Jumping in.

[CdnMedic]

Well... After 20+ years from being introduced to experimental aviation as a young teen, and YEARS trying to find the perfect, do it all airplane with zero sacrifices, I think I've decided to just go for it with a Sonerai 2L.

I have a bunch of hours in 701s, champs, a tiny bit of time in some RVs and a clipped wing cub, and a few 150s and such and the only things that really got me excited were the RVs and that cub... I don't have the type of funds to feed an RV... I could build one, but the cost to fly it and maintain it would take away some of the joy. I was VERY close to going Sonex... But, plans are $750 US (over a thousand CAD) and then I still have to buy the spar caps to finish the airplane... That money can buy me a really nice TIG welder and a bunch of 4130. And the Sonex really does not catch my eye visually.
I'm thinking a Wagabond is possible in the future, but it is a larger project, so I figure the Sonerai is just enough to see if I really enjoy the build process.

The mission for it is local fun flying, a quick way for day trips, and for flights home a couple times a year. I live in New Brunswick Canada, but my girlfriends family and mine are in Ontario. There is a strip just down the road from her parents place, and we have a couple small strips local to home for me. She is around 130lb, and I'm working my way back down to 180. I'm military and she is an army brat so we both pack very light. We make the 18 hour drive non-stop (aside for fuel) at least once a year anyways.

I was a medic for years, but switched up and have been an aircraft structures tech for the last 5. I do lots of aluminum work, we machine and have a lathe, a mill, a cnc plasma etc. I have a cert for advanced composite repair and I've done our welding program where I've gas welded and I TIG fairly regularly for odd jobs around the shop. We also paint and have a booth that is free from time to time. A buddy at work has a tri-pacer that we will be doing some wing mods to so I'll get some experience in covering as well.
My home shop has almost everything needed to build a Sonerai as well, just as a result from building hot rods, race cars and all that other stuff... I've found if I come up with a way of "needing" a cool new tool for something on my "honey do" list I can get away with it.

Plans for the build, is Yamaha Apex power. 180ish lb, 150-160hp. Keep it as light as I can, make it clean. Other mods will be very similar to what the fellow from SA is doing for his 912 build. Glass panel is the plan. And since I do plan to travel in it a bit, I will try to make the seating as comfortable as possible.
So I'm hoping that with my experience, I can turn out a nicely built machine... I also have good friends at work to help me out if I need it, and the electronics guys in the next shop over owe us a few favours.

Have a few "honey-do" items to get done, so hoping to order my plans in early October as a birthday gift for myself and start making some ribs over the winter!

 

[CdnMedic]

Well, Ordered plans yesterday... Now begins the waiting game for the plans... I feel like I'm going to have to get used to the whole waiting thing with this project.

 

[CdnMedic]

Plans showed up yesterday, only had a few minutes to go over them, there will be some serious studying required! The gf had to tell me to put the wing manual away last night as I was reading in bed, I'm sure for most people that technical reading would put people to sleep, but for those of us with that mechanical mind, it's too dang interesting.

Going to plot out the rib form and the rib blank forms on to CAD next (unless there is a verified good file on here) and start doing some ribs.

I recently found out my 24x26 shop was built without a permit, and not close to code. So, I'm in the process right now of dealing with my title insurance (totally forgot I had bought it!) and the town to get a claim in... But, I unfortunately have to hire an engineer for the town to do their part. The building recently had the roof/loft shift forward in a wind storm, breaking a bunch of the home-built trusses in a few spots, which prompted me to call the town and start asking for info only to find out that thing wasn't supposed to have been built, especially without a permit and inspections. The title insurance basically will do any repairs the town demands if the building was built without a permit and not to code, town says they won't come out until I have had an engineer inspect and do a report.
Hoping that I can maybe have a new shop by the time the snow flies, which means I'll be doing the fuselage over the winter IF I get lucky.

 

[shocktrooper]

Well, Ordered plans yesterday... Now begins the waiting game for the plans... I feel like I'm going to have to get used to the whole waiting thing with this project.

You know the age-old military reality (in anyone's army/navy) bro! "Hurry up & WAIT!"

 

[mhflyit]

Order ahead of when you need things so the build NEVER stops! Preparation and planning... and cash.

 

[czr7s1]

WTR388 - If you need any of the CAD stuff, I made all of my own from the plans. You can open and double check everything just to be sure. Also have the full spar in Solidworks and fuselage I need to finish adding the actual tubes to. Not sure how the message stuff works on here so just email me if you are interested. [email protected]

 

[Bil4381]

That's actually critical to completion. On days when you cannot work on your project, you order parts and materials as well as obtain drawing and related documentation. Record the work you did that lasty time and the technical references. The builder's log is the only proof you have that you built the aircraft.

Order ahead of when you need things so the build NEVER stops! Preparation and planning... and cash.

 

[CdnMedic]

Order ahead of when you need things so the build NEVER stops! Preparation and planning... and cash.

So far my only supply run has been to home depot for some MDF. I think I have enough .025 to make all the ribs out of. Over the winter I'll make a cut list for tubing so I can do the fuselage next year in my new shop.

WTR388 - If you need any of the CAD stuff, I made all of my own from the plans. You can open and double check everything just to be sure. Also have the full spar in Solidworks and fuselage I need to finish adding the actual tubes to. Not sure how the message stuff works on here so just email me if you are interested. [email protected]

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I appreciate that huge! I ended up just doing my rib forms by hand. By the time I did the CAD and then messed around figuring out the kerf of the plasma cutter, it was just as fast.

That's actually critical to completion. On days when you cannot work on your project, you order parts and materials as well as obtain drawing and related documentation. Record the work you did that lasty time and the technical references. The builder's log is the only proof you have that you built the aircraft.

We have some bad weather coming Tuesday, already planning stuff I can do in the house. Mostly just going through the drawings and such.
I'm actually going to attempt to do a full long youtube series from the first timer's point of view in figuring things out, so that acts as a bit of a log. I think I'll make a profile on mykitlog to do my actual time recording.


I have run in to my first little "hmmm" moment, doing the rib layouts. I'm used to my drawings (from Bell) being pretty representative, but I noticed that the letter references in the drawing aren't exactly where they work out to on the full piece. As example, "V" looks like it's a couple inches ahead of the rear spar, but it really is like .004" ahead of it. I spent 10 minutes going over the math again and again, but figured the drawing isn't quite to scale because all of my measurements lined right up.