Hi everyone. My V-max build has began! I received the V-max from Dave a couple weeks ago. I am building the version with a convertible canopy! (It gets cold here in New England. Along with the build is a weight loss program so I can fit in it when I am done. I used to weigh 569 pounds! My dream to fly has motivated me!  I now weigh 368. My goal over the next two years is to complete my Max and loose one hundred pounds! So every once in a while along with the build pics you will most likely get a weight loss update !
Brian :)

I plan ov building a v-max swell except in a high wing configuration. Good luck can't wait to see the updates!

Good luck on both goals

You Can Do It Brian !!

Congratulations Brian! You are already an inspiration!

Definitely keep us posted along the way. We will share in your excitement, and help lift your spirits when you're not so excited.

-Sean

What diet you usin?
I need to shed a few myself!

go Brian go....both you and your max will love the new Brian

monte

Great goals, Brian. This will be a double success story. We'll all be celebrating with you as your build continues, and you make progress on your health goals.

Lynn

Thanks for all the support!  Puff I had tried every diet! Finally success came down to two simple concepts. One: Calories! It's all math! Eat less calories than your body requires to maintain its weight. Two: exercise! Keep moving! Just walking is amazing! A few years and 210 pounds ago I couldn't walk to my car without being out if breAth! Now I walk and hike for miles. I had a local bicycle shop work with me and they built a heavy duty bike for me, weather permitting I bike 12-15 miles two three times a week!
Time to build. Hope to post some build pics later  !

my wife went thru the same situation. as you said loosing weight is simple math ( burn more calories than you take in ) but the attitude to do this is hard. keep up the good work.

monte  

Thanks for the inspiration Brian,

I'm going to dust off my bike, air up the tires and go for a ride. ...today

Looking forward to build pics!

Fritz

The now . Yes motivation is a big factor. My resolve was starting to falter. Now with the Max in the basement when my resolve weakens I go down and doc some work on it rather than snack' This is my other expensive hobby. These are turbine powered radio control jets. Capable of 200 mph speeds!

Now back to the Max. Here is the fin and rudder. Also started on the ribs. Will post pics of jig tomorrow

I ended up with a small gap on rudder post. It's about 3/32. It's on the rudder post. Do you guys think this is ok. It seems like most of the strength comes from the gussets. You can see its location on the prior post. Bottom left hand corner rudder

Oh and here is a quick before!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

I ended up with a small gap on rudder post. It's about 3/32. It's on the rudder post. Do you guys think this is ok. It seems like most of the strength comes from the gussets. You can see its location on the prior post. Bottom left hand corner rudder

Do you mean the gap filled with epoxy?  Nothing wrong with that.  That's the beauty of wood/epoxy construction.  Pieces don't need to fit together perfectly to get a perfectly sound assembly.  And yes, the gusset is doing the work there.

Yes that's exactly what I mean. Thanks for the input, the build continues!

Update! 3 pounds lost! 97 to go. The rib build continues. My first rib took 110 minutes. I took about 2 hours and mAde a rib kit. Now they take about 30 minutes! Time well spent! All the cups holding the parts are glued to the board to prevent a nasty spill. Also everything is lined up or marked for easy selection

Here is my jig. once the rib is glued and stapled. I remove rib. Clean up extra epoxy from jig and rib. I then put rib back and allow to dry over night!

once the rib is glued and stapled. I remove rib. Clean up extra epoxy from jig and rib. I then put rib back and allow to dry over night! Notice the jig above rib jig. I found soaking the ribs for a few hours the allowing them to dry pre-forms the upper stringers! I tried a couple staple removers! This one by far is the best. 18 dollars with free shipping from amazon!

bigbrixx1...now you're in the rhythm. When I was building ribs I also left them in the jig to cure overnight. You may already be thinking of doing something similar, but when I added the second set of gussets I used clamps (spring-type clothspins or binder clips) rather than staples. Saves a lot of time later with half as many staples to pull.

Also, congrats for being 3# closer to your flight weight goal.

Lynn

If you staple the second set of gussets on the rib removed from the jig, you'll find you don't have to return it to the jig and can get started on the next rib.  If you don't remove the staples you'll find you don't have to remove the staples.

Great hints!!!!!Thank you. Both!!!!I found removing the rib early allowed the top stringer, even when preformed to pull the bottom stringer up a bit. I am ok with one a day. I love the idea of clamps on the second set of gussets. Trying it out right now. Here is the staple remover

Great to hear your goal, I wish you well and you can do it, myself, smoked and drank too much, stopped cold the day I got my intro ride and received my himax starting kit.

You look well on your way my friend, thanks for sharing.

Chris

Ok cut out a few more parts for the wing! Used a band saw then finished them with a sander! Still working on the ribs! Now up to 11 done! One more pound of weight lost. 96 to go !!!! Tomorrow is turkey day. My Max should keep me on track!

Ok.... Some updates. I have 18 ribs built and counting, horizontal stabilizers vertical fin and rudder done. Got some of the wing parts cut out.

Lost total of of 10 pounds! 90 to go!!

I found stacking the rib gusset material tracing theming the top stack . Then cutting them out 10 at a time saved a LOT of tedious work! I keep a pair of scissors around to cut the material if needed for a perfect fit!

Starting to cut metal pieces also. First I trace piece on see through plastic binders. Then I past them to the raw stock using 3M spray contact adhesive! Works great, template peals off and residue   clears off with acetone! I dress up ends with a file. Then clean up everything with 400 emery cloth !

Looks like your doing an excellent job on both the metal and wood parts. I think being a model builder helps a person realize the importance of of quality work. Keep it up!
Dick

Yes my model building experience is a great asset! The jets fly in excess of 200 mph. Although my bum isn't in the cockpit it is a large investment  any imperfections or slop in the building results in loss of aircraft!
I am a member of EAA 106. I plan on bringing all my stuff to a meeting next month to have the "experts" review my work!

Congrats Brian on the workmanship and losing 9 more pounds.
theecoop

Ok here it is! The last rib coming off the jig!!!!!   Notice the heater/fan at end of jig. Speeds up the gluing process, the build area averages 50-58 degrees!

Here is the fan.... And final rib!

Making brackets for the ailerons. Once the blanks were cut. Made a jig. It was difficult to keep the larger hole centered. Even with the jig. But I am pleased with the results!

oh btw I am down 12 pounds. The holidays made it tough. But the max kept me motivated! At 50 pounds I begin my flight training! I want my light sport license! Here are some more pictures of hardware. I purchased a metal bandsaw at my local friendly Harbor Freight! After all discounts it was only 188 dollars! What a bargain !!!

Now working on root, tip and number 5 rib. I found making a blank then using plastic wrap I clamped them to the areas where the 1/4 inch plywood reinforcements go. That kept the epoxy from flowing out during the cure time. After they were placed I scraped off excess epoxy with playing cards!

Me14 lbs lighter! Working on final rib!

Working on the ceiling must be helping you shed some weight I guessing? :) Looks like you're making good progress on both fronts (weight and airplane).

Big, I am just wondering how you are able to to all that work on your head??   Do tell!!    Just aggravating ya, looks good and hope all is well.

Thanks guys!!! Do I have a picture upside down???  Sorry I don't understand the ceiling/ head joke??? My wife tells me I am not too bright...:)

Yea, we're just funnin with ya. There's a couple of posts (mostly the rib building pics) that have the pics posted upside down, hence the "working on the ceiling" jokes.  ;)

I see it now ! :) there are double and triples also. I have trouble loading pictures! Thanks guys!

Now working on the root/ tip/ and number 5 rib! Being very careful to make two sets. One set for left wing. Another for the right. All those half empty paint cans we seem to have lying around make great weights when gluing on end covers

Question. Do you think I should prime and paint aileron hinge straps to help prevent rust?

I would if steel.... mine are.

Yes they are steel.  Sounds like a good idea to me also! TY

Ok all six ribs have aileron hinges attached! I spent a long time studying the plans here. It really is simple! Extreme caution here.... You to make sure you make one set for left wing. Another set for right! Also my 8 foot bench has been extended to 12 feet! Now leveled and warp free. Tomorrow I start wing spars!

can't tell from the pictures, but do you have "blind" nuts on the back side of the aileron hinge straps?

Yes I do, I backed them up with stainless steel washers! Thanks for the heads up! Great to have experienced eyes out there!
Started the main spar! Cut out the pieces for both. I have one framed up and glued!

Looking Great! makes me wish I could get me shop above 10* Celsius right now so I could get back to work!

Ok. First front spar now has plywood glued on. Second front spar has been glued up. My emergency water supply does double duty as weights! Lost 3 more pounds! 17 pounds total. Any good hints on removing excess glue on the bottom side?

How do you weigh yourself in your anti-gravity work shop?  Must be like working on the International Space Station!

Looking at your hinge straps you just made me think about mine.  I have a old narrow body max and mine are  aluminum made of the same material as the wing strut mounting straps.  Was that a change?  I didn't build my plane.  I looked at mine again and they have a steel bushing in them too.

Tom

In the photo of your blind nuts looks like your bolts are a little short, remember 1-3 threads sticking out.Good job on the weight and work! ;)

Thanks for pointing that out! I actually use shorter screws where ever the is a blind nut because I don't want to wear them out with multiple assembly/ disassembly  required during the build. I keep a checklist so I don't forget and leave them there by accident!
That does bring up a question.... 1-3 threads required. It is ok to have more than that showing?

They dont want you to go over 3 threads because you dont know if you are compressing wood or just running out of threads.If more than 3or4 i foget then you need a shorter bolt. I did not build my plane, but not wanting to were out your blind nuts makes good cents, but dont forget them. Do they make a castle blind nut you could wire tie and forget about ?

Hi TJ verified on the plans the straps are steel. Also with steel bearing sleeves. Must be because it s the vmax

Actually, I don't think you'll be removing the ailerons, unless you're doing work to the airplane there.

For transport, my ailerons are not removed from the wings, just the wings removed from the fuse and control cables, disconnected from the wings....

anybody got a video of wing removal?

Mainly for the build. I figure the ailerons need to come off and on a few times to get everything correct

Now working on the rear spars!  All ribs ready. Sanded ect! Never thought I would be done with those. Soon I will be building a wing! Lost another 2.5 pounds! 19.5 total!

After calling the T88 people I confirmed it is perfectly ok to remove the "squeeze out" epoxy with a heat gun and scraper. I tried it and it works great!

Looking good!!!

Ok so while laminating the plywood to the wing spars the "squeeze out " epoxy was making a mess and was a bear to clean up. What I discovered was to use blue masking tape around the perimeter. Then the epoxy would drip onto tape. Wait about 2-3 hours. At that point tape removes easy and epoxy no longer runs.Remove tape. Nice clean bond with very little clean up. Here is one rear spar ready to clean up and bevel. The other drying! Also I did some experiments. Found that one gallon of liquid (approx 8 pounds) spread over two cross members shown here is the perfect weight to laminate. Good bond. No glue starved joint! Notice before and after tape removal in last two photos

Big,  How are you planning on beveling your spar?

I put a lot of thought not it. I am afraid of using the table saw. Even with help and feathering boards. A small slip and they are ruined. I think I am ging to make a "shooting board" and hand plane the bevel. Unless anybody had a better idea

My woodworking "guru" friend cut mine on his table saw. I did very little to help and as far as I'm concerned they turned out fine. We had made several test cuts on scraps that were previously cut to the dimensions of the "raw" spar sizes. As nerved up as I was about having them turn out just right, I started handing one of them to him with it facing the wrong direction! Yikes!

Your results may vary, so do what you're comfortable with.

Lynn  

Ok.... I decided to use the table saw to cut the bevel. It went a lot smoother than I expected. I still had to hand plane the rear spar to get a nice fit on the ribs! But wasn't too bad at all, starting to look line an airplane part! No weight loss since last entry

I'm glad that worked out for you.

Since I opened my big mouth and suggested the table saw would be OK, I must say I'm relieved it went well for you too! It's a big event when something you've been working on so long starts looking "airplane-like", isn't it? ;) Makes all that effort worthwhile and gives you something to admire as part of your soon-to-be airplane! Congrats!

Lynn

I think the plywood you have on the end of the wing is supposed to be longer to include the shape of the nose rib..

Oh no... I think your right about that.  Guess a call to Dave at minimax in the morning to see what he recommends for a fix. Any body else mess this up? What was the fix?. Yes lake-Harley very rewarding as I progress

I have acquired an engine. It's a hummell built 60 up with 145 hours!  Has front mounted starter. With single slick mag! I plan on pulling the heads and going to dual ignition.

If you're going to use wingtips you can just add the other piece and put a scab of the same plywood over the joint.. Maybe a good excuse to use wingtips if you hadn't planned to..

I happen to have a nice pair of drooped wingtips right here. That seems like the fix! TY !

Nice work Big! You have things looking real nice. I am envious!

bigbrixx1....will you PLEASE turn your camara over?  :-/ The top of my head gets sore from standing on my head to get the proper perspective of your photos.

Keep on making progress on your build!

Lynn

I don't undestand??? All the photos look upright to me??? Is any body else seeing them upside down ????

Hey Brian, Some of them are upside down on my screen.

bigbrixx1.... your most recent pictures on my screen make it appear your engine is bolted to a pallet that's attached to the ceiling. Ain't no big thang, just hard to look at.

Lynn  

Hey is that a byron originals f-15 you have in one of those pics?

Hey jack.... Good guess. It is a tamjets f-16.... A close copy of a Byron

pics are upside down to me as well...

That is weird!! Let me chech on my PC..... When I get home. Aparently I have spent too much time in the basement..... My wife dragged me out kicking and screaming the other day. Stuck me on a flight and we ended up at universal studios!!!! Well the hulk  ride awaits!!!!

Whoo hooo

Have fun!
Where did you get the super-sticky shoes that let you stand on vertical surfaces?  :)

Lynn

The strange thing about the photos is they are fine when you click on them.

I don't understand it. Looks upright in my iphone and ipad. I will check to see how they look on my pc.

Don't sweat it Bro! We can still understand.....

:)

Quoted from lake_harley

Have fun!
Where did you get the super-sticky shoes that let you stand on vertical surfaces?  :)

Lynn

dont let him fool you! his real name is Peter Parker...

Ok back from vacation. Finally looked at the pics on my regular computer. Now I see the upside down ones! Funny the ipad and iphone correct them to upright but the computer does not! I will try to be more diligent!

Ok. Total weight loss 29 pounds! MAde a jig to make all ribs the exact same length. Assembled wing and set up drag braces and compression braces. Made parts for both wings! Took a few hours. Most of the time was interpreting the plans. Each drag brace and associated compression braces different. Working tomorrow. Going to glue on Wednesday!

AWESOME JOB on the weight loss!!!!

Thanks Jack. My Max is keeping me motivated!
Starting on the wing root carry thru straps and strut races. I found cutting the stack to length  then stacking them 4 high. With 3m spray contact. Adhesive  allows me to drill them perfectly. When done they seperated easily. Then clean off contact adhesive with acetone!

Then using technique I saw here I outline the ends and sand to shape on my belt sander!

More on attachment to wing

Big,
That looks like an awesome Idea!!! I have to remember that!!!

Ed~

No more weight loss at this time... But drag struts cut and glued. Front and back spar have all ribs glued on except tip and root rib. Now fitting aileron spar web

Webbing for ailerons glue up. Waiting to dry

1 more pound lost! Total 30!!! Ok messed up with drag struts! If you are using wing tanks...and I am...... refer to tank mount drawings. The drag brace in the tank area sits lower. Carefully using a heat gun and putty knife I was able to remove offending drag strut and RS 11 reinforcements!
I now have relocated braces glued in. Trailing edge glued with gussets. Aileron web top stringers and diagonals glued.

I made a very basic tool to set 3 degree angle on root rib. Works great! I think the pictures explain everything!

One more pic of aileron diagonal and aileron D sections glued in place

looks like your construction is coming along great... keep it up and also your slim down.

monte  

Thanks Monty. I have found it very rewarding. The support here and from Dave at Minimax has been fantastic! Flipped the wing.cleaned up squeeze out epoxy and runs with heat gun and putty knife.  Added the RS 3 to the bottom aileron spar and bottom  aileron diagonals. Also bottom trailing edge gussets. This is also a great time to fill any voids you cannot see from the top. Mixing milled fiber with T-88 makes a nice filler that does not run. And I believe doesn't weaken glue bond!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Ok. Total weight loss 29 pounds! MAde a jig to make all ribs the exact same length. Assembled wing and set up drag braces and compression braces. Made parts for both wings! Took a few hours. Most of the time was interpreting the plans. Each drag brace and associated compression braces different. Working tomorrow. Going to glue on Wednesday!

By the way, I am steeling this idea!!!

Go for it jack. It worked out very well. Not only using this forium to document and research my build. I hope to help others also!

Another 1.5 pounds gone! 31.5 total!
Added the nose braces to the wing. Built a jig to form the nose plywood sheeting. I soak the plywood in the tub for about 90 minutes.... My poor wife is used to my projects. She no longer questions plywood soaking in the tub.... Or freshly glued parts curing in the warmth of the living room. LOL....Made a small error when drilling holes for root brackets. I drilled them leaving 2 3/8 distance from root instead of 2 3/16. My plan is to double root plywood. With the t-88 and 1/8 ply doubled up that will leave brackets the correct length, anybody see a problem with this solution?

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Made a small error when drilling holes for root brackets. I drilled them leaving 2 3/8 distance from root instead of 2 3/16. My plan is to double root plywood. With the t-88 and 1/8 ply doubled up that will leave brackets the correct length, anybody see a problem with this solution?

I don't believe you have a problem.  The holes in the spar carry-through will be slightly closer to the aircraft centerline that's all.  There will be a small change in the bending load on the carry-through, I doubt it will be anything to worry about.

Thanks for the input Bob. I talked to Dave at minimax. He isn't worried either. I am going to add another 1/8 piece of plywood to root rib. Between that and glue that brings the measurement within 1/16 of spec. My real concern was the bolts holding the bracket to the spar are to 3/16 farther out. I.E. 3/16 closer to end of spar end... Maybe not leaving enough material to keep root brackets from pulling out under load. I believe most of the loads are under compression, with only a moderate amount under shear. I don't believe this to be a problem at all.

Quoted from bigbrixx1

My real concern was the bolts holding the bracket to the spar are to 3/16 farther out. I.E. 3/16 closer to end of spar end... Maybe not leaving enough material to keep root brackets from pulling out under load. I believe most of the loads are under compression, with only a moderate amount under shear.

Right, I hadn't considered the spar bolts being nearer the spar end which becomes an issue for negative g and landing loads.  The bolt hole edge distance is too small for the inboard most bolt.  The extra ply will help.  I'm not sure if it completely mitigates the mistake.  Refrain from any outside loops  ;)

I would just add the third bolt between the other two and fly it.. If you have not drilled the holes in the carry through you don't even have to add the extra plywood.

You know I had considered adding a third bolt. I don't see why that wouldn't work!

I like seeing how your airplane is coming along.  It's looking very good.  Thanks for posting lots of pictures.

Jack

Thanks Jack. I am in the process if repairing my goof. Pics go follow

So here is what I decided to do.... Made plywood plugs and doweled extra spar material. Then glued then in place. Sanded. Drilled holes in proper place. Still considering the third bolt. BTW I included picture of kick butt drill jig I picked up. Pretty darn accurate! Sort of a portable drill press!

Looks like a good fix to me.....of course, keep in mind that I'm a first time builder too. Looks like you also used steel bushings to spread the fitting bolt load out to a larger area?

....and yeah, that drill jig could be a very handy tool to have in the toolbox!

Lynn

Very good.  The bushings make the connections half again (1.5 times) as strong as the original design.

-Edit:  This is a VMax so the bushings are specified.

Thanks guys. The metal bushing are actually called for in the plans. I am not completely happy with repair and have removed the plywood reinforcements and replacing those also. Then I will feel confident in the repair. I found the best way to remove them was to chisel them down to about one or two laminations then remove the rest with a heat gun and putty knife. More pics tomorrow!

Ok repair complete and I am very pleased with results. Weight loss stalled at 31 lbs. but going to kick it up a notch!
Plywood reinforcements removed and replaced! Finally a repair I am willing to "bet my life on" still have some cleanup work. Sanding ect!!

My buddy volunteered to streamline my struts. He just dropped them off. High density foam. Covered with 3 oz fiberglass cloth and resin.....hardwood trailing edge. One of my concerns was inability to monitor for rust on the struts under the foam. So they were cleaned and coated with T-88 epoxy to protect them. Then foam was t-88 to the struts. :)

wow...those are nice.  he ought to go into business making them...

Very nice struts.
BobN

TY he did an awesome job. Wouldn't take any cash. It was done for the cost of material and pizza!!!

Nice looking stuff Brix

Ok moving forward. Gluing up the tank area. Looks like the plans really are for TEAMS older 5 gallon wing tanks. So some slight modifications are in order. But no big deal. Got a great hint from Dave at Minimax. Fill up the tank with fuel and let sit a couple days. It will swell to its "working" size! Don't forget to empty it.... Lol. Also I posted a pic of inexpensive storage idea for all those long pieces of wood. plastic gutters . Perfect and inexpensive!

Since I am using the TEAM drooped wingtips. I was told to just screw them on with wood screws into the 1.5 mm plywood . I decided to add reinforcements to the last two ribs. I found spacing of 5 inches works great. I will be adding one more D rib to Mach the second rib so I can add reinforcements there also. I will then secure wingtips with blind nuts and machine screws. Also glued up a few more reinforcements to tank area and glued on root plywood.

Brixx,
You are making me Jealous, Bro!!! I cant wait till I can get back home and start on my MAX.

Ed

Wing upside down. Extra nose rib in place. Reinforcements for wing tips glued in and drying. Once dry I plan on varnishing the front spar forward in preperation for the leading edge plywood! Now that spring has arrived progress will slow.Also  Just had carpal tunnell surgery do down to one good mitt for a couple weeks!

Thanks for the kind words Ed. Can't wait for you to start yours this has been very rewarding!

Nice build, keep up the good work and I hope you heal quickly from your surgery.

Brixx,
Hope you feel better, I actually need the same operation this summer. I feel for you, I know how carpal tunnel feels. Not fun dropping things all of the time and not feeling what you touch. Get well soon Brother!!!


ED~

Brian, when you feel up to it give me a call or let me know when you feel up to it and I'll call you.  I have the same problem in my ankles.  Didn't know what it was until I got back from the pediatrist.  I Didn't know you could get it in the ankles also.  Isn't getting old fun..lol

Hey jack. Call anytime. Feeling pretty good. And home for a few weeks. It does suck getting old. My right hand is being done this upcoming Friday. I snuck downstairs to to a bit of work on wing with my good hand. But wife came home and caught me. Lol.... Was able to sand wingtip area. And fuel tank area complete. I drilled holes into plywood on tip and root ribs. There is some weight savings. But really wanted the holes there for inspections down the road!

Wing tank area. I also took a straight edge on leading edge D sections and ground down high spots. Tomorrow I varnish with my good mitt. Then prepare to put on leading edge plywood. Thanks for all the encouragement guys!

Brixx,
I am sooooo jealous! I envy your progress and love the F-22 behind you..... I cannot wait till I get home and fly some RC and Real planes and get back to work on my MAX!!!!

ED~

Thanks Ed. That's a yellow aircraft F 22. Turbine powered. Clocked at speeds nearly 3 time the cruise speed of my soon to be V-max...Must be killing you not able to build your Max

Hey some of the most excitement Ive had in aviation was racing fast RC planes....but a Minimax is just pure pleasure...and a true fun and adventure machine..

my 2 cents....

great Model too....and the Minimax is cheaper...

regards Arthur

Lol I think your right about cost..  The Max may be cheaper. But the R/C heats are a blast! I really am excited about Max also!
I was able to put 2 coats of varnish on main spar forward. Also on LE plywood. I let them dry 24 hours then put on first piece of LE plywood today! I was careful when varnishing not to get any on the areas to be glued.

Looking good! Did you get the LE skin on by yourself, or did you have a helper? I had a helper when I did mine, and still thought it was a pain!

I'd better get busy or you'll be flying before me....and I had several month's head start :-/

Keep up the good work and BTW you're looking more lean and mean as time goes on! Good for you!

Lynn

I needed help. Mainly because of my left hand surgery. It wasn't too bad. I preformed the plywood by soaking in a tub for an hour. Then let them dry in a jig. Then when varnished I held the shape with elastic bands... AKA tourniquets :). Then painted on epoxy on both the plywood and wing. Then slid it on. Add clamps elastic bends and some staples!!!! Holy cow... I guess it was a lot of work! Lol

Also TY on noticing the weigh loss. I was stalled for a couple weeks. But back on target. add 1.5 more to the loss side . Now 33 pounds gone. 68 to go! The Max is a great motivator. Hate to have a completed plane and not fit in her :)

I wanted an inspection port for the forward strut attachment bracket. This is what i came up with. I added a piece of 3/8 plywood to bottom of spar. I milled a lip on the inside opening so I can make a hatch out of 1/8 material and screw either plywood or maybe a piece of lexan as an inspection hatch. I would hold it on with a few screws. When I roll the plywood LE I will glue the plywood bracket right to the LE plywood.

Question....On the blocks of plywood I installed for inspection ports I didn't radius the corners . Should I? Is wood susceptible to the same fatigue cracks as metal?  If is I will drill out the corners put in dowels and radius them.

The structure you are adding is non load bearing: it's not doing anything, so even if it cracked it wouldn't matter. But wood is much more tolerant of sharp corners than metal.

So either way, present part is fine for its job.

Bruce

Decided to get rid of sharp corner on block. Ground out corners and replaced with plywood as seen in photos. Sheeted middle section of wing. Added a small 1/64 ply shelf over wing carry thru bracket in front of front spar. So that when I sheet that section I won't get "squeeze out" epoxy all over bracket. Put the wife to work taday. Since both hands have had carpal tunnell surgery I cannot stretch the bands properly. Today I acted as the boss lol overseeing the project! :) she is a trooper. She got epoxy all over her shirt!

Leading edge fully sheeted. Cut back of ribs for trailing edge. About halfway thru the rib building process I started to add some plastic wrap to keep the pieces from being glued to each other. between the 1/4 inch stock where it is cut away for the trailing edge. Highly recommend. Those pieces came out easy. The others had to be carefully sliced apart. Glued on top trailing edge stock. To keep it perfectly aligned I clamped 1/4 inch stock over the rib as a jig. Then clamps TE stick to that (see pics) I used a hand razor saw to cut away 1/4 inch rib stock. Also I cut in the 45 degree bevel into the TE stock with my bandsaw prior to gluing. I believe that to be the best way to do it! At least it worked well for me :)

do you have inspection holes for the the bolts in photo 2404 1-3 threads protruding? If not then i would safty tie. Looks good. Was your helper wife or doughter? I find kids handy to reach those hard to reach spots.

Good eye! Those bolts have the required 1-3 threads. Actually a little over 1.5 threads. Hard to see in photo. And they are inspectable and replaceable thru fuel tank area and d section ! It is my wife helping. We are empty nesting here! And not in a sad way :) lol thank you for the heads up. All you folks out there if you think you see anything wrong PLEASE don't hesitate to question me on it or make suggestions!

Bottom trailing edge piece cut and glued. Aileron cut free. Aileron now free to pivot. Removed aileron. Took dremel and relieved a few areas where excess glue was binding aileron. Going to reinforce the area where the TE is glued to the ribs to help prevent the TE separation that has happened and sheet forward D section of aileron next! Add one more pound to loss total now 34 pounds.

Added plywood cap strips to root and tip ribs. Also added 1.5 mm ply around tank area to give level surface for fuel tank cover.  The old saying "you can never have enough clamps is soooo true. The little colorful ones you see are so useful. Got them at harbor freight on sale. There were 6-8 to a pkg for a dollar. Buy a bunch!

That is cool with all the different colored clamps, it kind of brightens up the shop. Looks like you are doing a great job on those wings. Always have glue drying somewhere and you will be on to the covering before you know it. :)

Hey folks  I am back. Had a little hand surgery. Then a 2 week motorcycle trip that turned into nearly 3 weeks. Had to get my radio control jets ready for the season...  On the trip we stopped by another buzzards place to. Check out his high max. Great workmanship paul. Thanks for letting us stop by! I went to a local event and connected with an EAA technical advisor. I am contact with him and we are making plans for him to come by and check out my workmanship! Time to fit the drooping wingtip and roll the plywood on the LE of aileron!

Some photos from our trip

Fuel tank  area coming together well. Fitting plexiglass top now. I filled the tank with fuel for a few days so it would swell to size before final fitting. What size and type screws are you guys using?

Fitting drooping wingtips. Removed area for aileron. Really think they jazz up the plane!!!

Nice work!

Summer sadly coming to a close. Outside activities kept me from the workshop. But now with cooler weather coming in it is time to get back to my V-max. Formed the sheeting that goes over the aileron leading edge. First I dampened them and then clamped them over the aileron LE. I let them dry. Then varnished the area where the aileron will will be sealed and not accessible. I found Q-tips great for getting varnish into drilled holes! Just like the wing LE don't varnish where you are going to glue. Then glue on just like the wing LE. Much much easier. Holding them on was done with 2 inch binder clips. Also some 1/4 inch staples. Works very well!!! Letting it dry

Finishing up LE of aileron. I first soaked the plywood in the tub for 1/2 hour to soften and then pre formed it on a jig. I found you only need to moisten one side with water then it former easily wait to dry then glue.

