eastmeg2

Hi SD, Thanks for your words of encouragement.:thumb_up: There seemed to be no shortage of threads of people building their own 3-axis ultralights, but no one building a trike and I'm happy to be the first on this site to put a trike building project into a thread. Speaking with Airborne yesterday, they suggested I bring the Buzzard back to the factory before I cut any metal. I've emailed them the 3 photo's in my previous post. I have to take it there to get new rear suspension bungees fitted anyway. Still don't have a wing for it yet but have been told by Airborne that the Arrow-II wing is actually is an Airborne wing (Moyes sail on an Airborne wing structure) and it is a trike wing, not an adapted HG wing. So I'll collect the Arrow-II wing that was offered with the Buzzard and see if Airborne think it can be salvaged with an overhaul. (Yes I have a GRS on my XT, and will be putting it on the Buzzard) Cheers, Glen

Hi Bill, As you will see in the attached photo's there isn't any scope for moving the fuel tank. That's the original Buzzard tank in the photo's, I'm still waiting for the much newer tank from the local Quicksilver Ultralight dealer. The rear of the seat frame is attached to the mast, so the length of the seat frame and where it attaches to the base tube determines the angle of the mast WRT the base tube. So to move the hang point forward I need to either shorten the seat frame to keep the pilots distance to the footpegs the same, or move the front of the seat forward. Cheers, Glen

I finally got around to doing a hang test yesterday afternoon (including pilot in seat). Boy was I shocked to see the rear wheels 100mm off the ground before the front wheel started lifting. I seem to remember some "Old Salts" of pilots who'd flown Buzzards before mentioning that they tended to do "3-Point" landings, (as opposed to later, more evolved trike designs which land the rear wheels first) but this was rediculous !!! ;-( I have no intention of flying a trike that wants to land nose wheel first every time. I thought up some theories about force vectors and how the trike base interacts with the wing but in the end realised the only real definitive way to get through this problem is to do a comparitive hang test on a trike base known to have good manners. So we did a hang test on our Edge-X 582 trike base. The result was the front wheel was 100mm off the ground as the rear wheels start to lift. HHHMMMMM !!!!! Back to the drawing board . . . DEEP in thought as I went for walks and installed a couple of trivial things like steering damper, exhaust safety wire, connected the brake cable. To raise the nose in the hang test the hang point must move forwards. I made up a frame That bolted to the hang point at the top of the mast and was held down at the front by rope to the front of the base tube. I inserted a bolt a various distances forward of the heart bolt hole as the "new" hang point for testing. A "new" hang point 150mm forward of the heart bolt hole gave what I deemed to be an acceptable result of the nose wheel being 50mm off the ground before the rear wheels lifted. Although this is only half the height achieved by our Stock-Standard Edge-X 582, there is some more weight yet to be added to the rear of the Buzzard, namely propellor, battery, regulator, carbs, bucket of lead ;-) Also of note is that the mast angle from vertical is only about 11 degrees, compared to about 18 degrees on the Edge-X 582. I haven't made the changes yet as I want a week to think about it and seek guidance and feedback first from others who have owned, flown, modified Buzzards. Contributing factors: 1. Tundra tyres and forks hold the front of the trike 105mm higher and the rear of the trike 30mm higher. In the hang test that puts the front tyre 75mm closer to the ground before the back wheels lift, compared to the original Buzzard tyres and forks. 2. The Rotax 503 engine is lighter than the original Rotax 532 + radiator + coolant (??? I think). My solution: Making the seat frame 40mm shorter and shortening the front brace tube to suit will bring the top of the mast forward by 155mm. That doesn't affect the seat space for the pilot, only for what was originally a passenger seat space and as a Buzzard can only be rego'ed as a single seater these days that slight loss of "rear seat" space is no longer an issue. The new Edge-X mast and front brace tube (modified) are the same dimensions as the original Buzzard items so the result of the first hang test yesterday was a big suprise. However, with the different (Tundra) tyres and forks and lighter engine some change should have been expected. Photo's of hang tests will be posted in the next few days, have to wait for them to be emailed to me. Suggestions and comments are welcome . . . Cheers, Glen

There are a number of "Dual Fuel" camping stoves on the market that can use ULP and Avgas. Might be worth considering since you then don't need to carry the extra fuel for the stove, just take a small amount out of your fuel drain before cooking. The small amount needed for an evenings cooking (<200mL) shouldn't affect your flight planning.

