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  #141  
Old 09-02-2011, 07:55 PM
B25Flyer B25Flyer is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 358
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Lee,

AWESOME!!! But just for the record, Red is faster!!!

Tailwinds,
Doug Rozendaal
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  #142  
Old 09-02-2011, 11:07 PM
prporter prporter is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Vul, VA
Posts: 316
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Quote:
Originally Posted by logansc View Post
Got asked in another thread to post a couple of pix of my solid color Rocket. I like solid colors on airplanes and ever since Jim Winings was kind enough to give me a ride in his all yellow F1 and I saw pictures of Doug Rosendahl's all red repaint of Mark's original F1, I've thought a solid color was the way to go. Hope you like 'em!


Regards,


Lee...
I had a paint scheme all picked out for my rocket, but now you threw a WRENCH in the works....! It's a beauty. What tail did you put on it...?
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  #143  
Old 09-02-2011, 11:31 PM
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n504tw n504tw is offline
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Woodbury, MN
Posts: 53
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Looks great Lee!
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F1 Rocket Evo under construction
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  #144  
Old 09-03-2011, 06:11 AM
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logansc logansc is offline
 
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Prporter: Mine is a Mark Fredericks classic F1, quick build. The empennage is the standard Team Rocket tail just as it came from the factory. FWIW, I thought about the Evo wing, but when I bought mine, there were only a few Evo's flying and they did not seem to be getting the large top-end increases out of them they were hoping for (some, but not all). Also, I had an RV-4 at the time and really liked the performance of the 23013 airfoil, so the "Sport" wing on the F1 appealed to me. As to the performance of the tail, I have not seen any shake or untoward flying characteristics on mine whatever and I have tested it to redline and beyond---it flies beautifully. Fredericks is a genius!

The only thing I did differently from the factory build manual on the tail was to flush rivet the trailing edges on the elevators and rudder (completely flush---countersunk both sides). After a couple of stories about a bent stick, I also fabricated stainless steel sticks for both seats. I'm told most RV's come with steel sticks, but my Rocket came with aluminum. Can't imagine it ever bending, but pitch loads on my Rocket do seem higher than on my RV-4, so in an abundance of caution, I changed it out. Stainless steel looks pretty cool, actually.

Instrument panel: I'm working on a new one. I'll post the current one tonight, but the new one will be more interesting since I have a Levil 1831 in it---haven't seen any pix of one of those in action yet. I'm waiting for hurricane season to be over before taking it down for the swap. I want to be able to hurrivac readily if one comes our way!

Thanks for the kind comments, guys. Big flying days here this weekend--I'm the designated tow pilot for the glider club today (not in the Rocket though!) and tomorrow the South Carolina Breakfast Club meets at Palmetto Air Plantation (SC41). Triple Tree starts next week, too...some great flying in SC this week, if only Katia will stay away!

Regards,


Lee...
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Ridgeland, SC (3J1)
F1 Rocket #160 flying
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  #145  
Old 09-03-2011, 10:34 AM
prporter prporter is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Vul, VA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by logansc View Post
Prporter: Mine is a Mark Fredericks classic F1, quick build. The empennage is the standard Team Rocket tail just as it came from the factory. FWIW, I thought about the Evo wing, but when I bought mine, there were only a few Evo's flying and they did not seem to be getting the large top-end increases out of them they were hoping for (some, but not all). Also, I had an RV-4 at the time and really liked the performance of the 23013 airfoil, so the "Sport" wing on the F1 appealed to me. As to the performance of the tail, I have not seen any shake or untoward flying characteristics on mine whatever and I have tested it to redline and beyond---it flies beautifully. Fredericks is a genius!

The only thing I did differently from the factory build manual on the tail was to flush rivet the trailing edges on the elevators and rudder (completely flush---countersunk both sides). After a couple of stories about a bent stick, I also fabricated stainless steel sticks for both seats. I'm told most RV's come with steel sticks, but my Rocket came with aluminum. Can't imagine it ever bending, but pitch loads on my Rocket do seem higher than on my RV-4, so in an abundance of caution, I changed it out. Stainless steel looks pretty cool, actually.
I did an RV-8 tail as per Mark's suggestion. It fits well, and hopefully should do the job- I have the sport wing as well- I like the looks of the Evo, but my budget dictated otherwise. But with 296 HP, I think i should be happy (as wife says, I had BETTER be happy)!
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  #146  
Old 09-05-2011, 06:15 AM
Jon Clements Jon Clements is offline
 
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Location: Richmond, Victoria, Australia.
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Hi Lee

Your ship is absolutely beautiful but I cant help but ask one question:

Your wheel spats look like they are set up parallel to the ground rather than the line of the airflow? If this is the case they would be tail high and nose down in flight possibly costing you some speed.....?

Did you do this due to flying off grass strips (to improve rear underside clearance to the Spats) or was it unintentional...?

I spent many hours getting my spats aligned with the airflow in accordnace with the vans drawings and now I have less than ideal clearance to the rear underside of my spats (I fly off a grass strip).

Just interested - not intended as a criticism...