I varnished the ends of the aileron where it will be sheeted. Also varnished the areas where hardware is to be installed. Using cotton swabs I varnished the drilled holes. When dry I ran a drill bit into the holes to clean them. then skim coated the plywood end pieces with T-88 and epoxied them in place. The steel hardware primed and painted. Also glued trailing edge reinforcements using left over 1/4 inch stock trying to avoid the trailing edge "lift"

Today I drill the screw hole for tank cover. I think I will use number 8 screws

Great pictures. You have one of the best documented builds that there is. Congratulations and keep up the fantastic work; thanks for posting. :)

Thanks for the support and compliment Aeronut. :) I am trying to stay true to the plans. I know weight is the enemy of aircraft. That said I decided to add cap strips to the ribs and trailing edge of wings. It will give me more surface area to glue the covering on and a much nicer looking surface. I used 1/2 inch 1.5 mm ply to ribs and one inch 1.5 mm ply to trailing edge. Ply is set back 1/8 inch to give the rib cap strips a little surface to glue to. Top is done . Now the bottom

Mounted the wingtip using number 10 screws and "bonded" washers.Used masking take to mark out plexiglass drill points for fuel tank cover. Drilled out cover then secured to wing with number 8 by 3/8 screws as called out on plans. Tank cover screw spacing Pprox 2 inch on center. All holes has "threads" reinforced using thin CA glue. Flipped wing and added plywood rib and trailing edge 1.5 mm ply caps. Notice use I'd 2inch binder clips again. Pick some up they are cheap and very handy! Also notice simple drill jig using inexpensive ruler!

I have been told to put more pictures of myself in the build. In order to prove I am the one doing the work!!!! So here we go....Gentlemen hold onto your ladies!

Looking good, BB. (I'm referring more to the build here :)) Love the binder clips.  Which varnish are you using?

bruce

I will check in the morning when I get home from work. I decided to stay with the minimax theme and am just using an oil base marine varnish from home depot

Today I finished the wing tank mounts. They secure with number 8  5/8 screws.  The longer screws are used in place of 4 3/8 screws on tank cover where mounts cross over

What we have here folks is a completed wing! Only thing left to do is varnish! What a feeling of accomplishment !!!! Should have it varnished by end of week. I plan on starting other wing Monday. It should go MUCH quicker!!

A photo of me in the build for the inspector....

Quoted from bigbrixx1

A photo of me in the build for the inspector....

Bigbrixx,
To make it really convincing for the FAA or DAR you need to show a picture where you accidentally glued yourself to one of the parts you are working on. Showing them where the skin peeled off your fingers after the part was separated will make it even more convincing.
Dick
PS. Outstanding workmanship.

Thanks Dick, I should also save the splinter I dug out of my thumb last week when I was ripping plywood for the cap strips lol. I should also add to the build I always save the left over mixed epoxy and do a scratch test to assure it cures properly!
I have exciting (to me anyways) news. Last year I joined my local EAA 106 chapter. They have a hanger at local airport and rent out space when available. I have just secured the workshop area at at very reasonable monthly rate! The plan is to continue build the wings in my basement. I will build the fuselage and all firewall forward installation at the workshop!

I can attest that your basement can become quite full as construction progresses, so I think you'll appreciate the extra space. How far is it from your house to the airport though? Any travel time could be a slight detriment to making a little progress anytime you have a little time to spare. My project is now split between my basement and my shop. The wrong things always seem to be at the wrong place, which causes a lot of trips back and forth, and they're only about 450' apart.

Your progress looks great!

Lynn

A bit further than the 450 feet you have to go lol. About a 30 min drive. I am putting together a "travel kit" that will go back and forth with me. I find I am waiting a lot when glue is drying. also I hope to take advantage of the experienced guys who often hang out at the hanger. I suspect there is a LOT of knowledge there!

Wing has Been varnished! Took a lot Longer than expected! Nearly 7 hours! I applied the varnish with foam brush! I used a small brush to "flood" varnish into nook and crannies then blew out excess with compressed air. It is a messy technique, but effective! Wear safety glasses! Now onto aileron!

Wing and aileron varnished! Time to put it away! Going to start layout for wing 2! My goal is to have wing 2 ready by Xmas!

Wing one has been hung up next to the bench. Great for reference! The spars have been prepped for second wing!

GITERDUN!!!!!

Yes indeed Puff I am getting her done! :) And having a blast doing it! My weight stalled over the summer but back to the max and weight loss ! Good news didn't gain weight this summer. Not so good news didn't loose any! I was having trouble making the spacers. It was labor intensive, I went to my friends at harbor freight. Purchased this tool for 21 dollars. Nice for the aluminum spacers and I'll bet I can find many more uses for it. Today I finished up both spars and glued on strut reinforcements. Planed a smidge of the rear spar cap (about 1/32 ) so the ribs slide on easy. Cleaned up the ribs and tomorrow when the T-88 sets I begin assembly. Notice the "kit" pieces on table. When I made the last wing. Every time I made a piece I made a copy for this wing. Compression braces, reinforcements ect. I didn't per make drag struts because I felt small differences in rib spacing would affect them to much. This should really save time on this wing! My goal two completed wings by Christmas! And 25 pounds less

1/4 inch holes had to be opened up to 3/8 for alum reinforcements. This method works great for me. Extremely accurate. First open up 1/4 holes with a step drill to a depth of approx 1/4 inch. If possible do this to both sides of piece. Then using 3/8 drill bit as a guide I clamp drill jig to work piece. Then drill through! Works great every time!

Rear spar ready to accept ribs. Ribs in place. In the am I begin to fit drag braces.

Ribs glued in to front and rear spar. All drag bars in place ready to glue. Remember to have them in place before ribs are glued or you will not be able to insert them in place! Two drag bars are glued in place at this point. Root and tip ribs go in next. Used a nice trick from my R/C plane builds. The plans only give you one wing. I put baby oil on plans it makes them translucent. You can then turn plan around and the wing orientation will be correct for other wing. That way you don't build two left wings! Also having the wing that is built right there makes building wing two much easier! I reference it often!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Hi everyone. My V-max build has began! I received the V-max from Dave a couple weeks ago. I am building the version with a convertible canopy! (It gets cold here in New England. Along with the build is a weight loss program so I can fit in it when I am done. I used to weigh 569 pounds! My dream to fly has motivated me!  I now weigh 349. My goal over the next two years is to complete my Max and loose one hundred pounds! So every once in a while along with the build pics you will most likely get a weight loss update !
Brian :)

Hey Brian!  It looked your build comes fatter this time. How's your weight update?  ;) ..That's what I'm concerned with since as age come by my fats are more friendlier too. Got about 5 gallons of fuel equivalent increase on my body built. LoL. BTW. Nice jobs you've got there..Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Phil

Roger that Pkil. Covered that in post 176. Once I went out into the light of spring. Weight loss stopped. But no weight gain. Goal another 25 by Xmas. Loss 1.9 this week!

Drag braces all in. Compression struts also. Aileron spar glued in along with root and tip ribs and plywood reinforcements. Add 2 additional pounds to weight loss!

When making the first wing. I "kitted" pieces for the second wing. As a result wing two is moving quickly! Today I prepared the D sections for leading edge. I also glued on D sections to tip and root plywood/ main spar. ! Also glued on aileron spar top reinforcements.

Also attached trailing edge and soaked a wing leading edge plywood sheet and  have it forming in prevously made jig! Little hint.... When trying to remove dried epoxy that always seems to end up on workbench I found a nice scraper and a heat gun works awesome!

Leading edge D sections and tank floor have been glued in place.  Letting  glue dry now. D sections tacked in place then 1/4 sq stock with elastic bands used to keep everything tight and square untill T-88 dries!

Wing flipped. Bottom cleaned up. Bottom gussets glued to trailing edge. Bottom aileron spars also glued on. It's nice having wing one and my own build thread for reference!

Bottom wingtip reinforcements glued in place. Notice extra nose rib to hold reinforcements. Same on wing one

  Good looking work.  I'm pretty early in my build, but i don't think my work is quite that neat. One question, I don't see the lift strut fittings on your completed wing. Maybe I just can't see it in the photo?

Jessie

Good eye. They have been fitted. I took them off to varnish wing.  Decided to leave them off so they don't get damaged when moving wing! Good luck Jessie on your build. Which version are you building?

Thanks. It's an 1100 may put a turtledeck on it. Actually Dick Rake's is exactly what envisioned when i decided on a minimax. I don't know if i want to attempt that now. I don't want mine to be the ugly stepsister (no ofence to ugly stepsisters). I must be confused, but I don't see how to take the strut fitting off of the front spar once the LE ply is on.

See my modification post 140 thru about 146. That gives me access to front struts to replace if necessary. I will take picture of finished outside on Wednesday. By using an inspection port Behring main spar when covered and a small hatch I have complete access.

I'll have to check that out. Thanks.

Aileron x 1/4 inch reinforcements along with top top reinforcements for drooping wingtips glued in today! Finally main strut access reinforcement also glued in!

Hi,
My name is Tony and I just started build a 1550V Hi max. Fin is done and working on the rudder. Have you decided on a powerplant? Size/displacement, electrical system, any other particulars you would like to share? I'm interested. I live in northern Alabama and was wondering if you were close by? I have built a KR-2 many years ago and started a 1100r Minimax but had to sell do to my daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia. Thanks!   Tony

Tony welcome to the max forum. This is the place to get info on your hi-max. Sorry to here about your daughter, hope she is doing good.

Monte

Hi There Tony
   I am located in New England. Quite a distance from you. But if you find yourself in my area. Give me a call. Or if you just want to "brainstorm" I have PM you my tel number Sorry about your daughter. Hopefully all is going well on that matter.  My engine choice is a 60 hp VW motor built by Hummell aircraft. It currently has a single mag. In keeping with the minimax theme I do not plan to use a charging system at this time.  

Big,
Nice to see your progressing on the build. i had to divert funds to getting my kid in to college, But I am very interested in the Two seat version. So I think I want to do that.

Ed Kania~

Thanks for the encouragement Ed. I don't blame you. If the Epic was available when I purchased the kit. It very well may have been my choice. That being said I have no regrets buying the Vmax kit. Dave and the whole Minkmax crew are a class act!

Now the build progress. Leading edge forward has been varnished and sanded. Two outer plywood leading edge pieces glued on. I plant to fit and glue center piece this weekend, I am on schedule to have wing ready to cover by Christmas!

One more pic

Also wanted to list some pictures of the workshop space I now rent from the local EAA chapter. It is a very active chapter and I am excited to be there. I am moving completed pieces there and am going to use the area to assemble the plane and work on smaller components. Just being at the airport is exciting. The other day my wife asked me my plans for the day. I got to say the words I always wanted to say........ I'll be at the hanger :) ! As you can see there is plenty of building going on there!

Fuel tank area completed. Center section LE sheeting glued on today. A photo of me for the inspector!

Big,
NICE!

ED~

Thanks Ed. Top  section of aileron cut free. And trailing edge piece with 45 degree cut already done glued in place. Like other wing I maintain upper profile of rib with extra 1/4 inch stock and use that to make sure TE is level with top of ribs!

Pics

Looking good, BB!  I'm finding the wing building is taking a long time. Just because there's so many bits to assemble, I suppose. I'm putting in an additional 'closing web' to the rear of the wing (to help resist trailing edge curl, & to keep bugs out of the wing), just forward of the aileron nose. This is proving quite fiddly, but I hope will work out ok.

Have you started your fuselage yet?

Bruce

Hey Bruce
   I have not started the fuse yet! And yes the wings are a LOT of pieces! My first wing took at least 4 x as long as this one. But when making pieces for the first wing. When ever possible I made the pieces for the second wing at the same time. This is really paying off now! I suspect the fuse will be less labor intensive than the wings... Time will tell :)

Good idea on making pieces for both wings.

Yes, the fuse is much quicker to go together.  And you can sit in it & dream 8)

Wing 2 moving along. LE sheeting completed. Trailing edge strip on! Aileron free and removed. Ready to clean up and prepare. You may notice first wing is missing, it has been moved to my hanger workshop! I also have great news to report. A weight loss of 11 more pounds!  
happy Thanksgiving!

One more.....

Man, you are doing great work on your max and your weight. Watch out for all that food tomorrow and have a happy thanksgiving.

Monte

Really nice work!  How much do the wings weigh when finished?? I'd build a V-max if I were going to get a sport license, worked on a private years ago... but at my age now (65) I'm thinking ultralight... again, nice work!!!

I do not have a finished weight on wings. This is the Vmax so I imagine the wings are much heavier than the  1100 series aircraft. TEAM claims a dry weight of 400 lbs for the plane. But I have heard of weights in the 435-450 range.

I added the 1/4 inch stock to trailing edge on either side of each rib in order to avoid the dreaded lift of TE. Also as you may remember I decided to cap strip the ribs and TE with the 1.5 mm plywood . That has been added to the bottom of wing. I feel it is important to insure there is no twist in wing at all during this period and especially when the plywood is rolled onto LE . Do this every time so as not to introduce any unwanted wash in or wash out. Also when gluing on end pieces of plywood (534pcs) to inboard and outboard doubled ribs. life a lot easier when time to varnish if you coat bottom of drag bars and recessed rear spar cap BEFORE gluing the plywood on ( guess how I found this out) Also I coat the inside of theses plywood pieces with a thin coat of epoxy before applying them. That area can be a bit of a bear to varnish after completed. Or a better way to approach it at this stage is say to yourself "before I glue this piece on will I be able to varnish this area later".... If the answer is no..... protect it with epoxy or varnish before you glue!!!!!Sorry I ment to take pics of that step but forgot!

Weight update! Add 3 more pound to the closer to fly category! :).  That's a total of 50.9 pounds since build has begun!

Great work. Yes a twist in the wing is no good at all.

Monte

Looks great, BB.  And I bought a box of those clips to do my trailing edges - they're a perfect solution, so thanks!

Well done on the weight loss. To keep my MTOW down, I've dropped 16 kg since I started my build (being metric over here). The Max is a great weight-loss tool  ;D ;D "Eat less & fly higher"

Bruce

Wow that's 35.2 lbs if my conversion is correct! The more we loose the better it will fly! :)

Wow guys, y'all are getting 2 bangs for your bucks.

Monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Wow guys, y'all are getting 2 bangs for your bucks.

Monte

Sure am! It's a win win........Team Minimax style :)

Congrats to both you and Bruce. I am sure losing weight is hard and I admire anyone who can do it and then keep it off. Your family is probably glad you are building a v- max, I'm sure your v- max is.

Monte

Looking very good on the wings. Your ability is fantastic and the pictures are great also.  :)

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement everybody. The top of wing now has the rib caps strips, cap strips around tank area and TE cap strips glued in place. While waiting for that to dry I am preparing the LE of aileron for sheeting!

Also beginning to fit wingtip.....

Man you're fast! Excelent job BB, you're doing a fantactic work on your V-Max and a much better on yourself...What a lesson!

Thanks for the kind and supportive words Everybody! You  guys are great here!

Fuel tank cover drilled cut and screwed in place. Wingtip drilled and screwed in place. LE of aileron all sanded and varnished along with sheeting for LE of aileron also cut and varnished!


Weight loss continues 1.8 lbs closer to flying this week! Total loss 51.7 since construction has began

Aileron LE varnished and sheeting also varnished

I've always been curious about a few things regarding the drooped wingtips. How far to they extend past the flat ply of the wingtip? Are your drooped tips from MiniMAX or ?, fiberglass or ?, and did you ever weigh them?

I've always read that drooped wingtips, and Hoerner tips for that matter, serve the purpose of "simulating" a longer wing, but does anyone know by how much? For instance...would they provide enough benefit to build a MiniMAX wing 1 bay shorter (124" vs 139") and the wing still behave like a normal 139" wing?

Great looking work and nice steady progress on your MiniMAX, bigbrixx! Keep it up, and also congrats again on your continued weight control progress. You'll have your girl-ish figure back in no time!  :)

Lynn

On Wing Tips:
There have over the years been many theories about the "best" wing tip and indeed the best plan form for the wings.  All of it revolves around the problem of "tip vortices" and how you deal with them to reduce drag.  As we have learned more we have gained a bit in efficiency but it really isn't all that much.  Certainly it wouldn't be enough to justify reducing total span.  The biggest breakthrough, still not widely known or used, and still not pinned down to a fully defined mathematical process are tips intended not just to "manage" or "reduce" tip vortices, but to actually harness them for additional lift.  You will see this in some of the newer composite aircraft which have somewhat crescent shaped tips on their wings.  However even here you can't just make something that looks like a crescent, you have to experiment with the average angle of rake, the degree of curvature in plan form and where to transform from a radiused leading edge to a wedge shaped leading edge.

The drooped tips may or may not give a net gain.  Remember they are normally just screwed to the outer part of the wing with the screw heads and inboard ends exposed to the air flow.  Unless this is all perfectly faired in quite flawlessly and perfectly smooth it probably isn't going to gain much performance over a plain squared off tip.

I'm afraid I don't have a good list of references on this.  The information is too fragmented, incomplete, and contradictory.

Tom

The wing tips only add about 6 inches to each wing. They are TEAM wingtips. My plan is to fly the plane without the wingtips then put them in to see if they justify the extra weight. I still have to weight them. I will do that and post the weight over the next couple days. BTW TEAM makes
no promises that they do anything to improve flight performance

Thanks, bigbrixx! Interesting that there's no performance claim for the drooped wingtips. Keep up the progress. We all enjoy seeing it.

Lynn

Finished up the fuel tank area. I feel One  of the potential problems with the setup on the plans is the tank straps are held in with the same screws that hold down the tank plexiglass cover. Trying to line up the straps then secure the cover has been problematic. What I did on wing 2 and will retrofit to wing one....is to drill, tap and countersink 4-4/40 x 1/2 socket head bolts to secure the straps in place. Then it is easy to secure the tank cover. The pictures show it best

Sheeting  rolled and glued on LE of Aileron. Did a couple of things different here. When applying epoxy to sheeting I found heating up epoxy with heat gun made it flow MUCH better. Also I made up some clips that slide over the trailing edge to allow use of elastic bands to hold sheeting in place; before securing with clamps and staples. I also put in a photo of slot in aileron sheeting that is necessary for center hinge. I did the first Aileron improperly and need to go back and fix it. It will be any easy fix. But a photo would have saved me a couple hours here! One more note. The best way I feel to bend the sheeting around the LE is to dampen it with water on outside then glue. All the soaking. Then preforming/ clamping/ drying  I did on aileron one is really not necessary on the aileron LE. The sheeting is thin and much more flex able the he wing LE. I used a foam brush to apply water to the one side! Epoxy very thin on other side of plywood. Then held in position with elastic band and finally clamped and stapled in place.........And of course I included a photo of me in the build for both the ladies and the FAA :)

A few more pics...you can see the clips I made to hold elastic bands clearly in these photos :)

Looks like I have been spending too much time in the basement! I had a visitor! Sorry ladies, it turns out I am still married! The wife came down the stairs to see if I am ok.... It appears she hasn't seen me in a few days except for bathroom breaks and coffee refills! :) oh well she is dragging me out to go shopping. Something about Christmas?????? I guess it is soon.......also to a movie! I hope it is about airplanes!!!! ( but we all know that's unlikely) :)

You keep losing weight and you'll need to change your forum name  to just "brixx1",  no more "big"....... ;D

Very nice work.  Are the wing tanks the Team 5 gal ones,  or the 6 gal ones?

Hi Termite....... Or Maybe "not as big as I used to be bri" !!!!  Another 3.8 lbs lost this week. Total loss 55.5 lbs  they are the 6 gallon TEAM tanks. They fit very nicely. The plans are for the 5 gallon tanks. Very slight modification is required from the plans.

WOW 55.5 lbs that is a lot AWESOME.  :)

Capstrips glued to top and bottom of aileron. All has been sanded. Fuel tank area complete! Wing is completed ready to varnish! Hope to have it varnished and at hanger by next weekend. Then I will extend bench and begin the fuse by first of the year!

Couple more pics. Also notice the contraption I made up to varnish. Saw it in an old EAA book by filling the oil can with varnish then drilled into the brush and added a brass tube. Connect the two components together with about 4 feet clear tubing.  The plan is to save time by keeping the brush loaded with varnish from the oil can. The inventor states it saves 2/3 of the time. I will update you all on how it works later this week

You are going faster than a speeding bullet and if you are wearing a cape and have an "s" on your chest you really do not need a Max but look out for kryptonite (lol). The varnish system is very Interesting.Please let us know how it works out.

Lol thanks aeronut! The second wing builds fast! Update on varnishing gadget..... Works AWESOME!!! The first wing took me about 9 hours plus 2 1/2 on aileron. Today, total time to varnish entire wing AND Aileron.... 3 hours 50 minutes. That saves nearly 8 hours of work or 2/3 off the time! Nice! Very quickly you find a nice rhythm and never stop except to refill container! I experimented with natural hair vs vinyl bristles. Natural hair wins hands down!!! BTW  Wing 2 drying but completed!!!! Now to move her to hanger space. Going to extend bench 2 feet and onto the fuse!!! Thank you everyone for the help, advice and words of encouragement! You are all a great group of guys!

Here are the pics

Good progress, Brix.

I love the auto feed varnish brush! I'm going to make one of those - anything that makes varnishing less hassle has got to be good. If it works as well as you say, I might even go for two coats.

Good luck with your fuselage build. I'm sure you'll enjoy it after building two wings in a row. Fuse comes together much quicker I reckon.

Bruce

I agree Bruce. Varnishing is tedious at best! Although this does not reduce the tedium. It does reduce the amount of time spent on the process! Give it a try, I think you are really are going to be impressed! I am looking forward to the next phase of the build. This upcoming week will be preparing the workbench and shop for the fuselage ! Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry CHRISTmas to you too Brix. Your present is almost here.

Monte

Just an update... Both wings at the hanger along with the vertical/ horizontal stabilizer. I had an EAA technical  advisor come by......BTW he made a spectacular entrance by flying in with his immaculent RV-8. He built it over an 8 year period. Quite an entrance! And WOW! what an airplane! He is quite satisfied with my work up to this point. All he recommended is a bit more rounding off around the edges of the aluminum root / strut fittings! Only lost. 0.4 pounds this week. But I an very happy with any loss over Christmas week. I should have bench extended this week and start gluing on the fuse sides by weekend!

I went back a few pages to find your picture of the root fittings. Look OK as far as I can tell from here.
What was his concern?

His main concern Was  when I rounded the ends on the fittings I used a disc sander. That left sharp edges. He recommended I clean up the ends and round off those edges with a 3M scotch brite wheel on my grinder! He admits it is most likely unnecessary.

Dear bigbrixx,

Maybe it was necessary to round and smooth those edges, maybe it wasn't.  However I can say that as a general principle in making virtually any part a rounded and very smooth edge and corners, whether metal, wood, or a number of other materials, makes it much harder for stress to find a little spot where the stress rises to the point where the fitting can start to fatigue.  Therefore a metal fitting with sharp corners practically speaking is more likely to fail than an nearly identical fitting with carefully rounded and smoothed corners.  Also believe it or not the rounded, smoothed, and polished edges and corners will LOOK stronger too and will be more beautiful.  It really doesn't take much extra effort and you will be amazed how great it makes you feel to "detail" fittings this way.

Tom

Tom I couldn't agree more!  I have ordered the wheel he recommended! I am so thankful to have a technical advisor close by, willing to give up his time. Come inspect my efforts and offer advice. I plan on following all his recommendations!

I think Bob Daly might have some useful and interesting things to add on this too.

Tom

TTT, I could be wrong but I think the only ROOT fittings on the wing are on the SPARS not the struts..

Do you play ping pong?????????

Thanks for the support guys. Thanks TTT for the compliment. I have been trying to build  her as if my life may depend upon it! I have been calling the fittings that go from the spars to the carry thru, root fittings. And the fittings that go from midwing at a 30 degree angle that will connect to the wing struts strut fittings. All are made from aluminum stock. I hope I have been using correct terms. I can see the confusion it appeared as if root/ strut was one fitting. I should have said root fittings and strut fittings! Those are the fittings he suggested I clean up a bit more

Here is a good pic. Root fittings seen clearly  here. Strut fitting midwing at 30 degree angle. I am I using correct terms? Sorry about confusion if I am not!

There has been a lot about the teleflex  cables. Both good and bad. I really don't know enough about aircraft controls to redesign the system. All the re-designs seem to be the highmax and not easily converted to the mid wing version..... That being said the route route I plan on taking (and already have in my possession) is to upgrade the aileron controls to 1/4 size teleflex cables and duel elevator teleflex cables mandated in the UK version. As a matter of fact I plan on incorporating all of the UK mods including roll protection. And LG changes! Agian TTT thanks for the kind words!!!!

As far as oratex I love the concept. Would really love to give it a try. Price is going to be the deciding factor. I plan on sending them the dimensions and get a price quote. That being said I doubt I can justify the expense on the max. But you never know!!!!

I really hate to comment on the whole Teleflex "thing", but I would point out that I've seen some alternatives made in which the person designing the new system did not calculate the shear stress on the bolts that hold it together and therefore had a much weaker system than the Teleflex.  I've also seen extensive use in aircraft in general of the compressed copper sleeve used to make an eye around a thimble in cable.  These though used a lot on aircraft do fail.  I would strongly suggest that if you want to modify the Teleflex system the safest thing is probably to double up on the elevator Teleflex as shown in the modifications for Britain.  I would also replace the short length of plastic tube which is supposed to reduce the bending stress on the MiniMax installation with a self aligning bearing at that point.  Having worked a lot with Teleflex cables I think those two modifications would be safer than trying to design your own system from scratch unless you have a good grounding in structural analysis.

Tom

Hi TTT as far as I am concerned. Please keep the comments and attaboys coming. If I wanted just a build log I Never would have made it public. I welcome the interaction on the board. As a matter of course I routinely print out a few pages of this log. Edit and then add to a hard copy folder for the DAR when the time comes. That way (god forbid) if anything happens to this electronic log I don't loose everything. I thank you all who take the time to encourage my progress see a mistake I may have made and point me in the right direction. Thank you to those who add thought provoking ideas and answer my questions.
Happy new year folks
Not as big as I used to be Brian :)

Brixx,

As discussed in the strobe thread,  if you're going to put position lights and/or wing tip strobes on your plane,  it would be easier to run the wire before you cover the wings.

happy new year folks.  GreT idea termite. Right now I plan to use only one strobe on the horizontal stab. But would like to run tubes in the wing now. Anybody have a good souce of lightweight tubes I can put in wing. ???

Depends on the size of wire but I think pex tubing from the big box store would work

Maybe vinyl tubing would work? It would be around the plumbing area in a hardware store.

I considered plastic tubing. But it's really to heavy. Was hoping for something like a small diameter cardboard tube.


Now back to the build. Workbench extended to 14 feet. Fuse outline laid out. First problem was the scarf joint. After a few poor attempts I resorted to These basic jigs. Using extra material I glued 2 x 4 blocks to either side. Then when piece clamped into jig the pressure of clamps holds the piece in place. Then a hand plane will give you a perfect scarf joint.
Examples ......

Fuse layout completed. All parts cut out ready to glue. I plan to build one side on top of other side so both identical. I used green masking tape then drew lines on tape. That way I don't mark up bench. My straight edge is center of bench. I can then use that line to jig fuse sides later on.

Tubes only add weight that you don't want and you can run wires from one of the wing to the other after the wing is covered by removing the aileron............

Or just run a couple wires out to the wing tip now? Anchor as needed. No tube required.

All great ideas. I would line a tube of some type. For access and protection. In the rc world some planes use a cardboard tube protected by a varnish. I believe the term is phenolic tube. Trying to find something like that in 3/4 inch size. Very light weight. I ordered plastic tubes from us plastics but they were way to heavy. I returned them

I don't know what kinds of tubing you considered or checked out, but polyethylene tube might be something to look at if you want a conduit in place before covering the wings. I have no idea of how many, or what guage wires you have in mind, but I'm pretty sure you could easily fish a couple 16 or 18 GA wires through 3/8" O.D. Polyethylene tube. One advantage of polyethylene vs vinyl tube is that it wouldn't be as "droopy" between supports as vinyl.

Lynn  

Re: tubing -- check out flourescent tube covers.  These are pretty light and can be found in 8' lengths.  Probably larger than you need in that length though (1.5").  I think there are some smaller ones in about 4' length for smaller bulbs.

Could also make your own cardboard tube.  With your modeling background you have probably seen this? take brown packing paper and laminate it as though it was fiberglass.  Can squeegee epoxy on the paper and roll it around a mandrel.  It would be possible to use thinned water based aliphatic resin glue as well.

Is a full tube really required?  What about wire guides/holders with a wire pulling string added?  Wires pull a lot easier than push and a string can be pretty light.

IMHO,  tubing should not be needed.  Kunzleman sells 22ga. 5 conductor wire for  60 cents per foot, and 3 conductor for 40 cents per foot.  http://www.kestrobes.com/heads.htm.   The wires are in a shielded plastic sheathing, like phone wire.  If you insist on running tubing, you could use fuel line.  You wouldn't even have to use a continuous run,  just put it over the wire anywhere the wire touches wing ribs, spars, etc,  for abrasion protection.

Guys thanks for all the great ideas. A combination of all theses ideas should give me exactly what I need! I I think I the shielded wire run along the back side of the rear spar. Accessed thru the aileron opening. Secured with spaced out small one inch tubes cut from paper towel rolls varnished and glued about at each rib and one between each rib. will be perfect. Accessible, light, serviceable, and easy to inspect! Thanks for all the great input!
Brian :)

yup, no tubes needed, and add unnecessary weight....

BTW model rocketry uses various sizes of paper laminated tubes for the body.  Just thinking that the slop in a TP sized tube may make the guide not much of a guide?

Quoted from stevejahr

BTW model rocketry uses various sizes of paper laminated tubes for the body.  Just thinking that the slop in a TP sized tube may make the guide not much of a guide?

Great idea!

Brian, if I were going to fit strobes, I'd just run the wire along the aft side of the rear spar, & use small cable ties to attach it at each rib station. It's hard to see what advantage you'd get from running wires through a tube after you've covered the wing. And as Harless said earlier, you can access the wires anytime by removing the aileron.

Cheers

Bruce

Quoted from beragoobruce

Brian, if I were going to fit strobes, I'd just run the wire along the aft side of the rear spar, & use small cable ties to attach it at each rib station. It's hard to see what advantage you'd get from running wires through a tube after you've covered the wing. And as Harless said earlier, you can access the wires anytime by removing the aileron.

Cheers

Bruce

Hi Bruce
Although I am sure that would world work okey dokey, I just can't do it. I was able to find some lightweight model rocket tubes. I plan on securing them along the TE of rear spar every few inches. For now though I just purchased a nice lightweight LED strobe for the horizontal tail. It is most likely all I will run for now. But I want the option to easily add wing tip strobes later. Thank you all for suggestions and thoughts!

