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/142883
I t 's A ll A b o u t D e t a il s… "Te small tube that looks like a smoke system is the crankcase breather tube exit. Oil from the crankcase is vaporized upon exit, which cuts down on the prop soot. "I do have a 5-gallon, 5-minute smoke tank built into a wing. I use it all the time as a safety enhancement—for visibility when in congested airspace or trafc patterns, during formation work, as well as for turn points and start/fnish line crossing when racing." "Te rudder locks were actually a two-fer. Design practicalities forced me to cut the winglet fairings of at the end of the rudder, leaving an ugly, fat, triangle-shaped end. Ten it dawned on me that if I added a simple hard point, a button pin, and a bracket around the rudder, I'd have a lock! I lef a corner of the bracket sticking up from the radius so it can be seen from the cockpit. I don't have to worry about taking of with the locks in place because you can't move the rudder pedals with the locks in place." "I currently have two purpose-built Catto propellers. Te frst was my original three-blade, cross-country propeller that was built specifcally for high-altitude (12,000 to 15,000 feet) cruise performance. It's great in that range; but most of the Sport Air Racing League races are sprint style (100 to 150 nautical miles with multiple legs), so there is simply no time to climb to altitude. So I have a Reno-inspired, two-blade race prop that is designed to be at its peak performance down low and fast." "Te spinner shape is the standard 'Hershey Kiss' pressure recovery shape that has been around for decades in the canard circles and is most notably used on the Piaggio Avanti. Te construction of my spinner is what is diferent. Afer I came within seconds of losing a propeller when the old-style composite spinner bulkhead's room temperature cure epoxy got too hot, I designed a new one made out of aerospace grade, solid carbon fber pre-pregnated with UV inhibited, high-temp stable, autoclave cured, toughened epoxy. Since molds had to be fabricated to build it, I made a semiproduction run and ofer them for sale so other canard types won't have the same close call I had." 18 Vol.2 No.7 / July 2013 Photography by Budd Davisson