Regards,

Jon.
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ASP IO-360-M1 Hartzell CS Blended Airfoil
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  #147  
Old 09-05-2011, 08:41 AM
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logansc logansc is offline
 
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Jon: Good call. I actually set my wheel pants up to allow me to comfortably operate off of grass strips. I set the pants a bit high on the tires (for more tire exposure) and the tails of the pants a touch high on purpose to avoid dragging them in the grass any more than necessary. You can see that the waterline of the wheel pants is slightly leading edge down. We have both a hard surface runway at my home field and a parallel grass strip.

In addition, here in South Carolina, we have a great organization called the South Carolina Breakfast Club that hosts a cookout breakfast at different state airfields every other weekend all year long. It's been going on since 1936, I'm told. Great fun and I attended the one at Palmetto Air Plantation yesterday morning---a neat airpark with a turf runway and paved parallel taxiways. Many of the airports that host events are private grass strips; if you aren't comfortable on grass here, you miss getting to land at some really nice (otherwise private) airfields.

The big question at the moment of course, is what price am I paying in speed to gain this useful utility? Honestly, my impression is that my Rocket displays about the same speed as the others I've read about (I've not done any side by side testing). I see something like 215 knots indicated level at 1,000' (during the summer). Don't know how that compares to Doug's 'faster' red Rocket (!), but 215 kias on a hot summer day = something like 247 mph. That's basically redline in straight and level flight! I can't guarantee that my airspeed indicator is 100% reliable at that speed, but it seems awfully close on the slow end. Frankly, I don't worry about it too much, since basically if I want to go faster than I'm going in typical cruise conditions, I can always push it up and the airplane responds. I don't X-C with it all that much, I just fly it like it was a dirt bike---stop by the hangar on the way home, push it out, fly for 15 minutes with a little acro and a tour of the area, plunk it down and put it away. I'm a lot easier to get along with when I get home, that way!

Anyway, I do think I overdid it a bit and my big planned upgrade for next year (new instrument panel going in this year), is to revamp the gear leg fairings (cosmetic issues) and to replace the wheel pants. I plan to lower them slightly, reduce the size of the opening, and drop the tails to line them up better with the (apparent) airflow. Can't say for sure what the 'real' airflow is in the area of the wheels, but at least cosmetically they would be better aligned. I've seen enough wind tunnel test results and tufting videos to know that viscous airflow does not necessarily go where you think it should. It plays by it's own rules, for some reason! All that to say, that I don't expect to generate a significant (or even measurable?) increase in speed by doing so, just a modest improvement in the 'lines' of the airplane.



Sorry about the quality of this picture (cell phone shot), but it illustrates just what you are talking about. Lot of tire showing and the wheel fairings definitely ride a bit high. As I said above though, I don't have any evidence that they are slowing me down particularly, though. I was pulling 22.4 inches MAP the other day at 10,500 trying to out climb the weather (I lost!) and we were honkin'! This thing is a bit of a beast---you gotta love Rockets!

Best of luck with your project; when it make the new changes I'll post up again.

Regards,


Lee...
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Ridgeland, SC (3J1)
F1 Rocket #160 flying

Last edited by logansc : 10-25-2017 at 07:33 AM.
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  #148  
Old 09-05-2011, 08:53 AM
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rocketbob rocketbob is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Clements View Post
Hi Lee
Your wheel spats look like they are set up parallel to the ground rather than the line of the airflow? If this is the case they would be tail high and nose down in flight possibly costing you some speed.....?
The stock rocket pants are quite long so its not possible to get them to align perfectly in-flight and not have them drag on the ground. I have 380 tires and Van's wheelpants on mine. Since the wheelpants are shorter and the tire is taller, I was able to get mine oriented horizontally at an in-flight attitude and still have good ground clearance. As I recall someone did some tuft testing and found that the wheelpants can be misaligned quite a bit and still work well as far as speed goes.
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  #149  
Old 09-05-2011, 11:09 AM
Tom Martin Tom Martin is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
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Wheel pant alignment made simple.

1 to 1.5 inches of clearance between the top of the tire and the wheel pant, more on grass less on pavement. I have mine way down to the ground and I operate from smooth grass.

With the aircraft in the three point attitude (tail dragger) the bottom aft corner of the tail of the wheel pant is one hand width from the ground.
With the aircraft loaded to a mid load situation the wheel pants are visually lined up with wing ribs, ie parallel to the centre line.

I know lots of people will talk about the angle of the gear etc etc but this is easy, the pants look good on the ground and in the air, and I have the fastest RV/rocket period so they are not hurting my speed.

If it looks good to the eye it will look good to the air that goes by it.
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EVO F1 Rocket 1000 hours,
2010 SARL Rocket 100 race, average speed of 238.6 knots/274.6mph
RV4, RV7, RV10, two HRIIs and five F1 Rockets
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  #150  
Old 09-05-2011, 02:26 PM
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logansc logansc is offline
 
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So, what's the verdict on mine, Tom. Worth reworking or not? They are slightly nose low in the air, but for all I know, that might be the best angle!

I may change them anyway since they are not the best cosmetically...

Lee...
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Ridgeland, SC (3J1)
F1 Rocket #160 flying
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