EAA airventure 2012 Build Idea

Ok I know I have seen the idea tossed around a lot, and have talked with others about it, but would anyone be interested in a week long build of a homebuilt done durring AV?? In the homebuilding BEC there is a good group of professionals from the metalworking, covering and woodworking groups, not to mention a whole lot of other people in the area that week. The last couple years I have been thinking of this in a way, and keeping coming back to the Wittman W-10 tailwind as a candidate. It would be a lot of work.....but I honestly think it could be done in a week with a big enough crew of the right people. There is a local fellow who has built a number of them, and has nice jigs I have been told. With the equipment out at the field, in the weeks hangar ad at local private hangars everything needed is there.....Hmmmmmmmm who would sign up?

Sounds like a cool idea...I've just started building my W-10, and would certainly like to see if there is interest...

Hasn't that been done in the past? Chris Heinz and crew built a Zodiac....Task Research and crew built a Silhouette. I think one of the pop rivet aluminum boxes has the best chance of success.....Although you can sign me up for 1 full day on the tailwind project and 1 hr/day for the other days. I think welding out the fuselage is going to hog up a lot of time.

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Originally Posted by martymayes

Hasn't that been done in the past? Chris Heinz and crew built a Zodiac.

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Yes, at the 1976 convention, took them 8 days

http://www.oshkosh365.org/saarchive/...1976_10_06.pdf

A Tailwind in 7 days is ambitious but it does sound doable. Start out with all the materials and jigs in place. Cheat a little and start with one of the pre-cut tubing kits from Cartesian. Cheat a little more and get started on the Saturday before the show starts. I'd be a little concerned about welding outside in the breeze but you could figure out a way around that.

Another option- a number of high school groups in the past year have taken on projects building RV-12 kits. You could get a group of high-schoolers together for the show and have them build one in a week (under supervision of course.)

I already have a full time gig as a human traffic cone at the show but I could sneak away to help out a bit.

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Originally Posted by Adam Smith

Yes, at the 1976 convention, took them 8 days

http://www.oshkosh365.org/saarchive/...1976_10_06.pdf

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I think Chris Heintz is a repeat offender.....seems they built a CH 701 at an early '80's convention and if my fuzzy memory recalls correctly, they have done this a few other times.

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Originally Posted by Jeff Point

A Tailwind in 7 days is ambitious but it does sound doable. Start out with all the materials and jigs in place. Cheat a little and start with one of the pre-cut tubing kits from Cartesian. Cheat a little more and get started on the Saturday before the show starts.

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You'll also need some shortcuts for building the wood wings. Steaming and bending rib capstrip and waiting for glue to cure are time consuming processes. Have to come up with a jig for every rib...lol.

Assembly time of a pop rivet aluminum structure is only hindered by how much people are getting in your way.

Thanks for the imput guys.
One of the reasons I was thinking W-10 is that it would showcase a bunch of different skills needed to build an aircraft, nut just riveting. Breezy conditions dont worry me, it would be gas welded anyway. The fellow in baraboo is supossed to have really nice jigs for all of the parts, and would be the one I would enlist as technical advisor. Basicly what I am trying to find is a way to gather intrest in the homebuilt workshops, and homebuilding on a basic level. Keep your ideas coming as a I put a proposal together.

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Originally Posted by Jeff Point

Cheat a little and start with one of the pre-cut tubing kits from Cartesian.

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Problem with that ($,$$$) kit is it's based off the Spruce plans, and there are several errors that need to be corrected...good suggestion if someone had the time to pre-cut tubes, corrected for the errors though!

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Originally Posted by Aaron Novak

Thanks for the imput guys.
One of the reasons I was thinking W-10 is that it would showcase a bunch of different skills needed to build an aircraft, nut just riveting. Breezy conditions dont worry me, it would be gas welded anyway. The fellow in baraboo is supossed to have really nice jigs for all of the parts, and would be the one I would enlist as technical advisor. Basicly what I am trying to find is a way to gather intrest in the homebuilt workshops, and homebuilding on a basic level. Keep your ideas coming as a I put a proposal together.

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If you want a basic flying machine that includes metal fab, welding, wood, aluminum and fabric skills, there's several airplanes that use the same construction techniques and have a material list about 1/2 that of a Tailwind. The probablility of finishing in a week would go up exponentially even though I'm sure there will be scoff about them not being a "real" airplane..

There are similar, but simpler projects. The Legal Eagle is one that comes to mind right away.

http://www.betterhalfvw.com/

An unrelated idea- EAA radio has a bunch of web cams set up around the grounds. Have them put one up in the workshop and stream this live during the show. I bet it gets more viewers than the Blue Dot Cam.

I like the idea of the build and of the webcam. I especially like the idea of a plans built aircraft, we need to show that people are still out there building them. If the entire build can't be done in one week, so what? Get it as far as possible and bring it back the next year.

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Originally Posted by Jeff Point

The Legal Eagle is one that comes to mind right away.

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That was the first thing that came to my mind as well. A couple of yrs back when L.M. brought the Double Eagle to OSH and parked it in the LSA mall amongst the fiberglass eggs, it held it's own in the dead grass award. There is no doubt a lot of interest in a simple low cost airplane.

Maybe if someone wants to do one in the ultralight section........

Webcam is a good idea.....I like it. So far I think the toughest part will be getting enough people to be dedicated to the project. It will take people that work at a production like pace, not standing around drinking coffee.

How about a glider? Lots less work AND someone as young as 14 can fly it! We need to get our youth involved. BTW, EAA adding AMA membership for youth EAA members is a great idea, too. Just a thought. -Ron

There as been a lot to consider with this, and the more I dig the more "sticky" the situation becomes. Project storage after the event became an issue, as well as the legal status of the aircraft. Cost was another issue. Well this afternoon I was cleaning off a shelf that has a Righter drone engine on it.....and the light came on! WWII era drones are built the same as any wood,metal rag and tube homebuilt......just smaller, cheaper, and easier to store or display. Currently working on getting a set of the original drawings for the OQ-2 drone to see if its do-able.