Advertise on podcast: We Are NOT Experts: An Airplane Building Podcast

In episode 23 we get into the feedback mailbag, demonstrate our expertise in internet research, and prove once again that we are the two least qualified men in aviation. We Are Not Experts: An Airplane Building Podcast — two friends building Van's RV-8s and proving, week after week, that we are not experts at much of anything. Tell us how badly we did. Leave your feedback at https://wearenotexpertspodcast.com

Tim mounted a throttle and turned a pile of card stock into an aluminum part. Chris had a dream about an airplane. That's roughly the split. Also: whether flop tubes stop flopping, Oshkosh, Garmin's new panel, a flight review in a Warrior in Houston in August, a $172 air vent, and what we're calling you from now on.

For twenty-plus episodes, Chris and Tim have come to you live from their home studios in East Texas. Not this time. We each loaded up our own truck, drove twelve hundred miles north, and set up camp next to each other on the ground at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin — the largest gathering of aircraft on the planet. The result is about what you'd expect from two guys who are not experts: a week of camping we were objectively bad at, roughly ten miles of walking a day, a small fleet of electric scooters that got banned days after we bought them, a brand-new theme song, and a camera that quit 38 minutes in. Somewhere in there, we also talked about building airplanes. In this episode: - What a week at Oshkosh actually feels like when you trade the garage for Camp Scholler - Tim's RV-8 gets its empennage installed; Chris's RV-8 gets... an electric scooter he never got to ride - Warbird Alley up close, the Flying Bulls, the Red Arrows, and a night air show worth freezing for - Listening in on the air boss frequency, and the drone-and-pyro finale that broke our brains - The debut of the new "We Are Not Experts" theme song, courtesy of a Limp Bizkit cover band we will not stop talking about - Why we still didn't make it to the seaplane base, the forums, or a single thing we actually planned We Are Not Experts: An Airplane Building Podcast — two friends building Van's RV-8s and proving, week after week, that we are not experts at much of anything. Tell us how badly we did. Leave your feedback at https://wearenotexpertspodcast.com Listen and subscribe: Website: https://wearenotexpertspodcast.com Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YMPgvvotNgg5Ouu1akcsg Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-are-not-experts-an-airplane-building-podcast/id1787080312 Follow the builds on YouTube: Hippie Pilot (Chris): https://youtube.com/@HippiePilot T Flight 77 (Tim): https://youtube.com/@tflight77 If you made it this far, share the episode with a friend who also has poor impulse control and a half-finished airplane. #Oshkosh #AirVenture #EAA #RV8 #VansAircraft #Homebuilt #ExperimentalAircraft #Aviation #AviationPodcast

Twenty episodes in, and We Are Not Experts has done something it has never done before: let someone else into the building. Brandon — the builder behind the Slink Air YouTube channel and a Van's RV-14A in progress — joins Chris and Tim for the first outside guest appearance in the show's history. His build is further along than his videos suggest. His timeline is, by most measures, optimistic. He fits right in. Also this week: Tim's RV-8 stands on its own landing gear for the first time, Chris's fuel tanks have developed opinions, and the local EAA chapter president pays a visit that one correspondent described as less an inspection than an intervention. The Experimental News Desk dispatches three correspondents into the field simultaneously, which is either a sign of growth or a staffing problem. We Are Not Experts in Airplane Building Podcast. Episode 20. The actual one.

Chris is back from a medical situation he describes as "not great," Tim has been riveting at a pace that can only be described as feverish, and somewhere in the middle of it all, a correspondent named Reginald Beaumont filed a dispatch that may have permanently diagnosed Chris's relationship with his own airplane. Also: ProSeal, belly skins, a forward cross member situation, and a man who has been in the homestretch of finishing his wings for approximately two years and who has some strong feelings about that. We are not experts. We have never been more aware of it.

In Episode 18, Chris and Tim reunite 24 days later with minimal airplane progress and maximum excuses — but at least the audio works this time. Tim's Lycoming is looking fresh after a dry ice spa day, the foot wells are riveted (don't say it out loud), and a desktop CNC machine may or may not be joining the Cleveland Skunk Works. Chris teases a new software project that might actually help RV builders build instead of stare at plans, and somewhere in there, float plane ratings, sim flying confessions, and the brutal math of kit plane budgets all find their way in.

In Episode 17 of We Are Not Experts, Chris and Tim check back in after a three-week gap that produced plenty of ideas… and only slightly measurable airplane progress. Broadcasting from the Gilbertson Aerofactory in Cut-and-Shoot, Texas, and the Cleveland Skunk Works in Cleveland, Texas, the two RV-8 builders dive into flap installation, aileron stop experiments, Delrin tolerances, and the growing temptation to buy a lathe “just this once.” Tim shares stories from Edwards Air Force Base (no photos, obviously), experiments with laser-engraved access panels, and explores dry ice blasting as a way to clean up an aircraft engine. Meanwhile, both builders wrestle with concentric holes, hardware stacks, and the eternal question: at what point does a tool purchase become inevitable? Two shops. Two RV-8 projects. One shared commitment to figuring it out as they go.

After a short break, Chris and Tim are back with updates from the shop and far beyond it. One host returns from international travel, the other survives the busiest week of the year, and somehow airplane progress still happens. This episode covers recent build work, questionable planning decisions, new parts, old frustrations, and the ongoing reality of building experimental aircraft with confidence that may or may not be deserved. As always, there are no experts here — just two builders figuring it out one quarter-inch gap at a time.

