Quoted from Ricardo

Nice set up.
What kind of plane are building next to yours?

Thanks Ricardo. Nice observation. Well since I an addicted to building and flying what you see is most likely my next project. I picked up a Fisher Horizon 2 from the next hanger. It has the welded steel fuselage option. The empennage is mostly done along with most of the ribs. Comes with many extras. Just need engine and instruments to complete! , The price was a steal! Less than a 10th of the brand new kit...and the welded steel fuselage option is no longer available.
    But I also know too many projects and nothing gets completed! Soooo I inventoried the project. Tucked it all away and I will not touch it until the my Vmax is flying!
Here is an example of the Horizon 2

BTW the look on my wife's face when I told her I bought another project..... Before I even finished my first project was priceless! 😉😱

Congratulations Brian! Nice project, I love those fisher planes,I thought all of them were wood fuselage.
Wife can't complain since she'll be riding right behind you. Nice move!  

I did not know that the Horizon 2 at some point was offered with a steel fuselage option.  I am always learning something new reading through the posts.  It is funny, I was looking through past issues of the EAA magazine and I came across an article about the Dakota Hawk, what I thought was their newest plane....The article was written in 1993!  I guess I am getting old.  The original Hawk was also powered with a VW Mosler engine which also came across as a surprise.

It's hard to find info about the steel fuse. According to Dave Herner at Fisher they only offered it for a few years. There apparently was not a lot of demand due to higher cost ( the original invoice from 2003 shows a cost of 5000 for the steel fuselage "upgrade" it's square tubing and Dave H states chrome moly ....back to the Minimax!!! For now!

Wow Brian you sure have a lot of hobbies

Monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Wow Brian you sure have a lot of hobbies

Monte

I do Monte, I really do.. Told my wife a few years ago, "better hope I go first! If you go first I am spending everything. Leaving the kids nothing!" Darn it all she believed me. I shouldn't have warned her😳 Our weight loss and healthy trend is really an effort for both of us trying to out live each other...... Winner gets the money😉!!

You are getting there, keep it up!
I really wished I could have seen your wife's expression, when you told her about the Horizon II...    

Quoted from Reto S

You are getting there, keep it up!
I really wished I could have seen your wife's expression, when you told her about the Horizon II...    

Lol I do get that expression a lot. A few month back at the airport my wife walked Into a horizontal stabilizer and gave herself a concussion. For about a week every time she roller her eyes it hurt.......after a few days she realized how often she rolled her eyes at me 😄 Lol



Ok fuselage varnished! Tedious, but much easier than the wings! Starting to do final install of many components! A couple pictures! Strobe control under stabilizer. Ballistic chute mount and grommets installed on cable/ wire guides!

Few more pics. Here we have the duel elevator pushrods installed on mounting plate. Blue locktite on nuts. Then safety wired ( thank you Ricardo) also notice safety "kit" installed!

Pics

One more

UK seatbelt anchor upgrade..... # 5 bolt to be replaced with AN bolt on next delivery!

Things going back in.... Final install

All looks great, Brian. You can't beat peace of mind to concentrate on flying!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Things going back in.... Final install

Warning: Be very careful when using the word 'final'  

Yes indeed Bruce! Here is a couple more pics...

Nice to see you did the seat belt anchor mod

Hi -

I have a silly question.  If you deploy the BRS is there any chance that it could get tangled on the shoulder harness?  Also, as the bridle extends, is it free of the shoulder harness?  I work on vehicle safety and crashworthiness so by nature I am inclined to look at the seat belt and shoulder harness.

Another concern I have is that if you experience a sudden stop (a BRS deployment might qualify) your upper torso will put a fairly big load on the shoulder straps.  In turn, as the harness and cable get pulled tight, they will exert a downward force on the bulkhead which the cables go through.  My guess is that if the event is severe enough, the cables will cut through the bulkhead, thus allowing for slack in the shoulder harness.

I have been thinking that someday I would like to build a plane so the design of the belt and harness system is always in my mind.  So far, I have not found an airplane with a shoulder harness system that I would not do differently. Could I make them better, I am not sure.  After all, we are talking about structures which are meant to be light.  In the end, the hope is that none of us experience an event where the safety devices are needed to keeps us alive (ie BRS deployment and seat belts).

I have been following your build for the past two years and I am really impressed by what you have been able to achieve in terms of your airplane build as well as on a personal level.

Good luck,

Teo

This probably qualifies a TMI but someone might find it interesting.  In a car crash, your body can tolerate 27-30 G's for a brief instant (averaged over a 0.100 second interval).  The Federal requirement for belt anchors strength requires that 3000 lb be applied separately to each belt; i.e. lap and shoulder.  Depending on the geometry, particularly for shoulder belts, the tension in the belt can be higher than 3000 lbs.

Sorry, this is the area which I made reference to in the previous post....

Quoted from viva_peru

Sorry, this is the area which I made reference to in the previous post....

