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The aft fuselage is finally complete and the tail is fitted, drilled and clecoed in place.
It's been quite a ride so far but it's finally starting to look like a plane.

On the pictures you can clearly see the difference between the polished aluminium on the tail and unpolished raw material in the aft fuselage.

Now the tail will come back off till the end of the project, and I will now start working on the forward fuselage so I have something to sit in for real and not just pretend like in the last picture.

Looks great - more motivation for me to keep working!

Looks great Michael...I might have to put my tail on my fuse soon just because it looks so cool! :)

The fuselage is now on it's gear for the first time. The O'brien gear legs and brakes are very nice and make rigging the gear legs very easy. Coudn't be happier with the results.

:shock: Jeez Rhett...how did you go from just finishing the aft fuse on the 9th to on the gear by the 14th?!?

Andy Walker wrote::shock: Jeez Rhett...how did you go from just finishing the aft fuse on the 9th to on the gear by the 14th?!?

Hi Andy,
It was me who finished the AFT fuse on the 9th, I which I could get the from fuse done in 5 days though :) .

sonex980 wrote:The fuselage is now on it's gear for the first time. The O'brien gear legs and brakes are very nice and make rigging the gear legs very easy. Coudn't be happier with the results.

I'm ordering the O'Brien axles but sticking with the Sonex titanium legs, did you also get the wheels and tires from O'Brien? If so, which ones did you go for?

rizzz wrote:

Andy Walker wrote::shock: Jeez Rhett...how did you go from just finishing the aft fuse on the 9th to on the gear by the 14th?!?

Hi Andy,
It was me who finished the AFT fuse on the 9th, I which I could get the from fuse done in 5 days though :) .

Oh, lol...I thought I checked the sig lines, I must be confused. Sorry, ya'll carry on. :lol:

rizzz wrote:

sonex980 wrote:The fuselage is now on it's gear for the first time. The O'brien gear legs and brakes are very nice and make rigging the gear legs very easy. Coudn't be happier with the results.

I'm ordering the O'Brien axles but sticking with the Sonex titanium legs, did you also get the wheels and tires from O'Brien? If so, which ones did you go for?

Hi Michael,

I ordered the wheels, tires, and tubes that are called out in the plans from Aircraft Spruce. When you order the axles from O'Brien make sure to tell him your wheel setup so he can cut the axles to the correct length.

Finally finished closing up the horizontal stabilizer yesterday evening. I struggled as I had to go back and rebuild the right side of the stabilizer frame after messing up badly in early October. But, I did it!

Best part was having my 7 year old son, Joshua, help me pull rivets yesterday evening!

Will be completing the elevators this weekend and attaching the hinge to the rear spar channel.

Very satisfying to finally get this rebuilt and closed up.




Robbie Culver
Sonex 1517
Chicagoland
Aerovee/taildragger
Working on the tail
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