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I followed Joey's lead on this one and over the past month I modified my elevator to MKiv specs.  I haven't flown with the new elevator yet because the birds have been walking the past few days but as soon as the weather breaks I'll take it for a spin!  It will be nice to not run out of elevator at slower speeds and also be able to trim off the stick forces.  I have a 15 lb weight hanging from one of my tow bar attach points to help with the stick force, hopefully this mod will allow me to remove it.  We'll see! 

I just realized that the video above was from last November when he flew over my cruising group while we were on the other side of Galveston Bay a couple of miles up one of the bayous. My wife and I are on one of the boats that you see several minutes into the clip. It was definitely windy and bumpy that day.

Dan

Hard to tell how accurate his ASI is, but I tried to watch it on his take offs and landings.  Noticed on the one landing, he was showing about 50 when the plane touched.  Also, on the first takeoff, I counted 12 seconds before he left the ground.  Just looked at a video of my light Avid B, and it took about 8 seconds to get off the ground in that video.  Don't know what engine this guy is running, but I was running a 532 in the B and it weighed 445.  Jim Chuk

That is the Avid that I share a hangar with. It is a Model C Aerobat with a 582, c-box 3:1 with a 3 blade Warp Drive Prop. My Avid is the regular Speedwing with a 582 b-box 2.58:1 and a 2 blade GSC prop. We usually use around 500ft of runway taking off from grass and we could probably get it stopped in about the same distance. His cruise speed is a little better than mine but I am getting closer to matching him now. Cruise speed is around 100 mph IAS with a top speed of around 115 mph. We have both cross checked against GPS in 2 directions and our readings are pretty close to being correct. Touch down speed is around 50 mph after 65-70 on short final. My stall speed is 46 mph. Oh yeah and climb in mine with just me and 12 gallons or so of gas is roughly 1200-1400 fpm depending on outside temps.

If you have some tailwheel experience then landing a speedwing should not be much of an issue. We enjoy the higher cruise speeds and slightly more comfortable rough air handling.

Dan

Well I've been out looking again at the fuselage, and am surprised by how many spots got lightly covered on the side of tubes. Fortunatly, I had put the last of the epoxy in a can on the floor right next to the garage door where it's pretty cold. That kept the paint from hardening up. Got a 1/2" wide brush and hopefully got all the missed spots. I also ran across the paperwork that came with the epoxy paint. It showed that I paid $75 for that paint. I'm sure the primer was about $50. So at that rate, I have $125 for paint, not sure how much for the sandblasting grit, I bought way to much, and probably will have enough for life if it doesn't get wet and clump togeather, and I don't want to think about how many hours I put in sandblasting and prepping for and painting the fuselage. I'm definatly going to rethink the powercoat option on the next one. $260 is dirt cheap. Any one have any thoughts about the worry of rust getting under the powercoating and causing problems?? Jim Chuk

I am in the market for a full trim servo setup all the way to the controls on dash.

Thanks

I've seen a few Highlander and Kitfox owners posting about trailering their planes around the country in retirement, maybe you even met the one fellow putting on 'seminars' at OSH last year. All very neat setups but this Aerotrek guy is gonna be tough to beat. Wowser!

Keep an eye out on eBay for some black vinyl stripe if you've closed up your paint booth. You can score some real good bargains if you are in the right place at the right time. The checkerboard graphics on my plane were actually an old Indy Pace decal car set before I 'customized' it for my aero application. Cost me all of about $25 IIRC and not one single problem, lifted edge etc., in three years. Bonus too is if'n ya don't like it, easy peasy to remove without damaging the paint under. Due to your brand new paint though, it might be wise to let it cure for a while first?

J bird yes it was. He set it down on the other side of Hwy 12 across from Trilogy. Doug a Cessna or Tripacer is one thing but I am sure have you have seen the nose gear of an RV with a 5.00 tire on it. Pretty flimsy looking and everything around is recently plowed or soft from last weeks rain. He did great landing where he did and not putting it on its back or tearing that castering stick off the front.

Hard to tell how accurate his ASI is, but I tried to watch it on his take offs and landings.  Noticed on the one landing, he was showing about 50 when the plane touched.  Also, on the first takeoff, I counted 12 seconds before he left the ground.  Just looked at a video of my light Avid B, and it took about 8 seconds to get off the ground in that video.  Don't know what engine this guy is running, but I was running a 532 in the B and it weighed 445.  Jim Chuk

Ed,

The original was just yellow. I think that is a replica, considering he crashed the real one, in a museum and they might have painted it to go with the name. Here is the original

Great idea! I didn't use preshrunk tapes, is that a real thing about tapes shrinking when the sun hits dark colors? Even stripes?

this guy here has the 24 foot aerobat wings performance is amazing I would not be one bit afraid of it.

Epoxy is a primer.

looks great Jim

Members of our EAA Chapter and I helped pull a nosedragger Vans RV-6A on its wheels out of a muddy field in Illinois some years ago - Air Force officer and family got caught in snow storm and collected ice, and had to put it down right in the middle of a plowed field - the field was so muddy and rough that we had to build a large skid platform to put the plane on and pulled the skid out with a large tractor. We blocked the 2-lane highway and he flew away.

Good pilot - poor judgement?

EDMO

Got a chuckle when I saw "nosedragger" in the title, like a trigear couldn't ever survive an off field landing unscathed. Ha!

Umm, I'm a little uncomfortable now Ed and it ain't the sunburn?! Ok, so maybe it's nice to know that your creditors aren't the only ones who missed you. One thing for sure, vacations never seem to last long enough.

Joey is this rio vista ?

That's what I did to widen my cabin 3" on each side - it works. Still have to bend one door frame to match new width.

The outfit that blasted mine put 2 coats of epoxy on it the same day - telling me it didn't need a primer. They paint a lot for the Coast Guard, so have to believe they know what they are saying for my $1000!

EDMO

Friday I moved my Avid out to another airport and a new hangar. I was admiring a nice RV-6A on the ramp near the hangar row as I drove out. The wife and I went to town for lunch and then headed home. Just outside the airport alongside the hwy I noticed a plane that looked strangly out of place in a field. It was the same RV. I guess he had left and was out flying and started having fuel issues. Rather than stretch his glide after it quit he set it down in a nice field less than a mile from the runway. Zero damage..quick recovery on the back of a flat bed back to the airport and all is well. I'm sure he was tempted to try and stretch his flight over to pavement but if would have tried he most likely would of ended up in a retirement subdivision. Good on him for taking the field and flying it all the way to the ground. 

Welcome home, Douggy.

Well it's too late now! LOL  ) Got the epoxy topcoat applied today.  Here are a couple of pics.  If you spot some bare areas it's because I ran short of paint, and had to mix just a bit more.  The epoxy has to set for a half hour before you can use it, so that's when I took these pictures.  First pic is the whole fuselage, the rest show how I widened the fuselage at the doors.  7' of 1/2" tubing used on each side.  Fuselage is now about 3 1/2" wider that standard MK IV.  Jim Chuk

YEA, Doug is back! And, his sunburn has not kept him from posting good info.

We missed you Doug. Find your snow shovel yet?

EDMO

Hi Joey, it definitely is Joanne's plane. I haven't talked to her in a few years now, last I recall she was having some medical issues that made flying uncomfortable for her.

Must be Joanne Heckmans Avid. She was a huge contributor to the Yahoo group and the Avid Comm letters. Wonder whatever happened to her Avid adventure.