Soleair

Thanks for that Aviator engine link. In fact, I spoke to a guy from that company at the Narromine show. I'm sure the engine has great potential, but I was disappointed to be told the price would be in the order of $10,000. So no advantage over Rotax there :( And of course it is still very early in its development. Does look very well made. Maybe one for my next project - assuming the costs can be kept in hand.

Apparently Hirth had a cooling related problem a few years ago which did a lot of harm to their reputation. But they seem to have learnt from this, and our Merkan cousins now rate the F23 quite highly. I guess it's a case of "give a dog a bad name. . ." However, Hirth are evidently not keen to do business over here. I have written to them twice asking for price & shipping information , and they have chosen not to reply. So if I do go this route, I will have to import from the States. Crazy - from Germany to USA to Oz! MZ on the other hand are very helpful. So there are alternatives to the ludicrously overpriced Rotax range.

Minimax does it for me. Low & slow, fun to build, trailerable, very affordable. I don't have any great desire to hurtle round the stratosphere in a hot plastic bubble glued to a panel. What I want is to putter round the sky in the calm air of dawn or dusk in an open cockpit and live the experience. Bit like the difference between a hot hatchback saloon car and a motorbike. Just a shame the Minimax isn't a 2 seater, but at least I won't be dragging an empty seat around half the time.

Lifelong - and still current - biker. Started on scooters in the 60's, then onto bikes. Amongst others: Royal Enfield Bullet; BSA 500; Honda 550 -4K; Kawasaki ER5; Honda VFR 750; Suzuki DRZ 400; another Honda VFR 750. Current bike is a Kawasaki KLR 650. Best bike of those I've ridden was the VFR(s) - I rode over 100,000km on the two of them, and I had one up to an indicated 252 kph. Superb engineering. Bruce

I plan to start my MiniMax build early this year, but I'm still researching engines. Front runners at the moment are the Hirth F23 and the MZ-201 Both are in the 45 - 50 hp range, both fairly low revving for 2-strokes, with the MZ particularly impressive at a quoted 45hp at 4700 rpm, both offer dual ignition, & both are a similar weight when fully fitted (around 30 kg). So pretty even on paper, though I have to say I love the look of the Hirth's boxer format, & I'm guessing this would be a lower vibration arrangement. Hirth quote 1000 hours TBO, which is impressive to say the least. It must be true because it says so on their website:yikes: I'm enquiring about the MZ TBO, but at 625cc and 4700 rpm max, it would have to be a low stressed lump. So - has anybody flown with either of these engines? Or even better, both? (Bit unlikely that last, but hey, worth an ask!) Happy landings for 2014 Bruce

Blimey! That was quick. Thanks, guys, I'll check these recommendations. I would prefer streamlined for the struts (though design calls for diameters given): I'll look into it. Many thanks Bruce

Anyone know a good supplier for aluminium tube? Specifically, I'm looking for strut material, both 1" x 0.058" (17swg) and 1.25"x 0.058". Grade is 6061-T6, but 6082-T6 or equivalent would be acceptable. The suppliers I've found so far don't give grades, so could be recycled beer cans for all I know. . . All input gratefully received. Bruce

What, you're thinking of building a shed, Planedriver? My local club can sort me with hoursbuilding, thanks Sean. I'm going to spread it out over Summer to keep me inspired. Also, if I get my licence back too soon, I'll want to go flying instead of building!

Still building the shed to build the plane in so it's early days yet. But I plan to build a MiniMax.

Great, thanks for that Shaun. It's on my (secret) list now

Thanks, Jason - good suggestion on the thicknesser. I already have a semi half decent table saw, also a router & table. Might have a trial run thicknessing with the router, but there's several kilometres of wood to do, so will prolly buy a thicknesser. Which thicknesser do you use? My local Bunnings does the Ryobi & Ozito cheapies (at $400 - 450). Are these any good do you know? Cheers Bruce

Nah - bit far for me from midwest NSW! I think the regs say you only need 5 hours to validate a UK PPL; I was just asking James if that had been his experience. But I've got Caboolture on my list to fly to when I'm airborn again, as long as they don't mind very small homebuilts.

Hi James - congrats on your RA licence. I've recently moved here from the UK. I have a UK PPL (earned at Sandown, Isle of Wight), albeit out of currency. I'm told I only need 5 hours to convert to an RA permit. Is that all you needed? How current were you? happy landings Bruce

Great, thanks guys. Maybe I'll try & get it sent in a cardboard box to avoid quarantine (unless They fear an outbreak of cardboard disease from nasty foreign stuff). Don't know who the shipping is with - just a price I was quoted on enquiry. Early days yet, but I'm trying to do some detailed costings so I know the magnitude of the lie I need to invent for my wife.

