MaxsMaxAugust 21, 2018, 5:00pm
A few weeks ago, my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting with fellow Lonesome Buzzard, Ricardo in Peru. Although Ricardo lives in Lima, his MiniMax resides on his farm about two hours south of Lima. I was really impressed by his ingenuity and craftsmanship, and with his permission, would like to share what we saw.
First, Ricardo showed us where he built his plane. How many of us can say that our workshop is a former carriage house of an incredibly beautiful 17th century hacienda and also his boyhood home? Many of the most famous historical figures of Peru, and indeed, all of South America have stayed there in years past. It would be like those of us in the U.S. having a plaque outside saying George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Thomas Edison all slept there! Ricardo doesn't have a plaque outside. Rather, he has copies of historical letters by the folks that stayed there, telling of their visits, framed and hanging on the walls. Sadly, the hacienda is no longer lived in due to heavy earthquake damage. Hopefully some day it can be restored to its former greatness.
Going out to his landing strip, he showed us the orange balls on a crossing power line at the far end of his runway. He said, "Look closer!" Since Tana balls are very, very expensive, or impossible to get in Peru, Ricardo took six orange plastic hard hats and bolted them together and had the three "balls" hung on the power lines! They look just like the originals and serve the same purpose. And the landing strip itself looks like a manicured lawn. As well it should. Again, since mowing equipment is really hard to come by in Peru, Ricardo's 150 by 1500 foot strip is mowed by a hand-pushed gas lawnmower like the one I use in my back yard. It's probably the same one that's used to mow the beautiful grounds of the hacienda. There's a lot of work involved before he ever gets off the ground!
Continuing on to his hangar, which Ricardo made himself, we saw more innovations. Due to using the material that he had on hand, the size of the hangar means Ricardo has to put his MiniMax in sideways. To do this he puts the wheel on small castered platforms and pushes it inside. In another recent post by Ricardo he shows the platforms. The photo also shows wide white lines painted on the hangar floor. These aren't for decoration. If he keeps the platforms inside the painted area, he knows the nose and tail are clear of the walls and any other obstructions inside the hangar. He has an ingenious lever that enables him to lift an axle and slide the platform under the wheel in one easy motion.
As seen from Ricardo's earlier posts, he did a great job building his "Max. I've recovered and painted several planes and his job is First Class! For never having done any covering work, he did a professional job, worthy of any commercial shop. His MiniMax has an electric start and he put the battery up front under the engine. He made a neat trap door to take the battery out to charge and return it. He then made a smaller door to just attach jumper cables if that's all that's needed to start the engine.
Just seeing what Ricardo has done in building his plane, no excuse should keep a would-be builder from starting and completing a build! His shop was two hours of heavy traffic from home. He worked all day in the fields, and then in the evening worked on his plane in a less than ideal workshop. Everything in Peru pertaining to airplanes is either non-existent or very, very expensive. There is virtually no private general aviation in the country. Ricardo showed me almost every ultralight and private certificated plane in Peru--there being very few. (I think he said only about 50 total). His is the only scratch-built experimental plane in the country. So if you're contemplating building, consider all the support you have on this forum, plus suppliers at the tip of your fingers on the phone or internet, who'll ship whatever you need, overnight if needed. Then think of being the only builder in a country 7000 miles from any suppliers. Nor any other builders around to help you out. If Ricardo could do it, there is just no excuse for anybody not building his own plane!
First, Ricardo showed us where he built his plane. How many of us can say that our workshop is a former carriage house of an incredibly beautiful 17th century hacienda and also his boyhood home? Many of the most famous historical figures of Peru, and indeed, all of South America have stayed there in years past. It would be like those of us in the U.S. having a plaque outside saying George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Thomas Edison all slept there! Ricardo doesn't have a plaque outside. Rather, he has copies of historical letters by the folks that stayed there, telling of their visits, framed and hanging on the walls. Sadly, the hacienda is no longer lived in due to heavy earthquake damage. Hopefully some day it can be restored to its former greatness.
Going out to his landing strip, he showed us the orange balls on a crossing power line at the far end of his runway. He said, "Look closer!" Since Tana balls are very, very expensive, or impossible to get in Peru, Ricardo took six orange plastic hard hats and bolted them together and had the three "balls" hung on the power lines! They look just like the originals and serve the same purpose. And the landing strip itself looks like a manicured lawn. As well it should. Again, since mowing equipment is really hard to come by in Peru, Ricardo's 150 by 1500 foot strip is mowed by a hand-pushed gas lawnmower like the one I use in my back yard. It's probably the same one that's used to mow the beautiful grounds of the hacienda. There's a lot of work involved before he ever gets off the ground!
Continuing on to his hangar, which Ricardo made himself, we saw more innovations. Due to using the material that he had on hand, the size of the hangar means Ricardo has to put his MiniMax in sideways. To do this he puts the wheel on small castered platforms and pushes it inside. In another recent post by Ricardo he shows the platforms. The photo also shows wide white lines painted on the hangar floor. These aren't for decoration. If he keeps the platforms inside the painted area, he knows the nose and tail are clear of the walls and any other obstructions inside the hangar. He has an ingenious lever that enables him to lift an axle and slide the platform under the wheel in one easy motion.
As seen from Ricardo's earlier posts, he did a great job building his "Max. I've recovered and painted several planes and his job is First Class! For never having done any covering work, he did a professional job, worthy of any commercial shop. His MiniMax has an electric start and he put the battery up front under the engine. He made a neat trap door to take the battery out to charge and return it. He then made a smaller door to just attach jumper cables if that's all that's needed to start the engine.
Just seeing what Ricardo has done in building his plane, no excuse should keep a would-be builder from starting and completing a build! His shop was two hours of heavy traffic from home. He worked all day in the fields, and then in the evening worked on his plane in a less than ideal workshop. Everything in Peru pertaining to airplanes is either non-existent or very, very expensive. There is virtually no private general aviation in the country. Ricardo showed me almost every ultralight and private certificated plane in Peru--there being very few. (I think he said only about 50 total). His is the only scratch-built experimental plane in the country. So if you're contemplating building, consider all the support you have on this forum, plus suppliers at the tip of your fingers on the phone or internet, who'll ship whatever you need, overnight if needed. Then think of being the only builder in a country 7000 miles from any suppliers. Nor any other builders around to help you out. If Ricardo could do it, there is just no excuse for anybody not building his own plane!