Jump to content

SQ2000 project


magnum

Recommended Posts

OK, as of this morning, I am the new owner of the SQ2000 project that's being advertised on some of the plane sites. I corresponded with the owner last night and this morning and got all the info about it and he sent me more pics etc and its a done deal.

     The problem now is its in W.Va, (about 30 mins from where I was born and raised) and I am in Fla. So he will store it in the hanger till I can get up there to get it. Hopefully after the weather breaks.

     The house is for sale here and I am going to move back to N.C so that will slow things down also.

    The factory main spar is included and installed, factory canard, instrument panel, engine mount, complete wiring harness and lots of miscellaneous stuff. 

 I'll need to figure out what wings will be compatible. I would like the blended winglets if the e racer wings will work.

  The owner told me that he was planning on the Velocity retracts so I will have to sort that part of the build out also.

   For the engine, I am going to pick up a 20B I bought in the next few weeks that is a complete new rebuild with all gauges, turbo, radiator, Tracys ecu, oil cooler and wiring harness for it. All new parts. I'll need and engine mount etc for it which is not an issue but I do need to find a proven PSRU for it

    All in all I feel I made a good start and I think I can find enough info from everyone that I can get it completed correctly and safely.

    OK, any thoughts or advice is more than welcome. I'm officially a builder again! I start working on my PPL in a week or so so my plate is now full!...LOL

 

  • Like 1

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow Tom, congratulations.  I'm sure you're aware of much that has been discussed about the SQ-2000s and I hope you take all that to heart.  You are in serious experimental territory.  You're plate is certainly full!

 

I saw the pics on Trade-a-plane.  You're panel is in pretty much the same era as the plane I recently picked up.  

 

Make sure your new home in N.C. is "builder certified!"  :)

 

Best wishes and looking forward to watching your progress.

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where are you planning to go in N.C., Tom?  I am in Concord, a bit north of Charlotte.

 

Good luck with your Mazda.  I suppose you've read Chris Barber's thread on the other site--the latest builder I know of to give up on the rotary for an airplane engine.

 

I have said this other places:  These canard airplanes are not good designs with which to experiment with engines.  They glide shallow and land fast and there are no flaps or good drag devices that you can use to assist in picking your landing spot and approach speed.  I have checked guys out in my Cozy and it is the rare person who can set up a decent off-airport landing approach.  It is so easy to be fast with no way to slow down.  What can happen is that the gear is somewhat fragile; nose gear collapses, canard digs in or catches something and the heavy engine-end of the airplane flips it over.  Also, energy dissipation in a crash is related to velocity squared.  If you land engine out at 100 vs 80 you would have 56% more energy to dissipate in a crash.  You can stall a Cessna in at 50 kts.  In my Cozy, a couple seconds of inattention in an engine-out pattern and I'm gliding at 100 kts--300% more energy to dissapate in the break-up of the airplane and my little pink body.

 

From time to time, I've had various little glitches with my airplane engines and believe me, I am not crazy about flying when there is any doubt about my engine.   Let me pose the case where your rotary is flying but you have a few problems to iron out.  You are sorting out water-cooling, PRSU, a very hot exhaust and non-standard carburation in an airplane that you hardly know yet.  This makes you much more of a test pilot than the guy who has bolted-on a Lycoming. The failure modes of a Lycoming are well-known and can be foreseen with ordinary care.  The failure modes on a rotary are more unpredictable.

 

People say "Well, a rotary will run for many minutes with no water."  Heck, I never want to get to that test condition.  And unless your rotary performs flawlessly, your wife and friends are not going to want to fly that airplane and you wouldn't ask them to.

 

Just some food for thought.   :)

  • Like 1

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kent,

   Thanks for all of that. I will be moving probably back to Kannapolis where I used to live till 2002 when I moved to Costa Rica. I had a home repair business there (Rent A Husband) and before that, I worked in the Nascar garages welding, fabricating, wrenching and also worked for Petty in the driving school back then called Nastrak which is now the Richard Petty Driving Experience.

    My brother lives in Midland (welder and fabricator, worked for the Woods brothers in the fab shop) so I have friends and family there and thats the reason I'm moving back as soon as the house sells here. Plus the car scene is big there and I have a drag car and there are many local tracks in the area.   

    I have spent a lot of time researching what to do and thats how I came to these decisions for this project. The fuselage has a lot completed and a lot of parts to go with it. The big time saver is the instrument panel and the wiring harness. Its been bench tested and only needs a new radio which the owner took and put in his other plane.

     The engine is a running basically firewall forward package. I didn't want to fall into the "I need to rebuild the engine" scenario a lot of done in the past before me and end up like Chris did with endless issues and frustration. (No offense to Chris by the way). It has the inconel exhaust, water cooled, ceramic bearings turbo with the POV and BOV and boost control. All the needed gauges and radiator and oil cooler and its all wired up ready to go. I have learned to use as much "off the shelf" parts you can and not a lot of unnecessary mods.

