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  1. cluttonfred

    Airplane For Sale Špaček SD-1 Minisport for sale in France (€19,000)

    This message was posted yesterday on the French ultralight/light plane forum (my translation, with the ad itself translated below the pics). The seller and presumably the plane are located in Chateaubourg, Brittany in northwestern France. I have no connection to the plane or the seller other...
  2. cluttonfred

    A Volksplane Reborn

    For no particular reason other than the fact that I have it handy because I just sent it to a friend, here is an article I wrote for KITPLANES almost 25 years ago about a Frenchman and his Evans VP-1 Volksplane. Cheers all, Matthew
  3. cluttonfred

    Olin Kane's VP-1

    Here are some old, low-resolution scans of paper photos that I received by mail from Olin Kane of California back in 1997. The three pics of the Evans VP-1 Volksplane in the yellow paint scheme are dated 1984 and 1985 and highlight the chin position of the oil cooler and the use of duct tape to...
  4. cluttonfred

    Al Backstrom articles and projects

    Bill Higdon mentioned in another thread that the late Al Backstrom had suggested putting a Turner T-40-style canopy on an Evans VP-1 Volksplane. For anyone that doesn't know, Backstrom was very active in homebuilt sailplane and airplane circles from the 1950s until at least the 1980s and...
  5. cluttonfred

    2024 Fly Meter and PPG Meter instruments

    I have no connection to this company from Czechia, just happy to see that Fly Henry are still going strong and improving their designs. They make very affordable, simple EMS instruments for two- or four-stroke engines. https://www.flyhenry.cz/index.php/en/products/fly-meter-eng...
  6. cluttonfred

    Three-piece canopy on a two-seater?

    Does anyone know of any examples of canopies similar to the one used on the PIK-26 Mini-Sytky (curved in profile but made up of two relatively flat and one flat-wrapped panes) but in a side-by-side two-seater? Cheers, Matthew
  7. cluttonfred

    Single-door cabin?

    Random thought...I have long thought of coming up with an affordable, easy-to-build cabin monoplane in the spirit of the Evans Volksplane VP-2 but with an enclosed cockpit, a little more room, and a little more wing area. One approach I have considered is a cabin monoplane with a fuselage like...
  8. cluttonfred

    Faking the curves?

    Tapered and elliptical wings and tail surfaces and swoopy fuselages can be very beautiful to behold but also a pain in the backside to build. A multitude of different ribs and often tapered and twisted spars underneath the skin can make for a long and challenging project. A few designers have...
  9. cluttonfred

    Connecting with Benelux/France members?

    I am on my way to Rotterdam for the weekend to spend some time with my daughter at university and will be driving back down to Lyon on Monday. If there any HBA members available for a chat along the way—coffee, lunch, workshop visit, hangar tour, anything—then I’d love to connect. Please start...
  10. cluttonfred

    Replica Fokker V.40 project underway in Germany

    From a Facebook group post, photos and text/ reposted for those who don't do FB. "Steffen Hegele is with Engels Achim. Today I would like to present our project of the Engels E.7 (replica of the Fokker V.40). This is an airplane designed by Anthony Fokker in 1919 for the civilian market. It is...
  11. cluttonfred

    Eric Clutton's FRED turns 60 today!

    Yup, it's been 60 years since the first flight of the prototype Flying Runabout Experimental Design. https://www.tumblr.com/cluttonfred/732962226695208960/fred-is-60-years-old-today-november-3rd-2023-is?source=share
  12. cluttonfred

    Australia's flying doctors get Swiss STOL business jet

    This has nothing to do with homebuilts, of course, but it's still cool. https://avgeekery.com/watch-pilatus-land-its-new-pc-24-in-the-australian-outback/
  13. cluttonfred

    Fire Extinguisher Systems

    In light of the potential and quickly catastrophic nature of an engine fire in a small aircraft, how many people have some sort of fire extinguisher system in their homebuilt planes? Of course, weight is the enemy and space is often at a premium. The automotive racing system linked below...
  14. cluttonfred

    Tractor engine, twin boom...just because?

    I like twin boom designs in general, and I like H-tails, but just like H-tails there isn't always a reason to use twin booms. Pusher props and jets and sometimes twins, sure, but for a typical single tractor-engine monoplane, there's not much justification. About the only arguments that I...
  15. cluttonfred

    Airfoil combinations with external flaps?

    I am looking for some resources on choosing or even just proven examples to copy of wing and external flap airfoils that work well together. I am not talking about flaperons that also act as control surfaces, just flaps like on the Miles Messenger. I found an old NACA report in which both...
  16. cluttonfred

    Quickie/Hémiptère mashup

    [I am reposting this from another thread so as not to hijack that one.] Longtime members will have heard this before, but I have long thought that blending elements of the Rutan Quickie and the Mauboussin Hémiptère would make a great little sport aircraft. Take the shark-fin aesthetics, high...
  17. cluttonfred

    The Case for Tandem (Monowheel) Landing Gear

    I stumbled across this 1970 Sport Aviation article on tandem (meaning monowheel) landing gear and thought it would be worth highlighting.
  18. cluttonfred

    Wire trailing edges - pros, cons, tips?

    From the early pioneer days until the interwar period, wire trailing edges on fabric-covered wings and tails were fairly common, giving the classic scalloped or bat-wing look to planes like this Farman F.451 Moustique. Are there and big pros or cons to the wire trailing edge other than...
  19. cluttonfred

    Questions on seat belts/harnesses

    I am curious what people are using for seat belts/harnesses when those parts are not supplied in a kit. Is there a big difference between aircraft and auto racing seat harnesses in terms of weight, quality, etc.? Are there any big pros or cons in a homebuilt aircraft context to the various...
  20. cluttonfred

    Airplane For Sale Formerly flying Corben Junior Ace and advanced but unflown Pietenpol project

    This was going around on the Corben and Pietenpol Facebook groups. If I were anywhere near St. Louis then I would be very interested in the Corben. I have no other connection to or knowledge of either aircraft or this sale. Here is the original post by Bob Miller on the Pietenpol FB group...
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