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/84816
published in the February 2011 issue of the Light Plane World e-newsletter. Unfortunately, JDT Mini-Max closed its doors earlier this year when the U.S. partner in the firm, John Grabber, announced his retirement. The engineering and design side of the company is based in Australia, and without a U.S. partner for manufacturing and distribution, there would be no AeroMax kits. Australian partner David Trump came to the United States for a meeting with many of the original players in the company, including those associated with production of the parts and kits for the JDT Ae- roMax. Phil Knox owns the tool and die company used for fabricating the metal parts and laser-cutting the wood components. JDT Mini- Max has now been reorganized TEAM Mini-Max hopes people will download the plans, start building, and then be motivated to buy parts and kit components that can be ordered through the website. as TEAM Mini-Max LLC, a name that harks back to the roots of the design. The international company includes partners from South Africa and China. They have brought on board some of the original TEAM (Tennessee Engineering and Manu- facturing) personnel, including Larry Israel. Their new website, www.TeamMini-Max.com, has more details, a history of the TEAM air- craft designed by Wayne Ison, and a surprising announcement. The company is making the plans for all of the TEAM airplanes (seven models) available free of charge as a PDF download from its website. TEAM Mini-Max hopes people will download the plans, start building, and then be motivated to buy parts and kit compo- nents that can be ordered through the website. The AeroMax is a laser-cut kit, and plans are not needed or avail- able. David Cooper, director of U.S. operations in Niles, Michigan, said the company also plans to reengineer one of the earlier classic Mini-Max models as a laser-cut kit. Oratex Fabric on Bodacious When I first saw the new prepaint- ed fabric covering on Bodacious, John Steere's Bodacious started out as a Legal Eagle, but so many major changes were made that it became a diff erent airplane. It's shown here with the wings folded, another of its unique features. T e prepainted fabric colors are Cub yellow and Fokker red. EAA EXPERIMENTER 39