Back to the build! Onto the fuse! This is very exciting! First I outlined the fuse dimensions directly onto the bench area with green tape. Then put exact dimensions onto the green tape. That makes the outline easy to identify.......And easily removable later. First side 1 pieces cut secured in place and glued! . Wax paper added between bench and side 1 at all glue areas before gluing. I found you know when epoxy has cured completely if wax paper almost falls of joint. When epoxy still curing wax paper will not come of easily!   Again every time I made a piece I made an identical second piece for side 2! Once side 1 dry. I then (using wax paper to separate) laid side 2 directly over side one. The precut pieces made this a quick task.... And the glued side 2

On a special note with the wings being at another location. I used the rib jig to make sure carry thru stations EXACTLY where the should be. It turn out all measurements correct first time. But it made me feel better checking!

Fuse side 2 glued and drying on top of side 1. You will note in these pictures while waiting for glue to dry I have started to cut and build LG Legs! Slight hold up here. I need to order a couple more pieces of RS-9 I messed op a RS9 compression strut way back and forgot to replace it! No big deal. Dave's prices are reasonable. And time to order my brakes anyways! It will not hold me up plenty to do!

LG legs awaiting epoxy cleanup and RS 9 stock to continue!

Two fuse sides cleaned up ready to have  plywood glued on!

Hi Brian

Your fuse sides look great - up to your usual standard.

If you glue the plywood sides onto the frame at this stage, be prepared for some pretty strong resistance when you come to assemble the two sides, particularly the forward bend at the front carry through.

You will need to have some long clamps (30" or so) ready to pull in the sides to make the curve. These are expensive to buy, but you could make some using threaded bar & some imagination. It would also be useful to make a large set square out of 2" x 1" or similar, plus plywood. This is to check the sides are square to the base, etc. The forces you generate when bending the ply-covered side frames will tend to distort the sides out of square.

You might also consider making an external jig to hold everything true while the glue hardens.

You'll prolly suss all this when you do a dry run, before gluing. (it's a bit late when you've got a wet glued structure going off!!).

Personally, I chose to bend the sides before skinning them. That way, the loads are much lighter, although of course you still need various methods of jigging & clamping. It's just easier to bend, so loads are lower. And it's quite easy to glue on the sideskins after the frame is glued up.

Another area to beware of is making both sides bend in an equal amount, so that the fuse is symmetrical about the centreline.

Last point is to allow plenty of time after you've finished before you take the clamps off. I'd wait a minimum of 3 days (remember epoxy takes weeks to attain full strength, & you'll feel how hard the skinned sides are trying to pull apart when you clamp them to the curved shape).

Sorry if all this is stating the obvious, but it may be of help to others less experienced or able than yourself  :)

Good luck - I look forward to your pix.

Bruce

At  normal room temps, 24 hours are more that enough time. cooler temps takes longer of course..

Quoted from Harless Greear

At  normal room temps, 24 hours are more that enough time. cooler temps takes longer of course..

Thanks for the hints Bruce! Your idea of A-frames are great. I am cutting the material for them now. After a lot of consideration I have decided to sheet the frames and then form them. Mainly because they are soooooo fragile before they receive the side sheeting. As far as 30 inch clamps I anticipated their need and have accumulated a bunch over the last year. Harbor freight has some very nice. And with a 20 percent off coupon only are about 6 dollars each! Here you see one side sheeted. The other side is also sheeted! Notice a lot less of me in this photo. Add 2.8 pounds to the loss side of the board! Total 58.3 pounds. I do not plan to have a plane I cannot fit in when it is done! As far as drying time. My basement this time of year averages 54-60 degrees. So it takes 3 days to get to "sandable" condition with the T-88.  With the pressures I expect on the nose, I plan on leaving them on 3 days! I also followed your lead Bruce and rounded out the bottom angles to make bending the bottom sheeting a bit easier!

Brian
Many years ago I wrapped the stringers with wet towels for 8 hours prior to bending.  Puts less pressure on the stringers. I also used bar clams. After setup for a couple of days I installed ply wood side panels.  Worked well for me.
BobN
Note: NOT WET AT GLUE JOINTS.

Quoted from bobnafe

Brian
Many years ago I wrapped the stringers with wet towels for 8 hours prior to bending.  Puts less pressure on the stringers. I also used bar clams. After setup for a couple of days I installed ply wood side panels.  Worked well for me.
BobN
Note: NOT WET AT GLUE JOINTS.

Sounds like a great idea. Won't work for me the plywood sides are on! Luckily Dave at minimax is building the same fuselage I am. He is slightly ahead of me and posting the pictures on his facebook. Hopefully I can follow his lead! Thanks for Ll the help and suggestions guys!

Rear carry thru bulkhead completed. Remember to varnish inside before completion. Front carry thru laminated. I will cut 2 degree angle in the morn before gluing up sides. Saw cuts in front section completed. 5/16 deep every one inch as per plans. I used a hand saw with masking tape depth guage.

Saw with depth guage and saw cuts

One more of saw cuts in nose section.

Dry fitting of bulkhead in fuselage. Notice markings on workbench. Lines drawn 90 degrees from center line drawn on bench. Lines are at each fuselage section. Also drew a scale left and right from center line and ruled it out 12 inches each side to help keep fuse straight during assembly!

Good work Brian.

I'm sure those saw cuts in the forward longerons will make it much easier to bend.

Are you sure they won't weaken the structure?  My plans (Eros) don't show any cuts.

It might be a good idea to laminate a length of 1/4" spruce over the inside (cut) face after you've glued up the bends.

Or perhaps I'm talking bollox & your drawings show these cuts, & just rely on the glue to provide the required strength.

Bruce

You have just cut up the most important structural components that hold your plane together
Basically you have ruined it

I think I would add some strength back to it with some ply after it's bent.....

Good morning guys. Thank you all for your concern. The V-max has a very short nose compared to the other models, due to the heavy engine. The saw cuts are clearly called out for in the plans. Puff you are correct! After the bend 3 mm plywood is used to restore the strength!

The cuts facilitate bending on the short nose. Also the instruction call out for cuts on both top and bottom stringers........it broke my heart to put them there. The plans call out for 3/8. I kept them a bit shallow at 5/16

Brixx the plans show the cuts and you made them shallower than the callout. i would not worry about it... keep building.

monte

Thanks Monte.....although I didn't like doing it. I am comfortable with it! There are over 300 Vmaxes out there. Without having this version of the plans I understand everyone's concern. You are all watching out for my well being and I appreciate that! :) if you guys think I did something dangerous or silly please don't hesitate to tell me!

I think you're doing everything just fine!....... Except on placing your pictures upside down  ;D

You could drip some thickened epoxy into the kerfs just before bending in the sides, some masking tape underneath the longeron to keep it from running out.

Yes the Kerf joints get filled with epoxy, Brian is doing great job on it.

Hmmm. . .

No doubt TEAM have done a static test, or possibly calculations, to prove this method is satisfactory.

But I would not feel happy removing 50% or so of a major structural member.

OK, so you fill the kerf with epoxy, and bond a 1/8" ply gusset on the outside. But gluing end grain will not give the same strength as an intact member. At least the tests I did showed failure of the glue line in end grain, unlike gluing the face parallel to the grain, when the wood always failed rather than the glue.

And sticking a bit of 1/8" ply on will not give the same strength as the 3/8" or 5/!6" of spruce you have sawed through. Hence my suggestion of laminating a length of 1/4" spruce on the outside: that plus whatever strength gained from the kerf gluing would be nearer the strength of an uncut longeron.

It just seems to me a crazy way to approach this issue. It would make much more sense to use full length longerons (as per any other non-VW Max), and form them in the usual way (with or without the ply outer skin, but it's much easier without). A scrap cross member, or just a long clamp, would hold the shape until the epoxy was completely cured.

Then you would cut the extra longeron length off at the firewall, and skin the sides.

Sorry, I had to say this. No disrespect to TEAM, but I think they missed a trick here.

Bruce

If one wanted to go crazy here... you would take a page from the Falco F8L book and build up the stringer out of laminated 1/8" spruce layers bent to the desired curve.  I imagine that if one had a stair step overlap (ala scarf joing) with a solid longeron you could create a continue structural member.  The Falco uses LOTS of laminated elements to create the airframe.

I don't know why I'm even sticking my nose in on this, especially since I've seen that Brian has built "per V-Max plans" but.....isn't the load bearing strength of the forward part of the fuselage actually coming from a combination of the plywood sides along with the longerons in tension (top) and compression (bottom)? Buckling of the notched lower longeron would be resisted by the side and bottom ply. It's not like the weight of the VW engine is hanging off of cantilevered RS-10 sticks that have been notched, bent and then reinforced with the extra plywood strip.

Lynn

Yes, you're quite correct Lynn. The deep plywood sides act as a shear web to take much of the engine loads.

And Brian is doing an excellent job in his build, and in carefully following the factory drawings.

But Brian himself said how he hated to cut the longerons, as would I. It just seems so silly to do it this way when you could just bend the extended longerons & cut them off when the glue has cured. This is quite common in boatbuilding, for example. That way, the integrity of the longerons is assured, & you don't have to worry about whether you mixed the glue properly, whether it's going to soften in the heat of the engine bay, what will happen as it ages & vibrates, & so on.

I'll butt out now.

Bruce

First My apologies for the upside down photos.......I am unable to see them. I take the photos with my Iphone. Load them with my Ipad and view thru the same devices. They show me the photos as upright!!!!!! Now as far as the saw cuts in the nose section I am sure there are more elegant solutions to this problem. It seems to me the Minimax design favors simplicity. I picked it because it's a proven design. I hesitate to vary from the plans. Beef up one area and it is possible to cause stress to rise in another and create a failure point!
Today I was able to square up the frame sides and glue in supports in the cockpit area including rear carry thru at section 4. Using table saw it put In the 2 percent angle to front carry thru and glued that in place also. Everything is kept square via 90 degree  L shaped frames as suggested by Bruce! Notice less if me! Add 1.8 pounds to loss column. And of course a selfie for the FAA guys

I can't really recall exactly how I clamped the sides together during the same point of construction on my MiniMAX, but I don't think it was quite so well thought out or executed. Looking good.....as always.

BTW.....who's the thin fellow in the picture? Did this project get taken over by a different builder? :)

Lynn

Quoted from lake_harley

...BTW.....who's the thin fellow in the picture? Did this project get taken over by a different builder? :)

Lynn

I was going to say the same, I think you're going to beat the plane!
Congratulations man..what a lesson!

I do think the builder is correct to stick to the plans.  However I also think it is a mistake to assume that the average person building one of these plans wouldn't be better off to steam bend the wood to shape.  Steam bending is very simple to do and you'd end up with a structure that was lighter and full strength without making it into a sandwich construction.   There is no disadvantage to steam bending and its bone simple to do.  I would recommend that the plans be modified to show a simple steam bend member here.

Tom

Quoted from Ricardo

I was going to say the same, I think you're going to beat the plane!
Congratulations man..what a lesson!

Thanks guys......here is a photo of me about 7 years ago........I don't know how I let it happen.......as far as modifying the plans. Steaming and laminating the front end do seem like great ideas. The plane favors simplicity... Hence butt joints in plywood vs scarf joints ect.... I suspect they went this way in order to keep the skill set required low. That way guys like me can build it also :)  The cuts are made I made..... I picked the Max due to its long and safe history. I am sticking to the plans...... I am moving forward. I will leave changes to people who have much more knowledge on that matter.

Let's do some armchair analysis of the fuselage structure and see if we can alleviate the concerns over the kerfs cut in the longerons.  I'm going to say the stress is highest as a result of the engine download from a 6g pull-up so we have about a 23,000 in-lb moment at the fuselage station just ahead of the cockpit. The calc is 120lbs x 6gs x 32 inches (engine position ahead of the cockpit).  We'll assume the twin 1/8" ply 20" wide sides can react the 720lbs shear load since a single 1/16" ply 6" web in the wing takes the maximum 293lb shear calculated there for a Minimax 1100R.  So then the stress in the longerons just ahead of the cockpit is 23,000/10 inches(half the fuselage depth)/4 longerons = 575 lbs.  This will be compression in the bottom longerons and tension in the tops.  The ultimate compression for white pine is 5240 psi from ANC-18 so the longerons can take 982 lbs (5240 x .75 x .25) at the kerf cuts in compression.  For tension we'll use the modulus of rupture, 9300 psi, so surely the 575 lbs tension is not a problem.  And certainly the plywood skin immediately adjacent and bonded to the longerons contributes to the strength.   I'll also mention that there is a notation in the Minimax Structural Analysis report that states the forward fuselage has a minimum safety factor greater than 10.

Oops, forgot the tail load!  This will be in the neighborhood of 300 lbs downward at about 120" from the same fuselage station so an additional moment of 36,000 in-lbs.  This is additive, so the stress in the longerons becomes 1475 lbs!  So while we're still ok as far as tension is concerned, there's a discrepancy of 495 lbs on the compression side.  If we fill the kerfs with epoxy we should be good as System Three says T88 has a compressive strength of 12,500 psi(!).

Wow Bob I have no idea on what you said but it's sounds like you paid attention in school. If I was building a max like Brixx and cut the kerfs in the longerons, I would sleep real good.

Monte

This is not about if the fuselage is strong enough for flying around , this is about what happens when you come down on the nose instead the landing gear,
like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOIXx5r-Y6g

Take a note that was just a hard thug from not much height and speed , the rest of the plane is still all intact and the front cockpit area is disintegrated.
I have collected (and later lost) many pictures of crashes looking just like this, This pilot was lucky but many other pilots got badly busted legs.

thats why I modified both of my fuselages like this.

http://www.n566aj.com/cgi-bin/bbs/archive.cgi?read=22358

I remember George's post and did follow his advise. It makes sense and there's always room for improvement specially when a safety issue is in play. The wheight increase is nil and havind that diagonal member was also a good place to attach the throttle and fuel valves comming from each tank.

Landing gear legs built, sanded ready for final cuts

Fuse had nose pulled in. Front RS 11 fit and glued in. Tail pulled together. Cross members glued and drying. Notice braces to keep everything 90 degrees. When building R/C airplanes they were the only way I could build and not end up with bananna for a fuse. One problem I ran into was keeping the cross braces in place while glue dried. I made brackets out of left over plywood. You can see how they were used. They work great! Also notice how I drew a scale to either side of center line at each bulkhead station to ensure sides were spaced out properly!

Couple more pics. Notice 2x3 used to keep sides straight from station 5 back to tail! Sides are equal and square. Picture makes them look offset. They are not! You notice I also kept the clamps on the cross braces in cabin area. I don't want them popping off when forming the nose and tail. I plan on leaving them on for three days. That's about how long the T-88 takes to cure completely in my 58 degree (on average ) workshop.

Couple more for the FAA

Plywood strips added to bottom rear of fuse longer owns. Nice pic here of cuts made in strips for the bend. Cuts doubled from underneath and filled with epoxy. Very straight 2 x 3 used to keep sides straight from station 5 back. Wax paper used to keep "squeeze out" epoxy from accidentally gluing 2 x 3 to airframe. Once dry, 2x3 and rear L brace removed and excess glue cleaned up! Fuse still jigged to table top! Will remain there until forward area completed and sheeted to keep everything straight!

Clamps removed. Braces removed. Excess glue cleaned up and light sanding.

Front doublers clamped and glued. All kerfs filled with epoxy

Lower longeron, forward doublers in place. Glued and clamped. Kerfs filled with epoxy. Drying! Notice scrap plywood glued across nose to keep sides from springing out when it is time to flip the whole assembly. It will be removed when top is sheeted. 1.8 pound loss since last report. 62 lbs total :)

What no smile....... Why no smile??????? Next time!

Bottom sheeted, fuse has been flipped upright, decided to double up plywood reinforcement along lower forward section, still need to clean up "squeeze out" epoxy. Fuse out of jig, upright. Clamps added just to ensure sides do not spring apart until reinforced, there will not be any updates for a couple weeks, off to Hawaii for a vacation. My vitamin D must be depleted here in the basement. A trip to Hawaii to replenish it seems excessive, but the wife claims it is necessary! Touring a bunch of the islands and have a rental car, any Minimax builders or owners out there???? Let me know, love to stop by and check it out!

One more item...Had a problem filling in kerfs, epoxy kept flowing out and making a mess, tried tape along bottom but was messy. Finally added strips 1.5 mm plywood along base of kerfs then added side plywood reinforcement panels and flowed in epoxy. Gently heated with heat gun allowed epoxy to flow well. First photo shows plywood strips bottom view. Grams in weight gain. Some added strength.... Second photo shows finished edge. View from the top. Warm epoxy will flow to bottom of kerf. I probe with a needle to ensure there are no trapped air bubbles!

Kool!

You can thicken the epoxy with various fillers depending on the characteristics you want.  I would download everything that looks useful from http://www.westsystem.com > How to Use > Use guides.  You should be able to tailor your epoxy mix to exactly the characteristics you want.  I don't work for this company or get any special treatment from them.  I've just been using their products with wood since 1977.  No need for problems with epoxy not staying in the joints.

Tom

Quoted from Tom

You can thicken the epoxy with various fillers depending on the characteristics you want.  I would download everything that looks useful from http://www.westsystem.com > How to Use > Use guides.  You should be able to tailor your epoxy mix to exactly the characteristics you want.  I don't work for this company or get any special treatment from them.  I've just been using their products with wood since 1977.  No need for problems with epoxy not staying in the joints.

Tom

I actually have fumed silica as a thixatropic agent. I hesitated to use it in case it weakened the epoxy in such a critical area. Great link thank you! Another photo of doubler on lower longeron. Epoxy "squeeze out" still needs to be cleaned up

Enjoy Hawaii. Big waves this time of year. Maui my favorite. Road to Hana excellent drive!

Quoted from alex3

Enjoy Hawaii. Big waves this time of year. Maui my favorite. Road to Hana excellent drive!

The road to Hanna was great and waves were big! Sadly we are home. Left this came home to snow! Vit-D replenished! Back to the basement

One more left this....Came home to .....hidden under that snow is an adorable airplane mailbox!  Add 1.6 pounds to the weight loss. Not bad on vacation! Esp a cruise. That's our ship In background!

Build continues. Framing on fuse cont. top forward doublers added. LG reinforcements added. Top rear longeron cap strips added. Note plywood used to keep sides straight until longeron cap strips dry completely. Cockpit RS-8 doublers added here. workshop modified so fuse can be completed. My ceiling is low so fuse on workbench too tall to complete turtle deck. Workbench extensions broken down. Sawhorses made to hold fuse

Beginning to fit forward fuse plywood top. Strapping tape being used to keep fuse sides in position.

One more. Still need to clean up excess epoxy....

Looking good.  Are you going to make skies or just snow shovels for your gear?  :P  It still is cold but no snow in central NC.  Nice time to be in Hawaii. Looks like you were really enjoying you trip.
BobN

Quoted from bobnafe

Looking good.  Are you going to make skies or just snow shovels for your gear?  :P  It still is cold but no snow in central NC.  Nice time to be in Hawaii. Looks like you were really enjoying you trip.
BobN

We had a great time! Another 14 inches of snow today. May need ski's and a shovel!

Welcome back. Now my turn! Pensacola today ti Friday then Douglas AZ next Sunday.

Quoted from alex3

Welcome back. Now my turn! Pensacola today ti Friday then Douglas AZ next Sunday.

Enjoy! Sounds like a great trip!
Cockpit corners cut and glued. Front horizontal forward doublers cut from RS-12. Gluing to RS-21. Aligning everything perfectly so that the aluminum motor mounts would be flush seemed like a problem. I decided to use them as a guide. First I clamped them to a couple straight edges. Then they were used as alignment guide and clamped to doublers to keep everything true!

One more

looking good Brixx, are you installing a step to mount the beast?

monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

looking good Brixx, are you installing a step to mount the beast?

monte

Thank you! Yes I will be adding the step very soon! The factory fiberglass step seems a little shallow. I plan on mounting it in a test stand first!

To practice getting in your MiniMAX, you might want to brush up on the pirouettes you learned in ballet class!  :-/

Here's how one search result summed up a pirouette .... "The pirouette, a spin around on one leg, is one of the most difficult of all dance steps"......and they didn't even mention the difficult move necessary to get in a MiniMAX.

Lynn  

Brixx, AZ got pushed back. Now they're sending me to the wilds of long island. Anyway since my next step (at some point) will be doing the plywood on the fuselage, and you just did that, is 2 full sheets of 1/8 ply enough or should I order more?
thanks,
Alex

Quoted from alex3

Brixx, AZ got pushed back. Now they're sending me to the wilds of long island. Anyway since my next step (at some point) will be doing the plywood on the fuselage, and you just did that, is 2 full sheets of 1/8 ply enough or should I order more?
thanks,
Alex

I believe 2 sheets will do it, let me take some measurements tomorrow. I ordered the kit. But I doubt there was more than that in there

Moving forward. Seat area completed. Pretty straight forward. Fitting the aluminum firewall engine mounts was very straight forward also. Decided to drill out the aluminum mounts. Then secure them to vertical braces. Using a drill jig I then drilled from the inside out using 3/16 drill bit since the inside surface is 90 degrees to firewall. Then I stepped up the 3/16 to the next dimension (maybe 5/16???) using step drill. Followed by standard drill and drill jig. (BTW great item. Don't know what I would do without it!) finally counter sunk fuse from outside using 1 inch spade bit. Measure dept carefully here. A little epoxy in holes and glued in RS-601 anti compression spacers. Then varnish forward section and bolted it all together.

Added and glued on top deck behind seat, cut and fit forward section. I stapled forward deck on for now. Won't glue just yet. Want to keep it removable for access at this time. A little hint. I found when drilling recess for bolts in forward fuse. I needed to increase dept a bit after compression spacers in place. I cut off pilot drill part of spade  drill and was able to "fine tune" the dept without marring up spacer. Will add pics to explain better tomorrow!

Let's add 4.2 pounds to the loss side total 67.8. ... BTW taken with my new selfie stick👍

WOW you are going great guns on both projects. Hope all goes well with both of them. :)

Great progress!!

Thanks Aeronut and Ricardo! After building the wings. The fuse is a piece of cake........so far lol I decided to stick with the stock LG. The factory welded gear added six pounds. Although it would have saved some  time and eliminated the "grass catcher" cross bar.  as we all know weight is a big (excuse the pun) issue with me
Cut and formed hinge for LG. Then brackets for main LG axel . The hinge as supplied is much wider than necessary. It could be left as is, but weight again being an issue I cut them to size. Saved 12 ounces in extra material here.  Using jig as outlined in the plans 1 1/8 holes cut at 37 degrees. All bolted together. Ready to mount on the fuse bottom

Jigged to the fuse. Angles set at 37 degrees. Drilled and bolts installed. Notice those handy binder clips keeping the axel in place.

Looking good Brian!  Glad to see you've gone for the 3 bolt bottom bracket. That adds quite a lot of strength to the gear for very little extra weight.

Are you doing the double F3 boxed-in frame at the aft end of the cockpit for rollover protection as per UK directive?  I've done it & it looks reasonably strong & stiff. I'll post pix soon: I'm re-arranging my workshop at the moment.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce, yes I plan  on doing all the UK modifications including the F3 boxed in roll over frame. I  Look forward to your pics on this. I also am seriously considering changing my wing tips and incorporating your design, although I like the drooped look, it could be a considerable weight savings! I understand the re-arranging. My basement ceiling height is a limiting factor for me. My space is also limited. The bench was build with the concept that allowed me to break it down in order to make room in my shop and allow me to work at a better height on the fuse!

Wheels and brakes fitted. These two piece rims are a bear to put together. Punctured one tube ( notice flat tire) need to come up with a mounting arrangement for the drum brakes. Any ideas?

One more

Did you assemble the rims with the tubes flat?  Or did you air them up just a bit before you put the rims together?

Usually helps avoid pinch flats to put in just enough air for the tube to take/hold shape.  That works for bicycles and motorcycles and I suspect on aircraft too since similar technology.

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Punctured one tube ( notice flat tire) need to come up with a minting arrangement for the drum brakes. Any ideas?

Be careful.  I don't like the Asuza wheels & brakes either,  PITA to change tires.

Yea I really am not liking the drum brakes. Team is going to allow me to exchange for band brakes. Also I did finally figure out that adding some air allowed one to slowly bolt the rims together! Finally check out my main axel! Darn it I drilled one hole 1/4 inch off center. Tried it free hand.....never agian. .....Going to get another axel! Here she is sitting on her legs!

This is a very nice thread.  Very inspiring.  I thank you for sharing all this with us.

Tom

Brixx it must feel good to get her on the wheels. I've got band brakes on my max and they are ok at best. They work fine with slow taxi on the tarmac but don't have much effect on higher speed runs as they get hot very fast. Keep up the great work.

Monte

Do I hear airplane noises emanating from your workshop?? :) Thanks for your posts; they are great.

Quoted from Tom

This is a very nice thread.  Very inspiring.  I thank you for sharing all this with us.

Tom

Thank you guys for all your support! It has been a pleasure sharing This journey with all of you. I am so pleased I chose a Minimax as my first build. The support from Dave and the entire crew at TEAM minimax has been outstanding......along with the support and advice from  all you buzzards has made this dream of mine possible!!!! In 1994 i was at Oshkosh air show. I watched minimaxes fly in the ultralight area. I wanted one ever since! .....

And yes Aeronut..it is quite possible you hear my making airplane noises in my basement!!!!!  ;).......but I also have to say when the wind blowing down from Maine  I believe I hear your airplane noises also.... :)

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Brixx it must feel good to get her on the wheels. I've got band brakes on my max and they are ok at best. They work fine with slow taxi on the tarmac but don't have much effect on higher speed runs as they get hot very fast. Keep up the great work.

Monte

Good to know. Working with Dave know on a mounting solution for drum brakes . Also considering fabricating a "ring" to weld onto brake drum to prevent distortion .

Yup, but mine is in hibernation. Hopefully May will come and I well hear the sound of a 447 again. :)

You can buy the drums with a flange on them and have been machined on the inside... They are actually round..

Quoted from Harless Greear

You can buy the drums with a flange on them and have been machined on the inside... They are actually round..

Nce! Where do I get them ?

Ok. I fixed the main axel. Purchased a new one and carefully drilled all holes center. On to the turtle deck. I made cardboard templates. Then stapled the  Templates onto the wood and transferred the outline onto the wood.

Formers now glued into place. Waiting to dry. I have removed aluminum motor mounts temporally in order to varnish the inside front of fuse. Plus I didn't want to glue them in accidentally with "squeeze out epoxy from top turtle deck. Notice the ceiling height! That is why the bench had to be broken down. I also carefully measured everything at this point to insure I can still get it out of basement!    I can :)

Couple more. Notice quick "jig" to form turtle deck formers. I need 2 of the first because I plan on incorperating the LAA rollover protection recommendation.

Lookin' like an airplane! I hope my build looks like yours by later this spring... (just finishing the fuse sides now). Love the quick build 2X4 sawhorses. I have built many of that "model," and have a couple supporting my rowing dory project at this minute :-).

Great pictures of a great build. Nice collection of clamps. :)

clamps😃👍 it is true! You can never have too many! I love these sawhorses.  First time I buit them. I will be building more. Simple. Inexpensive. Strong and quick to build. Keep plugging away  ...it's great when it actually starts go look like an airplane!!!

Weight loss update. Another 1.8 pounds lost. Total 69.6 since build. Here I am hiking in Hawaii. Six years age I would get out of breath walking to my car! Another 30 pounds and I can officially climb in my max and make airplane noises!

I am working on a V-max build, just wanted to say that your forum / log has been wonderful to read and very inspiring.  I am looking forward to seeing your progress.   What kind of engine ignition systems are you installing?  I am going with Dual ignition and trying to sort out how I will handle induction and carb placement.

- thank you.

Quoted from Seaplane Pirate

I am working on a V-max build, just wanted to say that your forum / log has been wonderful to read and very inspiring.  I am looking forward to seeing your progress.   What kind of engine ignition systems are you installing?  I am going with Dual ignition and trying to sort out how I will handle induction and carb placement.

- thank you.

Thank you for that. I  have a hummell 60 hp 4 cylinder motor. It has the carb mounted on top. The heads are off and heading back to hummell to get secondary ignition and dual plugs. It has a single slick  mag currently.  The big question right now for me is carb heat! Good luck with your build. If I can be of any help let me know

Couple pics here of LAA recommended double hoop for rollover protection. Also RS-5 sections being glued to nose in prep for sheeting with plywood

Brixx at the rate you are building your max will be flying by summer....great work, great log.

Monte

What are you shooting for as an empty weight?

Ace,
     Great work on the V-max. I'm very impressed with build and personal determination! I like the hike in the woods picture! Stay healthy and fly far!

Thanks for sharing!

Bret :0)

Thanks for all the support guys! I am hoping for a 400 pound empty weight. i have cleaned up all "squeeze out epoxt and cut out all "optional" areas. I am going with Belite instruments quick saves a few pounds there. The wing tips I have are heavy. I am most likely going to fly without them at first. I may even give Bruce's wing tips a try. I guess only time will tell. Things are progressing well. As far as flying by summer....... You know what they say! 90 percent done..... 90 percent to go! :) plus with spring on the way I will have to venture outside and see and clean up what ever damage 111 inches of snow in 8 weeks caused :(

A quick note on turtle deck  stringers. While laying them out I wanted to made sure the fabric would lay properly. So I used a sheet stretched over the top before gluing the spacers in place.  It did result in me changing the  "bow" of a couple stringers for a smooth look!

You have a good attention to details. Keep up the good work.

Brixx, thanks for all the great pics, and documentation that you are doing. The V-Max model would be my choice, but the Hi-Max version. Keep it up, Great !!

