Login Form

Welcome

Site news with links and other quick information will be posted here.

Dear Old Jim:

Thoroughly enjoyed the society of that bunch of similarly afflicted individuals up at OSH---congratulations on a well organized orgy, particularly the wine and cheese party, most of which I remember well. Being a congenial beer drinker, I grossly overestimated my wine capacity resulting in a Monday that was not one of my better ones.

Here are...pictures I took at the party...hoping you can use one or two, assuming YOU can remember who the hell the people are.

Since then, we've got our airplane repainted in plain vanilla and are ready to put trim and install upholstery.

Larry Weishaar (and Jim Doyle), Springfield, IL


Dear Jim,

One of my students went to Seattle a couple weeks ago and toured the Museum of Flight located at Boeing. He promptly spotted a plane hanging from the rafters that "looks just like the one you have a picture of in the darkroom." (I'm an X-ray tech, and keep a couple of shots of my Quickie displayed in the operating room where I work.) He took two pictures which I'm passing along.

Robert Godbe, Palo Alto, CA


Dear Jim,

Just passed my 74th birthday and I can't get my son John Jr. to spend any more time on the Quickie. I give up. Will sell. Fuselage, wing, canard and control surfaces are finished (see ad, ED.).

What you have done with Q-TALK is spectacular - there must be a lot of Quickies, Q-2 and Q-200s that would not have flown without your marvelous effort.

John Lockheed, Ashland, OR

(Yes, THAT Lockheed family - ED.)


Dear Jim,

First I would like to thank you and everyone contributing to this most valuable tool for the Quickie enthusiast. Through the newsletter and following the grapevine, I was able to locate and purchase a partially completed Quickie #280. Put that by my name in the roster. I feel like somebody now! Q-TALK has been good to me.

Presently I'm in the studying stage and have been meticulously cutting and smoothing the templates. I'm using 1/4 inch tempered Masonite and if I need exact duplicates, I just slice them in half on a band saw after they are contoured.

Bill Archer, Magnolia, AR


Jim.

Idly whiling away some time at the bookstore, I picked up an aviation magazine...and what to my wondering eyes should appear...a new design by Elbert Rutan of the desert. His new engineering breakthrough has tails at BOTH ENDS, just like his Judeo-Christian friends. This, as anyone can plainly see, will soon resolve any lingering doubts anyone has about any of Elbert's earlier efforts, as anyone will to "burn" the candle at both ends is sure to succeed.

Karl Prell, Platte City, MO


Dear Jim,

My wife and I moved to the USA from England in March and are now working for Microsoft in Seattle. When the TriQ-200 was crated up in March my (ex) building partner and I had spent 350 hours on it in over 15 months.

Component weights:

Fin, 3.8 lbs including comm aerial, no tip or rudder hinges.

Canard, 41 lbs with 3 aerials, no TE's slot cores or tips.

Wing, 26 lbs with 3 aerials, no TE's, slot cores or tips.

It took us 51 hours to get the wing to that point, 50 hours for the canard and we spent 30 hrs fitting the canopy and glassing it in place.

Other builders may be interested in a Quickie newsletter database I have been compiling. The database contains the issue and page number of each hint/tip and the part of the project they are relevant to. When I begin work on a new item, the first thing I do is to find all the references to it in the database and read through them in the newsletters. This has turned up a number of tips that I had long since forgotten. The database is in Filemaker format on a Macintosh. If anyone wants a copy of it he can send me a blank 3.5-inch double-sided (800K) disk and a stamped addressed envelope and I'll put a copy in the post for him. I've also compiled a database of Q-2's performance figures gleaned from the newsletters that people may find interesting. This is also in Filemaker. If people have other database packages on the Mac they would rather use I can give them a copy of the database in ASCII format, which they should be able to import into almost any application. Just say which you want.

Dave Chalmers, 16604 N.E. 34th Ct., #RR 303, Redmond, WA 98052


Dear Jim,

Regarding serial number trivia, my recollection is that 2000-2009 were QAC factory reserved and 2010-2019 were reserved for the Canadian LeGare "factory" or vice versa. Mojave factory production units reportedly started at 2020 or so.

I am preparing again to complete my project. I finally got to talk to Gene Sheehan who was helpful and enthusiastic but has been heavily involved in a consulting job and hasn't been available at Mojave.

