got the door temporarily installed. I would be interested in seeing your build puff, pm me!

Himax wing strut fitting AD. I just happened to see this the other day. https://www.teammini-max.com/support/a-d-s/   The pdf is at the bottom of the page. For anyone that doesn't know what AD means it stands for airworthiness directive and its usually for certificated aircraft. Thankfully team supports the little people and I assume this ad was put out because this looks like a "real airplane" the folks tend to build it real heavy.   Any chance I can get rid 6063 t52 aluminum is a good day for me.  

link to the AD https://www.teammini-max.com/app/download/8655659882/himaxwingstrut.pdf?t=1439826423

racing harness ready to be bolted into place.

OL dummy me had another brain fart when I was notching the gear legs for the leg pads. I just laid it flat against my scroll saw happily cutting away, not giving any thought to the angle. STOOPIT ME!  . Good thing wood is forgiving to work with so it should be a easy fix. the second one came out perfect.

Put the hinge at the top of the door. For summer flying make the Plexiglas removable. My door is hinged at the top and I am not going to install Plexiglas in the side windows, ever! I will not be flying if temps drop much below 50, and if they do, I will bundle up!
Scott

Doors? we dont need no stinkin doors, comrad!  

My airplane will soon be resting on its new home called the landing gear. This is always an exciting time for a homebuilder because he gets to sit in his creation.  

gyrojeffro,

And don't forget to make lots of loud engine and flying noises while you're sat in the cockpit!

Its gonna be nice when I can move the airplane around. Loud curse words were emitted when drilling the stainless hinges.  I have never worked with that stuff before and it was  

Quoted from bob.hood

gyrojeffro,

And don't forget to make lots of loud engine and flying noises while you're sat in the cockpit!

I was thinking of buying a noise cancelling david clark headset so I don't blow out my hearing with the loud two stroke, but I may not need it with the sound insulation I plan on doing.  

Drilling stainless is all about a sharp bit, and SLOW.....  cutting oil works to keep from burning up the bit.

Quoted from PUFF

Drilling stainless is all about a sharp bit, and SLOW.....  cutting oil works to keep from burning up the bit.

I don't always sharpen drill bits in my spar time but when I do, folks are like wtf is wrong with you.

Himax will rest on his gear tomorrow. , this is a very stout setup.

Before ol dummie screws up again I thought I would ask you guys before mounting the gear. One of The wing strut bracket holes lines up almost perfectly with the second hole in the stainless hinge. Is this where the strut bracket attaches?

Finally got the airplane on the gear. Was alot more work than I anticipated, The azusa axle fits into an aluminum sleeve that I epoxied into the axle. I may add band brakes, I don't plan on doing alot of flying from paved runways. The seat cushion turns out to be really comfortable. Getting in and out isn't such a big deal I am 5' 8" 170lbs. Cabin width is very roomy to me compared to my skypup that had a 20" cockpit width. My shoes do bump the top of the five gallon tank If I hold them at the right angle, again not really a issue. The tail is just sitting on the fuse for visual purposes. No airplane noises were made except in my head, I am happy.  

It looks like the kind of build that lends itself to varnished wood and a transparent covering so that the grain of the wood shows through. Very neat build so far, and from what I can gather, very quick as well.

You may need brakes if your tailwheel ever breaks off.... I DID.....

Quoted from 509

racing harness ready to be bolted into place.

In reference to the photo in post #122......are you intending to mount the should harness as pictured? To be effective, shoulder belts should be mounted as close to horizontal to a person's shoulder height as possible. Mounting the belts much below the height of your shoulders could cause spine compression, and mounted too high above your shoulders allows forward movement and that's contrary to the point of a shoulder harness.

