I was finally able to get some pictures of this thing while I was up in Idaho on vacation last week. All that is left is some final wiring of the ELT, intercom, and radios and it will be ready to go! Let me know what you think!

Looks really nice, Joey. Do you know the numbers on the lower end of the flight envelope? Those are flaperons, right?

The 582 is a nice motor. A lot of people are scared of 2-strokes, but that thing is bomber if taken care of, jetted properly, and overhauled on time. It's lightweight too. You have the oil injector on there or are you gonna mix?

Hopefull we'll see ya at Johnson Creek in July.

Z

Looks fun. Have you decided who gets to go for the first ride?

Can you fly it with the doors open?

Pretty Cool

What are the performance numbers?

Bill

See if I can answer a few of your questions...
Zane yes those are Flaperons but from what I've read not many people use them. I don't have hard numbers but talking to other pilots the low end of the envelope will be in the low 40 mph range. There was never really any hard numbers published because there are so many variations out there. I've had great luck with 2 strokes on the Powered Parachutes... so far..No injection on this one I will have to just know exactly how much went into the tank and mix in the tank when I'm on the road. At home I'll probably just fill it from jugs. Still not positive how much it'll hold but thinking around 20 gallons which will give me 4 hours and a nice reserve.
Not sure if I'll be at a proficiency level with the Avid to fly into Johnson Creek but I'll be there in a 180hp 172 for sure if that doesn't work out.

Steve yes I have decided who get's to go first.. ME!!!

Stratarocketeer yes you can take the doors off and fly if you want to.

Bill.. again I dont' have particular numbers but I do have the numbers from the guy I bought the firewall forward from and he was heavier than I'll be.

Empty 485lbs
Gross 1085
Climb 1100 fpm
Cruise 90-100 mph on 4.5 gph
They claim that 75ft takeoffs are not at all unrealistic on grass

Here is a video of one with the 582 on skis showing off the peformance.
http://home.comcast.net/~nwmyers47/4secon.wmv

I'll be sure and post some actual stuff after I get some time on it.

Looking good. THese little birds are like an elevator in climb. I used to watch Dean test flying all of his inventions when I was a lineboy at Caldwell Industrial. He had some unique ideas. If you have ever seen his anphib you would see that the nose bumper was a basketball. He is great at seeing the ways to use avaible stuff.

Is your plane in the Caldwell, Nampa area?

Dane

Looks like you did a great job! We have a couple of those in the valley here, and they're really a great airplane!!!
JH

Dane no it's actually in Orofino (S68) right now. It's right up the Clearwater River from Lewiston (LWS) if your not familiar with that area. I am from that area originally. Such a shame I grew up at the doorstep of the Idaho backcountry and didn't get into flying much until after I moved from there.

Time to bump an old thread.... this poor airplane still has not flown. I just went to Idaho and rescued it over the Thanksgiving holiday. I towed it 900 miles on a trailer back to Cali. It needs alot of restoration type work to get it going. Is there anybody on the forum that is good with fabric? This thing was covered in Ceconite and painted with cheap paint. It has a bunch of the swirl type cracks in the paint and some holes that need patched. I have ZERO experience with Ceconite. Any help would be great.. I'll be reading my butt off trying to learn.... you gotta start somewhere I guess.

Couple of recent photos...

One it's way home from Idaho



In the garage





Finished up my panel tonite.. Clean and simple

You have a lot better stuff to start with than I do! It should make you a great bird, but you know what they say about things with " wings, tits or wheels!! I too am starting a restoration, gonna be a lot to learn!! (1942 Interstate Cadet)

AvidFlyer wrote: It needs alot of restoration type work to get it going. Is there anybody on the forum that is good with fabric? This thing was covered in Ceconite and painted with cheap paint. It has a bunch of the swirl type cracks in the paint and some holes that need patched. I have ZERO experience with Ceconite. Any help would be great.. I'll be reading my butt off trying to learn.... you gotta start somewhere I guess.

Hi Avid,

Bummer that this airplane needs restoration work, but it sounds like you're going the right direction. The swirls are what's commonly referred to as ringworm. left unchecked it will continue to get worse, until it is basically unairworthy. I read in another thread you were going to recover the wings, I suppose you may be doing the fuse as well. (you should)
If the old finish was dope you could have extended it's life with a rejuvenator. But it sounds like that's not in the cards now.

Are you already sold on the Polyfibre process? The reason I ask is because I see you are doing this at home, and it is your first experience with fabric. Polyfibre is a great process, and it's not rocket science, but the easiest system IMHO to use is the Stewarts System. It uses ceconite for fabric as well, the glue is like 100 times easier to get along with, and the chemicals wash up with water... what's not to like there? The finish is far more flexible than any other poly I have seen. I am finishing up a cub with it now. If you are not planning on doing fabric in the future why not use a system that is easy to "master" right off the bat. The better you can get along with a covering system the better your project will turn out in the end.

Right about now a lot of folks will be jumping up and down because I said it's waterbourne... Lot's of folks remember the Blue River process and the bad taste it left in many peoples mouth (including Pipers). All I have to offer there, is the technology is here now, and there are several examples of this system that have been around as long as I'd like to see fabric on an airplane. But... for those that are not completely sold on waterbourne, I probably still wouldn't choose Polyfibre for my first system I would choose Airtech ... It too is an easier system to get along with than Polyfibre. The glue is even easier to use than Stewarts. the chemicals are acetone based rather than MEK which is probably no better, but certainly not any worse.

