www.ContactMagazine.com
Spring/Summer 2013
Issue #106
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 1
A tribute to Mick By William Wynne
Mick’s adventurous spirit had him packing up and driving across the country to attend Sun ’n Fun and AirVenture.
It’s with great sadness that we announce that Michael “Mick” Myal, founder of CONTACT! Magazine, died on Monday, November 12, 2012. Mick was born in Omer, Michigan on September 14, 1930, and was 82 years old. Mick is survived by his loving wife, Suzanne; his sister, Clara; three children, Julie, John, and Jane, and six grandchildren. From his wife Suzanne: True to Mick's style, he went out on his own terms, at home. Our daughter Julie and I were holding his hands and Abbie, his faithful dog, was by his side. When faced with his diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), Mick took a moment and then said, "I've had a very good life." He accepted his illness with grace and dignity, choosing to live in the present. In September we celebrated his 82nd birthday with our son John, his wife Hilda, Julie and I. We swapped stories and had many laughs. Two weeks later we had a wonderful visit with our daughter Jane and family (Jon, Grace and Duncan) from Michigan. Mick especially enjoyed talking about his time in the army with his grandson Duncan who loves all things military. He smiled and said he had a lot of love in his life. But what happened in Paris, stays in Paris. Mick did not want any memorial service. He preferred to stay alive in our hearts and memories. We are honoring his wishes. We look forward to carrying on his spirit with you, his beloved friends and family. Sincerely, Suzie Myal.
www.ContactMagazine.com
Word came from CONTACT! Magazine editor Patrick Panzera that our friend (and his mentor) Mick Myal, the founder of this publica- Mick served in the US Army tion, noted experi- from 1954 to 1957 and was stamental aviator, author tioned in Europe where he deand editor, had passed veloped a lifelong love of travel. away. Mick was known to thousands of traditional homebuilders from his attendance at countless airshows, the books he published and the magazine articles he wrote, but he will always be best remembered for founding CONTACT! Magazine in 1990 and for editing and publishing its first 70 issues. When I was first getting started in experimental aviation Mick and his wife Sue went out of their way to make sure we had an impartial venue in which to be heard. He arranged the engine forums at Sun ‘n’ Fun for many years, and always included us on the roster, even when we were very small potatoes. They also published the first good story on our work and had our [Corvair] engines on display in their booth at airshows. I need to say that this wasn’t special treatment; 20 other small aviation companies could offer a carbon copy of this same gratitude to Mick. He liked, documented, and offered a forum to all kinds of people in the world of experimental aircraft. He had planes and engines that he was personally fond of, but he covered anything that builders were interested in. If you’ve entered the homebuilder’s community in the last ten years, it is very hard to appreciate how powerful aviation magazine editors were before the rise of the internet. Most of them assumed that their personal view of what was “good” should be the only thing to make it into their magazine’s feature space. In the 1990s the then-editor of KITPLANES didn’t like anything low tech or simple. Even when we flew Corvair powered planes to airshows he refused to photograph them, and instead covered many engines that arrived on trucks as long as they had water pumps, a propeller speed reduction unit (PSRU), and electronic fuel injection (EFI). Other editors would not cover a story unless they were essentially bribed with motels, rental cars, and in some cases plane tickets. This was an unpleasant reality of our industry. In complete contrast, Mick Myal impartially covered every story that made sense and he never let his personal preferences filter what got out to his readers. He pioneered the inclusion of incredibly detailed user reports, loaded with real performance numbers, in articles that he
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 2
If you missed that era, I am here to tell you that those of us who lived and worked our way through it have very special reasons to hold the memory of Mick in such high regard. If you have a Corvair engine on your plane or in your shop, know that this man played a positive role in making that possible, in an era when it was perhaps needed the most. Mick was always sharply dressed and professional. To meet him, you may have thought that he had a big machine and 40 or 50,000 subscribers. In reality the circulation was a small fraction of this, but Mick was always after quality, not quantity. He probably never saw much of a financial return from his years of publishAbove, Mick in the yellow shirt captured in a humorous photo greeting the president ing, but you would do much betof EAA Chapter #1,000 in 1998. This is how I think of Mick: out in the sun, meeting ter in measuring his wealth by the people, wearing a smile and a camera. Of all the people I have met in aviation journal- number and quality of his friends. ism, Mick was one of the very few to be respected by all kinds of builders. His efforts At airshows during the 1990s that to document good ideas and the craftsmanship of individuals are timeless. People were becoming more and more will be using the information in his publications decades from today. consumer-spectator showcases, Mick’s CONTACT! Magazine booth was always an oasis published. He broke the rules by telling people what for technically-minded people. At any given moment, the planes actually cost to build. He had no advertising in his CONTACT! Magazine booth attracted a cast of real publications, and he was beholden only to his subscribthinking characters like the late Vance Jaqua and Steve ers. He was immune to flattery; he never spoke about his Parkman, spilling over with builders who were all dispersonal experience when there was a chance to listen cussing things they tried and making sketches on paper to someone else’s. In his later years, CONTACT! Magaand looking at each other’s photos. In the middle of it all, zine’s new editor, Patrick Panzera, often escorted Mick Mick would stand there with a slight smile on his face, to airshows. Whenever Mick stopped by a forum I was undoubtedly pleased by what he had accomplished. giving, I took the time to introduce him as “The most respected journalist in experimental aviation.” The ensuing Blue skies and tailwinds to you Mick. applause may have made him a little uncomfortable, but Thanks for many good things.-William Wynne I said it anyway, just because it was true. www.FlyCorvair.net While CONTACT! Magazine always covered airframe developments in addition to powerplant news, it’s largely thought of as an engine publication. When Mick got started, the handful of books Mick Myal in his EZ, test running and stories promoting auto engines at the time the engine before its maiden flight were completely useless and frequently offered dangerous advice. I spell that out in full so that people today understand that the ‘standard’ of the time was that it was OK to write stories that said auto engines which had never flown, weighed less and were more reliable than certified ones. The people who made money promoting this never flew the stuff, but readers who thought they did often spent years building things that would never work, or might work just long enough to kill themselves behind something that was dangerous. Before the internet, one man- Mick Myal- made a mission out of educating builders about the good, the bad, and the ugly of experimental aviation. www.ContactMagazine.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 3