Here's an example from SFI  http://www.sfifoundation.com/w.....Guide%2006-05-12.pdf

Lynn

Quoted from lake_harley

In reference to the photo in post #122......are you intending to mount the should harness as pictured? To be effective, shoulder belts should be mounted as close to horizontal to a person's shoulder height as possible. Mounting the belts much below the height of your shoulders could cause spine compression, and mounted too high above your shoulders allows forward movement and that's contrary to the point of a shoulder harness.

Here's an example from SFI  http://www.sfifoundation.com/w.....Guide%2006-05-12.pdf

Lynn

Its not bolted in place yet. I will be mounting it from the spar carry through like in the plans.

It looks like the kind of build that lends itself to varnished wood and a transparent covering so that the grain of the wood shows through. Very neat build so far, and from what I can gather, very quick as well.

Ooops! Sorry, I seem to have posted the same comment twice.

Quoted from PUFF

You may need brakes if your tailwheel ever breaks off.... I DID.....

Whats the Story behind that incident if you don't mind telling it?  

You may not absolutely  need brakes if you are only going to land on grass, but they are a very good idea, even then.  I wouldn't build a plane without them.  And since you're going to be over 254# anyway,  why not install them. What's  5-6 more pounds.  Going without them limits you from  really short airstrips/landing areas.

Quoted from The Termite

And since you're going to be over 254# anyway.

part 103 was never my goal, weight is the enemy of all aircraft. but since you set a standard, now I'm determined to beat it. what aircraft have you built, or are building? My skypup weighed under 200 lbs and my gyroplane weighs about 245 lbs with a rotax 447. I didn't mean to come off as a ahole but when I hear people say this and that isn't going to work, it really digs at me, nothing personal.

termite just gave you a part 103 himax, thank him!  

I currently have a Quad City Challenger CH-1 long wing, 503 DCDI, registered E-LSA.  It's about 350lbs empty weight.  I used to have a Himax, it weighed about #320 lbs empty, and was not registered.

Understand that I am not critical of your engine choice, or that you want to keep the plane as light as you can. That's a laudable goal.  I just think that without brakes you are limiting yourself considerably....... and adding an additional risk factor.  

That's kinda what Puff meant in his post.........sometimes things go wrong, and having brakes is a really good thing.   The Himax had brakes that no longer worked(Asuza band brakes),  so I installed Black Max hydraulic disks with 6" aluminum lightweight wheels......on George's composite spring.  The set up worked excellently.  So well, in fact, that I had to be careful with the brakes on tarmac, to avoid a nose-over.

I like brakes, wouldn't have a plane without them.

Pic of my CH-1 LW attached. It has Black Max brakes too.

Here's my story. I was doing a bunch of Crow Hops at T-Top one weekend. You know the drill: 2-10' in the air. I would essentially do this the entire length of the runway to practice Landings, etc. I had just hopped from the end of the runway and landed near the first cone when the tail spring snapped, going up thru the elevator. Instant loss of control. ALL i could do was slap the switch and grab the handle. I managed to get stopped with my Prop about 2' from the fence on the south side. I was turned 90 on the runway.  Same bird I have now with a semicircular patch under the elevator.

I have also had the AN bolts break under there as well. Needless to say, the bird needs to lose some weight, or lose the Fat A$$ Pilot..

Nice progress gyrojeffro !
I also agree about having brakes unless you are trying to reduce weight for the 103 category.
In an emergency Is better to have them than not, we never know what may show up in the middle of the runway while landing.  
I also use the brakes before take off to run the engine at higher speeds for a short time.
Since my runway is only 1000 ft of grass I never use the brakes to stop the plane until I'm in front of the hangar.

everybody just slow your roll and calm down. Just chill fellas! I will be adding brakes. I finished building the lower spar carry through, gonna build the instrument panel and then build the wing spars. Its so inspriational that you flying peasents give a damn about little ol me.

Historically this site has done a pretty good job of keeping to mini-max and aviation related content. It’s one of attributes that keeps it welcoming to diverse group of minimax crowd.  I have been gone a while, so maybe it’s changed?