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New member - fledgling mini-max builder

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flyt4tmn

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2018
Messages
4
Location
Near San Antonio
Hi everyone, taking a bit of time to give a short introduction. I'm a fledgling builder who has recently been more active at finally building the tail feathers on a Mini Max 1650R Eros. Truth be told, like many folks I suppose, I did a bit of work on the v-stab and then work/life got in the way. But following a 6 months of studying for a large professional exam, I am back at it. I made enough headway to be 90% done with the v-stab and rudder and think I could finish it within a week. It is a relatively simple piece of the larger puzzle, I just simply doubted that I could do it.

I'm a middle-aged fella with grown kids (1 remains at the house) and my wife and I live a pretty simple life near San Antonio. In the late 1990s I got my Private Pilot SEL and IFR rating but following that only flew periodically and haven't flown in 10+ year at this point. I hope to get hooked into the local EAA Chapter and while I'm building in a spare space at the house I hope one day soon to have the problem deciding where to rent hanger space.

I looked at a number of homebuilts available over a period of months and tried to see as many as I could; The Teenie Two, Wittman Buttercup, Hummelbird, Volkplane and some more complicated and sexy looking aircraft but I opted for the Team Mini-Max Eros. Knowing my skillset, I opted for the relative simplicity of the Mini-Max given the its affordability, the flexibility of building it as either an ultralight or LSA, the hands-on nature of Team Mini-Max. It was easy to see the plane as bite sized pieces and it looked pretty neat as well.

I've got another step in my professional designation that will take me away from building between November and June (2019) so the next few months will be a process of continuing to eat the elephant one bite at a time. My goal is to complete the v-stab/rudder, h-stab/elevator and all wing ribs prior to November. Maybe it's possible to get further than that, but making good headway before I press pause, will give me a good place to pick up one my exam is done in June.

I've moved from a paper/pencil/online photos log to Kit Log recently; http://www.mykitlog.com/tmnolte/

Looking forward to learning from y'all.

You
 
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