Mick Myal, continued from page 3
Michael C. Myal grew up on a farm in Omer, Michigan during the Great Depression and WWII. After graduating from Standish High School at the age of 16, Mick attended Michigan Technological University and General Motors Institute, earning his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Near graduation he entered an automotive design contest, winning a small automobile and a full scholarship to study automotive design at the Art Center in Pasadena California. The US Army decided that one college degree was enough and he was drafted into the Army in 1954, after only one semester of design school. Completing officer training school, he took it upon himself to travel to the Pentagon to search out an overseas assignment. He served six months in France and six months in Austria, developing his love for travel. In 1957, Mick (as he preferred to be called) was hired by General Motors and joined their design staff. His GM assignments included Styling, Body Development, Vehicle Safety, and International Regulations which meant traveling and meeting with foreign governments. While on the design staff he was awarded a US patent which is still used in automotive design today. In 1967 he became a registered professional engineer. In 1958 Mick learned to fly aircraft using his GI Bill benefits. Over the years he upgraded his various ratings to include Flight Instructor and Commercial Pilot. His family has many fond memories accompanying him on various cross country flights around the Midwest. Mick met his wife Suzanne (Suzie) Hoag while dancing the cha-cha with his fellow GM design staffers. He and Suzie were married for 53 years and had three children. Julie, John and Jane were often seen as the kids dressed in matching flight suits both at home and at EAA events. The family went almost yearly to the annual EAA convention located originally in Rockford, Illinois before the move to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Mick served many years as the president of EAA Chapter 13 in the Detroit area. In the early 1960s, Mick built a 2/3rd scale P-51 mock-up from clay in his basement. Suzie remembers the day he left some clay stored in the oven and she accidently baked it at 350 degrees while preheating the oven for dinner. Following that uncompleted project he started building an allwood Minicab GY-201. This too was incomplete as he began to think more and more about composite construction and started building a VariEze. The project became a passion and he combined his love for aviation and precise engineering and in 1982 he completed and flew it with help form his loving family. It was later sold to The Sharper Image as a static display for their Osaka, Japan store. Mick traveled throughout the United States and to more than 25 different countries on five continents during his
www.ContactMagazine.com
lifetime. He especially loved his visit to Poland in 1969, long before the iron curtain had lifted, trading dollars for złoty in back rooms with shady black market characters. In 1988, prior to his retirement from GM and his move to Tucson Arizona, he surveyed over 300 active members of EAA, asking what they would most like to see in a specialized magazine. Overwhelmingly the answer was more technical information in general, and how to use automobile engines in homebuilt aircraft, and how to keep more people flying at a reasonable cost. And so began CONTACT! Magazine. The introduction of the (then) bi-monthly publication took place at the 1990 Sun ‘n Fun fly-in where a total of seven subscriptions were sold. Mick set up CONTACT! Magazine as a non-profit organization for two reasons. One, no advertising, only "solid reporting" as Mick like to put it and two, a means to save on mailing expenses so that a subscription was affordable to everyone. The rest, of course, is history. Over the next 13 years Mick became a familiar face at big and small fly-ins across the US. He organized hundreds of auto engine forums and offered solid, useful information to all who asked. He also compiled the auto engine conversion articles from CONTACT! into three editions of his book series, Alternative Engines. In 2011 Mick was concerned with the price of fuel and sport flying so he researched and wrote another book using his design for wing tip fuel tanks, Tip Tanks. His biggest customers for this book were the outback flyers in Australia! When diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) in September 2012, Mick smiled his sly grin and said "I've had such a good life". “We've all had such a good life because of you, Mick Myal. We love you and miss you!” Suzie, Julie, John and Jane
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 4
PO BOX 1382 Hanford CA 93232-1382 United States of America 559-584-3306 Editor@CONTACTMagazine.com Mick Myal, Founder Patrick Panzera, Editor Oscar Zuniga, Associate Editor Veronica Panzera, Subscriptions
Volume 18 Number 6 Spring/Summer 2013
Normally I look forward to writing my editorial as I bubble over with enthusiasm that I’m nearing the end of creating the current issue, but this one has been dragging me down for the past several months. It’s hard to lose a friend, but Mick Myal and John Moyle were more than just friends to me. Mick Myal was more like a father to me, and John Moyle was like my brother. So losing both of them within weeks of
Issue #106 MISSION CONTACT! Magazine is published quarterly by Aeronautics Education Enterprises (AEE), established in 1990 as a nonprofit corporation, to promote aeronautical education. CONTACT! promotes the experimental development, expansion and exchange of aeronautical concepts, information, and experience. In this corporate age of task specialization many individuals have chosen to seek fresh, unencumbered avenues in the pursuit of improvements in aircraft and powerplants. In so doing, they have revitalized the progress of aeronautical design, particularly in the general aviation area. Flight efficiency improvements, in terms of operating costs as well as airframe drag, have come from these efforts. We fully expect that such individual efforts will continue and that they will provide additional incentives for the advancement of aeronautics. EDITORIAL POLICY CONTACT! pages are open to the publication of these individual efforts. Views expressed are exclusively those of the individual authors. Experimenters are encouraged to submit articles and photos of their work. Materials submitted to CONTACT! are welcomed and will become the property of AEE/CONTACT! unless other arrangements are made. Every effort will be made to balance articles reporting on commercial developments. Commercial advertising is not accepted. All rights with respect to reproduction, are reserved. Nothing whole or in part may be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher.