Steve

Thanks guys! It's been fun! Now as you all know I am building the Vmax with 1600 turtleneck. The next "dilemma" is the formers in the plans vary. The 1600 has a different shape firewall than the Vmax. I  used the firewall outline from the Vmax (that way the cowl will fit properly. ) then the next former (F1) I used the outline from the 1600. The plywood flowed smoothly. I will use 1600 formers from F1 rearward. Here you see the turtleneck complete. I have not glued in lower stringers on either side, I still want access for installation of ballistic chute (I purchased the 750 from slowmax, it is on its way to BRS for repack and new rocket) and controls! All areas under from aluminum engine mounts. Varnished. Compression fitting epoxied into holes. Bolted in place. I have left main firewall off for access to inside for now. But it is ready to glue on!

Great work Brian - your plane is really coming together.

When do you sleep?  I'm retired so can work most days on my Eros. But I'm guessing you still have a job to go to, so you must be burning a lot of midnight oil.

It's clearly worth it though: with your plane on its gear it looks the business!

Bruce

[quote=243]Great work Brian - your plane is really coming together.

When do you sleep?  I'm retired so can work most days on my Eros. But I'm guessing you still have a job to go to, so you must be burning a lot of midnight oil.

It's clearly worth it though: with your plane on its gear it looks the business!

Thanks Bruce. As far a time.......I am a lucky man. My job as a paramedic consists of two 24 hours shifts a week. Since the kids have grown up. Finished collage and got married I no longer have  to do overtime shifts, yet we still have money left over at the end of the month!!!!!! That leaves 5 days a week for fun! Most of my work is done during he day while the wife slaves away in her Monday through Friday job! I try to not work on the Max while she is home! But I have been known to go downstairs for "5" minutes to glue! ( we all including my wife knows that means 60-90 minutes :) ) she is a trooper!

Onto the canopy. I will be building 2. One fully enclosed for the dreadful cold days here and one open cockpit for the fun summer days! Enclosed version first! Pictures tell the story. Very straight forward. Don't forget to leave 1/16 inch inset on lip of canopy top. also I will be incorporating the V notch alignment as shown in Bruce's thread! Thanks Bruce!

More on canopy. Don't forget to cut notch in canopy top before gluing! I had to cut mine after mounting. Luckily I noticed but before glue dried! I cleaned inside canopy top with acetone to remove oils and then sanded to remove rough areas and to improve adhesion. Cleaned again with acetone? Now time to line up and glue. You  don't want to sand then remove oils. The sanding process can imbed oils in the glass and make them hard to remove. I will let it dry and get ready to sheet with plywood over next couple days.

Couple more.....

Brixx do you ever sleep  :X

Monte

Brian, I will send you a drawing for a carb heat box

Im looking at the Aeroinjector from Sonex for carb- as it has no Venturi it should not need carb heat...(in theory) but otherwise I'll be doing a under engine Zenith carb.... And I'll be needing to setup carb heat too... But we're going to try the POSA style first.

Monte... According to my wife I don't sleep enought! :) yes Dave please send me those drawings. I looked at the Sonex carb, but it won't work for me with my carb on top of motor and tank position. I also was intrigued by that setup! I have talked to the boys at Culver props about their automatic carb heat setup and that is simple and on the short list. I want to see what Dave has for drawings. Weather around here is going to make carb heat a necessity! I just ordered the duel Leburg ignition. A bit pricey. But very lightweight. I can now eliminate that heavy magneto that would be situated between my legs and rudder pedals. It should represent a savings of 3 pounds.

The canopy build continues. The pictures tell the story.... As you can see a man can never own too many clamps! Lots of wax paper to insure it is removable after the glue dries!

Couple more. Clamps off ........some sanding! Hey it's starting to really look like an airplane!

It dang sure does. great work.

monte

Very impressive work! :)

Thanks guys. BTW 2 pound loss this week! Total 71.6

Just looking great! Nice and clean your work.

Thanks guys! Here is a couple more. Starting to fit Lexan windshield. Fin is on to to make it look like an airplane!

One more

Looking Good!  8)

,Bret

Quoted from BLTFreedom

Looking Good!  8)

,Bret

Thank you!
Just want to clarify my statement about the TEAM drooping wingtips. My statement the "wing tips are to heavy" is not based on the plane not being able to handle them!  I have a couple PM's from very happy users of these wing tips! I love the looks of them. The plane can absolutely handle them. My problem is a very chunky pilot (me!) although I am getting lighter every day ..........the less the plane weighs the sooner I can fly her!
Back to the basement! :)

You don't understand the concept,. the drooped wingtips are an aerodynamical device that increases your lift, not just dead weigh.
You always gain performance with them , the only case of weight problem would be if you want to stay 103 weight and don't have the extra five lbs to to put on
The same goes for the strut fairings, even with extra weight of them you don't lose any climb, The sum gain of the drag reduction is greater then weight added

Quoted from 71

You don't understand the concept,. the drooped wingtips are an aerodynamical device that increases your lift, not just dead weigh.
You always gain performance with them , the only case of weight problem would be if you want to stay 103 weight and don't have the extra five lbs to to put on
The same goes for the strut fairings, even with extra weight of them you don't lose any climb, The sum gain of the drag reduction is greater then weight added

George is right. With the wing tips you are increasing your wing area. Albeit a small amount but:

Wing loading is a useful measure of the general maneuvering performance of an aircraft. Wings generate lift owing to the motion of air over the wing surface. Larger wings move more air, so an aircraft with a large wing area relative to its mass (i.e., low wing loading) will have more lift available at any given speed. Therefore, an aircraft with lower wing loading will be able to take off and land at a lower speed (or be able to take off with a greater load). It will also be able to turn faster.

Thanks, Bret

As stated above the benefits of the wing tips will offset the weight. I have had mine off at times and noticed they don't weigh that much. Since you are not going part 103 they might be worth thinking about.

Monte

Mmmmmmm you guys are all giving me something to think about! You are right George I have just been thinking of the wingtips as a cosmetic item.  The limiting factor is my ballistic chute. It is rated to 750 pounds. Dave tells me to expect the dry weight with wingtips, enclosed canopy and chute to be 436 pounds. With full tanks add 72 pounds. Allows a chunky but adorable pilot of 242 pounds. I guess that is my target flying weight...... The builds and weigh loss continue! More research is needed by me concerning the wingtips....... Thanks for all the input guys.

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Mmmmmmm you guys are all giving me something to think about! You are right George I have just been thinking of the wingtips as a cosmetic item.  The limiting factor is my ballistic chute. It is rated to 750 pounds. Dave tells me to expect the dry weight with wingtips, enclosed canopy and chute to be 436 pounds. With full tanks add 72 pounds. Allows a chunky but adorable pilot of 242 pounds. I guess that is my target flying weight...... The builds and weigh loss continue! More research is needed by me concerning the wingtips....... Thanks for all the input guys.

Great sense of humor! But you are right! I saw the pictures!  LOL ::)

I've got an idea, if you have to deploy the chute just jump out and your plane will come down safely  ;D ;D ;D

monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

I've got an idea, if you have to deploy the chute just jump out and your plane will come down safely  ;D ;D ;D

monte

Problem solved! Lol some are easier than others :)

I don't want Brixx to jump out!  I look for any additions to this thread everyday.  Very inspiring.

Tom

Quoted from Tom

I don't want Brixx to jump out!  I look for any additions to this thread everyday.  Very inspiring.

Tom

Awwwwwwww thanks Tom! You guys are a great bunch! Monte in retrospect jumping out seems to not be a great idea! Funny though..... my wife thought it was a fantastic idea. She even recommended I practice😉..... Well I am waiting for a shipment of wood for the second open style canopy to arrive........soooo it is not like there is nothing else to do. I am moving onto the control stick assembly. Note here the double elevator cables. Another UK mandatory upgrade. Also note the upgraded L bracket using aircraft grade aluminum with radius inside curve and double screws. A US and UK upgrade. Dave at Minimax  posted a nice trick on his facebook page on how to easily find center lines on tubing. It works really nice. I encourage you guys to check it out! On the weight front.....No weight loss to report. I seem to have stalled. But not to worry! I am forging on in all battles!

What are you down to now?

Quoted from PUFF

What are you down to now?

278 pounds!  👍😄

Beautiful control stick... too bad you don't make them to sell ! -   great inspiration looking at your post. Can you post a link about that ignition your getting?  I am still sorting out my VW ignition plan. And how about power generation does yours have an alternator or?    - keep up the great work.

Good job Bigbrixx1,
     Time to change your forum name to Smallbrixx1. Looking good my friend!

Bret :0)

Superb finish on those shiny bits Brian.

Are you going to use any sort of lacquer or spray on magic stuff to keep them shiny?

Bruce

Great job with those shiny controls!
What's your personal target on the weight department? :X

Great work.

Lessee... back on 11/2013 you wanted to drop 100 lbs in 2 years which is about 4 lbs per month and you have 8 months to go which would be 32 lbs so looks to me like you are about 3 pounds ahead of schedule  :)

I love reading your thread for both story lines.  Time to take advantage of the better weather to get out there and *do*  8)

what's the goal for flight weight??
You're getting Closer!

Quoted from PUFF

what's the goal for flight weight??
You're getting Closer!

My original flight weight goal was 249. Now I would like to see 242. Eventually I would like to be under 200. I figure I have a year left to the build perhaps a bit longer. That's 36 pounds! Piece of cake!!!! Of course the lighter I am the better the Max will fly! I just tried on a Piper Cub for size. I think 20 pounds and I begin flying lessons in one. It's awesome being solo close to this goal!

Bruce. My research on putting a clearcoat on the aluminum leads me to believe it's not a viable option, it cleans up so well with a scotch brite med wheel I just had to do it!  

Quoted from Seaplane Pirate

Beautiful control stick... too bad you don't make them to sell ! -   great inspiration looking at your post. Can you post a link about that ignition your getting?  I am still sorting out my VW ignition plan. And how about power generation does yours have an alternator or?    - keep up the great work.

Thank you! Check out leburg ignition by skycraft. They shipped the dual ignition to me and it arrived from the UK in about a week. I am going to put an altenator driven from the back of motor where the magneto was. I found a light weight 35 amp unit, it is about 4 pounds. And should put out 20 Ams  at cruise

Hey Litebrixx I hope you have as much fun flying as you do building. Your work is beautiful.

Monte

Ok, I will check into the Leburg ignition.  I will be very interested to see how the alternator mounts to the back of the motor- keep me posted.  I am looking currently at a Genipod that will have about 4ah, if not I will have to end up with an accessory case etc. etc. and adds about 26lbs.

Quoted from Seaplane Pirate

Ok, I will check into the Leburg ignition.  I will be very interested to see how the alternator mounts to the back of the motor- keep me posted.  I am looking currently at a Genipod that will have about 4ah, if not I will have to end up with an accessory case etc. etc. and adds about 26lbs.

The accessory case is very heavy and I don't see how it could be added to the minimax. I have considered the Gennipod also. If I cannot make the lightweight alternator work. It will go back on the short list. Another consideration operate without a charging system at all. With new  light weight battery technology this is a viable alternative. It is a work in progress. I imagine all my ideas may not work.
Yes Monte this is a very exciting time. The piper Cub is a bit too snug right now. But I suspect another 20 should do it! I had a nasty cold this week progress on the Max slowed down a bit.
Here is control assembly mounted in the plane. Ailerons to be added soon. Also step added. I decided to make step removable for some access to rudder pedals. I also plan on adding some small panels in the fuse side for access to alternator and rudder pedals. I added a reinforcement strip to fuse side for screws to keep step in place and added plywood reinforcement to bottom of step. Increasing strength and adding about 1/4 depth  to step.
Weight starting to come off 1.2 pounds since last report!

Couple more. Here is step. Notice reinforcement strip on inside!

More interesting pix, as ever. Looking good Brian!

For access to rudder pedals, I have just been removing the floor panel they're attached to. I don't have the cables attached yet, but I'm hoping moving the floor will give me enough room to adjust the rudder (and in my case heel brake) cables later on.

I'm still progressing my pushrod controls. All seem to functioning like they did on paper so far, but I'm still fine tuning.

I'm sure your control circuit will be finished before mine!

Bruce

Accessing rudder pedals by removing floorboard is s great idea! Simple is best! I  just picked up these heel brakes. I picked them up on E-bay. They appear to be made of "drawer slides" looks like they will work very well. More updates to follow. I will be interested in seeing what you come up with Bruce. Like everything else you do, I am sure it will be outstanding!

Canopy plexiglass fitted and installed. Canopy hinge installed. Locking mechanism this week. I have everything in place to build open cockpit. Should be starting that next week

Couple of hinge side before side panels fit.

Hi -

I was wondering if you are a licensed pilot or not?  You comment regarding the Cub training threw me for a loop; are you working on your tail wheel endorsement or would that be the beginning of you flight training?

Like you, I fly R/C with my primary focus being pattern flying (others call it F3A, but I am not up to flying the FAI schedules just yet).  At any rate, I have always been interested in full scale aviation and I look at the MAX series as a way of blending the two.  I am just curious about your approach.

Your quality of you work has been evident throughout the build.  You are doing a great job!

Teo

Quoted from viva_peru

Hi -

I was wondering if you are a licensed pilot or not?  You comment regarding the Cub training threw me for a loop; are you working on your tail wheel endorsement or would that be the beginning of you flight training?

Like you, I fly R/C with my primary focus being pattern flying (others call it F3A, but I am not up to flying the FAI schedules just yet).  At any rate, I have always been interested in full scale aviation and I look at the MAX series as a way of blending the two.  I am just curious about your approach.

Your quality of you work has been evident throughout the build.  You are doing a great job!

Teo

Hi Teo
   I am NOT a licensed pilot. I have always wanted to fly. I have had 3 major obstacles to flying. (1) weight (2) see one (3) see one and two 😄 the Minimax project was started to motivate me to continue loosing weight to achieve my dream of flying! And it had been awesome!  Your modeling skills will be  very helpful when building the Max..... Think of it as a Cadet Senior on steroids! A few pounds more and I begin flight training! This is more to me than a build. It is a realization of a dream! Thanks for the compliment on my build. Hope this answers your question. My advice. Order up your max in the flavor you like best and start building😄👍 let me know if I can be of any help!

BigBrix:
I recommend you to paint the instrument panel under the Plexiglas.
On mine I had the airplane color on top of it and I had a problem because of light reflection. It will bother if you plan to film or take pictures to the outside through the front Plexiglas.  I  glued a piece of  flat black cardboard on top of it as seen in the picture, I was to lazy to remove the Plexiglas.

Great hint Ricardo. Do you think it worth putting an anti glare panel forward of the windshield

Hi -

Thank you for your response.  I already have copies of the Mini Max plans as well as those for the Bower Fly Baby (I actually bought them from Pete a couple of years before his passing).  It is always in the back of my mind.

I have taken some flight training, but with one kid in college and the other about to go, it may have to wait for a while.  One last question, once the plane is finished, is your intent to perform the first test flight or are you thinking about having some one else have the honor?

Thanks,

Teo

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Great hint Ricardo. Do you think it worth putting an anti glare panel forward of the windshield

I don't think so, being a curved surface it will not reflect too much on your eyes.
Anyways the paint on my plane doesn't shine at all so I never had any problems.

Quoted from Ricardo

I don't think so, being a curved surface it will not reflect too much on your eyes.
Anyways the paint on my plane doesn't shine at all so I never had any problems.

Thanks for the advice. I will add an anti glare shield behind windshield.
As far a first flights. Since my flight experience will be very limited at the expected time if maiden voyage. I am hoping to find a much more experienced pilot willing to take her up!

I am making the hardware for both canopies. Also started the open canopy. Also drilled and attached rear mounting point for the elevator cables. Spring is here. Got some home improvements starting. I expect progress to slow a bit! But not stop!

Great Job so far! Looking good!

Bret :)

Almost forgot! The grand kids came by a few weeks ago!  Finally somebody to get in and make airplane noises!

Quoted from BLTFreedom

Great Job so far! Looking good!

Bret :)

Thank s Bret. On another update guys. Just heard back from BRS guys. I purchased Slowmax ballistic chute. It is being re-packed, new rocket igniter. And should be shipping soon! Thanks for a smooth transaction Slowmax!  

Seems like you beat the boys at TEAM to making a 2 seat Max. Brian!

Bruce

Quoted from beragoobruce

Seems like you beat the boys at TEAM to making a 2 seat Max. Brian!

Bruce

Hahahah guess I did. It goes with my theme.... Make the pilots smaller, not the plane bigger!

Brixx  sure right.  If I was the weight I was as a young man I'd have 83 more pounds useful load, and most people wouldn't think of me as overweight.  Smaller pilots is a good way to go!

Tom

Great progress Brixx. Do you happen to remember where you picked up this drill guide? I can't find one anywhere.

Quoted from Jessie

Great progress Brixx. Do you happen to remember where you picked up this drill guide? I can't find one anywhere.

Yes it is "big gator tools" It is called the v drill guide. purchased mine from amazon!

Thanks Brixx. I just ordered one.

A little more work on open style canopy! Tomorrow I plan on fitting windshield! Weight is not coming off at this time 😞 this weekend wife and I are hiking and biking! Hope to kick  it into higher gear!

Looks like the plane is coming along finest kind. I hope your outdoor activities are productive.

Thanks for the kind support Aeronut. A little break in the weather. Went bicycling. Those bike shorts wouldn't go past my knees last year :) here is my very understanding wife and I. Let's kick up weight loss with exercise! Up date to follow in a few days. I only weigh in once a week. Back to the max... Open canopy anyone! A true convertible. Soon everything goes to the hanger !

Here is open and enclosed canopy! A true convertible! Question? How are you guys securing the front section of windshield? I am thinking silicone adhesive......

Brixx:
You can get some synthetic rubber channel to fit the lower edge of your windshield from Aircraft Spruce, with two or three simple angled support blocks inside to fasten to that should keep it from vibrating or letting cold air in.

Tom

Good suggestion Tom, I have that rubber channel on my windscreen and it seals the front great. It also makes for a easy replacement of the screen when it gets scratched.

Monte

I just put three homemaid aluminum "clamps" to avoid vibration. Didn't put any rubber because no wind flows under the windshield.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! They are a lot of help. I may try the synthetic rubber. Ricardo how is the wind flow in cockpit with side panels removed ?

Good idea Richardo! Looks good. Love the color of your plane too!

Bret  8) 8)

Quoted from bigbrixx1

.... Ricardo how is the wind flow in cockpit with side panels removed ?

Just perfect, no wind problem at all, however I sealed the area behind the cockpit

Thanks for the reply Ricardo! Sorry It has  been a while but spring sprung and I was pulled away from the Max for a bit!
     On an update starting to install the BRS-750 chute I purchased from Slomax. It turned out to be a fair deal. I had him send it directly to BRS. They repacked it. Replaced rocket. And here it is!. Notice reinforcements where harness  run through fuselage. Then I am going to make small reliefs on turtledeck stringers to run over the outside and will cover them with fabric when covering plane. I plan on rocket coming out side. I need to check with Dave. I think if I remove first stringer between station 3 and 4 or thin out that stringer. it will leave plenty of room for rocket. Tail wheel installed. Notice simple clamp using bolt, nut and washers to keep doublers in place whole glue dries! Soon I will be moving fuselage to me hanger space so work can continue there!

Few more

On the weight front 5.8 pounds gone! Now weigh at 270 pounds. I decided to try the Max on for size! It is roomier than I expected! Still need to loose about 30 or even better 40 pounds! I am still TFTL (to fat to flare :)) got to love a selfie stick!

Couple more, got the wife to take these ! And yes I did make airplane noises! After she went back upstairs of course!

Methinks these should be videos so we can hear the airplane noises  ;D

Brian: Things are very slow down my hall here at work today and I have read this entire thread today. I can't do beautiful wood work, but I can certainly recognize it and that is the work that you have done. I will keep up with the rest of your posts to see the final product.

Congratulations on your weight loss.

I live on the northern edge of the Texas Coastal Plains, a little east of Houston. It is not unusual for us to have a 30 degree or more spread between the high and low temperatures in a single day in any season. Have you considered putting a vent in the top of that enclosed canopy? Or maybe one of those NACA inlets, I think they are called, in the side of the fuselage? Perhaps you do not have such temperature swings where you live.

Great job on both your projects.

Quoted from Sterling Silver

Bruce: Things are very slow down my hall here at work today and I have read this entire thread today. I can't do beautiful wood work, but I can certainly recognize it and that is the work that you have done. I will keep up with the rest of your posts to see the final product.

Congratulations on your weight loss.

I live on the northern edge of the Texas Coastal Plains, a little east of Houston. It is not unusual for us to have a 30 degree or more spread between the high and low temperatures in a single day in any season. Have you considered putting a vent in the top of that enclosed canopy? Or maybe one of those NACA inlets, I think they are called, in the side of the fuselage? Perhaps you do not have such temperature swings where you live.

Great job on both your projects.

Thanks for the advice and the compliments ! (I think it's for me, Bruce is also building a Max and his wood work puts mine to shame) that is a great idea about an air inlet. I have seen some round type that open and close. I shall look into these!
And sorry no videos of me making airplane noises. A man can only humiliate himself so much 😉!

Sorry about getting your name wrong.  :B I intend the originator of this thread, the dwindling man. That is a good thing. I need to dwindle considerably, both for aircraft performance and my health. However, cockpit width is no concern at all on a Tandem AirBike. Seat width? (Airplane's, not mine. Mine is plenty wide.) That's another thing, but shoulder room is great.

Quoted from Sterling Silver

Sorry about getting your name wrong.  :B I intend the originator of this thread, the dwindling man. That is a good thing. I need to dwindle considerably, both for aircraft performance and my health. However, cockpit width is no concern at all on a Tandem AirBike. Seat width? (Airplane's, not mine. Mine is plenty wide.) That's another thing, but shoulder room is great.

I'll bet shoulder room is great ! :) Thank  you for the kind words! The project is moving to the hanger today. Weather is to nice to stay in my basement!

In order to not spend all summer in basement. And I needed a bit more room. Project moved into my hanger space ! Wings already there . Fuse today! My helper the arrived fooled by the offer of free lunch!

Couple more . BTW nice EAA wing rack. Total cost about 35 dollars!

Here are pics and diagram for wing rack. Instead of 4x4 I glued and screwed 2 2x4's together! Aircraft spruce sells the kit for about 250 plus shipping.....or  build yourself for about 40 dollars!

Me likey likey the wing rack!  8)
I wonder about incorporating transport into that rack...

Nice! plane is already in the nest. I have the same wing rack, found the plans in this forum...where else?

Quoted from Ricardo

Nice! plane is already in the nest. I have the same wing rack, found the plans in this forum...where else?

Yes I found the plans here a while back! Easy to build. Very nice rack!

Mounted ballistic chute! Two RS9 pieces across fuse back deck. Then reinforced with plywood for chute pack mount. I am running bridles thru 1/4 inch slots in turtle deck stringers. The will allow easy break away. But leave smooth look. I I have reinforced the areas where the slots have been cut for bridles. Chute will blow out left side. Notice doubled up top stringers. I plan on laying extra bridle material and large connector clamp in there wit Velcro to keep in place. Bridles run from LG axel into fuselage. I plan to Velcro bridles onto LG legs to prevent them from flapping in flight. You can also see reinforcements for bridles where they come through the fuse. And a once shot of LG reinforcement pads!

Here is a few more.

Couple more. You can make out stringer doublers. I plan on adding a 1/4 inch stringer to replace missing stringer section. It should easily blow out if the need to deploy rocket becomes necessary. The bridles in top center section will be held in leave with velcro. The concept is rocket deployed out left side. Primary bridal breaks free from stringers. Main bridals break free from top three stringers and plane should come down with slight nose down position. Yet doublers should leave most if not all stringers intact so as to maintain strength for roll over protection. You can make out potential location for deployment handle.

Looks really good.  It is going to be a sweet ride.  Good job on the weight loss.

Thanks airhead! Just back from 3 week motorcycle trip. Oshkosh was halfway point. Met Dave and saw the Epic! It is Awesome. I decided to get in the plan special! Sadly I gained 4 pounds on the trip. Tough eating on the road! But back to loosing weight again!  Here is a couple more photos of chute install

Sending off some pics to the BRS people to. Make sure the install is satisfactory. Meantime I am fitting the horizontal and vertical tail. Really starting to look like an airplane now!

Oh and I feel I should mention the 4 pounds I gained on vacation......3 are gone! Also exciting news! I started my flight training yesterday! Finally got to a low enough weight! I am training on a CTLS light sport aircraft. I plan to get my light sport certificate! I know I will eventually need a tail dragged endorsement! But I fit very comfortably in this plane. It is local and I LOVE the flying. I cannot believe I have finally reached the stage in which I can fly! It is AWESOME! Sadly I was soooo excited I didn't take any pics. But no worries. I will make up for it in next weeks lesson! Thank you everybody for all your support over the last 18 months! The build continues! But now also the flight training! I still cannot believe it! :)

Well done Brian! Congratulations on hitting a major major way point. The flying is just going to be so much fun. Bugger the building - go flying!

Your plane is looking superb. It's great seeing all your work coming together.

It's getting closer  :)

Bruce

Quoted from beragoobruce

Well done Brian! Congratulations on hitting a major major way point. The flying is just going to be so much fun. Bugger the building - go flying!

Your plane is looking superb. It's great seeing all your work coming together.

It's getting closer  :)

Bruce

Thanks for the words of encouragement Bruce. I cannot believe I am really flying!

Whoop hoop it sure is coming together. Got to do my first take off today... Best thing is the flight school is 5 minutes from my hanger. So I build a bit then head over to fly! I am addicted! I think I am becoming an airport rat! :)

Great Job, and there are much worse things than being an airport bum. learn the fly whatever you can, I have flown many types of aircraft and have had a ball in them all. but also come see me or someone that can teach you to keep the little wheel in the back where it belongs.

Just think it was not that long ago that all this was just a dream for you and now YOU are making it all come true. My hat is off to you cause you have the "right stuff". Keep on keeping on; and savor these times. :)

Lawrence Airport?

Quoted from flydog

Lawrence Airport?

Yes! Lawrence airport. Are you close by?    
Eventually I will be able to fit myself in a cub or similar. Then get my tail wheel endorsement! For now I am so excited to be flying! Thanks to everybody for the support! Now the building... Weight loss and the Flying continue! I still cannot believe I am flying!

Such an amazing Man that has overcome so many obstacles, with great success, Congrats Brian

Yes, I'm in Westford. Got my private in a Citabria at Four Star Aviation about 15 years ago.

Quoted from flydog

Yes, I'm in Westford. Got my private in a Citabria at Four Star Aviation about 15 years ago.

Well if you find yourself in my area give me a call! Come on by the hanger. 978-979-5128

Quoted from theecoop

Such an amazing Man that has overcome so many obstacles, with great success, Congrats Brian

Thanks Dave. Also Thank you for all the help and advice along the way!

Dude!!! DEPLOY!!! DEPLOY!!!!!

Oh, never mind. I thought you were inverted.

Quoted from Sterling Silver

Dude!!! DEPLOY!!! DEPLOY!!!!!

Oh, never mind. I thought you were inverted.

Lol sorry guys!darn iPhone. I try but don't know they are upside down !

What do you do with a mis-drilled axel. You cut it in half and make a wing rack out of it!

Using clamps I can adjust height!

Foam rib jig. Set fuselage to zero degrees. Set rib to zero. After many careful measurements I then carefully drilled pilot holes from behind to make sure I had everything lined up!

Wing set to 3 degrees. Zero angle no washout. And an updated photo of me. Nice being in the hanger in the summer, open the hanger doors. Last summer building stopped due to not wanting to be I the basement on nice days! Plus the sound of Airplanes is motivating!i lost the weight I gained on vacation plus 2 pounds more! Tail is only temporary Clamped into place. First I want to set wings then tail in case I need to shim tail to align with wings!

Brian,
That last picture makes me think that your letting your building skills go to your head!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Oh and I feel I should mention the 4 pounds I gained on vacation......3 are gone! Also exciting news! I started my flight training yesterday! Finally got to a low enough weight! I am training on a CTLS light sport aircraft. I plan to get my light sport certificate! I know I will eventually need a tail dragged endorsement! But I fit very comfortably in this plane. It is local and I LOVE the flying. I cannot believe I have finally reached the stage in which I can fly! It is AWESOME! Sadly I was soooo excited I didn't take any pics. But no worries. I will make up for it in next weeks lesson! Thank you everybody for all your support over the last 18 months! The build continues! But now also the flight training! I still cannot believe it! :)

Awesome!
Hey, I picked up my tail-dragger endorsement while I was originally learning to fly in my Aeronca 11AC. Once you find a TW instructor you will have no problem adding it to your sport certificate.... Probably like everyone else on the board does, I remember that first feeling of flying, then even more so the first time there was no one in the right seat... hard to explain to others, but so incredible to be able to replay in my own head forever moving forward... Keep enjoying making your dreams come true!  

Your wing rack is impressive. Looks like an airplane so far.

WOW you are getting close to cover. That is when you get to cover up all that fantastic wood work. But you know what comes after that and engine installation it is FLIGHT TIME. You will remember this journey with great fondness for the rest of your life. :)

Thanks guys! This really is an exciting time for me! Vmax starting to come together! And the flying! AWESOME! The wing rack are simple, but very effective! Nice to re-purpose junk I have lying around! The wing stands took about one hour to make. Once wings are set I can start covering them!

Second wing in place. Everything lining up nice!

Brian,

I love this thread and have been lurking on here for over a year and am really looking forward to seeing the covering process. I hope you document it as well as you have everything else to this point. Are you going to learn as you go or are you going to do one of the sport air workshops? I have done the short forum at Oshkosh and realize I will probably need to do the workshop whenever the time comes but I would love to hear what it is like if you do.

FYI - your pictures look correct on my iPad but several are upside down on my work computer. Strange. But I like them anyway. Keep them coming.

Quoted from JWinter

Brian,

I love this thread and have been lurking on here for over a year and am really looking forward to seeing the covering process. I hope you document it as well as you have everything else to this point. Are you going to learn as you go or are you going to do one of the sport air workshops? I have done the short forum at Oshkosh and realize I will probably need to do the workshop whenever the time comes but I would love to hear what it is like if you do.

FYI - your pictures look correct on my iPad but several are upside down on my work computer. Strange. But I like them anyway. Keep them coming.

