Aero28

It is time consuming to get both wings square to the fuselage center line, lot of measuring and I put a drone up and took photo's.that worked 🙂

I was wondering how you were progressing Marty, we are about at the same stage I reckon

Time to fit the wings and tail to do a weight and balance to see how its going.

Thanks for the info Phillip, I have a muffler like that on my yellow plane, have a look at this video

It's 16mm ally KG, might weigh 3 to 4 kgs

More pics

Yeah, good Nev, I'll go and see what the stainless people have, 1.2mm wall would be good

I started building this plane about 6 years ago. I always thought the Zenair 701 was a good ultralight so I drew my interpretation of it and have started back into it. I had the EA81 in the yellow plane in my member pic but changed that out with a 2000 hour 912 . I had already mounted an old EA81 in this plane so it made sense to bolt the good one in. I'm trying to lighten the 81 as much as I can, lots of lightening holes, a small permanent magnet alternator, i'm thinking of 400mm of steel exhaust from the heads and then into aluminium to the muffler, any thoughts on that?

I like that the magazine is still with us but as I am a builder there's not much in it for me. Tech articals are what I crave and totally sick of the safety rant. It must cost a fortune to print on the heavy weight paper, could it not be done like the American Kitplanes mag, smaller in physical size(not so much white space around photo's and text blocks) and printed on lightweight paper. It doesn't have to look like a Vogue mag does it?

This is how I do it ,I haven't flown behind one yet but this is an easy way to carve them.

Oops, yeah "C" Gearbox

Hi Richard, Buy a Rotax 2.6:1 B gearbox , save yourself a lot of net searching and angst. I spent a long time trying to get a belt drive to run true on my EA 81 but gave up and bolted a Rotax to a 16 mm plate to the bellhousing , now I have a smooth runing prop.(72 inch three blade Warp Drive). I paid ...I think $1960 for a new one off Mr Flood about three years ago. Cheers Paul.

Looks like the starter gear is permanently engaged to gear 42, unlike a conventional solinoid activated starter.?

I've been thinking about tail draggers and nose wheel aircraft .....and what we are doing is emulating birds, and birds are essentialy taildraggers. I haven't seen any birds with a third leg coming out of their chest. :) I made one to see what it would look like and he doesn't look happy. Taildraggers forever.

Just for you Doug.... I ran the fattening tool over it :) now a two seater. Made the vertical fins bigger too. Bit of a trade off there, don't want them too big , might induce flutter but still need slow speed control. Cheers Paul.

Been doodling on the computer and came up with this design, twin electrics would suit this idea .Inevitable that it will have to be put in the rules at some stage I reckon.

oops....

Here is a couple I have made out of Tas Oak or Victorian Ash. The one with the cracks in it was on a belt drive Suby and didn't leave the ground , just taxiing, too thin near the root , (hub) and is two separate blades. The other one was for a 440 Kawasaki belt drive but I never got around to using it. These are both three laminations. I have since made one for a 503 from Celery Top pine which is a lot lighter and would think Hoop Pine would be a close alternative. To make these I use a n electric planer for roughing them out and a automotive buff with a 24 grit 8" disc to get the final shape. these buffs spin at slow speed so you don't remove a lot in a few passes. It is used in a buffing motion not a grinding action. I cut the plan shape first on a cnc machine then glue together with epoxy, thats my take on it so.....yes have a go, its very satisfying to see your handy work at the end. Cheers Paul.

Good idea Yenn....but the prop is balanced. I think it is the idle mixture, the dash pot oil viscosity has a lot to do with it on the Strombergs'

Hi Paul T , Yes ..it is an EA81. Just been to the plane with a newly filed needle and it works, Ye Ha. Thats a load off but still running a little rough at idle so I took the prop off and is running smooth so I suspect the Warp Drive is not balanced. Anyone know how or where to take weight out of a Warp Drive blade or to add weight? Brush on some epoxy and flatten off I suppose.

Thanks for that info Paul, I'll spend a bit more time on the stromberg as it sits pretty low under the cowling, I don't want to do anymore fiberglassing. I have been told you don't need crab heat if you a pulling air from inside the cowling, cause it would be hot under there anyway, a bit less weight, just a thought. Cheers Paul B

Hi Paul, Just looking at this thread, what type of carby did you end up using? I am currently wrestling with a Stromberg 175 off a Range rover, no adjustment any where. I have got a needle pretty close to make it run nice . Cheers Paul B

I'm so glad I learned in 2002/2003 at 75 dollars for a 40 to 45 min dual flight in a two stroke Light Wing and Thruster. Couldn't pay the prices they want now. So ultralighting came about in the 70's -80's so not so well to do people could take to the sky's in minimum aircraft because ga was to expensive,( to regulated). Seems like its nearly done the full circle and is again out of reach to average wage earners. Maybe in 10 or so years there will be a minimum aircraft movement start again to get these people , young and old into affordable ultralighting?

I'm so glad I learned in 2002/2003 at 75 dollars for a 40 to 45 min dual flight in a two stroke Light Wing and Thruster. Couldn't pay the prices they want now. So ultralighting came about in the 70's -80's so not so well to do people could take to the sky's in minimum aircraft because ga was to expensive,( to regulated). Seems like its nearly done the full circle and is again out of reach to average wage earners. Maybe in 10 or so years there will be a minimum aircraft movement start again to get these people , young and old into affordable ultralighting?