What's the Lowest cost 'useable' aircraft you've seen ?

[Guernsey]

You'll get multi-function keys once Northern Hemisphere technology filters down to you Southerners in twenty years time

P.S I think alt+156 (156 on the right numpad) should give you the £££££££££££££

You'll get multi-function keys once Northern Hemisphere technology filters down to you Southerners in twenty years time

P.S I think alt+156 (156 on the right numpad) should give you the £££££££££££££

By golly jeepers you're right, I just tried it.....£££.

 

Alan.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I often see the Minimax come up for about £1k

Popular little plane that one mate. We've had a few of them at our field over the last few years, one of them was painted up in USAF livery and looked really good. We only have one left now, built by my Mate Phil, who likes building stuff. He drives a homebuilt three wheeler car which has a Honda CX650 motorcycle engine exposed at the front, single wheel at the rear, ( can't remember the name of the car ) his Minimax has a Rotax 447 aircooled unit. I have not flown Phil's aircraft, but I hope he's fitted a pitch trimmer to it,. . one of the earlier ones didn't have trim, and on full power, the stick hits you in the gonads and you need positive forward pressure in the climb until the revs are reduced !

 

Anyway, when you're living within range, you'll be able to pop in and see all these wonderful contraptions for yourself ! !

 

Phils Minimax.

 

 

[onetrack]

What were those Minimax blokes thinking, with the AeroMax? That good ole boys who like riding astride the Harley, would just love to do the same style of ridin' your Hog, in an aircraft?? Yee-Haaa!!

 

I can't imagine what the buffeting must be like, at cruise speed!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKoI71fB2tY

 

 

[Litespeed]

The solution to the Hummelbirds lack of Hp is simple enough.

 

A Verner V3 has 45hp genuine and 37hp at cruise and would look damn cool, comes with electric start and is reasonably priced compared to the Half VW.

 

Or even better would be the Pegasus 0-100 with 60hp and still similar weight to the VW. approx $6000 US.

 

With the Pegasus the performance would be a huge improvement.

 

Or a Hirth F23 twin with gearbox would work well.

 

A Rotax 582 would give plenty of grunt.

 

The radial cowl in the video looks great and can cover any of these above engines and hide the two stroke exhaust. And give better streamlining at the same time.

 

I have always hankered after a 'Bird but not with a Half VW.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

What were those Minimax blokes thinking, with the AeroMax? That good ole boys who like riding astride the Harley, would just love to do the same style of ridin' your Hog, in an aircraft?? Yee-Haaa!!I can't imagine what the buffeting must be like, at cruise speed!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKoI71fB2tY

No good for UK flying mate,. . .you'd end up with a wet bum and no fish. . .

 

 

[spacesailor]

The best motor for the HB is the McCulloch four cylinder two stroke!

 

But you have to be observant of Not exceeding the VNH.

 

Also have to have extra wing-tanks for it's excessive Thirst!.

 

It's all been done, and still they're built with more 1/2 VW than any other motor.

 

And in more country's. There was more than 16 builder's in Australia, one with a Jabiru 1,600 litre.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[Litespeed]

How would the McCulloch go for reliability and getting parts? It makes max power at 4400rpm- seems very fast.

 

How well did the little Jabiru work out? Was it too heavy?

 

 

[facthunter]

That's not High RPM's for a two stroke. Noisy and thirsty. Nev

 

 

[mnewbery]

SDplanes | SD-1 Minisport

 

Rotax or slightly modified Briggs/Kohler engines are chosen. Videos are worth a look

 

 

[facthunter]

AS well as Kohler. Nev

 

 

[mnewbery]

More...

 

Not in production yet but...

 

This one has a custom half O-200. They called it the O-100 engine, using ECi parts:

 

OSHKOSH 2016 UPDATE | Pegasus O-100 Model: DP-1 Engine Kit

 

 

 

[facthunter]

Yeah. Was considering knocking up one like that myself. All tried and proven parts without the overloaded centre bearing. Must be dry sumped and looks like a mock up at that stage. Nev

 

 

[mnewbery]

The sump is 3 quarts but its custom for the buyers' application

 

 

[Litespeed]

That's not High RPM's for a two stroke. Noisy and thirsty. Nev

Nev,

 

I meant it would be fast for a prop not for the engine.

 

 

[facthunter]

OK but Schneider trophy planes used fixed pitch props at over 300 Knots. Nev

 

 

[spacesailor]

Litespeed

 

There's No spare's or parts for the Jabiru 1600. Jabiru doesn't want to know about there existence.

 

Any thoughts about a 1/2 Jab motor?, should get get almost the same as a 1/2 VW.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[facthunter]

A half Jab motor was tried. I don't know why they bothered . It vibrated .The cylinder offset is too much for a twin. Nev

 

 

[Litespeed]

I think I would rather use a existing engine and enjoy the airtime.

 

My thought on the 4,000 plus rpm would be needing a very small prop so climb would suffer.

 

 

[spacesailor]

LoL, knew it wouldn't perform as good as the Lllong developed 1/2 VW,

 

Nitrocil (spelling) cylinder, slipper piston,fuel injection, etc, etc.

 

Above my purse.

 

spacesailor

 

 

[spacesailor]

And I forgot!, Electronic ignition.

 

No more heavy Magneto.

 

Just a Heavy battery!

 

spacesailor