In Episode 15, Chris and Tim discover that confidence peaks right before you drill your finger. They cover access-panel optimism, aileron push tubes, solo wing-handling regrets, and what happens when the tech finally works… except the video. Progress was made. Lessons were learned. Expertise remains theoretical.

In this episode of We Are Not Experts, two amateur airplane builders catch up on real progress, unexpected detours, and the kind of decisions that always seem to spark strong opinions. We talk shop updates from the Cleveland Skunk Works and the Gilbertson AeroFactory, navigating confusing plans, thinking ahead to maintenance and future upgrades, and why experimental aviation has a way of forcing you to slow down and rethink your next move. Along the way, we wander into a few topics guaranteed to light up the comments — including smoke systems, electrical choices, and the many ways builders convince themselves they’re doing the “right” thing. As always, we’re not experts — just builders figuring it out one decision at a time.

In this episode, Chris and Tim hit a major RV-8 milestone: finishing the bulk of the fuselage canoe riveting and somehow pulling off a full riveting session with zero drill-outs. They talk tool wins, custom yokes, avionics planning, magnetometer placement, finishing-kit realities, and the ever-present ProSeal anxiety. Chris finally solves his aileron push-tube problem with welding, sandblasting, Cerakote, and an impressive amount of bright orange overspray that would make an Oompa Loompa proud. There’s travel talk, shop upgrades, future kit planning, and the usual realization that you only get good at something right after you’re done doing it. We are not experts — but sometimes the rivets get lucky.

After burning an hour trying to make Riverside work (again), Chris and Tim retreat to the warm, forgiving arms of Zoom — a platform that at least pretends to like them. In this episode, the guys recap the Great Recording Meltdown of 2025, followed immediately by an actual near-meltdown: Tim almost flipping his canoe-stage RV-8 while Chris looks on in a mixture of concern and morbid curiosity. CG matters, folks. They dive into the forward-skin riveting marathon, the seatbelt-bracket-to-the-kidneys experience, the mysterious bucking bar incident, and the riveting miracle: not a single rivet drilled out during their work session. (Please don’t expect that again.) Tim confesses to forgetting he installed nuts on his fuel-selector bracket. Chris pretends to be surprised.The guys also talk brake-line bracket sorcery, 3D-printed goodies, welding ambitions, and why Houston heat turns grease guns into crime scenes. They close with plans for episode intros, classic-rock walk-in vibes, and their ongoing quest to produce a “better podcast” while steadfastly remaining… Not Experts.

After a six-month “we definitely meant to publish that” gap, Chris and Tim are back in the shop and back on the mics. Chris catches everyone up on life outside the Gilbertson Aerofactory: fully exiting the film and TV world (farewell, John Wick wrap gifts), growing his advisory business, hiring a team, and bouncing between graduations and family trips instead of riveting wings. The airplane hasn’t moved much, but the long game is clear: build the business now so future-Chris can actually finish and fly the RV-8. Tim, on the other hand, has been in full send mode. Since the last episode he’s turned a pile of fuselage parts into a real RV-8 canoe, installed dual fuel pumps and a custom fuel selector setup, and cut a big, terrifying, totally worth-it access panel into the side of the fuselage so Future Tim doesn’t have to do inverted yoga under the subpanel at age 65. He walks through brake line upgrades, why he’s throwing money at stainless braided lines instead of plastic, and how his 4 a.m. build routine is the only way any of this gets done. Somewhere in the middle of all that, Tim’s daughter decided to join the United States Marine Corps (to Chris’s great delight), a 200-horsepower IO-360 “hot-rod” engine showed up in Tim’s garage and got lovingly pickled, and the guys started sniffing around a two-plane hangar they absolutely don’t need yet but absolutely want. They talk about fellow builders finally getting first flights, why RV-8s keep stealing their hearts, how AI is quietly writing half their YouTube metadata, and what it’s like to restart a podcast when life — and airplane projects — haven’t slowed down at all.

In Episode 10 of We Are Not Experts, Chris and Tim catch up after a long stretch away from the shop and dive deep into the latest round of RV-8 building chaos. Chris returns to the project with a vengeance—facing down long-neglected rear spar fixes, wrestling with questionable rivets, and discovering that CherryMax rivets have exactly two moods: perfect and absolutely not. Meanwhile, Tim goes full Air Force safety-review mode after the Rob Holland accident and engineers a clever (and actually elegant?) solution to ensure his wingtip hinge-pin block can never jam an aileron. It’s a rare moment where overthinking pays off. The guys talk wingtip redesigns, fiberglass confidence levels, Insta360 camera power systems, and Tim’s accidental new side-hustle selling experimental airplane parts. They also tour the new Chennault Airfield development, discuss hangar hopes, Oshkosh prep, and the ongoing struggle to build airplanes while also affording airplanes. It’s classic We Are Not Experts: two RV-8 builders, equal parts enthusiasm and self-doubt, figuring it out as they go — and sharing every win, mistake, and improvised solution along the way.

In this definitely not episode 8 (RIP, echo chamber), Tim’s plane turns composite, Chris orders the wrong parts—twice—and an Amazon driver gets a goat he never asked for. We talk camera mounts, secret fiberglass techniques, and the joys of closing out elevator ends… only to find a rogue rivet rattling inside. Plus, Tim saves everyone's fuselage orders from disaster, and we debate whether you can actually build an airplane without eventually adding USB ports and missile switches. If you've ever asked, “Can I build and fly a plane without accidentally creating a podcast about it?”—the answer is no. Definitely not.