one another not only took a toll on the operations at CONTACT! Magazine, but also took a toll on my personal life. And while they weren’t necessarily an integral part of the day-to-day toiling at CONTACT!, John was on the board of directors and someone I could count on hearing from (either in person or on the phone) almost daily, and who did a great job of sniffing out article possibilities. Mick on the other hand kept in touch mostly via email, doing the same as John– helping to flush-out interesting topics. For the past few years I was fortunate enough to escort Mick to both Sun ‘n Fun and AirVenture. It was awesome being there as he caught up with old friends Continued on page 11
2 Remembering Mick Myal.— This issue is dedicated to the memory of our founding editor and publisher, Mick Myal. 6 Terry Kronk’s P-51D Mustang Replica.— Martin Hone tells the story of an incredible builder and the various projects he’s completed, spotlighting this beautiful Mustang. 10 What’s Shakin’?— Oscar Zuniga shows us the DynaVibe, an economical, state-of-the-art dynamic propeller balancer designed specifically for the aircraft industry. 12 2.0L Direct Injection, Turbocharged Cadillac ATS Engine.— A new high-performance 2.0 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine (2.0T) debuted in the all-new 2013 Cadillac ATS compact luxury sedan, and it might be a good candidate for conversion with its 272 hp @ 5500 rpm and 260 lb-ft of torque @ 1700 rpm. 14 Successful V8-Powered Reno Racer.— Jack Kane, the CEO of EPI Inc. helps get reliable V8 power to the front of this beautiful, purposebuilt race-plane. 17 Geared Drives Moves Forward.— Stuart Davis has picked up where the late Bud Warren left off, returning the Geared Drives PSRU to market, but with substantial improvements. 18 RENO 2012; Mission Accomplished!.— Len Bechtold brings to life the sights and sounds of the 2012 Reno National Championship Air Races.
SUBSCRIPTIONS Four issue subscription in U.S. funds is $20.00 for USA, $24.00 for Canada and Mexico, $32.00 for overseas air orders. CONTACT! is mailed to U.S. addresses at nonprofit organization rates on a irregular schedule, trying to mail in January, April, July and October. Please allow time for processing and delivery of first issue.
20 Tom Aberle’s PHANTOM and the Elippse Propeller.— Len Bechtold reports on the current state of affaires of the award-winning Phantom biplane and its super-efficient Elippse propeller.
ADDRESS CHANGES / RENEWALS The last line of your label contains the number of your last issue. Please check label for correctness. This magazine does not forward. Please notify us of your date of address change consistent with our bimonthly mailing dates to avoid missing any issues.
24 We Say Goodbye to John Moyle.— William Wynne helps to heal the sorrow felt at CONTACT! Magazine headquarters, as we say goodbye to our vibrant supporter– Associate Editor John P. Moyle.
COPYRIGHT 2013 BY AEE, Inc.
23 CONTACT! Magazine’s Alternative Engines Volume 4.— 10 years in the making, the fourth in our series of authorative books is almost ready to deliver. We just need a little help from our friends!
On the cover: Terry Kronk's 530 hp GM LS-6 powered, two-seat, all aluminum, scratch-built 80% scale CA-18 (Aussie-built NAA P-51D), Gatton Airpark, Gatton, Queensland, just outside Brisbane Australia. Photo: Christine Gray
www.ContactMagazine.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 5
By Martin Hone Emu Gully. It has a nice Aussie country ring to it. To get there, you take a side road off the Warrego Highway, just before the escarpment town of Toowoomba, about 100 miles off the east coast; the “Gateway to The Outback.” You head into the bush for half a mile, up and down a few hills before you come to a clearing that is the eastern end of a 3,500foot grass runway. Situated midway is an unremarkable corrugated iron shed. As the rattly doors are parted the light falls on a familiar shape, that of a P-51 Mustang. You could have opened the doors on the opposite side and been presented with a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 as well as a Supermarine Spitfire. Venture further in and you will see a Bearcat and a de Havilland Mosquito. Is this a dream, or some modern Aladdin’s cave of WW-2 aircraft? It’s neither. These are all hand-built scale replicas, designed and built by aviation enthusiast Terry Kronk and his right-hand man, Bryce Wolffe, that took only ten years to complete.
flight tests with Mike, followed by aerial displays at local air shows. Not surprisingly, this led to his next aircraft being a Spitfire, but not with the wimpy Jabiru nor the upgraded V6 Isuzu. It was beefed up substantially to accept a V8 from the get-go, using the all alloy small-block 350 cubic inch GM LS-1. This early 70% scale version has arguably a nicer profile than the later 90% version and as you can see via the YouTube link, provides awesome performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OemkcBYgCsw
A LITTLE ABOUT THE BUILDERS A carpenter by trade, Terry’s first aviation experience was not until he reached the age of 21, after he and his brother bought a Wheeler Scout Mark 1 microlight that had been advertised in the local paper. In those days, it was not uncommon to teach yourself to fly, and the Scout came complete with a quarter page of instructions on just how to do it. Fortunately all survived the experience, and the Scout now hangs ignominiously from the hangar rafters. Undaunted, Terry and his brother bought a partiallybuilt Karatoo with a two-stroke Rotax 532, aka the original Austrian hand grenade. A lovely aircraft but four engine failures later it was time to move on. A Hiperlight biplane with a single cylinder Rotax 277 followed, eventually being fitted with a 40 hp Zenoah so Terry could teach himself aerobatics. The die was cast. A Limbach-powered KR2 followed, then a Chinese Nanchang (similar to a Yak 52), and finally a Rotax 912powered Pulsar XP. By now Mike O'Sullivan and his scale Spitfire concept had entered the picture, with Terry conducting the initial www.ContactMagazine.com
The next project was the most ambitious to date; an 80% scale, all metal Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Between Terry and friend, Gordon Brooker, a set of engineering drawings were compiled. Absolutely everything had to be designed and fabricated, although the basic controls and overall construction were based on Van’s proven RV design and a Harry Riblett airfoil. Initially powered with a 285 hp radial from another Nanchang, the legendary Russian M-14P with 400 hp now resides in the snout. Obviously the homework has paid off, as the FW has delightful handling and no vices. A few years passed and the duo got itchy feet again. Some of the ideas countenanced included a four-engine scale Lancaster bomber and a twin-engine Mosquito amongst others, but the Mustang got the nod.
