Hi A year or so ago I picked up a 1980s vintage complete kit for a Hi-Max, seems to me a 1700 or something like that. I wanted to just do a flat topped mid-wing and made a few inquiries and found out that up to the longerons, there was little to no difference between the models. So I now have the fuselage done, including almost all of the fabric, paint, and decorative decal work, windshield, and a small turtle deck set back from the cockpit. It is set up for a 37hp Global engine I have. It has now dawned on me that here in the northeast, I probably was wrong to have deviated from the Hi-Max to a flat topped mid-wing for temperature reasons. I was going to have a removable canopy styled after the one on the fly baby web site. But now I am thinking I probably should reconsider the Hi-Max. Certainly it would have been better to do that from the git go but I don't think it will cost me that much redo time and money to change. I do have one question though, can the height inside the cockpit be raised a little, I am nearly six feet tall and I believe it will be tight per the plans. Or is this a question for Team? (I have not paid much attention to the plans above the longerons as I was not doing the Hi-Max) I certainly do need to spend some time reviewing them. Any and all comments about this mid-stream change will be appreciated. Thank you Kim Brown New Hampshire
Kim: One question. How are your knees, and can you bend one up to your chest sitting on the floor? There is a set of plans just for the purpose of converting from a mini-max to a Hi max. it can be done, it has been done. Go to the Team Website, and download the instructions.
The reason I ask the question, is that it can be difficult to get in and out. I'm 6'0 and get in and out with that method. interior room is not much of a problem once you are in. getting out is easy. especially easy if you're in a hurry, just open the door and go head first....LMAO!. Actually I just pull a knee to my chest, and set the leg out. Voila!
I've only ever seen one Hi Max, at the time it struck me as being so small as to be beastly for someone to get in and out of. The owner of the one I saw later had an engine out and put it into a tree and broke one of the vertebrae in his neck, he subsequently instructed someone to take a chain saw to the plane so that no one else would ever consider using it.
Let me ask you another question while we are on it, pulling the wings on the mid wing is somewhat of a chore, do you feel it is slightly easier to remove them on the Hi Max? I ask as the Team site goes to the trouble of stating easily removable wings in the verbiage for the Hi Max, and I stubbornly have this idea in the back of my brain that I am going to be removing wings regularly either to tuck the plane into the corner of someone's hangar or into a trailer. So that is one of my considerations in thinking about switching to a Hi Max. Thanks for all comments Kim Brown New Hampshire
both remove about the same IMHO.... maybe a little less crawling under for the Hi-max, but you've got to kneel under to get in it anyway. There are Pluses and Minuses to both designs. Mini-Max downside for climbing in is that you MAY have to step up and over the wing while the prop is turning, unless you start it from inside the cockpit. (it can be done) Hi Max downside for climbing in is that you have to get in the cockpit from a fairly narrow opening. (contortions)
Mini Max biggest downside is the Unavailability of some kind of spring gear. At least with the Hi-Max you can install spring gear. I'm modifying the Door on mine to open wider by cutting off the corner so that it folds past the wing strut. However that won't stop me from having to bend a knee up to my chest to get my legs in, or at least one leg.
Personal choice IMHO as to which bird you chose. However I'd rather have an engine out (or perhaps never) with a Hi Max and spring gear. Plus if you can, install shoulder restraints, to help prevent your head from hitting the panel and breaking your neck. (I'm assuming that's what happened to your friend)
FWIW: Don't let ANYBODY tell you that wing removal is either easy or done quickly! Easy , Compared to what? A Cessna? Sure. 1000 other Makes & Models? Sure. What you need to know/understand in the " verbiage for the Hi Max" about "easily removable wings, is that it means for the OCCASIONAL necessity to say... Go buy one somewhere and trailer it & reassemble it. Or maybe install at the start of the season and remove at the end of the season... There will be 1 or maybe 2 guys that will jump in here and tell you all about how (they) do it and it's not that bad. They will also go on to tell you about all the special things they have built to make it easier & a one man job. If you like all of what you read & they say & think that's (for you). Great. BUT, don't think for a minute that your EVER going to be happy (attempting) to R & R the wings before & after EVERY flight! For what it's worth, YMMV, IMHO... TTT
I keep my Max in my garage, and trailer it to a local private strip. There are no provisions to keep it out of the weather there, so I usually look for a break in the weather of several rain free days. The best I ever did was almost two weeks. Twice when there was a forecast for light rain, I covered it up with tarps. Now to the question of removing and replacing the wings. I have to have a helper, and we can assemble the whole airplane in about 45 minutes, which includes mounting the tail feathers, and hooking up all the cables, gas line (I have a single wing tank), and pitot line. I don't have any special apparatus to aid assembly. At various times my son, son-in-law, and friends have helped me. Taking it apart goes even faster. I only have a small trailer, so it requires two trips; one trip for the fuselage, and one for the wings. I can actually load, and unload the fuselage by myself, but I need help with the wings. I wish I had the luxury of a place to keep it assembled, but I don't. If I want to fly cheaply this is my life!
Puff, Thanks for the suggestion. For the time being Todd is no longer flying, and his home and strip are for sale. He has not kept his MTUG membership current, although I have kept him on our email list. His good friend Jimbo Robertson just had bypass surgery a couple of months ago, and is recovering very well. Jimbo keeps Todd's grass mowed.
I have to have a helper, and we can assemble the whole airplane in about 45 minutes, which includes mounting the tail feathers, . . . .
I was looking for a trailer and found many trailers of 7 ft width and about 14 to 16 ft in length. I wish the Max empennage was only 7 ft wide. As is, unless you make your own custom trailer, mounting / removing the tail feathers is an added chore.
Here is the trailer for our Eindecker. The frame is heavy steel angle iron and channel. Wings lie in the bed of the trailer. The horizontal tail is off here but will be left on as soon as I make a travel lock for it.
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