It's Bob Bement's fault!!!

etsisk

etsisk

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After watching all of these really cool video clips of him landing at out of the way places, I realized that a small itch had developed up in the part of my brain where flying lives.

The more I watched those, the more developed and defined that itch became, until it grew into that scariest of all things: an idea.
eek.gif


So I'm planning an adventure.
smile.gif


I'm going to build myself one of THESE and I'm going to go traveling out west with it. Now I KNOW that there's going to be a lot of places I can't go with it. Hell, might have to load it up into a dang uhaul to get it over the mountains! But worse things have happened than that, I think, so I'm ok with that. And it isn't fast :no: but this isn't going to be a trip, it's going to be an adventure! :yes:

But with a dirty stall speed of 15 mph and a takeoff/landing roll of 30 feet, I think there will still be a whole lot of places I can still go, you know?
smile.gif


I've ordered the plans and have, I believe, a building buddy (a very experienced homebuilder that also wants to build a stork) and I guess we'll go from here!

More as it happens . . .
 
Those are cool, especially the side by side model, but I wonder about the build time advertised. A little more HP, like the 125 Franklin would be worth the extra about 80 pounds weight, for both cruise and climb, I'd say.
 
I never take those build times at face value, but I'm hoping that building side-by-side with an experienced builder will go a long way towards speeding up the process. ;)

I was thinking about putting an aerovee vw engine in it, but I'll have to think about all that...
 
You'll have fun building (and flying) that.

I wonder if they know their graphic at the top of the page says "Aicraft" instead of "Aircraft"? :)
 
etsisk said:
I never take those build times at face value, but I'm hoping that building side-by-side with an experienced builder will go a long way towards speeding up the process. ;)

I was thinking about putting an aerovee vw engine in it, but I'll have to think about all that...
Click to expand...

If I was gonna build one of those for use out west, I'd stick the TC Rotax (914?) in it.
 
The Aerovee is about 78-80 hp, and about $5K cheaper, which counts for a lot around here! :eek:

But I'm completely open to ideas and suggestions! :D
 
etsisk said:
The Aerovee is about 78-80 hp, and about $5K cheaper, which counts for a lot around here! :eek:

But I'm completely open to ideas and suggestions! :D
Click to expand...

Whatever you use in that low of a power rating, make sure you put some kind of blower on it for them mountain strips.
 
remember that the empty weight is only 500 - 600 pounds! And I'm not all THAT fat!! :D
 
That's awesome. I hope you post lots of pictures of your progress so that those wannabe homebuilders of us can follow along at home! :)
 
etsisk said:
remember that the empty weight is only 500 - 600 pounds! And I'm not all THAT fat!! :D
Click to expand...
You add fuel, partner, beer, cooler, camping supplies, food & water for a week of camping and it starts adding up. If you're going hunting, add some weight for meat... If you want to get out of the short, hot and high, a blower really helps. I've considered one of those acctually and thought the 914 would be a good engine for it.
 
Henning said:
You add fuel, partner, beer, cooler, camping supplies, food & water for a week of camping and it starts adding up. If you're going hunting, add some weight for meat... If you want to get out of the short, hot and high, a blower really helps. I've considered one of those acctually and thought the 914 would be a good engine for it.
Click to expand...

The thing that I wonder about is the constant, extra frictional heat from nearly constant use at higher reving (5500-5800 RPM) geared down, 4 stroke engines like Rotax, Subaru, and HKS. They've obviously been used with a good deal of success but it seems like a 2400-2700 RPM 4 stroke engine like the Franklin or others with no gearing would give overall longer, simpler life when props are directly shaft mounted, especially when blown combustion to MAX thrust at high DA?
 
Dave Krall CFII said:
The thing that I wonder about is the constant, extra frictional heat from nearly constant use at higher reving (5500-5800 RPM) geared down, 4 stroke engines like Rotax, Subaru, and HKS.
Click to expand...

That's one reason I chose the Jab. Didn't want to run the geared
prop setup.
 
etsisk said:
I've ordered the plans and have, I believe, a building buddy (a very experienced homebuilder that also wants to build a stork) and I guess we'll go from here!

