marksires

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Posts posted by marksires

  1. Posted

    Definitely check with your local DAR or FSDO since they'll be the ones you have to deal with to get a new airworthiness certificate.  You'll probably need the original builders log to prove it was 51% amateur built.  You won't be able to get the repairmans certificate for it, since you didn't build the 51%.  Without those logs, you probably are out of luck, and the current owner planning to decertify it should expect to only get scrap price for the plane, since that is effectively what he is telling the FAA he is doing.

     

    Mark

  2. Posted

    sweet, that is a quick easy fix!  I know, I drooled over one that was at the Soldotna airport years ago.  Lots of room and built pretty stout.  I am not sure why there are not more of them flying up here.  After Merlin folded the first time, a guy in Canada started making the lil buzzard.  It is pretty much a copy of the Merlin GT.  I tried to get ahold of the guys that make the lil buzzard a few years ago as I wanted to be a dealer for them up here and buy one for myself, but I could never get the guy to call me back or answer an email...

     

    :BC:

    And when they go out of business he'll blame bad economy, cheap pilots, etc etc.  Couldn't possibly be he wouldn't return a simple phone call.

    Mark

  6. Posted

    Yeah, I already mentioned I'm jealous of his floats.  If you decide to use a match, take the floats off first please!  :lmao:

    Sorry to hear about the mess, that won't be any fun to get cleaned up, particularly with the plane up high and level.

  7. Posted

    Lenny,

    Glad I wasn't the only one confused!  It doesn't look anything like the Avid Float mounting.  Robin has sent me great pictures of his float mounting.  Which I'm jealous of.  It appears he has a set of genuine Avid Amphibious floats.  I didn't even know Avid made amphibious floats.  They look exactly like the Avid floats I got from Jim, only they have a notch in the front for the nose wheel mounting.

    When I get my rigging made up, I'll be taking lots of pictures, and try to put together some drawings to post here, so we'll have them in the library.

     

    Mark

  12. Posted

    Lenny,

    Thanks, that would be perfect.  I won't get to making the rigging until this winter anyway, so I don't need it tomorrow.  Sorry to hear Bob's down for a while.  I hope his surgery goes/went well, and recovery is faster than the quacks, er, docs, predict.

    Mark

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  13. Posted

    Thanks to Jim, and a lot of miles on my truck and trailer, I now have a shiny new (to me at least) pair of Avid floats with the water rudders.  BTW Jim is a great guy, and has a really nice place up there in the northern midwest.  It was a beautiful drive up and back with the fall colors coming to full, but I wouldn't want to be there in January!  Jim is a hardier soul than I am!

     

    However, I'm fresh out of tubes and hardware to mount them with.  I have the build manual, and it has a lot of pictures so the geometry and general layout are easy, but the only dimension anywhere is that the centerline of the floats should be 68 inches apart.  The tube diameter I can pretty much get from the through tubes on the floats.  I won't know the wall thickness, but if in doubt, I'll just get one thicker than I think I need.  If anyone can give the me the length of any of the mounting tubes, or the distance from the bottom of the fuselage to the top of the floats,  I should be able to figure it out from there.

    Thanks!

    Mark

     

  14. Posted

    Hmm, I'll think about this while I'm rebuilding my struts.  There was corrosion under mine where the epoxy hadn't sealed completely, so I'd like something different, that would still meet the stiffening requirements that Avid wanted.  I may look at fairing them like I will the gear legs on the Cozy I'm not building....  Make the fairing out of foam, then glass it over with a couple of layers of BID and laminating epoxy.  Should be as stiff as the spruce fairing, but seal up better with no chance of delaminating, plus not a lot more weight than the spruce fairing.

    Mark

  16. Posted

    Ed, it was on the ground, not flying, but after having the engine overhauled, I didn't have anything but air in the lines (and the header tank - I drained everything while the engine was off).  The electric fuel pump with the 1 tank and inline header tank cleared the air just fine.

    I did find in the Avid newsletters an update on the header vent that is pretty much what you described, except they changed it from a forward facing vent to an upside down 'U' shaped, so there would be neither negative or positive pressure from the vent.

     

    I also found that hangar I picked my plane up from was the president and owner of Avid (Charlie) at the time they bought the kit in built it.  The two guys that built it lived in the same area as Charlie, and after they bought the kit from him he let them rent hangar space from him.  That explains why there was so much Avid stuff in that hangar!

     

    Mark

  18. Posted

    Ed,

    With only one tank, the header tank doesn't serve any real purpose in my plane except to act as a reserve if I let the main fuel tank run dry.  Since that should take over 4 hours, AND I don't ever take off with less than full tanks, it doesn't need to be very large.  That exceeds my bladder endurance by a good 2 hours!  :-)

    Mark

  20. Posted

    Wrapping with fiberglass was my first choice when I rebuild the struts, so I'll just do that.  I could use the fiberglass finishing practice anyway.  Mixing and spreading micro is so much fun!

     

    Mark

  21. Posted

    Mine are just painted.  Not sure if good or bad.  The bottom few inches separated on the pilot side, and I was thinking I need to redo the wood fairing to fix it.  BEFORE I read Lennies advice on fast taxi, I took care of that problem, and the entire strut now needs rebuilt.  There was definitely rust between the wood fairing and the strut tube.  Now was that because the fairing wasn't secured with epoxy well enough, or did the flexing from flight stresses cause it to separate?  Would a fabric overlay helped keep them together, or at least provide another moisture barrier?  Don't know.

     

    I notice that Wicks now has aerodynamic 4130 tube - shaped pretty much like the lift strut tube after the wood goes on.   Any thoughts on whether that would be a good idea to rebuild with?  I know Dean sent out a bulletin that the wood fairing was structural (provided stiffening to the strut) and should not be omitted, but would the tube in that shape provide the same stiffness?

     

    Mark

  23. Posted

    On my Avid C/D? model , the cowl fits over the top of the firewall. There is some sealing material (Actually looks like a 'soaker hose' with the side slit open) on top of the firewall.  There are only 6 camlocs that connect the cowl to the airframe.  There are a boatload of camlocs that connect the top and bottom cowl to each other.

    Mark

  24. Posted

    Looks nice, but then I'd need to find a new place for my antennas. I'll stick with aluminum for now.

    Mark

  25. Posted

    Congrats!  Great looking couple, and the plane is pretty sharp too!

    Mark