- Joined
- Apr 22, 2016
- Messages
- 965
I've started building another large project. This will be a small tractor/large ATV.
4 years ago I built a ATV side by side from scratch. It used a 1980 Renault Lecar engine and trany that I bought new. When it had gone through the family and no one else wanted to drive it, after sitting a few years, I stripped out as much usable stuff as I thought I might someday need before giving the scrap to a teen to haul to the iron yard and make a little money. My plan always was to build some sort of toy with the engine and whatever. Didn't think it would take 30 years to get started!
From this To this in 12 weeks
The fact is, I like to build things and some of them are large. In 1995 I built my 1st airplane, A Kolb Firestar 2. This was a construction kit and took about one year to complete. I flew that for over 450 hours.
The next winter after completing it I was bored and decided to build another airplane. I put a lot of time into researching the various possibilities. I wanted a plane that I could keep at home and take off from my own runway. This would save much in hanger fees and also make flying on the spur of the moment possible like I had done with my ultralight. I decided to buy plans for an all metal Zenith 601HD and build it from scratch. That was a fun project and I learned much that I never would have w/o that project. That took me nearly 12 years to complete. I first flew it in 2007. It had a 100 HP continental aircraft engine and would cruise about 100 MPH. It was slightly too fast for landing at my home strip (50' between road and tall trees and 1100' long). I would not fly anyone out of there with me and had to meet my passengers at the local airport. I only put about 75 hours on it before selling.
Then my wife wanted to finish learning to fly and I thought I could get her a little more experience with a small plane like my 1st ultralight. Plus I missed the great view. Together we built a Kolb Mark 3 from used and new parts which were picked up at various places around the country or shipped from further places. That one was finished in 2009 and I only flew it about 12 hours before gradually loosing interest in flying. I sold it also.
So although I've been building on this new buggy for about 10 months, I've been taking some pictures and hope to start a project thread here if anyone is interested in following my progress.
I enjoy looking at others projects and get lots of ideas that way.
It's great to read on this forum and others of kindred spirits building anything small or large.
Thanks for your time
Aaron
4 years ago I built a ATV side by side from scratch. It used a 1980 Renault Lecar engine and trany that I bought new. When it had gone through the family and no one else wanted to drive it, after sitting a few years, I stripped out as much usable stuff as I thought I might someday need before giving the scrap to a teen to haul to the iron yard and make a little money. My plan always was to build some sort of toy with the engine and whatever. Didn't think it would take 30 years to get started!
From this To this in 12 weeks
The fact is, I like to build things and some of them are large. In 1995 I built my 1st airplane, A Kolb Firestar 2. This was a construction kit and took about one year to complete. I flew that for over 450 hours.
The next winter after completing it I was bored and decided to build another airplane. I put a lot of time into researching the various possibilities. I wanted a plane that I could keep at home and take off from my own runway. This would save much in hanger fees and also make flying on the spur of the moment possible like I had done with my ultralight. I decided to buy plans for an all metal Zenith 601HD and build it from scratch. That was a fun project and I learned much that I never would have w/o that project. That took me nearly 12 years to complete. I first flew it in 2007. It had a 100 HP continental aircraft engine and would cruise about 100 MPH. It was slightly too fast for landing at my home strip (50' between road and tall trees and 1100' long). I would not fly anyone out of there with me and had to meet my passengers at the local airport. I only put about 75 hours on it before selling.
Then my wife wanted to finish learning to fly and I thought I could get her a little more experience with a small plane like my 1st ultralight. Plus I missed the great view. Together we built a Kolb Mark 3 from used and new parts which were picked up at various places around the country or shipped from further places. That one was finished in 2009 and I only flew it about 12 hours before gradually loosing interest in flying. I sold it also.
So although I've been building on this new buggy for about 10 months, I've been taking some pictures and hope to start a project thread here if anyone is interested in following my progress.
I enjoy looking at others projects and get lots of ideas that way.
It's great to read on this forum and others of kindred spirits building anything small or large.
Thanks for your time
Aaron
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