More as it happens . . .
Click to expand...

*GASP*

Actually, it sounds great, Tom. Take lots of pics!

Petra
 
AdamZ said:
Lets hope their engineering is better than their spelling.:hairraise:
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's funny - I've looked at that website a BUNCH (as you might have guessed!) and NEVER noticed that! Nor did Roger Mann, who designed the Stork. The website designer is in Sweden and as Roger said when I emailed him about it, "He probably just fat fingered the typing and never noticed it, just like the rest of us!".
 
etsisk said:
After watching all of these really cool video clips of him landing at out of the way places, I realized that a small itch had developed up in the part of my brain where flying lives.

The more I watched those, the more developed and defined that itch became, until it grew into that scariest of all things: an idea.
eek.gif


So I'm planning an adventure.
smile.gif


I'm going to build myself one of THESE and I'm going to go traveling out west with it. Now I KNOW that there's going to be a lot of places I can't go with it. Hell, might have to load it up into a dang uhaul to get it over the mountains! But worse things have happened than that, I think, so I'm ok with that. And it isn't fast :no: but this isn't going to be a trip, it's going to be an adventure! :yes:

But with a dirty stall speed of 15 mph and a takeoff/landing roll of 30 feet, I think there will still be a whole lot of places I can still go, you know?
smile.gif


I've ordered the plans and have, I believe, a building buddy (a very experienced homebuilder that also wants to build a stork) and I guess we'll go from here!

More as it happens . . .
Click to expand...

Don't you think for a minute that I am going to appogogize for giving you ideas like this. I think it is great. But the offer is still open to get out here to Vale Or. and we can use the old Cessna to visit some out of the way spots.:yes:
 
Ah, it would break my heart were you to apologize for it! As an old motorcycle camper, I just love the idea of getting in a vehicle and going places!!

Vale, Oregon sounds pretty good to me! I'll be happy to take ya up on that offer! (soon as I get over there! It's a long way from NC!)
 
I know the distance well. My wife and I along with my older brother (god rest his soul) Made the drive back to Kitty Hawk one year some time back. So I am aware of the distance. I promise, it would be worth the trip to fly into Big Creek for breakfast and then circle back over the snake River and Hells canyon. How does that sound. Bob:yes:
 
That sounds pretty dang great! ... Hell's Canyon - sounds like a neighborhood I lived in once!

I'll for sure look ya up! :D
 
Troy Whistman said:
You'll have fun building (and flying) that.

I wonder if they know their graphic at the top of the page says "Aicraft" instead of "Aircraft"? :)
Click to expand...

And right below that they spell tandem "tandom"

Engineering is all about attention to detail. Not bothering to spell check a key marketing tool like your website is just plain sloppy. It may be unfair, but these two spelling mistakes on the front page would make me think twice about buying anything from them, much less an airplane.
 
cwyckham said:
And right below that they spell tandem "tandom"

Engineering is all about attention to detail. Not bothering to spell check a key marketing tool like your website is just plain sloppy. It may be unfair, but these two spelling mistakes on the front page would make me think twice about buying anything from them, much less an airplane.
Click to expand...
Chris, if you read the whole website, you'll see that you aren't really buying from "them", but rather from "him". Roger's designed the planes and sells plans for them. A few times a year he'll crank out some kits for those who don't want to do everything themselves. But the kits are basically him building up to a certain point off of the plans, doing it himself. It's not a big ol' company like the RVs or even a middling company like Sonex - it's just a guy doing this in his spare time, when he's not at his full-time job. It's worth cutting him a break, in my opinion (which is the one that counts when I'm deciding on the plane!). :)
 
Henning said:
You add fuel, partner, beer, cooler, camping supplies, food & water for a week of camping and it starts adding up. If you're going hunting, add some weight for meat... If you want to get out of the short, hot and high, a blower really helps. I've considered one of those acctually and thought the 914 would be a good engine for it.
Click to expand...

In that HP range, do you or anyone else know of any popular and successful, turboed or supercharged engines operating in the lower RPM ranges like around 2600 RPM, that has a FWF weight under or around 200 pounds?
 
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