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Thinking of building a WAG AERO SPORT TRAINER

S

samgandy

Registered User
I am thinking of building a Wag Aero Sport Trainer and looking for advise. Does anyone know if this is a good kit plane? Are the plans any good? Is Wag Aero helpful? I love the J3 and have always wanted one. I hope to be able to use it for fun flying and to be able to teach my two sons to fly in it.

I am also wondering if I am going to fit OK in the finished airplane. I am 6'3" and weigh in at 240lbs.

I want to start on some smaller parts first since I do not have much space, maybe the rudder or elevators, can a experienced builder tell me if this is possible. I am going to buy the plans soon from WAG but so far have purchased nothing. Thanks for any help you can give.

Does anyone know a good finished plane estimate? I have seen from 10K to 40K.
 
I am 6'1" and weigh 260 and we fly our PA11 to Canada and back each year from Texas. The plans have a few problems, but not many and the plane can be made as good as you want it. Go to www.pmmi-inc.com/planes.html and you can see pictures of mine being built and the jigs we used to build the fuselages for Wag for a couple of years.
Contact me if you need more information.

Roger
 
Roger, very, very, nice. Who made up your seat cushions? I dont know if you do this for a living. But after looking at the pictures, would you do it again?
 
Sure would. My wife has a 172 and I have a J3. They are just planes. The PA11 or whatever you might want to call it has a lot of love in it and we have fun together. My wife and I, who also has her float rating, spend the summers in Canada and the winter in Texas and fly the 11 both ways each year. I can't remember who covered my seats, but when I get back to Texas I can look it up. They are Tomahawk seats and I used Tempra Foam in them. It was really worth it. Just make sure you set the seats as high as you frame will let you. The higher, the more comfortable. We have 2 or 3 fuselages in the shop, and I have a lot of extra parts, so will probably build another one. Have to recover and OH my 3 this winter and then will probably turn out #2.

The last one took 11 months total.
 
samgandy said:
I am thinking of building a Wag Aero Sport Trainer and looking for advise. Does anyone know if this is a good kit plane? Are the plans any good? Is Wag Aero helpful? I love the J3 and have always wanted one. I hope to be able to use it for fun flying and to be able to teach my two sons to fly in it.

I am also wondering if I am going to fit OK in the finished airplane. I am 6'3" and weigh in at 240lbs.

I want to start on some smaller parts first since I do not have much space, maybe the rudder or elevators, can a experienced builder tell me if this is possible. I am going to buy the plans soon from WAG but so far have purchased nothing. Thanks for any help you can give.

Does anyone know a good finished plane estimate? I have seen from 10K to 40K.
Click to expand...

40K is low.

If you do everything correctly plan on 50K. Prices on EVERYTHING have increased a lot in the last 5 years.

Best thing you can do is go buy a PA-11 and fly it. My hindsight on building is 20/20 now. Buy something to fly and then get a project to work on.
 
You ought to get a flying PA11 for forty. We have a Super Cub here with an asking price of 55 - a 105 special. A friend recently bought a 160 Cub for fifty. I figure a flying J-3 is about 25. Am I way off base here?
 
Jim on a soapbox! Any time you think of building an airplane so you can fly it, go to McDonald's and get a job flipping burgers, work weekends and evenings, and put the money in a savings account, buy a flying airplane, you will be in the air sooner.
 
Jim Mizer said:
Jim on a soapbox! Any time you think of building an airplane so you can fly it, go to McDonald's and get a job flipping burgers, work weekends and evenings, and put the money in a savings account, buy a flying airplane, you will be in the air sooner.
Click to expand...

Hey Jim on a soapbox, I built a cub and have flown it for over 500 hours, and the only burgers I flip are on my backyard grill. And my cub is not 50 years old!
 
A lot of BS here. Had mine in the air 11 months from when I decided to build. Some people go to work and others just talk and think about it. Mostly talk.
 
Steve Pierce said:
How is number two coming Clyde?
Click to expand...

Hi Steve,
I haven't worked on it much since you saw the fuselage and tail surfaces. I need to decide what to do about wings.

One of these days when I can get away for an afternoon, I'm going to fly up to Graham and say hey!

Clyde
 
Hi Sam
I am building the sport trainer too. The best $50 I spent was for the CD from North Land, PA-18 DIGITAL DRAWINGS I haven't counted the drawings on the cd but there must be at least 500.
Good Luck
Glenn
 
Thanks Glenn!! I will take a look at that. Do you have a link or address of where to look at it. I will Google it in the mean time.
-Sam
 
Roger,

What plans did you build your PA-11 from. I am looking at the sport trainer from Wag, but maybe there are better plans out there?? Anyone got advise on a good set of plans or construction steps etc?