Looks very much like a Skyfox with VG's. Is that a valid comparison or are there big differences under the skin?

Ozzie's post just got me wondering whether float plane pilots look for mountain lakes with a waterfall leading into a valley just in case they need a bit of gravity assistance for take off ;-) Something similar was mentioned about airstrips high in the mountains in a similar thread somewhere . . .

So it was you I saw south of Goulburn heading towards Braidwood, Sunday morning I think. Grabbed the binoculars to have a look and was able to see your yellow aircraft and narrow it down to being a Thruster or X-Air.

There was no progress on the Queens Birthday long weekend (6th-8th June) as we were too busy having friends over for a bonfire and being merry. This weekend just gone (13th, 14th June) I've started on the electrics, installing the EGT and CHT probes. Cabled and wired the probes as well as the other engine electrics (Tacho wire, Dual ignition kill wires and dual ground cables) to the front of the trike. But have not terminated them into the panel or switches yet as I'm still waiting on an hour meter and am still trying to decide whether to mount the ignition switches on the side of the seat frame like airborne do on their current model trikes, or mount them on the binacle dash panel. I am leaning towards mounting the ignition switches on the dash panel. I just think it will be a tidier option for this trike. The electrical cables still look rather messy along the side of the trike as I wont be cable tying them to the frame until I also have the throttle and choke cables installed and will tie them all together in one neat bundle, I hope. Cheers, Glen

That reminds me of something Brian Milton said in the video doco of his world circumnavigation in a Pegasus 912 trike in the late 90's. Something along the lines of saying that Rotax had said that a 912 can run for up to an hour without coolant provided the oil temperature does not exceed 140c. Not something I'd care to test myself and I've not been able to find anything supporting that claim in any Rotax literature. Has anyone else heard this, or even better documented anywhere?

That must mean you're a Left-Wing Extremist, Peter a Right-Wing Extremist, and Sarah somewhere in between.;) The best High-Wing aircraft immune to your leanings would naturally be a trike.:thumb_up: Cheers, Glen

Some good progress was made this weekend with plenty of bits having arrived from Airborne last week. The Tundra Forks and front axle-wheel-brake assembly was completed and fitted to the front of the trike. To aid this, the best method of installing new wheel bearing was discovered. ( By pre-heating the aluminium wheel to 200c in the oven and chilling the new bearings to -18c in the freezer, they simply dropped into place without any further mechanical encouragement being required). :thumb_up: Gearbox oil was sourced at Supercheap according to the Rotax manual specifications and the required 120mL was put in. The gearbox plug was inserted in the top and safety wired. The exhaust system came back powder-coated last week and was installed onto the motor with the required high temperature anti-seize carbon grease in the joints and the springs were safety wired. Seat belt was fitted to the base tube and fed through the seat. The Instrument binacle pod was fitted properly this time by being bolted to the base tube with all the tidy saddles and bolt caps from Airborne. Instruments have been fitted into the panel which is separate and I'm still waiting for a good altimeter which is a couple of weeks away. Am back to trying to source a replacement fuel tank from Quicksilver within the next month. Failing that, the alternative is to get a new fibreglass tank made up which will be more expensive but would allow for an increase in capacity over the 25 litres of the old tank, using the old tank as a guide. Might be an idea to check what marine tanks are available. Cheers, Glen