All this sounds like I don't care for Polyfibre, which is really not true. I just think that each system has it's merits, and areas where it shines. If a guy wants a really glossy "Husky" like finish Airtech is without a doubt the easiest to get that hotrod gloss. Repairability? Stewarts or airtech are really easy, but dope finishs offer the most concealable repairs. Easy to get right the first time... Stewarts...

To muddy the waters even further, when I get to my experimental cub it will be covered in Randolph . That's just because I happen to like dope finishs and randolph works good for me

As Bob would say....all opinion

Take care, Rob

I looked into rejuvenating it but when I took some Laquer thinner to the paint it did not phase it at all. I actually got a random PM from a guy on this forum about the plane it turned out to the be original builder from 20 years ago.. gotta love the internet. Anyways he said as best as he could recall he thought it was Aerothane. If thats the case it cannot be rejuvenated. I'm wondering if I can sand it down and just put a coat on top. While it may not be pretty as long it's safe I dont' really care. I'd like to just get this thing in the air. It's already been a three year process but that's another story.

Hi Avid,

That is correct you can't rejuvinate aerothane. MEK is what you wanted to be testing for dope with anyways, it will wipe dope off like dry mud. But sounds like you already got your answer.

FWIW I just looked at the wing pics and would whole heatedly recommend recovering. Secondly I would not want to fly 20 year old fabric around a whole lot unless it's been twenty years of hangar time with meticulous maintenance to boot. All the hoopla about lifetime fabric is bogus... what about the components under the fabric? Sorry but it sounds like you're over due.

Sanding finish or glue off ceconite is a no-go... None of the finishes or glues adheres to ceconite. In fact lilke teflon pans, pretty much nothing sticks to ceconite. The reason your glues and finish stick is because you push them through the weave essentially encapsulating it. When you sand it down to bare fabric you essentially shear off the old finish flush to the fabric leaving no great way to get new finish through the weave to start the whole process of ecapsulating again...

Again, unless you expect a lot of repair, or mods covering alone is not a big deal. Specially in a little guy like an Avid.

Take care, Rob

Thanks Rob, I ordered the Ceconite book along with the Poly fiber book so I can read up and edumicate myself. I'm going to have my fabric tested with a maule tester and go from there. I played around with a few of the rough spots and 280 grit sandpaper and it smooths up really nice. I am an EAA member but our local chapter are a bunch of 200mph RV 7-10 guys with glass cockpits.. blah blah blah. The other problem with Commifornia is nobody will give anyone any advice because they are scared you'll go do it and then Sue them. I'm an Idaho native and still not too sure about this place. I went down there twice looking for help and got shunned away both times. I was very disappointed because any other chapter I've dealt with would bend over backwards to help a guy out.

The problem with talking to any A&P is 90% of them deal solely with certified airplanes and get really nervous looking at experimentals. I'll keep searching around for some unbiased advice. There's gotta be somebody around here someplace just need to find them.

I got the engine fired yesterday out in the culdesac in front of my house. I have a huge oak tree that is dropping leaves like mad right now. I had a leaf storm blowing up against my house and fence like you've never seen from the prop wash. Of course I made sure there were none in my prop arc or that were going anywhere but into my yard. After about 20 minutes of getting the water temp good and warm I crawled out and asked my bewildered neighbors what they thought of my new leaf blower. They all think I'm nuts. I still think a few of them think I landed the plane in the culdesac.

The polyfibre book is a good one to have no matter what system you use. I leave it on the last picture of the seine knot and leave it on the table the whole time I'm stitching... just in case my brain fades (fairly common) or my fingers go on strike... (also fairly common)...

I saw on the other thread where you caught on to the need for fresh air with Polyfibre systems. That's what I meant by Stewarts being more "user friendly" You can literally glue in your living room without smelling the place up. I wouldn't paint there though no fume issues with the paint either, but the spouse might not approve of the change in furniture color

Airtech claims you don't need fresh air. I only made it about halfway through an airplane with Airtech before I decided getting high on acetone was not nearly as fun as I thought it might be... I bought a little Hobbyair resperator and air supply, but why bother if you are only planning on doing it once?


Good luck, Rob

Avid,

PM me if you'd like to talk Stewart - I just finished a Highlander using same. I ditto Rob's comments on ease and safety. There are a few 'gotchas' to avoid, though. Get their dvds - very good.

Hey Avid,
I have a Avid Mark IV Bandit on 21" tundra tires in the summer and wheel penetration skis in the winter. I have a Rotax 503 in it. It will cruise about 69mph. One wing tank that holds 14 gallons of gas. A Fun airplane. Right now I have about 675 hrs tt on it. I will try to post a picture of it on the ski plane forum.
Bandit

Well good news on my Avid fabric project. I took it to a reputable A&P here that does ALOT of fabric work. He Maule tested the tops of my wings in several places and well exceeded AC 43 requirements to be airworthy. Were going to sand them down, patch up some areas, and ribstitch the tips where the fabric had come unglued from the bottom of the wing. It won't be the prettiest bird on the planet but it will get me in the air for a while till I can get the resources to recover. Best part is he's gonna let me help with the repairs so I can learn a little about fabric. With some luck I'll be ready to start dealing with the FAA paperwork in the next few weeks.

Bandit post some pics of your plane. Never heard of a MKIV with a 503 but I bet it's light.