Props on Jabiru engines

[AndyG]

Looking good James. Bet you can't wait to finish her

[James Bentley]

Almost there Andy, will be on leave soon so will be able put more time in.

[grostek]

Hi James,

Good looking Raven.

For drag reduction have a look at the undercarriage, plenty of potential drag reduction there for little cost.

You may also want to have a look at fittinh VG's (Vortex Generators) at about 12% chord position for much better slow speed handling and a much lower stall speed. Again the VG's can easily be made at home from 25mm Tbar extrusion available at most hardware shops. They wont cost more than a R100 or so to make.Fix them with thin double sided tape.

http://www.stolspeed.com/zenith-601-hds/

Good luck with your project.

Kind regards,

Gunter Rostek.

[Rudix]

WOW James, great looking plane !

And getting VERY close I see, I can't wait to read that first flight report. Your cowl is looking good, far better than the stock one.

Here progress is a bit slow, too many other projects, but at least there is progress. I am busy with the instrument panel but cannot finish that till the final engine choice has been made. I am hoping the 2200A works out well, will help a lot with the "engine shuffle" here.

Enjoy the project and thanks for posting the photos and sharing with us,
Kind Regards,
Rudi

[James Bentley]

Hi Gunter

Thanks for the info on the vortex generators, very interesting indeed.

We will do a test on Pottie Potgieter's Raven which is at our field, he will be delighted to have any device which improves the performance.

Yes, we will also look at the gear clean up as well, plenty of room for improvement. Spats will add 3 to 5mph, we have a set of moulds so once the aircraft is up and running we will make and fit them.

Rudi, thanks for the kind words. There is still a lot of work to be done

Like you perhaps, I am trying to fit so many things into my life so at times priorities are else where,

There is a new mower arriving for the field today, so the weekend will be spent trying that out

Not forgetting John Young's braai tomorrow at Light Flight

Cheers and kind regards

James

[John Young]

Not forgetting John Young's braai tomorrow at Light Flight

Hi James,

Braai-day looking very wet.

Maybe we must fool the weather - get dressed early for work next week and jump in the planes and fly.

Will try and make smoke anyway.

Regards
John ZU-sEXY

[justin.schoeman]

You may also want to have a look at fittinh VG's (Vortex Generators) at about 12% chord position for much better slow speed handling and a much lower stall speed. Again the VG's can easily be made at home from 25mm Tbar extrusion available at most hardware shops. They wont cost more than a R100 or so to make.Fix them with thin double sided tape.

I have just contacted Carl to order my airframe. Considering ordering it with a 24' wing span, which should raise both the stall and cruise speeds by 5-10mph. I then intend to fit VGs to recover the stall speed - so in the end, hopefully I will get a few extra mph in the cruise without really sacrificing low speed handling and performance.

Still wondering if this is a good idea, or not, but I would love to get it to go a little faster .

Please let us know how the 2200 works out! I think we will have to invite you to come visit up on the highveld to see how it flies up here - I would love to use a Jab 2200 myself, but am not sure how it will perform up here.

[jabirusk]

James,
Your Zenair is looking great! A comment though on vortex generators: I spent quite some time flying with Rob Hayes, ZU-CBM, before he sold it. It had such good low speed manners as is, (without vortex generators) that I think you'd be making a mistake fitting them - for a few reasons:

1 - If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it
2 - They really don't help the asthetics of a planes wing at all
3 - When you wash the wings, the vortex generators jam up the sponge/rag!

Comment on props: Piet De Necker does a really good job. I don't know of one person that is not pleased with a prop made by him. He recently quoted be about R5 000 and 3 weeks wait for a prop for my Jabbie - if I needed a new prop. I'd say it's worth it. And, yes, airframe does play a very important role in prop choice. The designed and expected speed range of the airframe will need a matched prop, also if you intend flying upcountry more than coastal.

My 2c worth