USMC,

How cool! What a great way to get away from the grind and remind yourself of why you got into this in the first place. I bet the quality time with your old man was also something that will be fondly looked upon some day. I'd really like to know more about the build. Did you have any prior experience? What were some of the challenges? How much of the kit came completed and how much trial and error was involved? I'm sure there are more that would like to hear the details but if there aren't, feel free to PM me.

I'm considering doing the same thing when I can finance it. I'm very lucky because Wick's aircraft supply and the Zenith company are both within about an hour's drive. I might start considering it more after second year pay hits.

 

I was looking at lots of stuff last night. What is the weight capacity of the baggage compartment? Also, if you could license this Experimental as opposed to LSA, perhaps I could put a third seat back there? If the Capacity is 100 lbs I could stick my daughter or wife there.

 

Nice work! Looks like a fun project. Congrats on wrapping up the build. That's something I've always wanted to do. Make sure and post those first flight pics.

 

Spectaculous!
enjoy!

 

Guys,
I'm commuting to work and on my phone (think 7 words per minute typed) ill answer your questions when I get to the crashpad.

Thanks for the kudos, it was a fun build with alot of anticipation.

 

Hotshot- It was not too difficult to build but very frustrating at times. The factory is comprised of a great group of guys but id rather have them sitting besides me flying than designing a build manual. The build manual is shotty at best and by far the single best resource for the build was www.wingsforum.com which has a just aircraft section that was worth its weight in gold. No special tools were needed except maybe some sheet metal sheers and some cleco pliars and some nicopress crimpers to do the flying wires. We bought a sheet metal break and used it quite a bit for fabrication but you would certainly not need it. The hardest part of the build is that most of it is open to interpretation as far as you know where it goes but not exactly how it goes there and there is alot of fabrication involved. For me the hardest was wiring the panel. I have a strong electronics background that helped but it was still foreign to me in a sense.

We had no prior experience at all. My father is a non practicing ase master mechanic and I have a pretty strong electronics backround to include fabrication along the lines of one off interior panels etc. We had never done anything along these lines though. My father built a jeep CJ3 from the frame up and restored a few motorcycles, every little bit helps. I would say that having basic handyman skills and patience is all that is needed. Challenges were listed above. You want to door to lift on pistons..you figure out which pistons, where to get them, how to mount them etc etc. Besides the basic things such as control surfaces and the like, everything is up to you as far as how you mount it, fabricate or build it. Again, the wingsforum helps alot not unlike this site helps aviators. You post a question and within a day or so you get pictures and tricks of how those before you got it done. As for how much of the kit came completed, we bought a "quick build" it came with the wings, fuselage and horizontal stabilizer finished, covered with fabric and painted basic white. We did the aileron and flap rigging, mounted the horizontal stab and elevator, put on the main gears and tailwheel, did the break system and you get the idea. The plane comes covered with fabric and bone dry empty. You fabricate every piece of the interior except the seats and do the entire panel and firewall forward although they include an engine mount. Plan on a good amount of trial and error in the beginning which tapers off towards the end.

700 lb useful load so figure on 21 gal of fuel (we went with a 3 gallon header tank with sight guage instead of the 1 gal with no visual indicator) so 700-126=574lbs. Then factor in the FAA standard 180 pax times two so 574-360=214lbs it leaves you with 214lbs of rear baggage capacity. That can change with the fuel you carry and the amount of beer you drank in your days that may have elevated you above the standard weight. From others that own the plane it will hold every bit of weight that it says it will hold. You can license it as experimental as far as I know although we went with E-LSA and im not sure of the rules but I cant see why you could not throw a third seat in there.

any other questions let me know, I am at the crashpad now and will be spending nights in hotels so it leaves me a little more time. If you guys want a little more insight as to what others say for the build just go to wingsforum.com and click on the just aircraft section and you will see what others are saying regarding the build. (wingsforum is not in competition with APC and is not in the same genre as APC so you will not get addicted)

 

USMC that thing looks like total joy to fly and build I hope you really enjoy flying it. I would like to build something like that. The joy of flying is easily found in such simple, inexpensive airplanes. Please post more pics when you can.

PS- can you do any acrobatics in it?

 

You don't live near ATL do you? That looks like the right medicine for what ails me. I haven't been in a light plane in seven years. The last one being an Aeronca Champ. If I had the cash back then, I would have bought it on the spot. That is some fun flying. Enjoy and great work!

 

My dad and I are looking at something similar to this, Can you give me and estimated total cost that this set up costs. I could do the math myself I suppose, I jsut figured you knew off the top of your head.

 

Sorry, I am up in the north east with this plane. As for the cost we figure a rough estimate if 60k completely done. We put about 9 in the panel, 20 in the engine, 22ish in the kit and of course the misc ins and outs involved. It is not aerobatic per se because that is not how they are certified but it is like a citabria with +4 -2 Gs so if you wanted to do gentle acro you could. I do not plan on it. I have access to a few pitts and super D's and after flying an extra a bit it would be a bit to docile. I do plan on landing in every field and beach over 500 feet long though.