Thorp Air Command - T18.net

I’ve just lost my source for spinners. I’ll keep looking, but for now, I have only one dome left and it is spoken for.
Spinner backplate and front plates are an issue.
BE ADVISED, the spinner guy was making them from T0 material, not the T4 that the plans called for. DO NOT RUN A SPINNER BACKPLATE WITHOUT A FRONT PLATE!! It WILL fail. So far, we have no reports of spinners failing with both plates installed.
Remedy...
I am planning to send a batch out for heat treating. If you have any bulkhead that you bought from me and want it included in this heat treat batch, contact me ASAP.
I’ll give everyone until the end of August, then I’m sending the parts out.
So, to recap, at this time I have no spinner parts available to sell. I will post here when that changes.
Cubes

Are you able to retrieve the tooling?

_________________
Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

Yes. I have access to the tooling.
Cubes

Cubes,

It's taken me exactly a year to get the spinner on, but I got it on just before Oshkosh and I put 16 hours on it without issue.

Thanks for your help along the way, and I STILL have the first spinner you sent. It boxed and up ready to ship back. Now that I have one spinner on, I won't need this for sure. I'll send it back to you this week, or to a different address if you prefer.

Great apologies for the delay on this. It's been a slow process for me to get the spinner cut and installed.

Just fire it back to the 4315 N. Tioga Way address. Thx.
Cubes

Ok. It’s been a month. Just want to give one last shout out to anyone who has bought a spinner bulkhead from me. Mainly we are looking at the backplates. If you have one and want it heat treated, contact me ASAP. I’ll be shipping the parts out very soon for heat treat. You don’t want to do this on your own...it’s several hundred dollars to fire up an oven.
Also, I secured a new spinner company. It will take me a few weeks to get all of the tooling down to them, but we should be up and running soon.
Cubes

that's great news. As a buyer of your parts, I really appreciate the fact that I can just order what I need.....and they show up "install ready." It makes the build more enjoyable and manageable for me.

Thanks for the kind words Ryan. I appreciate it very much.
Cubes

First, I’d like to wish all Thorpers a very Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you all are happy and healthy.
Second, be advised that the new spinners shipped this week! We are back in the spinner business.
Cubes

Hello Jim (Cubes),

I still have that spinner I got from you a couple of years ago. Noticed that the profile is not the same as original Thorp design. If you're still looking for a spinner source, I'm sure that Marc Bourget may still have the equipment and would offer to help you out for as little as nothing at least until you found another source. Maybe work out a deal with him.

_________________
In CowTown USA,
Don D-Day
NX18DD

?? Cubes just notified us he is back in the spinner business. Why would he need Marc B?

_________________
Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Lee,

I neglected to mention in my last post that what Mark B could offert, would be to help with the heat treat considering the extreme high price and not the making of the spinners. Lets see Lee, if we can be a little more positive about who or what help can be offered or got for the sake of Thorp T-18 support.

_________________
In CowTown USA,
Don D-Day
NX18DD

I just PMed Cubes, also posting here in case he sees this first, or in case anyone has comments or wants/needs to see this.

Discovered significant cracking in my spinner bulkhead yesterday. See video at https://youtu.be/O9yCBnJSu1M and also photos attached.

Hoping to get a new one soon, probably from Cubes. Thanks.

That said, maybe we should add "peek into the corners of the spinner openings and look for cracking" to our preflight checklists. Not generic to Thorps at all, of course, could happen to anything with a spinner.

_________________
Philip Mandel
N118BC
S/N 957
Beaverton OR

Do you have a front bulkhead? These cracks have been seen before in installations without front bulkheads.

_________________
Bob Highley
N711SH
SN 835
KLAL

I wish I knew how to answer that question. Lee would know. Or perhaps it is visible in my video? https://youtu.be/O9yCBnJSu1M

_________________
Philip Mandel
N118BC
S/N 957
Beaverton OR