Glad to hear you are getting something out if this thread! It has become a bit more than just a build thread... More of a journey with a build along the way! I hope this inspires others to go out and chase their dreams! I am... And having a blast doing it! I plan on covering with stewards adhesive and painting with latex house paint. The sport air work shops focus on stitz covering process and none are close to me. I have been watching the videos and with my modeling background I plan on trying it myself. I will start with bottom of horizontal stabilizer see what happens! I try to keep the pics upright, I take them with an iPhone and view and load them with an iPad. As a result they all look upright to me! Here is another update! Everything going together smoothly at this point! And yes I plan on continuing with the document until completion!

A few more. Plus made a panel out of junk plywood for fit! Looks good to me! Next will transfer onto a good piece of plywood! Also the wife stopped by to check out where the funds (and I) have been going!

Nice progress, as we've come to expect from you!

That hangar looks like the aviation equivalent of a "garage-mahal"!

By the smile on your wife's face, I'd say she's pretty happy with what you're accomplishing.

Lynn

wow, makes me want to get back to work on my own Max, will be a long time before i'm where you are at with yours. keep it up.

Is that an EAA chapter hanger? Looking good on your progress.Hope you have a good place to do your covering in, will it be at the hanger? :)

Nice pictures, your wife and the plane make a good memory pic. She is be very proud of you, I can assure that.
Now that you are in the building process, Are you going to build the enclosed canopy? Is a must for the winter time.
Congratulations on your magnificent work.

Yes EAA CH-106. One of two hangers! It is heaven! There is a CH701 under construction to my right. A Sonex to my left under construction and a long easy that just entered phase 2 of flying across from me! Relatively busy airport. EAA hanger seems to be the place for pilots to stop by before and after flights! I have to tell you guys. My little wooden airplane garners a LOT of attention! Yes Ricardo I have already build the enclosed version cockpit ! It's like a flying convertible! Well soon to be flying! And yes guys my wife is very proud of the progress I have made on all fronts! I wouldn't be where I am today without her. Just got my N number for the Minimax! For 10 dollars I reserved N417BJ that's our anniversary date and initials! Wow did I get points for that one 😉! And once the wing struts are on and wings straight they will come off and the covering will begin, I plan on doing it right in the hanger !

Wow it's been a busy few weeks! I have over 15 hours flying time. LOVE IT!!!!! Been hiking, biking and out on the motorcycle enjoying the remainder of summer! Lost 4 more pounds! And even been working on the VMax! I have Been  making the wing strut hardware aileron and empennage hardware. Along with rudder pedals.  Completely mounted left wing! Along with left aileron control. Very smooth action!

Strut Hdwr

Wing with struts installed. Lovely wife as model!

Close up of strut and aileron fittings

Upper strut fittings. And one at LG

And finally for now. First attempt to get in and out of Vmax with wings on! Success! At last years weight I would have NEVER tried this!  I find the cockpit much  roomier then expected! 34 pounds to be at safe Vmax flying weight! Whoop hooo

Actual pics of entry and egress as it happened! Not pretty😱 not my best side☺️But success!

Good progress!
I recommend you to secure those teleflex nuts at both ends with safety wire or locktite.
In my plane, after a few hours of operation, one of those nuts became loose at flight and one of the ailerons stopped working.
It was a very scary situation.  
The nuts  under the seat are located in a difficult place to inspect, just make sure they stay in place for ever. (image 1448)

Quoted from Ricardo

Good progress!
I recommend you to secure those teleflex nuts at both ends with safety wire or locktite.
In my plane, after a few hours of operation, one of those nuts became loose at flight and one of the ailerons stopped working.
It was a very scary situation.  
The nuts  under the seat are located in a difficult place to inspect, just make sure they stay in place for ever. (image 1448)

Thank you for that great advise! I will safety wire them! Anybody have any images or instructions on best way to do this?

With a smile like that you are a lucky man. The rest of the pictures are excellent also. Thanks for posting. :)

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Thank you for that great advise! I will safety wire them! Anybody have any images or instructions on best way to do this?

This is the way I did it

This is how to wrap the wire. I hope you get the idea.

Quoted from Ricardo

This is how to wrap the wire. I hope you get the idea.

Exactly what I needed! Thank you! And yes aeronut I am a lucky man!

Way to go. Congratulations for you and your plane.  It is really a great and an unusual obsession that is actually good for you.  Keep up the good work.
  

May I suggest that when you get your plane done and flying you use these posts as an outline for a book which both describes the technical building process in detail and combines it will a personal narrative.  Your story is too inspiring to just be read here.

Tom

TTT: I saw it on this thread, page #17, 5th picture starting from the bottom up.

Great pics Brian.  Sooo good to be actually sitting in your plane, too.  I wish I had a hangar like that, with all those interesting aircraft in, to assemble my Max in.

I'm really looking forward to hearing how you get on with covering. I've never done it either, so I'm hoping you're going to suss it all out for me!

Congrats on getting down to Max size (?)

Bruce

Thank you all for the support! It's been a heck of a journey so far! I never considered a book Tom... Let's face it. Half my pictures are upside down (once agian sorry to those viewing on a PC) my wife is an aspiring writer... Who knows! Maybe! Bruce I will be covering wings very soon. I hope it's like my R/c airplanes! But bigger. Details to follow! I also saw a few planes at Airventure this year painted in latex paint! I am sold on that concept! I am on the fence as far as rib stitching.... Back to the build! Thanks agian everyone for the support!

I am a fan of rib stiching myself.-  it is not that hard really and it adds a great deal of strength.   Congratulations on the awesome progress! - I hope you get a chance to get down to Sun N Fun here in Florida, Fuel and lunch on me if you do! -

Quoted from Seaplane Pirate

I am a fan of rib stiching myself.-  it is not that hard really and it adds a great deal of strength.   Congratulations on the awesome progress! - I hope you get a chance to get down to Sun N Fun here in Florida, Fuel and lunch on me if you do! -

Unless I am convinced it is a waste of time I plan on stitching. You never know about sun and fun. If I get there I will take you up on that generous offer!

Update... Both wings mounted. Empennage mounted! Aileron cables attached. No safety kits due to fact it all comes apart to be covered and painted. When I took the wing supports out the wings  drooped a bit. Looks like I ended up with 2 1/2 degrees dihedral each wing. The plans called for 3 degrees. I suspect that's enough. I sent Dave an email. Weight loss has stalled a couple week! But still plugging away!

Some pics

Couple more.

Control yoke....

Fitting tail fiberglass piece. How are you guys attaching it to the airplane?

Two screws on each side.

Thanks Ricardo! Just what I was looking for!

Whoo hooo it's been a heck of a summer. Just a quick update here. The wings have come off and are heading back to the basement (where it is warm) for covering and painting. Soon to be followed by the empennage. I will be at the hanger toughing out the cold weather this winter. I will be in there installing the firewall forward, remainder of controls instruments ect. I hope by spring to be ready to cover and paint he fuselage and then put it together!
    I will be using stewards system glue to adhere covering. I plan on rib stitching and paint will be latex house paint. Updates to follow!
   On another note I had my first solo flight Friday! I couldn't believe it when my instructor told me to drop her off it was time to Solo! What a feeling :)! To top the day I then went and had my scheduled written FAA exam following the solo flight and passed that! I still cannot believe I solo'd what a feeling! My wife is calling this "The summer of Brian" she even had balloons for me when I got home.... Blue and white to simulate the sky! Great gal!!!! No cake still have weight to loose!!!

Add 2.4 pounds to the weight loss side! Everything is on track! I hope to be flying the max by next summer!

Brian.....Great news! Congratulations on your solo!

Lynn

Congratulations Brian . You are doing GREAT! Hope that all goes well for you this winter. ;)

Congrats on your first solo Brian! A flight you'll never forget.  Great encouragement to keep up the build programme too (as if you need it).

Bruce

Now while your knowledge test is still fresh, finish everything up ASAP and get your license.

Congrats! It is just few month ago I did my very first solo too, enjoy this moment. It is a great achievement! Good luck with Max construction and weight loss program!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Whoo hooo it's been a heck of a summer. ... My wife is calling this "The summer of Brian" she even had balloons for me when I got home.... Blue and white to simulate the sky! Great gal!!!! No cake still have weight to loose!!!

Add 2.4 pounds to the weight loss side! Everything is on track! I hope to be flying the max by next summer!

That phase of flight training just before solo always seems like the longest and hardest with some days you just are not sure you can do this.  And when the solo comes it is rather a surprise and then you do it and it feels like a very large weight has been lifted.  It has been 15 years and your update brings it all back.  Congratulations on your solo.

Loved the 'No cake...' comment.  You are very inspiring.  8)

Congratulations!

Just missed the great news. Congratulations! Maybe you'll be able to  do the maiden flight with your Minimax.

Thanks guys! Vitek  Congrats on your recent solo! Bruce your work motivates me and makes me strive to do my best! Puff I plan on moving forward and getting certified as soon as possible! Ricardo I hope to be performing taxi tests by Summer! Thanks to everyone for the support. One wing is ready to cover back in the basement. Supplies are on their way to rib stitch! Watching videos now to learn technique! More updates to follow!

While I fly off my 5 solo hours  ( cannot believe I am flying SOLO!!!!) it time to cover first wing. I am using stewards system to attach covering. The irons are coverite 21st century brand and I am using a laser thermometer to verify temps on the irons. The irons are nice and the temps are very accurate! With instructions  in hand and after watching all the stewards videos. I without shame, invited a couple buddies over for "lunch"! I then trapped them in the basement. With the knowledge they will not get food until completed my prisoners and I began!
   First the spar varnish is sanded with 320 sandpaper. Cleaned up with tack cloth and compressed air. The first piece cut to size. We then painted the glue onto wing ribs, perimeter and a 4 inch strip on LE. We let it dry until light a light tack. (About 10 minutes) Perimeter stretched and secured with iron at 275. We the fully secured covering by painting glue over perimeter and wiping off immediately for a clean finish! Take care to work glue into weave!  (Paint about a 18-24 inches work glue into fabric and wipe clean! Once the dries to a light tack we then shrunk fabric at 250, then 275 and a final shrink at 300.
      Once final shrink was completed we then secured fabric to ribs with iron then secured by painting and wiping clean technique! Flipped wing and repeated on top. Remember to wrap TE material under and secure. I did a 3 inch overlap on LE then a 4 inch pinked reinforcement piece securing the front seam! On TE I sliced "tail " material around rib area when working under

Wing bottom

Wing top. Basically flip the wing and do the same as bottom. 3 inch overlap front edge with 4 inch pinked tape over front seam . Aileron done in one piece with 3 inch overlap and 3 inch pinked edge over front seam the whole process for wing and aileron took 6 hours

The " motley" crew displays their final work. Look we even lined up in order by height!

Finally their well earned reward! My famous.... In my mind😊😉 homemade pizza! Here is a sneak preview of instrument panel. More details to come!

There's something about wood and fabric that just floats my boat! Looking good Brian!

Great covering job and a good looking motly crew. I see you at the other end of the crew soon.

monte

Wow!  Well done Brian.

Bruce

That shrinking fabric thing was the most fun of building my Max. Looks like a great job. Keep having fun with your build cause spring is just a few months away.

Thanks guys! It is very satisfying time! Now the rib stitching. I made my own needles using 1/16 mild steel welding rod. Works well. I made about 6 different types. Hammer one end flat and drill the hole for thread. I used a long carved needle and was able to get around the compression struts easily. Then a few speciality ones in some areas to clear braces ect. It took about one hour a rib for ribs with compression braces and about 45 minutes a rib on the others. The Modified seine knot drove me crazy! I went with the "beach staggering knot" much nicer! I used 1/2 inch reinforcement tape over the rib caps. "Remember I capped my ribs with plywood, 1/2 inch. . Once stitched, I then glued 2 inch pinked tape over stitching with 3 1/2 inch spacing. The ribs in prop blast received 3 inch pinked tape with 2 1/2 inch spacing on stitches.  Same treatment on aileron!

Needles

More

Curved needle around compression struts....

Inspection rings installed. The lines you see on fabric is where I "snapped" lines for stitching spacing . Sorry pics out of order..... First pics rings in place... Second pics. Rings and tape in place. Third pic "doilies" ready to iron in place. You can also see reinforcement patches at strut brackets

That all looks great, Brian. What research/books/learning videos did you find that helped?

Keep going - you're pathfinding for me!!

Cheers

Bruce

Excellent work Brian!

Brian that looks great...can't wait to see the engine mounted.

monte

Quoted from beragoobruce

That all looks great, Brian. What research/books/learning videos did you find that helped?

Keep going - you're pathfinding for me!!

Cheers

Bruce

I have been watching all the videos from the stewards system website! Very helpful. I was going to prime with the gallon  of ecofill I have but its about 18 months old and it appears it is only good for a year. Apparently it is very sensitive to its experation date! According to them I should not use it! Oh well. I am going to prime and paint with household latex paint! The spacing on stitching I found in a chart for FAA acceptable practices. It helps a LOT to plan your spacing nd needle shape prior to covering! A 1/4 inch either way makes a big difference when trying to clear drag braces ect!

Ricardo I see you rolled your paint on. How did that work for you?

Texas buzzard ... Engine mounting very very soon!

I felt a way to rotate the wings for painting and for rib stitching would be nice........after some thought I came up with this! Using left over plywood and 2x4 for wood. I also had two 1/2 inch bolts left over from a deck I built a few years ago! Works really nice. Loosen the bolts allows you to rotate wings easily! I can rotate wings 360 degrees......Tighten the bolts and wing stays put! Wish I has this when stitching this wing!

Pivot mechanism is basically 3 plywood disks. Two larger outer disks one slightly smaller inner disk. Outer disks screwed to 2x4,s. One 2x4 screwed to sawhorse. Other 2x4 has wing attachment method. I used 2x3 rounded off a bit that insert into holes I had in root and tip panels on wings. You may notice lag screws coming out of these 2x3 holders. These are safety "catches" . The inner disc was then greased with wheel bearing grease ( any grease will work, it's just what I had) I made this disk smaller so that grease would not contaminate project and to clear screws holding disks to 2x4's for smooth operation.  The whole mechanism is bolted together with 1/2 x6 inch carriage bolts I had left over from a deck project. To pivot wing loosen bolts. To hold in place tighten. Works awesome! Cost was zero dollars and 90 minutes of work!

Love it!

Bruce

High Brian:
The rolling paint was very very simple, no bubbles or dripping at all. I used window cleaner to dilute the latex paint.
I will delete this post to keep your thread "clean"

I do too Bruce IMHO it's one of my better ideas. Ricardo thank you for the information. I am going to attempt to roll the bottom of wing and spray the top and compare results. Please feel free to leave the post. The thread is here for information sharing. Thank you for the information!
   OK here is the wing rotation rack being used! My buddy Ralph made the foolish mistake of stopping by for coffee.... As usual I made him work for it! Also turns out my gallon of Ecofill is still good to use. One cross coat so far. It goes on well. The ability to rotate wing sure makes painting soooo much easier! This rack is also easily adaptable to the fuselage when the time comes!

You are doing such a good job I hesitate to even offer advice when I know the subject.  However for what it's worth I would suggest thinking about one additional option to consider as well as spraying or rolling.  This third option is "rolling and tipping".  To be very brief this means using two people or one person in a slow drying situation.  One person works their way along rolling on the paint in one direction using a very thin foam roller cover.  A second person follows along at 90 degrees to the rolling with a brush NOT dipped in paint and smoothes out the paint to a very even thickness.  As the paint cures it tends to tighten up and any remaining brush strokes disappear over a few days.  This is the technique developed for and used in high end yacht work where the very finest work on complex objects is required.  You can probably teach yourself this method with some practice panels.  It does take practice to develop the "hands" for it.  When you have it is pretty unbeatable.  If anybody wants more information I can direct you to a good article in a book on yacht finishing.

Tom

Thanks Tom, been watching a lot of videos on rolling and tipping since you posted that info. That may be what I am looking for. Time to try some practice panels to see what works! Sure would be nice to get a great finish without spraying!

I did the roller/tipping method on my MiniMAX and also used latex thinned about 20-25% with windshield washer fluid. I'm pleased enough with the result, but certainly wouldn't compare it to a spray paint quality. Now, granted, I'm painfully lazy and generally interested in just getting finished than any show quality job. I justify it by saying function trumps glitz. Since I wasn't concerned about winning a Lindy award at Oshkosh, I used semi-gloss paint, figuring that a shiny surface draws attention to surface imperfections (My favorite "color" is flat black). The roller/tipping method can really end up nice if one takes the time to do some sanding between coats, followed by sanding down to very fine grit paper and buffing after the last coat. My MiniMAX will never be entered into judging and if the paint seals and protects the fabric I consider myself ready to move on.

If there was ever a case where "Your Mileage May Vary" (YMMV).....this is it! :)

Carry on Brixx!

Lynn

All good info guys! I think I have to  do some test Pieces to see what will meet the standards I am looking for. That BTW is "very good" not perfect. Updates to follow! Thanks for all the great advise guys! Keep it coming

Ok I did some practice pieces and the results, not unexpectedly are........rolling latex paint.... Good results. Rolling followed by tipping...... Better. Spraying.... Best...as a matter of fact "pretty darn good" which is my standard! I had a buddy come over who has been painting his large scale aircraft with latex paint for years. He quickly took me thru the the process. Here are the results! The nice crisp line between colors was blue painters tape. Put a mist coat of primary color along tape line to prevent bleed thru then spray color! Works nice as you can see. We thinned Benjamin Moore semi gloss exterior paint thinned with distilled water. To consistency a bit thicker than milk. Not as thick as heavy cream. Spray 2 mist coats let dry to light tack. Followed by color "wet" coats. White needed 2 wet coats. Red needed only one. I choose a soft gloss which I felt was a better fit than high gloss on this style aircraft. I am very happy with that decision. And  I am very pleased with results. In a week or so I can wet sand with 1000 grit then 1500 grit sandpaper and polish if I choose. To be honest the finish is very nice right now. I may omit that step until after its flying! I wanted to load more images but I am having a lot of trouble lately. I keep getting error messages. Hopefully someone is trying to fix this. Updates are taking me a loooooong time due to this. Weight is coming off slow but still on track.  2 pounds since last update.

The painting begins. We used ecofill as a primer And UV protector. I am very pleased with the product. The gun used was from lowes. Cost was about 50 dollars!

Very nice! The dark (black?) stripe just off of the red/white transition adds a nice touch. Without the dark stripe it would look less dramatic. Maybe you're a budding graphic artist?

Good to hear about the weight loss too. How many pounds lost so far, and how many to your goal?

Lynn

Dear Brian,

As always I'm very impressed with your work.  Again, I think you have a story to tell that would make a great book.  Essentially you could pretty much string together all your posts and call them an "outline".  Then working from the memory you have that is triggered by each post right it "long" with all your surrounding thoughts, hopes, fears, struggles.  Put in the pictures in the right places in the narrative and perhaps have add, or have someone add technical drawings of any procedures that need visual explanation.  Then you really have something.  Don't worry if you feel you aren't a professional writer.  A good editor can smooth out any rough spots with out losing your personal "flavor".

Tom

Way to go with the paint and the weight. I would like to see the smile on your face after the first flight. May the Force be with you. :)

Brian, that is inspiring work. It looks an excellent finish, & I love the pinstripe on the leading edge.

And everyone knows red aeroplanes go the fastest!

Well done, & I look forward to seeing the finished job.

Bruce

Brian, your craftsmanship is amazing, but most of it gets covered by fabric.
I think you should give it the best possible finish to let that craftsmanship shine through.

I've been using the process shown here: http://wienerdogaero.com/LatexProcess.php
So far the results are better than I would have expected.

I think it is possible to get the same finish spraying or rolling.
The difference is it will take much more sanding to get the rolled paint smooth.

Thanks guys! The black stripe was a last minute addition suggested by my wife. I have to agree it really looks nice! Total weight loss is 91 pounds! I started at 369 (corrected my typo at 349) current weight 278. I would like a "max" (pun intended) flying weight of 240 (down a bit from 245 my initial goal) since I have decided to use drooping wing tips. So 39  pounds to go.  240 also gets me in a piper cub for dual tail dragged time!
Tom you have me thinking of a book my wife is an aspiring writer. Or at the least a nice magazine article!

UL builder nice link. I plan on experimenting in a couple weeks with the technique , but I have to tell you the current finish is quite nice. I  will keep  you all updated! Keep the comments, suggestions and great links coming!

how much farther to go on your PPL?

Quoted from PUFF

how much farther to go on your PPL?

Thanks for asking! Just got signed off to take my check ride. I need an examiner that's 161 pounds max! I found one but he is over an hour flight away and healing from hip surgery. It may be a few weeks. But In the Meantime I study. I continue to fly, practice maneuvers and build! I want to list some more pics. But recent changes here make it a time consuming event. More to come soon!

Brian, we are waiting for updates....

Monte

Patiently.....

Congrats Brian your hard work paid off. Get your t/w ticket and you will be set.

Monte

That's great!! Another successful step along the way toward your goals.

Lynn

YEEHAW Congratulations on your your check Brian. Another steep on the ladder to the sky. :)

Thanks guys it was an exciting day! Now an update on the build. Between Christmas festivities and studying for the exam the build has continued. Here is my instrument panel ready to paint and final mounting. I am using 6 rubber mounts secured to deck area. The panel will be fiberglassed with 3/4 ounce cloth for a smooth finish

Brian: Congratulations for the achievement! and good luck with all those gauges  ;D
If I had to do it again I would install the EFIS system which is more accurate than the steam gauges. However nothing beats the looks of those round dials.

Thanks Ricardo. I agree completely with you on EFIS ... But I traded for nearly all the instruments. Only have less than 200 dollars invested and that includes transponder with mode c encoder! Wing 2 covered and stitched! Couple more details and I start painting it!

Working on trim tab for elevator

One more

Added second "tang" to tail wheel. I am going with double spring vs push pull rod... Weight loss.... Too many holiday parties. Added 2 pounds. Exercising them off as soon as this posts!

WOW You are just like the energizer bunny. I wish I had your work ethic! Looks like spring will see a great event.  :)

Congratulations on you mile stone. I can't wait to see your plane completed and flying.

Sorry guys tried to modify this post and accidentally deleted it. So here it is again a bit out of place! ....Passed my sport pilot yesterday !!! I had to get to airport before dawn prep plane and head at as soon as it was light enough. Due to the weight and balance I could only put 161 pounds in the right seat. I found an examiner 118 miles away who was light enough! I would have flown farther if I had to. He as tough but fair. Couple hours on oral exam with paperwork. The almost two hours of flight. We did every maneuver! But I passed! Who hoo! A little post flight chat. More paperwork. Fueled up the plane and headed home! I landed with about 15 minutes of legal daylight left. . Have to get my tail wheel endorsement in the spring! But I am loving it!

Amazing! Congrats!

Congrats Brian it is a great milestone and one of many great things for you in the new year!!

Congratulations on the pilot certificate and the paint is pretty too.

Great job on 3 projects.

Well done Brian!  Time to finish the Max so you can fly a real plane now  ;)


Bruce

Thanks guys... It feels great! Onward und upward! Lost 1.5 pounds still up 1/2 pound😬 but moving in right direction again! Took up my wife (my first passenger) on New Year's Day! We had a blast. Wing 2 finished priming! A little obvious hint... When rib stitching tie the knots on the bottom. On the first wing I tied the knots I top. Even though you slide the knots into the wing the other side looks sooooo much nicer esp. when using the flat waxed string. Oh well... Painting this upcoming week! Hoping to fly her in this summer !

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Took up my wife (my first passenger) on New Year's Day! We had a blast.  

That is a wonderful milestone. I'd bet there were two HUGE smiles on board! Glad you had a "blast", now fly safely!

I'll have to admit a bit of jealousy. I failed a medical 35+ years ago and that being on record with FAA is still blocking me from getting a medical so I can go for a Sport Pilot license. As many know, a failed medical has to be cleared up to be able to use a driver's license like everyone else can. As I was building my MiniMAX I kept hoping and praying that the Pilot's Protection Act II would be enacted as it was first written. But alas, the wording was changed before it was passed so I'm still only eligible to fly a Part 103 ultralight. I'm OK with that though. No annuals, no check rides, no fees or registration.....

Lynn  

That sucks Lynn. I want to avoid that so its sport pilot for me! I plan on more training to be safe up there but doubt I'll ever go beyond sport rating! That's ok I am having a blast!

CONGRATS on the SPL! and Brian your looking great, that's something to be proud of as I am sure your family is proud of you to. Your construction is something to be admired as well. I've been following your build and I am so looking forward to see some flying pics of you and your bird....BUT I am afraid all that building has been in vain. As the smile on your wife's face means that you will probably be building a 2 seater in the future.
Regards.Ken

Quoted from viktorvonragaman

.BUT I am afraid all that building has been in vain. As the smile on your wife's face means that you will probably be building a 2 seater in the future.
Regards.Ken

Shhhhhhhh if my wife reads this she will know my secret plans...... Just kidding as we say in New England I married a "wicked smart" girl... She often has figured out my plans before I even know them! A two seater is next! So many planes so little time! But only after the Minimax is flying! One project at a time :)

Wing two painted!

One more... Not bad for makeshift paint booth....

Looking very good. I had to contend with mosquitoes and black flies and Labrador Retriever hair when I did mine. :)  

Quoted from aeronut

Looking very good. I had to contend with mosquitoes and black flies and Labrador Retriever hair when I did mine. :)  

Lol.......all I am sure, add great character to the airplane!

Moving forward! Moved second wing to hanger returned with aileron and both canopies (enclosed and open) you see one of my helpers here. Ralph! Great guy...flew in the Berlin airlift and still active as heck at 89 years old! Although not current he was a pilot for many years!  also been working on instrument panel. The finish on both is 3/4 fiberglass cloth with Z-poxy finishing resin. It's a finish I used on my R/C aircraft. Super light, tough and smooth. I will document the process on next canopy in detail. I painted open canopy and took Ricardo's  suggestion and put a black anti glare panel under the lexan windshield area. Running rudder and tail wheel steering cables next. Then cover and paint empennage!
P.S. You may note wing tied down using  sheets from the bed! I didn't want to risk marring the new paint. Ralph was worried the wing wasn't secure enough! I told him that wasn't the real danger. The real danger was my wife finding out we were using the bed  sheets to secure the wing to the racks!!!

Couple more. So remember I fly out of class D airspace under the 30 mile mode C veil... So I need the transponder with mode c encoder, altimeter, airspeed indicator ect ect. Got it all in.... Phew!

Brian your panel looks great...if I had any doubts. You will be in the air very soon.

Monte

Awesome! I Love the paint design. You are doing a superb job.
I've just read a book about the Berlin airlift and post cold war operations written by Wolfgang Samuel "I always wanted to fly". Great stories. Your friend Ralph probably knows about the book.
Who's the guy hands in his pockets standing next to the SUV?.... he looks pretty much like you.

That panel looks great, Brian!

Bruce

Thanks guys! All the little pieces are coming together. Even more important they not only fit, but it's starting to look like an airplane! Yes indeed Ricardo that handsome devil in the baggy cloths is me! When I started this build those cloths were tight like sausage casings!

Quote: I've just read a book about the Berlin airlift and post cold war operations written by Wolfgang Samuel "I always wanted to fly".



Thanks for the recommendation! I just downloaded that book to my reader. Always looking for something interesting to read

Wow.  Just wow.  Cannot wait to see what this one looks like when it is all together.  Quite an accomplishment on all levels.

Brix,
Brother I have to give you major Kudos! Congrats on all the great things you have done. I am also back, I had elbow surgery and the kid chewed through $25000.00 in failed college attempts. I like the plane and looks like it has some room. I will have to think about that option.

EK~

I think that is the clearest and most aesthetically appealing panel I've ever seen.

Tom

Thanks for all the support and compliments guys! EK welcome back! I find the cockpit roomier than expected! If I was ding it all over again I may have ordered the kit with the material sized for a 26 inch wide body! But the goal is for me to fit in it! Not build it to fit me! 😀 speaking of that time to get serious and loose another 38 pounds! Covered the elevator. Also decided to rib stitch that also! It's ready to prime!

Some pics!

That panel looks great.
Not thinking I built mine with rigid mounts, you inspired me to re-think that and add some rubber isolators.

Great work Brian and congratulations on your weight loss!   I think you're wasting your time rib stitching the horizontal elevator. Are you getting ready for some enemy fire or you just got hooked up with that needle?  ;D

Ul builder just went to your build thread! Great work! Keep it up! Ricardo yes I think stitching empennage is a bit overkill. But I like the look. Gives continuity to the airplane!  And it goes really fast. (Stitching, not the minimax😀) Lost 2 1/2 ponds since last post! 35 1/2 pounds to target minimax weight! End of week the wife and I are off on winter vacation. In the past it was cruises, lots of eating sleeping and coming home 10 pounds heavier! This vacation we are flying to California and hiking in Death Vally!
😀👍
Going to try to cover rudder vertical fin after I install pitot tube and strobe before we leave. Updates soon!

Brian I bet you drop some lbs. hiking Death Valley. :o

Monte

Brian

Your thread is a great motivation...
You are doing an amazing job!

Cheers
Reto

one word of caution about adding anything to the tail (weight)....   any little ounce back there will make you add pounds up front to compensate.
Might be ok with the VW engine, but start thinking about weight and balance of the aircraft as of now...

I ended up adding a 10# battery to the front of my HiMax because it has pitot tube in the tail, it's also the heavy tail plus a couple fuse mods...

Quoted from Tom

I think that is the clearest and most aesthetically appealing panel I've ever seen. Tom

I'm going to second that!

It is most certainly one of the very best homebuilt panels I've ever seen! Great paint job too. I've been silently following along with your build for the most part. As I suspect many others are. So congrats on a fantastic job all round. Like everyone else, can't wait to see your 'Max airborne.

I'm also under a controlled airspace. Military, which for the most part is offline during weekends but can become active without warning. So I'll likely share your instrumentation pain.  :)

Best wishes for the final furlong. Bring 'er home!

Steve.

