Superpup/Aeropup

[Guest Birdman]

Changed the paint scheme on you machine eh David?

 

 

[ducksrus]

Paul, I used MEK. Couldn't find the Eposolv 70 anywhere. Scotch brite the ally sufaces then clean with MEK.

 

Regards

 

Ducky

 

 

[vk3eod]

Thanks Ducky.

 

I have cut all my short ribs - made up a jig and it worked a treat.

 

Just about to glue my first capstrip together! It will be good to have one assembled part (have a look at my website).

 

My glue arrived today. It is good that I will be able to get it locally.

 

Regards,

 

Paul

 

 

[Mark]

Hi Paul,

 

I have not been at this site for a few days however I am making progress on the wings. I have also posted some photos on a blog at http://marksaeropup.blogspot.com I glued the spars to the rib on the right wing this week and am now working out how to drill the holes for the bracing pockets. I found it took quite a long time to get all the ribs assembled, painted etc. I have found Paul McGuire at Aviation Parts & Equipment (Ph 0297962733) very helpful and excellent service for supply of materials.

 

Happy building,

 

Mark

 

 

[Brett]

Hey mark ,,,Have you thought much about the fitting of the aerovee into the cowl ? I Was always quite determined about fitting the jab motor to mine but have been having a good think about the aerovee now after talking to JC about it.There is a huge difference in price as you'd know and seeing as the jury is still out on the issues with jab motors I wonder if the extra $10 000 is worth it

 

 

[Mark]

Hi Brett,

 

No Brett, I have not considered how it will fit inside the cowl however I expect a bit of fibreglass work will sort things out. My biggest concern is the engine mount. Paul has also contacted me re the aerovee and if it became a popular engine option then maybe JC could be persuaded to manufacture the mount as an option to buyers. I think the motor offers affordable 80 hp in a simple robust motor. The kit is well supported with manual, DVD etc and Sonex proved very good to deal with. It took 6 months from ordering to receiving by sea freight. You need to add approximately AU$2000 to the US$ price for exchange rate and freight.

 

Regards,

 

Mark

 

 

[vk3eod]

Guys,

 

What type of rivert puller have you guys used or are using. Aviaquip have recomended a US industrals unit at $360.

 

Paul

 

 

[Brett]

Well guys ,,I finally bit the bullet about an engine and have placed an order for the aerovee. Hopefully will be a good thing ;)

 

 

[Brett]

This should probably be in the engines section but seeing as 2 of us at least are going to be running this motor I just stuck it in here. Just a bit of a blog about building an aerovee motor..Some good photos and a bit about what not to do with the head studs.http://meyersfamily.org/sonexlog75/index.html

 

 

[Mark]

Good one Brett,

 

I am sure we will be able to make things work out well.

 

Mark

 

 

[Guest Curandero]

Curandero here to report satisfactory progress in achieving stall speeds. Sorry to take so long to post this. If anyone is interested in the speeds or why I had trouble with them, please post a quick reply and I'll put them all down next week.

 

 

[Brett]

would love to know what you found out ,,,,any info on it would be great..glad to hear you had success

 

 

[ducksrus]

Good to hear, I was getting a bit worried. I now have my Aeropup in the hangar @ Caboolture, just waiting on RA Aus to give me the ok and I will begin mt flight test phase.

 

For any one who is interested, I spilled fuel on both doors (Makrolon polycarbonate) and it ate into it before my very eyes. I have since found out that fuel and polycarbonate don't mix. I have now removed the Makrolon from the doors (only) and replaced it with cast acrylic (perspex). Before you work with either polycarbonate or acrylic, google search the "Perspex handbook". There are quite a few tricks working with this stuff to get a good job that won't crack around the rivet holes etc. If you take care and follow the guide it works out well. Main points are to blunten both cutting tips on the drill and use very light pressure at fairly high speed to let the drill bit sort of melt its way through, rather than cut. Also this material expands and contracts a lot, so a much larger hole with a spacer, so the rivet doesn't stop the material from finding its own equillibrium. I used nylex tubing as the spacer.

 

One more point of interest, I feel that the nylex fuel level sight tube could be better as the fuel did affect it first time I put fuel in the tanks, so I don't think it's going to last too long. I found a product called "Tygothane" which is a clear ester based urethane and apparently is very rugged and totally fuel proof. Don't know of a supplier in Aust but can buy through "ultralightnews.com" in Canada. I don't know of anything else suitable for fuel.

