Thorp Air Command - T18.net

N589LW picked up a new pair of Sam James shoes last week. Actually last month but it took me that long to get them fitted, intersection fairings made, painted etc. ...

I used to have a set of Rattray's on there that I had actually installed at the wrong angle of attack. Had they been straight I probably would have lived with them but since I was going to have to make a new set of intersection fairings to get them straight I decided to move out of the 1970's and get some 'high tech' wheel pants.

I didn't expect to gain anything out of them speed wise. My goal was to not loose any speed. I can honestly say I didn't gain a knot or loose one, so mission accomplished!

In case anyone is wondering these are priced at $112.50 a piece ($225 a set) so they're about the best deal around.

They required a bit of work to get fitted, but what doesn't?

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Those are beautiful, Lee! What a great looking job!
John Evens N71JE
Arvada, CO

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

Looks good, next time I see Sam I'll tell him what you said.........

Thanks Guys!

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Lee: Did they come with a nice "gel coat" on them or did you have to do a lot of prep work filling pin holes and smoothing out the ruff spots. I know I spent hours preping mine and probably could have spent more gettin them ready for paint. We could really use a good glass man for the group that does a nice job gel coating our parts like the tips, cowls and wheel pants. I am not a fiberglass man ( and never intend to be one when I grow up ), but I would have paid a premium ( I mean $$$ ) for some really nice fiberglass parts to put on my A/C and not spent hours and hours trying to make it look good ! The only thing this stuff has that metal doesn't is when I make a mistake I can just add more glue !

RB

RB,
No gel coat, the finish is very good as far as pinholes go and light. Looks like he gets a good saturation coat first, the parts are glass smooth on arrival. The only flaws are at the seams, there you have to sand/fill a bit and a few pinholes do come out of that due to sanding down the top coat to eliminate the seam.


BTW ... gel coat is for boats ... on airplanes it just adds weight and ends up cracking later.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Wish someone would come out with a new cowl
styling. J.P

On the cowl subject. My two cents worth, I love the Thorp cowl, I don't think you could make a better looking front end for the Thorp (opinion of course).

Let's see, over the years we've had the;

- Twin Comanche cowl
- Rattray cowl
- Garrison updraft cowl
- Harvey Mickelson made a pretty cool looking smiley face cowl for Fat Kat. It was a bit complex though.
- I've seen a few guys install new style, symmetric rounded inlets on the Thorp cowl and as far as I know didn't get much out of it.

and then there's the plain ol' Thorp cowl. The removable cheek forces the pilot to make a thorough front end pre-flight, and aesthetically it's a winner. The inlets are on the large side but you can compensate for that in other ways (cowl flaps, baffle design).

I don't know, it's just my opinion but I'm not sure what else we could try. From what I've read, and the fuselage shape suggests that the side is where the exit air should be. So moving that is not really a good idea. I guess you could alter the cowl shape to close off the exit air a bit and or reduce the inlet size for the smaller motors.

Any ideas guys?

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

How about putting a hinge on the side cheeks ? [;)] Would make preflights easier ! [:D]

RB

Hey RB out of curiosity, can you detach the side checks from the top when you pull the entire cowl off?

For those who don't know Rich has hinged Thorp side cheeks.

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Lee Walton
Houston, TX
N51863,N118LW
KEFD

Why yes you can, but only with the top cowl off to get at the hinge pins. I suppose if you worked hard enough you could pull the pins with the top cowl in place, but it was not designed that way. Not a big deal to remove the entire top and side cheeks in one piece. Remove the Cam Locks from the top rear cowl and a few screws from the front and you can lift the entire assembly off (top and 2 cheeks in one operation). With the cheeks in the up position, there is more than enough room for preflight (and no excuse not to do one) as well as any normal maintenance functions you need to do. With the concealed hinges it sure makes for a nice preflight not having to "drop" the cheeks to the ground and then trying to hold them in position securing the Cam Locks ! [:p]



RB