Good morning. Just got back from hiking Death Valley! Thank you Alan for fixing the thread! ( mr headbuzz) I believe he had to delete one post! Landed late last night. Off to work and then back to the Minimax! . I have to kick up the exercise, my wife is kicking my butt out there. I tell her it's because she is shorter than me and there is more 02 down there👍😀😉 Notice I brought part of the Minimax with me in  the form of the hat! I  will update the thread in the next day or so. Really hoping to be flying by July! Puff thanks for the heads up on tail heavy. It is a worry, my research leads me to believe the VW version leans toward nose heavy. But I agree I have to be very careful putting things back there! Thank you all for the compliments. I did a lot of mock ups on the panel until I found a configuration I liked! Not a lot of room there😀 The build continues!

One more......

Looks like you and and the wife had a great time. You are driven man. Keep up the great work. :)

I forgot about the VW, so that might offset weight back there.....  Just be sure that during the weight and balance process that something can be moved to where you need it to make up for it...

BTW a good Postal Scale will be needed for accuracy at the tail....

Bathroom type scales work ok for the mains, but I used a shipping scale.

We had a great time, but I brought home a cold. Most likely a gift from someone on the plane! Puff I am lucky enough to have access to real aviation scales from the EAA Chapter I belong to for weight and balance!
Moving slow due to head cold and darn work getting in the way. I finished hinging empennage. Finished install of strobe light and pitot system in vertical fin, varnished everything and covered them! ( not bad with a cold and worked 48 hours this week!) I'll finish stitching  tomorrow and begin to prime!

More

More

And

And finally. Sorry the photos are kinda big. Next time I will size them a bit smaller

Nice work!! That pitot tube has to run a long way......I am wondering that too much prop wash will spoil the measurement? Usually you see these away from the wash somewhere on a outboard panel of a wing.

EK~

Quoted from edwinkania

Nice work!! That pitot tube has to run a long way......I am wondering that too much prop wash will spoil the measurement?

EK~

There is a great thread documenting this position here on LB. the users had great luck with the pitot tube mounted up on the tin. Hopefully I do to! I like it up there where nobody can bump into it! Let's hope it works!

I have exactly the same arrangement without any problems.

OK was just thinking out loud, so now I know where to mount it.

Thanks guys.

EK

Thanks for the post Ricardo...... It gives me confidence in my decision to put the pitot tube there. EK keep the comments and suggestions coming! Thinking out loud is encouraged in my thread....it gets  us some great ideas! and that my friend is why we are all here!
    Stitching done on empennage. I only Stitched the parallel ribs. Not the diagonals. Over kill... Yea, but I like the look. It's all primed with ecofill and painting tomorrow! Lost another pound! Who hoo!

Primed, drying. Painting tomorrow!

Ricardo, Brix,
I have learned so much here from all the posts, Thanks for the responses and explanations.

EK~

Looking good Brian!!

Which primer are you using?  I assume you are brushing the primer on & you said earlier you were spraying the top coat.  Do you wet & dry sand the primer after it has hardened?

Have you done any 'before & after' weighing to find out how much the paint weighs?  I'm doing this with the elevator. I weighed it before covering, then after covering. I'll weigh it again during & after painting. Bit anal, maybe, but I'm interested to know the weight per square foot of cloth + paint (versus, say, aluminium sheet).

Bruce

Paint weight can be very significant.  I think making sure you know how much weight you are adding per square foot on that is a very good idea.  I've done a lot of calculations of paint weight and it always startling to see how much is really added.

Tom

Quoted from beragoobruce

Looking good Brian!!

Which primer are you using?  I assume you are brushing the primer on & you said earlier you were spraying the top coat.  Do you wet & dry sand the primer after it has hardened?

Have you done any 'before & after' weighing to find out how much the paint weighs?  I'm doing this with the elevator. I weighed it before covering, then after covering. I'll weigh it again during & after painting. Bit anal, maybe, but I'm interested to know the weight per square foot of cloth + paint (versus, say, aluminium sheet).

Bruce

Thank Bruce! Darn that would have been a great idea! Sadly I did not weigh the prices before painting. I am priming the parts with stewards system Ecoprime. I am applying with 3 inch foam brush with a light sanding after each coat dries. I am applying 3 cross coats on top and 2 cross coats on bottom surfaces.
     White has been applied to empennage. I only applied 2 light coats in vertical stab  it will be painted red. I spray the color coats. I had a heck of a time trying to spray the ecoprime

Brian
Belated congratulations to your license achievement!
Your project looks fantastic...
What a progress!
Can't wait to see your finished red and white Max...
Cheers
Reto

Quoted from Reto S

Brian
Belated congratulations to your license achievement!
Your project looks fantastic...
What a progress!
Can't wait to see your finished red and white Max...
Cheers
Reto

Thanks Retro ! A build update and promising flying news. First the flying news👍 I went over to try a cub on fir size in order to get my tail wheel endorsement along with the under 87 knt sport pilot endorsement required to fly my soon to be Vmax. I fit and in 3 pounds the weight and balance will allow enough fuel to train. The engine is getting overhauled so it will be a few weeks! But soon onto the next phase. Now back to the max. Empennage painted. Hinged and mounted. Control cables routing as we speak! Notive I streamlined the struts. Hopefully that helps with a mile  an hour. Pitot tube and strobe light mount on top of fin. Adjustable trim tab on elevator

Also I am using a wind powered generator for power. I purchased a piece of 6061 aluminum extrusion 1/4 x4 and carved out a mount. It kind of funny. My wife came home and I told her how I made the mount. She picked up the uncut aluminum piece looked it over and told me it was nice work😀..... Lol at least she is supportive !!!!!

Wind generator mount. The screws holding it in place are only temporary

In position

Some detail stuff. I wanted to paint the fuel tank covers and have them match the finish on the wing...... But how to finish  Lexan... Well my experiments with stewards system adhesive proved to have a tenacious bond to Lexan. So I cover the tank covers with cloth remnants from the wing using it. Primed it with ecofill and they are ready for paint!

Covers. Edges of material rolled over and glue applied underneath. Time to paint!

I am now preparing closed canopy for plant. This is same technique I used on open canopy and instrument panel. Tit gives a nice finish and very light.  First I use 3/4 ounce fiberglass cloth. And Zpoxy finishing resin. This resin is very sand able but not a structural epoxy! It is almost the consistency of milk when warm. You will lay the cloth where you want it to be then pour Zpoxy and work into cloth and spread with an old credit card or used hotel room key. Take off all excess.

Then quickly roll toilet paper ( works much better than paper towels) over the wet Zpoxy.  let it absorb the extra. You may need to do this a couple times until there are no shiny spots. Let this cure, then lightly sand with 300 grit sand paper or a green scotch bride pad. After each sanding apply thin coat of  Zpoxy with credit type card. Absorb extra with toilet paper. Repeat as necessary until the finish you want is achieved. It's important to just lightly sand...your trying  to take off the top layer of Zpoxy and not cut into fiberglass cloth. After a few times the voids are filled.Usual 2 repeat coats followed by a couple wet sanded coats of high build primer will result is a fantastic finish. I will post more photos as I progress

Brian, does your engine not have a alternator to charge the battery?

Monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Brian, does your engine not have a alternator to charge the battery?

Monte

No it doesn't. Any provisions to add one will not really work with the minimax without adding a LOT of weight. Or eliminating the magnito. One provision adds an accessory case to. The rear of engine... Heavy and adds length to the motor that will not work with the Vmax.... Another option puts the alternator up front. But I would then have to eliminate the starter...really want the starter...... There is a third method that drives an alternator off the crankshaft nut... But I would have to eliminate magnito. This is a self contained unit. Should provide 4-5 amps at cruise. I have decided upon keeping the magnito and an electronic secondary ignition. My power demands will be strobe (led) 3/4 amp, aux fuel pump 1 amp, single electronic ignition 1 amp and transponder 1.1 amp standby 1.8 transponding
aux pump take off and landing unless there is a problem. Same with strobe except that 30 mins before sunrise and after sunset. This setup should keep me charged up... Maybe a boost charge at the end of the flight.... Time will tell....after my initial flights I can put battery on charger that monitors mah to full charge and see if it handles the demand ok

Brian that is a great idea with the wind generator to charge the battery :) kudos to you.

Monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Brian that is a great idea with the wind generator to charge the battery :) kudos to you.

Monte

Thanks monte but it a product called jennipod, seems well made. I expect a loss of 2-3 mph but should get that back by following your lead and streamlining struts!

The bracket for the generator looks great.

Quoted from ulbuilder

The bracket for the generator looks great.

Thank you! It came out better than I had expected!

Now finishing up canopies. Final assembly and painting. Also fuel tank cover painted. The black anti glare panels are flat black with a satin clear finish. As you notice it will be a true convertible. I forced myself to build both options at the same time.... Easily interchangeable with the pull of the wire on the piano hinge.

Few more

Ta-da.... I just have to cut the threads on the control rods for locking mechanism on the included version

The Red Baron!

Quoted from Ricardo

The Red Baron!

Thanks Ricardo! According to my wife I am more like snoopy😉

Such a great job! Congratulations! This is a ,,cheer up" page for me cause my restoration project is not moving forward lately due to cold weather and total lack of time. It is so nice to see how other project is reaching it's goal! Keep posting nice pictures!

Nice very nice work Brian.I like your idea about the generator, are you going to use regulator or just connect it direct.Where did you get it, i want it too.

Quoted from vitek

Such a great job! Congratulations! This is a ,,cheer up" page for me cause my restoration project is not moving forward lately due to cold weather and total lack of time. It is so nice to see how other project is reaching it's goal! Keep posting nice pictures!

Thank you. Everyone here has been very supportive .... Hopefully you get back on track with your restoration soon!
Hey Rich The generator is a Self contained unit with voltage regulator that plugs in. Very neat unit available from a company called  Genipod from JMH innovations. The guy was great to deal with. Weight is less than 3 pounds. Looks well thought out if you have trouble finding his website PM me your email and I will send you a link.

The build continues!

Wow those wind shields look great! Can not wait to see them loaded up with bugs, lol. :)

Look at the picture of the generator in it's mount sitting on the workbench.
Does anything look unusual about the shape of the blades on the rotor?
If I was assembling such a unit I'd naturally try to put the fan on the other way around.
Just an observation . . .

Looks ok to me - the blade starts 'fine' & coarsens in pitch. If the blade was the other way round, the leading edge wouldn't do much.

The pitch looks about right for Max speeds - I'll be interested to hear what it produces in service.

Bruce

You could test it fairly easy by  mounting it on a 2x4x8 and mount the 2x4 in the bed of a pickup truck sticking up into undisturbed air and drive at 60mph and wire it to a volt meter. People might think it strange so do it early in the morning. I see no reason for it not to work. I hope the shaft is supported by bearings and not just bushings. Wind generators like this where used in the past. Back when I was a kid a lot of bikes had a dynamo mounted so it could be applied to th rear tire and turned, They gave enough power to run the headlight on the bike.

Quoted Text

I'll be interested to hear what it produces in service

You mean when dive-bombing will it scream like a Stuka?  ;D

Now there's an idea. . .

Quoted from redmudislander

Look at the picture of the generator in it's mount sitting on the workbench.
Does anything look unusual about the shape of the blades on the rotor?
If I was assembling such a unit I'd naturally try to put the fan on the other way around.
Just an observation . . .

Yeah it looks like they are reusing an impeller designed for a ducted fan application.  The forward blade faces are curved and rear faces flat (relatively) as per standard propeller practice.

I am sure it will work fine as it is.

But one can pretty easily see some optimizations which could be made.  Such as that mounting flange running around the body and creating a much larger aero profile compared to a simple pylon or body clamp.  And what is the deal with the monster flange to support the wiring connector socket?  The hub of the impeller should be equal in diameter to the motor/generator body.  I would wonder about putting this into a duct for higher output and less drag.  Thoughts like these are what slow my projects to a crawl...

Thanks for all the suggestions on the wind generator. I gave tested it by holding it out the window of my car at 75 with a meter attached and I get an honest 4 amps. There is lots of room for streamlining the generator..... But I want to fly... Small improvements such as  can be done after I am flying her. Esp when not  flying during inclement weather.... Unfortunately too much of it here at times!
Moving forward I am installing rudder/ tailwheel cables. Running them under the seat (thanks for the pics Bruce) installing elevator trim ect! Heads for engine are back from hummell aviation I sent them back to get drilled for duel plugs! Nice work by Scott and fast turnaround time. While there and heads were off I had him do a valve job. The engine I purchased has 145 hours on it. It looks good!
I am making the 1/4 inch washers for mounting engine (I doubt any could question rather 51% rule on this build😀) here you see them being made. Final buffing still to be completed an a few. But you see a couple ready to go. Also in the photos you see the elevator trim control almost ready to mount

Elevator trim and engine mounting washers. Elevator trim has plastic washers sandwiched between handle for smooth action and tightened to a moderate resistance......engine  washers. The smaller ones call for 13/64 ID. The hole  saw has 1/4 drill. Then I used a step drill to 3/8 I will then ream to 13/64. Larger discs are 1/4 ID,  who hoo.........just ream to fit. Use lots of oil during drilling and watch the heat build up!!!!!

And have to toss in a couple " candy" photos here you see me modeling the different canopies. Also trying the max on for final fit and placement of various controls! All Coming along nicely..... Note mount  on top of vertical fin for strobe! Just had a conversation with a Vmax builder he had to put 19 pounds of weight in tail!!!! . But he was also running a fuselage fuel tank. I have duel wing tanks that are basically on the CG! So I may put a couple more items toward the tail..... I.E. Battery!

Open canopy

and a much prettier model for the open and closed cockpit than me........ my wife came by to see where I have been spending my time!

One more... Oh BTW the Sonex in background is just waiting condition inspection and airworthy certificate to start phase one testing!

Engine being re-assembled. For carb heat I have decided to go with a system used by The guys at culver props. I will post images as I go. They have used it for over 16 years on the VW engine. It is automatic and seems like it will work great👍

Engine on assembly stand. Oh BTW sorry if I do not get back to you guys right away! I am busy building, exercising and I still cannot believe it!!!! Flying!!!!! So Sunday's seems like the best day for me to update thread! keep all suggestions and comments coming they are welcome and motivating! I am in the home stretch here.... Who hoooo

Oops almost forgot. Now I have 31 pounds to be at my Vmax flying weight! My initial goal was 100 pound weight loss that would put me at 268. I modified that goal to 118 to get me to 250. I have lost 89 pounds  since starting the Vmax with 29 to go. Leaving me at 279. BTW that puts me at a grand total of 290 pound weight loss from a high of 569 pounds 10 years ago! As a motivator to me and an update for those just getting starting to review this thread (I know it's getting loooong ) here is a before and now photo.

Oh and she would kill me if she knew I posted this.... But I have not had to do this alone. Besides the support I get from this group. My wife of 5 years decided we needed to do this as a team and has been right there by my side and together we lost this weight. She has lost over 80 pounds since I started the Vmax here is a before and now. That's 169 less pounds between us both in just over 2 years.

WOW!

Brian both of you are looking great along with the v-max. BTW how come you didn't go with a electric trim?

Monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Brian how come you didn't go with a electric trim?

Monte

I know all along I would only have 4-5 amps of power to play with. Or maybe even a power system that operated at total loss requiring a recharge rafter every flight. so I wanted to keep as many systems as possible manual! As is, the transponder is a HUGE power drain at 1.8 amps. I may need to power down transponder outside the mode c veil to conserve my batteries. And power up upon my return to area. Time will tell...

The pictures of you and your wife are wonderfully inspiring.  This is a really great story to follow.

Tom

Brian the servo motor is powered by a small 9 volt battery which lasts me around 2 yrs since once adjusted you seldom have to activate it.

Monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Brian the servo motor is powered by a small 9 volt battery which lasts me around 2 yrs since once adjusted you seldom have to activate it.

Monte

Nice please tell me more about it.t wasn't an option thru team when I asked about trim options

Way to go Brian; build is great and you and the wife are looking very fit. I wish you all the best on the first flight. Gotta see that smile after the first flight. :)

Brian mine was on the plane when I bought but was built at the original team factory. I would call team and see if it is still available. It mounts under the elevator with a pushrod back to the tab, then a small two wire cable runs up to the cockpit where it connects to the 9v battery. The activation is mounted at the stick grip. Works very well.

Monte

http://www.firgelli.com

Monte

Great progress by all means!
Before I covered my plane I did a weight and balance to see where the battery was going to be.
It is easier to work the battery location without the fabric.

Thanks guys we are getting there.. Monte great link I am going to check into into it! Seems lighter than my setup. Ricardo that is a genius idea! I should have thought of it! Thank you all
B-

Let's see this week I did a final fit on wingtips and tail piece. Then primed and painted. In regards to the plywood inserts on the wingtips I epoxied them and also secured them with screws. I don't want them getting loose and jamming the ailerons. Don't have any photos but I have finished the control cable install including nylon guides. I ran them under the seat. A couple extra guides kept them out of the way of everything. I am a little worried about the rudder pedals..... They seem flimsy.... Anybody out there have any problems with the factory setup? I am thinking of doubling them up for strength. Also note drain holes on inside lower portion of wingtips. I would hate to imaging the effect of a couple gallons of water filling up in there would have on flight!

I found by elongating holes in the wingtips it eliminated some bowing between bolts due to the different expansion rates of the two different materials I.E. Fiberglass and wood!  If doing it again I would definitely add Bruce's style wingtips...But if I keep going back and changing things I will never fly her... Same as Monties elevator trim setup..... Nice.... But I must keep moving forward! Screws primed, painted. Then a dab of pAint on slot offer final install👍😀😔

Great paint job, Brian. Looks very shiny - I thought you were going for semi-gloss?

Quoted from beragoobruce

Great paint job, Brian. Looks very shiny - I thought you were going for semi-gloss?

Thanks Bruce you are correct semigloss is the finish......wing tip photo  was taken when paint  was still wet! Here you see wingtips on the wing and paint dried. Also notice tank covers... You can see spinner painted in the background of a photo or two! Still need to paint tank cover screws!!!

Couple more

Tailpiece fit. By the time I made the cable access hole large enough so that there was no rubbing they looked unsightly. I decided to go with an open style cover.... It may be redone after initial flights....it may not !!!! Jury is still out....don't love it. Don't hate it!!!😉 An opinion on using the House latex style pain as finish. So for I am impressed! Ease of use A+. Ability to touch up hanger rash ( 😊Yes I have some already A+) hey if you make a major mistake spraying just remove sprayed paint immediately with windex and blue shop towels! Start over!!!!!! Long term durability and hardness still to be determined!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

I decided to go with an open style cover.... It may be redone after initial flights....it may not !!!! Jury is still out....don't love it. Don't hate it!!!😉

It's a different style, but it looks good! You should leave it...  :)

Thanks Retro... Yes it starting to grow on me.... Engine mount made and engine mounted. Notice. I left off firewall. I will make a temporary one to mount various items then when everything is where I want it fuel lines ect! then I will finish firewall

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One more

Quoted from TreeTopsTom

Maybe pick up some of these from AS and fiberglass them in to make for a nice smooth transition where the cable exits out of the cover?
But the way you have it looks just fine as well.
I will remove after a few days so as not to interrupt your build log.      TTT

Very nice! May be a post flight upgrade! No need to delete... Great idea ...Let's share it with other stuff!

Great photo TTT leave it here. No need to delete. Great sharing of info. I also like your heel brake setup. Good idea being able to remove and service rudder pedals.
Thank you
B-😀

Finishing up control install. You see throttle push pull vernier and elevated trim along with ballistic chute handle in final positions. It is set up "lefty" which works out well because I am a lefty😀 I hate to do it but there is going to be a slight panel redesign. The original transponder i was going to use is a real energy hog. And HEAVY!!! So I bit the bullet and ordered up the Trigg22 transponder. Mode S and lite  at 0.8 pounds. Also energy demands are 0.23 amps idle to max 0.37 along with strobe at 1 amp. Ignition .75 amps and backup fuel pump at 1 amp for a total of 2.5 amps that lets my little wind generator supply plenty of power. My handheld radio will have it own battery. It also saves me about 6 pounds in equipment!

Brian - did you happen to look at a Sandia Xpdr?  I chose one for my glider due to its size, weight and current draw (as did you) but it is considerably less expensive than the trig, a tad smaller, has a coupe of neat features and built in the good 'ol US of A.  It is "only" a "C" mode transponder but I couldn't figure out why I needed a mode "S".

Just curious - did I miss something in my decision tree or is it just personal preference??

Anyone else have an input?

Cheers,

Darrel

Brian: It doesn't look that you varnished the wood or are you going to paint it? I imagine you'll disassembly all parts to do that.
Just being curious. Awesome panel you got.

Quoted from lowandslow

Brian - did you happen to look at a Sandia Xpdr?  I chose one for my glider due to its size, weight and current draw (as did you) but it is considerably less expensive than the trig, a tad smaller, has a coupe of neat features and built in the good 'ol US of A.  It is "only" a "C" mode transponder but I couldn't figure out why I needed a mode "S".

Just curious - did I miss something in my decision tree or is it just personal preference??

Anyone else have an input?

Cheers,

Darrel

Looks like a nice transponder at a decent price! Appears to be an easy  upgrade able to ADSB when 2020 arrives.....had I known about it it may have been my choice. Certantly a nicer price point! So many choices!
Ricardo you are correct. Once everything is in place a final tear down happens then varnish, covering and paint! You may also notice the hardware is very random and most not even lock style nuts. I use older stuff for mockup and like the wings I will use new hardware at final assembly !

Still plugging  away! Updates soon. Doing a lot of detail work so photos wil not show much. Will have some photos soon! Still hoping to be flying inJuly!

After stalling antenna, static lines for pitot tube. Strobe wiring ect. Fuel lines yada yada everything came out and now varnishing the fuselage! Notice wing rotisserie modified to work with fuselage. Once Everything goes in for final assembly I wil post more detailed photos trying to post some now. Internet too slow will try in the morning!

Here you go

Another

Rotisserie

Another

Last one tonight

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

Brian - great work and progress.  I'm learning a lot from watching and reading your blog.  I do have a couple of observations to share - and knowing that pictures don't always tell everything - they may be useless but in the spirit of trying to contribute, I'll share here.

If what I think to be a radio antenna really is one - I don't see a ground plane.  Do you plan on adding one later?

If what I think are your static lines are static lines, the pick up line comes in from the bottom (unless the fuselage is on your rotisserie and it is upside down) where the two yellow lines connect.  As a minimum, you might want to bring it in from the top - to minimize the risk of moving water into the single line.  Alternatively, some folks add a closed canister at about the connection point to capture water and keep it out of the line altogether.

Quoted from lowandslow

If what I think to be a radio antenna really is one - I don't see a ground plane.  Do you plan on adding one later?
If what I think are your static lines are static lines, the pick up line comes in from the bottom (unless the fuselage is on your rotisserie and it is upside down) where the two yellow lines connect.  As a minimum, you might want to bring it in from the top - to minimize the risk of moving water into the single line.  Alternatively, some folks add a closed canister at about the connection point to capture water and keep it out of the line altogether.

Thank you for the compliment and observations. I purchased a commercially available antenna. It doesn't require a ground plane. The "rubber duckie" antenna underneath the whip antenna acts as the ground plane (at least that is what the manufacture states!) I will be testing it soon.
   The picture is deceiving. The static "pickups" are on the fuselage side as per TEAM recommendations. I do plan on drains in the lowest point in the system. There are 2 lines since my pitot tube is mounted in the vertical fin! Keeps the comments and observations coming guys! That's how we learn!

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...  ;D  :o

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...  ;D  :o

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'  ;D ;D ;D

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!

Here you see the individual A123 cells. They are 3.3 V 2300 mah each. 4 cells make one pack. Each battery pack is comprised of 4 13.2 v packs. I used one main battery pack ( 4, 4 cell packs to start my car.....no problems! The only draw back I see at this time is my wind powered generator uses a regulator that has a shut off voltage of 13.5 v. It should maintain pack during flight, but may not charge pack. This my require a "top off" charge at end of day. I will have external charge ports and may "trickle" charge plane between flights
    Close up of strobe and mount on vertical fin

Covering fuselage now. Tomorrow I fully armed rocket and finish covering. I have made provisions for access hatch. On bottom fuselage in battery area for maintenance and inspection

Glade to see you are back at it. :)

Thanks aeronut! I never stopped... Life just slowed me down! Ballistic chute. Fully armed. Changed to lightweight zip ties vs the Velcro I was using. As per the BRS manual!

All covered ready to prime mask and paint!

Beautiful work!!!

Thank you vitek! Getting closer! Fuselage primed! Masked open areas.......Now painting the white....ability to rotate fuselage...priceless!

Looking  good, Brian!

Testing the plane for  a roll over. Good idea! 😄

You know it Ricardo! Who am. Kidding, if the rack was stronger I would be sitting in it with somebody moving it back and forth... While making airplane noises of course! Mmmmmmm maybe it is😉......Added some color! Controls going in! Ballistic chute fully armed..... Hope nobody pulls the handle...just kidding it has the safety pin attached.


Thank you Bruce.... How's your license problem going?

WOW it looks awesome, hope everything comes out the way you want it to. :)

Thank you for taking the time to post this thread. It is awesome to watch both the build and your weight loss program.

Your work looks beautiful, and will definitely be an inspiration and reference as i build my 'max.

Good luck on the conclusion of the build.......

Thank you aeronut and streffpilot. This has been fun...and what a learning experience! Wow have I learned a LOT! Glad to share! Hope other benefit from my mistakes! As they say....90 percent done...90 to go.
Soon we are off to Nova Scotia and PIE for two week Motorcycle trip! Anybody out there along the way let me know we will stop by for coffee

Amazing progress!

Thanks Jon
Your utube videos are great! Keep up the good work!

Okey dokey....back from motorcycle trip. Then a weekend flying radio control jets.... Back to my Minimax . Weight update...gained 6 pounds on vacation as usual. Despite hiking. Bicycling ect... But lost it all in 7 days....I really think it's the salt in the food from eating out...
   Now back to the Vmax... Here you see the heel brakes and rudder pedals installed. Along with aluminum heel protectors. Running final cables tomorrow. Also need to trim seat to fit max seat....I think I will secure seat with Velcro to the wood platform...also control stick installed. I hope to wire up PTT button to my radio....I used self adhesive anti skid material to both rudder pedals and heel brakes!

Nice seat, I need something like that! What's the use for the short strap in the middle of the seat?
The aluminum floor is very optimistic unless you plan to fly all they long ;D ...Seriously,  I rather have a non slippery surface instead of.
Anyways, you're doing a remarkable job. By the way, if you ever have the crazy idea of selling that beauty, I'm the first on the list .  8)

I agree.....Great looking work as we've all come to expect!

I do have one question, but maybe I'm just seeing something wrong? In the photo of the rudder pedals/heel brakes, is there some particular reason the cable guides, just aft of the brake pedals, are off from what appears to be a more natural straight line of pull?

Lynn

Ricardo I do not know the purpose off the strap. It's Velcro at the bottom....perhaps to hold a headset when out of airplane??? No matter seat has been modified for a better fit. Strap is gone! Interesting point about floor. Time will tell. If necessary I can add an abrasive  material. The kind I used on the pedals!!!
     Lynn .. Good eyes! I terminated cables that way in order to check out heel brake ergonomics. I plan on running cables straight out of standoffs, but haven't placed them yet!

Looking great! I like your roll over device for the painting.

Quoted from tjtheaviator

Looking great! I like your roll over device for the painting.

Lol it's the true definition of "hanger flying" canopy on for final fitting. Also UK seatbelt " upgrade" ??? I guess ......for want of a better term incorporated on lap belt Lap belt. Also incorporated on shoulder harness as noted in an earlier post. Seat cushion modified to fit the smaller V-max seat. I plan on holding it in place with Velcro. Note transponder antenna ground plane. Looks like I need to fabricate a standoff for the rudder cables.... That shouldn't be to difficult. On the weight loss front. I think the excitement of flying this guy has me motivated even more. Back on track all vacation weight gone plus another 3.8 pounds

Looks really great Brian! Do you think you will be flying this fall? :)

Quoted from aeronut

Looks really great Brian! Do you think you will be flying this fall? :)

Thanks Aeronut.... I am hoping late fall.... But we will see.. Lots of stuff to still do😀😬

... and I was told: Your first flight will be when you run out of parts... and excuses  :o
If you follow a manual about how to test and perform your homebuilt aircraft, your first flight will be a complete joy  ;)
I spent many hours, first on slow taxi tests and later on fast taxi test (tail up included)  to developed the necessary skills to control the Max at high speed while still on the ground , at the same time you'll be testing the plane structure and  controls system.
By the way, Do you you plan to perform the maiden flight?
Keep up your great work!

Quoted from Ricardo

... and I was told: Your first flight will be when you run out of parts... and excuses  :o
By the way, Do you you plan to perform the maiden flight?
Keep up your great work!

Well still plenty of parts lol. I am sure I will come up with many excuses😉....as far as the first test flight.....I have spent considerable time thinking about that. I would really like to be the one to take her into the air for the first time.... But I am seriously considering stepping aside and letting a more experienced pilot have that honor. Seeing as I am under 80 hours total time with less than 7 in a tailwheel airplane. That being said if I am unable to find the right person I will then be PIC for the first flight! But you never know!


Fuselage made its way back to hanger! Firewall forward next! I tricked a couple pals into coming by for coffee..... Didn't tell them it was at the airport... And since we were heading that way might as well take the fuselage with us😉

Great progress!- very exciting.    I will humble myself here and say that I have about 160 hours Tailwheel time and I may not do my first flight in my new Hi-max derivative.    I have some VERY experienced pilots at my disposal with Military test pilot training, many many initial flights of experimental designs and 20-30,000 hours of flight time.   I understand the value in the EAA community and ensuring that things are rigged properly and "feel right" to take off the ground.    I cannot stress enough doing a proper weight and balance, and get a group to check everything first.  The issue with building is you look at it soo much you may not see something obvious.  If you don't find at least two loose fittings your not ready to fly  etc..  

