Thorp Air Command - T18.net

Hello all,

For the past couple of years I've been trying to gain traction on a partially completed T-18 project I purchased (originally a scratchbuild). All of the surfaces (wings, tail, etc.) are present and in good shape. However, when it came to the fuselage, which is the least complete part of the project, I found that it had been very poorly assembled. Hoping not to need to build an entirely new one, I was wondering if anybody on this forum had or knew of anyone who had a mostly complete fuselage they might be willing to part with. As a high school student with little time to work money is fairly tight, so the price would have to be very reasonable. I live in the north San Francisco Bay Area, so something in California or nearby would be preferable.

Thank you,
-Quincy Zlotnick
Plans #576

Quincy: have seen 2 listed on the internet: not sure on the quality but for you to follow up on.

1st maybe a bit out of your price range $ 8,500 on Barnstomer scroll down there is a fuselage for sale on this page. http://www.barnstormers.com/Experimenta ... ifieds.htm

2nd is a unfinished fuselage and a assortment of parts and pieces that was donated to a EAA chapter now being sold.
http://thorpt18.wordpress.com/

Again, not sure with the quality but you are looking for leeds on fuselages here is 2.
Cheers.

_________________
Victor J Thompson
C-GIRQ
In memory of Dad

Tom Worth, in Tacoma WA has a partially completed fuselage (on the gear) and compendium of parts.
He is in his 80's now and has sold his flying T-18. Now he has his project plane up for sale.

_________________
Scott Emery
EAA Chapter 326
T-18 N18TE

Thanks for the info.

@SHIPCHIEF: do you know where I could get Tom Worth's contact info?

QJAYZ, PM me for information Bill N30WW

Tom has sold his project to a fella in Olympia, WA I believe.

_________________
Bruce Finney
N18JF T-18C #262
Yelm, WA USA

Quincy,

What exactly is poorly assembled? If it is the least finished portion of your project it may well not be beyond saving. Also from your brief detail of what you have already for parts I'm guessing you are collecting assemblies and bolting an airplane together. If the fuselage you have is "scrap" in your estimation what better way to get sheet metal skills than to fix what needs fixing?
What have you collected in way of tools so far? I always ask myself the question, "how much is this going to cost to get fixed vs. how much does the tools cost to fix this?". I collected many tools this way and they have all been used more than once. Put some pics here of what you don't like about your fuselage and maybe as a collective we can come up with some fixes. Regards, Dana LaBounty

The project came as a nearly complete, although disassembled, airframe. Nearly everything is ready to rivet except for the fuselage, which is currently not skinned. I found that all of the stringers on it were cut and drilled incorrectly so that the entire assembly is significantly warped. Some of the bulkheads, although they seemed to have been well made originally, were also apparently damaged in this imprecise assembly. I came to think that since rebuilding the fuselage would mean nearly starting from scratch, I'm probably better off finding a replacement. Don't have time to put up pictures at the moment but I'll try to get some up to show you what I'm referring to soon.
-Quincy Zlotnick

T-18 project on Barnstormers today! 3/1/13

The Barnstormers project is a retractable gear T-18 with a turtledeck!