The instruments did arrive last week so I had a bit of fun mounting them in the panel which I had brought home with me. Only the Altimeter had an issue with the QNH subscale being out by 25 hectopascals (750ft error), so it's been sent back to the shop for calibration. Have not got around to wiring or plumbing anything yet (The REAL FUN part). Am waiting for the exhaust system to come back powdercoated so I can put it back on and screw in the EGT sensors. The seat cushion was sourced from Airborne as it became clear that any one-off duplication of the original Buzzard seat was going to cost just as much, if not more. So the Edge-X seat cushion has now been fitted in the seat frame and bolted back on. The pilots backrest has also been mounted on the base tube using the Edge-X trike next to it as a guide on how far back to mount it. Yes !!! It all fitted . . . :big_grin: So Sunday 24th May I've been able to sit in the pilots seat for the first time, with the tundra forks and tyres mounted. It's certainly not as roomy as the XT with the front brace tube being closer to the pilots head and a bit more bend in the knees. Airborne have got my exhaust back from the powder-coaters today and will be sending it this week along with extra bits I need to fit the seatbelt, complete the Tundra front undercarriage assembly (Including brakes with parking lock) and mount the exhaust system. Was a bit short for time since I stopped by Wollongong Airport on Saturday to check on some unwanted Wizard wings there. So didn't end up taking any photo's. Next weekend should show some more good result worthy of an exposure. Cheers, Glen

Have been and checked Tralee air strip on the ground a year or 2 ago. All of the above rings true from what I remember being told at the time. It would seem the only opportunity for RAA aircraft would be outside Canberra Tower hours, when Canberra airspace reverts to G-Class but I think we'd all find that a bit too restrictive. Also abserved a number of Pax Jets arriving and departing at less than 1000ft AGL only a km or 2 east of the field.

I'd tend to think that replacing just 1 blade wouldn't work at all. However, if it's the 4 bladed prop you're talking about, it might be possible to replace just 2 blades - the damaged one and the opposite one to maintain balance. But this does rely on the assumption that Brolga balanced opposing blades rather than all 4 as a unit. Cheers, Glen

Thanks Bilby, but I did use the word "Budget" in the title of this thread. I was thinking the sub $500 mark for the radio in the Buzzard trike.

Hi Brent, You're quite right about it being a hand-held, though it has the appeal of being able to be panel mounted too. The Delcom website gives the dimensions of the radio only being 1.5 inches x 2.5 inches x 5 inches without the battery. I'd estimate the battery would add another 4 inches to its length to make it 9 inches long. But it seems that for around the same price a Vertex hand-held will be a better proposition being water resistant, more powerful and having dual frequency watch capability. So I may take John's advice when it comes time to get a radio for the Buzzard. Cheers, Glen

I'm looking for a budget panel mount radio to put in the Buzzard trike I'm restoring. It's seems that the Declom Air960 is the only radio that fits this category. Delta Aircraft Leasing Ltd Reason I'm looking to a panel mount radio, rather than attaching a handheld is that the the Buzzard cockpit will have no floor and I'd prefer not to lose a radio. Or, if anyone else has experience with using a handheld in a really open trike like a Redback or Outback I'd appreciate any tips and might consider a Vertex instead. I have a thread running on the restoration project at: http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/trikes/25428-buzzard-trike-restoration.html Cheers, Glen

Back from my week of Flying & Buying We had a great week away last week flying around western NSW. As we disembarked from our Trikes at one of the airports my co-pilot mentioned I should look around for the pilot shop at that airport to see if I could get a better deal on Instruments for my Buzzard. After a short walk I found the shop, introduced myself to the manager there and listed what I wanted. This shop had everything I needed at a better price than I'd been quoted elsewhere,:thumb_up: so I put in my order to be posted to me at home this week. So now I'm waiting for all these things to arrive so I can bolt them into my binacle instrument panel. ASI 20 to 80 kts ALT -1,000 to 20,000ft Dual EGT + sensors Dual CHT + sensors Tachometer Hobbs (Hour) meter (On back-order) Cheers, Glen:chuffed:

So far my mid air emergencies have all been of the bladder kind. I hope to keep it that way. 4 years ago while flying from Wagga to Yarrawonga the pressure built to a point where I just had to land and irrigate some lucky farmers paddock.(Pretty easy in a trike). Only other thing that comes close was when at 3500ft transitting over the top of Taree airport and I heard I blip from the motor. Looking back I saw my wifes hair band in the void behind the trike. I waited until after we landed to ask where her hair band was to confirm what I saw. It had somehow slipped out from under her helmet and gone through the prop. No damage done, but the hair band was lost.

