Part 12 – The Hobby

There are a lot of reasons why we tend to enjoy our hobbies. By definition, a “hobby” is something that we enjoy doing. (How’s that for circular reasoning?) What I mean to say is; A hobby is something that we choose to do rather than something that we have to do. When it ceases to be voluntary and becomes mandatory that we “get ‘er done,” then the stress level rises and it becomes “work” which, it is implied, is not as much fun at all. Stress levels also rise when the required “work” gets in the way of the desired “hobby” and the spouse just doesn’t understand where the real priorities lie. Case in point, building a Pietenpol Air Camper.

Spending time in the shop building has to qualify as a “hobby” since I enjoy it so much and it is the building itself, not just the get ‘er done that is enjoyable. That’s not to say I’m not looking forward to having a completed airplane to fly around as that is why I started this project in the first place. It is to say that meeting, and eventually overcoming, each new building challenge is a very satisfying way to spend my time. Now I grant you that the lawn needs mowed occasionally. If I don’t keep up with that task then it gets very hard to open the shop door for instance. However, it does not need to be mowed every time that blasted next door neighbor mows his. His name isn’t even “Jones” for heaven’s sake. And sure I love fresh homegrown tomatoes and peas, etc. and I understand that they require a certain amount of weeding, fertilizing, weeding, watering, weeding, and finally harvesting then weeding again for the next batch. But, come on, the garden is right beside the shop and I can see the Piet through the window and I can hear it calling to me every time I’m out there.

Then there’s the kids, the grandkids, my 96 year old Mom, the occasional “honey do,” and all those other little chores that just seem to pop up during that time slot you had reserved for the hobby. Remember the “have to do” as opposed to the “choose to do” part? “Have to do,” again by definition, carries a higher priority which leaves the Piet pining (or would that be sprucing) away by itself in the shop way too much of the time. Man, can I wax poetic when I’m whining or what?

The other side of the coin is that building speed and efficiency decline when you don’t spend adequate time at the grindstone. A certain amount of time is spent at the beginning of each building session just getting back up to speed with the task being worked on. If the building sessions are all one-hour long as opposed to 6-8 hours, then a significantly higher percentage of the actual work time is used up in re-orienting as opposed to actually working on something. If those one-hour sessions are spread out too far, then there is also the problem of remembering just what the heck you were working on. I have noticed this becoming a somewhat larger problem as the old brain ages away.

Finally, there is the problem of having all that information available via the internet. I belong to an e-mail list of great folks who are building and flying our favorite airplane. This list is available to anyone for free at www.matronics.com (a completely voluntary donation is requested to help pay for hosting of the service.) No matter what homebuilt airplane you are interested in you can probably find a group of likeminded builders there. Anyway, the problem lies in the fact that there is always somebody posting a solution to a problem that I have just resolved and produced parts for. And, of course, their solution is better than mine. The better solution always has to be the one on the finished product. Get the picture?

So here I am nearing the end of my 5^th year building my Pietenpol and I am nowhere near the magic moment when it will take to the air and ‘dance the skies on laughter silvered wings.” I can still look forward to a time when I will be sneaking money out of our joint account to pay for parts to the engine or the covering and painting materials, or the lift struts, or the etc. etc, etc. The light at the end of the tunnel is still too dim to see. BUT, I can also look back at those things which are completed and recall many hours of enjoyable building. That’s not a bad feeling at all even though I started this project with the idea that it would take 5-years to complete. As someone on the list recently commented: “Any time someone asks me when I will be done I tell them; ‘two years.’ If they ask me again in a year I just tell them; ‘two years.’ That way I am never at a loss for an answer but it doesn’t really have to mean anything.” That works for me too. Then, if I get it done before the “two years” is up I can just point with pride to my excellent work ethic.

And the plane is really starting to look like something that will eventually fly. I opted to produce the fuselage before assembling the wings even though I have most everything ready for those and could put them together in short order. As I mentioned in an earlier installment, I can’t sit in the wings and make airplane noises. The fuselage has its own share of problems to solve, mostly to do with choices of what I want when it’s all finished. I chose the long fuselage due to there being just a little more room for the pilot. I average just a bit more than Mr. Pietenpol in all the prerequisite dimensions - don’t ya’ see. Also, I chose to use seatbelts, brakes, and a tail wheel, none of which are on the original plans. All of these items are now in place including controls for the front seat passenger should I get an adventurous soul to fly with me. The instrument panels are ready to mount and I can begin installing all those instruments I have been so laboriously collecting. By the way, did I mention that e-Bay is not the optimum place to find good instruments? However, e-Bay has produced quite a few other items that are to be found on the airplane or that were used in building bits and pieces of the finished product.

I have now accumulated all the wheels, axels, brakes, tubing and other items necessary to begin constructing the landing gear, a task which has me a little excited. I need to start practicing what it is going to be like climbing in and out and N328X needs to be on its own feet before I can do that. Ed Jones has volunteered to help me jig the fuselage up and properly locate all the parts prior to welding. There are some things that it is just not smart to try learning on your own. Two major ones being the landing gear and the engine mount. It’s smart to have smart friends – eh wot? And even smarter to have smart friends with talents and abilities (and experience) far beyond those of mortal men. That’s Ed ‘cause Superman didn’t have a sidekick named Henry. By the way, SpaceShip0.1 is my current favorite possibility for the plane’s name and N328X is on reserve at FAA. The original SpaceShipOne is N328KF for 328,000 feet – the official beginning of space. (McPherson traffic, experimental 328 X-Ray inbound for a high-speed pass.)

Well, it’s about time to put down one hobby (writing) for another (building) as I am out of relevant things to expound upon. I know, I know. It’s obvious that I don’t earn my living writing but that’s because I enjoy it. See paragraph #1 if that confuses you. Anyway, the lawn is mowed, the garden is freshly weeded with nothing ready to harvest, the grandkids are busy elsewhere and I think I hear the Piet calling. Airplane noises, here I come. Until next time.

Tom Stinemetze

The Airplane Nut

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