Experimenter

SEP2014

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/378679

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EAA Experimenter 15 "The motor mount change meant that none of the kit sheet metal would work. I would probably have changed it anyway because I didn't like the quality, but this forced us into it. We bought a slip roller, taught ourselves how to use it, and made an entire new cowling and boot cowl. "By the time we were done with the airframe, we had gotten rid of everything but the basic wings and the fuselage. However, we spent a lot of time on the wings because they had so many stripped screws. We repainted the entire fuselage because we had welded on it so much." One of the seemingly minor changes to the fuselage started a long chain reaction that could be traced back to Mark's height. He said, "When you looked at the seat and the cockpit, it looked as if I'd fi t fi ne. But as soon as we had the seat in it and I climbed aboard, it was obvious we still had problems: My head hit the cross-member. Fortunately, there's a lot of room under the seat to lower it, so I got ahold of Jay DeRosier of Jav- ron Inc. They do their own Cub kit, so I had him make us a new seat frame. "When we got the new seat, it was plain that we were in for another series of linked changes. In fact we had to re-engineer the fl ap handle and fi nd another place for the fl oat pump tankā€¦ as our goal this year is to put it on Clamar fl oats." The Super Cub is flown from the front seat, and this gave Mark problems with the brakes because of the length of his legs. He said, "I couldn't reliably get at the brakes, so we had to design and build toe brakes. That's a change I'm really glad we did because it makes flying the airplane much more comfortable." He added that sometimes the changes and their ef ects were almost comical. "We bought an of -the-shelf throttle quadrant and it looked as if it would work fi ne," Mark said. "But we had to change the arm a little, then this or that wouldn't fi t. In the end, all that remained was the knob and the Phillips screw that held it on." By the time he was well into the airplane and taking fl y- ing lessons, he truly had been bitten by the fl ying bug. As he Mark's super-long legs forced him to modify the rudder and brake pedals. The movable Mackey slats from Back Country Super Cub make the airplane almost impossible to stall and they allow 18-mph touchdowns.

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