This is my place to post pictures and talk about my Breezy Project. I'm doing this to have a place to keep a log of the building progress and maybe help out another Breezy builder.

Building an airplane is not that hard, really, though to be fair, I have built several. Still, it's like the old question: "how do you eat an elephant?"...answer: "One bite at a time". I think as I go along you'll quickly get the idea that building an airplane (or any complex machine or structure) can easily be broken down into many, simple, small tasks.

So let's get started!

First things first. Just what the heck is a "Breezy". Well, it is a very simple, no frills airplane. How many frills does it lack...ummm...how about no windshield, no cockpit, no covering, no seatbelts...okay, I got carried away, there are seat belts. Still, as you can see, it's designed to maximize the wind in your face, feels like your flying on nothing sensation!

This is Matt Hlavacs beautiful Breezy and it serves as a source of inspiration to work on my project everyday (when possible).

The Breezy has been around for almost 40 years but you can still easily purchase plans from one of the designers, Mr Carl Unger. Just mail him a check for $120.00 (8751 South Kilbourn, Oak Lawn, Illinois 60456-1021 phone: 708-636-5774) and he'll send them to you right away!

The first step is to build a jig (fixture) to hold the pieces in position. This can be as simple or complex as you want. I have built some elaborate jigs and fixtures in the past but for the Breezy all we need is to hold the three longerons into position so we can fit the cross pieces.

I started with a simple 2x4 frame on my table. Mine was 16" wide which seems to be a good overall width. Of course, try to pick good, straight 2x4's.

I then placed some 2x8 cross blocking.

After the blocking was in, I used a string to mark the centerline.

Now it's time to layout the actual jigs at the various stations. This is simply a cross section of the stations with holes (slots) cut out for the longerons. I try to put a jig in just enough places to hold the longerons in proper position and to define the shape. It's very important to lay these out square as you can then use the top and bottom of the jig for alignment i.e. you can set your level on top of the jig etc.

I used a piece of scrap tubing to align the jigs on the bottom. What you can't see is that I also used small blocks of wood on either side of the tube on the cross pieces to hold it in the exact center. Of course, use your string, level, plumb bob etc to ensure that everything is straight and level. A jig can be simple but ultimately it must be accurate to have an acceptable finished part.

Refer often to the plans so you don't make stupid mistakes. Almost any mistake can be easily corrected in airplane building as long as you catch them early. I stretched the forward part of the fuselage slightly for better leg room so I was just double checking the measurements.

On the original Breezy, the upper longerons were cut and butt welded everywhere the stations changed. I chose to heat the tubing and bend it to the proper position where it necks down towards the forward part of the fuselage but in retrospect it probably would have been faster to cut and weld the pieces together. The Breezy is a well proven machine and either way will be plenty strong as long as you don't stray too far from the plans as far as maximum weight, engine size etc.

In the shot below you can see the small blocks of wood used to center the lower longeron. I also positioned most of my plywood jigs so that I could clamp my cross piece directly to it. This helps keep the frame square when you put in those first few cross pieces.

Next, we'll continue to fit tubes and tack weld them in...