Ronin

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Posts posted by Ronin

  1. Posted

    Reminds me of the Clampets moving from West Verginny to Calif. But hey, if it works.

    Fit a complete IV kit in a 4X8 trailer, well it hung off the front and back just a little bit. :rolleyes: 

  2. Posted · Edited by Ronin

     

    One caution - even more so than when you get a pickup, suddenly you have a lot of friends that need to move.....

    Mark

     

     

    Or use a MINI and a trailer, nobody asks you to help them move! Car and trailer 4,200 miles, 2,100 miles with the plane kit. Trailer is #425 empty and around #750 as you see it. Don't even know it's behind you for the most part. 

    MINI.jpg

  3. Posted

    Tried a Midwest rotary in a Europa years ago. Same issues as with ALL rotaries, high fuel (and oil) consumption and loud as hell. We left it in the plane for 35/40 hours and finally put a 912S on it instead as we wanted to actually fly the plane once in a while and not work on it. 

    1 person likes this

  5. Posted

    About 40F this morning but will get up to high fifties later on. I actually had to put a flannel shirt on to walk the dogs, Brrrr. :lmao:

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  6. Posted

    www.ivoprop.com/images/PDF%20Ultralight%20Quick%20Adjustment%20Instructions.pdf
     

    I had downloaded that a while back but find it very over simplified. For instance they recommend the 6500 rpm and give no reason why you would static load it to max. horsepower. They also recommend just clipping off the ends as good enough for balance. I don't plan on cutting mine off but if I did I'd be at least performing a static balance. Maybe they do this because most people don't have the tools I do to make a precise centered hub balancing jig. They also say nothing about checking blade tracking. That's something a little harder to correct if it's off because of the way the propeller is designed.

    Back when Ivoprop first hit the market some of us that were flying Mitchell Wings wanted to try them. I'm glad I didn't. On a Mitchell Wing the prop clearance between the propeller and the trailing edge is only a couple of inches. The guys that tried them found out the hard way that the Ivoprop flexes under load and it chewed up the trailing edge of the wing as well as the propeller. Being a metal wing shell laminated over a foam core made it a touchy repair. Mitchell Wing notified people not to put the Ivoprop on the Mitchell Wings but people buying them second hand don't always know these things.

    Anyone here remember seeing the  propeller cross section displayed at Oshkosh back in the beginning besides me? The core was made out of blue foam back then. (Maybe they still are?) It explains why they flexed so much.

    Back around 1997/8 Ivo convinced the owner of Europa Aircraft to try one of the in-flight adjustable props on the mono-wheel 914 powered demonstrator. We put it on just before Sun & Fun, flew it about an hour and were doing ground runups with it when Ivan Shaw (Europa's owner) noticed the tips flexing thru a two or three inch arc on full power runups.  He said to remove it, box it back up and send it back. While I thought it was smooth in flight I never liked the foam core (yes the originals were foam C.D.) and really didn't like that much flex in a prop. I know a lot of people swear by them but I am not one of them. 

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  7. Posted

    I instructed in a Beaver 550 with a 582 for about 75 hours before the endorsement changes. My rule of thumb was if you didn't dump the nose within a second or two of me pulling the throttle, I would slap the front seaters helmet to wake them up! I would always tell them "things happen fast in an ultralight". The guys transitioning from F-16's and L1011's would always laugh at that until we got up to altitude, banked it over 45 degrees and pulled the throttle to idle. It would usually snap out of the turn in a couple seconds if you didn't release the back pressure. Then they would get it. I would pull the throttle all the time on takeoffs and taught to point it down fast if you want to avoid a crash. Deadstick in the Beaver entailed pointing it almost straight down to maintain 60/65 until you flared, you got one shot at it, maybe, maybe a slight amount of float to help. 

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  8. Posted

    A wing is designed so that stress flows thru the whole wing and no one section has it concentrated at a certain point. But it will build up at a repair or strengthened area and possibly fail at that point. Even though it has been sleeved or patched, it IS a weak spot. An example is to watch a 747 or a glider wing in flight. It bends and flexes throughout the full length of the wing not just a certain section. Even a relatively short wing still flexes some even though you might not see it. Repair or replace? Not a question you want to ask after it fails in a gust or rough air flight.  A fuselage has other tubes and paths for the stress to flow around, A wing spar does not, it is the load carrying member. Bite the bullet and replace it!

    I'm reminded that almost all my fishing poles are two piece and while I've broke a few in my life; I've never broke one at the joint. Same goes for the 2 piece sleeved mast on a sailboard which is in effect the leading edge spar of a wing.

    But losing a fish, or the mast of a sail boat won't result in you falling to earth and splatting like a ripe melon. ;)

    2 people like this

  12. Posted

    That website is BS. 

    They list a 914 for 16.5k new, I paid 20k for one back in 1996! 

  18. Posted

    We tried one on a Europa. Smooth but could never get the carburetor right. Either low, mid or high was always bad. burned a lot of oil too. Used it about 25 hours and put a 912S on it. 

     

  19. Posted

    Sounds like one of the carb springs might not be working correctly? Maybe when you advance the throttle one carb is "outrunning" the other causing an imbalance? Either way I would go thru the carbs and/or see if you could swap a known good working set of carbs with someone? 

  21. Posted

    I used to run nothing but 100LL in a 914 Europa. Used TCP and always ran it hard (5,300/5,500) in cruise. It never had lead fouling but the side of the plane would turn gray past the exhaust.

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  23. Posted

    Funny thing that you mention this.   About an hour ago, I measured my Kitfox 4 classic fuselage and the new Kitfox 3 project I just picked up.  Hooking on the rear wing spar pin, and measureing to the rudder hinge, I had 10' on both of them.  So at least in mine they are the same length.  the rudder is larger on the Kitfox 4, so if you measure to the back of the rudder, then the 4 is longer..  I've proved my self wrong again  :-) JImChuk

    I'll try that same measurement tomorrow and report. 

  24. Posted

    The KF 4 (small rudder)seems more stable in rough air, whereas the 3 needs constant rudder correction to counter the eileron inputs.If I was to rebuild my 3 I would consider the conversion.The big tail 1200 fox is a major leap forward in stability also.

    As a side note the performance of the 4 v's the 3 with a 582 is the same in all areas.:flamegun:

    Forgot to mention in my other previous post.  I believe a Kitfox 4 is 9" longer between the wings and the tail then the earlier Kitfoxes.  That would change the way it flies to some extant I'm sure.   Maybe more to it then just the controls.  JImChuk

    Measuring them side-by-side confirms this. 

  25. Posted

    So I received a check from a guy that has been texting me back and forth. The checks for 10,850.00 not the 7,500.00 I was asking. :o (That’s my shocked face) I'm debating on how to better troll this clown? I already texted him and told him he can pick up the cash (extra) in person when he gets the plane. We'll see how it goes. :lmao:

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