Q-talk 25 - QUICKIE LETTERS

To QBA

The BMW 2-cylinder powerplant, as we discussed previously, has separate carburetors. An aftermarket fuel injection system for this powerplant is available, but costs about $2,200 by the time a backup computer is included. It appears that there is now a snowmobile engine, a 2-stroke, which is liquid cooled and comes stock with a fuel injection system. Do any of you Midwesterners or Northerners know the weight of this powerplant and what it would take to use it in the Quickie?

Aluminum toothed sprockets are available which accept Gates toothed belts (Gates manufactures only iron sprockets), but come in 12" lengths and must have the flanges added and be shortened to the proper length. Then, as the details of propeller shaft supports (pillow blocks) are worked out and a motor mount is devised, the BMW powerplant should be ready to install.

This is another request for engineering assistance with the BMW conversion. No one yet responded with their expertise!

Chris Young, 625 Pamela Dr., Lacy, WA 98503

(206) 438-9148


Dear Jim,

Sign me up for another year. I really enjoy the Q-TALK. When it arrives, everything else gets dropped until I've devoured the whole thing.

My Quickie is still awaiting its new LS-1 canard, and that's coming along pretty good. I'm glassing the wheel pants and hope to mount the canard between Christmas and New Year's. We'll see how it goes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and Mary.

Howard Hardy, Denver. CO


Dear Jim:

MERRY CHIRSTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Damn! You get a new computer, start enjoying it and expect us to learn how to use ours. OK! So it took a few minutes and I hope I can remember how I did it. Here's the 20 bucks for '91 to help you keep the great words coming.

I flew over 40 hours this year on Quickie 3VD and had a total of 185 hours on it when I finished the 5th annual in late October. Since I had fouled a plug 4 times in the 5 years I decided to make a change on the 503 Rotax for reliability.

I took my engine down to Glendale, AZ and had Airscrew Performance (Steve Beatty) install two Nippon-Denso CDI ignition systems on it. I cut the head fins, had a pad built up and installed the 2nd spark plug 1" to the left of the original plug and 3/16" aft to minimize fin cutting.

The Point ignition coil and 30w Light coil were replaced by a CDI pulse coil and a CDI charging coil. The 130W Light coil was replaced with the second set of CDI pulse and Charging coils. With no electrical power available, I'm trying a high tension lead pulsed digital engine tachometer, but there is a lot of ignition noise in my radio I have to clear up.

I have put about 7 hours on the new dual system and have not had any other problems. It gives you lots of confidence in flight to be able to switch from both systems on to left or right and not get a significant drop in RPM.

On the ground at low RPM, there is a significant drop on the new left plug system but a little throttle boost makes it recover nicely.

Keep charging!

Jinx


Jim,

This letter is a direct response to Jinx Hawk's letter in the last Q-TALK. The Fulp/Buskey team has, alas, been separated by 1,400 miles as a result of my move to Texas. Although I was forced to leave my beloved Quickie behind, I know that the project is alive and well in Ves's capable hands. Ves is the craftsman who fabricates fiberglass solutions to my hypothetical aerodynamic problems. As of this writing we haven't even started the engine, much less conducted a flight test program to validate the installation and the necessity for the extremely complicated cowling design, which hopefully should provide adequate cooling with minimal drag. The optimum cowl should result in a lower parasitic drag, lower EGT, and CHT than a bare engine under the same conditions. A rather interesting design constraint is working with a fan-cooled engine that may be pulling negative static pressure under full RPM with low air speeds.

On the other hand, with all of the thrust available one may simply construct a small bridge to secure the engine, provide a fuel system and go flying! However, this is not a very esoteric solution to the art of Quickie flying.

The bottom line is that we probably can be talked into making a full report of our conversion but only after a successful flight-test program. And that will take quite a while. We have documented every step so far on videotape, and could probably provide the report in that form, No "plans", no dimensions, and no guarantees. If we, like Icarus, fall out of the sky, please disregard this letter.

