ianrat

looks real good Thruster. We are still a bit off from flight. We are going back to Oshkosh to get the rest of the little bits to get her up. Ianrat

Where the happy snaps? Ianrat

I have been in the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard for over thirty years and unfortunately have had to put my life as well the lives of my crew in danger to go out to rescue more Darwin's than we should have to. He might have been cold and wet and not thinking straight while he was at see but why did he leave port in those conditions. We are highly trained and have state of the art rescue vessels but we still get wet cold and scared when we have to go out in those conditions to rescue the Darwin's. More training for some Darwin's would be nice. Yours in safe boating Ianrat

We have not had ours flying yet but with the rudder peddles connected and the front lifted off the ground it moves OK. There is a lever action so to speak from the peddles to the front fork. Ianrat

New Cannopy The new 650 canopy has finally arrived. We now can get a move on again and get this thing into the air. I have been working on the intake manifold and the baffle kit for the Corvair. I will post some more pic asap. We have been working on the third 601 while waiting for our canopy. We used the original canopy on this plane. We will be starting on his wings next. [ATTACH]7488.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]7489.vB[/ATTACH] Ianrat

Tell that to two of my Friends who have had to replace bores before 100 hrs. As for the canopy the one on the Gold Coast i believe was a bird strike (A few birds took down a 737 on the Hudson) at low altitude. And i do not believe that the final outcome of the second one has even been released yet. Ianrat

I do not have a lot of knowledge of the HD but the 601 XL is a very nice plane. It will cruise around 110 knots with most power plants. There is around 50 being built here in Australia at the moment. The newer version is the 650 XL. It has even more room inside the cabin. Sports air on the gold coast can give you more details or feel Free to contact me off line for any further help. Ianrat

We are all to far advanced to change much more than the canopies at this stage. Ianrat

John we are presently involved in the building of 3 CH601XL here in brisbane. Feel free to contact us at any time. You can have a look at our plane, we are just waiting for the cannopy to arrive. Ianrat

I will give Liezel a call tomorrow and find out. I was only talking to her early this week. Ianrat

At this stage 2 of our three plans built here in Brisbane will only have the 650 canopy at this stage. The third one is sticking with the original canopy. Ianrat

Thank you. The system that i intend to use on my 601XL has the heat coming in before the air cleaner. I was worried that if it got to hot it may damage the filter. I do not think 25 would do this. Thank you Ianrat

Carby heat Temp Can any one tell what temps would be going throught the carby system while using Carb Heat. Thank you Ianrat

Clecos AS MANY AS YOU CAN GET YOU HANDS ON! There are three different sizes 5/32 (Black), 1/8 (Copper), 3/32 (silver). We have about 200 of each. If you purchace them here in OZ they are about $1 each ($0.34 each in the states). I got a lot on Ebay. I payed abot $10.00 for 20 at a time. Type in CLECO or SKIN PIN. You should also get some Cleco side clamps 4 or 6 should do. I also purchased a dozen 4 inch vice grips [ATTACH]7163[/ATTACH] from the local flee market here in Brisbane. They were about $5 each. Well worth the money for holding everthing together. We are putting the Corvair engine in our 601XL. It is a 6 Cyl air cooled 100hp direct drive engine. Have a look at www.flycorvair.com for some infomation. There are more and more parts becoming available here in OZ. The whole fire wall forward instalation should be well under 20k. If you are preapaired to do some of the work it would be closer to 15-16k. I hope you have as much fun building your kit as we have building the ones here in Brisbane. (3) kits. If you have any further questions you can contact any time. Ian Ratcliffe

We have a 701 ready for painting. I have looked at both the Savannah and the 701. They both have some good features, we preferred the 701 for a number of reasons. it has a full flying rudder (the whole rudder turns not just the rear section) this good for slow STOL maneuvering. It has a large window above your head, this has been useful when we had another plan trying to land at the same time as us and he was just above us and he did not see us but we were able to see him through the window. While at Oshkosh this year we had a good look at the new CH750. This is an excellent aircraft. It has many improvement over the 701. It now has adjustable seats (fore and aft) a redesigned baggage area, a different dash with greater visibility and now will accommodate the larger engine configurations. The kit now comes with matching pre drilled holes (like wing sheets to ribs). It is also wider in the cabin area, this is a great plus for the comfort of the pilot and passenger. I would strongly advise you to have a look at the new CH750 on the Zenith site. Ianrat

I have finally gotten up of my bum and done so more on the plane. I have finished putting the trim kit into the aileron. and now have the tank fitted into the wing. [ATTACH]6469.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]6470.vB[/ATTACH] I have used black Able flex rubber that is used in concrete expansion joints. This fills the gap between the skin and the tank very well. it easily trimmed in thickness with a bread knife. [ATTACH]6467.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]6468.vB[/ATTACH] We are awaiting the cost to upgrade to the new 650 canopy. so we have stopped work on that section for the moment. We also have nearly completed the engine cowling. Will post pictures asap. Ianrat

Hello Ian, we are just about finished building a 701. It is my brothers and one of his mates plane. It has been scratch built and has a Suzuki engine with a raven re drive. It only needs painting. We are based in Brisbane. Feel free to contact us for any further details. Ianrat

At this stage we are going RAA. Hoping the new rules are out by the time we register. Ianrat

Have only been tinkering since coming back from Oshkosh. We have been helping the third kit builder in our team to catch up with us. The bothers have been working on the engine cowling. i will post some more pictures soon. Ianrat

Very rare in Australia. But very easy to get in the US ($100 - $350) for a good core engine. then there is the parts to convert it and then the transport. i originally was working on about 14k for the whole fire wall forward package (including prop) getting the motor built by "California Corvairs and the rest of the parts from WW. Ianrat

Have a look at the CH601XL. 2 seat aluminum kit very well put together kit. look at the "Zenith thread" on this forum for some more details. As the dollar is now around 97 cents against the US dollar it would be about 20k to get one into OZ. Ianrat

We picked our motor up here in Australia from a builder that changed his mind part way through. We have to finish the installation our selves. We are going to Oshkosh on Wednesday and will be talking to William Wynne. He is one of the best source of information on the Corvair. He has produced two very good manuals. The first is the "Conversion Manual" and the second is just on fitting a corvair into a CH601XL.He has also produced a set of DVD,s on the conversion of the Corvair. If you do not want to build it your self there a number of people in the states that will do the main conversion for you. Below are a coulpe of the better sites for infomation on the Corvair. http://www.flycorvair.com/ http://mylist.net/archives/corvaircraft/2008/date.html http://forums.matronics.com/viewforum.php?f=71 Hope this is some help. Ianrat

Five more sleeps! before we leave OZ. Cant wait. Will try to look every one up. I will leave a message at the international tent message board. Ianrat

Thruster 87 Yes it is! But it has not been used on the plain (Only on timber) only use the recommended sharpies. I was cutting out some templates to form up the extra little nose rib for the landing light option. I did not buy the landing lights kit i will form it up my self. Good to hear that you have made a start on yours. Ianrat

Been working on the wing again. Have both rear skins in place and have started on the nose skin. With the pre cut and drilled skins this is an absolute dream. I have had to wait until i won some more clecos on Eba (sorry if you were bidding against me but i needed them ) to complete the wing any further. [ATTACH]5873.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5874.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5875.vB[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]5876.vB[/ATTACH] We have also spending a lot of time helping the third builder in our group. We are about to install the under carriage. We fitted the brakes to it last night. ( so no photos but it was done the same way that is already shown here). Ianrat