Designer's Notebook

Dick Starks envisions the perfect vehicle for transporting messengers in the throes of trench warfare-and then he builds one.

Heres something to ponder: By the time you get to the point where you are ready to build the panel in your homebuilt aircraft, you've already mastered many of the skills and techniques you'll need to do it by virtue of completing the airframe. That statement is all the more credible when it comes from someone with a vested interest in the subject, our own avionics expert Stein Bruch.

It's got a great power-to-weight ratio, but also a complex installation procedure. Don't be surprised if it inspires a new design or two.

Making long, straight bends in sheet metal is easier than you think.