AussieB1rd

I happen to know where there is one in Qld, Gympie actually, has seen better days and sitting out in the weather with cheap plastic tarp over it.

Pretty sure that Rans S-7S is the same one I was drooling over at Angelfield 1 or 2 flyins ago, couldn't take my eyes off the welded joints, one nice bit of work and a lovely aircraft, maybe it will return on 11th June for our winter flyin Breakfast, best breakfast in Qld.

Thanks a million for that link rgmwa, you know how hard it is to drill that little hole in the end of a bolt.

Flyerme great site for homebuilders and the cable work they can do or supply, thanks for that link.

On a brighter note Bex, your fuse pics are starting to look pretty good, so much so I am going to say, there is an aircraft in the states that was a very excellent plane and I for one would give a left teste for, the company folded and was taken over and kits put out using ally angle, they took a beautiful aircraft and molded it into what I call a pile of rubbish, but that's just my opinion, So, what you have on the table looks way better and of a more solid and safer looking and add a few uprights and it can be a high wing, seen a lot of fuses of high wings start out looking like yours, you have my interest. Cheers AussieB1rd

The Poms sorted the problem out after some wind tunnel testing and got Mignet to change his design a bit, and after that they were fine.

I hope you have a good supplier of 6061 over there if not Bunnings have a good supply of 5504 1" round tube and rectangular extrusions, I was looking for some the other day but I didn't think it was strong enough for a selfie stick though.

Ladders have been done to death already, you can't buy an extension ladder in France unless you have a builders permit.

Have seen plans similar to this, the HM-14 from memory, but didn't require a 6 cyl engine though, ok best of luck with your endeavors, be back in two years when it and the engine come together.

Is the box kite still under patent, oh hang on no diagonals so maybe a new design, can't wait for the kits to hit the shelves I'm good with Bamboo.

Bex good thing you didn't build your factory here, those bloody Gymparians would have stolen every production model you have built, hang on there is a large empty factory over the south side, ahhhhhhhhhh so I have the answer now lol Gympie Pyramid is still here, I have been to the site, looks more like a smaller version of the hanging gardens of Babylon

G'day Don, yes you mostly certainly did fly one down there, seems to be the gene pool breeding ground for all modern day ultalight flyers, spoke to a chap called Fred Burke from Wagga and he flew a few with his mate, at first they just had the one, and one sat on the others lap and went two up, they got bored real quick and soon had old car lights on them with a car battrery and did a spot of evening flying lol then they started flying between gum trees finding ever smaller gaps to fly thru, bored of that did a 90 degree roll and went thru that way, He said one crashed on the drive at either Wagga field or Holbrook, also gave me a few names from Holbrook, Bob Phillips, believe he is a bit of a legend there, Brian Gabrielle and Lionel Callaghan. Yes the custom cast rudder pedals have RAC cast into them being Robertson Aircraft Company, designed and built by Bruce and Glen Bashforth originally and then produced and marketed by RAC and a very high quality and some of the smallest and best stainless turnbuckle screws and cable I have seen, it's tiny and cable pressed into the turnbuckles with some non control cable even plastic coated. AB PS: Someone will know where there is one, maybe two just laying around waiting for me to find.

25 May 2013 - 31 May 2016 you guys are good, very patient, I just wasted 45 minutes and a bit peeved, wheres this engine you speak of O B 1 can O B, never ever got caught on the go get a long wait, did get caught on go fetch a drum of castor and camber, result was the same, good one Bex

Zactly Neil, always believed one has to larf at oneself first, then everyone else is hilarious, worked with a pom years ago whose favorite saying when he came into work every morning was, Yar gotta av a larf mate, Yar just gotta av a larf, and took up his mantra ever since, Thanks. Wadda yar mean a hand brake for the bike, Japanese engineering is beaudiful mate, could use a second disc though

Frank I could say I have reached the end of the colour spectrum, no where to go from here but out. AussieB1rd

Thanks Soleair, I certainly intend to do this, sails are still rolled up and hanging under the house awaiting a day when I will pull them all apart, as for rusted bits, all fasteners are stainless, they did a quality build back then, as far as I can tell the only steel in the craft is a 4130 axel shaft and suspension/wheel shafts and rudder pedal shaft assembly, all of which has been chromed and has flaked off.

Thanks Kaz, loaded into email address book and will flip of a note to see if the bell actually rings lol, yes virtually no take off roll on these old girls, have a vid here for anyone to look at, probably the shortest roll I have seen and from memory the second one is shorter, they are basically a glider that wont glide and a motor just to get it up, but I think their cool. It has a 72 inch wooden prop the same as the Slepcev Storch and at less weight all up than the engine of a storch probably lol And David, I tend to push my luck to the max, going back is just looking for trouble, but on copper in a little town not that far from me was still shaking his head, jaw on his chest as I rounded the corner 150 yards up the road, luck on this one was most likely they rang him and told him his counter tea was ready or come get yar Pizza, lol

Thanks Merc will give them a ring, no one in SE QLD you can think of

Hi Knightly if your still around, yes you may have seen a B1rd at Holbrook HULC or Cowera or even Wagga, but none I have ever seen and I have a lot of data on them and manuals, ever had a control above the pilots head, maybe a scout as suggested, but certainly not a Robertson B1rd or B2rd, Neville White in 1978 after purchasing a Scout which he found unsuitable. He built sixteen of the aluminium tube and sailcloth CAB Wasps. Neville — honoured as a Pioneer by RA-Aus in 2008 — is a member of the Holbrook Ultralight Club. The wasp not unlike the Scout and Sky Rider and The Stolero did resemble the B1rd from a distance so easy to be confused.