I also talked to Gordon Olsen at Cowley, Inc. (805) 824-2368 Mojave airport, who still has an oversized Q-2 canopy available.

Ben O'Brien, Redondo Beach, CA


DIGITAL COMPASS

A year ago I reported that QBAer Russ Cowles was awarded the Stan Dzik Memorial Award for Outstanding Design Contribution for a small digital compass he developed using some NASA research. This small, lightweight unit, perfect for the sportplane is generating much interest and moderate sales already. Here's more info:

This compass is a flux-gate magnetometer, which is very sensitive to magnetic fields around the sender. The direction of the field is calculated by an integral microprocessor. When remotely mounted away from any magnetic material, the unit has a +-1 degree accuracy. The display unit will mount in a standard 2.25" instrument hole and is connected to the remote sender by up to 50' of small ribbon cable. This compass is set up to take an angle of bank input from a turn coordinator or artificial horizon to compensate for Northerly Turning Errors associated with aircraft, however, since update time is several times a second, even uncompensated this compass will immediately display the correct heading when a turned aircraft resumes level flight. No lag time, and much more stable in rough air.



The Digital Compass is completely solid-state with no moving parts. It requires D.C. voltage from 9-32 volts, has an LCD display and can be back lighted. More information? Acuity Circuits, Brazoria Co. Airport, Rt. 1, Box 16, County Road 220, Angleton, TX 77515.


Dear Jim,

Here's a rundown on my move to CA from TX. It was uneventful as I rented a U-Haul truck and simply carried my jigging table complete with fuselage jigged in place into the center of the cargo space - all my tools went in the front portion of the cargo area. Wings wrapped in blankets lay nicely alongside and the engine lashed easily to the other side. Plenty of room for all other implements. Only complaint about this method of transport is the $$$. Most was covered by my company, but the move from Midland, TX to Livermore, CA was about $1,500. Altogether this method is least likely to disrupt your efforts or damage your components.

Jim Sheevel, Livermore, CA


Dear Jim,

I was doing some experimental vacuum bagging and came up with what looks like an interesting way to get a very flat/smooth surface on a glass laminate. After wet layup, lay on a piece of poster board, which has been painted with PVA (the green release agent - it washes off with water later) then perforated so the holes are no more than an inch apart (it's good aerobic exercise). This idea obviously only works on flat or single curvature layups, but it really forces the fabric (esp. BID) to lie down flat, which should improve the compression performance a lot.

After the poster board, put down a ply or two of needle-punched fleece (the stuff from fabric shops for making place mats and shoulder pads). Finally, wrap it all in a plastic bag and hook to a vacuum source - in my case, compressors pulled out of salvaged refrigerators.

I use an auto mechanic's vac/pressure gauge ($10 from auto parts store) to keep tabs on vacuum - just halve the inches of Hg which is approximately PSI.

D. J. Harms, Newton, KS


Dear Jim,

Tri Q200 87TQ (#2867) flew for the first time on April 24 at Salinas, CA. What an emotionally exhausting 35 minutes! Problems included:

1. A heavy wing, corrected by external trim tabs.

2. Radio problems, corrected by a good headset and correcting an intercom problem. (RST intercom and STS AV 7600 radio.)

3. Oil cooling, the hardest one. We tried baffle changes, air inlet/outlet changes, blast tubes and finally settled on a VW oil cooler mounted to the right front of the engine in the air intake. Seems to be working to 95 OAT.

87TQ has the Tri Q belly board and reflexer from QBA #17 (Bob Falkiner). I consider both indispensable. Otherwise, it is mostly plans built.

Stats are:
Empty wt.:
680 lbs
Top speed:
175 mph
Cruise:
160 mph
Stall:
70-75 mph
Total time:
65 hr after 6 months
Time to build:
1500 hr

The Tri-gear is the only way to go. All of my previous time is in Cherokees and I didn't have any big problems. Pay attention to the approach, power approach at 100 on final, 90 at fence and about 80 at touchdown. The flare is quick, so don't start it too soon or it will drop in. Fly it on. This is nothing new. Read all the past QBA newsletters before first flight.