     I went to an air show here a few years back and was talking with a Long owner and one of the first things he told me was "don't change it and buy everything you can pre made and you will finish it a lot sooner. Thats why projects die"

   So I am changing things, but I'm buying them done so to speak. I'm going to have the wings built, find prefab strakes if they are available and maybe cowls that are close to what I need and then I can work from an existing shape.

   My back is another reason I'm doing it this way. One neck surgery and 5 lower back tends to slow you down some so I have to lighten the load. I'm pretty sure I will have a helper too so that will make a difference. I just can't put in those 10 hour days like I used to and, I'm single, no wife.    :yikes:

     I have a lot of skills and the support group on all the forums as well as all the car contacts I have in NC I can lean on for troubleshooting anything from wiring to fuel to tig etc?

   Is it going to be easy? I kinda doubt it but I am doing all I can to not make the mistakes I have read about and I have no problem reaching out to other rotary guys that are flying for their help.

   When I get up that way I be in touch as I would like to see your projects and how you did things. We can all learn from each other.

 Thanks!

 ~~~tg~~~

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow Tom, congratulations.  I'm sure you're aware of much that has been discussed about the SQ-2000s and I hope you take all that to heart.  You are in serious experimental territory.  You're plate is certainly full!

 

I saw the pics on Trade-a-plane.  You're panel is in pretty much the same era as the plane I recently picked up.  

 

Make sure your new home in N.C. is "builder certified!"  :)

 

Best wishes and looking forward to watching your progress.

 

John, thanks to you and the other forums, my project will go a lot better and a lot safer because of all the information, builders sites, contact info and photos etc that you make available for all of us. A big thanks for bringing this forum back!   :thumbsup:

 

~~~tg~~~

  • Like 1

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John, thanks to you and the other forums, my project will go a lot better and a lot safer because of all the information, builders sites, contact info and photos etc that you make available for all of us. A big thanks for bringing this forum back!   :thumbsup:

 

Tohm, you're quite welcome.  My name is 'Jon'.  :)

 

At the end of the day, you'll get all the credit for everything you do to get that plane put together.  Your challenges are many as the factory no longer exists and, unfortunately, there are not many other SQ builders or flyers.

 

 

OK, any thoughts or advice is more than welcome.

 

That's the only advice I can offer -- keep throwing it out there for public comment and make the safest decisions you can.

 

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update:

 

       I have been looking for any infor etc. on this kit and as you may have guessed, its sparse. I got to speak with David Hansen and he will advise me on anything he can to help from his builds with the SQ2000. The wings will interchange so that hurdle is taken care of. He said that the factory canard is very heavy and should be replaced with a lighter one.

      He no longer has any plans, drawings or info so I am now in search for plans, parts and pieces from a dead or wrecked kit if possible.

      If anyone knows of anything or someone, get in touch with me so I can pursue any leads to get what I need to help with the build when I get started. 

 Thanks in advance for you help.      :feedback:

~~~tg~~~

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I may still have the original info pack from Montgomery packed away in box somewhere if that would be of any help.

Thanks, that would be great as there may be some info that I may be able refer to. If you find anything, let me know and private PM me.

Thanks

 ~~~tg~~~ 

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just recieved a mail from Martin, Paul Lees son I believe, and he fixed a dead link on Paul's site (construction documents PDF in the build section) and I now have all the factory build documents and some of the notes and drawings that Paul made as he was building. 

    I think I now have most of what I need for all the layup schedules and reinforcements. I didn't know about a lot of the layups, so this is really good info.

   I read also, that  the strakes were pre made so I am going to have to find some I can make work. I have the drawings now and how they line up so it should be OK to follow it.

    OK, I have some work to do this evening to get this all organized and saved.

 Later

~~~tg~~~ 

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Update:

 

   Things are going good on the parts scene. I finally got in touch with Andreas and come to find out, he bought out all the molds and parts from the factory "debacle" I'll call it. He has in stock, 12 pairs of strakes!. 

   He also has all the molds for everything to make an SQ2000! So, I'm on my way with everything. I forgot to ask if he has any wings in stock but I'll get to that when I call him again.

  While I am in limbo waiting to get moved, I decided to bite the bullet and start my PPL training yesterday and what a day it was! 

      I went in thinking it would only be an hour of ground school and it ended up about 45 mins and then he said, "Lets go have some fun" and out on the tarmac we went.

    Trained me on a basic preflight of the 152 and then climbed inside for first time cockpit instructions. Climbing into this little plane was no easy task for me, 6"2", 200 Lbs., especially with my back!. I finally had to sit down and scoot back in and pull my legs up one at a time and stuff them under the IP. Getting old sucks and I now understand the word, "COZY". 

     Fired it up and off we went and he was teaching me all the time. Taxiing, staying on the line, stopped for the run up, got clearance and he had me keep my feet and hands on the controls and pedals so I could get a feel for what he was doing and down the runway we went!

    Rotated up and at about 100 feet he handed it over to me and starting explaining and telling me what to do. Talk about your white knuckle moment! I only experienced this a few times before and it was in my race car and the first time I did some laps in one of Pettys school cars when I worked there.

   Leveled off at 2000 and stayed there for a while and I got calmed down and learned the basics and then we started turns, banking and then landmarks and just on and on.

      It was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have had in a long while and it was over too soon even though we were up there for over an hour.

    Next lesson is tomorrow morning and I can't wait, what a day!!!!!! One of my life long goals is coming to life!      :)

