Hello from SE Wisconsin

[Nemo186]

I have recently received my own copy of Bearhawk 5 plans. I am looking forward to this Goliath undertaking. If there are any builders in the SE Wisconsin area who sourced their materials from local suppliers, I would be greatly interested in how that goes for ensuring the mill report conforms to the spec for 2024T3, etc. A trip down to Pal Steel or Alro etc seems more cost effective than mail ordering every sheet and stick from ACS or Wicks.

[Ryan Koeneke]

I found Wicks was cheaper even after shipping during one of their sales then metal supermarkets was for 0.032 sheet. I'm in Wauwatosa if you wanna swing by. I'm kit building a 5.

[Nemo186]

I found Wicks was cheaper even after shipping during one of their sales then metal supermarkets was for 0.032 sheet. I'm in Wauwatosa if you wanna swing by. I'm kit building a 5.

Interesting. I’ll have to watch Wicks as I read over the drawings and books before I plunge into this. I work in West Allis and fly out of Hartford so a stop in Tosa doesn’t sound that bad. Are you using the river gun with a flow forming bit to form the big wing ribs? I am interested to see how they keep the rivet positions far enough from the flutes in particular.

[Ryan Koeneke]

Interesting. I’ll have to watch Wicks as I read over the drawings and books before I plunge into this. I work in West Allis and fly out of Hartford so a stop in Tosa doesn’t sound that bad. Are you using the river gun with a flow forming bit to form the big wing ribs? I am interested to see how they keep the rivet positions far enough from the flutes in particular.

I can't help ya with that since I'm building from a quick build kit and I haven't started into the wings yet. There's a Milwaukee EAA chapter that has several scratch builders that might have good ideas for you. I try and show up to their meetings when I can. If you want to drop by just shoot me a private message and I'll give you my phone number. I'm right off 41 and capitol on Menomonee river parkway

[spinningwrench]

I’m building a Patrol in Madison if you get this way.

[Lee S]

I'm scratch building a Patrol in Little Chute, (N.E. WI). At first I used a hand-held dead blow hammer to form the wing ribs. After developing Popeye forearms I switched to a 20 ton hydraulic press with rubber pads and touched up with the rivet gun with a flow form head. That proved to be the easiest and most efficient method. RE: sourcing materials. I'm currently buying most of my materials from Wicks and Aircraft Spruce, but after considering the cost of shipping, I'm probably spending more $ than I would if I bought a QB kit. I often think about renting a U-haul truck and making a run down to Wicks for the larger aluminum, non-rollable sheets & longer 4130 tubes. Maybe we all get together and work something out and split the cost of the u-haul?

[Bcone1381]

If there are any builders in the SE Wisconsin area who sourced their materials from local suppliers, I would be greatly interested in how that goes for ensuring the mill report conforms to the spec for 2024T3, etc.

You might contact AED motorsports.....seems they changed there name to AED metals.

https://www.aedmetals.com

They are located in Indianapolis, had a booth at Oshkosh, so they deal with Race Car fabrication as well as aviaiton stuff....I suspect more race car stuff.

Its not in your back yard, driveable for a large order to save shipping cost. I suspect they would be familiar with your requests for mill reports.