Building Tips: Main fuel tank gauge. The wood dowel is too heavy and didn't start to rise until several gallons of gas were in. Change to 1 1/2 plastic straws. Reads to zero now. Also make the sight gauge removable. I used 1/2 inch PVC male on tube, female floxed to tank. Get a CHT gauge. Before the oil cooler, I could easily exceed max in a climb on the right rear cylinder and still need to monitor it.

Need a cheap stick grip with PTT? Go to the video game counter. Several to choose from.

Glen Lowe (Tri Q-200, 26PL) and I share a hanger at Salinas. He has about 45 hr and we have each had similar problems with oil temperature and radios. Both planes are flying fine now. Visitors welcome.

Dennis Rose


SAFETY ALERT

Last month in the picture page I showed a picture of a GU canard section with foam eaten away along the trailing edge all the way to the wheelpant. This was caused by a fuel leak inside the fuselage that migrated to the canard root and then right down the canard. The builder was alerted to the problem when he saw fuel on the ramp at the wheelpant. The plane hadn't been flown yet. This is serious poo poo, boys...especially on the GU which hasn't got the carbon spar design of the LS(1), though I can't see an LS(1) surviving this situation for long either. And then came the following letter from Phil Kelly in Miami....


Dear Builders,

I discovered that a leak in my fuel line connection to my header tank caused maybe by a bump of a spring-clamp on a rubber hose created a fuel build up between the aft side of the firewall where it meets the canard. This fuel leaked through pinhole openings on the surface of the canard into the canard foam and flowed down the canard aft of the graphite spar. It left an empty space between upper and lower skins. I have a canopy that doesn't seal well so water leaked into the same area and filled up the area eaten away by the foam.

What could you do to correct this?

1. Seal the surface under the fuel lines so that no fuel can penetrate the fiberglass layers beneath.

2. For areas of dissolved foam, Pour-Foam can be used to replace dissolved foam starting at the lowest point and doing a small section at a time, working your way up to the highest point and then sealing it to prevent any further damage.

This has happened to more than one Q-200 and although I haven't seen it reported in Q-TALK, you need to protect your foam from fuel leaks.

ED. NOTE: In a call to Phil, he reported that he hadn't flown his plane but that he had done considerable fast taxi testing. The plane seemed to pull to the side with the fuel/waterlogged canard though that may not be the only cause.

All this got me to wondering about the EZ's. All their plumbing happens below the wing and at the aft end of the fuselage. Anybody know if they've had anything like this happen from leaking tanks?


WORD GETS AROUND DEPT.

Robert Bounds happened to be ogling a friend's copy of the April issue of New Zealand Wings when he spotted a Quickie photo. The magazine was reporting on the Amateur Aircraft Constructors Association fly-in to Taieri airfield. The pictured Quickie belongs to our own Jock MacDonald. The caption says, "The aircraft is believed to be the only one of type worldwide flying with a Robin 50 hp two stroke engine in place of the none-too-reliable original Onan 22.5 hp motor. The re-installation has been most successful; raising the climb from a nail-biting 300 fpm to 1200 fpm, cruise to 118 knots at 2.25 gallons per hour as well as increased reliability. Certification is expected shortly after some 5 years of experimental flying." Curious? Contact A. J. L. MacDonald, 2 R.D. Highcliff Rd., Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.


Dear Jim,

Since making a Rotax engine installation, I find my Quickie is a very willing flyer, climbing out of my paddock airfield like a homesick angel. While flying hands off, fully trimmed, there really is no vibration - far smoother than my other 2 Volkswagen powered planes, which I thought were smooth. The shudder of the Onan still make me shudder, thinking back.

However my Quickie had not been fully certificated (So. Australia - ED.). The Department did nothing for 12 months so I went to some Aircraft Technology experts who soon got things going (they said I must be a candidate for the Guinness Book of Records for lack of action).

The hold up turned out to be the engine frame strength, so one of the guys worked out what was required to load test it. When I saw the figures, I almost fainted. I was quite sure the Quickie would collapse under the 650 lb. load. At the max load, 56 lbs. was hung onto a 2' level arm to simulate torque load for a total of 700 lbs. The torque load was very, very gently added then IMMEDIATELY removed. THE LITTLE Q SURVIVED! At max load a dial indicator showed 0.043 strain which was the firewall. At no load, it returned to 0.003". Brock McCaman's engine mount is the best!