~~~tg~~~

  • Like 1

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm 6'4", and I didn't much like spending too much time in C-152/150s when I was instructing! Not made for bigger people, for sure!

Do you fly a flight sim at home at all (ie X-plane)?

Enjoy it, keep it up, and you'll be licensed in no time. :)

  • Like 1

Aerocanard (modified) SN:ACPB-0226 (Chapter 8)

Canardspeed.com (my build log and more; usually lags behind actual progress)
Flight simulator (X-plane) flight model master: X-Aerodynamics

(GMT+12)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

"Do you fly a flight sim at home at all (ie X-plane)?"

 

Thanks for that, I have not progressed that far in thinking about all of this. I'll look into it when I get a little more settled in with it. I have a test practice site already and am going to start on it this weekend.

 

"Enjoy it, keep it up, and you'll be licensed in no time. " :)

 

I'm stoked and am really looking forward to the adventure. I have a great instructor and everybody wants to go through his school. Great guy and always upbeat and he talks to you and explains everything and he makes it fun!.

Thanks!

~~~tg~~~

Edited by magnum

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, had my 3rd lesson today and again, it was great. I have been thinking about getting a sim, so any advice would be great. I just bought a new lap top so I know it will have all the power I need.

    What have you used or are currently using?

 Thanks

 ~~~tg~~~

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use and recommend X-plane 10. It's up to date, accurate, and constantly improving. (The MS Flight sims are old and no new versions are coming). Most any aircraft you need can be found in the downloads section of x-plane.org .
I have made an Aerocanard FG for it, and made tens (hundreds?) of revisions to improve accuracy of the model, it's very close now, as far as I can tell from published data and pilot reports (I haven't flown a real canard, yet).
Producing an SQ2000 for it shouldn't be a big problem, it would just take me some time is all.

 

I would be happy to answer any questions you have about it, I've been using the sim for 13+ years.

There is also a 'Learn to Fly' series here. I think it's rather good, but then I'm partial; I wrote it. :rolleyes:

  • Like 2

Aerocanard (modified) SN:ACPB-0226 (Chapter 8)

Canardspeed.com (my build log and more; usually lags behind actual progress)
Flight simulator (X-plane) flight model master: X-Aerodynamics

(GMT+12)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been thinking about getting a sim, so any advice would be great.

A simulator that you can fly on your own time in any weather you like, and without the cost of an instructor, is a great way to improve your flying skills.

 

What have you used or are currently using?

 

I second Cameron's suggestion for X-Plane.  I've tried all of the consumer sims, recently including Lockheed Martin's Prepar3D (based on the commercial version of Microsoft Flight Simulator).  In the end I found that Prepar3D and X-Plane were very close in terms of the quality of the simulation.  I did not choose X-Plane for their technology, but for their overall community and constant commitment.

 

It's equally important to invest in a fast computer (CPU and graphics card), large monitor(s), joystick, throttle quadrant, and pedals.  I use these:

  • Fast computer
  • Multiple 22" displays
  • Control stick:  CH Products FlightStick Pro
  • Throttle quadrant:  Saitek TPM Panel
  • Pedals:  CH Products Pro Pedals

X-Plane has a good support forum and there's also the Models, Simulators & Concepts forum here at the Canard Zone.

  • Like 1

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only criticism I have for the X-Plane software is that the user interface is a bit "geeky", which is why I took a look at Prepar3D (in hopes of a modern/more usable user interface).  Being a computer geek myself, it wasn't really an issue so I settled back into X-Plane.  I don't believe there are any canards for Prepar3D at this point either. 

 

Some of the in-cockpit views in Prepar3D are stunning.

Jon Matcho :busy:
Builder & Canard Zone Admin
Now:  Rebuilding Quickie Tri-Q200 N479E
Next:  Resume building a Cozy Mark IV

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Jon.

    I'm going to start off with a 152 to practice on so I can get as many hours in as I can for school with the sim. I think I will be more comfortable with each new class. Right now its like I'm drowning in information but I understand it all. I can  practice on my schedule and be a better student.

~~~tg~~~

  • Like 1

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Done, done and done! Ordered X Plane 10, yoke and pedals this morning. Should have everything within a week. Looking forward to getting this as I feel its going to make a big difference in my training and comfort level!

~~~tg~~~

"Time flys when your building"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information