Happy New Year

I back date everything I stick in this blog. I am too lazy or too involved with other things to be keeping this blog up to date. So there are many more photos and lots more I have written in my build diary than appear here. But in the New Year I will try to be more diligent with my posts. I have made it my goal to only include pictures of the actual build process rather than my musings, but at some point I will no doubt cave in and post some musings. I have been thinking of paint schemes and maybe I will post some sketches. Talk about putting the cart before the horse! Paint for a plane that does not exist!

Made the switch to Google

This is just a test. No need to jump and pull the rip cord! Google wants all the old Blogger.com users to switch and I was given a soft error message when I tried. I think it said:

"We need more time."

OK, well Google, let's take it slow then. This is a world of technology and on-demand is the key phrase of our lives. So, just take your time and we will get to know each other better.

Just don't screw up my POSTS!

;)

Started the Build Clock

Spent the evening tracing the blueprints with wax paper! Wow this is a lot more time consuming than I thought! I spent nearly four (leisurely) hours tracing the wing rib pattern and the upper portions of bulkhead B (the instrument panel), and bulkhead C, the structure immediately behind the seat. Whew my neck was sore after that!

After tracing the blueprints I cut out the trace and then transferred the components' shapes to a heavy stock posterboard. Tomorrow I'll tackle the vertical sections of the bulkheads I traced tonight and bulkhead D.

Weekends were made for building airplanes! Whew!

Teenie II homebuilt airplane

I have been driven by the desire to design and build my own airplane ever since I was a child. I went to college with the goal of becoming an aeronautical engineer but as things turned out I took a very different career path. The issue was I envisioned a career in the field as sitting at a desk working out someone else's design, and for years, a very small piece of the design at that. This just didn't appeal to me as I had some very clear ideas of what I would like to see flying. So I decided to change my education towards something else that inspired me.

I admire individuals such as Burt Rutan who build things right from concepts in their own head, with small budgets and small teams. I decided to build an airplane by myself, and then with that experience, go on to design something of my own and build that later. The airplane I chose is called the "Teenie II." It is a small, single-seat, low-wing, conventional-geared airplane built almost entirely of aluminum and powered by a Volkswagen engine.

I ordered my plans a few weeks ago in mid-November. I felt like a kid again waiting for the plans to arrive in the mail. The plans arrived quickly so my wait wasn't very long at all. I laugh when I think about their arrival. I ran back into the house and carefully opened the package. I actually remember the clean vinyl smell of the binder that the manual came in. It really was like opening a birthday present and finding the thing that you really really really wanted inside! In fact it was a birthday present, as the money I received from my father for my birthday went towards the purchase price! Thanks dad! So the adventure is just beginning and I look forward to every step of the way!

Hello World!

The intention of this blog is to document my interaction with the aviation world. I decided some time ago to build an airplane and this site will be a chronicle of that endeavor. We'll see how this goes... anything can happen and anything usually does.