SonexAus – Michael’s Sonex 145 29/01/2011
It’s been quite a ride so far but the tail is finally complete.
I’ve got to say, polishing is a heck of a job but you’ve got to love the results!
Only the fibreglass tips need to be painted still but I’ll do that at the end of the project when painting the cowling and wheel pants.
10/10/2011
The aft fuselage is finally complete and the tail is fitted, drilled and clecoed in place. It’s finally starting to look like a plane.
On the pictures you can clearly see the difference between the polished aluminium on the tail and unpolished raw material in the aft fuselage.
Now the tail will come back off till the end of the project, and I will now start working on the forward fuselage so I have something to sit in for real and not just pretend like in the last picture.
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29/07/2012
I sat in my airplane for the first time!
(as you can see I temporarily installed the control stick assembly to make the experience feel more realistic)
30/10/2012
She’s standing on her own legs now.
Installed the larger 5″ tail wheel from Vans, made possible thanks to Kip Laurie’s specially designed tail wheel bracket, This will ensure the bolt on which the bracket pivots will have more clearance off the ground since many builders using the standard Sonex tail wheel set-up seem to complain about this bolt scraping the ground on bumpy taxiways and eventually destroying it (Waiex builders would have an even bigger interest in this because of the ventral fin scraping the ground when using the standard tail wheel set-up).
04/2013
Every builder has one of these pictures, the famous “yes I’m finally done with these #!@^%$! spars shot”
My engine is now making its way to Australia as well, bought it from another Sonex builder who decided to give up his project and buy something bigger, it’s mostly a 2.4l hummel but with some “special” features: 
10/2013:
I now have the right wing completed, on to the left wing. Hoping to have both wings finished by the end of 2013.
01/2015
Panel and upholstery:
03/2015:
Aircraft now completely built:
05/2015:
Painting:
06/2015:
Painting complete:
08/2015:
The aircraft is now fully assembled at the airport.
A lot of tuning still happened after this, my main troubles were with the electronics, in particular the RPM indication on the MGL E1,
In the end I got it to an acceptable level using a hall effect sensor on my magneto, sensing the alternator pigtails just did not work on with the E1.
28/10/2015
Airworthyness inspection:
No problems at all!
In fact, Martin Ongley, the AP, said that I’m only the third he’s ever done where he had absolutely no remarks what so ever!
The certificate was received one week after the inspection, I’m all set to fly now!
7/11/2015
First flight:
01/2015
Having some fun:
First Aerobatics
First Spins