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MAGNUM BOOT COWL from ALL PRO COMPOSITES

19 posts in this topic

Posted (edited)

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I got the boot cowl today - one week after Ron Smith shipped it from Montana -

The box is 2' high x 3' wide x 4' long, for a comparison.

I thought it went under the floor of the fuselage too, so guess I will use a piece of aluminum there. Have to finish struts, flaps & ailerons before fitting it to fuselage - will post more photos then.

2 photos attached.

EdMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri
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Posted

Now you can burn the midnight oil and make some progress  ^-^

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Posted (edited)

that looks awesome i should try to fit something like that to the kitfox , then i could move the cowl forward a couple inches to cover the whole E gearbox

Edited by TJay

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Posted (edited)

It may take some cutting, fitting, and Adels, but this boot cowl is planned to be put on Foxy Flapper...

EdMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

do they have a website?

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Posted

No website, he is the guy that made the fiberglass parts for Avid aircraft and he still has the molds. He is in Belgrade Mt. Ron Smith, phone # is 406-388-3099, and his email address is ronallpro@yahoo.com He is a one man shop it seems, might have to leave a message, but he will get back to you. I've got cowls from him. It was a good experience, and I would deal with him again. Jim Chuk

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Posted

Is he the same guy who posted on this site a while back?

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Posted (edited)

No that was some one else. I don't remember that guys name right now. Jim Chuk

PS Just did a search for that guy and his name is Rod Schramme. His handle was stressed out.

Edited by Jim Chuk

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Posted

If you buy a large part from Ron Smith, he will ship it by Greyhound bus, which is a lot cheaper, but you may have to drive to some large town where they have a Package Express terminal. I went to St. Louis to pick up my parts.

Ron always answers my emails right away - Good guy to do business with.

EdMO

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Posted

Great find Ed!

Your idea of the aluminum bottom is a good one...the Magnum had a fiberglass bottom that glued/Fiberglassed to the boot cowling, but that made it fixed permanently! So a removable bottom would be much better.

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Posted (edited)

Ron,

I have ordered the fiberglass butt ribs - Do you have any photos or can you tell me how you sealed them to the crosstubes, or both? I have the Magnum manual, but yours might be different or better shown.

Thanks,

EdMO

What kind of glue or fiberglass epoxy did you use to attach your floor to the boot cowl?

I got to thinking about the possibility of an engine fire, and considered just wrapping the .016 stainless firewall material into the floor of the cockpit instead of aluminum - it shouldn't weigh much more than .025 or .032 aluminum :huh:

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

Ed,  I had the order sheet in front of me for some stainless and aluminum I just got a week ago. The .032 aluminum was .45 lbs. per sq. ft.  and .018 stainless was .74 lbs. per sq. ft.  Jim Chuk 

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Posted (edited)

Ed,  I had the order sheet in front of me for some stainless and aluminum I just got a week ago. The .032 aluminum was .45 lbs. per sq. ft.  and .018 stainless was .74 lbs. per sq. ft.  Jim Chuk

So, .016 stainless should be a little lighter? And, don't forget weight of paint on aluminum! :lol:

Thanks Jim,

EDMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

If you ask Ron he probably has the belly pan molds too. If he does it will be waaaayyy nicer than trying to fab something out of Aluminium. I am very happy with the MKIV cowl bottom Ron provided me but if I had it to do over I would ask him to lay it up a bit thinner. Mine is hell for stout. I would have been very pleased with 25% less weight though!

 

Ed, I did not know you were building a Magnum!

 

Chris

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Posted (edited)

Chris,

Not Magnum - Just Tri-gear Tank for hauling boats (canoes?)! Ha!

I wanted something besides fabric on the forward fuselage.

I was meaning to ask Ron how many layers he used on the boot cowl - Guess it could be lighter?

I wanted the floor to be detachable, and figured that metal might also be cheaper, and fireproof - but a little heavier - but maybe not, with the thickness of the fiberglass.

EdMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

Ed,

The Butt ribs rivet to the top of the door frame and then machine screws attach it to the skylight on the top, there is also a horizontal tube crossing between the two spar tubes that has two arms sticking off providing mounting tabs and rivets into the backside of the butt rib. I'm attaching pics, but I painted the butt ribs and tubes black so it is hard as hell to see...

I thought about the fire issue too, but there is fiberglass everywhere anyway, cloth on yours originally!

If you are running a bungee gear it would probably be best to go with the formed fiberglass bottom...it is recessed to fit the bungee gear triangle. I filled that recess in because I went with a Cabane gear. I'll attach a pic of mine filled in, you can still see the recessed outline. I used Hysol where I couldn't get to it with fiberglass poly resin.

Let me know if you need anything else. Sorry, I hadn't jumped on here in a couple of days.

Ron

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Posted (edited)

Thanks Ron,

I was asking about closing in the rear of the fiberglass butt ribs where the rear spar attaches - on my two Kitfoxes, the wood butt ribs were closed in with fabric to seal them from wind, water, wasps, etc - but you have to leave room for the spar to swing when you fold the wings. I didn't see any closure in your photo. I was wondering if some fiberglass or thin PVC pipe might be used.

Are you going to put Lexan over the window you cut in the butt ribs?

I was thinking about putting some small LED lights on the wing-side of the butt ribs to light up the sight gages in mine

- but I don't think that Avid has site gages like Kitfox?

I have the Grove gear, so no bungees or gear ends to go up into fuselage, so a removable metal sheet should work.

EDMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

Ok, I see what you were asking...but I'm not going to be much help until I hang my wings on it, because I haven't made it that far yet. I do have the butt ribs cut out where the spar moves back and forth, but haven't come up with a plan to seal it.

There is a wing fairing that goes up in that area too...I'll look at it tomorrow and send a pic.

That grove gear will work well with a flat metal bottom.

Ron

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Posted (edited)

Thanks Ron,

Let me know when you get it sealed.

Maybe ChrisB is that far along?

EDMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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