Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/271000
EAA Experimenter 13 tion (FDIC), fi rst visited EAA Oshkosh in 1989. "That's when I decided I could build an airplane," Bob said. "I narrowed the choice down to an RV-6 or the Mustang II." The Mustang won out because he liked the look of the Mustang wing and because it had a sliding canopy. To get more headroom, Bob modifi ed a Thorp T-18 canopy to fi t. The nose bowl is also from the T-18. Bob and Teri Ann laughed at their own inside joke about building time as they recalled the oft repeated phrase, "It'll take from three to fi ve years." In the end it took more than 17 years—with fully one-third of that time spent on modifying and installing the engine, Bob said. When he checked in at the AirVenture 2013 homebuilt registration center, the staf handed Bob a Perseverance Award. If you're wondering why it took 17 years, the simple answer is because Bob worked as time permitted and only on week- ends. He also said that his choice to install the rotary engine re- quired him to "fi eld-engineer" a wide swath of details required to convert the Mazda automotive engine into a dependable aircraft powerplant. AN AMA ZING TALENT When Bob started building his Mustang, few preformed parts were available. "I bought all the preformed parts I could," Bob said. These included wing ribs, the center section main spar, and major bulkheads. Bob was working on forming some small- er fuselage bulkheads when Robert Bushby, the developer of the Mustang II, stopped by Bob's shop for a look-see. "Bushby took pity on me (upon seeing Bob's attempt to form a bulkhead) and sent me one of his bulkheads," Bob joked. As Bob showed me his instrument panel, he remarked that he had built the altitude hold module from instructions he found on the Internet. The design uses an air pressure sensor to detect altitude changes and then sends correcting signals to an electric servomotor at the elevator trim tab. He also decided that the outward-hinged cowl fl ap design created too much drag when it was opened, so he designed and built a lower cowl door panel that slides fore and aft to control the engine-cooling airfl ow. The size of the opening is pilot- controlled by a panel-mounted toggle switch. Bob also developed a way to increase the baggage com- partment area behind the seats. It now extends an additional Photography by Tyson Rininger Bob chose the Mustang II design because he liked the shape of the wings and and that it had a sliding canopy. E A A E X P _ M a r 1 4 . i n d d 1 3 EAAEXP_Mar14.indd 13 3 / 3 / 1 4 1 0 : 3 0 A M 3/3/14 10:30 AM