Quoted from Seaplane Pirate

Great progress!- very exciting.    I will humble myself here and say that I have about 160 hours Tailwheel time and I may not do my first flight in my new Hi-max derivative.    I have some VERY experienced pilots at my disposal with Military test pilot training, many many initial flights of experimental designs and 20-30,000 hours of flight time.   I understand the value in the EAA community and ensuring that things are rigged properly and "feel right" to take off the ground.    I cannot stress enough doing a proper weight and balance, and get a group to check everything first.  The issue with building is you look at it soo much you may not see something obvious.  If you don't find at least two loose fittings your not ready to fly  etc..  

I agree I am heavily bias toward a test pilot. And a second set of eyes goes a loooong way! There sure are a lot of "little" things to do. I am sure one or two critical but small items would be easy to miss!!

A little more progress! She is looking adorable if I say so myself!

very nice Brian.... wheel pants?

monte

Looking fantastic Brian. Not long now - you may yet beat me into the air!

Bruce

Hey Monte I do have wheel pants. I plan on final fitting after wings  are on. I don't know if I will fly with them at first. Right now I find getting in and out easier by using the wheel as a step....
Thanks Bruce. I doubt I will beat you into the air ......but I hope to be closely behind you!!!

Starting firewall forward! Hope to have engine running by Halloween!

Starting firewall forward! Hoping to have her running by Halloween!

Its a four banger, right? So send us a video!

Quoted from Ricardo

Its a four banger, right? So send us a video!

It is! 60 hp Hummel version ..... And I sure will !!!!

WOW looking finistkind. Your weight and balance will be interesting.

Quoted from aeronut

WOW looking finistkind. Your weight and balance will be interesting.

Thank you! Here are a couple more pictures of enclosed canopy installed...a true convertible!

Very nice Brian...

monte

Hey, looking good Brian!

I too will be interested in your W&B results. I suspect you are likely to err on the forward cg with your engine, where mine was tail heavy.

So you have a simple fix in being able to fit a small sealed lead acid battery as far aft as it needs to go. You may have to cut a section from the underside of the fuse fabric to make up some structure to install it, but I'm sure that won't be difficult for you!

That way you have a useful electrical supply instead of a useless lump of ballast. And if you fit external terminals, you can just charge it in the hangar & not bother with all the charging stuff on the engine.

But I'm prolly stating the obvious & you've already thought of all this.

Bruce

Thanks Monte. Just saw your thread on you loss of minimax. Glad your ok! I always thought I could "break" my way out in the event of a wheels wrong side up landing. Now you have me thinking of an escape option! I am down to 258 18 pounds to minimax flying weight!!!! But far from your 140! Hate to bring it up. But if you any interest in selling the streamline strut material shoot me a PM!

Great advice Bruce. I expect her to be a bit nose heavy. The Vmax nose is much shorter than the other models, but I added a starter option up front. But ballistic chute behind me. Should be close. I did make great access on the bottom so I can move batteries back. And if really necessary I can add additional battery packs in the tail. Is she is tail heavy then adding useful nose weight will be tough! Time will tell. Getting closer! Later today I will post pics of my access hatch on the bottom!
Keep the great ideas coming folks!
B-👍😀

Brian the strut covers are cracked in many places and are not useable. you can get them at uflyit.com.

monte

Thats exactly what I am building!! I just hope that mine turns out half as nice!!! I can't wait for the first engine run video!!!!

Question for you, what is your plan for a cowl?

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Brian the strut covers are cracked in many places and are not useable. you can get them at uflyit.com.

monte

Thanks Monte. Just thought I would check. My samples just arrived from them!


Steffens pilot I plan on using the cowl from TEAM. It's really a nice piece, keep us updated on your progress

Yesterday I had another visit from the EAA technical inspector. We brainstormed a couple minor questions I had. He had a couple minor suggestions and changes! Moving forward! As I incorporate some of the changes I will share them! Getting very close to engine run up time!😀

Brian, on your fuselage sides, did you use one continuous 53 1/2" piece of ply, or did you add a joint in there, and if you did, how did you do it?

Quoted from streffpilot

Brian, on your fuselage sides, did you use one continuous 53 1/2" piece of ply, or did you add a joint in there, and if you did, how did you do it?

I used one piece, no joints on that piece of plywood. If you need to join 2 pieces you would need a scarf joint there if I think at least 9-1. I have seen photos of jigs made using drum sanders for that purpose. If you have to do that let me know. I can go thru a couple books I have. Hopefully find the picture and can post it!

There are drawings of a drum sander scarphing jig in one of Tony Bingelis's four books.  You can get a good deal on all four from Aircraft Spruce or EAA.  Also the Aircraft Spruce catalog has a kit for a drum sander scarphing jig.  You can buy a scarphing jig that works on thin plywood using a circular saw from any WEST System(tm) dealer.  See http://www.westsystem.com

Tom

Here you go. Nice simple way to scarf plywood. Picture is pretty self explanatory

Nicest, simplest one I've seen yet.

Tom

Firewall completed. Fire protection as follows. FAA wants 2000 degree protection for 15 minutes. I really don't think the MINIMAX  would survive that no matter what I do to firewall! As a matter of fact I suspect that the only thing left would be the firewall 😱😜But here is what we got. 2 layers Fiberfrax rated 2300 degrees . Single layer 6061-T-6. Rated 1300 degrees. The real protection is the Fiberfrax. 6061 keeps it neat and clean! also you see my duel ignition mounted. Engine mount (wood) painted and sealed! You see opening in middle if I ever need to use magnito (hoping not. Going duel electronic saves 5 pounds over mag/ electronic combo) . All openings (will be)  sealed with 3m 2300 degree caulk. Opening for electrical wire travel thru electrical conduct and will be sealed with firesleeve!

Brake install completes. Used TEAMS band style brakes. Modified them with activation up Top to avoid them locking up if landing with flat tire or hitting a pothole. Also note "heel style brakes. Front view on top. Close up of bend in bracket. Bottom picture, view from behind. When drilling hole for bracket mount...make sure it if high enough so that cable is not dragging on brake drum.... I know this because I had to make 3 🙃

Brakes...front view

Brakes again. Here you see pedal heels to top position . I am counting on natural rebound in band brake to return pedal to that position. If it doesn't over time I will add a return spring! Also note I doubled up 1/4 plywood rudder pedals. Much better feel (IMHO) I really did not feel  comfortable with the flex in the 1/4 ply as called out in plans. My wife called me a " bull in China shop" and tells me I am hard on everything.....so a little stronger makes me feel better!

Final brake photo

Wings are on! Wow three years and 76 pounds this month! Getting close! I have to admit I am very pleased with my progress and the results do far!

One more

Just amazing Brian, thumbs up!

I can visualize it doing a 20' high pass, straight down the runway at cruise speed! Did anyone else see it? Thing of beauty....right?

Lynn

Man you have come a long way.Your documentation is supper. Oh ya the plane looks great. Best wishes for that first flight.

Thanks guys! Getting very excited now!

Ok Brian we want to hear the engine run....please

Monte

Quoted from texasbuzzard

Ok Brian we want to hear the engine run....please

Monte

Getting real close Monte! Very soon!

When you planning on doing the weight and balance for the aircraft?

Quoted from PUFF

When you planning on doing the weight and balance for the aircraft?

Not too much longer I suspect! Still lots of little options things to do. And I am sloooowwww

Once your weight and balance are done, you'll be very very close.

Phew this detail stuff is progressing. All flight controls installed and safety wired in place. Including safety "kits" on elevator pushrods.fuel lines in place along with gascolator. Gascolator mounted behind seat. I used all stainless steel braided lines and AN fittings. I was the lucky receipient of left over fuel system lines and fitting from my hanger mates. The final cost was very low. Notice the door under gascolator for access and maintenance. I will take outside pics later.

One more of fuel lines...... starting to fit cowl. The TEAM cowl is molded for the non electric start vw engine. Mine has a front mounted starter with a large starter ring. This requires some modification. You see the begininnings here. First cutouts such as carberator are done using cardboard templates then cowl slid under cardboard and marked. 0nce these cotout are made......

One more

Then slowly small piece at a time front of cowl needs to be modified so that it fits behind starter ring and opening for starter. That's where I stopped today. It's a bit rough. Sort of like cutting a field with a scythe.... Next foam will be glued in place to give everything a smooth transition. Then fiberglassed over.....sort of like smoothing out the same field with a lawnmower.  I will post pics as I progress. I needed to move forward to this step before starting engine. It's getting cold around here. Soon Fiberglass and epoxy will not cure due to the low temperatures! Right now days are only 30 degrees F or 0 C non-USA people! I use a heat fan to help the parts cure. Soon temps will average 0 F or -18 at that point the fan doesn't help.  

WOW that is an impressive amount of work that you are tackling there. I hope all continues to go well with the build. May the Force be with you.

Quoted from aeronut

WOW that is an impressive amount of work that you are tackling there. I hope all continues to go well with the build. May the Force be with you.

Thanks Aeronut.... it's like a roll of toilet paper now. Seems like the closer I get to the end the faster it goes!!!!  I mentioned my electric fan for curing epoxy. Here are a couple pics from a couple weeks ago. I needed to glue on firewall. Night temps. We're dropping into the 20 F range. To cold for T-88. I placed the fan on low in the nose. Using a thermometer I measured max temp at 96-98  degrees. You could feel the nose of airplane in firewall area was a comfortable warm feel. I left this on for three days... coming back once a day to check of course. the cool amber color is from the LED light ring on the fan. Let's you know what temp setting you have it on. Red high, yellow low, blue fan only. That looks red, but actually it's yellow....

My shop was -10 F this morning, I turned on the heat and managed to get it up to 34 degrees, just make sure to have some good gloves before things start to warm up as those metal things called wrenches like to stick to bare skin when it's that cold.

Little update of fuel tank install. The plans show longer screws thru thru the covers into cross braces. I found lining up cross braces difficult with covers on. Soooo I drilled and tapped 4/40 screws next to cover screws. That way cross braces lined up and "screwed" into position then cover put into position and screwed into position. In the second picture you see the "black 4/40 screws recessed into braces. I put in the cover screws next to then without cover so you can see what I am talking about. Also a side note.... all threads into wood "hardened" with thin CA glue! I had showed this on a previous post, but thought it was worth posting again.
B-

Quoted from cliff

My shop was -10 F this morning, I turned on the heat and managed to get it up to 34 degrees, just make sure to have some good gloves before things start to warm up as those metal things called wrenches like to stick to bare skin when it's that cold.

Wow that's coooold! Are you able to glue in that temp. ? I know T-88 has a minimum temp of 35 F!

Excellent work!
I installed shutoff valves and a quick disconnect for each tank. It helps when removing the wings.
Your high quality work and  (aeroquip?) fuel lines make my work look like a cheap labor!  ;D    
(Picture was taken when building)

Quoted from Ricardo

Excellent work!
I installed shutoff valves and a quick disconnect for each tank. It helps when removing the wings.
Your high quality work and  (aeroquip?) fuel lines make my work look like a cheap labor!  ;D    
(Picture was taken when building)

Thanks Recardo! Not aeroquip....but great quality PTFE lines. Braided stainless steel and all AN aluminum fittings. Trust me if my hanger mates had not volunteered their leftover stuff I would be close to your exact setup! Yours is very neat and functional!!It sometimes pays to be the last one in the group to be flying. No new pics really. But things moving along quite well. All nitpick stuff. I expect to have engine run up videos real soon for you guys! Getting real close!👍

Moving the planes around today. Minimax going to front of hanger by the doors so she can easily be moved outside for engine run ups! Took  a couple "outside " pictures. Cold weather canopy on. Need to bring home cowl for painting. Next week fuel flow tests! Then oil change. And time foe engine run ups! Who hooo big push by me to loose 22 more pounds! Very very close now! Behind me you can make out the Sonex and behind that a Long easy!

Couple more....BTW 3 years last month I started this project!!!!! Where does the time go! Merry Christmas everybody......Have a great holiday......which ever one you celebrate!

That is freeking awesome! Great inspiration for me. I hope everything goes well! Am looking forward to your engine run-ups!

Your plane and it's progress is looking great as always. It's always nice to see a plane assembled and outside rather than components and pieces in a shop or basement. Finish line is in sight now for sure. That last 10% of a build seems to take forever, doesn't it?

You mentioned 22# loss to go yet. I forget now, but what was your total weight loss goal from the beginning? You're looking good.....and rest assured, I'm not flirting. :)

Lynn

Looking great. It has been quite a journey and you have done a fantastic job. Merry Christmas Brian. :)

Wow Brian your max looks great. What a long journey for you and your aircraft but you are near the end. Hope you and your family have a great Christmas.

Monte

Merry Christmas Brian for you and your family!
What a fantastic present you've made for yourself. Also waiting for the first engine tests.

Awesome, congrats! Merry Christmas and happy New year to everybody!

Brian what are you down to now?

Quoted from PUFF

Brian what are you down to now?

I am a stealthy 272 from 369 when the build started. Down from a life time high of 569 I need 250 to fly .......


A quick update....firewall forward continues. But more work than planned but progressing smoothly. Also since it was a subject earlier... I needed to secure the BRS. Chute straps to LG legs. . I went thru a bunch of ideas and finally went the KISS method (Ulbuilder thanks for some of the ideas you sent me). Here you see some aluminum material about 1/4 wide I put heat shrink material over the strip for abrasion protection then bent them as shown. I then secured the straps to LG legs with sticky back Velcro and finally screwed the brackets on as shown. Also in the last picture you can clearly see the wind powered generator!  Getting real close here folks!

And one more. I will have some firewall forward pics soon

A quick weight update . Since it Is an important component to the build........
Picture one and two........ all 569 pounds of me  12 years ago....time to change my life!!!!!
Then picture 3......3 years ago.....369 at start of This build...
Finally current picture from about 6-8 weeks ago 278


Everything coming together......
Goals From begininning of build. Started 3 years ago....
(1)loose 120 pounds 98 lost 22 to go. In the home stretch....Will complete by spring ( modified from my original goal of 100)
(2)Get light enough to get my pilots license......completed Dec 26 2015!
(2)Finish V-Max..... getting very close. Will fly by spring!!!
Thanks for all the support over the last 3 years where does the time go!!!!..time to "bring it home"!!!!

Thats awesome progress on your weight goals, Brian!!! Good job.....

A question for you.....have you considered laying up a more streamlined cowl for your engine? Just was thinking about this at work today.

I've said this over and over but I really think the story of the combination of your goals personal goals and your airplane construction, would make a really great and inspiring book.  All you'd have to do would be take each post of your progress and your pictures and expand the post into a coherent bit of narrative.  Just write what you know in detail right off from the beginning.  Write it long and don't worry, an editor will clean it up as needed.

Tom

First a book, then a movie deal!

Quoted from streffpilot

Thats awesome progress on your weight goals, Brian!!! Good job.....

A question for you.....have you considered laying up a more streamlined cowl for your engine? Just was thinking about this at work today.

Mmmm it may add some speed, but I kinda like everything hanging out in the breeze....Cub style.  I will smooth out front of cowl for a smooth transition from the starter ring. But most likely stop there. I even like the raw aspect to the opening around the starter! . I think I saw somewhere, somebody modified a Supermax cowl giving the plane a smooth updated look!

As far as a book Tom. I put some though into it. My wife actually wants to dabble in writing. After successfuly acheiving all my goals we may actually give it a go!
Lol on the movie deal....I'll be lucky to generate interest in a book.
On a Movie update I mentioned this to my wife. Told her I thought Denzel W should play me.....she replied if that's the case she is going to play herself 😱😉😀
Thanks guys!

Great work, Brian - it's really looking good. I agree on the 'naked' look of the exposed engine, suits the Max, plus it will help with cooling.

Congrats on your weight loss. That's very impressive, and I bet you feel a whole lot better than you did in your 500# days. And - you can fly now!

Have you done a preliminary weighing of your plane yet? It looks to be close to finished, & I'd be interested to know the weight. Mine was surprisingly heavy at 418 pounds. I don't know where all that weight came from :(    But it flies well!

Good luck for the final sprint to completion.

Bruce

Good JOB Brian!

Thanks for all the support guys. Bruce I plan on a weight and balance in a few days to get an idea on what if anything has to be moved to achieve a good balance! At 418 you are over posted weight by only 18 pounds. From what I can see In The experimental world that is actually pretty darn good. I hope I am that close. The  VW engine is over 60 ponds heavier than your engine. Yet. both models have the same projected weight on the website.....it will be interesting! Updates soon!

Ok ... while waiting for a couple of parts for my fuel system.(firewall forward)... everything firewall back is done!  I decided it was time for a weight and balance!!! Well it came our a bit "chubby" it has a published weight of 400 lbs. I added ballistic chute, electric start and battery. Along with charging system and duel elevator cables. Oops and duel wing tanks......I was hoping for 435ish! Maybe 450. Well we are at 479. Dave at minimax doesn't think this is an issue. He said they can be as high as 525lbs. On the good news front the balance is perfect.....no weight needed there I must be at 99 percent. Will not be long now!!

Looking good, I think you're gonna beat me into the air but hopefully I won't be far behind!

YEEHAW your getting close now. That airplane looks good on you. Hope your parts come soon cause I wanna hear that puppy growl. :)

Your persistent, consistent progress is admirable. Looks great!

Looks great Brian! Aren't you going to paint that cowl? You really look like another person compared to your early pictures 🙃

Looks really good, Brian. I love that 'muscle plane' look of the exposed engine. I bet it will sound pretty good too!

Shame your weight came out higher than you were hoping: it was like that for me. I know Lake Harley has built down to weight on the smaller engined plane, but I wonder how many have managed the published weight figures on the larger engined models. I'm not sure I could have saved much on my build - maybe if I'd spent a lot more money on aircraft paint rather than 'latex'.

But I have plenty of performance I don't need with my 60hp engine, so I'm sure you won't be disappointed with your performance in the air.  Especially if you keep shrinking your body the way you have - a great result over the time you've been working at it.

I'm looking forward to a video of your engine run up. After that, you're pretty much good to go - yaay!

Bruce

Just remember for the first flight.
YOUR Stall Speed Should be HIGHER than published as well.

Brian looks like your pretty close, keep at it!  

Thanks for the support guys. The cowl Is slowly coming together. It is designed for the non electric start motor. So it requires a lot of modification! I also expect a higher stall speed along with possible airspeed indicator error. Initial flights will be flown with significant caution. Right now I am immersed in mandatory trading for my biannual renewal of my paramedic certificate. It is keeeping me from the hanger😩 Fuel  system installed. Metal shielding in place on fuselage behind muffler. It is aluminum with a layer of fiberfrax. I wrapped rear exhaust for further protection (it is awefully close) Streamline struts installed carberator out for professional rebuild and of course Snoopy in search of Red Barron in place!!!! Updates to soon follow.

Ya gotta love that dog.Must have had a January thaw; no snow. Looking finist kind. :) :) :) :) :) :)

Brian, you are doing freeking awesome! I am super jealous of your hard work and progress! A great inspiration to me and my vmax.

Cant wait to hear an engine run :)

Looking superb, Brian. She looks like she's ready to go flying - you must be soooo close now.

Bruce

Brian your commitment, dedication and achievement on many levels is truly amazing.
She looks beautiful and strong! I am very happy for you.

Soon you will take her up to the skies... where you both belong...

Cheers
Reto

Thanks guys!!! I am soooo close to stating the engine! Darn mandatory training slowing me down! I will be finished this week! Updates soon !!! Hopefully next update is a video of her running!

Brian you working on Tailwheel Endorsement?

Way to go Brian! Can wait to hear that engine come alive.

Hi Brian, I was reading pages 2 and 3 of this thread, and quite a few of the pics you posted are inverted. So it was kind of foxing that you re-confirmed that the pics appear erect to you. I think it is some quirk with the upload software in your smartphone or Ipad or whatever. By the way the inverted pics revert to right-side-up when you click on them. That is even more intriguing.

My suggestion is you be very careful when you fly this airplane.  It may appear to you that you are flying erect , straight and level, but in reality you may be flying inverted , who knows ? (LOL)

I also liked the International space station analogy that some one posted . Very funny.

Been a while since update. Things are progressing smoothly! Yes Puff I am taking TW lessons in a Cub...  I was slowed down due to winter around here and the fact my TW instructor moved onto another job. She was 106 pounds . Next lightest instructor required me to loose an additional 22 pounds.... 12 of those to go. That also puts me at a nice  Minimax weight..... all coming together well. Ricardo you I hope to be starting engine in a few days! I will post video soon (I hope) Keith I know the picture delima is a strange iOS phenomenon. Since I take pictures with IPhone and post with IPad I see all the photos upright.
I think I figured hoe the best way to hold phone when taking photos and hopefully that has become much better. I can imagine the " Spider-Man" building style can be irritating to. See......but hey guess I am a bit of a show off!!!🙃

Great! I'm glad to see you're almost there.....  

I'm Stopped on my PPL as I just found out I have cataracts which must be removed. Once that's done and the vision correction is complete. I'll finish.

"Spider Man building style":  Brian is *that* your secret to weight loss!?!  ;D

Could not resist.  Great build, build log, and inspirational story overall.

You've lost so much weight I think you need to change your name to littlebrixx1.

Your craftsmanship is amazing and weight loss inspiring.

Great Job and accompaniment Brian Congrats !!

Thanks guys! More detailed pics to follow in a couple days..... but here is link to first run up of motor. Runs perfectly!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzW5Zdv7GBPpc2JqTVFvbG1jREE/view?usp=drivesdk

SOUNDS WICKED GOOD!!!! :) :) :)

Good on yer, Brian! A real waypoint in your build. Certainly sounds better than a 2 stroke. Seems like your brakes are effective, too.

Bruce

Sounds great Brian! You're almost there, but don't rush, do a lot of taxi run to became familiar with airplane position (ground height) also ground control, recognize instruments readings , throttle position, etc. If you're operating from an asphalt surface it will be trickier.

By the way, today I flew my Minimax again after 3 months... no suit and tie this time  ;D .  What a Joy!  Beautiful weather also.

Very exciting time! The list is getting. Shorter every day! Thanks for all the support! I will be flying soon! Great advice Recardo. Advice I plan to follow! Here you see the fuel lines with fire sleeve. Also duel electronic ignition! And fuel flow test at 20 degree angle. Fuel system is stock mechanical engine run pump. With electronic back up fuel pump. Pumps are parallel . With check valves. Fuel flow was 21 gallons an hour! That should be sufficient! Finishing up cowl now.

Addeed my snoopy to the tail......who don't love that darn dog!!! It may be a single seater, but I won't be up there alone

Tremendously inspiring, Brian,

Tom

BRIAN!!! I think I saw a little bit of taxi in your engine run video (about 8 inches or so) This is such an inspiration to me in building my V-max!

Yours looks so good. All the hard work will pay of in a short bit for you i'm sure!

Way to Go!!!!!

Piece of advice:
On the snoopy sign change the second "L" for a "W" and you'll have all the license necessary to fly your plane whenever you fill like it.

Brian, congrats to your engine run! Sounds very solid and like a real airplane! Huge difference to my 2 stroke... You are the man!
Cheers
Reto

Great work!- it will not be long now!

Quoted from Ricardo

Piece of advice:
On the snoopy sign change the second "L" for a "W" and you'll have all the license necessary to fly your plane whenever you fill like it.

Lol lucky for me I already have one of those! 😉

Ok folks basically working on cosmetic stuff. And trying to eliminate some radio noise! I get static and ignition feedback when trying to transmit! I am fitting cowl and working on filling in wing LE gaps. Also going to finish up my tailwheel endorsement!!! Wow it's moving fast now. Do have some sad news. One of my hanger mates died in an accident last Tuesday. Still not sure what happened. Broke my heart when the news showed the tail of an  Aircraft sticking out of a roof.  Then I recognized his tail number. He is the guy taking photos in the beginning of my engine run up video. Went to work on my Max day after event and his car was still parked outside hanger.....Notice pictures below. Empty spot next to my plane was where Al kept his Sonix...
RIP buddy....
http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Methuen-Massachusetts-Deadly-Plane-Crash-Investigation-415086803.html

Well....enough of that back to the build ......here is the modified cowl.....as I stated before I am using starter ring as front and flow cowl back from there. I cut around starter. My original plan was a bump orotund it. But I really like the industrial look of it open like you see. I plan on leaving it that way....

Sorry to hear about your friend Al.

I agree the starter cutout looks good.
That small MiniMax spinner looks out of place with that giant flywheel behind it.

Very sorry about the loss of your friend Brian.I will say a prayer. You are getting so close to your goals; and I am happy for your success.

I love this thread, you set 2 goals that aren't easy and are well on the way to completion on both and you also found time to keep us posted on your progress from start to finish. I wish you well and that you have many happy healthy years of flying in your airplane. this threat is part of the inspiration to start on my Ultra-piet. I only hope to have the same success as you.

The spinner does look a bit funny. But once everything is painted. I think it will flow relatively well.... time will tell. Cdlwingnut... get started on that build!!! Please send me a link to build when you do! Just keep plugging away! I am so close now!!! It's like a roll of toilet paper... closer you get to the end...faster it goes!!! Thanks to all for all the support along the way!
B-😃

Brian:
Sorry to hear the sad news about your hangar friend.  I hope they find the accident cause that could save other pilot's life. My condolences to the family.

So sorry to hear about the loss of your hangar mate, Brian.  Sad, sad news, but like they say, shit happens. I'm glad it hasn't stopped your will to fly.

Re your radio noise, I have this problem too.  I can hear fine, but people say my transmissions are very crackly. I think it is probably RF noise transmitted from the alternator or CD ignition. I have my antenna in the tail, so can't get it further away from the engine. Someone suggested ferrules on the power supply lead to the radio, to soak up the spikes - I may try this. If it is the ignition, I'm guessing it's going to be lots of work to isolate the interference.

At the moment, Im able to fly ok from my (radio mandatory) local airfield. I keep my transmissions short, & just shut the throttle down when I transmit! It works ok, & I don't lose too much height or speed for the short time I need to transmit.

I'll be interested to hear if you fix your problem, although we have different engines.

Can't wait to hear your first flight report. It must be getting towards Spring in your hemisphere, too, so an ideal time for first flight.

Bruce

Brian,

I am interested in your Transponder install, where did you place the antenna and how was the ground plane achieved?   I looked into making the copper tape antennas as they do in the composite aircraft on my bird, but found that I could incorporate a ground plane into the top of my Hi-max cabin.   I am considering adding a small Transponder since I am in a bit of a high traffic area, and would like to know your thoughts on how that is working.

Quoted from Seaplane Pirate

Brian,

I am interested in your Transponder install, where did you place the antenna and how was the ground plane achieved?   I looked into making the copper tape antennas as they do in the composite aircraft on my bird, but found that I could incorporate a ground plane into the top of my Hi-max cabin.   I am considering adding a small Transponder since I am in a bit of a high traffic area, and would like to know your thoughts on how that is working.

My thoughts as well. Very interested.

Quoted from Kaliche Kid

My thoughts as well. Very interested.

I can take some photos of install. But remember I haven't flown it yet... so I am not sure about performance! Basically I mounted the antenna below fuselage, behind seat. The ground plane is on the floor behind seat! I'll post some pics in a couple days.

Just got home from 2 week vacation in Iceland then London! We walked everywhere our average was over 10 miles a day. Using public transportation as a last resort! It wasn't that long ago when a walk across a parking lot left me winded!!!
                  Also decided to "buy into" a 1/3 share of this Piper Cherokee! Since basic med has passed I am laddering up from Sport pilot to PPL !!! Between the Cherokee and the Minimax I am sure looking forward to a great flying Season!!!! Two different planes with two entirely different missions!!!

Quoted from beragoobruce

So sorry to hear about the loss of your hangar mate, Brian.  Sad, sad news, but like they say, shit happens. I'm glad it hasn't stopped your will to fly.

Re your radio noise, I have this problem too.  I can hear fine, but people say my transmissions are very crackly. I think it is probably RF noise transmitted from the alternator or CD ignition. I have my antenna in the tail, so can't get it further away from the engine. Someone suggested ferrules on the power supply lead to the radio, to soak up the spikes - I may try this. If it is the ignition, I'm guessing it's going to be lots of work to isolate the interference.

At the moment, Im able to fly ok from my (radio mandatory) local airfield. I keep my transmissions short, & just shut the throttle down when I transmit! It works ok, & I don't lose too much height or speed for the short time I need to transmit.

I'll be interested to hear if you fix your problem, although we have different engines.

Can't wait to hear your first flight report. It must be getting towards Spring in your hemisphere, too, so an ideal time for first flight.

Bruce

Your right Bruce "sh*^t does happen, but as a Paramedic I am fully aware of the risks in life!!! He will be missed but life goes on!

    I am trying to chase down some potential ground loops. Also purchased some resistor style caps for spark plugs and some braided metal wire sleeve covers for spark plug wires! Now that I am back from vacation I will begin in earnest to chase down the interference!  

Brian, I am sorry to hear about what happened to your hangar mate. The empty space in your hangar should soon be occupied with an other flying machine...

You are getting close, fantastic!

Just learned that I will need COM/XPDR/ELT over here too...

Cheers
Reto

Hi Brian, congratulations on your progress.

I have just started work on finishing a part built Brugger Colibri, which is VW powered. I was wondering about your starter ring, what diameter is it?  

I am planning to fit a modified Limbach engine but it has a rear starter and magneto. I want to convert to a front starter arrangement like yours.

Regards,

Colin

I found a picture of my ground plane for the transponder antenna. It is behind the seat. I epoxied it to the floor. Antenna pointing dow. Still working on radio noise.
Colin that looks like a fun plane. I will take measurement for you tomorrow. I know this unit in its entirety is available From Hummel Engines.
Retro  good luck with the install. If I wasn't chasing down engine noise in Radio I would be done by now!m

Three ferrite beads on the coax for the vhf may help on the radio noise.... I have a technical paper on it I can email you if needed.  I may have some extra beads too

Quoted from Seaplane Pirate

Three ferrite beads on the coax for the vhf may help on the radio noise.... I have a technical paper on it I can email you if needed.  I may have some extra beads too

Please send me the paper at brianxx2@yahoo.com also if you have extra beads please let me know. I'll try them! I sheethed the spark plug cables in metal braid and put on resistor caps. According to the tower they are receiving me 4/5. Before I was transmitting an unreadable "squeal"! So progress!!!!! Also started taxi tests. Really glad I put in differential breaking!
Thank you!
Brian!!!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Fuel flow was 21 gallons an hour! That should be sufficient!  

