{"id":191,"date":"2025-09-16T16:10:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T16:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/?p=191"},"modified":"2025-09-16T17:01:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T17:01:55","slug":"the-build-stage-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/the-build-stage-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Build: Stage 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The build has finally begun! After all this time, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m finally building the plane I want to fly around the world. It\u2019s a surreal (and slightly daunting) feeling!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I picked up my kit from Flylight in August. The first (and wonderfully painless) step was to register my build with the BMAA. With this completed, I\u2019m now able to register my future aircraft with the CAA, and reserve my registration. I\u2019ll admit that this is something I haven\u2019t really thought about before, and I\u2019ve found myself completely undecided on what I want. Should I see if I can secure my name, or should I try for an acronym with symbolic meaning\u2026?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst I sorted out my Stage 1 inspection (kit and workshop approval from my BMAA Inspector (none other than Flylight\u2019s Paul)), I took his advice and coated some of the main airframe components with the anti-corrosion compound, ACF50 \u2013 just to give it as much protection as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, this week \u2013 and with a nice block of days off work \u2013 I\u2019ve managed to really get cracking. Whilst coating everything (including myself) in ACF50, I\u2019d arranged the first set of tubing to help me get orientated with the first steps. This really helped as I started putting everything together. As per the build manual, everything is being loosely connected for the time being; when all the struts and braces are attached, I\u2019ll systematically tighten everything (and apply Loctite), which will hopefully keep everything in perfect alignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus far, I\u2019ve formed the lower and upper cabin triangles, attached the rear vertical supports, and added in the braces and support struts which will help with the alignment. As the end of my first build week comes to a close, I\u2019ve started tinkering with the engine mounts, which will be different on my aircraft as I\u2019m fitting a Rotax 912iS \u2013 instead of the usual 912ULS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s been a fab first few days. I\u2019ve learnt that ACF50 gets everywhere (yes, I know that\u2019s the point), and I\u2019m very glad that I managed to spot that I\u2019d fitted the nose gear guide strut upside down before I get too far into the build. I’d also like to say an enormous ‘thank you’ to my wife, who’s helped me carry endless bits and pieces around the garage, stopped me from sawing my finger off, and saved me from dropping the upper cabin triangle on my head. Several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The build has finally begun! After all this time, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m finally building the plane I want to fly around the world. It\u2019s a surreal (and slightly daunting) feeling! I picked up my kit from Flylight in August. The first (and wonderfully painless) step was to register my build with the BMAA. With […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-build","category-general"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Stage1_thumb_43-scaled.jpg",2560,1920,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Stage1_thumb_43-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Stage1_thumb_43-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Stage1_thumb_43-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Stage1_thumb_43-1024x768.jpg",1024,768,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Stage1_thumb_43-1536x1152.jpg",1536,1152,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Stage1_thumb_43-2048x1536.jpg",2048,1536,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"The build has finally begun! After all this time, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m finally building the plane I want to fly around the world. It\u2019s a surreal (and slightly daunting) feeling! I picked up my kit from Flylight in August. The first (and wonderfully painless) step was to register my build with the BMAA. With…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201,"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.at80knots.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}