Building a Waiex Model B + Aerovee Turbo

[subnoize]

Well, I WILL BE building a Waiex, when it gets here :p

Hello! I am in Marietta, GA. I have had my Sport Pilot License for about 7 years now. I flew at Hansen Aero in Kennesaw but now they are closed :-( I have no LSAs to rent. If anyone knows a plane I can rent around here I will buy you lunch!

I started with a Sonerai IILS and welded up a fuselage and sat in it. While I could fit it was hard to get in and out of it. If it ever caught fire and I survived the sudden stop at the end I wasn't going to get out of it fast enough.

I had already decided that the second plane I would build would be a Waiex but looks like I'm going to just go with it first. I will finish the Sonerai for my two boys. I might also weld up a Tailwind and a Double Eagle at some point. I taught myself to weld and now I can't stop welding! It is one thing to shape metal. It is entirely another to join two pieces of metal together at an atomic level.

"Real men weld their planes," makes a lot of sense to me but those little rivets are pretty good too. As a computer software architect and soft-manufacturing engineer it would have never occurred to me that TIG or gas welding would be so therapeutic. I truly enjoy TIG even though I started with gas (and even believed the myth about Oxy-Acetylene and 4130).

Anyways! If you are in Georgia, around the Marietta area (KRYY specifically) or close by and know of a Cub for rent or something similar then please get in touch with me. I need tailwheel and I need to stay flying while I build. Thanks so much!

-- John Bryant

[pfhoeycfi]

...regarding the Sonerai fit I built the IIL, not the stretched, and fit fine at 215# and 6'. I did raise the height of the turtle deck by 2 inches at the rear of the canopy with a pc of alumium sheet that extended from the bow back about 2.5 feet. It gave the Sonerai a ton of head room and a great look. I went the gas route ...

good luck with both

peter
building SNB0021

[subnoize]

...regarding the Sonerai fit I built the IIL, not the stretched, and fit fine at 215# and 6'.

Ha! It was bending the legs backwards to get my knees under the cross member between the front and back seats and over the spar carry-through that was the problem. I fit just great otherwise. Not many planes that size carry 610 pounds. I have the turtle deck up 2" too. The boys are much more limber than I am. Also less "portly" but still 6' 2" and taller.

The bottom half of the fuselage is gas welded. The rest is TIG. The difference is huge. The only way to regulate the heat with gas is to pull the torch away from the weld. That allows oxygen to rush in and the weld quality suffers. With TIG the heat is controlled by the foot pedal and the torch stays the same distance and thus the shielding gas does it's job.

I will probably use this fuselage as scrap aways. I am willing to cut it up despite all the hard work, sweat and tears. I almost can't make a bad weld with TIG. It is much slower but the quality is undeniable.

I don't miss the soot from gas! Terrible stuff. I am still cleaning it off my CNC machine 2 years later!

[jp352]

I'd love to check out a Sonerai II if anyone makes their way down to FL.