WHY THE P-51? The P-51 was the first fighter Terry could recall seeing in a magazine, and the inline V-12 engine, teardrop canopy and polished alloy all contributed to the appeal, as many of us can attest. By now their metal working skills enabled the entire aircraft to be constructed without resorting
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 6
to any fibreglass parts, using a basic English wheel for shaping the many curved panels. The work was of sufficiently high standard to be able to keep its natural metal finish, replicating the P51D models used by 3 Squadron RAAF during the Italian campaign late in WWII. The in-house design and fabrication process had been proven with the FW -190, likewise the V8 installation proven with the Spitfire, so it was an easy decision to use the GM LS-6 V8. Given the performance and reliability to date of the scale Spitfire, it was assumed that the powerplant would be pretty straightforward. The plan was to use a Northwest Aero belted propeller speed reduction unit (PSRU) and 4-blade IVOPROP Magnum propeller, but during a visit to EAA’s AirVenture at Oshkosh, Terry decided that a Vesta reduction drive, supercharger kit and matching constant speed prop would provide more power and a better appearance. Delivery took awhile but once here, the PSRU and prop didn’t meet expectations.
clean up the associated drag and to hopefully get some more airspeed, and then return back to the runway. On downwind he selected undercarriage down but the main gear failed to respond. Unbeknownst at the time, the inner doors had been held against their limit switches due to airflow pressure, throwing out the sequencing so that there was no trigger for the undercarriage pump motor. Not able to climb and not able to land, Terry circled the airfield at treetop level while manually pumping down the undercarriage. This required bending over in Terry and Bryce try on the mock-up for size. the cockpit, making it nearly impossible to see forward and, in doing so, Terry was inadvertently putting pressure on the elevator trim switch on the control stick. Further nose-up trim resulted in a stall that momentarily dropped the left wing near a final approach position, adding more pressure to an already tense situation. Nevertheless he continued pumping the undercarriage until just above the ground, all the while bent The new fuselage. Sharp eyes will note the wing stowed overhead. over peering through the side windscreen.
A decision was made to retain the belt-driven Vortech supercharger and Tracy Cook’s Real World Solutions aviation ignition system on the LS-6 engine, and a decision was made to purchase a Geared Drives PSRU from the late Bud Warren. After further delays it was installed and matched with a Vari-Prop. After the usual ground runs, it was considered time for the first flight. To say it was eventful is an understatement, and says much for Terry’s composure under pressure.
FIRST FLIGHT During the initial take-off the Vari-Prop had to be manually controlled into coarse pitch, but was thought to have not responded as the engine now was revving its heart out, yet airspeed was barely over the anticipated stall speed. Terry decided to retract the undercarriage to www.ContactMagazine.com
The landing was successful with one leg down and the other at a 45 degree angle, but it held. Later inspection revealed the that Vari-Prop blades were departing from the blade ferrules, so it was decided to scrap yet another propeller. Further research led to the use of a cut-down metal Hartzell from a King Air, with a propeller governor attached to the PSRU. Such an oddball combination meant that no one was willing or otherwise able to offer technical support for the set-up. With characteristic can-do approach, Terry and Bryce worked their way through the design and the options available to them. One thought was to utilize the reverse pitch capability of the prop, but this turned out not to be workable with the redrive. Not that they didn’t try. An extensive ground run program was undertaken,
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 7
and near the end of the tests an idler shaft bearing failed in the PSRU and bits of bearing and shaft spat out the back of the housing. Investigation revealed that the Hartzell prop sucked up a lot more oil than was anticipated, so that the PSRU gears and bearings had marginal lubrication during the intensive ground runs. Further delays resulted as the PSRU was sent back stateside for repair, but eventually it was back together with an extra oil reservoir fitted to the PSRU and it was ready for flight. But was Terry? He will admit that he wasn’t, evidenced by the variety of excuses offered, but part of his preparation for test flights is that he must feel relaxed and able to think clearly and react quickly, with the incessant delays, trials and tribulations The installed engine with the ill-fated Vesta Hy-Vo™ link chain drive. taking their toll. However, for a change, everything worked according to plan and the 40 been asked to produce performance at such a low rpm, hour flight test program was completed smoothly. Well, especially from a modern small block V8. Jim continues almost. Just when all the time and effort started to pay “Before any parts are ordered or any machining takes off, a routine oil change showed metal in the filter. place I have to ‘design’ it for this particular application and then modify the life support systems (lubrication, Only a relatively short time earlier, motorcycle buddy and water and oil cooling) to keep this baby alive. The easiexpert engine builder Jim Gollagher had been invited to est way to build low rpm power is by increasing capacity. look over the pair of inverted, air-cooled Ranger V12’s With no substitute for cubes and the fact that these LS that Terry had bought for his 80% scale DeHavilland engines aren’t able to be easily over-bored, the answer Mosquito project, and readily accepted the task of reis a longer stroke.” building the GM V8. As he explained, “My goal is to have a rock solid, reliable engine with its power developed across a rev range that will optimise the PSRU and prop chosen for the airframe. Hence the max rpm was set at 4500 and from there I worked on maximising torque at 40004500”. Terry also did not want to have the engine making too much power and risk overpowering the PSRU, the usual weak spot in aero-engine conversions, so max power was set at 450 HP.
