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ZEKE'S WEB SITE
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Date: 4-24-2009
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Number of Hours: 1.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Working from Bill Scheunemann's Kit
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I have purchased a wing kit from Bill Scheunemann at Performance Aeromarine. He makes wing kits for Jim Kimball's Pitts Model 12, the One Design, the two-seat One Design, and lots of other biplanes. You can find him at http://www.precisionam.net/ or e-mail him at bill@woodwings.com
I'm shamelessly plugging Bill's company because I'm so pleased with the product he has delivered. I chose to buy a wing kit for four reasons: save time, get good materials, get parts customzied, and increase the quality of the finished plane. Let me explain each piece.
I know I could have saved some money by building everything from scratch but I would have spent hundreds of hours to get to where I am today, on Day 1 of this project. Quite simply, if you value your time at all, and have the luxury of being able to afford one of his kits, then you'll get a massive jump start on your project. I know lots of builders have to save everywhere they possibly can so this won't be an option. However, the cost of the finished kit in excess of the raw materials supplied is (relatively speaking) tiny.
The materials supplied are first class. Bill has supplied a terrific kit and I have not found a blemish on a single piece of wood he has supplied. By buying a kit from him, I know that my wing is made of first class wood.
Getting parts customized. Part of the reason to build a homebuilt for me is to make it unique. To that end, Bill has modified the leading edges he supplied to me and they are now scalloped aft of the main spar. Once the fabric is on the wing, this will be a subtle effect but it will be beautiful. Also, Bill strengthened the wing, made the rib spacing a little closer, added another bay for the drag/anti-drag wires, and increased the number of compression ribs. All of this will make this wing substantially stronger than a standard Skybolt wing. I like that. Also, it's fully sheeted from the leading edge to the trailing edge all the way out to the inboard end of the ailerons.
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Every spar milled to finsihed dimensions. Leading edges and aileron spars, too.
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Nose rib, tailored gussets, and common gussets as provided by Bill.
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All critical holes through spars are already machined. Including the vertical hole at the I-Strut.
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