Metal, low-wing, plansbuilt

Oliver Arend wrote:
I'm looking into educating myself about metal aircraft construction by
getting a set of plans for a low-wing airplane. The idea is then to
either design my own plane (no, looking at the plans is not the full
education, there's also a master's degree in aerospace engineering,
I'm more looking for detail solutions so I won't have to come up with
everything by myself) or just build the one I got the plans for. My
choice is metal since I'm more confident with this (my skills)+
(material) combination than with others. Wading through the Kitplanes
directories I have a couple of candidates:

Hummel Bird, UltraCruiser
Mustang Aero Midget, Mustang II
Sonex
Zodiac CH 601, 650, XL
DCS Mini Coupe, Teenie Two
Thorp T-18
Emile Lucas L5, L6, L8, L11/12
Pazmany PL-1, PL-2, PL-4
Thatcher CX-4
(oh yeah, then there is also the Ryan ST-R replica, but that's
probably too much to ask for right now)

Judging from my very limited experience, the Sonex plans seem to be
very detailed and complete, but also steep in price ($600 according to
Kitplanes). Zodiacs, T-18s, and Pazmany designs seem to be very
popular, so the plans can't be all that bad? On the lower end, there
are the Hummel, Mustang and DCS, but they get very little coverage,
apart from the occasional mention of the Hummel Bird or the Teenie Two
by VW aficionados (I do like the Mini Coupe, though). Just looking at
the price, the plans can't be as detailed as others. CX-4, L5, L6 etc.
I've never heard of.

So my question is, who has experience with these plans(-built
aircraft) and can recommend a set?

Oliver
Try the Sonerai from Great Plains AC. Plans are /were $125.00
and $13K to $15K finished!
Rocky
Sonerai SII LTS

Rocky wrote:
Oliver Arend wrote:
I'm looking into educating myself about metal aircraft construction by
getting a set of plans for a low-wing airplane. The idea is then to
either design my own plane (no, looking at the plans is not the full
education, there's also a master's degree in aerospace engineering,
I'm more looking for detail solutions so I won't have to come up with
everything by myself) or just build the one I got the plans for. My
choice is metal since I'm more confident with this (my skills)+
(material) combination than with others. Wading through the Kitplanes
directories I have a couple of candidates:

Hummel Bird, UltraCruiser
Mustang Aero Midget, Mustang II
Sonex
Zodiac CH 601, 650, XL
DCS Mini Coupe, Teenie Two
Thorp T-18
Emile Lucas L5, L6, L8, L11/12
Pazmany PL-1, PL-2, PL-4
Thatcher CX-4
(oh yeah, then there is also the Ryan ST-R replica, but that's
probably too much to ask for right now)

Judging from my very limited experience, the Sonex plans seem to be
very detailed and complete, but also steep in price ($600 according to
Kitplanes). Zodiacs, T-18s, and Pazmany designs seem to be very
popular, so the plans can't be all that bad? On the lower end, there
are the Hummel, Mustang and DCS, but they get very little coverage,
apart from the occasional mention of the Hummel Bird or the Teenie Two
by VW aficionados (I do like the Mini Coupe, though). Just looking at
the price, the plans can't be as detailed as others. CX-4, L5, L6 etc.
I've never heard of.

So my question is, who has experience with these plans(-built
aircraft) and can recommend a set?

Oliver
Try the Sonerai from Great Plains AC. Plans are /were $125.00
and $13K to $15K finished!
Rocky
Sonerai SII LTS

I thought the Sonerai was tube and fabric and thus, probably a wood wing?

"Scott" wrote in message
.. .
Rocky wrote:
Oliver Arend wrote:
I'm looking into educating myself about metal aircraft construction
by
getting a set of plans for a low-wing airplane. The idea is then to
either design my own plane (no, looking at the plans is not the
full
education, there's also a master's degree in aerospace engineering,
I'm more looking for detail solutions so I won't have to come up
with
everything by myself) or just build the one I got the plans for. My
choice is metal since I'm more confident with this (my skills)+
(material) combination than with others. Wading through the
Kitplanes
directories I have a couple of candidates:

Hummel Bird, UltraCruiser
Mustang Aero Midget, Mustang II
Sonex
Zodiac CH 601, 650, XL
DCS Mini Coupe, Teenie Two
Thorp T-18
Emile Lucas L5, L6, L8, L11/12
Pazmany PL-1, PL-2, PL-4
Thatcher CX-4
(oh yeah, then there is also the Ryan ST-R replica, but that's
probably too much to ask for right now)

Judging from my very limited experience, the Sonex plans seem to be
very detailed and complete, but also steep in price ($600 according
to
Kitplanes). Zodiacs, T-18s, and Pazmany designs seem to be very
popular, so the plans can't be all that bad? On the lower end,
there
are the Hummel, Mustang and DCS, but they get very little coverage,
apart from the occasional mention of the Hummel Bird or the Teenie
Two
by VW aficionados (I do like the Mini Coupe, though). Just looking
at
the price, the plans can't be as detailed as others. CX-4, L5, L6
etc.
I've never heard of.

So my question is, who has experience with these plans(-built
aircraft) and can recommend a set?

Oliver
Try the Sonerai from Great Plains AC. Plans are /were $125.00
and $13K to $15K finished!
Rocky
Sonerai SII LTS

I thought the Sonerai was tube and fabric and thus, probably a wood
wing?

The Sonerai's are tube and fabric fuselage with metal wings.
http://www.greatplainsas.com/sonerai.html He probably confused it with
the Sonex http://www.sonexaircraft.com/aircraft/sonex.html

--
A man is known by the company he keeps- Unknown

Anyolmouse

Scott wrote:
Rocky wrote:

Oliver Arend wrote:

I'm looking into educating myself about metal aircraft construction by
getting a set of plans for a low-wing airplane. The idea is then to
either design my own plane (no, looking at the plans is not the full
education, there's also a master's degree in aerospace engineering,
I'm more looking for detail solutions so I won't have to come up with
everything by myself) or just build the one I got the plans for. My
choice is metal since I'm more confident with this (my skills)+
(material) combination than with others. Wading through the Kitplanes
directories I have a couple of candidates:

Hummel Bird, UltraCruiser
Mustang Aero Midget, Mustang II
Sonex
Zodiac CH 601, 650, XL
DCS Mini Coupe, Teenie Two
Thorp T-18
Emile Lucas L5, L6, L8, L11/12
Pazmany PL-1, PL-2, PL-4
Thatcher CX-4
(oh yeah, then there is also the Ryan ST-R replica, but that's
probably too much to ask for right now)

Judging from my very limited experience, the Sonex plans seem to be
very detailed and complete, but also steep in price ($600 according to
Kitplanes). Zodiacs, T-18s, and Pazmany designs seem to be very
popular, so the plans can't be all that bad? On the lower end, there
are the Hummel, Mustang and DCS, but they get very little coverage,
apart from the occasional mention of the Hummel Bird or the Teenie Two
by VW aficionados (I do like the Mini Coupe, though). Just looking at
the price, the plans can't be as detailed as others. CX-4, L5, L6 etc.
I've never heard of.

So my question is, who has experience with these plans(-built
aircraft) and can recommend a set?

Oliver

Try the Sonerai from Great Plains AC. Plans are /were $125.00
and $13K to $15K finished!
Rocky
Sonerai SII LTS


I thought the Sonerai was tube and fabric and thus, probably a wood wing?

The fuse is tube and fabric but the wing is 100% aluminum, spar - ribs
and skin
Rocky

Thanks for the input, guys, the RV-9 preview plans and the Tony
Bingelis book arrived in the mail recently and I've got lots of
"looking at" (and drooling over, sometimes) to do.

For a first plane, I might opt for a small, inexpensive one-seater
kit, though. We'll see.

Oliver

In article
,
Oliver Arend wrote:

Thanks for the input, guys, the RV-9 preview plans and the Tony
Bingelis book arrived in the mail recently and I've got lots of
"looking at" (and drooling over, sometimes) to do.

For a first plane, I might opt for a small, inexpensive one-seater
kit, though. We'll see.

Oliver

Advice: If you are going to go to the effort of building a plane, build
one that fulfills your desired mission. You cannot take a passenger
along in a single-seater.

It is really hard to beat Van's planes and kits. He has improved
everything he has produced in the last 30 years.

--
Remove _'s from email address to talk to me.