THE ENGINE For the last 15 years, Jim’s day job has drifted from generic engine reconditioning to mostly race engine machining and building. Couple that with his new-found love for aviation that has seen him working on a number of experimental category aero engines, but this is the first time he has
The final combination; Geared Drives Redrive and the Hartzell propeller.
www.ContactMagazine.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 8
bility. Again, Scat provided the 4130 ‘I’ beam connecting rods, while the Ross forged alloy high pin pistons (for stroked applications) were ceramic coated on the crowns and dry film coated on the skirts in-house by Jim. The piston ring end gaps, main and big end bearing clearances were set on the ‘loose’ side as per race engine and aviation practice so that the engine can cope with the heat generated by extended periods of high power. The stock oil system was revised and rerouted to provide improved flow, again in the interests of long life under harsh conditions. After Jim put his magic wand away, the newly rebuilt and highly modified engine was hooked up to a dynamometer to set the fuel The belted Vortech supercharger is all that remains from the Vesta conversion. and ignition settings. After a few hours of fiddling, the engine was given full power runs, To this end, a forged 4130 steel Scat crankshaft with a revealing that it easily met all the expectations. Maximum four-inch stroke increases displacement from 350 cubic power was 530 hp at 5000 rpm with six pounds of boost inches to 383 cubes and to improve breathing at low but, more importantly, at take-off settings it produced a revs, forced induction via a belt-driven Vortech (gear resolid 500 hp at 4600 rpm with 46-inches of manifold duced, centrifugal) supercharger. This unit had been fitpressure. Mission accomplished! ted to the original engine but Jim discovered that the impeller shims had been installed incorrectly from new, With new found enthusiasm, the engine was quickly resubstantially reducing its efficiency. fitted to the airframe, and according to Terry, “It goes like a scalded cat, with better performance than both the alA lot of time was spent with computer simulations to ready impressive V8 Spitfire and M14P radial-powered come up with a cam profile to suit the mission, and it has FW-190.” His big grin says it all. certainly paid off. A clean-up of the ports and a threeangle job on the one-piece stainless valves would help Sadly, there are no intentions to sell plans or kits. flow, but the exhaust length was restricted to about 10inches to keep the exhaust stacks looking the part. ElseTwo-seat all aluminium scratch-built 80% scale CA-18 where, proven components were used to maintain relia(Aussie-built NAA P-51D) 72% wingspan. Auto-pilot, electric retractable undercarriage included, tailwheel and doors and cooling flap Empty weight
1900lb (870kg)
Fuel capacity:
230 litres in LE wing tanks 180 litres in aux wing tanks Total 410 litres
Fuel type
91 octane auto fuel
Wing profile
Riblett
Cruise speed
Flight plan 210 mph (180 kts)
Fuel burn
15 US gals/ hr. (60 l/hr) 3500 engine rpm, 31” MAP
Rate of Climb
3000 fpm at 115 mph (100kts)
Take-off distance
500 ft. on grass
Stall speed (clean) www.ContactMagazine.com
76 mph (65 kts) at 2400lb 1090kg)
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 9
By Oscar Zuniga taildrags@hotmail.com Most horizontally-opposed fourcylinder aircraft engines aren’t particularly well balanced, and the fact that they usually drive a two-bladed propeller means that there are alternating and irregular aerodynamic forces also thrown into the mix. When the propeller blades are aligned with the engine cylinders or with the cooling air inlets, the retreating airstream from the blades encounters different flow and resistance than it does when there is nothing behind them. This sets up impulses, but they aren’t necessarily in sync with the engine’s power impulses. Every time a cylinder fires, there is a power pulse to the crankshaft and there are “rocking couple” forces acting on the case as the pistons run back and forth in their cylinders. If the piston/rod/ring assemblies aren’t closely matched to each other in weight, there are also impulses created by the differences in mass that gets thrown back and forth inside the engine. All of these things (and more) conspire to make our engines shake, rattle, and roll once the engine fires and we start off on a flight. Vibrations from the engine and propeller change as we vary the engine speed, aircraft attitude (angle of attack), and airspeed but usually what we’re after is an engine that’s smooth and vibration-free in cruise. This is where we spend the most pleasurable time in our airplanes and it’s where we notice the little sounds, vibrations, and peculiarities of the airplane and powerplant. It’s also where small things like vibration can become annoying as it’s continuously transmitted to our hands and feet through the controls and through our back pockets to our backside. Fortunately, there are things we can do to reduce the vibration caused by out-of-balance conditions. One of these measures include “blueprinting and balancing” the engine when it is overhauled or repaired. By closely matching the weights of parts and assemblies inside the engine and making all the intake, exhaust, and combustion passages as close to equal as possible, the power pulses from each cylinder are closely matched and the engine operates more smoothly. When I had the Continental A75 engine on my Pietenpol Air Camper overhauled, the work was done by Doug Reid and Jeff Scott in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Doug is the engine specialist behind the narrowed, lightened, and meticulously blueprinted VW engine on David Roe’s www.ContactMagazine.com
beautiful Hummel Bird (see CONTACT! Magazine issues 76 and 78) and he built up my engine with the same care. However, there are things outside the engine that also contribute to vibration and the propeller was the main culprit. My Valley Engineering (Culver) laminated wood prop is representative of the props on many experimentals. A propeller can be statically balanced by mounting it on a fixture that holds it precisely on the axis of rotation, like balancing a plate on the tip of your finger. If one blade of the prop is heavier than another, that side hangs lower than the other and the difference can be compensated for by adding weights to the prop or the prop bolts (or even paint) opposite the heavy side to bring it back into balance. Dynamic balance is another matter though, and even with a statically balanced prop there can be slight differences in propeller blade tracking that are caused by changes in moisture content in the wood or by slight differences in blade pitch or prop hub.
Temporarily attached to the forward two case bolts is an aluminum bracket that supports the accelerometer (black) and the optical imager (yellow).
A dynamic balance is performed by running the engine and measuring the level of vibration that is produced at various speeds. Instrumentation tells us where to add mass to the prop/hub/spinner combination to offset the vibrations that are created under operating conditions.
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 10
SWITCH ON! Continued from page 5
ENTER THE MODERN ERA The instrument that I used to balance my engine and prop is a handheld “DynaVibe” analyzer (RPX Technologies out of Stillwater, Oklahoma). To use it, a bracket is mounted to the engine in a convenient spot facing the backside of the propeller and an accelerometer and optical imager are attached to the bracket. The accelerometer measures the magnitude of forces with respect to time, and the optical imager provides information that lets the analyzer know where those forces are occurring. A piece of retroreflective tape is applied to the back of the prop to bounce the light from the imager back to its sensor, letting the analyzer know where a vibration is occurring. It also acts as a very accurate digital tachometer, and in my case it made me aware that my good ol’ mechanical tach was reading 150 RPM low at cruise speeds. It’s always good to compare your cable-driven tach to an optical or digital instrument to see how accurate it is and so you can know what your true engine speed is for best cruise, climb, and economy settings. For testing with the DynaVibe, the engine is started and then run up and down through its normal rpm range while readings of vibration level (accelerometer force in inches per second as well as quadrant location of the out -of-balance force) are recorded along with the RPM. If the instrumentation and cables are installed properly, testing can be done in flight, but I was satisfied to do my testing on the ground and call it ‘close enough’ without considering aerodynamic effects. The readings on my setup confirmed what I had been feeling through the controls; I needed to do some balancing. My propeller has no spinner, so that ruled out adding mass to the spinner mounting hardware or any place other than directly onto the prop, the hub, or the bolts. I thought about using a longer bolt in one of the holes to add mass in the area that was called for, but there isn’t enough space between the bolts and the cowling to allow that. It came down to adding some sort of balance weight under two of the bolt heads, and that’s what I did. My hangar-mate Craig Wall machined a balance weight of the proper mass and shaped it to fit under the heads of two adjoining prop bolts at the location that the DynaVibe showed as being light. With the new balance weight in place, the indicated out-of-balance acceleration dropped from 0.6 to 0.1 IPS and that’s close enough for a 1929-design wood and fabric experimental! When you fly your plane a lot (and after all, that’s the object, right?) you learn all of its nuances and peculiarities, and you feel its every quiver and bump. The objective of tuning and balancing is to eliminate the quivers and bumps that represent wasted energy and inefficiency and let the more sensuous vibrations come through from the flying machine to the pilot. This is the kind of plane-and-pilot dialogue that we really want when we go flying, so it’s useful to work on eliminating some of the shake, rattle, and roll.
as they came to the events, as well as chauffeuring him around the events in borrowed golf carts. Mick was a wealth of knowledge and just an awesome person to be around. I’ll certainly miss him. In lieu of flowers, Mick’s wishes were honored by his family and cash donations poured in to Mick’s favorite charity, CONTACT! Magazine. We’d like to personally thank each and every donor. A copy of this magazine went to each of them, along with a personal thank you. John Moyle was a recent transplant to the part of California’s Central Valley where he lived, and as such, didn’t have a lot of local friends so no proper obituary was ever published. Recognizing that, I’d like to memorialize him to his family and friends with the following: John Patrick Moyle was preceded in death by his brother Bennett I., his father Bennett O., and his mother Mary Alice. John is Survived by his wife Barbara, daughter Jennifer Cotton, grandchildren Jordan and Taylor, brothers Mike (Duluth Minn), James (Forest Lake Minn) and Bob (Maple Grove Minn), and his sister Ellen Myers (Duluth Minn). It’s easy to say that John was the favorite uncle of numerous nephews and grand-nephews. John Served with the US Army in Korea in the mid-1970s, and worked through retirement as a driver for Viking/ FedEx from 1982—2007
TERRY KRONK The beautiful P-51 on the cover belongs to Terry Kronk. After putting the finishing touches on the article, I sent it to the author, Martin Hone, in order to get his final approval. I really hadn’t had much contact with Martin since he submitted the article nearly a year ago, but his reply to my request left me stunned and deeply saddened. Martin told me that Terry had passed away in his aircraft after an off-field landing just after takeoff. It seems that the propeller shaft in the PSRU broke over inhospitable terrain, and while the crash-landing may have been survivable, the ensuing fire wasn't. I asked Martin to put the following words together for us: Terry Kronk was tragically killed in his Mustang replica when the engine failed during take off. We had been preparing a number of aircraft to fly over to the nearby Toowoomba Airport for a celebration of the city's 100th anniversary. [Toowoomba is a good sized city in SouthEast Queensland, Australia.] Two days prior, we had been filming the aircraft, some of which I posted, unedited, on YouTube the next day. Little did we know what was to happen. Subsequent investigation revealed a PSRU driveshaft failure, an area that has been an issue from day one. Link to flight to video : http://youtu.be/mNOxqfA8Q6M SWITCH ON! Continued on page 22
Oscar Zuniga www.ContactMagazine.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 11
A new high-performance 2.0 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine (2.0T) debuted in the all-new 2013 Cadillac ATS compact luxury sedan, which was revealed to the public at the 2012 North American International Auto Show. The Cadillac-tuned, direct-injected engine produces a blistering 272 horsepower (201 kW). At 136 horsepower per liter, making it one of the most power-dense automotive engines ever produced for everyday driving, besting the highestperforming engines from luxury competitors such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes. And while weight figures weren’t available at this writing, a good power-to-weigh ratio is what we look for in a potential aircraft engine conversion. Among the 2.0T engine’s highlights: a directinjection twin-cam, four-valve-per-cylinder engine with continuously variable valve timing (probably something we won’t have need of for aviation applications); twinscroll turbocharger with air-to-air intercooler; forged-steel crankshaft with modular balance shaft system; a two-stage variable-displacement oil pump with jet-spray piston cooling; and a 9.5:1 compression ratio. All of this is nested into a precisioncast all-aluminum (steel sleeved) block and head. While GM doesn’t offer any explanation, they claim that the overall engine friction in this little engine is reduced by up to 16 percent. The low-friction design means that more of engine’s developed power is used to spin the crank, and less heat and lower engine wear is generated in the process. Proprietary computational fluid dynamics analysis techniques were used to develop an all-new combustion system with a higher compression ratio than one would expect from a turbocharged engine, which also helped boost efficiency and reduce pollutants by burning the fuel more completely. “The 2.0T is one of the most advanced and efficient engines of its kind, and contributes to the ATS’s exceptional balance of performance and great fuel efficiency,” said Mike Anderson, chief engineer for the 2.0T engine. www.ContactMagazine.