The engine fitted is a Rotax 503, dual ignition by c.i.d. Yes, 2 plugs per cyl. 2 switches, etc., twin carbs. I took off the electric start and battery to save weight. It starts the first swing of the prop anyway.

Gordon Laubsch, Kapunda, So. Australia


From Bill Archer

I would like to comment on some puzzling results. Last issue, #16, Tom Solan expects 120-125 mph and 500 fpm plus. Looking back into QUICKTALK #13 in 1984, Harold Little and Ray Anderson report exceeding 600 fpm and 125 mph with the Onan vs. Solan's Mosler. Yippee for Onan. Maybe these figures are not corrected to standard atmosphere.

I'm sorry to disagree with you, Tom, but I'm an engine nut and I think your engine may NOT be at optimum. The engine components should be carefully coordinated to produce maximum torque in the desired RPM range. Achieving this goal requires careful selection of proper intake and exhaust runner length and cross sectional areas, valve sizes, valve lift and duration, ignition and timing, and fuel mixture. Equally important is proper compression ratio with respect to the fuel octane used and combustion chamber design. In QAC newsletter #10, Builder Tip #10 recommends 100/130 Avgas, 100LL or Premium auto gas in the 21 and 22 hp Onans. There is no doubt in my mind that detonation will pull studs out and low octane will make it detonate. I don't think we've given the Onan enough chance. I see no reports of anyone trying to use a different camshaft; no reports of cockpit adjustable mixture control. It seems this would be mandatory for a high density-altitude takeoff. No redundant ignitions. Wonder why Sheehan scrapped the turbo-Onan? His answering machine doesn't give many answers.

ED. NOTE: I am delighted to have an engine nut that is interested in Quickies. I hope you can add to our knowledge re: care and feeding of the Onan, but first, some comments. You won't see any more Quickies on our survey of 150 claiming 125 mph. 110-115 is more like it. My recollection is that the Onan started out as 16 hp in Sheehan's hands, got bumped to 18 then 21. Turbo??? Just how much performance can engine gurus squeeze out of a little garden tractor engine? Can we expect to see garden tractors on the local drag racing scene? Picture that, will ya (I gotta get a grip on myself before I rush right down to Sears!). Terry Crouch told me recently that the Turbo Onan he saw at the OSH QAC booth one year looked like a cobbled together collection of pipes meant to convince the unsuspecting that they had something (which they apparently never did).

The lack of performance seen now on two Mosler/Global powered Quickies is most perplexing. Solan and Giles would both agree with you that the engine is not optimized. It is touted as 35 hp, which should make the Quickie a regular little blowtorch, yet it gets nowhere near the performance of a 40 hp Rotax. Something is a little bit fishlike here. I smell it, but I can't quite see where its coming from.


Dear Jim,

I talked to you at Sun & Fun in 1988 and at that time I said that I would write to tell about my particular problems. Things stretched out a long, long time but now everything has been resolved and I do apologize for the long interval.

Probably the best way would be to give you the high points in the life of N303Q. The time was flown off and the aircraft was certified in February 1986. I was very unhappy trying to fly in Florida's heat so I started looking for a better engine. There were not too many available and there were stories of problems. I finally chose Kawasaki, it seemed the simplest but then the trouble started. It overheated, a piece of baffling was missing. Then I partially blew the ignition unit (my ignorance). We also found that the carb was mounted wrong. This set-up quit cold twice over the airport and twice went from a two-cylinder engine to a one banger on takeoff. A new ignition unit and a new carb correctly mounted fixed all that. However now I had a very high frequency, low modulation vibration. New mounts and various adjustments did not help, in addition between 3800 and 4200 Rpms there was a serious harmonic vibration.

At that point I gave up on the Kawasaki, bought a climb prop from Great American, put the Onan back in and installed vortex generators. The Onan promptly burned a valve and that was fixed. Now I can fly, right? Wrong, the prop and/or the vortex generators created, on my aircraft, what I call a canard flutter. In less than a minute after a less than full power setting I could feel and see the canard tips flutter about an inch, change the power setting and in not more than a minute I could see and feel it coming back.

