I am building a MiniMAX 1100R. The MiniMAX is a single-seat experimental-category airplane. It has a wing span of 25 feet, wood airframe and fabric covering. It uses a 40hp Rotax-447 engine.

I buy plans and a materials kit from JDT in July 2007. I am slowly building it in my single-car garage. I recall my initial plan to complete it in 3-4 months over the summer and autumn of 2007. I recall using JDT's official figure of "250-300 hours" build time to convince myself of this highly unrealistic projection. I recall figuring 300 hours works out to less than two months full-time work; since I am not working at the time, I figure I can be flying before winter rains. This despite numerous builders reporting construction times in excess of 1000 hours in JDT's own customer gallery. As of November 2009, I'm 338.5 hours into the project, and I'm a long way from completion.

I have a fuselage on gear, complete tail feathers and all 24 wing ribs. I am building wing spars.

As part of the certification process for amateur-built aircraft, the FAA requires that builders keep construction logs documenting their work. I make mine public and open to comments and suggestions from other builders. There is a very active MiniMAX community at East Tennessee Lonesome Buzzards forum. I am learning a lot from the extremely knowlegeable folks there, and more than once they see and correct flaws in my workmanship. While it can be humbling to have a large group of people observe and comment on my work-in-progress, it undoubtedly helps me build a safer and better-looking airplane. I'm also noticing comments from novice builders that my photographs and descriptions help them understand plans, procedures and processes. The log is in this extremely long thread. You may need to scroll down to see interesting photos.