Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Supporting Owners, Builders and Pilots of the Thorp T-18 and its variants.
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Rich Brazell
 Post subject: Re: An Eagle Eye Needed
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2018 5:13 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2009 12:33 pm
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Location: Jamul, CA (San Diego area)
If you treat it like a government program it will take twice as much $$$ and double the time ! :o

RB O0


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stevehawley
 Post subject: Re: An Eagle Eye Needed
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 5:18 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:30 pm
Posts: 86
Location: USA
Don, based on the serial number of the plane in Americus,GA, I will bet all the skins on the fusalage are .025. With the “high deck” and the wrinkles existing in the three main skins,I think it would be easier to disassemble the fusalage and use the old skins as a pattern for much of the new ones but lower the deck like all the later ones. For someone with experience it would not be more than a winter project costing only a little more than the material for the .032 skins. I just two days ago ordered a 12’ sheet of .032 2024T3 from Spruce and it was $170.00 plus shipping so the cost would not be prohibitive. Labor is another story, but we do these things because we love it, not to make anything or even break even in the process. The wings and tail feathers look to be in pretty good shape except that there are no flaps. I don’t think that is a bad thing, in fact there are several advantages. I suspect the inner wings are also .025, which is OK but I know John Thorp recommended .032 if any engine above 150hp was to be installed. Personally, I would use .032 in any case. One of the stabilator tips must be removed to insure that the inner sleeve reinforcement has been installed. The cabin envireoment is dated but all very good. The engine with modern ignition on one side is probably worth what the owner is asking for the whole project!! The folks in Americus are very nice and they have a nice courtesy car to boot. It is definitely an agricultural airport, there is a junk yard with about 20 old dusters sitting is a line. A man there told me they had been sitting there since the 80’s and that they had been build in Germany. They were every bit as big as a Thrush or Snow and some had four bladed props. I wish I had had time to walk over and get a closer look.
Steve


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dondday
 Post subject: Re: An Eagle Eye Needed
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 3:17 pm 
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Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:47 pm
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Location: USA
Thank you Steve, verse well detailed.

I’ve flown to that part of the world delivering a Thorp I restored for a friend, Ken Morgan, to a man, Bill Coody in Cochran just south of Macon. The airplane performed very well and Bill was thrilled to get it.

The fellow here interested in 955K is not skilled in the art of airplane building and would just be too much of a project, considering I’m currently restoring one in my hangar and don’t want to veer away from it trying to take on another one. Before I take a project requiring drilling all those rivers and take completely apart, I would start another one from scratch and make it a wide body and an O-360 to fan it around.

I would use the .032” all around and wet the wings, same as mine. I probably have about ten sheets of the 032”, but would need to buy the 14’ pieces to keep from splicing for the length of the fuselage. And, since the wings would be wet, I prefer using the thicker material for the wings as well.

Again, thank you for the details and will pass the word and burst Gary’s bubbles, the man wanting to on a Thorp and send him shopping elsewhere.

_________________
In CowTown USA,
Don D-Day

NX18DD


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