 

Ducky

 

 

[Knighty]

Hi Curandero

 

2 weeks is nearly up, all of us are patiently waiting for your report.

 

Cheers

 

Knighty

 

 

[ducksrus]

Hi All,

 

I did my first test flight on Sat and all went well, have since put a couple of hours on it. The only noticable problems are oil temp a bit high (Jab engine), so I am tweaking the lower cowl openings & exits to get that right, it needs right rudder trim, the fuel tank sight tubes need a restrictor orifice in each tube to stop air being sucked into the fuel lines during turns.

 

Other than that, all ok so far. Now that I have done lots of high speed taxi tests and a few takeoffs & landings they are quite easy and i have got a good feel for it.

 

Ducky

 

 

[ducksrus]

G'day everyone,

 

Since my last post I have now got 13 engine hours up and 8 hours flying time. I have explored the stall and flap use and all is good. At almost all up weight the clean stall came in at 44 kts, 10 degres flap 43 kts, 20 degrees flap 42 kts. The stall is very gentle and tends to want to "unstall itself" is soon as it occurs.

 

The ailerons are very very responsive, so until you get used to it you are all over the place, I'm used to it now. My oil temp is still sitting at the top side of the green band, so a bit more tweaking of the cowl openings req'd and the cht is in the green band at 325 degrees F.

 

So far I have done about a dozen landings and at the moment I need to really fly it on and pin it with forward stick as soon it touches. The landing gear shock absorpsion works well.

 

Anyway, off to Narromine now, hope to see some of you there.

 

Regards

 

Ducky

 

aka Steve Donald Mob 0421603175

 

 

[Brett]

Great to hear you have it flying :thumb_up: How did you find the plane for cruise speed Steve?

 

Would be nice to hear from curandero about how his retesting went ,,,,,,

 

 

[ducksrus]

I am doing speed checks now and at about 2600 rpm she is coming in at between 81 and 85 kts. I will do some more to pin it down to exact figures. ( That's with the Jab 4 cyl and a 60 " X 42 " jab prop). I'm only getting 2700 rpm static so I suspect I'm not getting full HP out of the engine just yet, also I haven't yet fitted my wheel spats so another knot or two there. Potentially with spats and full HP 85 - 90 kts should be acheivable.

 

I have a good feel for the aircraft now and have modified my t/off & landing tecnique where I am holding the tail down longer on the takeoff roll for better directional stability (all wheels on the ground) then lift the tail and she still lifts off in about 200 meters. The landing roll I am using full flap (20 degrees) about 55 - 60 kts over the fence and do a 3 pointer. In this config she touches down beautifully every time. Iv'e got 20 hours on her now and starting to venture futher away from home base, just got some minor oil cooling and radio issues to sort out.

 

Ducky

 

 

[kevinfrost]

Ducky, your cruise figures are around the same as Curanderos, he also has a max rev problem, was able to get max revs with a 60x38 prop but performance was much the same. Landing and take off tecnique was much as you stated. Best we could do 2 up was43Kts full flap for stall........Frosty

 

 

[ducksrus]

Hey Frosty, is curandero running a Jab 4 cyl also ? did he originally have a 60x42 prop but change to a 38" pitch ? I sat in brand new J170 the other day and we were only getting 2750 RPM out of it, same engine, same prop. Michael at jabiru said he would llike to see at least 2750 rpm as a minimum.

 

Ducky

 

 

[kevinfrost]

Ducky, Curandero smacked up his first prop and it wasn't till he relpaced it with a 60x42 that he realised the original fitted was a 60x38 and yes he is running a 2.2 Jab.

 

I did get 2950 to 3000rpm with the 60x38. Not a lot of difference in the top end though.

 

 

[ducksrus]

Frosty, when you say "not a lot of difference in the top end though" , do you mean that cruise speed was similar with either prop ? I'm just wondering if I were to fit a 38" pitch, how much it would affect cruise speed. Takeoff roll performance should be better ?

 

Ducky.

 

 

[Brett]

Woohoo ,,, finally received the wing kit yesterday ,,so am biting at the bit to get started.

 

Will start this weekend and have booked a weeks holiday to try and get a bit done also. :thumb_up:

 

 

[Mark]

Good news Brett, where do you think you will start?

 

Mark

 

 

[Brett]

well I hadn't really thought about it to be honest. I just figured I'd have to start with the wing ribs like you guys did....