Hatz Biplane Association

My wife has very graciously allowed me to have a 7x8 foot area of the garage to build in. Therefore I am not able to buy all my wood in one big order. I am going to have to eventually expand my workspace (when I buy my spars).... But not yet.

Therefore I am wanting to next move to the center section.

The issue I am having is bottom peice. I do not have a good source for marine grade wood, so my options are order it from wicks/AS or Home Depot. The former is crazy expensive (and I have to figure out how or where to have freight shipped to.) the latter is.... Just unacceptable. (Correct???)

Another option I thought about was build the whole thing out with Home Depot wood, but do nothing permiantly. Then when I am in a larger building, and actually order the spars I will order the center bottom wood and redo that peice. That may be a really bad idea, or at least a really difficult area to build up, take apart, and put back together?

Does anyone else have any other suggestion? I may be able to find some marine grade plywood in Oklahoma City (1.5 hours away) or maybe Dallas (3 hours away).... But getting that back to Ada is going to be a whole other issue. (Boat building is really not all that big of a hobby in Oklahoma, go figure).

Thanks,

Tre'

I found a local cabinet maker that had some 5 ply birch plywood that was perfect. I used this for the center section floor and the end ribs that are also longer than 48 inches. These were the only pieces of non aircraft plywood that I used and I would say that the quality was very close if not better than what I got from ACS. I bought the plywood for my leading edge from ACS in 4 x 4 foot sheets to save on shipping and I scarfed them together. I bought my spars from Wicks and was very happy with them. They arrived in a long box that I found in my driveway when I got home from work.
My wings are built and hanging above my garage doors and I am building the fuselage against the back wall of my garage. In order to do anything I have to move something else. I have parts stashed everywhere, and have no idea how I will put it all together.

Hope you are having as much fun as I am. I now look forward to it every day after work.

Ed White

Hi,
I used metric birch plywood (something like 13 layers). Amazing material, but make sure you buy the waterproof type. I bought from Anderson (Andersen?) on the west coast. They cut sheets to my instructions to allow UPS shipping. You may be able to find this material nearer to you, but I bought it long ago.
Al