Maybe like a lot of you, aviation websites are my usual destination late at night before going to bed. Classifieds sites like Barnstormers and Trade-a-plane are regular stops and one night while surfing through TAP I came across a classified ad for an 8KCAB project that had no photos and not much of a description. A call to the owner the next day went ok but there wasn't a data plate to go with the collection of parts that the guy had been sitting on for at least the past twenty years.
A few days later though he called me back to let me know that he had found it and that the logs, the airworthiness cert, and the data plate were together and legit, so I bought it.
It isn't a plane, it's what you might not even loosely refer to as a project. The fuselage is an 8KCAB though so I'm going to have a go at it and see what comes of it.
Here's the stash of parts as I came upon them on Jan 1, 2020.
Some parts are missing, some parts are duplicates. I'm pretty sure the parts are there to build a set of new wood-spar wings including fuel tanks which can be hard to find. The tanks aren't perfect so they might have to be sent out to have dents removed and to be tested for leaks/cracks.
The parts were in Kansas, I live in NJ so there was an airline flight involved and a rental truck. Penske supplied the truck, it wasn't a good experience.
The fuselage had a few bent tubes so I made a side trip up to the ACA factory and dropped off the frame so it can be repaired in the original jig where it was built and they're also going to do mods to bring it up to the full 2020 standard and it'll be powder coated as well. It'll be nice to know when it's done that ACA put their stamp of approval on the frame via a yellow tag and work receipt.
Everything else went straight into a storage unit where it'll be sorted and separated from the garbage before being brought home.
The first step is going to be to build a set of wood-spar wings using Rainbow spars and their rib screws STC's. I'm anticipating that this will be a 150 hp Decathlon with wood spar wings and a fixed pitch prop but it's possible that there will be changes to the plan along the way (2023 edit; that's called inadvertent foreshadowing!) and you, dear reader, shouldn't be surprised if it's a full blown 180 hp Super Decathlon with new ACA metal spar wings by the time it's done. I have a habit of letting things get out of control, mission creep I think they call it in the military.
Anyway, that's it for now. The factory has been in touch and they're going to rehab the fuselage for me so that is the green light I've been waiting for to officially declare that this project is a go!
A few days later though he called me back to let me know that he had found it and that the logs, the airworthiness cert, and the data plate were together and legit, so I bought it.
It isn't a plane, it's what you might not even loosely refer to as a project. The fuselage is an 8KCAB though so I'm going to have a go at it and see what comes of it.
Here's the stash of parts as I came upon them on Jan 1, 2020.
Some parts are missing, some parts are duplicates. I'm pretty sure the parts are there to build a set of new wood-spar wings including fuel tanks which can be hard to find. The tanks aren't perfect so they might have to be sent out to have dents removed and to be tested for leaks/cracks.
The parts were in Kansas, I live in NJ so there was an airline flight involved and a rental truck. Penske supplied the truck, it wasn't a good experience.
The fuselage had a few bent tubes so I made a side trip up to the ACA factory and dropped off the frame so it can be repaired in the original jig where it was built and they're also going to do mods to bring it up to the full 2020 standard and it'll be powder coated as well. It'll be nice to know when it's done that ACA put their stamp of approval on the frame via a yellow tag and work receipt.
Everything else went straight into a storage unit where it'll be sorted and separated from the garbage before being brought home.
The first step is going to be to build a set of wood-spar wings using Rainbow spars and their rib screws STC's. I'm anticipating that this will be a 150 hp Decathlon with wood spar wings and a fixed pitch prop but it's possible that there will be changes to the plan along the way (2023 edit; that's called inadvertent foreshadowing!) and you, dear reader, shouldn't be surprised if it's a full blown 180 hp Super Decathlon with new ACA metal spar wings by the time it's done. I have a habit of letting things get out of control, mission creep I think they call it in the military.
Anyway, that's it for now. The factory has been in touch and they're going to rehab the fuselage for me so that is the green light I've been waiting for to officially declare that this project is a go!
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because looking at the picture there were some other treasures I see Handel bars, I think a boat, I spied some motor parts, it’s like where’s Waldo doubled with search and rescue. I ended up with this yesterday for out in WY. For when I visit. Even looks like another airframe. Did it come with motor, or just parts to one? Looking forward to the build.