You have a rather short range Max there, haven't you?  :)

I had a Colemill 310 with 300 hp. engines and it burned only about 24 gph total, and the cruise speed was 230mph.  :P

Just had to poke you a little; everything about your thread and build has been so good that there just hasn't been much opportunity to harass you, and it looks like there's not much time left.

Hope you get rid of the radio noise. Magneto ignitions used to require shielded wires and a capacitor. That's all so old that it's probably not relevant to your installation.

Have a great time in both airplanes, but not at the same time.

Still working on radio noise! Making great progress. Bert that 310 sounds like a blast to fly! Although a bit pricey😉. I have started taxi test. Slow tests. But it's great! The sound is awesome! Ricardo I stole your idea about putting casters under wheels and it allows me to move max in and out of hanger sideways! Much easier!  Paperwork on its way to FAA. Trying to schedule a airworthiness inspection soon! Down to a few cosmetic touches, cleaning up radio noise and some safety checks! The never ending list is getting smaller.  Note the leather flying cap and goggles! Christmas present! Red Baron eat your heart out!!! Here is a link to my taxi video posted on the team Facebook page

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1173577879430949&id=207841032671310

Final fitting and painting of cowl getting close!
Brian 🎉😃

GREAT Brian. You will be flying soon. Good luck. :)

Well done Brian!  Now for the full runway tail up taxi trials (the fun bit!).  Your plane sounds great, especially with the WW1 'blipping'.

Bruce

Awesome! How did the weight and balance go?
How many pounds of pull force did you get from your engine? The engine sound is soooo nice!

can't wait for that first flight report/video!

Wow! Great looking airplane!
Where'd you buy that thing?  ;D (That's your cue. Now you can tell them. )

I bet you will here that a lot.

Thanks for the vid.

Ricardo weight and balance "right on the money" No added weight needed! But she did come out heavier than expected! Bert thank you! Got to admit it sure is cute! Came out better than expected!  Thank you to everybody who gave me so much support over the last 3 1/2 years. I am not that far away from first flights! Here is how I filled in the unsightly wing to fuselage gaps! First I put wax paper on fuselage then heavy card stock next to wing. I filled the gap with LOW expanding foam. When it dried I cut to shape. Covered exposed ends in light fiberglass and painted. Once dried I glued into place to fuselage with silicone glue. Not to bad if I say so myself!

Here she is with cowl painted and attached! Remember I decided to use front starter ring as "front of cowl" and flare back from there. The factory cowl is designed for the hand start motor and there are no provisions for these. I also cut around starter. Kind of utilitarian. But I like the industrial look that I came up with. I really have a couple more tests. Power  tests at different take off angles. Perhaps a statistic thrust test ( good idea Recardo.) and a couple odds and ends. Got radio to satisfactory level. Still some background noise when transmitting. But much better. Within acceptable limits! Here fully dressed I would like to present the second "lady in my life" my wife who tolerates me will always hold the position of first and cutest! But have to admit this sure is a close second!

Couple more!

One more

Such a beauty, congratulations!

Wonderful little ship.  I really admire your accomplishment.

Tom

What no white wall tires?lol You have done a great job on your airplane and that was a me trying to bring a little humor. I hope your first flight goes fantastic. Your build has been well documented here and I have enjoyed very much. Thank you for sharing so much.

Just Gorgeous! Congratulations on your creation Brian.
I would also like to see a picture of your plane with the enclosed cabin.

That is beautiful, great work on it. I hope to see a picture of it flying soon and of your face with a great big grin from flying it.

Well done that man!  Your plane looks superb, Brian - many congrats on an excellent job.

I am very much looking forward to hearing your accounts of learning to fly the Max next.
You will get such a huuuge buzz the first time you fly - makes all those hours of careful work so worthwhile.

If you can find the time to post how you sorted your radio, I would appreciate any tips. Mine is only just useable with (I think) ignition noise. So any help would be much appreciated.

Good luck with the great adventure of flying your own creation. Very few people get to experience this unique achievement.

Bruce

Great job Brian from the build to the documentation of it. the journey is almost over. the first flight will be exciting.

monte

Brian, she looks beautiful and wants to show the sky to you. Don't let her wait too long...  ;)
Seriously great work, well done on every level!
Cheers
Reto

Thanks guys! I am in contact with a potential test pilot. Also due to the plane being over weight, but within acceptable limits I am forcing myself on a major additional 30 pounds additional weight loss! I reached my goal weight but the Minimax refused to go on the same diet! Not a problem! I always approached this with the attitude I would shrink to fit into it! Not build it to fit me! But not to worry soon it will fly...and shortly after that I will fly her!


Bruce here is what helped me reduce radio noise. Now before these changes I could receive fine, but when I tried to transmit all the tower heard was a loud "squeal"  now there is some background noise when transmitting, but the tower states although there is background noise. They can hear my transmission clearly!

First I shielded spark plug wires with this braiding from aircraft spruce. I then grounded the braid at the coil end  by soldering wires to braid. I also replaced spark plug caps with NGK 1K resistor caps. Finally I added ground strap from antenna ground plane to ground system.  I think it can be a bit better. But it is a functional system right now. Hope this gives you a direction to go in Bruce!

B-😀

Looking great!
In the last airplane pic above the gas cap looks like any eye and the aileron cable a smile.
So even the airplane is happy with the results.

To get your radio more prefect try looping the radio power/ground, and the ground for the ground plane around ferrite cores.

Quoted from ulbuilder

Looking great!
In the last airplane pic above the gas cap looks like any eye and the aileron cable a smile.
So even the airplane is happy with the results.

To get your radio more prefect try looping the radio power/ground, and the ground for the ground plane around ferrite cores.

lol I see the smile! Almost as big as mine. Ricardo I will definitely get some pics of full canopy over next week!
    Well I finally discovered the source of the last bit of interfearance in the radio! It's feedback from the headset noise canceling Mike! It was the tower that suggested it. I am fabricating a cover for the mike similar to the one "Dick Rake" had posted in another thread on this subject! Other than that I consider the radio problem solved. The tower states I am perfectly "readable" !!!
B-

Good you got your radio sorted, Brian. Thanks for your suggestions - I'll try these on my setup.  My radio is useable -
I needed it when flying this morning to sort landing order with another aircraft using the tarmac runway that crosses with 'my' grass strip.
But it could do better.

Good luck with taxi trials - that time must be getting close!

Bruce

Hi All,

Yes, just did the homework (reading threads  lol). Would like to congratulate Brian besides of his accomplished as Licensed Pilot.
Now with much appreciated personally build  full-sized aircraft.
Brian, you have gone too far..
After years passed, looked like you are now in the threshold with open blue skies..An aviator's lifetime achievement.
May I sincerely congratulate you for job well done!
Best Regards,

Phil

Thank you all for your support.  We have a completed aircraft! Ready to fly! I am awaiting airworthiness inspection as we speak. In the meantime I completed all my PPL trading and scheduling a checkride over the next couple weeks! Ricardo I have t forgo. On you! Soon I will change canopies and get a couple pics! Hopefully my next update will be flying photos!
Best to all
B-

Wow congrats Brian.. I know I'm a bit late.  The plane looks great!

Helloooo Brix.....chirp,chirp,chirp(sound of crickets)

Brix,
Brother, sweet plane. I had dropped off the Squak because the woman was wanting a new house, well we are in and I am wanting to come back and looking to buy a project plane and I am considering two right now. It is the cash thing!

Ed~

Just want to say thanks for posting the picture of the wing stand back on page 16. I need a rack now and I remembered that you had posted that.

Beautiful Max, and great job on your weight loss.

Thanks again for thinking of us other folks.

If you were close enough, I'd give you one of my wing racks....  I don't use them right now.  Both my birds are stuffed into a trailer.

My apologies for not posting in a bit. I have been busy! The last 6 weeks have been spent trying to convince the FAA that it is part if their job to perform the airworthiness inspection. They simply reply that the boss doesn't want them doing it. It appears they will win. Meanwhile weight loss continues and my weight goal is within reach! All this time has not been wasted. I successfully upgraded from sport pilot to private pilot. And have been building hours on my Cherokee. Wife and I are off on our annual two week motorcycle trip this week and upon my return I will be hiring a DAR to perform the Airworthiness inspection (600 dollars!) Followed by high speed taxi tests then I expect to have to  flight reports to you all before September ends! Thank you all for your kind be words and support! What a journey this has been!
Updates soon
Brian 😃👍

Hi Brian

Great to hear from you again.  What a nightmare!  I had all sorts of hoops to jump through over here, too. The aviation authorities seem to work
on the assumption that everybody would be much safer if they just didn't fly. So they do their best to make it as hard as possible to satisfy all their rules.  
Grrrr!  But well done on not wasting the waiting time, & upgrading to PPL. Great achievement.

Have a good bike trip. We're all looking forward to your flight stories - & videos -  when you get back:)

Bruce

Yep, went DAR myself.

Congratulations on the private pilot license Brian. Keep the greasy side down and have a great trip.

Congrats Brian, well done!

Reto

Probably the DAR knows more about this type of aircraft than a lot of people you might get from the FAA.

Tom

You might find that a DAR is more helpful anyway.

The builder of THE FLAG got signed off for a 250 mile radius for the first 40 hours. That made it easy for me when I purchased the plane with only 10 hours on it. I hauled it home, put the wings on, inspected and adjusted things, ran the engine on the ground and began flying. I didn't have to do any extra paperwork or drive the 42 miles back to the builder's home airport.

The DAR had sense enough to know that the only guy that would fly an Air-Bike 250 miles lived up in Kansas.  ;D ( Sorry Paul, I just couldn't help myself. )

Looks awesome, look forward to video of the test flight and more. Your an amazing man

You should call your representative and/or senator, they can get a fire lit under the FAA's ass.

Can't wait too see you fly your MiniMax.

Some battles cannot be won UL builder....I have a DAR scheduled end of this week! Updates to follow!

Darn! DAR was scheduled to come by for Airworthyness inspection. He apparently slipped while hand propping an airplane and injured his hip. Delayed a week or so!
Updates soon
B-

What kind of s*** luck is that? I hope you did not take time off from work to meet up with him??!!

EK~

Quoted from edwinkania

What kind of s*** luck is that? I hope you did not take time off from work to meet up with him??!!

EK~

Nope... I didn't... the paper chase is more work and a lot more frustrating than the build!

Yea I see but no flying till the paper chase is complete.......errrrrr
EK~

Quoted from edwinkania

Yea I see but no flying till the paper chase is complete.......errrrrr
EK~

Yup no flying my minimax.... but racking up the hours on my Cherokee!!! Next the minimax! Living the dream!

Best wishes for that first flight Brian. :)

Brian,
I am envious you have two flyable airplanes! I have 15 RC airplanes and helis bla bla.. I need to get this on! The plane looks cool, the  Cherokee and the MAX. The view is awesome, is that the Ocean?

EK~

I am a lucky man! That and a bit of hard work! Like I said living the dream. Hopefully the DAR can make it out Thursday the 21 for inspection!
Best
B-

Crossing fingers Brian!
Cheers
Reto

We're rootin' for you Brian!

Can't wait to hear of your successful inspection result - and then, all about your first flight!!

Good luck

Bruce

Who hooo 3 years 10 months....about 1800 hours I now have a Valid Airworthyness certificate. First flight to follow soon! Thank you all for your support!

Way to go Brian. All those hours and sweat are paying off.

Monte

Congrats!

You must be one happy man.
Fantastic. Congrats!!!
Reto

Nice One Brian!

Bruce

Effing-A!!! Brother I never saw one, first for me....... Very Cool.
Looking forward to seeing video of the flight.

Very Nice!
EK~

YAY!!!! Great project all the way through. It was also great to hear of your "personal" progress along with the plane's construction. Good for you....all around!   :)

Lynn

THATS AWESOME!!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear about the first flight!!!!!!

OOOOOOOH Yeah!  

That is great Brian and thak you for sharing you build with us. The first flight will be the finest kind of experience for you. :)

Congrats, Brian.
Good to see all your hard work paying off, finally !

Congratulations! Well done.

Congrats!

Little slow here. Taxi test are done. Test pilot and I are just waiting for a nice day. Seems like any day we can get together it is blustery! Meanwhile I keep busy flying my Cherokee. Last week I had the honor of flying some "young eagles" it was an honor to be the first to introduce a couple youngsters to aviation. Soon I will have video of Vmax first flights!
B-😀👍

That's so great that you are flying Young Eagles.  One of my hopes is that here in Eastport we'll be able to have a Young Eagles program and also a program with high school students building an Epic Sport.  I'm doing up drawings for the most efficient rib jig I can work up right now.  I hope to get permanent jigs for all the Epic Sport components in the coming months.  Then we'll hopefully be able to build aircraft using a team of young people.

I'm sure you can show your Young Eagles your Team aircraft and that will be an extra thrill for them.

Tom

Very happy for you Brian. :) :) :)

Well done, Brian. But what about giving some white kids a flight?

Bruce

Or some green ones, or some blue ones?   :)

If you don't want to show their faces then you could always put a smiley face on instead of blacking them out like that.

Anyway, well done for giving something back to the flying community that you've not long joined yourself. There should be more people like you around, helping the next generation of kids to be inspired to fly. Keep up the good work!

Best regards,

Bob

There was once a rather lengthy discussion regarding the wisdom of cutting kerfs in the forward fuselage longerons ... even though the 1550V plans clearly call for doing so. Aside from the theoretical discussion pro or con, it was apparently difficult to corral the epoxy and keep it in the kerfs while curing. Tape was suggested as a possible solution, but the  owner of this thread said he cut and glued strips of 1.5 mm plywood to the narrow side of the longerons inside the fuselage before glueing the 1/8 " plywood doublers. The result gave the epoxy no place to go other than remaining in the kerfs. That sounded like a good idea to me so that is what I did. It worked perfectly. I simply brushed a generous amount of epoxy ro the remaining side of the longerons which had the kerfs exposed ... the side facing skyward ... and let gravity do the work. (The bottom first and then the top when the fuselage assembly is flipped.)

If I ever had any concern about the strength of the forward fuselage because of the kerfs it is gone now. With the longerons being wrapped on all four sides with plywood and the kerfs being filled with epoxy, the result is a SUPER STRONG forward fuselage. There will be no sleep lost over this "issue"!

Thanks guys for the help with my build.

Hey, just thought I would check in and see how you are doing......I am eagerly awaiting some flight reviews as I am basically copying your build......Super excited to hear about your flights!

Still waiting for weather. My free days and the test pilots free day to coordinate. Any day now! Meanwhile I changed over to the cold weather canopy. Also love a deal! Picked up the AOA indicator from Belite aircraft at 33 percent off! Now installed you can see wind vane mounted on LE left wing. AOA indicator mounted center canopy. You can sort of see it thru the windshield. Will get better pic soon. The one I took was very out of focus
Here are some pics. I didn't forget your request Ricardo.

Awesome! The black lines are painted or is a tape decal?

I'm sure the cutout for the starter is not doing anything for aerodynamics but as Brian (or maybe some other buzzard) pointed out back when he was doing it, It sure looks "cool" to see it like that.
TTT

Well....does she fly??  Been admiring this thread for awhile and the anticipation is killing me!
DC

Quoted from 436

Well....does she fly??  Been admiring this thread for awhile and the anticipation is killing me!
DC

It’s killing me also! New England winter hit with a vengance. Weekly snow storms and sub zero temperatures. Toss in high winds and test flight has not happened yet! I still have a few pound to loose to feel safe in my max ! Working diligently on that. And working with test pilot for first flight. Sorry to keep everybody in limbo... hopefully flight updates soon!
Happy 2018
B😀

I think you’re doing  the right thing Brian, when all conditions are perfect you’ll be concentrating only on the plane and not with the weather also.
In the other hand, You can exchange a few extra pounds for less fuel in the tank 😀, meanwhile, just keep that baby shinning.

Brian it will happen and when it does you will be one happy flyer. The grin will last a long, long time. You have very much to be proud of evan at this point. And the fact that you have been so very generous in sharing your build with us speaks volumes about your fine character. Best wishes for an early spring. :)

I officially built an airplane folks!!! Today at 3:45 PM V-max N417BJ proudly took to the skies! 3 years 10 months to build and about 1400 - 1700 hours to build.
Flight went very well. The test pilot stated “ you built a great airplane here” ! I’ll post more video and pics later. CHT we’re climbing at full power. May have to riches up the top end.
Who hooo! Couple “squawks” to sort out! Will be flying her soon! Thank you all for your support along the way😀😘 And a great big thank you to Dave and the crew at Team Minimax for their invaluable advice and support during this journey!  

https://www.facebook.com/brian.lloyd.3517/videos/410470622726412/

Brian congratulations and best wishes I hope there is a lot more to come for you In your journey thru aviation. WELL DONE !  :)

Thanks Aeronut. Once I fly off my 40 hours. Don't be suprised if you find a little red and white Vmax coming to visit! Here is another photo! For those looking at these photos on a regular computer. Click on photo and I am told it will show up upright and correctly sized! On my iPad it looks great. Sorry guys. Guess l never figure out this photo stuff.

Great rate of climb

WOW that is a great looking airplane. It must feel fantastic to see it gracing the sky. Now go out and try to wear it out. You have a awesome build recorded on Buzzards and we have all benefited from it. Blue sky's and tail winds to you and your lovely wife cause she must be very happy for you. :)

here we are.

How's this Dick

And tjis

Ok, you're getting better.

4 years and over 33 pages you think I would have figured it out by now😉😳 luck I am adorable

Congrats Brian on the first flight and sharing the journey with us. Now it’s time for your first flight.

Monte

Am I the only who cannot see the video ?

Congrats. Very well done i hope it brings many hours of flying and fun. Thanks for bringing us along on your journy

Well done Brian! Congratulations on your great build. A huge buzz to see your baby flying - but an even huuger buzz when it's your turn!

Bruce

Quoted from Dick Rake

Congrats Brian! Great job on your airplane but you can't post a good picture to save your ass! LOL
Dick

Brian, Your pictures were showing up inverted and about 3 times the size of my computer screen. Aeronut just emailed me and said if I would click on the picture attachment they would open up ok and they did. They now show  right side up and fit my screen. Good to know your test pilot wasn't flying inverted on his first flight in your airplane.
Dick

WOW!!!! Congratulations!!!!

I hope to hear your flight report soon!!!!

I know I am curious about numbers such as fuel burn roc and cruise, as I am building the same style you did.

Fantastic!
Congrats Brian.
Your hard work paid off.
Can't wait to see the grin on your face after your first flight...

Cheers
Reto

Quoted from bigbrixx1

I officially built an airplane folks!!!

Yes, you did....you did indeed! Congratulations on your goal coming to fruition!

Lynn

Congratulations Brian! You did a fantastic job building that beauty.
Get ready for it !


Ricardo

here are videos of first flight and landing on you-tube

https://youtu.be/YLh6T92A3PY

https://youtu.be/UdIJyYb2lyE

First official time she left the ground

https://youtu.be/0TfmboRLNPE

Great vids, Brian. I wish my 2 stroke engine sounded as good as your 4 stroke VW.

Please let us know your performance figures when you have them: speeds; ROC; fuel burn etc.  All useful stuff, given how hard it is to get real world figures from manufacturers.

Will you be flying your Max soon?

Good on yer

Bruce

Very heartening to see, Brian.  Thank you for making us all part of your project.

Tom

Quoted from beragoobruce

Great vids, Brian. I wish my 2 stroke engine sounded as good as your 4 stroke VW.

Please let us know your performance figures when you have them: speeds; ROC; fuel burn etc.  All useful stuff, given how hard it is to get real world figures from manufacturers.

Will you be flying your Max soon?

Good on yer

Bruce

Thanks guys! Thanks Bruce. Just got to work out the engine issue. Also going to play with W+B a bit (test pilot thinks she is a bit nose heavy) then my turn. Very very soon it will be my turn. I will also post all my performance numbers as I get them solidified.
Best
B-

Awesome flight Brian I am waiting for the storms to let me fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ed~

Brian, congratulations on the successful culmination of an interesting part of your Mini-Max journey.
Now the equally fun part of flying and enjoying the fruits of your hard work is ahead.

This next point is not specifically about your build. But those builders who have enlisted many devoted followers on ETLB with their build threads ( especially builders like Brian, whose build threads have gradually evolved into epics in their own right ) need to be bestowed with a hall of fame status on ETLB. In reciprocation, these builders also could show a connection to this forum with a small tiny sticker on their final product with just the words " ETLB- username"  to memorialize a shared journey. Not sure if this makes sense, but just a thought.

Awesome!

Whoo hoo Over the weekend I performed some high speed taxi test on my own. I was able to get her airborn and maintained a 6-10 foot height for about 1000 feet. I did that twice and called it a day when low ceilings  came in. We have have had rain all week. And the forecast is rain for the next week. Sorry no pictures this was unexpected!
B-

Splendid accomplishment after all those long hours of building and dreaming of flight in your very own creation. Hope your wife was there to savor the moment. I have been waiting a while to say this, CONGRATULATIONS and thanks for sharing. :) :) :) :) :) :)

Well done Brian!

But frankly, now you've got that out of the way, I would really recommend just powering her up & doing a good 1/2 hour or so at altitude.  Low level flying just above the runway is much more fraught than getting to know your baby in her element, with a bit of height as a safety net.

I look forward to the vids, & again, good on yer for getting off the ground.  

Bruce

Congrats. What an accomplishment. I hope someday i too can say i flew a plane i built with my own two hands. Great job and thanks for sharing the ride with us.

Just pull the trigger Brian! you're both ready.
Congratulation once again for all your achievements. You're an example to many people in many ways.

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Sorry no pictures this was unexpected!
B-

Congrats on your first of many flights! When you say there are "no pictures this was unexpected" does that mean you were out having high-speed taxi fun and the thing turned into an airplane on you without warning?  :)

I don't know if you've reported lately on your personal goals of weight loss. How is that going? I know you had made a LOT of progress.

Lynn

Total weight 88 pounds lost. I actually put on a few and lost 15 bring me back to the 88 mark. It’s a constant battle. I wanted 100 and will reach that good goal. But I feel that I am light enough for my V-max. At this weight I have the Perfect Balance  with the aircraft according to flight manual. Thanks for the kind words. Next good weather day I plan on going above the  class D airspace (2600ft) and starting some flight testing. All within sight of the runway. More info to follow soon.
B-

Congrats Brian and very good to see you getting some press exposure for yourself and for Mini-Max:

http://inspire.eaa.org/2018/04/04/mini-max-motivation/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTkRCaU5qUTRZMkUxT1dRMiIsInQiOiJtNGFVa1JTd1JQb2RUeGFzSHVKNmlUYlwvVXRRSzNpZ0kzUGNBc1lFUWxobGp4eHQ2NWpsUXhVaTBNb3k1NkJpQStRK0Jtc1ZPaHlLY1N0dXFOaVZUNmtrdG1VcmRRUkE3SUh5b2ttY1lFdEtBMDdEZm9tSWtIOTBHanRzdEQrdlcifQ%3D%3D

Well done Brian.
Hope you give us a detailed report after your next longer flight.

[url]   http://inspire.eaa.org/2018/04/04/mini-max-motivation/[/url]

Brian, I am just curious what size tube you used for your pitot tube, also, what kind of plastic tubing did you use?

I guess I am famous.. well to the 5 or 6 people who read EAA blog lol........streffpilot I used a knitting needle for my pitot tube. I will get measurements over the next couple days if you like. I kind of used the TLR method (that looks about right) and I think 1/4 I/D tubing that fit snugly over the needle. it was the clear stuff they have in hardware stores. You can buy by the foot. So far it looks like I am getting pretty accurate feedback from the system. IF this crummy New England weather ever gets better I hope to have more flying info coming soon! This has been nearly 6 months of crummy weather here. Spring has to arrive soon
B-

My pitot tube is a carbon fiber arrow shaft. I also use hardware store clear tubing. My airspeed agrees with my car GPS.

hmmmmm.......I may have to take a look at my bow case. I know for sure I have an arrow shaft laying around that is missing some fletching......

I don't have knitting needles so I probably won't use that. Besides. Carbon fiber just sounds cool. I will stock up on the 1/4" tubing from the Home aircraft Depot or Menards aircraft supply

THANK YOU both very much for the response.

Back in the day when I was building they recommended Tygon tubing. It was the stuff they used in aquariums. It needs to have a stiff wall. And that is the truth (in my warped mind). Why do you remember such trivia from 25 years ago but I can not remember what I had for breakfast.lol ;)  

Quoted from bigbrixx1

I guess I am famous..
B-

You deserve to be Brian. Without a doubt, your story is an inspiration to others out there dreaming of building and flying their own aircraft.
Thanks too, to the many members of this forum that helped inspire you along the way.
GREAT JOB!

Alan

Thanks Alan!

    Whoo Hooo On an update folks I have had her up and around the pattern a couple times Since last time we chatted.....Stalls are gentle as expected. Around 42 mph. Cruise about 80 mph. But I still have not determined accuracy of airspeed indicator. I think one more jet size up should have engine running perfect! More to follow! What a ride so far. Thank you all for going on this journey with me! I am having trouble loading pics right now. Will try later this week.....
B- 😀👍

Thank you very much for the update! I hope you plan to stick around here and tell us flying stories now that she is going strong!

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Thanks Alan!

    Whoo Hooo On an update folks I have had her up and around the pattern a couple times Since last time we chatted.....Stalls are gentle as expected. Around 42 mph. Cruise about 80 mph. But I still have not determined accuracy of airspeed indicator. I think one more jet size up should have engine running perfect! More to follow! What a ride so far. Thank you all for going on this journey with me! I am having trouble loading pics right now. Will try later this week.....
B- 😀👍

That is quite an amazing accomplishment my friend, you built an airplane with your own hands and learned the actual science it takes to lose weight. You are a doer!

Great news Brian!  Well done on the whole project. It's a unique feeling, flying a plane you've built from scratch, isn't it? Now you've really gone & done it  ;D

bruce

Congratulations Brian, it has been quit a journey that you have made. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Mission accomplished! Congratulations, all your efforts are a success .
Thanks for sharing your journey Brian.

Thanks to all for your support! It’s been great fun! Got a few more hours on 417BJ. Looks like a cruise of 77-78 stall at about 42mph. Rate of climb with me is about 5-600 FPM. I haven’t been able to verify if my airspeed indicator is accurate yet. Still not able to load pics. I got a couple will try agian later!
B-👍

That is awesome performance, Brian!! Great job!

Just curious on your fuel burn with the 4 banger?

Quoted from streffpilot

That is awesome performance, Brian!! Great job!

Just curious on your fuel burn with the 4 banger?

Fuel burn is averaging just about 4 gallons an hour right now! Very pleased with performance. Really need to loose some more poundage. That will really increase performance.
B-

Thank you very much, Brian!

I can't wait to get mine done........finally got some things paid off to get a little more serious about the build.

Hey Brian, How is the plane flying. Would be too cool if you could fly it to Oshkosh this year, but I know that is a loooong trip.

Quoted from bigbrixx1

Fuel burn is averaging just about 4 gallons an hour right now! Very pleased with performance. Really need to loose some more poundage. That will really increase performance.
B-

It seems pretty high for a 4 stroke. Do other VMAxes have the same fuel burn?

How many hours on the Bird right now?

I'm dying to see a Cockpit Video!

Hey there guys. Summer is in full swing! Lots going on here. My wife and I just returned from Eastport Maine. We had a great vacation and had incredible hospitality from fellow Buzzard Tom and his wonderful family! BTW Eastport is truly the paradise Tom says it is! Thank you Tom. It was so great meeting you and your family in person! We will be back! We very well may become residents in the very near future!
         As of this morning I have about 11 hours on the V-max all waiting gliding distance of the airport! All systems working well. Just a little massaging here and there. The air powered generator is keeping the battery’s “mostly” charged. I do spend a lot of time at lower power settings and it will drop off line” during these periods. And especially during landing. But I expected that. The carb heat system borrowed from The culver prop guys (with their generous help and permission) is working flawlessly. Even under high risk for icing condition. No indication at all of icing up. The plane could benefit from some down thrust in the engine. But not a big deal. Maybe a winter task. W & B with me in it is good. With my much lighter test pilot it was a bit nose heavy. But within CG envelope. Ricardo fuel burn is an estimate at this time under test conditions and very well may be less. When I start longer trips. I expect fuel burn to improve (and generator performance also to improve). Book states 3.5 gal hour cruise. I expect that will be very close. But with duel electronic ignition system and duel plugs per cylinder I did up to go up 2 jet sizes. Time will tell.
         Puff no way I will take her to air venture this year. It would be more of a multi day expedition than a flight for me to get her there. But you never know.  I am considering a trailer to bring her places. A week of flying at the ultralight runway does seem like fun to me😀
         I am working on a mount for my iPhone now. I also would love to get some inflight photos. July is fully booked at this time for my wife and I so I expect August at the soonest for that. Streffpilot. Keep building. One day you sit there looking at her and suddenly realize it’s time to fly! It’s an unbelievable accomplishment. Now my quote when I attempt something is “how hard can it be, I built an airplane”!😀👍
      Finally my wife and I will be at Airventure the later part of the week. So maybe we will see some of you there. Please keep in mind I have lost a lot of weight. But still have more to go!
Later guys
Not as big as I used to be Bigbrixx1
B-😀

To all:

If you have a chance to meet Brian and his wife Janet, grab it.  We had a wonderful time talking with them in the week they were here in Eastport.  We knew Brian was a fascinating fellow from following his posts in this forum.  It was very nice to meet him and find that he and Janet are wonderful warm people who took great delight in participating in so many activities in our little city.  We very much look forward to seeing them again soon.

Tom

I am hopeing to get to OSH later in the week this year too. Maybe some year Brian, streffpilot and i can fly our birds together up there

Off to get my mechanics certificate on N417BJ today!

Ye Ha!  Hopefully no snags along the way!  You definitely document your work very very well.

Bigbrixx1

The V max specifications list the stalling speed clean as 41 mph.Have you confirmed this figure?

What are your unstick,approach and full throttle speeds ?

  Thanks