Just SuperSTOL XL N414PJ

Floor plates in place, starting to set the vertical stab

Got the rest of the rivnuts in. For the tight spots, I just turn a screw carefully in the rivnut whilst holding it to get it to bind properly. Set the tail (checked with the rudder in place). I drilled a pilot hole, but my 3/16" bit is way to dull, so I'll finish after a trip to Aircraft Spruce

Fitting more pieces

Grabbing some time here or there to fit more of the baggage floor and rear wall. I had done a pretty close guess for the size and trimmed on a shear at the school, but still needed to shave a bit off. These Harbor Freight shears work really well for pulling little curls off the end of the sheet. Will still need to deburr and smooth edges after final fitting. Still using rivnuts to make it easy to install/reinstall

Finally getting pieces installed

I'm putting in the floor pan -- I misdrilled the supplied part, so I got a piece of .050 and recut it on the sheer at school. I choose to use rivnuts instead of the self-tapping screws because I wanted to more reliably install/remove the floor plates. With the rivnuts in place, I used a strap duplicator to drill through. This proved a lot easier than "drilling from the bottom" as suggested in the plans. This worked out well since I ended up installing/removing the sheet multiple times to get the cut outs for the brake brackets where I wanted them to be. Still some final shaping and deburring to do, but the other plates in the baggage area should install a little nicer.

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  Installing rivnuts

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  mostly cut around the brake brackets

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  strap duplicator

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  shaping the corners to fit around welds

Getting started

It's been about a year since I ordered the kit in the midst of the pandemic.... Only about 6 months left to wait! I checked in with the company and at least the delivery date hasn't slipped. I had been building a Vans RV-14A, but sold that kit a bit over a year ago. I was working in tech and scored enough cash to buy a 2004 Cirrus SR-22 which duplicated most of the mission I intended for the RV (fast cross country mover) but with 4 seats and air conditioning (I live in hot inland California!). I was looking for a fun slow-mover that I could run in STOL competitions and take camping out in the desert when I ran across the Just aircraft. I think the slats are cool and I'll have fun practicing on the grass at Flabob (KRIR) before heading out to the desert. Getting ready to semi-retire, so I should have the time to steadily build. Current plans are to get some tailwheel time at a local flying club and then take an off airport course. Still wondering how to get transition training.

About this build

Will document the construction of a new Just SuperSTOL XL