Hello all! I am a student pilot from Louisville, Kentucky who would like to start building now. I'm by no means rich, so I'm looking on the cheap end of homebuilding I'm having trouble deciding what to build, I've looked at dozens of designs, and every time I think I know what I want, I find another one. I'd like to scratch build rather than buy a kit.
I have a number of skills, have a great deal of tools and access to some nice equipment.
I welded steel as a career for about 5 years, and have good fabrication skills working with sheet metal, so metal would seem ideal. However, I have designed and built a couple of things from carbon fiber in the past as well, so composite isn't a bad choice either. I have worked a little bit with wood, but not much lately, however, I do have access to CNC routers and a 100W 4'x3' bed laser cutter as well, so wood would also be a good option.
I have a good friend who is an A&P that will maintain a plane for me cheaply, but won't work on converted automobile engines.
I'd like to build a quick (1000 hr or less) single seater, anything taking longer I would like to build a 2 seater. Ideally it would have, 120kt+ cruise, 500+ sm range, 6- gallons/hour, and I like the looks & land anywhere abilities of taildraggers. It would be nice if it were acrobatic and faster, but I'm not sure that's in the cards (or wallet).
A couple of planes I have considered:
BK-1 : I really, really like the aluminum construction and build method of this plane. It's unfortunately VW powered, I'm not sure what engine swaps have been tested to work on this one. And, for the build time, I'd want a 2 seater.
MiniMax Eros 1650: I like this plane as a fast to build option. And the prices of kit components are cheap if I get sick of fabricating everything. However, I've requested the free plans from them twice in the last month and sent a follow up email, and have gotten no response.
KR2S - I like the looks and performance of this one, although I'd like to avoid the kilohours of sanding. Also, this would probably take me the longest to build.
I hope to start soon. I'm open to other suggestions/reality checks.
Patrick
I have a number of skills, have a great deal of tools and access to some nice equipment.
I welded steel as a career for about 5 years, and have good fabrication skills working with sheet metal, so metal would seem ideal. However, I have designed and built a couple of things from carbon fiber in the past as well, so composite isn't a bad choice either. I have worked a little bit with wood, but not much lately, however, I do have access to CNC routers and a 100W 4'x3' bed laser cutter as well, so wood would also be a good option.
I have a good friend who is an A&P that will maintain a plane for me cheaply, but won't work on converted automobile engines.
I'd like to build a quick (1000 hr or less) single seater, anything taking longer I would like to build a 2 seater. Ideally it would have, 120kt+ cruise, 500+ sm range, 6- gallons/hour, and I like the looks & land anywhere abilities of taildraggers. It would be nice if it were acrobatic and faster, but I'm not sure that's in the cards (or wallet).
A couple of planes I have considered:
BK-1 : I really, really like the aluminum construction and build method of this plane. It's unfortunately VW powered, I'm not sure what engine swaps have been tested to work on this one. And, for the build time, I'd want a 2 seater.
MiniMax Eros 1650: I like this plane as a fast to build option. And the prices of kit components are cheap if I get sick of fabricating everything. However, I've requested the free plans from them twice in the last month and sent a follow up email, and have gotten no response.
KR2S - I like the looks and performance of this one, although I'd like to avoid the kilohours of sanding. Also, this would probably take me the longest to build.
I hope to start soon. I'm open to other suggestions/reality checks.
Patrick