Thanks for the welcome Geoff13, 1. Once I have finished restoring it of course I'm going to fly, it's far to big to hang from my lounge ceiling as an ornament. 2. And yes story is true and correct, towed it home with my Honda Shadow 750 3. Glad you had your ROTFLMFAO moment, if you had your legs up in the air at the same time and wiggling them then all the better. lol

Ok so while I have you all larfing, does any one know of any other B1rd's flying or otherwise in Queensland or Australia, anyone in South East Queensland sew sails for them, I have heard of a lady over the border somewhere that does, and pretty sure I rang a lady down near Vic that doesn't do them anymore just makes covers I believe. Any help in the B1RD area greatly appreciated. am on the forum in the States but be nice to chat to someone local about them. PS: Did have a long chat to a great guy by the name of Fred Burke down Wagga way, flew a few back in the 80's

Thanks heaps Kasper, I hope it will as well, for something so little so much work, bit like the females of some species lol

Hey chaps, I'm AussieB1rd or you can call me Greg, seems I'm in esteemed company and a few with grey whiskers in here. Just wanted to know if you all know what PMSL means cause if you do I'm about to test you out. Well I always wanted to fly, years go by and commitments take hold and life passes you by, stopped long enough at one stage to do a spot of gliding, went solo and have 41 flights in log book, commitments change and give it away, time to take up the challenge again. This time cutting off some of the fat, Tug Planes, GONE, Tug Plane expenses GONE, expensive gliders GONE, GFA definately GONE, long tiring trips to gliding field GONE. Ok so I wanted to get back into flying, buy I plane he says, raises eyebrow and says hmmm that's expensive, must be something around that isn't going to cost a lifetimes savings to get into. How did the oldtimers do it, they built their own, hmmmmm, rickety and dangerous, move forward a few millennia, ahhhhhh the 1970's and 80's the birth of the Ultralights, that's more like it. Start researching Ultralights, my god, 80 years of aviation and their still rickety and dangerous, but at least they have got away from wood. So there I was one evening, sitting at the computer checking my emails and GumTree tosses me an email about stuff of interest being the pervasive snoops they are into your browsing history, What's this, an Ultralight for sale, hmmmmmm and not very expensive, needs some work, that's ok work is cheap these days, and not far away either, just a tad over 330 klms from home. Started chatting to the owner, see more pics, has possibility's, told him its a bit rough, drops the price a whisker, ok so I decide if your going to do this stupid thing then do it with gusto, no friend of mine, don't think gusto has any actually, anyway prepares to go get the said Ultralight, what do we take, tools, heaps of tools for last minute changes, protective coverings, most of it has been on the ground in a shed for years, trailer, can't get it home without a trailer, ok modify the camping/general purpose/boat/ ok enough of what this flash trailer can do now it's an ULTRALIGHT trailer. So on the pre arranged day I travel out to almost Moonie then hook a right for a bit and finally reach the farm, OMG OMG if you know what PMSL means then OMG is a cinch, it's a damn mess, in for a penny in for a pound, I should have walked away right then and there, but I had to haggle didn't I, ok he comes down a heap more but only, YES ONLY if the engine runs, ok so two hours cleaning out fuel lines, checking spark plugs add some fuel to tank that is growing some unbudgeable green lump in it, a couple of pulls and it runs sweet as KIA on steroids, ok now I'm committed, backed into a corner by a little two stroke that had Thomas the Tank engine as a role model and is never gunna give up, with a trembling hand I hand over the money and take the receipt, start loading it onto the trailer for the trip home. Some good research had given me the lenght of this little craft so I had modified my little trailer yet again to cart this little B1rd home, it doesn't weight a lot I think that green lump in the tank was most of the weight. Finally I have my new aircraft tied down and ready for the long haul home, full of renewed trepidation I head out to the farm gate and make a right heading for the Moonie to Dalby Hwy, my goodness what's wrong, hit 60klms and the steering is all over the place, some thing must be out of balance, ok I have a cross wind and it is playing havoc with the steering, it's just a few clicks to the Hwy and it will be a tail wind, turn left towards Dalby and a beautiful tailwind pushes me along, OOPS 80klms and again the steering is uncontrollable, well 80 is better than 60 it's just gunna be a long trip home, well I get about 20klms from the farm and as I round a corner I spot a shadown of the tail creeping up and passing me, OH look I say to self there a silhouette of my planes tail on the ground then the light buld switches on, YOU IDIOT, all the sail cloth up there in the wind is just like a big rudder, managed to climb up and cut away old perished sail cloth, and head off once more, gee what a difference, now doing 100 and sometimes a bit more, make it home in quick smart time and good thing it was summer, nice weather and light lasted till I was home. Unhook my new little beast and push the trailer under the house, it can stay there till another day when I'm not so tired, push the bike under the house where it normally belongs and went and made myself a cuppa tea now being the proud owner of my first plane. Here is a pic of me and the plane on my highly modified trailer with the previous owner still larfing and shaking his head, but not as much as the rubber neckers and Police I passed on the way home and whose identities shall remain nameless to prevent a dereliction of duty charge LOL PMSL All the best AussieB1rd