That was it, in the meantime I had arranged to buy a Stinson Voyager so we packed the Quickie on a boat trailer and hauled it away. N2303Q had been snapping at my heels too long, I wasn't going to let it bite. Billy Henderson said they would probably hang it from the ceiling of the Sun & Fun Museum and I'll go to visit it there. That's my story, no regrets, I'm not mad at anyone, I enjoyed it all, even the moments of terror.

Art Kreutzer, Port St. Lucie, FL


Dear Jim,

In your Dec. '86 (#30) issue, page 7-8, Saylor Milton introduced his canopy hinge that was an emergency quick release type. However, I wondered if it really would be releasable in flight. I modified it slightly so it would be (I am enclosing a full size drawing). Part A of the hinge is attached to the canopy and is mated to Part B in such a way that when the sail pin is pulled, part B will separate from part A (due to gravity) without binding.



I'd suggest that hinges be attached to canard and that they be separated from each other as far as the canopy leading edge will allow for better stability of the canopy when it is open.



Les Craft, Montgomery, AL


Dear Jim,

Here is an update on my Q200 conversion project. It's been over a year since I first wrote to say I was serious about changing engines and now it's done - the Continental 0-200 is in.

Briefly here is some background on my plane. I bought kit #2082 in 1981 and first flew in September of '83. Empty weight was 593 lbs with vacuum pump and a full gyro panel. A t-tail and reflexor were installed at the end of construction and vortex generators a year later. The airplane flew well and I took it to Sun' Fun in 1985. Unfortunately, the engine never ran well at full throttle on takeoff with an adequately rich mixture. There is a tiresomely long story about my efforts to make the Revmaster run perfectly, but the most interesting part is the conclusion. I decided that the Revmaster was a decent engine (not perfect, but definitely airworthy) and that what I really wanted all along was more power.

In April of '88 I bought an 0200 from Central Air Parts in IL (618-635-3252) removed from a C-150 that ran out of fuel. It had 556 SMOH. I borrowed the QAC installation plans and began work in May. Most of the work involved the following changes:

1.) Modify the firewall and header tank.

2.) Install new fuel system with 3/8" lines.

3.) Complete firewall forward installation with all new control linkages and cables.

4.) Install new cowling from Custom Composites.

5.) Electrical System modification to correct plans built deficiencies.

6.) Move battery back to bulkhead 120 (an 18 amp/hr motorcycle battery).

7.) Modify tailwheel fork and install Aircraft Spruce soft tailwheel.

What was the total cost??? I spent $3200 on the engine and another $2000 on materials and sold my Rev for $2600. That's $2600 out of pocket expense.

Please note, I didn't change my canard. The old one works just fine, but I haven't flown the LS and don't know what I'm missing.

CONSTRUCTION TIPS: Use the dimensional drawing in Continental's manual to layout mag box scale drawing. Modify the header tank in place; the plans say to remove it. Use aluminum tape (for fiberglass ducts) to protect fiber frax inside mag box. Use original rear and bottom engine baffles. Baffle seals can be made from lithographic print blanket material - most instant print shops use these and eventually throw them away. A good lightweight alternator is the Chevy Sprint '86 or '87 modified by Scott Swing. I used Aeronca 7AC stainless exhaust pipes from Aircraft Spruce. Use the shorter than normal spark plugs - Champion REM 37BY to solve the clearance problems under the cowl. I bought my prop from Mike DeMuth in MD (301-461-4329) and recommend it highly for performance and price. Airheart Brake parts are available from American Performance in OH 513-851-9100.



The new empty weight is 638 lbs without vac system and two gyro instruments previously in the aircraft. Optimal CG was achieved by adding 2 lbs to the tailwheel fork. This put me on the front edge of the envelope when flying solo with an empty main tank. For early flight testing I added ballast in the baggage area for an aft CG.

I felt the installation was finalized after about 15 hours of flight-testing. Except for additional power and noticeable P-factor, all flight characteristics are the same as before the switch - good. Ground handling is significantly better due to the axle relocation and new tailwheel. Maximum gross weight has been 1100 lbs (185 lb passenger, full fuel) and I think it will fly OK at 1150 lbs. It's not as much fun to fly at the higher gross weights though.

