G'Day,
My Name is Peter Bancks, I live in Ballina Northern NSW Australia with my
wife and 10 week old daughter.
I first got interested in Experimental Aviation when my hobby of large scale
R/C aircraft went mad and I started designing a single seat pulsejet powered
aircraft. During the process of working on that design I learned many things
and I began to think about building something a little closer to a proven
design first before I tried to tackle anything way out of the top paddock.
About this time a member of an aviation forum I frequent decided to sell his
KR2S plans and in June of 2004 I became the proud owner of plans #1087 (KR2
#9670).
After getting the plans, and countless sleepless nights of reading and web
surfing, I came up with a wish list for my aircraft, and I began to transfer
the plans into CAD.
It gained an extra 14" bay in the tail; 44" width at the shoulders; Ashok
5048 airfoils, spruce spars all the way to the end of the wing, no foam
extension; Retractable taildragger config, main gear based on the Taylor
Monoplane retracts; The Stub wings have been modified to encompass the mains
while retracted with an 6½' NACA0012 root airfoil forming a glove around the
wheel, and a corresponding yehudi for aerodynamic efficiency; and the best
bit (for me anyway) is the subaru EJ20T and CS prop on the nose. I actually
toyed with the idea of putting a Rover (buick) 3.5L V8 engine on it but that
was too many problems.
Once I was happy with the way things worked out on paper (monitor?) I
transferred my CAD data directly into X-plane and if I get anything close to
the simulated performance I'll be deliriously happy and there will be a lot
of green eyes once she gets airborne, those climbouts will be something
else! If anyone wishes to try the X-plane model, I'll be happy to send it,
it's built for V8.40.
It's been a long time getting started, but I've spent a long time working on
the plans, checking the modifications, moving house (3 times, even living in
a tent for 2 months and a converted garden shed for 12 while we looked for a
place) and having a Daughter but I'm finally going to place my first order
for spruce stock from DC aero this month!
I'll be working on a web page to document my progress. Wish me luck!
Cheers.
Pete.