Harry Buskey


Jim,

You were on your back on the grass at Oshkosh when I last spoke with you. Since you were clearly not disposed to taking notes at that time, I am now writing to you what I know of Ron Cothern's Quickie fate. Ron's airplane was distinctive for the winged horse, Pegasus, on its sides. The Quickie started life with an Onan; after a year or two that engine was removed and a Citroen 2-cylinder 4-stroke installation was attempted. After that failed for lack of power, Ron waited for the right engine for some time. He finally bought a Hirth F-23 from Falconair. Performance with this engine (a two cylinder, opposed, 2-stroke) was dandy as long as the engine kept running. After much tribulation with an unreliable ignition system (weak or no spark), Ron installed an automotive CDI system in place of the two-coils-with-points factory original. The new system provided a powerful spark, but had little service history in aircraft. In June or so of 1990 I saw for the first time Ron taxi back to the hangar after a Hirth-powered flight -- with the old ignition system the Hirth always quit as he turned off the runway after landing, and would not restart. The newfound reliability caused Ron to start optimizing the prop and to start thinking about flying the Quickie to Oshkosh. About one week before Oshkosh he was climbing out of Clow northbound when the engine quit at about 200 feet. He managed to turn away from the forest ahead and headed for a field. Just after touchdown his left canard hit a fencepost, breaking off the canard at the root and spinning the airplane around. The tail dug in as the Quickie was spinning. This contact broke the fuselage between the cockpit and the main wing. Additional damage was relatively minor. When the airplane came to rest, Ron got out - and received his only injury, a bruised arm, when he tripped. The Quickie is totaled. The cause of the engine stoppage has not been determined. I am inclined to suspect the CDI system because it looked like it had an awful lot of wires and components, which might break or fail. Ron sold the engine, mount and instruments (all attached to the forward fuselage) to a couple of fellows from Wisconsin. They plan to get Hirth's new CDI system (which apparently requires a new crankshaft) and install the engine on an ultralight. Anyway, renew me for another year.

Paul Paulikas #144


Dear Jim,

I thought I'd drop you a line to update you on my experiences with my Rotax Quickie. I battled that ornery engine most of the summer. I've finally got it about dialed in and it seems to be running well. Be advised that these things are very sensitive to proper jetting. I had the engine a little over-propped, which complicated the tuning process. I finally gave up and bought an adjustable prop from Warp Drive. (Ugly, but works good) I set the prop up in a pretty fine pitch and finally got the tuning worked out. I'm now at a #155 main jet, a #272 needle jet when the weather warms up. By the way, my field elevation is 3400'. The engine was way too rich in the midrange and would not accelerate through 4000 rpm. Another tip is to check the rings every 50-60 hours to see if they're stuck. If so, take the pistons and rings down to your friendly local auto mechanic and have them soaked in carburetor cleaner, preferably with gentle agitation, until they're clean.



Other notes I might add: I'm running a 2 to 1 gearbox with the prop set of 48? of pitch. Diameter is 46". This seems to give the compromise I like between climb and cruise. I cruise about 125 with a top of about 145. Another tidbit: I've got my muffler (heavy damn thing!) hanging on 4 big Lord mounts (1/4' studs) and they seem to be holding up well. I got them at a local hobby shop. Modelers use them for motor mounts.

Don't take all of this info as gospel. I've only got about 75 hours on the plane and I'm still learning to land it. All the struggle and grief kind of seemed worth it yesterday though when I made a 140 mph formation pass with a friend's Skybolt down the local runway. Yeehaa!!!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes in the future. Also I've enclosed a $20 check and I'll format this letter to the right size in case you decide to print it. How's that for treating you nice, Jim? Thanks a million for your encouragement and support while I was wrestling with my project. You put out a great newsletter.

Robert Bounds, P O Box 662, Grant, NE 69140


Dear Jim,

Here is a check for $20 so you won't get quite so grumpy next month. I enjoyed the last newsletter as usual. How you manage to turn out such an informative newsletter year after year is really amazing. To reuse a shopworn cliche: "Keep up the good work!"

I used 4 plies of BID on my Rotax installation since the bottom pads on the McCaman drawings were 4 plies ... I just matched top for bottom. There never has been any problem with wear in the fiberglass holes for the engine mount bolts, and I suppose the only way to tell the weak points in the design would be to examine a crash or a very hard landing. As far as I know, no one has yet had the misfortune to crash a Rotax Quickie, so we don't know.

Jerry Homsley has been flying 170Q regularly since I sold it to him, and the best words to describe the operation have been "no problem". I flew it to Oshkosh for the third year in a row from Arkansas, and the little plane never gave a lick of trouble except for a radio that quit. Who needs radios to fly anyway? I even flew NORDO into Springfield, IL (called ahead by phone first, of course), which has an ARSA and a local F-16 ANG operation. Piece of cake. I probably have more experience with Rotax Quickie cross-country flight than anyone else, so I'll stick up my paw and be the copy boy for anyone who wants information on the Rotax conversion. Here's a bunch of cards to make it easy for you to pass out my address to those who inquire. Hope this helps.

I owe you a little longer article on the entire conversion process but this subject has been extensively discussed already in the pages of QBA. Perhaps if you have a specific area to address I can put something together for you. Jus' lemme know.

