On Sep 24, 9:34*pm, flybynightkarmarepair wrote:

Mr. Hoover knows the designer,
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Hahahaha... That's funny. I've MET Bud (several times, in fact) but
I doubt he'd recognize me if I walked up and pee'd on his shoes :-)

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and built a VP-1 on a Navy enlisted
man's salary while raising a family. *40 years ago, or thereabouts.
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Actually, it was a VP-2 (N6886)

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It's not a design I'm wild about, me. Heavy, draggy, and uses a LOT of
plywood.
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That should probably be modified to read: '...uses a lot of 1/4" A-A
Douglas Fir marine-grade plywood...', which is what the ribs are made
from. But over the years there have been a number of modifications
that have reduced its weight without compromising its strength. I
have seen examples that used ribs similar to the Fly Baby's (ie, 1/8"
shear-web with upper & lower cap strips) and even stick ribs (although
I don't know if the latter ever flew). There are several examples in
which the original fiberglas fuel tank has been replaced with one made
of aluminum that ended up weighing less.
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And a lot of people build them that have NO IDEA what
they're doing. *There was a VP-1 on the cover of "Dune Buggies and Hot
VWs" a while back, and the story of it's building and development
(many, many changes) made it really clear the proud owner was
clueless, in spite of his fancy paint job.
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Worse-case I can think of would be the fellow in Virginia who spent 11
YEARS building a VP-2... which has yet to fly, in so far as I know.

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I second R.S. Hoover's shout-out to the Yahoo Group. *It's a pretty
active group, with a lot of posts by RAH's favorite Senior Chief.

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Lots of good stuff in the archives of the Volksplane Group. One
interesting point is that of the VP-2's that are actually flying, most
are using something OTHER than a Volkswagen engine. (Also some good
pointers toward video clips. The thing DOES fly.)

The VP-1's do pretty well with the VW, assuming the PILOT isn't 'over
gross' :-)

Bottom Line on the VP-1 is that it CAN be built by a complete novice.
And it WILL fly behind a properly converted VW engine. And it will do
all that without breaking the bank.

-R.S.Hoover

PS -- Being an 'engine guy' puts me in a position to see (and to fly!)
a lot of VW-powered homebuilts. Since my interest is largely in the
powerplant, usually in an airframe that is already covered & signed
off, I can't say much about the structure. But I've seen numerous
examples of VW-powered airplanes that I would NOT fly, usually because
I thought they were too heavy. By the same token, I have seen
examples of VW-powered airplanes that weighed as much as 100 pounds
LESS than the same plane built by someone else.

The lesson here is that it's pretty easy to build 'heavy' ...but
damned difficult to build 'light.' If you should opt for the VP-1
your FIRST consideration, in my opinion, should be in keeping the
weight down. For those who do, their honest opinion of the VP is that
it comes close to being the ultimate Fun Machine.