Airdrome Aeroplanes Nieuport 17

[Charlie Becker]

Dale,

Great seeing you at the workshop and now that I know your project is online here, I'll be keeping tabs.

Charlie

[bookmaker]

Hi Charlie, It was good speaking with you again. It's good to see the involvement of the EAA staff with the builders.

Hopefully, I can get some progress done in a few weeks. I just have to get the other "Life Issues" taken care of. I am hoping that Novemeber wil be a good build month. In this area, the weather is pretty nice then and the shop is not a steamy oven, nor an ice box.

[Trackwelder]

The Nieuport was the plane that first started me on being interested in flying, before that I didn't think there was anyway I could afford a plane so why bother with a Pilot Certificate, I had bought Dick Starks books and was about to order plans when I found out I had diabetes, I was able to cure myself of that and picked up a sport pilot certificate, I first started building o rebuilding an Avid Flyer that I had found cheap, but was uncomfortable flying behind a 2-stroke engine and couldn't find the money to buy a 4-stroke that would work, I then started building a Wittman Buttercup and have made much progress on it, I am about ready to put on the landing gear and wings and then it will be where I stopped with the Avid. Time to Cover at least I have the majority of a Lycoming in my basement slowly going together I am building $100 at a time now, I came into some money from Railroad disability and bought the majority of the parts at once to build with, so there is almost always something I can work on when my back is feeling good enough to build. I would love to just have the materials in your scrap bin, they make my work look pretty poor but I was a welder for the better part of 1 years on the railroad and I know that my welds will hold. I am slowly getting the plane in the air, probably another 18 months to be honest but I keep plugging away it will be an airplane not a lawn ornament. The funny thing is I was so scared of the 2-stroke I stopped building the Avid with it in silver and the only taildragger I can get training in is a kitfox with the exact same engine, I guess I will rebuild the engine and have the Avid too.

[bookmaker]

TW, I have Dick Stark's books and videos as well. Those guys are a real hoot. I have met them at the Gardner, Kansas fly in and they are no different in person.

I was fortunate to get my private pilot license right after I got out of college. It didn't cost near as much back then. For several years I have been a member of a local flying club that owns a Cessna 172 and a Cessna 182. I've always liked airplanes. I started with wire controlled models and progressed to R/C models, then full size. I still have a large collection of R/C models.

As noted earlier, I built a car kit several years ago. So with that kind of history, it was pretty natural that a plane kit was in my life somewhere. I put it off a long time as I am fully aware that I have WAY too many hobbies that I already don't have time for. But, here I am.

Good luck on your projects. I think the 2 stokes have come a long way in reliability. However, there are a lot of 4 strokes out there to consider. One being the V twin 40hp generator motor. I think is is sold as the Big Twin. I've seen two planes fly with them and believe they are a very reliable set up. Sharon Stark's Morane Parasol is powered by one.

Dale

[bookmaker]

Hi all. It has been a while since I posted here. The project is progressing painfully slow. Several reasons, but not unexpected.

Since the last post, I mounted the rebuilt stab and elevators, pretty much finished the landing gear and just recently mounted the lower wing carry through tubes (after screwing up the first try and having to replace the carry through tubes and 3 fuselage members).

I took the project to Dawn Patrol Rendezvous back in September and was impressed with the number of questions and general interest in a very incomplete project.

I will try to post some photos to catch up this weekend.

Dale

[Frank Giger]

I've been tracking Dale's build from the beginning, and he's really modest about his efforts.

The Airdrome Airplane kits are something of a canvas to paint on - the planes, as built by the plans, are all good, solid ones. They're represenational of WWI aircraft, looking like their namesakes but completely modern underneath the skin.

For guys like me, it's an affordable, easy kind of plane to build. Basic tools and simple instructions coupled with a few easy to learn skills are all that are needed.

For guys like Dale, it's a chance to elevate the design to something really special. He's worked with Robert Baslee, who designed the planes and is phenomenal in his support of them, Rick Bennett, and a host of really top notch experts in making some modifications that not only improve the plane but make it look a lot more authentic. "Gooder enough" doesn't seem to be in his vocabulary.

Heck, his forward cabanes that wrap around the longerons are worthy of an article in SportAviation.

[bookmaker]

Let's see if I can remember how to post photos.

Present from Australian Santa:





It's on wheels - sort of. Have to make airplane noises:





Tail wheel set up and additional bracing to support it: