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Builder/web author
Here is a self portrait of the builder/author, living the dream of flying a plane built in the garage. A few of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, where I live, can be seen near the horizontal stabilizer.
This all started somewhere around 1965, when, with my dad's help, I built a balsa wood model. When we wound up the rubber band motor too tight, the fuselage was crushed. But I just kept building airplanes - gas control line and then radio controlled ones. I was 34 years old when I started this RV6-A project in December 1993. When the 60+ D sized drawings arrived, my wife and I unrolled them out on the table that evening. I couldn't believe how out of control the concept of building a plane was and didn't sleep any that night. In any case, the plane was finished 7 years, 9 months later. The project logs I kept show about 3100 hours of building time, or about one hour per day for the period. Same house, same wife (a very encouraging, supportive one at that - BTW, our second date was to an airshow), and same kids. Different job. I suppose my three sons, who don't really remember when I wasn't building this plane, think this is all quite normal. Building this plane was truly the most interesting thing I've done in my life to date. Some have asked how one finds the time to do this sort of project; however, when one is inspired, one will find the time. There is definitely a hole in my life without the building...
Alex
Contact me at: alex "@" alexap "dot" com