RDavidson

Fellas,
There is an Avid Magnum Kit for sale in Sacramento, CA.  I am posting this info for the owner Dan Robinson.
Dan's brother was the original owner and he recently passed away.  Dan doesn't know much about the kit, so I thought I would help him out with what I can see in the pictures.  The pictures show a complete kit as far as I can see (minus engine of course).  Dan wasn't sure about the value of a Magnum Kit, so I told him $10K would ensure a quick deal and pass a good deal onto the buyer.  This price is more than fair (I paid a lot more for mine) and I have no doubt will be snagged quickly.  We are posting it here first to give the "Community" first shot at it.  If you are interested, contact Dan Robinson (nine-one-six )317-1954 or email robinson.dan@gmail.com
You are also welcome to PM me, Ron, with any Magnum questions that I could answer referring to the pictures...
The Kit is in a storage unit in Sacramento.
Please be courteous to Dan and refrain from tire kicking :)
Thanks,
Ron

 

Well, 42 hours on my Matco Fat Tailwheel and I broke an internal part...
I made my first jump out of the 50 mile ring the phase one kept me in and had a real eye opener of a landing.  I was at a high elevation field that sits on a slanting mesa.  When I approached the field the winds were variable at 2 to 3 knots and some powered gliders were taking off on the downsloped runway, so instead of fighting traffic I decided to land on the downsloped runway to see what that was like...what I got was the perfect storm.  The approach was fine until about 75' high and there was a 5-10 knot crosswind, it died out and as soon as I straightened out there was no wind, right as I felt I was going to squeak one on a nice 5 knot tailwind hits.  I have my tires a bit overpressured for asphalt so those 31" of kinetic energy amplify any bounce...needless to say, I bounced about 3 times and the bounces were getting bigger so I pushed the power in and went around.  I enjoy a good challenge so I had the same experience 2 more times before I decided to land long to get some more consistent air.  It worked, I was able to get her settled on the mains and then slowly lower the tail, but as soon as the Tailwheel hit the plane began to shudder  and I had no left or right control, I was slow enough that the rudder was ineffective and I was working the brakes, but it felt as if the Tailwheel was pulling me left, I was drifting left off of the runway slowly.  I cut the engine before leaving the runway and got ready for a ride...as soon as the Tailwheel hit the grass the tail broke to the left, I did a slow 180 degree slide thanks to the wide gear and big tires, and came to a stop about 10' off in the grass.
All of the factors leading up to the Tailwheel touching the asphalt were self induced.  My newness in the aircraft led me to think that I just needed to figure things out, when I should have reversed traffic and landed on the upsloping runway...a local told me that they will land on the upsloping runway until the other runway has a 10mph favoring wind, so keep that in your pocket...
The Tailwheel had it's own issues...all the vibration had actually worked the attach nut (metal locking nut) and bolt loose and once I had weight off of the Tailwheel I could move it up or down an inch or two!  Yikes!
The cause of the vibration was a product of a stop breaking internally in the Tailwheel and it was allowing the Tailwheel to free caster in one direction and then hard catch in the other, over and over again.
I don't know what caused the damage, but I will say that asphalt is hard on the fat Tailwheel and rudder hardware.  It was hard to turn, with just too much surface contact.  I didn't even like it on grass, because the support arms were too close to the tire and would fill up with grass and dirt to the point that the wheel wouldn't free spin!
These are just my observations and experiences I want to pass on to the next guy, so don't get your feelings hurt if you love your Matco Fat Tailwheel.  It looks cool and probably works well on a lighter aircraft, and on grass and dirt.  Hope this helps somebody...
 
Ron
P.S.  I put the Maule Tailwheel on and it is much more steerable on asphalt.

Well, I have been experimenting with different stalls and this is my favorite!
Power Off, Full Flap, stick pulled all the way back and centered left and right, using slight rudder input to level the wings
losing 500' per minute and slightly moving forward (My airspeed readings stop at 39 knots on the AHRS app).  The stall is the slight 5 degrees of nose up and down at the start of the video.
Sorry for the hairy, pasty, white legs!
Really neat flight characteristics!
Ron

Well 40 hours is more than I usually fly in a year, so I have just about worn all of the site seeing out!  However, I have some good pics!
A buddy made this Stainless steel sign for me!
The Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg CO
Rock ridge running up the Spanish Peaks, 50'-100' tall in places
small ski resort...
Surprisingly all of the avionics work great, except my Radio which you can barely receive on...using a handheld for now.
I love flying through this canyon on the cucharas river.  There is an Air Force wreck on one of the ridges.
Great sunset at Walsenburg!
The entrance of the Royal Gorge.  If you zoom in you can kind of see the bridge across it.  The bridge is 1000' above the river below...a must see!
In the far background is Pikes Peak!
I don't know if it is possible to zoom in on this one, but it is a picture of a Chemical Weapons storage base outside of Pueblo.
This is really cool!  See the triangle in the bottom right?  It is a WWII Auxiliary Training Airfield for B-25s and B-24s South of Lake Meredith, CO
Taking a lower look...Farm equipment on each leg of it and some large wooden posts driven on the ends of each runway, but concrete is still there...6000' long legs!!!
What it looked like in 1945...It had a control tower and maintenance shed in the middle, they are gone now.
Well, it is a lot of fun!  I'm still working out numbers for you guys...I keep adjusting things and it changes everything.
See ya,
Ron

another question...
I decided to try slipping the Magnum to loose some altitude.  I had the left wing low, pushing the stick forward and left, then pushed in right rudder. To my surprise the airplane began not just doing a slip, but the nose of the plane kept turning right to the point that I was looking down the wing at the point I was headed toward...probably turned 70-80 degrees to my flight path!  It felt like it would have gone further!
I have never experienced that in an airplane before...most of the time you cram as  much rudder in as possible.
Is this normal for Avids?
 
Thanks,
Ron

Hey Guys,
I have logged about 15 hours on my Magnum...it has been a lot of fun figuring everything out, but I am at the point that I think I need to make adjustments and need your advice.
First, I believe the tail is flying too low and that the horizontal stabilizer leading edge needs to be raised up.  The reasons I think this is needed is the fact that I am flying around with full "up" trim (Trim tab all the way down), I also am experiencing strange rudder flight characteristics with yaw and no roll with rudder deflection.  I think this is due to the rudder authority being washed out by the prop.
So do you think lifting the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer is a move in the right direction?
 
Thanks,
Ron