Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/113663
T h e E xc e p t i o n a ll y Ec l e c t i c Ellip s e said. "But I've been to the old manufacturing hangar and have seen hundreds of jigs and miscellaneous completed parts, which may have been for Number 2. Number 3 had a 160-hp engine, and a friend of mine bought it after seeing mine [Number 4]. So our two Ellipses were in Rapid City, South Dakota, for a long time. He sold Number 3 in mid-2010, and I shared detailed photographs and information with the new owner, Mike Hauger of Idaho, who began actively working on it. His Ellipse [N522H] started flying in the spring of 2011." Genesis of N184SC I touched base with Dean early in the project, just to see if there were any plans or three-view drawings available, but there weren't—so I basically had to figure it all out. It took me thousands of hours to complete the airplane; and part of that is my own fault, because I'm so meticulous." Elliptical Wings One of the challenges that Scott encountered was installing the fabric around all of the Ellipse's compound curves. "There are not only outside curves but also in- When Scott bought the project in 2003, it was still in the same condition as when it was first purchased from Dean in 1998, when the company was shutting down. The wings, ailerons, and flaps had been skinned with plywood; the steel tube fuselage and vertical stabilizer had been powder coated, and the steel tail surfaces were finish welded. The wings came attached to the fuselage, and Scott did not remove them until he had thoroughly tested the folding mechanism for clearances—and found that the wing root had to be trimmed to match the fuselage contours. "The wings still required filling and shaping along the leading edges," Scott said, "and the trailing edges where the flaps and ailerons met had to be trimmed so that they could have unobstructed movement. It took hours of test fitting to make sure clearances were there. Scott's four-place Ellipse is powered by a 180-hp Lycoming engine. 22 Vol.2 No.3 / March 201 3 Scott equipped his Ellipse with traditional round gauges--his preference, but made sure the interior was beautifully fnished.