Building a Titan Tornado II 912S (N925MB)

By Jose M. Borja, Elk Mound, WI USA Project Start: 11/23/1999
End: 08/14/2000

The Tornado II 912 kit finally arrived at the truck dock on November 24, 1999. Unlucky for us, no help was around since most people here in Wisconsin go hunting for vermin (deer) during this holiday week. So, in typical fashion for this neck of the woods, my brother-in-law Greg charmed the secretary so she would let us help ourselves to their dollies and forklifts and get the crates out of their truck and onto my trailer.

Once at home, the whole kit was unpacked, inventoried (sort of) and put away. I must say the factory did a great job in crating the fuselage and wing D-cell. The wing's D-cell is the factory built leading edge section with the main spar and skin already in place to ensure the wing's cantilever and wash are correct.

The quality of the kit and builder's manual is A-1 class. The photo below shows the beautiful work done on the fuselage as well as the D-cell section still sitting on top of the crate's base. Not shown are the ailerons, flaps, rudder, wing tips, nose cone, and horizontal stabilator as they are all put away on shelves and boxes. To Titan Aircraft's credit, everything came in packed nicely and without damage. The factory also did a nice job in packaging and labeling all the parts to help during construction. In all, it took about 6 hours to get the crates apart, the airplane kit inventoried, and a few MGD's (OK brew while you unpack) downed.

The kit's quality is very good. From the picture below you can see the aluminum door tubes are already built and are welded, the battery tray is welded at the nose, the rudder pedals are adjustable and the back seat tubing swivels forward to give better access to the rear. A few additional built-in touches are small bolts welded to the fuselage to provide electrical grounds fore and aft, a plate to mount the starter solenoid, a strap to mount the oil tank, and a tube to mount the fuel pump. All the welds look excellent and the pre-built wing D-cell looks very good. The rudder, flaps, and ailerons are completely built and the D-cell section for the horizontal stabilator is also factory built to perfection!

Many thanks to Don Zank (Titan Dealer) Zanklites for expediting the delivery with the Factory.

PepeBorja@aol.com
Let the building process begin....the links below will show details of each construction phase:
Building the Wing - Part I

Building the Wing - Part II

Building the Wing - Part III

Building the Fuselage - Part I

Building the Fuselage - Part II

Building the Fuselage - Part III

Building The Fuselage - Part IV

Building The Fuselage - Part V

Building The Fuselage - Part VI

Building The Fuselage - Part VII

Painting The Airplane

Engine Installation

Finish Work

It's Alive

Inspection and First Flight

Titans @ Oshkosh 2000

PepeBorja@aol.com ©2000 Jose M BorjaElk Mound, WI, USA

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