The best hombuilt ?

[steveinindy]

then Steve would come along and tell us that whatever brand I selected, no matter whether it was Bose or David Clark, was not for everyone and would not be best for Vincent van Gogh,and therefore there was no such thing as best.

I would do no such thing since I really don't pay much attention to the brand. I find that they all tend to work just about the same so long as they are not abused.

[seagull]

Mark/Steve,

Fun while it lasted. As for me - I think it is healthy to have a radical viewpoint from time to time, even some of the 'urban-thread-terrorists' that sometimes populate these pages. It would be a Heck of a boring old world if everyone had the same conformity and 'grey' ideas. It has even been known for the off-the-wall brigade to actually stimulate the thinking in a positive manner!

As for the original premise of the thread - I think we've ended up stating the obvious. "Is there a best design?" - "Answer - its different 'strokes' for different folks! - or beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Which to bring it down to a level that even I can understand - "It doesn't matter a s--t what anyone else thinks - I reckon its great - and it suits me!"

[turbo]

4,000 hrs later, i'll vote for the RV. wouldn't have it any other way! thanks van!

[mokiach]

Speaking from my research only in trying to decide formyself on which is the best homebuilt/ Experimental (which means not LSArestricted to 138mph), personally thus far I am leaning toward the BushbyMustang II over the RVs. I might add to the list of desirable criteria is thefolding wings for smaller hanger space. The comparable RV with folding wings isthe RV-12 which is speed-restricted LSA so that knocks that out; and there isalso a Glasair Sportsman with folding wings but the performance (speed, fuelefficiency & distance) is not as good as the Mustang either, plus it's moreexpensive. The Mustang can be built with 64 gallon tanks for about a 1,200 milerange which beats all RVs. It is aerobatic, can cruise at 215mph with a topspeed of 230mph (depending on which engine you put in it), and can land/ takeoff with 550' runway with the 360 engine. It is side-by-side seating for betterrelating to your passenger for those 5-hour trips. I think they have threeparts that are quickbuild for the person who wants to get the plane done inless than one year in their part-time and still meets the 51% rule. There is noother plane that has folding wings, is as high-performance with speed, bestdistance, and fuel-efficiency, side-by-side, aerobatic, can be geared up withIFR panels, and can be put together in under a year all for a comparable priceas the RVs, so I say the Bushby Mustang II is the best plane. And the firstflight was in 1966 so it has 47 years of experience, safety development, andimprovement development under its belt.

[Todd copeland]

I would offer my Glastar but too slow. I would then offer my glasair 3, but there are too many drawbacks for most people both in the slow and complicated build and some of the flight characteristics which make it undesirable to some pilots. For my though, the two together fill the bill nicely. So to answer the question best home built ever? Depends on the persons desires....

[Frank Giger]

Anything Aerodrome Airplanes puts out as a design.



My Nieuport 11 has everything going for it - inexpensive to build, fun to fly, wheels in the right place, and a gun over the top wing.

Ain't never seen some pre-punched RV kit with a gun on it.

[WLIU]

The best homebuilt is the one that YOU built. There is not greater satisfaction than pushing the throttle forward and leaving the runway in a machine that your hands spent hundreds or thousands of hours crafting.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78041

[Zack Baughman]

The best homebuilt is the one that YOU built.

Debate over. Wes wins!

[Auburntsts]

Debate over. Wes wins!

Agreed -- IBTL!!

[Bob Dingley]

My favorite is the Thorp T-18. Everyone knows what a genius John Thorp was. An early 60's all metal sport plane designed to be easily built using the plentiful (then) O-290G and match holed tooling using the "flip-flop" rivet layout. The design made max use of 4 X 12 sheets with minimum waste. The building manual was printed in about 12 issues of Sport Aviation 1n 1964. ACS wasn't even a lumber yard then.
It was designed with an open cockpit. The first two to fly used 180 hp lycs and they had to quickly come up with a canopy because pilots were being almost sucked out of the cockpits. A lot were built with 125 hp and did better than 150. 180 hp gave almost 200. Someone flew one around the world in the mid 60's. Original cockpit was only 38 in wide. There is a "fat boy"option available plus a folding wing. They handle like a baby carriage. Used push rods for pitch and roll. A Teleflex cable turning a small screw jack operated pitch trim. Roll trim was done by a knob that made minute change to the flap up-stops. It had a stabilator much like Pipers.