Here are some early performance numbers:

Max ROC, 120 IAS, 8 degrees, 2,000' alt. 2400 rpm

1800 fpm solo, 900 fpm @ 1100 lbs

Max TAS @ 3,000' : 194 mph at 2775 rpm

Max TAS @ 8,000' : 185 mph at 2775 rpm

Cruise at 2,000': 180 TAS, 2,600 rpm (fuel flow unknown)

Noise and vibration levels have been reduced and cruising at 160-170 IAS is quite comfortable. I'm really having a lot of fun with the plane.

At 5 hrs my spinner cracked. I made a front bulkhead out of fiberglass and had the prop dynamically balanced hoping to avoid further problems. The local FBO had a special offer on prop balancing I couldn't refuse, otherwise it's a bit pricey.

Over the years a lot has been written about the Q series of aircraft - some of it very unflattering. Fortunately much has been learned about the aircraft and its systems since my plane first flew. The design has evolved significantly. My Q-200 is a different plane than the Q2 I first flew in 1983 and I'm thrilled with the difference. After all the effort of building and rebuilding, was the project worth it?.....Definitely!

Let me tell you about a recent flight that I particularly enjoyed. The trip was planned on the spur of the moment to go check out a Loran I had been dreaming about. Before departure I noticed the wind was strong and gusty but I didn't consider it further. I put on full fuel and a 190 lb friend. I took off straight down the runway, correcting for the wind, and we had a bumpy ride but a pleasant conversation to our destination. On arrival I was surprised to hear unicom report 20-30 degree crosswinds gusting to 30 mph! That's enough to get any pilot's attention, but it was no sweat. I made 2 landings on this flight, both with normal x-wind technique and turned off the runway within 2,000'. I got to look at Lorans and my friend had an enjoyable ride. No concerns, no compromises. It's nice to fly the airplane more and worry about its deficiencies less...and that's what please me so much about this flight and the airplane.

There is nothing especially interesting about this story, but if you are uncomfortable in your airplane, as I have been, you may find it a little incredible. I would be happy to provide more detail on my plane and its performance to anyone interested. I learn something each time I fly.

Charlie Belshe, Providence, RI (401) 272-3876


Dear Jim

Clipped a fence with my Tri-Q200. I now have a good engine, radios, instruments and fuselage for sale. I consider it about 2/3" complete toward a new plane. Have elevators, ailerons and rudder, but it will need a new wing, canard and tail section.

It was a good flying airplane. I just never got comfortable with the landings.

Glen Lowe, Salinas, CA 408-757-8557

Here is an earlier report from Glen on his plane:

I converted to a Tri-Q200 from a taildragger after 5 hours. I think my taildragger was as good as any but I was an accident looking for a place to happen. I had individual hand bakes on the taildragger which worked great and prevented some of the accidents which did not happen.

THINGS THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN TO YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW:

1. A new oil temperature gauge that reads 25 degrees high.

2. Sheehan not leveling with us on the need for an oil cooler.

3. Aircraft Spruce's automatic transmission cooler that slipped its fittings with total loss of oil - luckily on the ground.

4. My failure to tighten the shimmy dampener as per plans so lost a prop and bent the nose gear (thanks Scott for your help in straightening gear, etc.)

5. No thanks Scott for slide canopy opener. Replaced it with QBA Jim Langley design. It works great. Make your own ladder brace out of half-inch aluminum strap./P>

6. After 2 brake failures, 2 ground loops, one month and 3 faulty master cylinders, Rosenhan finally got me 2 cylinders that work. (Sharp cylinders cut o-rings and needed return spring).

7. Too low on an early landing, I nicked elevators bilaterally on runway light standards. Thanks for the repair-ability of composites.

8. The black hole between the canard and gas tank into which nuts, bolts and washers all disappear.

9. The anhedral I left in the canard on my Tri-gear - I scraped the wing tips twice on crosswind landings.

10. $26,000 cash out to date, even buying most stuff from Ye Olde Junqueyard.

11. Lots of radio and headset problems partly due to composite construction and partly gremlins.

NOW FOR THE GOODIES:

1. A Volkswagen oil cooler bracketed aft of the right air inlet FINALLY solved oil heating problems. Also enlarged air outlet and added the Cessna pan.

