Thorp Air Command - T18.net

I've been reading all the past newsletters and noted reference a couple of times to Lou Sunderlands building instructions.
Does anyone have a copy they want to part with or would be able to copy.

THe current S-18 plans that are for sale by "Cubes" has all the Suderland drawings. Of course that includes the wider and longer fuselage as well. The complete plan set I believe the current price is $350. While this might be the most expensive way to go, you will be assured of the latest up to date plans, and you will be supporting a business that helps keep the Thorp's flying.

Back in the "old days", from what I understand, John Thorp allowed the selling of the suderland drawings as a supplement to the T-18 plans. Then I think the Suderland drawings were sold by John Thorp. After he retired, the plans seemed to be split back up. So now you can get straight T-18 full set of plans from Eklund, and you can get full S-18 plans which are 2 inch wider and a bit longer as well as the suderland folding wings and different airfoil.

So I think the old newsletter discussions were back in the day that there was no "formal" drawings for what is now called the S-18. They were just supplements to the original T-18.

As I understand it, the wings and fuselages will fit back and forth with some obvious fiting at the wing roots. Thus you can have a T wing on an S fuselage, or a S wing on a T fuselage. Then of course there are the thorps out there with the T fuselage and T wing shape, but the airfoil from Suderland. How is that for confusing?

Do you have a straight T plans or plane and want just the S wing drawings?

I am not a lawyer , but I believe when Cubes bought the S-18 business from Mike Archer all the "rights" to the plans were transferred to him . By that I mean it is not legal to copy the plans , give them to your buddy or sell them to a third party , much like copying music and movie DVD's and selling them . It takes $$$ away from the legal owner of the property . I have a signed receipt from Ken Knowles that states I have plans serial # xxxx to build an S-18 along with purchasing the additional set of plans to build the LS wing serial #xxxx .

Not sure how Cubes works the business now so I don't want to put words into his mouth , but let's support the guy that works hard to supply us with the much needed parts ! Especially those parts that I can't make ! BADA BING , BADA BOOM !

RB

There was/is a book that Sunderlund published that gave some details on construction. I would buy a set of the newsletters as there is more than enough information to construct the Thorp.

I bought the S18 plans from Cubes last year., Just wondered if there was a copy of Lou's building instructions around somewhere

Building an airplane from a set of plans can appear to be a duanting task especially if you are not acustom to seeing the type of drawings used and not knowing about water lines and how to locate various different parts in an assembly can make these drawings a little scary. I have looked at drawings all my life but these drawings were different in some ways. I did get a bit of an instruction manual from Mike, and it was kinda like an explanation of how to get started, it was helpful. But in the end I just built control surfaces first, this got me aquainted with the materials and processes and the small parts were easy to handle, ailerons,fin and rudder then the flaps. I went to the stabilizer and the tabs, it all went together well. I then built the fuse, and the the wing center section and then wing panels. all of it bolted up just like shown on the plans. I didnt have to scrap any parts, I did get frustrated a few times but oh well. Everything I built I built one time and all was good. The complete instruction Manual is right here on this Forum, if you need information some of the most detailed info is right here, and I used it, turns out some of the most how to do airplane builders are right here,just ask a question and they will be there, they are all good hearted and know their stuff they are more than willing to help. So, in reality you might say that our instruction manual is interactive,a book of building knowladge passed from generation to generation and this information is very much available should you decide to use it. Happy building!! ask a question this Manual will respond......Dan

Bless your heart for being so willing Dan. It has been so long I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help to anyone. Hard to believe but it has been 44 years since I started mine.
Steve Hawley

Steve Hawley, 44 years with a Thorp, sounds to me like that is just the experience and know how I was referring to!!! There are many questions on this forum that your ears and years are just at the ready to answer, and Lord willing we will have you for many many more years and that knowledge you have packed away, you always had an answer for my questions and I learned through results your answers were right. We have all helped one another, and that's Great!!! Dan

Time flies when you're havin' fun! Started mine in 1975 ... 40 years.

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

I do not have a builders manual. I have about 90% of one, but as I said at Oshkosh, it's on the back burner.
Yes the plans have serial numbers. They allow you to build one plane.
Cubes

90% of a manual is FAR better than no manual or guidance at all. I would think any plans purchaser would LOVE to have the work in progress manual over nothing. OR even to purchase knowing full well that it is not the "final and complete" manual.

While not exactly a builders manual, no one has mentioned the series of 14 articles on building the T-18 that John Thorp wrote for Sport Aviation. They were also included in an EAA publication titled (I believe) "Metal Aircraft Building Techniques".

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

John is correct , as he is most of the time ! They have the SA magazine for sale on e-bay with the 14 articles by JT . Building the Metal Airplane EAA , while it might be a good reference not sure if the articles have all the updated information (along with the SDR's) that are available today ?

RB
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