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 12
The 2.0T has a wide torque curve, delivering 90 percent of its peak 260 lb-ft. of torque (353 Nm) from 1,500 rpm to 5,800 rpm – which should make it an excellent aircraft engine, with or without a propeller speed reduction unit. The turbocharger generates up to 20 pounds of boost (nearly 40 inches of manifold pressure at sea level) and its twin-scroll design helps optimize power availability, virtually eliminating turbo lag and helping deliver a broad power band. At 136 hp/L, the ATS 2.0T four-cylinder turbo engine has the highest power density among key competitors, including: Audi A4’s 2.0L turbo (105.5 hp/L) BMW M3’s V-8 (103.5 hp/L) Lexus IS F’s V-8 (83.2 hp/L) Mercedes-Benz C250’s 1.8L turbo (111.6 hp/L) The 2.0T engine is also available in the Chevrolet Malibu, so sourcing one as a Chevrolet engine, as opposed to a Cadillac engine, might be a potential money saver. TYPE
Turbocharged I-4 alum block/head
VALVETRAIN
DOHC, 4 valves/cyl
DISPLACEMENT
121.9 cu in/1998 cc
BORE X STROKE
86mm x 86mm (3.4 in)
COMPRESSION
9.5:1
POWER (SAE NET)
272 hp @ 5500 rpm
TORQUE (SAE NET) 260 lb-ft @ 1700 rpm Thanks to some quick improvements to the 2.0T, we may see 7000 rpm REDLINE even more of a power increase in the coming years. For instance, the 2014 Malibu’s 2.0T engine promises a major torque increase — with an estimated rating of 295 lb-ft, a 12-percent increase from the current 260 lb-ft, bringing max horsepower up to a potential 300 ponies @ 5500 rpm. www.ContactMagazine.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 13
THE GP-5, REBORN BY JACK KANE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jack Kane has been actively involved in piston engine development since the early 1950s and has configured, built, and modified successful engines for a wide variety of specialized applications and winning race cars. As founder and CEO of EPI Inc., he’s been responsible for the design and development of a line of liquid-cooled aircraft engines, propeller reduction drives, and accessory drive units for various applications. He also authors technical articles for Race Engine Technology magazine.
Sweet Dreams at Reno-2012. Photo by Jim Jordan
Beyond engineering, Jack is an accomplished machinist, commercial pilot, and certificated flight instructor. He’s done development, modification, and overhaul work on certified (Lycoming, Continental, Orenda) aircraft engines. In his younger days, he was a winning driver in a variety of automobile racing categories, including rearengine formula cars, sports cars, midgets, and stock cars, and has won several championships. A dean’s list student, electrical engineering program at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Jack later earned his bachelor of mechanical engineering (cum laude) and master of science degrees (summa cum laude) from civilian universities. He holds a master of engineering degree. Prior to starting EPI Inc., Jack spent 31 years in design and development, including research and design work on the first generation of full authority digital engine controllers (FADECs); design and development of several complex real-time computer operating systems, control systems, and data communication networking systems; and subsystems in computer-based controls including GPS, nuclear systems, data acquisition systems, missile flight control systems, and satellite communication networking systems. He was a pioneer in the use of multilevel finite state automata to build bulletproof real-time control software systems. Jack currently holds a commercial pilot rating in multiengine, single-engine, and glider aircraft, and a private helicopter rating. He has been a certificated flight instructor for single- and multi-engine aircraft and has worked as a Part 135 charter pilot, corporate pilot, glider-tow www.ContactMagazine.com
pilot, ferry pilot, and instructor in high-performance, tailwheel, and aerobatic aircraft. Jack also has pilot-incommand experience in a wide variety of aircraft as well as test-flight and demo work in various high-performance experimentals. In the late 1980's, noted aircraft designer George Pereira (Osprey, US Navy X-28A, GP-4, etc.) decided to take a crack at Reno Unlimited air racing. He designed a small, lightweight aircraft (the GP-5) for that purpose. The original builder of the GP-5 was Gary Childs, who built the airframe to the point that it was on its landing gear, leaving the powerplant, instrumentation, and other finish work remaining to be done. It languished in that state for a few years until George Backovich acquired it and finished the aircraft. Dave Morss, Reno racer and professional test pilot did the first flights, but soon thereafter, the Reno Air Race Association's (RARA) changed their rules for the Unlimited Class to require a minimum weight of 4500 pounds, making the GP-5 ineligible for that class, and it was not eligible for the Sport Class, which required kit airplanes of which a minimum of five had been sold. Within a couple of years, the Super Sport class emerged, providing a place for one-off designs to race. However, in 2010, due to a dwindling number of entries in both Super Sport and Sport classes, RARA merged those classes into the current Sport Class. In the new Sport Class, the primary limitation is that the engine must be less than 1000 cubic inches of displacement. There are no restrictions on fuel, boost, ignition systems, nitrous, etc,
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 14
Lee engaged Hasselgren Engineering, Inc. to build the new engine for Sweet Dreams. Hasselgren built an excellent ECU-fuel -injected, normally-aspirated 434cubic inch small-block Chevy engine which, after a bit of map tuning, dynoed at just over 625 HP at 5800 rpm, and that was with the short stacks used on the aircraft!
