Markproa

I'm not sure how it all works but I rang the SAAA technical officer recently and was told I can start building my plane without informing anyone. There are no longer any stage inspections so who's to know who built what? Maybe call SAAA and ask to speak to him, I think his name is Norm. Nice helpful fellow.

I think this one is more interesting. He got down to $3600 last time he posted it. KR2S kit | eBay

It's a Kr2 as opposed to a KR2S. That means very small and short. That undercarriage is woeful. Buying this would lock you into building the old unmodified design that nobody builds any more. There has been a KR2S on Ebay for a while with boat built and lots of other gear for $3600.

C Can they be applied to a 3d curved surface?If they are a film I'd imagine they can only be applied to a flat surface. As I will be making my own bubble I can hopefully use a tinted acrylic with a uv coating.

Thanks everyone, some great advice from personal experience. So it seems bubble canopies are hot on the ground and while taxiing but not so much in the air. I'll need lots of air flow from naca inlets and some sort of shade. And it's good to be able to taxi with the canopy cracked open.

I'm about to embark on a homebuilt low wing aircraft build. At the risk of starting a 'high wing/low wing is the best' debate I'd like to hear from people who fly low wing bubble canopy aircraft in Australia. My aircraft is a French design with a one piece, front hinged bubble canopy and I'd like to know how hot it gets in the cockpit and what are some of the solutions against this eg shades, lots of air etc. There are many bubble-canopied planes and gliders in Australia so I'm thinking it can't be that bad. Mark

I'm not so sure of that. I think planes these days all look pretty generic and hence boring. Most high wing composite planes look like yet another Jabaroo, most low wing composites look like yet another Bristel, most alloy planes look like yet another RV. Even STOL planes look pretty similar (except the very cool Double Ender). And there's a good reason for that, the same reason all cars look alike these days. To my eye the Blasckshape Prime is a refreshingly beautiful and individual looking aircraft, and trust the Italians to do it. However, the plane has had a sad history., the original design was the Asso X Jewel, a wooden homebuilt ultralight designed by Guiseppi Vidor, who designed a number of successful lightweight aircraft including the Asso V which became the Alpi Pioneeers 300. Vidor sold the rights to a company who spent millions producing the Millenium Master all carbon version. They were plagued with weight and balance difficulties and just kept throwing more money at the problem until they went broke. Blackshape resurrected the plane and threw a heap more money at it. As did a Latvian company who produce the badly named Tarragon. The problem stems around needing to keep under the 450kg European weight limit with the added inherent balance problems of a tandem. Interestingly they all struggled to make their very expensive all carbon planes as light as the original wooden Asso X which was 50kg lighter. Sadly, along with this company mismanagement, Vidor never received all the royalties owed. There is now an outrageously expensive Lycoming version called the Blackshape Gabriel and several other copies such as the TL Stream and the Shark.

The OP's photo isn't a Blackshape Prime, it's a Shark. Different manufacturer but all developed from Guiseppe Vidor's wooden homebuilt, the Asso X. This is a Prime, a gorgeous looking plane with a potted history. Redirect Notice

I've been looking for aircraft ply lately myself. You won't find Okoume ply that thin so will have to go birch whiçh is relatively heavy and only comes in 1200 x 1200 sheets. And it ain't cheap. Another supplier is Marine Timbers.

Thanks. I'm trying to work out the advantages/disadvantages of VH or RAA rego on the plane I'm about to build. As it will have a converted car engine I understand I can't fly in controlled airspace so I'm wondering what other advantages come with VH reg. Mark

How about the other way around? I have 150 hours on a UPPL but haven't flown for 20 years. I get no credit for my experience if I go for a RAA pilot certificate so I'm looking at 30 hours minimum. To get my license back I could be looking at 10 - 20 hours at a guess. Anyone else been in this position? If I then wanted my RAA cert. what is the procedure? Mark

Ha, I was an ultralight instructor before Auf got involved in licensing so they wouldn't have any records of me. Thanks.

OK, thanks. That's the way I'd like to do it though I'm wondering if I'd be better off going straight into RAA, particularly as I'm nearly 60 and I understand medicals are getting tough. Do I get any credit for holding a UPPL albeit very uncurrent? Nobody does GA training in Coffs Harbour these days but there is an RAA guy. I'll need to go have a chat. I also need to consider if I'm better off building the plane under RAA or SAAA. The plane is under 600kg MTOW and will have an uncertified engine so it could go either way. Then there is the consideration of being able to fly it out of Coffs control space. Am I right in thinking a homebuilt with an uncertified engine can't fly out of controled airports?

I joined this group and have been watching for a while so thought I'd better introduce myself. I live in Bellingen NSW, I'm sixty this year, and I'm about to start building a plane from plans. I started flying in ultralights in the early AUF days including instructing. We had a flying school in Coffs Harbour in the mid-Eighties with a couple of Drifters and a Falcon. Coffs airport went controlled so we had to close down. I got my GA license at the Coffs Aero Club and bought a Jodel D9 which I flew a fair bit including down to Mangalore air show every year, then sold it and flew it to a guy in Adelaide. I hardly flew again after that as it coincided with having kids. So I have a few questions now that everything has changed. Questions around getting back in the air, Saaa or RAA etc. Which forum is best to post those question? Cheers, Mark