Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Does anyone out there have a backing plate for a Thorp spinner and for a C/S Prop? - I have a Brock spinner that needs a little TLC - am not sure whether it is drilled for standard holes, but have access to a good AL welder to fill in the holes on the spinner if the need arises. The current backing plate has been drilled out twice and I should probably get a new one, rather than risk it's failure down the road.

?QUE Paso ? What size Senior ? I think you can get an "undrilled buckhead" from Spruce ? A new plate might be cheaper and "safer" than a welded up disc ?

RB

Won't work RB he needs a cs backplate specific to the Thorp. A totally different breed from what is available from ACS.

One other option for you Frase is the PA-30 or PA-23-250 spinner/backplate combo. That works on the Thorp too.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Floo up to Ogden last Friday to check out a composite company that makes spinners and back plates for all makes and models of aircraft - Nice young man said they would happily make one for the T-18.

It was a short visit - the guy tried to sell me a different 13.5 inch spinner on the spot - a lot of talking - not enuff listenin - he quoted about 800 for the mold and a "few hundred" for a spinner and "I don't know, but we'll figger out sumpinout" about the back plate.

Later that day, I ordered a spinner and back plate from Mike Archer and will have it in a cupla weeks.

New Walton Aviation spinner installed - a few photos below - templated Homey's prop bake opeings and shrunk it a little bit as my prop has less blade cord - the cut out using a thin cutoff blade, riveted a doubler and installed behind the prop - the nose tracks dead nuts - the back plate looks like it has a little wobble in it, but I think it's because of the slight warpage between screws, the spinner being carbon fiber - gonna wallow out the holes just a sniglet and let it settle in. Nice tight fit with no rubbage on the prop blades - I think the spinner added 3 MPH.
Disclaimer - had alot of help from hangar neighbor, who has every tool necessary to build a boeing 787, but the desired result I am happy with.

Pretty nice job for a cross dresser ! Always good to have a buddy with all the tools you don't have !

RB

That's what I'm talkin a about! Looks great Frase! May it give you many years of fatigue free service!

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

It Looks very good Frase!

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John Evens
Arvada, Colorado
T-18 N71JE (sold)
Kitfox 7 SS N27JE

Hi Fraser,

What did you use for a front bulkhead?

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Matt Smith
Des Moines, IA
55RC

Matt,
I copied Bob Highley's front bulkhead design. Fraser has a CS prop so it's not going to apply to a fixed pitch prop. Basically it's a formed aluminum ring bonded onto the spinner with an again formed kydex ring for anti-chafe against the prop hub.

Here's a pic ...

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

With a little creativity and ingenuity, I think this method of making a "floating" front bulkhead could be made to work with a fixed pitch prop. I have been thinking of having the front bulkhead float on tube that is perfectly centered by the center hole in the prop hub. Same idea as Bob's, just a smaller hole/ring in the disk.

The builder of Tim Brown's Thorp did something similar.
http://thorp18.com/forum/images/postedi ... C00225.JPG

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