Suprisingly I made it to the farm again this weekend, even after having been up to Taree on Saturday morning. But that's because I went to Taree with my friend in his C172 and we landed back at Camden around 1pm. That's another story. We collected the Tundra tyres and 1 rim from my friends hangar at Taree, but somehow couldn't make the Wizard wing fit in or on the C172 for the return trip. The 2 rear wheels on the Buzzard now wear the Tundra tyres and look much better also because I gave the rims some polishing before fitting the new tyres. I'm still waiting on the Outback Tundra Forks from Airborne so the original Buzzard front tyre still lives at the pointy end. The Tundra tyre did not fit in the Original Buzzard forks. We tried . . . Airborne seemed a bit concerned that the standard Redback exhaust would clash with the Buzzard engine mount, so some photo's were taken to demonstrate this would not occur and emailed to Airborne tonight. So they can go ahead and weld the Redback muffler mount brackets to my exhaust and send it for power coating. Alas, I'm away flying the XT-912 from next weekend though to the following one so will be too busy flying to tinker with the Buzzard for the next couple of weekends. Cheers, Glen

Phew, thanks

A lot of recreational pilots including myself seem to have purchased the GME 410G ELT. I'm not entirely sure this unit meets all the the criteria set out in CAR252A set out in the previous post. For example: (5) To be an approved ELT, an eligible ELT must meet the following requirements: (a) it must be automatically activated on impact; If that is the case then I think it has been a rather poor showing by CASA to wait until after we have all gone and spent $600 or more on a new ELT before changing the rules to say they are not good enough. GRRRRR!!!!!!! Glen

My Buzzard now sports a brand new mast and front brace tube. The FUN part was pre-stretching the internal safety cable with about 300kg of force and locking it in place with the tubular bush through which the bolt goes which connects it to the plates either side which bolt onto the base tube. It's a "Back bone connects to the Hip Bone" song kind of thing.:star: Thanks to the rack on the quad bike, a few stray lumps of wood, a 5ft steel pipe lever, some big D-bolts and a 2nd pair of hands, the pre-stretching of the cable became possible and was uneventful. Some basic geometry was engaged to ensure the hangpoint stayed in the same place to avoid trike type COG issues. Basically, if the 3 sides of one triangle are the same length as the 3 sides of another triangle, then you're looking at 2 identical triangles. The front brace tube needed one extra hole drilled and the old hole cannot be accessed with the seat frame locked in place. The rear suspension swing arms were re-installed and the front seat mount was bolted back on and seat frame mounted to it. Looks much better now with a bit of strategically placed paint.:thumb_up: I'm a bit concerned about whether the Tundra forks will fit on the Buzzard base tube and am just awaiting a reply from someone who has restored a Buzzard before and seems to have replaced the forward section of their Base Tube with an Edge-X part.(That's right, I'm not the first) Anyway, I did end up visiting Airborne on Friday morning. I realised that I'd be spending my next 3 weekends elsewhere and resolved to get as much done as I possibly could this weekend. The weather forecast for next weekend looks good so hopefully my friend will be flying his Cessna to his property near Taree and I'll be coming home from there with some more good bits for the Buzzard. Namely a Wizard Wing and some Tundra Tyres & Tubes and a possibly a detailed design of rear wheel drum brakes for trikes, if not an actual kit or an undertaking to make another set for me . . . :big_grin: Cheers, Glen

I can appreciate your problem. I personally wouldn't want anyone handling my trike who has not been trained on trikes.

I take it your wife doe not have an account to log in and see this, or maybe you really do like sleeping on the couch. And why do you make them think we can't count past 1 by making every rule #1 ???