Like most of us who find ourselves, at some point in our lives, with an RV project on our hands, my path to this particular point has been circuitous.

I’ve been deeply drawn to all things aviation-related since earliest childhood and, given that my parents were directly hostile to the idea of my participating personally, was forced to wait until I was 24 before earning my PP-ASEL on my own.

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to build my own airplane and, in the early ’90s, began to think of a Lancair. It wasn’t too long before I managed to sit in one and realized that its diminutive size didn’t suit me. I thought about the Questair, but couldn’t afford it at the time. I saw an RV-4 under construction in an A&P’s hangar, but thought that it was also too small for me. I went to Sun-n-Fun for the first time in 1999 with the intent of buying a Berkut kit, but also figured that I’d talk to the Van’s guys and see about their new RV-8.

Suffice it to say that speaking with the Berkut staff and then Van’s people made the dichotomy between the two cultures (kit quality, factory support, etc.) readily apparent. I immediately drove from Lakeland over to Winter Haven to fly the RV-6 demo with Mike Seager. The rest, as they say, was history.

Over the next six months, we located and purchased a house with a suitable garage and, by early December, 1999 I was hard at work on my empennage kit. The plane was first flown in May, 2002 after the usual educational adventure during the construction process.

Over the course of that period, I became an active member of the old Matronics RV-List and started the Boston RV Builder’s Group. I eventually even found my way to the pages of Sport Aviation and Kitplanes magazines.

This particular airplane (an RV-14A) is my second RV and the latest in a long line of mostly vehicular, large-scale projects. Over the years, in addition to my RV-8, I’ve built an Ultima GTR kit car, restored a 1969 Triumph T120R motorcycle, built the wings of a Model 12 Pitts, and completed numerous other, smaller works.

I’ve always been fascinated (some might say obsessed) with all things mechanical, from engines and vehicles of almost all sorts to cameras, pens, watches, and guns, et al.

Having spent the last approximately 20 months working on the -14A, I’ve renewed my acquaintance with the RV community (the very best part of building an RV – possibly even including the aircraft, themselves!) and committed myself to taking an active part going forward.

Toward that end, I’ve built this website from my frequent photo posts on my personal Facebook page (most of which were originally shared with the RV-14 group) with the intent of creating a long-term resource for RV builders in general. While the airplane-specific info will, naturally, most directly benefit RV-14A guys in particular, it’s my hope that many of the technical building tips should find a broader audience.