TALESPINNERS - January, 2001

Mark Neubauer's GlaStar
by Tim Fry

My very first impression after walking into Mark’s workshop was "Wow! This is the most organized and clean workshop I have ever seen." I tried not to let-on how surprised I was, lest he think less of me for not holding myself to the same high standard. Just to be sure I asked if the place was always so tidy and he confirmed that it usually was. The time waiting for the kit to be delivered was not wasted; Mark made a few modifications to an otherwise normal looking basement. There are overhead florescent lights everywhere, plenty of electrical outlets, and copper tubing along the ceiling joists assures there is always a convenient place to plug into the shop air. Mark has even fabricated a permanent-looking hole in the foundation for that great day when it’s time to take the airplane to the airport.

It came as no surprise that the condition of the shop was only a preview to the high quality construction present in the one-third finished Stoddard-Hamilton GlaStar. His rivet lines were straight and flush, the trimming of complex fiberglass surfaces was uniform, and his wing jig was very cleverly constructed. The plans call for aligning the center of the wing attachment fitting over a specified point located three feet below the fitting. This might ordinarily be a little difficult and require lots of offset measuring, but Mark’s technique is nicely simple. He put a large bolt in the wing attachment fitting and drilled a small hole through the axis of the bolt. Now a plumbob hanging through that hole assures that the center of the fitting is correctly positioned.

The GlaStar is a true composite airplane. The fuselage is fiberglass (my apologies for not using a more esoteric term), the wings and tail are riveted aluminum, the crew sits in a welded chrome-moly cage, and the floorboards are made from wood.

A nice feature of the design is that the wings and tail can be configured for trailering in about 30 minutes. If trailering the airplane after each flight is not to your liking the wings can be folded back in just a few minutes to facilitate storage in a group hanger. This feature also helps save on hanger rent because the rates are computed based on hangered wingspan. Any aircraft carrier pilot should appreciate the folding wings.

Mark is a little philosophical about the building process. He compares it to raising children and recognizes that the more time one allows for each activity the better the results are likely to be. This attitude served him particularly well during the construction of the first tail. It seems the rivet gun decided to punch a nice little hole in the skin when the tail was about 25% finished. Maybe bad words were uttered, maybe they weren’t, I don’t know, but the current tail certainly does not look like he rushed through it to regain lost ground. The demise of Stoddard-Hamilton makes it imperative that no serious mistakes be made because the ability to get replacement parts is uncertain. Aside from these practical considerations I just got the feeling that Mark enjoys spending time in that fine workshop and seeing his very own airplane materialize before his eyes.

Copyright © 2001 by Tim Fry.  All rights reserved.