SBDs in the Virgin Islands - antisub, then moved to carrier based (CVE107) TBM and saw combat in Okinawa bombing kamakazi bases and close ground support. I suspect he was more late 1944-1945.
I took liberty on the paint scheme. I live near Chino, CA and the Planes of Fame museum and they had this scheme on a Hellcat and I really liked it. I prefer the red outline on the roundels. My FILs SDB had the white/grey Atlantic paint scheme and his TBM had a solid dark blue paint scheme.
The nose art was from his TBM days - the TBM wassometimes referred to as the "Turkey".
I took liberty on the paint scheme. I live near Chino, CA and the Planes of Fame museum and they had this scheme on a Hellcat and I really liked it. I prefer the red outline on the roundels. My FILs SDB had the white/grey Atlantic paint scheme and his TBM had a solid dark blue paint scheme.
The nose art was from his TBM days - the TBM wassometimes referred to as the "Turkey".
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In my mind they are very similar. This plane has a steel tube cockpit cage covered by 6 large moulded fiberglass shells that were bonded/riveted together. The wings and control surfaces are all riveted aluminum (I plan not to paint those). The kit was complete down to the washers.
The places I got to exercise my creativity were the avionics and the firewall forward. For avionics I have a GRT EFIS with built in GPS. This is fed via a serial bus by a GRT EIS which constantly analyzes the engine with some 20+ parameters. I also have a comm, a transponder, an interco, two trim systems and a video camera with monitor. Pretty basic fair weather sport plane.
Firewall forward I have a TCM IO240 (like the front engine on the Voyager around the world plane), dual Lightspeed electronic ignitions, and dual alternators. It should feed 130HP to the fixed pitch Sensenich wood prop (painted black with yellow tips of course). All the fuel system, ignition system, electrical system are all my own.
Very similar project to building a car.
Mike
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This is what prompted my original queston. Been studying it in detail - Rotary 9 cylinder engine (made in Australia), two place, fabric cover.
Hatz Classic, based on the 1930's Waco.
Reality check: would probaly take about 2000 hours and would be strictly a fair weather flyer (20 hours a year?) Jag would take half that time, even with lots of detailing, and could be drive under IFR conditions.
So the dilema: build an XJ13 or a biplane?
Hatz Classic, based on the 1930's Waco.
Reality check: would probaly take about 2000 hours and would be strictly a fair weather flyer (20 hours a year?) Jag would take half that time, even with lots of detailing, and could be drive under IFR conditions.
So the dilema: build an XJ13 or a biplane?
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Jim Rosenthal
Supporter
Drive up to Galesburg or wherever and see the Stearman fly-in...someone's bound to have one for sale, save yourself the trouble. Then build an XJ13 so I can see it.....
But the thrill is in the build !
I 'could' help you there Chuck, since you probably have a couple of Jag V12 motors lying dormant with the XJ project, why not a P51 @75% size, two seat, scratch build, like me you will probably never finish it, but it would still look impressive in the garage:thumbsup:
Chuck,
Like Jim say's go to the Stearman fly-in.
See if someone has a basket case to buy and restore it.
Or get a subscription to Trade-A - Plane.
Then you have an airplane that has A MFG's type certificate and real residual value, plus you get to "build" it.
I know where there is a near complete Jacobs "Shakey -Jake" in a barn just waiting for someone to tune her up.
Radial engine test start, Jacobs L4MB a.k.a. "Shakey Jake" - YouTube
As far as VFR hours thats mostly up to you.
I used to put 50- 60 a year on my Archer.
Like Jim say's go to the Stearman fly-in.
See if someone has a basket case to buy and restore it.
Or get a subscription to Trade-A - Plane.
Then you have an airplane that has A MFG's type certificate and real residual value, plus you get to "build" it.
I know where there is a near complete Jacobs "Shakey -Jake" in a barn just waiting for someone to tune her up.
Radial engine test start, Jacobs L4MB a.k.a. "Shakey Jake" - YouTube
As far as VFR hours thats mostly up to you.
I used to put 50- 60 a year on my Archer.
Hard to imagine the Jag V12 in anything intended to get off the ground. Almost done tearing apart the one that will become a coffee table. Just the crank weighs more than my boat anchor.
A local chap is building a three quarter size P51. He is using a Cadillac Northstar engine. That will be interesting.
