Newbe with an aviation interest.

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by Bcone1381

If I commit to building, and if I made a choice today I would build a two place, tandem seat, small tail dragger called a Bearhawk LSA. It compares favorably with a Piper J-3 Cub. The Bearhawk has an All Metal wing, tube and fabric fuselage, with a 65-100 hp engine. I would guess it would do about 100 mph on 4 gallons of fuel per hour with the 65 hp engine.

These can be built via a kit or from plans. If you guys can expose a few trade secrets and inspire some confidence, I'll build it from plans. It's a lot of forming small parts from homemade MDF molds. Some use hammers, others use presses with rubber. I believe an industry best practice exists that streamlines and expedites the forming process. If we can make these more widely known a higher completion rate will result. I just don't know what that process is.

I've assisted a number of Bearhawkers with their builds - on welding 4130 airframes and making some aluminum parts. But there are probably a lot more experienced guys around.