Build Update April 4th 2020: Tail feathers Part 1

While I was waiting on my last few parts to arrive before starting the engine, I did some spring cleaning on the garage. I blew all the dust out and in preparation for working on the tail, rearranged some of the stuff to allow for the extra length the stab adds. While the plane was out on the lawn, I was able to get some killer pictures.

I don't really have enough work done to do a proper write up but I did at least get the horizontal stabilizer bolted on.

The first engine start got pushed back because I was waiting on parts in the mail. Now everything has come together and I'm ready for first the engine start but I'm going to keep working on the tail in the meantime. So I will be livestreaming the start up Tuesday afternoon April 7th. I will post a link to my account on a website called twitch. It is super easy to use all you have to do is click it. No account, no log in, no download. You can watch on your computer or mobile device. If you can't make the live stream I will be posting the highlights in the next blogpost and on YouTube.

Again; this Tuesday after lunch, I'll be cranking my engine for the first time. Hope to see you there!

Build Update April 5 2018: Dissasembling the Aerovee

The engine I bought was already built, and had not been run. My dad and I planned to take it all apart to give me a better understanding of the engine, as well as to identify any problems before they got bad. The Arovee engine was heavy and awkward to move. at the time it was sitting on the workbench with everything installed. Going into this I had only enough sense to tell you which cylinder is the #1, 2, 3, and 4, and I knew some of the terminology, such as crackshaft. I frequently asked my dad "what do you call that part?" we began unbolting stuff in roughly reverse order from the manual (if you're familiar with sonex plans, you're used to backwards) In under an hour we had stripped many of the external parts off and the engine had lost at least 20 pounds! A box was designated as the hardware box, so it'll be like legos trying to find the right bolts and nuts again when I reassemble it. the important part is that they're all together and no...

Isaac's Flying Stories Ep 7: The 2018 Midwest Sonex Fly in!

This Year's Midwest Sonex Fly in was a smashing success, great weather, fantastic food, and 30+ Sonex Builders and Pilots showed up! My dad and I flew in from our home airport in Mississippi. The flight to Fayetteville only took about 3 hours, with a fuel stop meaning we rolled in just in time for lunch. We signed in and got our raffle tickets for the door prizes. This year there were Sonex T-shirts, 2' sensenich propeller clocks, a 50% off a Sport EX EFIS from GRT avionics certificate, and a certificate for a free elliptical Prince Prop. After catching up with old friends over tacos and brownies, we began the raffle. It was tense as the higher and higher prizes were awarded. One woman won a T-shirt but no one wanted to ask her size for fear of offending her! After the drawing there was a line of storms moving in so we took one final group picture and those who were flying southeast (away from the storm) took off. My dad and I rolled the plane into a hanger and sat back in...

Build Update March 15 2020: Prime Time

So everyone is kinda freaked out over corona lately. My gymnastics competitions have been canceled, and so have my classes. This has been great for building, I've got all week and maybe more to get some great work in. I have been doing all the last things on the cowling before it's time to prime and paint. The final few things were adding my quarter turn southco fasteners, finishing the air exit cutout, and doing a final sand. (if you can ever even say final and sand in the same sentence) Then it's time to prime. The southco process started by going to southco's website to order an assortment of different sizes. When I completed my order the shipping cost came out to like $40, which was clearly wrong. I was ordering less than 20 studs. It would fit in a flat rate envelope easily. So I scrapped my southco order and went to Aircraft Spruce to order my cheese platter of sizes. The shipping there was much more reasonable and I combined it with some other items I n...

Isaac Shultz's Sonex Project

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