Funny you mention that........I have the a same concerns....but I really do not know the resolve. The cables go thru. Nylon bushings.....I would think the bulkhead would collapse before the "ripped" thru the plywood. That being said considering  the lightweight structure. Seems to making a safety belt arrangement like you describe would add LOT of weight.  The lap belt will get the UK metal reinforcement plates also. I cannot help but wonder if forces you describe would collapse the aircraft completely and the seat belts really wouldn't matter. Oh and the BRS is carefully installed so that in the case of deployment it will nottangle with or put any forces on the seatbelt! Already considered...but thank you for pointing that out it would have been a terrible mistake!
B-😄

Hi -

When I looked at your photo a little more carefully it appears to me that the bridle is designed to pop out on the left side of the fuselage (looking forward) and then wrap itself over the top of the turtle deck as the parachute deploys.  Now it makes sense.  Your build has been quite thoughtful, a lot of nice details.

I did look at the proposed lap belt anchor modification involving adding the steel plates and it made a lot of sense to me.  Without any analysis the angles looked about right.   In an ideal system, the lap belt holds the lower body firmly in place while the shoulder belt keeps the torso from pivoting about the pelvis.

Regarding the shoulder harness routing a lot of it depends on the angle at the bulkhead.  If the person is tall and the shoulders sit high, the angle the cable needs to make is fairly shallow and the loads on the bulkhead would be less.  I agree that in the most likely scenario, the bulkhead would probably buckle under the tension.  One possible solution; for those who are not too far along, is to build a double bulkhead similar to the one forward of the parachute.  It would definitely be a more stable structure, but without doing any math, it would be hard to quantify the benefit.

Good work,

Teo

PD.  I have access to the tools for this type of analysis and in the back of my mind I thought that it would be interesting to run a few "drop tests" to compare the performance of the wood vs. steel landing gear, particularly in the case of crash at a shallow angle.  My hunch is that the steel gear is better; however, it could probably be improved.  That is something which the computer simulation can sort out fairly easily.  I could also look at the occupant restraints.  Maybe some day.  Creating such a model would probably take about 40 hours of work or so.  My wife is already not happy with the number of hours I spend looking at simulations.....

Hey there folks is been a whirlwind few weeks. First I decided to bring the Max fuselage back home for final install(I hope) with the wiring fuel lines ect. One I got her home then life got in the way of progress. Firstly my son finished up his masters in statistics ( yup all his mothers genes there😉) so an appropriate party required there! Then I decided ( with my wife's great dissapointment😱) to tag along as her "boy toy" on her business trip to Madrid! It was me or the pool boy.......mmmmm why do we have a pool boy.... We don't have a pool!!!!!!!!!!.........😱...After a week there I got home got caught up at work the caught pneumonia! The last 2 weeks I have been nursing temps averaging over 102 and felt like a bunch of thugs were taking turns beating at me with baseball bats! But finally feeling human "ish" 😉. Back to the Max... Oh as a BTW I did loose 9 1/2 pounds with this latest illness. Great news since my weight loss has been stalled for a while (what ever it takes !) Top pic is my wife with her "boy toy" in Segovia Spain with a fantastically preserved  Roman aqueduct behind us....bottom pic Max fuse in the back of my truck heading home.....more pics to follow!

Really nice picture of you and your wife.  Put that on the dust jacket of your book on building.

Tom

More

Notice changes in panel. Much smaller transponder

Brixx,

I am completely inspired and humbled by your build and weight loss.  I don't come on this forum much and I find since my last visit you built an airplane!  Bravo Zulu and keep it up!

Boy you are lucky.  Spain is one of my favorite places in Europe; you can get an interesting mix of Roman history as well as the Moorish history due to their occupation of the peninsula for 700 years.  Many words in the Spanish language have Arab roots.  The Mosque/Cathedral in Cordoba is something else.  It has a little bit of everything.  The columns which the Moors used were recycled from Roman ruins.  In the end, the Spanish recycled the mosque by putting a Cathedral in the middle of it.  At that point in the war, funds were running low and the opted to re-purpose the building rather than to erect a Cathedral anew.  If she happens to go back I would certainly tag along once, there is much to see.  The food is great as well, never had a bad meal.

Glad to hear that you are getting over the pneumonia; that is certainly not fun.  Like I have said before, you build is very impressive, very neat and clean.

Teo

Love your panel!

Brian I'm sure your wife enjoys having her "boy toy" with her

Monte

Any updates??  

Sorry long overdue for update! Between the build...yes monte she does still like me around! Let's face it I am adorable...... Working on my tailwheel endorsement ( in a Cub) and summer fun activities I have been remiss.
   I have completed most of the wiring. Here you see my main power buss and main power ground! Along with static and pitot lines completed. You will notice I made my own battery packs from A123 cells. Total capacity 13.2 volts at 19 amp hours. Total weight 7 pounds vs 16 pounds for an AGM batter of only 16 amp hour. Strobe is working and a little feedback thru the handheld radio was easily "squelched" out. Transponder wired and working. Notice labeled wise. I have wiring diagrams for future maintenance. Diagrams identify each wire by letter or number. All wires mil-spec and identified each end!