Hal Bryan says in the Hangar Talk section of the EAA forum that he has taken on the new role as Senior Editor for the "What Our Members are Building/Restoring" section of Sport Aviation magazine, and is running a little light on submissions.
Hal Says "If you've completed a homebuilt or a restoration project and haven't been featured in the magazine, please let me know! Even if it's something you finished a couple of years ago, these stories are timeless, and I want to tell them". Please email me at: editorial@eaa.org
After reading Hal's request I submitted this :
By the time I decided to build a Mini-max I had been a model builder for 40 years so working with wood, dope and fabric was right up my alley. I ordered the plans in late 1992, bought a $99.00 table saw and started collecting my wood. At the time I was flying an aircraft with a large cargo compartment so when ever I would overnight somewhere I would find the local lumber yard and go looking for wood. It took awhile but I ended up with some excellent wood but when it came to the spar caps I used aircraft grade spruce. The plans were excellent and required very little head scratching, but there was a few times when I found some gray hair's stuck under my finger nails. Prior to the start of my build I had acquired a Kawasaki 440 with a belt drive so that was the engine I started with. I decided the normal bed mount shown on the plans was not going to work very well for my engine with the belt drive so I modified the front end to have a flat firewall as shown on the 1200Z Max plans. This required I design my own motor mount and fiber glass cowling. When it came to covering and painting I used 1.7 oz polyester and the Stits poly-tone. My build log shows 1250 hours to build and it took 2 1/2 years at a cost of $4000.00. The first flight was in July 1994 and it flew great. I had a few growing pains learning 2 strokes but the main issue was that it was under powered at the 4000’ field elevation in El Paso. I few years later I switched to a 50 hp Hirth 2704 and that solved the under powered issue. The cost with the Hirth and Powerfin propeller added another $3700.00
Stats: Empty wt = 340 lbs, Gross wt = 640 lbs, Fuel = 10 gal, Cruise = 70 mph, fuel burn = 3.6 gph, stall = 37, landing = 33. Fun factor = way up there! See picture below.
Dick Rake
EAA 38400
Tyler, Texas
602-999-3715 cell
