Jason builds a plane

19 hours, 837 kms.... happy happy happy!

24/9/2016

0 Comments

 
Friday finally got here and I departed home for my road trip to "parts south" at 1130am.

First stop, my long time friend Lynn's place just outisde Barrie.  Lynn and I grew up in the same hometown of Holland Landing and her late father Wally owned the local airport.  For several years Lynn was heavily involved with ultralight aircraft, as a builder, pilot and instructor.  Now heading in a different direction in life, she contacted me with a list of items from sale from her collection.

As I arrived in her driveway, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that one of my best friends Mike (also from Holland Landing) was also there.  It was just like old times - what a fantastic chance to catch up a bit.  None of us has aged by the way ;)
Picture

Lynn had collected up a bunch of stuff for me and made a sales pitch I couldn't refuse.  More on this in a bit.

Next stop, my parent's place to pick up Dad and head to Kitchener to see Scott about the 750 rudder he has for sale.  I like taking Dad on these jaunts when possible.  It's great to catch up and of course talk airplanes - it's certainly something in the DNA I got from him!

After a dinner in Guelph with Dad, we made our way to Scott's place in Kitchener.  The deal for the rudder we agreed to got even sweeter when Scott included a box of Cleco fasteners, Cleco pliers and two heavy paper bags of A4 and A5 rivets - all for $100 cash!  I didn't dicker or give him a chance to change his mind.  START THE CAR!!

We wound our way back to Dad and Moms during Friday evening rush hour and seemed to hit every red light.  Times like this remind me how much I enjoy living in northern Ontario.  I decided to grab a nap for a couple of hours, but by 415am this morning, I was back on the road home (there are other things I have to get done before going back to work tomorrow!)
Picture
0630am parked in the driveway.... 837kms round trip
Once I got home and had some breakfast, I began the inventory process.... in a word, wow!
Picture
Here is a group photo of the items I obtained from Lynn and Scott. Top to bottom, left to right: A handful of the several reference books, bags of Cleco fasteners, over a thousand rivets (paper bags), Cleco pliers, drill bits "The Claw" aircraft tiedown kit and a "One Touch Tach" tool used for confirming prop RPM.

Amazing stuff for my project.  In fairness to Lynn, I won't disclose what I paid for her portion of this stuff, but suffice to say, it pays to stay in touch with friends!

The big item of the trip however is the 750 rudder.  Scott had attended a Zenair factory sponsored  rudder workshop with the intent of getting a head-start on his 750 build, but as is often the case, life got in the way and he decided to part with his barely touched project.  This rudder is already mostly built, including corrosion protection.  Fortunately one side only has some temporary rivets on the skin that can be drilled out so I can confirm everything is good inside and run the wires for a navigation light.  For $100 and the fact it was built in a supervised factory workshop I can drill a few rivets out to confirm.  Unassembled rudder kits are more than $500 from the factory and there is at least $100 in hardware that he threw in.

Deal?  Absolutely!
Picture
My new (to me) 750 rudder

Can't wait to show Ron!

But right now, the lawn needs to be cut.... again.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    New here? Try starting at:

    blog #1

    Author

    Husband, father and 911 dispatcher.  Long time pilot with a licence that burns a hole in my pocket where my student loan money used to be.  First time aircraft builder. Looking to fly my own airplane.

    Categories

    All
    Airframe
    Airport
    Avionics
    Decisions
    Engine
    Interior
    Keep Looking
    Mentor
    Milestone
    Mission
    Motivation
    Paperwork
    Philosophy
    Priorities
    Scrounging
    Tools
    Ultralights
    Welcome Aboard
    Workshop

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    RSS Feed

    build log

    Item Hours
    Engine 31
    Tail 151
    Wings 701
    Fuselage 0.5
    Interior 0
    Controls 4.5
    Avionics 27
    Other 66
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.