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Congratulations Stephen! So-what is the next mod you are thinking about? Will it be ready for Johnson Creek next year? You can't seem to leave that Pacer alone.
Glad you brought up the next mods. Maybe a leading edge cuff or maybe.......
I spent the day working out rigging issues. It is close. A buddy, CFI, A&P, long time Super Cub owner flew my plane and said it flys as slow as a Cub but, cruises 105 mph. He was impressed. Me, I'm still figuring it out. It wants to lift off by 40 mph and approach easily down to 50 mph. Stalls drop off the airspeed indicator reading.
I am just getting over 8 months of full time work on this project and starting to think about summer adventures.
I took me 7 months full time work (it was down for 8 months but, I took one month off for a trip)) for this project. Mostly 6 day weeks, 6 to 8 hours per day. With lots of local interruptions for hangar talk.
Total cost was just over $10,000 including $2000 for STC and plans, $2300 for struts.
I lost count of the rivets.
The gross weight is increased to 2100 lbs. But, the modification was 95 lbs.
Empty Weight for my plane is 1186 lbs. I do have 29 inch Bushwheels.
Wing span is 37 feet and 22.5 inches was added to fuselage just aft of the rear bulkhead.
Ailerons are lengthened to 102 inches, and flaps are 93 inches.
The plane will fly at 40 mph and lands like a Cub----boring, my feet are going to get lazy, I am working on getting my approach speeds down to maybe 50 mph.
The plane does not develop sink rates at low speeds like the Pacer.
The roll rate is decreased compared to a Pacer even though the ailerons are SC length and moved out to the ends of the wings.
My cruise speed is about 103 mph at 2450 rpm compared to my Pacer flying at 107 mph at 2450. I still have some rudder adjustments to make.
Take off is shorter but, I have not measured it yet. My Pacer light on a cool day got off in just over 200 feet. This is better.
After trim work, the plane is very stable and flies nicely hands off. Stalls are benign. I am getting used to 50 mph approaches. The cruise speed seems consistant at 103 to 104 mph at 2450 rpm.
Thanks so much for sharing this thread with us. It's been fun to watch the progress updates over the months. It really sounds like a performer!
Earlier in the thread you mentioned that the cost for the STC was $1000, but lately said it was $2000. Are there additional plans you need to purchase beyond the STC from Audrey? Also, does the tail come up faster like a super cub or is it still pretty heavy?
Thanks so much for sharing this thread with us. It's been fun to watch the progress updates over the months. It really sounds like a performer!
Earlier in the thread you mentioned that the cost for the STC was $1000, but lately said it was $2000. Are there additional plans you need to purchase beyond the STC from Audrey? Also, does the tail come up faster like a super cub or is it still pretty heavy?
The STC is $1000 to Audrey. But, she does not have the plans. I had already paid $1000 to an unnamed person who sent me most of the plans and 4 STC's. but, his wing and fuselage STC does not have the most recent owners name..... Audrey. To get the final plans the guy I worked with is a friend of Audrey's, so I had to send her the second $1000. If we could get the plans on a disc and make them available it would say money.
I have most of the plans for all four STC'S, think Colin has one I am missing. Maybe someone has the equipment to transfer large drawings to a computer and keep the detail. The main STC, does everything except the 0360 engine and the extra fuel tanks. There are other choices.
The tail comes up faster than the Pacer more like a Cub. I am finding with 10 degrees flap and pulling it off with out lifting the tail is the quickest. Their is no time to pull more flaps like I did in the Pacer.
I have most of the plans for all four STC'S, think Colin has one I am missing. Maybe someone has the equipment to transfer large drawings to a computer and keep the detail. .
Many locations of Kinkos etc. have large format scanners to scan design prints in and retain the detail. Old print scans often have to be cleaned up due to artifacts of age and use on the drawing. If you simply want it for reference, you can scan to .pdf or Autocad can work with scanned images and then be able to add/delete CAD info using raster editing. Alternately, I have a large format scanner (can scan up to E-Size prints) at my office that I can use if you wanted to ship them to AK.