After 17 months of work my father and I have completed our first build and just brought it from our shop to our hangar yesterday. The DAR is coming to inspect it next week and then we will be airborne finally.




The panel, basic VFR with EFIS and backup A/S and ALT with mode C transponder for when I was to visit EWR on my days off. The lights on the far left are for water and land indications for the float gears. This is an older picture, we have since added the appropriate placards that label things such as gear up and down and the N number etc.


It is low and slow but the fact you can land it in under 250' (the factory was VERY conservative with their number) more than makes up for it. It is all set up and plumbed for floats and those will be going on mid August. I am looking forward to doing some real flying on my days off and cruising at 4 GPH of autogas.

 

WOW !! Excellent job to you and your dad. I bet that thing will be a blast to putt around in. Can't beat the fuel burn either!

 

Nice work, I'm jealous !

 

looks like a lot of fun good job

 

Outstanding work - plane looks really pretty. Couple of requests:

1) Post the first flight pictures
2) Post the pictures when this gets on floats
3) can you shoot me a link to the factory?

Thanks and great job - really a great looking plane.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys, we appreciate it.

It was not too bad of a build but we tinkered with it probably 10 hours per week and sometimes more like 30 but it varried.

Stinson-The maker is Just aircraft and the model is Highlander http://www.cornellaeroworks.com/Airplanes.html

That is who we bought our kit from although you can get it direct from Just aircrafts website. We will certainly post pics of the first flight as well as the float conversion. On the cornell site there are a few on floats there you can see as well.

we are figuring on as fuel stands today 30 dollars per hour operating cost considering the annuals (we do them ourselves) and the insurance and misc cost.

 

Thanks for the info. Now, if you truly enjoyed the build process with your Dad, you will probably fall into the "we need a new project" mode. I have seen this happen lots of times with people.

I am seriously thinking of doing either a Pietenpol or a Pitts S1C. I would like to make the Pitts as close to the original Pitts as possible (the original Pitts had a 65hp Lycoming). If you could make the plane VERY light, and hang an O-200 on it I think it would be a neat airplane. Budd Davidson wrote an article about flying a replica of the first Pitts that was built and it sounds like an fun machine.

 

Wow, That thing looks sweet! Congratulations and have fun with it.

 

How hard was that to build?
Did you need any special tools?
What was the hardest part of the build?

I've been thinking about buying a P-51 replica once I can scrap the cash.

 

USMC-SGT - After looking at the website, I think I may have to add this to the list of potential projects! What a neat machine this is. Couple of questions:

1) The Escapade looks like it is LSA eligible with a Max Gross of 1,320. What is the MGTOW of the Highlander?

2) What motor did you opt for, Rotax or Jabiru?

3) Rotec (an Austrailian company) builds a 110hp, 7 cylinder radial. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of putting one of these on the Highlander or Escapade? I think that would look cool - particularly on floats...kind of like a baby beaver.