Weathervanes fund EAA chapter’s scholarships

A New Jersey Experimental Aircraft Association chapter has found a unique way to raise money for its scholarship fund.

The project, a Cub weathervane that is completely hand built, has become so popular that EAA Chapter 898 has even gotten orders from pilots as far away as Florida.

The idea for the weathervane was born about 25 years ago, according to the chapter’s president, Robert Newman.

The veteran teacher and aircraft builder had volunteered to teach classes given by EAA for people interested in building their own airplanes.

“I was looking for a project, something that people could build and take home with them,” he recalls. “I came across a Piper Cub model airplane in a hobby shop. I said to myself, ‘I think that would really make a neat project if I can convert it from a flying model to something in metal.’”

He took the model and created a handcrafted weathervane made out of aircraft aluminum.

The project covers the entire gamut of skills needed to build an airplane, according to Newman.

It starts with learning to read plans. Then there’s a litany of hands-on activities: “Sheet metal layout. Following a drawing precisely in terms of laying out rivet holes, bending of sheet metal, folding sheet metal, riveting, drilling, and tapping for all of the bolts and fasteners that are involved in it. It’s riveted together along the bottom, so they learn something about both pull rivets and driven rivets that we use in the airplanes that we build.”

“And there are some unique things, such as using some special jigs and fixtures that I’ve created to make the parts to form the hull. The wings are kind of unique in that they look like they have wing ribs in them. I came up with a clever little jig that I use to stamp sheet metal so that when the wing is made, it actually looks like it has 20 or 30 ribs across it. It looks really cool.”

And don’t forget the finishing touches, including sanding and painting, says the veteran homebuilder who is now on his eighth airplane project, a Van’s RV-14.

Besides using the project in the EAA classes, Newman made weathervanes for friends and family. He eventually put the patterns away, deciding “not to “bother with this anymore.”

That changed in 2019, when he became president of EAA Chapter 898, which is based at Ocean County Airport (KMJX) in Tom’s River, New Jersey.

Chapter members decided to devote their efforts to replenishing the chapter’s scholarship fund. The goal is to raise $2,000 a year.

“We give out $500 scholarships to high school seniors going into aviation,” he says. “But we also give grants to local people who are in a training program at our airport who want to become private pilots.”

But the chapter, which has about 50 members, was finding it increasingly difficult to raise $2,000 every year. They decided that raffling off a weathervane was a good way to raise money.

With raffle tickets going for $20, the chapter soon found itself raising about $200 a month just among its members who wanted a chance to own a Cub weathervane.

That led to putting a weathervane in the FBO, where anyone could participate in the raffle. But they discovered that people didn’t really want to take a chance on a raffle and would prefer to buy a weathervane outright.

“We sell them for $150 to anybody who wants to buy one,” he says.

Sales have been going strong.

And the project continues to evolve. A few months ago, Bob got a call from a pilot in Jacksonville, Florida, who had visited the FBO at KMJX. He wanted a weathervane customized to his airplane: A white Cub on floats.

The chapter charged him $300 for the weathervane.

“That’s because it’s totally unique for him,” Newman explains.

It takes about 20 to 25 hours to build a weathervane, according to Newman. Sometimes he builds them himself, other times chapter members pitch in on the project.

The chapter’s members are ready and willing to build weathervanes for pilots and aviation enthusiasts across the country. All they ask is about three weeks lead time to handcraft the piece.

“There’s just too many parts involved and we make every part, except the propeller,” Newman says.

The best way to get the process started is to email Newman at [email protected].