Great, thanks guys. Seems hoop pine could be the way to go, but I'll need to do some brief calcs to see what sort of weight penalty that implies. I might go with spruce if your supplier is reasonable though Scotty. Jason, did you have to personally select your hoop pine from Pacific Boatcraft, or were you able to order wood of suitable quality (grain runout, knot free, etc) just by telling them what you needed? I'm planning to build a MiniMax. But before I can do that, I need to build a good size shed - present one is way too cramped. So for the past 6 weeks I've been preparing a 6x6 metre base - levelling site, digging footings, then laying hardcore from the creek bed. 5 cubic metres of concrete booked for Tuesday, flatpack shed already here. THEN I can start getting down to some proper work. I can seal the floor & insulate the shed while I'm waiting for timber deliveries. Oh, and make the workbench, etc. Long process, this aircraft building. . .

Thanks for your replies. I looked into hoop pine, seems it's good for longerons but not suitable for bending. So I guess I'll follow Scotty's lead & try ordering direct from AS&S in the States. Thanks Scotty. Bruce

Does anyone here have personal experience of importing aircraft grade timber from the USA (specifically from Aircraft Spruce & Speciality)? If so, how much more does this cost than their published US prices, and is there any major hassle from customs as regards importing timber? Many thanks Bruce

Has anyone using this excellent site personally imported an aero engine, either from the USA or Europe? If so, would they be kind enough to give an idea of costs & hassle factor with Australian customs? I am looking at a new engine from Italy, starting out at around 2k euros, plus 300 euros shipping to Sydney. I would collect it from there. Does anyone know the real cost this is likely to finish up at? I have researched the government site on costs, & gather there are various charges plus the inevitable 10% Greedy Added Tax. But any enlightenment on this would be gratefully received. cheers Bruce

I was privileged to know one of those 'Spitfire Women" . She is Mary Ellis (the one who told the story about her & her mate landing from opposites ends of the runway & meeting in the middle). I flew quite a lot with her husband Don Ellis in the mid '80s, and even had dinner with them - a lovely couple. During a microlight fly-in at the airfield where they lived, I did a dead stick landing from 1000' in my homebuilt and Mary came up to me afterwards to describe it as 'a beautiful landing' . Praise indeed!!

Wow! Those planes are just so beautiful. Bet they wouldn't need much power to push them along, either. Why aren't SLMG more popular?

On another topic, if you're interested in homebuilding & in particular engines, see my VW rant in the Firewall Forward forum.

There is much excitement regarding a potential new aero engine on this forum. And rightly so, considering the outrageous price of Rotax engines. Their ubiquitous 80 h.p plus engine series is priced at this exorbitant level because there really just isn't much competition. But one of the most popular homebuilt designs in the States was for many years the Evans Volksplane VP - 1 & -2. If you look at the plans for these aircraft they use an almost unmodified VW donk. Replacing the distributor with a magneto; a bit of re-jigging on the inlet manifold; some stubby exhausts, and minimal machining of the flywheel to convert to a prop hub, and that's about it - go flying! So why must I now spend vast amounts of hard-earned modifying a standard Beetle engine, having already overhauled it fully? Last price I saw was over $7k for the add-ons, putting the engine cost up there with a Scrotex 582 2-stroke. "Dual ignition" I hear. Why? Yes, maybe in the old days of dirty oils & dynamo driven ignition systems. But since the advent of electronic breakerless CDI systems, hands up anyone who's had an ignition failure on their car that would have been prevented with a dual system. And what constitutes dual redundancy anyway? Two magnetos driven off the same shaft? So what else is so essential that I need to spend so much on a well proven (if inefficient) simple, robust air cooled engine with collectively more hours in the field by several orders of magnitude than any Scrotex 912 diamond encrusted dollar guzzler. Keep It Simple Stupid: why do we need all these mods to a straightforward engine today when so many flew so successfully for so many years before the age of committee rule? Right, I'd better go and lie down now. It's nearly time for my medication. Bruce

Igloo sounds good, but I'm not sure the airfield would be overjoyed. Particularly if I laid a concrete slab It's true wood comes up beautifully when coated with clear West epoxy. I did that on a dinghy I built once, & it looked superb. But I wouldn't do it on a plane because of the weight. Wood is excellent for strength to weight, but coated in epoxy & fibreglass it would lose much of it's advantage over ally or composites. That's prolly why plans call for varnish, where most of the solvent evaporates. So it's back to researching wooden planes with genuinely deriggable wings. I gather the MiniMax is a pain to derig on a regular basis, & I'm not that keen on disconnecting control systems every flight. Oh well. If it was cheap & easy, everybody would do it, then we'd be regulated out of the sky instead.

I'm getting the impression it's not a good idea, then. . . Thanks, guys. Worth an ask.

I hope this doesn't revisit a past thread, but I would value informed comment. I want to build a wood & fabric plane (Super Koala or MiniMax), but am concerned about hangarage costs. Is it possible to store a wooden structured plane outside all year without damage from sun & rain? I'm wondering if some form of insulated cover would work. Has anyone tried this successfully?