Any homebuilders on PPRuNe?
Guest
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Any homebuilders on PPRuNe?
Any builders of kitplanes on PPRuNe? -I guess you probably wouldn't have time to be on PPRuNe( 
), but any kitplane flyers?
What kind of plane are you building/did you build? How's the work coming along or how long did it take?
Frustrations? Hints and tips for other homebuilt builders, homebuilt flyers, wannabe homebuilders?
Nick
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"I have found that alcohol taken in sufficient quantity produces all the effects of drunkenness."
~ Oscar Wilde
), but any kitplane flyers?What kind of plane are you building/did you build? How's the work coming along or how long did it take?
Frustrations? Hints and tips for other homebuilt builders, homebuilt flyers, wannabe homebuilders?
Nick
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"I have found that alcohol taken in sufficient quantity produces all the effects of drunkenness."
~ Oscar Wilde
Guest
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Hey, here's one.
Started 12 years ago
on a Van's RV-4. Spent 3500+ hours on the bird. The work is coming along pretty slow. Finishing, the famous last 10% left (electrics, engine installation et all) to do. I guess I'm more a pilot than a builder and I just work on the plane when I feel like it 
Frustrations? The RV-8 must be quicker to build...
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... cut my wings and I'll die ...
[This message has been edited by fly4fud (edited 18 June 2001).]
Started 12 years ago
on a Van's RV-4. Spent 3500+ hours on the bird. The work is coming along pretty slow. Finishing, the famous last 10% left (electrics, engine installation et all) to do. I guess I'm more a pilot than a builder and I just work on the plane when I feel like it Frustrations? The RV-8 must be quicker to build...
------------------
... cut my wings and I'll die ...
[This message has been edited by fly4fud (edited 18 June 2001).]
Guest
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Not built from scratch but spent 2-years rebuilding a Goldwing that I bought with a friend as a wreck (previous owner tried to take-off through a hedge).
Hints, only one. Get the preparation perfect - workshop, tools, materials, the lot (especially workshop) then it'll all fall into place. Don't get the preparation right and it'll take ten times as long.
G
Hints, only one. Get the preparation perfect - workshop, tools, materials, the lot (especially workshop) then it'll all fall into place. Don't get the preparation right and it'll take ten times as long.
G
Guest
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Ooooh, fly4fud, I guess you would have been better (or quicker...) off with a quick build kit of RV-8, wouldn't you.
I have a friend who had been building a Lancair 320 for 6-8 years, and when Lancair launched the quickbuild kit some years ago, he would have been further in his project if he had bought that, than he was with his own at the time. Now he has sold his Lancair project and is corrently (sloooowly...) building a scale P51.
My father and I built a Kitfox IV 9 years ago. It took us two years (1000hrs+) to get it in the air. I got my PPL during my commercial training about four years ago, and I have been flying it quite a bit since then, but not as much as I would have liked to.
Sadly enough, the Kitfox crashed earlier this spring. The pilot (a friend of ours) experienced a sudden drop in power just after takeoff. He thought he had enough power to return to the airfield, but just when he had completed the turn, the engine went totally dead. By then he was behind some trees, and to avoid crashing straight into them, he lifted the nose, passed the trees, and stalled out from about 10-15 feet.
Luckily he left the plane without a scratch, but the plane itself was a total wreck.
So now we're looking for a new project...
If we build a Kitfox again, it will certainly not be with a Rotax two stroke engine. The cause of the engine failure was a stuck piston ring, which became overheated. The heat of the piston ring ignited the fuel both over and under the piston, wich resulted in drastic power loss, and subsequently total engine failure.
There have been several Kitfoxes successfully fitted with modified Subaru four stroke car-engines, and that might be an option for us. Anyone with experience from that?
I'm kind og dreaming of a quick-build RV-8, but the time and finances required to build and operate an RV-8 is on an other level than a Kitfox...
Nick.
------------------
"I have found that alcohol taken in sufficient quantity produces all the effects of drunkenness."
~ Oscar Wilde
I have a friend who had been building a Lancair 320 for 6-8 years, and when Lancair launched the quickbuild kit some years ago, he would have been further in his project if he had bought that, than he was with his own at the time. Now he has sold his Lancair project and is corrently (sloooowly...) building a scale P51.
My father and I built a Kitfox IV 9 years ago. It took us two years (1000hrs+) to get it in the air. I got my PPL during my commercial training about four years ago, and I have been flying it quite a bit since then, but not as much as I would have liked to.
Sadly enough, the Kitfox crashed earlier this spring. The pilot (a friend of ours) experienced a sudden drop in power just after takeoff. He thought he had enough power to return to the airfield, but just when he had completed the turn, the engine went totally dead. By then he was behind some trees, and to avoid crashing straight into them, he lifted the nose, passed the trees, and stalled out from about 10-15 feet.
Luckily he left the plane without a scratch, but the plane itself was a total wreck.
So now we're looking for a new project...
If we build a Kitfox again, it will certainly not be with a Rotax two stroke engine. The cause of the engine failure was a stuck piston ring, which became overheated. The heat of the piston ring ignited the fuel both over and under the piston, wich resulted in drastic power loss, and subsequently total engine failure.
There have been several Kitfoxes successfully fitted with modified Subaru four stroke car-engines, and that might be an option for us. Anyone with experience from that?
I'm kind og dreaming of a quick-build RV-8, but the time and finances required to build and operate an RV-8 is on an other level than a Kitfox...
Nick.
------------------
"I have found that alcohol taken in sufficient quantity produces all the effects of drunkenness."
~ Oscar Wilde
Guest
Posts: n/a
I have had a hankering for some years to build a Europa but I really fancy building from plans rather than a kit.
Ghengis suggested the Falco and looking at the website I have fallen for it big time.
All I have to do is :-
Put two kids through school
Finish the decorating and minor repairs to our very old house
Build a double garage for assembly ( I have a workshop already)
Heat the workshop as this would be a winter only project due to cricket
Oh, and my PPRuNe habit needs feeding (especially when after typing all of this drivel once already, it disappeared)
One other small matter of work.....oh well...dream on.
Ghengis suggested the Falco and looking at the website I have fallen for it big time.
All I have to do is :-
Put two kids through school
Finish the decorating and minor repairs to our very old house
Build a double garage for assembly ( I have a workshop already)
Heat the workshop as this would be a winter only project due to cricket
Oh, and my PPRuNe habit needs feeding (especially when after typing all of this drivel once already, it disappeared)
One other small matter of work.....oh well...dream on.