Hope you have a great Christmas holiday and a flying start to 1991. Take care,

Norman E. Howell, PSC Box 1907, APO NY 09123


Dear Jim,

As you can see from the format of this letter, I took your last appeal concerning margins to heart. I am happy that I finally had a chance to meet you at Oshkosh this past summer and hope our paths will cross again in the not-too-distant future. I found the tent forum and back porch discussions very interesting and useful. The wine and cheese party was a lot of fun, especially the Howell/Buskey skit. We should have videotaped it. I got to spend some time talking to Terry Crouch. He has incorporated a number of fixture and procedural innovations in the construction of his Onan Q-1. His attention to detail is amazing.

My own project has been quiescent since early September. Up until then and since my last letter in March, I have done my rudder layup and have jigged my main wing cores. The shear web has been installed. I have embedded 1/2 inch O.D. plastic tubing in the bottom surface of the wing to enable installation of tip strobes at some undetermined future time. I cut the channel for this tubing using a U-shaped hotwire mounted on a small block of wood. This was suggested in an earlier newsletter and worked quite well. To counteract the slight sag of the wing cores between jig locations I have supported the cores with scraps of blue foam. These are held in place using sprayed 'Insta-Foam', which makes the entire jigged core assembly stiff and secure. I plan to fill the foam surface with micro and allow curing as suggested in one of the newsletters. The cores can then be spline-sanded to achieve a nice surface for the skins and spar caps. I used this approach on my vertical fin and was happy with the results.

I ordered and received a Rotax cowl and spinner from Gary Wilson at Composite Aircraft Components, Inc. These parts look fine.

I have been looking around for a welder to do my engine mount. In order to better appreciate the welding task, I purchased a low-cost oxy-acetylene rig from Harbor Freight. I have used this to repair my lawnmower and sheet metal on the old car. I don't recommend this set-up. The acetylene regulator frequently sticks, causing large pressure variations which wreak havoc with the flame chemistry.

Maury D. Cosman, 59 Wood Street, Woburn, MA 01801

(617) 938-5601

Q-1 #557


Jim:

I'm nearing the 2 year mark of my project and I believe there's a small shimmer of light up ahead. The wheel assemblies are installed and the controls operational on the canard (dated picture) and shortly I'll be ready to tackle the firewall forward. I'm looking to pick up a Rotax soon and am open to any suggestions on the best place to purchase one stateside. Construction of my project is in the Philippines and there's not a lot of scrounging for parts or nosing around for used engines. Any help is greatly appreciated. I've got a suggestion (hint?) that may be well known back in the world but I'll give it a shot. A clean, efficient way to make tapes is to first wet out your glass cloth on a thin sheet of plastic (garbage bag split open) squeegee out extra epoxy & trim to final shape with shears. The plastic acts as a backing for support holding everything together with no distortion or unraveling. Lay piece on desired location and squeegee once more, remove plastic and it leaves a nice looking layup. Hope it makes sense as it's worked well for me.

Best Regards,

Steve Nelson, PSC 1, Box 878, APO S.F. CA 96286


Dear Mr. Masal,

Enclosed is $20.00 for the 1991 membership dues for the Q-Builders Association, and $5.00 for the builder roster.

I am very impressed with the organization of the newsletter that you produce, and find the builders contributions important.

As you know, I am presently looking at buying an unfinished Quickie 1 kit or a finished Q-1 with or without an engine. I would like to try an Onan and would appreciate anyone's personal experience with this engine and help me decide if this would be a good choice.

I read all the articles on the builders who are using the Rotax two-stroke engines, but am not convinced that these are the answer to reliable power for the airframe. Perhaps one of the new four stroke Mosler engines that are producing 35 hp would be comparable to the Q-1 airframe.

If any members are interested in selling their airplane, I would appreciate any information on this. I am a cash buyer and holder of commercial/instrument and flight instructor ratings.

Thanks for all the help, Jim! I am

Michael W. Dempsey, 405 S. Sycamore #206, Sioux Falls, SD 57103


This letter just in.

Dear Jim,

No smart talk today. I just want to sign off Quickie N13VD. On 1/12/91, I was #2 to land and approximately 3,500 ft behind an AT-6 Trainer. I hit his wake turbulence, the Quickie rolled right and slightly nose down at an estimated 80 mph and 15 to 20 feet AGL. The right wheel pant hit the (undershoot) runway first and lots of things happened thereafter. It did not go on its back, it did not burn and I walked away, by definition (but compressed disk/vertebrae slowed me down).

Nate Rambo, Bob Colling and I cut up N13VD in 1 hr 45 min. with Sabre saws this morning (1/23). Yeah, Baby! It's great to be here.

Jinx Hawks




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