Thanks,
-Sam
 
Sam,

Back in the early 70's I built a sport trainer....well sorta. I finished the basic fuselage and completed all the ribs and spars. It's a lot of work and although I won't say I would not do it again I'd think twice. The advantage is that you have a new fuselage and wings. I agree the best advice is to get a J3 or PA-11 now and fly it while you build. The airplane you buy now will most likely be worth considerably more than you paid for it when the project is done. I sold my sport trainer to a friend in Fla that has done a bunch of work but it still is far from done. If your interested email me and I'll forward you his phone number.....
 
Hi Sam

http://www.northlandaircraft.com/ Drawing site

I'm 6'7'' @230 I've moved my rear sear back 4" and will put the front on rails so I can slide it back. I plan on moving the instrument panel 3" forward and scalloping 3" out of the bottom of the panel where my shins are. I just barely fit in a stock WAG J3 with the seat cushions out.

Cheers
Glenn
 
I used the Wag plans for my PA11. Modified some elevators and made them balanced. Changed some things to give me more baggage and room. Laid the bellcrank flat to let me go deeper with the baggage compartment. Made everything above the upper longerons a compartment for fishing rods, props ect.
 
Unless you need a certified aircraft there is a lot to be said for starting with a new fuselage, your own build or one from a supplier. I have cut many tubes out of 60 yr. old fuselages and even the ones proclaimed to be in dry country have rust, rust ,rust. I have worked on a PA12 that was supposed to have spent most of its life in New Mexico and it was full of rust in the lower tubes. You can always do better buying rather than building time wise but beware of old fuselages.
 
Another consideration when you layout your fuselage do doors on both sides. I have to go back and redo the port side on mine as I have an opportunity to go on floats and it is handy to exit on the side closest to the dock when wind and current favor a port side docking.
Glenn
 
Roger Peterson said:
A lot of BS here. Had mine in the air 11 months from when I decided to build. Some people go to work and others just talk and think about it. Mostly talk.
Click to expand...

Roger-

List the equipment in your shop, the number of airplanes you have built, and how many hours per week you work a normal job.

Tim
 
Glenn5ft19 said:
Another consideration when you layout your fuselage do doors on both sides. I have to go back and redo the port side on mine as I have an opportunity to go on floats and it is handy to exit on the side closest to the dock when wind and current favor a port side docking.
Glenn
Click to expand...
A left side door will also be helpful since you are tall. With both sides open you have options for sticking your head out the opposite side while winding your legs into the airplane.
 
Roger-

List the equipment in your shop, the number of airplanes you have built, and how many hours per week you work a normal job.

Tim

And your shop should be right where you live, so you can get out there every day even if it is just for 1/2 hour.
Click to expand...
 
It seems to me that if you didn't have a shop well equipped with tools and the ability to use them, building an airplane would be a bit of a stretch, regardless of how long it might take. Most people who have well equipped shops have them because they enjoy working on and building stuff, not because they plan on building a plane to try to save a few bucks. Just my .02, not trying to offend anyone.
 
I did mine in 11 months in a two car garage and still worked full time. Ok so the lawn didn't get mowed to often. The key is to keep the parts flowing in and do a little bit every day. Even if it is just cleaning off the tool bench. It's funny how 15 minutes after dinner turns into several hours.
 
J-3 Wag aero

I have bought a Wag aero J-3 with a o-290 135hp already built, I want to change the wings to T craft wings with flaps (the wing builder says you will get 10-20 mph more speed and a slower stall) anyone out there seen one of these done this way? or is it a bad idea? I also want to put bigger tires on it anyone know of this being done and how if so what size max (pix) if possible or web address. thank you
 
There is a Wag Aero sport trainer on Barnstormers with the Taylorcraft wings. It is in The experimental section under Wag Aero. Tony
 
Taylorcraft wings

Yea I have seen that, the guy sells wings and claims 10-20 mph faster
on those wings, he also will custom make a longer wing with flaps and
squared ends. my question, has anyone flown a wag aero trainer with flaps and is it worth the mod.
 
For those that hangar somewhere away from home.... a huge help in getting done sooner will be leaving the family car parked in the drive and bringing the project home. It is amazing how the little "10 minutes after dinner" will add up. These are times when you would not have been able to drive out to the shop, hangar or wherever and get things rolled out, work, and then rolled up again.
 
I agree whole heartily Rob. I tried the other way and when we moved priority one was to have a workshop or build one. So I'm in the process of building one and dreaming about getting back to work on the plane.
Glenn
http://www.supercub.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=16865&cat=500&ppuser=678
 
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