Mini Coupe

Hi,
Has anyone built Ron Dixon's Mini-Coupe? I like the look of the little plane
and have been considering building one.

I haven't built one but I have a set of plans if you have any specific
questions ....


"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Has anyone built Ron Dixon's Mini-Coupe? I like the look of the little
plane
and have been considering building one.

Great! So what is your opinion of the plans? Detailed? Does this project
look do-able for the homebuilder? Does it give any form plans for making
ribs, or is it a "go it alone" type deal? Thanks!
"smjmitchell" wrote in message
u...
I haven't built one but I have a set of plans if you have any specific
questions ....


"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Has anyone built Ron Dixon's Mini-Coupe? I like the look of the little
plane
and have been considering building one.

I think this is the same plane that Jerry Springer built in the
'70s...............there is one for sale at McMinnnville, OR.

Jim
"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
Great! So what is your opinion of the plans? Detailed? Does this
project
look do-able for the homebuilder? Does it give any form plans for making
ribs, or is it a "go it alone" type deal? Thanks!
"smjmitchell" wrote in message
u...
I haven't built one but I have a set of plans if you have any specific
questions ....


"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Has anyone built Ron Dixon's Mini-Coupe? I like the look of the little
plane
and have been considering building one.

I should clarify one thing first ... the Plans I have are for the Chris Tena
Mini Coupe. I assume this is the same airplane but I dunno who Ron Dixon is.

The "plans" are probably best described as a kit assembly manual. I am not
sure if you could build the airplane from them (I need to pull them out and
have a look - perhaps my memory is not that good). I think they lack
dimensions of some parts. From memory they are however fairly detailed and
complete. The airplane is sound but fairly crude (many similarities to the
Teenie Two in terms of level of crudiness). It is a cheap and easy to build
airplane - definitely homebuildable. Easier than any model of Zenith. The
construction of the ribs is detailed via offsets and a description of the
methods to be used for making them. It really is a neat little airplane if
you are looking for a simple single seat metal airplane - much better
airplane than the Tennie Two I would say.

Give me a day or two and I will have a look at the plans. Let me know if you
have any more specific questions.


"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
Great! So what is your opinion of the plans? Detailed? Does this
project
look do-able for the homebuilder? Does it give any form plans for making
ribs, or is it a "go it alone" type deal? Thanks!
"smjmitchell" wrote in message
u...
I haven't built one but I have a set of plans if you have any specific
questions ....


"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Has anyone built Ron Dixon's Mini-Coupe? I like the look of the little
plane
and have been considering building one.

smjmitchell wrote:
I should clarify one thing first ... the Plans I have are for the Chris Tena
Mini Coupe. I assume this is the same airplane but I dunno who Ron Dixon is.

The "plans" are probably best described as a kit assembly manual. I am not
sure if you could build the airplane from them (I need to pull them out and
have a look - perhaps my memory is not that good). I think they lack
dimensions of some parts. From memory they are however fairly detailed and
complete. The airplane is sound but fairly crude (many similarities to the
Teenie Two in terms of level of crudiness). It is a cheap and easy to build
airplane - definitely homebuildable. Easier than any model of Zenith. The
construction of the ribs is detailed via offsets and a description of the
methods to be used for making them. It really is a neat little airplane if
you are looking for a simple single seat metal airplane - much better
airplane than the Tennie Two I would say.

Give me a day or two and I will have a look at the plans. Let me know if you
have any more specific questions.


"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...

Great! So what is your opinion of the plans? Detailed? Does this

project

look do-able for the homebuilder? Does it give any form plans for making
ribs, or is it a "go it alone" type deal? Thanks!
"smjmitchell" wrote in message
.au...

I haven't built one but I have a set of plans if you have any specific
questions ....


"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...

Hi,
Has anyone built Ron Dixon's Mini-Coupe? I like the look of the little

plane

and have been considering building one.







Yup I built one, here is a picture of the one I built. fantastic flying airplane
the only down side is it,"mine" was powered by volkswagen which is not fit for
aircraft in my opinion after flying it for 500 hours. I know that threre are a
couple VW gerus here but IMO It is not an aircraft engine.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/%7Ejsflyrv/minicoup.jpg

Jerry Springer

Jerry Springer wrote in message
Yup I built one, here is a picture of the one I built. fantastic flying airplane
the only down side is it,"mine" was powered by volkswagen which is not fit for
aircraft in my opinion after flying it for 500 hours. I know that threre are a
couple VW gerus here but IMO It is not an aircraft engine.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/%7Ejsflyrv/minicoup.jpg

Jerry Springer

There are those that would questions whether it is a legitimate
automobile engine, too. ;-)

(this from somebody contemplating building an airplane around such an
engine...)

The Mini Coupe looks like an interesting design - are the plans still
available?

Rob

Yes, they are available. I bought a set a month ago to stury up on them. They
cost $70.00.

The Germans and French have used the VW in production aircraft, but I
wouldn't use one today (and I drive a Meyers Manx). I wouldn't
consider any conversion that doesn't isolate the crank from the prop
loads and provide for inertia decoupling.

Dave Blanton used to be called crazy, but his V6 Fords never had any
torsional resonance problems and in fact you could start and run the
engine without the prop attached. The boat outdrive guys figured it
out a long time ago and no one questions the use of autoderivative
engines in boats today. Other than turbines there are no
aeroderivative engines in boats and to me that says a whole bunch.

Ted Azito wrote:
The Germans and French have used the VW in production aircraft, but I
wouldn't use one today (and I drive a Meyers Manx). I wouldn't
consider any conversion that doesn't isolate the crank from the prop
loads and provide for inertia decoupling.

Dave Blanton used to be called crazy, but his V6 Fords never had any
torsional resonance problems and in fact you could start and run the
engine without the prop attached. The boat outdrive guys figured it
out a long time ago and no one questions the use of autoderivative
engines in boats today. Other than turbines there are no
aeroderivative engines in boats and to me that says a whole bunch.

I would bet it has to do with cooling. It is a pretty simple matter to water
cool an engine in a boat.