March Progress 2014 - picking up the kit and starting the fuselage sides

Have been working through the month of March completing building the build table, traveling to WagAero to pick up the fuselage kit with Dale Benskin, and starting to cut/bend fuselage longerons.  Total time for the month actually constructing the plane - about 3 hours. Time to finish getting prepped for build, travel to pick up the kit, and research miscellaneous project stuff - probably around 40 hours.

Dale Benskin with an 18' long tube on my converted trailer.  My Jeep was also stuffed full of the birdcage of other misc stuff we picked up for his Piper Clipper we are also currently restoring.

My build table in basement - 19' long and my goal is to get the fuselage and wings done quick enough that this doesn't become a permanent fixture in the basement...

First bends of the lower longer on.  My first layout on the table ended up being incorrect - and I caught it just in time. Station 3 and the longeron bend are not in the same spot but offset from each other - and I had missed this. Had to erase most lines on the table from that point back and start over.  I already had the placement blocks screwed in place also....  This is no different than when I built my Sonex/Waiex - 2 steps forward and one back.

Not hard to bend at all. Just heat it up a bit and bend on the table to the blocks that are formed correctly at the bend spots.  Tubing was hot enough that the blocks charred up real good and stunk the place up pretty good.

Good news today, we were able to source some construction material locally. Two local EAA chapter members had started a Breezy about 25-30 years ago and started building the Sport Trainer wings - but never finished the project. We were able to purchase some construction material including wing spar blanks and lift strut tubing from them at a reasonable price - without having to pay shipping.

Wag-Aero Sport Trainer - the journey begins

So, Dale Benskin and I made it official last week. We are building a Wag-Aero Sport Trainer - basically a clone of a Piper J-3 Cub.

I'm a repeat offender of aircraft building - just finished a Sonex/Waiex - and also own a Pietenpol that I purchased (now for sale!). Dale has previously restored a Meyers OTW.  We are also in the process of restoring a PA-16 Piper Clipper of his.

Dale's got quite a few pieces parts of previous J-3's around that he's accumulated over the years from three previous ones that he owned.  He ordered the Wag-Aero Sport Trainer fuselage kit last week and we will be going up to pick it up at Wag-Aero (5 hour drive from here) on March 14th.  I'm cleaning my shop in the basement, building the tables, studying plans and learning oxy-acetaline welding skills. I've done quite a bit of mig welding in the past, so it's not been too tough to pick up on this - also took a Sport Air oxy-acetaline welding workshop several weeks ago up in Oshkosh to get a good foundation to build on.  Below is a picture of the weld quality that I'm up to after about a dozen pieces and a number of hours of practice.

First ones welded a week ago. Lousy.

Last set welded. Getting better.