2. Scott Swing's Tri-gear tames the beast a lot.

3. In the air it is stable and responds smoothly in all configurations. It doesn't have a mean response.

4. Miscellaneous stuff: Cessna carburetor box, turn buckles at tail for easy rudder adjusting, thin wall plastic pipe to run torque tubes and wiring through.

Statistics, More or Less:

720 pound empty weight

Continental 0-200 - good

Prop: Aymar-DeMuth - cheap and good

Fuel capacity: 19 gal. Use auto unleaded

Top speed: 175 mph, 2,600 rpm, 7 gal/hr

Cruise speed:

165 at 2450, 6.5 gal/hr

160 at 2400, 6.0 gal/hr

150 at 2300, ??

140 at 2150, 5.5 gal/hr

135 at 2000, 5.0 gal/hr

Stall, 1000 lbs, 75 mph

Stall, 1200 lbs, 85 mph

Climb, light, 130 mph, 850 fpm (120 mph too steep)

Climb, heavy, 120 mph, 500 fpm

Highest: 12,000' pressure alt. still doing 100 fpm

Best power off glide: 90 mph/650 fpm

Takeoff from rolling start: 1,800-2,000 ft

Landing: 1,800-2,000 ft, to turn off

Building and flying has been an experience. I have had my fun.


Dear Jim,

N200XQ (code name "Money Pit") made its maiden flight on 10/8/88. This Tri-Q was started in the summer of '82.

Scott Swing did our first flight. The nose wheel collapsed. Scott had changed the design from a nylon wheel to an aluminum wheel and had published it in his newsletter. They say there's always 10% who don't get the word. The lesson learned is to read those newsletters - more than once!

Scott reported no other major problems with our plane. CHT and oil temps looked good. He did not push the envelope too far, but did report 130 mph IAS at 4,000' MSL at 2,000 rpm. When anyone is ready for his or her first flight, I highly recommend you ask Scott to do it. He is very professional and he gave us a 2 page analysis of the flight with recommended changes to the plane.

Howard Burnette, Chester, VA


Jim,

Here's a useful tip for filling with micro. Add a small amount of isopropyl alcohol to the epoxy/micro mixture, which allows you to add a little more micro. When the epoxy cures and the alcohol evaporates, the micro may be easily sanded without clogging the sandpaper. The alcohol doesn't appear to affect the adhesion of the micro. I found this tip from a Dragonfly builder in Kitplanes magazine.

Perry Kotelko, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA


Dear Jim,

I changed my Q2 landing procedure. A few minor points: 85 mph down the slope to a low flare is about the minimum. Anything less and there's not enough elevator to flare. In an earlier letter I said stay off the brakes, but after a lot of practice landings now I've gotten so I can get down on the brakes really hard. I'm rolling out short enough to use a 2,000' runway. If things get really botched, I use the reverse aileron. That thing is so wicked however, that I avoid it as much as possible. Bruce Brown keeps his feet off the rudder pedals on roll out. I prefer to keep the stick centered. I guess its just a matter of what feels best to a particular pilot.

Donald N. Baker, Starkville, MS


Hi Jim,

Here are some pictures and drawings of how I'm doing my wheel-tire-brake assembly:

I used 3/8" Clark foam for LG-1 and LG-2; 3/8" aluminum for LG-4 and glassed and aligned to the canard as per plans.

To make the wheel-tire-brake assembly easy to install and service, I made outboard and inboard spacers from 3/4" OD, 5/8" ID steel tubing and welding on .052 steel plate. I enlarged the 1/4" hole in LG-4 to 3/4".

Now spacers can be put in from outside of the wheel pants. Spacers go over the LG-8 spacer and press against the wheel bearings to lock the race of the bearing.

The outboard spacer has a 2 3/16" hole for AN-3 bolts to hold it to LG-4. The inboard spacer goes through a 3/8" aluminum brake support then through the LG-4 and against the wheel bearing. The brake support is bolted through the LG-4 with 2 AN-4 nuts and bolts. The LG8 spacer, inboard and outboard spacers are trimmed to size by trial fitting until the tire and wheel are centered and the proper load is on the bearing.

Walter Newton











You can order a PDF or printed copy of Q-talk #17 by using the Q-talk Back Issue Order Page.