Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Oops. Of course we should use our guys for parts, even if ACS had them.

Good catch . I guess we can call you a Company man now .

RB

Were there drawings for the metal cheeky cowls? If so, I don't seem to have them in my set.

d

I would hazard a guess that there were, but just like the canopy loft drawing, they were not included in a normal plans set sent to a builder. There were suppliers who spent a considerable amount of effort to build tooling and supply those hard to fabricate parts, and I suspect that may have been a possible partial reason that John Thorp did not include them. I once inquired about a canopy drawing, and John replied that one existed, but he couldn't prove it - evidently it had somehow disappeared. He then actually talked about the money & effort that Glenn B. (GeeBee) had gone through to supply them to the builders at that time. If this somehow contradicts what others may know about it, I'd be interested to know.

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

An update... I've been told that there were no drawings for the "cheeky" cowl. Also that John did a lot of calculations to determine the cowl configuration (computing pressure distribution curves, etc.), and that those calcs were not included in the T-18 design papers that Richard Eklund donated to the EAA museum. Thanks to Marc Bourget for that information. That was all new to me, and I wanted to share it with the group.

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

Can anyone share some details about thicknesses and the alloys required? In my case I'm specifically interested in the top cowl piece.

How thick would the sheet section need to be? 2024T3? I understand that it can be made with a flat piece, but I made a template and my glass part indicates that a bit of shrinking would be required at the cheek edge. It's probably due to warpage in the glass part. (Polyester resin)

How did folks form the flange on the plate on the front? By hand (accepting flutes)? Or with the same technique as the ribs (ie hammering the flange into a corner formed by a bucking bar and the wooden form .)?

I happen to have some 6061-T0 in 1/16" thick ... too thick?

D

Dick,
We made ours (Wendell's N51863) out of .040 2024, no shrinking required. Flat wrap.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

the top part is flat. I'll check mine for material. The front piece needs to be shrunk over a form. Two pieces or sandwiched between one piece and a bench top.

I suggest you talk to Cubes. I believe he has fiberglass parts and can probably supply metal parts as well.

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http://www.dixiefriedfabrication.com/