Building a Plane Is Easier Than You Think: Members’ Rides

Welcome back to Members’ Rides, where we take a look at the daily drivers, dream garages and project rides of Autopian members—and we don’t limit ourselves to ground transportation, either. Member Matt DeCraene’s list in particular caught our eye for having not one, but two projects: a classic Corvette and a Van’s Aircraft RV-8 kit airplane.

(You, too, can be featured in one of these columns! Each week, we peek into members’ garages, and you can join them by signing up here and parting with a little of your hard-earned dough to The Autopian going. Today it’s Matt’s turn!)

Did you know you can build your own plane at home? I didn’t realize just how accessible kit planes were to build until a friend started assembling a plane kit in his dining room. For the record, the best use of a ’90s dining room mirror wall I’ve ever seen is for writing down plane build status notes.

While DeCraene’s background as an engineer for an aerospace and defense component manufacturer likely helps here, even I’ll confirm that kit planes are way easier to build than you might think. The RV-8 sounds like a blast, too, as a light, small plane designed for aerobatics and a listed top speed of up to 220 mph, per Van’s website.

DeCraene is the kind of enthusiast who most of us can probably empathize with: a tinkerer who dreams of ample space for new projects—and one who appreciates a good minivan, no less. We’ll let him take it from here on and tell us about his family’s current projects and daily drivers.

Autopian: So, what got you into cars (and/or planes)?

I can’t think of any specific projects that got me into cars. I have always been interested in all mechanical projects. Mostly, it comes from my dad’s love of aviation and stories of the interesting cars he had when he was younger. I get fairly anxious if I don’t have some project to work on. My mechanical and aviation interests drove me to get an aerospace engineering degree, and then a master’s degree.

Growing up, I worked on several projects with my dad. We rebuilt the engine in an MGB and built a similar kit airplane to mine. I have had plenty of automotive repair follies and successes. My college friend and I decided to fix the charging problem in his ’68 mustang in my parents’ driveway one weekend. This resulted in it being stored in my parents’ garage for a few months when we ran out of time. Jason’s parking lot Yugo repair reminded me of fixing the transmission linkage on my friend’s Silverado in the street outside his girlfriend’s dorm.

Autopian: What’s in your current fleet?

• 2017 Chrysler Pacifica: The family car. Anyone hating the functionality of minivans hasn’t had three kids in car seats at the same time.
• 2009 Nissan Frontier: Slowly rusting away.
• 1973 Corvette: Bought as someone else’s project almost 20 years ago. Slowly started a frame-off refresh, but life got in the way. I moved into my own house and didn’t have room for the Corvette, then moved again to North Carolina. It is still sitting in my parents’ garage, and my dad keeps claiming he is going to finish it.
• Van’s Aircraft RV-8: Not a car, but fits into Mercedes’s beat. It is a two-seat, 200-mph airplane. I have been building it for the last three-and-a-half years with about four more to go. Between family and work, this is where most of my free time has gone.

Building a Plane

Autopian: Tell us a bit more about this plane build. Why did you go with the RV-8?

Van’s Aircraft is the biggest, best-supported kit manufacturer out there, and I helped my dad build an RV-7 [another Van’s Aircraft kit plane—Ed.] around 2001 through 2004. The RV-7 shares a ton of parts with the RV-8, so I have a decent background for building. I am also an aerospace engineer, although my career has taken me to focus on more mechanical components than airframes or even controls. After we finished his plane, I always wanted to build one for myself, but it was not a big priority since I had access to his when I lived in the Chicago suburbs.

Life took us to Asheville, N.C., and I told myself that when I finished grad school, I was going to pick up a project of my own. Shortly after moving, I found somebody else’s project nearby that had the tail surfaces and all of the specialty tools for less than the cost of the tools. I figured that even if the structure wasn’t usable, the tools made it a good deal. I quickly found a complete, unstarted wing kit from another project that I was able to pick up. At this point, I have all of the major airframe complete, parts of an engine, and no avionics. I am in a bit of a holding pattern while I save up for the remaining expensive pieces. Ultimately, the dream is to fly into Oshkosh in formation with my dad, but I am several years out at this point.

The FAA requires builders to keep a log, so you can see the current status of the build here.

Autopian: How tough is it to assemble a kit plane like this?

The RV kits are the best-supported kits on the market with a ton of resources available. Really, anyone who can use basic hand tools can learn to rivet and complete an RV kit. Basically, if you go to any airport, you can probably find at least one RV builder. I recall Mercedes has done some flight training out of Poplar Grove airport. Mike Foss is based there, and he has built an award winning RV-8.

Autopian: What’s the hardest part about the RV-8 build?

Rebuilding a Corvette

The parts came in a snowmobile trailer. The body was still on the frame, but the suspension was stripped, and the engine had been pulled and torn down. I was still living with my parents at the time, so I had space and time to work on it. We pulled the body, stripped the frame, repaired some rust on the body mounts and windshield frame, and replaced the radiator support. We decided that we didn’t care about originality, so if there was a reasonably priced upgrade we could make, we would do it. I ended up getting it to a point that the rough body work was about 75% finished, the suspension was back on, and it was ready for an engine and transmission. Around that time, I bought a house and moved out, so it was just not as accessible a project anymore. 

It sat in my parents’ garage with virtually no progress until my dad retired a few months ago. His newfound free time has reinvigorated the project. The engine and transmission pictures are from his work, and we are going to look at paint swatches when he visits for Thanksgiving. Once he dropped the engine in, I started making a mental checklist for what I needed to do to hear it run for the first time since owning it. 

Daily Drivers Make It All Happen

Autopian: Let’s hear about those daily drivers as well. I know you mentioned that it’s rusting away, but do you use the Frontier for anything special?