Dan Heath wrote, "Please let us know if you are able to get ANYTHING out of
RR. They are a very sorry excuse for a business."
Also, "You actually will most likely get better performance out of the new
wing, although it is more difficult to build. I also think that the scratch
built wings are lighter than the Diehl skins. "
Your tellin me they are!!!!
My plan was to use the raf 48 wing skins, as I think with a good set of
seals on the aerlerons, and the higher aspect ratio of the wing skins, then the
performance of the two at about 100 knots will be pretty close, the newer
section gives about a 10 per cent reduction in drag at this speed I believe,
but this is drag of the wing, ( actually wing section ), and not the total drag
of the aeroplane, so the difference as a function of total drag would be less
then 10 per cent. It would probably cost half the cost of the wing skins in
just foam at Sydney prices, then glass etc etc, so why bother, use the ready
made part and the older wing section. There is someone here locally who makes
wing skins, but they want there money, Dan Diehl does them for $2200 US, the
local guy wants A$10,000, about US$13000.
However, I went for a fly in a kr just recently, with the longer span of
Gary Morgans kr's, and the newer section, and at 80 kts, 80 litres of fuel, two
persons on board, and 80 hp, it was still climbing at 700 fpm, at top of climb
it levelled out and went straight to 140 kts, all with three wheels hanging out
in the breeze, the font one having no fairings on it. So, a lot to be said for
the newer section, especially at the higher speeds.
As RR is useless, and Dan Diehl is not interested anymore in wing skins,
then maybe its time someone else started kr manufacturing, or at least kr
parts, surprisingly, kr's go together very very quickly, IF, you have things
like control rods, fuel tanks, gear , hinges, and all you have to do is bolt
them in, what takes time is INVENTING the wheel, working out HOW TO BUILD THE
WHEEL, fitting the wheel in the airframe takes next to no times at all. To cut
a long story short, more standardization of parts would probably help, plus
other things but tired of typing so here endeth the lesson.
Chris Johnston
North Richmond
NSW Australia
