If you found your way here you perhaps have in interest in flying or building aeroplanes. Feel free to look around. If you are considering building, I hope you get inspired. If you ARE building then I hope the things I have learnt as I progress are helpful to you as you build. I know that I learnt lots from the people that have built before me.
The plane being constructed is a Steen Aero Skybolt. I intend to put a 540 Lycoming on the front, constant speed prop. Well that is the plan anyway, who knows what will change on the way through. The plane is a steel tube Fuselage and Stabilisers and Spruce timber wings, covered in fabric and aluminium. It is a two seat aerobatic biplane. I am building the Delta version, which is a three piece upper wing. This is a recent Skybolt version and adds to the total gross weight capacity, adds strength and fuel capacity to the base Skybolt. I believe that this will be the only Delta, non-Radial variant in the world being built to plans, although it sounds like a few may be starting. If you know of another, let me know.
Navigation on the website is not quite how I would like it. The build log tab has a description of the components that I am building but if you want to see what I am up to…more like a buildlog in other electronic build logs then use the blog post and in particular that date based ones. You can also click on the word clouds for tagged items.
Enjoy the site
Build Details:
- Official Start Date 8th September 2015, Building started in earnest 1st Feb 2016
- Total Build Hours to Date (as at 25th Feb 2020 ) – 359.8 hours
- Current build component –
Top Wing Centre Section. Delta Wing. Wing Ribs.Top Wing Centre Section Fuel Tank in progress, Upper Wing Butt Ribs (Custom for the Delta Variant),Lower Wings,Lower Wing Ailerons
Here is a breakdown of work so far.
| Row Labels | Sum of Work Duration (Hours) |
| Empennage | 3.5 |
| Fuselage | 0.7 |
| Lower Wings | 147.6 |
| Lower Wing Assembly | 85.5 |
| Lower Wing Ribs | 37.6 |
| Lower Wings – Tooling | 0.6 |
| Aileron | 23.9 |
| Plans and Preparation | 2.3 |
| Top Wing Centre Section | 184.2 |
| Centre Section Assembly | 53.2 |
| Centre Section Cabane Attach | 40.9 |
| Centre Section Fuel Tank | 32.8 |
| Centre Section Paint | 5.3 |
| Centre Section Ribs | 40 |
| Centre Section Spar | 12 |
| Upper Wings | 7.7 |
| Firewall Forward | 0.4 |
| Grand Total | 346.4 |
A Steen Skybolt 
Good morning! Question: will you mount the upper and lower wings to the fuselage before you cover with fabric? Mount, rig, take off and cover?
LikeLike
Yes that is the plan
LikeLike