The GP-5 in the hangar at Reno, 2012 Photo by Len Bechtold
and many of the entrants take full advantage of those opportunities. At least one competitor was overheard referring to the class as "Unlimited-Lite". In 2010, George Backovich entered the GP-5, named Sweet Dreams (SD), in the Reno Air Races. Lee Behel, retired US Air Force fighter pilot, noted Reno Racer and Reno check pilot, was at the controls. For Reno-2010, Sweet Dreams was powered by a modified small-block Chevrolet automobile engine with a Geschwender Hy-Vo 2" chain drive PSRU. Unfortunately, the engine began to fail dramatically during a practice run, and would have sawed itself in half if it had been run about 30 seconds longer. In spite of the limited visibility caused by the coating of engine oil on the canopy, Lee Behel managed to get the airplane back on the ground successfully. Here’s a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiSS7h1OYf0 The failed engine was estimated to be producing 500 hp (at sea level, standard conditions), but there were no dyno data to support that claim. Further, a detailed postmortem examination of the components and engineering, when compared to engines actually tested at 500+ hp, strongly suggest that it was highly unlikely that it even produced 450 hp. After the end of the 2010 Reno Air Races, Lee successfully negotiated to become the third owner of the GP-5. Lee had the plane trucked to Mountain Aire Aviation (Sonora CA, 209-533-4011), where Mike Brown and Bob Fair began the analysis of the failures and problems in earnest. In late 2010, Lee contacted EPI to consult on various issues with regard to improving the powerplant. EPI was involved in the teardown and inspection of the failed engine, and in the definition and preliminary design of the new engine. www.ContactMagazine.com
In addition to engine issues, Lee had questions about the chain drive PSRU. We discussed those issues, and, we directed him to our website analysis showing the limitations of Hy-Vo chain redrives— quite heavy, limited capacity, limited life. Lee asked us to provide a new PSRU for the GP-5. We determined that our Mark-15 PSRU was too large for the airframe, but fortunately we had one of our older Mark-9 redrives available. We arrived at an agreement with Lee about the Mark-9, and began the work to modify it for the higher prop rpm. This required a new prop governor and a new drive gearset we devised over the course of building approximately 30 of these units being used in V8-powered aircraft, some for over 500 hours. One owner, who had put more than 700 hours on his, described his Mark-9 as "bulletproof". As a part of EPI's support of this project, we examined the airframe in detail at Mountain Aire Aviation. We offered the opinion that the existing engine mount appeared to be a bit under-engineered to sustain the loadings applied by a heavy, high-powered engine spinning a high-rpm metal prop at the airspeeds and g-loads imposed by a 350 mph lap around Reno. Rather than rely on observations and guesswork, EPI built a 3D-CAD model of the existing mount and subjected it to a detailed computerized finite element analysis (FEA). That study, detailed in a 20-page report given to the owner, showed that under the loads applied during a 350+ mph race lap (a combination of torque, gyroscopic moment, vertical and horizontal g-loads and gust loading plus FAR safety factors), the mount structure was (a) overstressed and (b) too flexible. The study also revealed that the firewall attach brackets for the engine mount structure were gravely overstressed by those same loads.
FEA OF THE ORIGINAL MOUNT Based on the results of that study, we designed a new engine mount structure and a reinforcement strategy for the firewall attach brackets. The new mount and reinforced brackets had acceptable stress levels under the same loads as were used to analyze the original mount.
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 15
SUMMING UP Sweet Dreams competed successfully in the 2012 Reno Air Races Sport-Gold Class. It qualified at 363.233 mph, finishing third in two of the heat races, fourth in the other heat race, and finished fourth in the Sport-Gold race at 359.573 mph. Post-race analysis of the data collected by the onboard full spectrum data acquisition system shows that the race speed would have been somewhat better had it not been for a slight overheating problem, which caused the pilot to reduce power mid-race as a precautionary measure. Finite element analysis of the original engine mount.
In order to fit into the very compact engine compartment envelope, our new mount structure looked similar in shape to the original, but it is quite a bit stronger and almost three times stiffer, which minimizes the probability of whirl mode problems. Mountain Aire engaged a very skilled, aircraft-certified welder to construct the new mount and to refit the firewall bracket reinforcements.
TEST FLIGHT INCIDENT The test flight program for the remodeled GP-5 began in early 2012 at Hollister California. On March 11, the aircraft suffered a failure of the landing gear structure inflight (high aerodynamic loading on poorly-welded components), causing a gear collapse on landing. That destroyed the specially-designed Hartzell race prop, badly damaged one wing of the airframe, and lots of other parts. Thankfully, the pilot (Lee Behel) was not injured.
REBUILD George Pereira himself took over the rebuild of the wing structure. Hasselgren Engineering went completely through the engine and addressed a few minor problems. EPI did a complete teardown and inspection of the PSRU, and found one very serious problem (to be detailed later) resulting from the severe loads imposed by the destruction of the propeller. We were able to repair the problem caused by the crash and get the Mark 9 PSRU ready for the intense test flight program which had to be completed in order to compete at Reno-2012.
The current (Reno-2012) engine in Sweet Dreams is a normally aspirated 434 cubic inch V8, highly-modified but based on Chevy small-block dimensions. At present, it produces just a bit over 625 HP corrected to sea-level, standard conditions. However, the mean airport elevation at Reno/Stead is 5050 feet above sea level, and the aircraft generally race at another 50 feet above the ground. On a day at Reno with an OAT of 85°F, the standard pressure at 5100 ft. (29.92 altimeter setting) is 24.80 inhg, the density altitude is 7865 feet and the density ratio is approximately 0.79. With those atmospheric conditions, there is an additional ram boost of 3.5" hg available at 350 mph TAS. The engine inlet scoop on Sweet Dreams (designed and built by Andy Chiavetta) recovers about 2" hg of the available 3.5" hg ram boost, so at 350 MPH under those conditions, the engine runs with a manifold pressure of approximately 2" hg above ambient. Assuming a 20°F temperature rise in the plenum, the density ratio in the plenum under those conditions is 0.823, allowing about 515 HP max. However, the reduced ambient gives a bit better exhaust scavenging (unquantified on this installation). Taking those variables into account, under those conditions the engine in Sweet Dreams is capable of approximately 525-530 HP max. In view of the facts that (a) both the LaVelle Glasair-III (winner) and the Farnsworth Lancair Legacy (3rd place) are both heavily turbocharged, and (b) the Thunder Mustang (2nd place) runs with a generous boost of nitrous oxide, there is a definite challenge to be met. Engineering and development work are now in progress to assure that Sweet Dreams will be very competitive at the 2013 National Championship Air Races, Reno.
Installing the rebuilt wing at Mountain Aire Photo by Lee Behel
The crew at Mountain Aire Aviation did an unbelievable job of getting the aircraft back together and supporting the test flight program, which was completed just in time for the 2012 Reno Air Races. www.ContactMagazine.com
For those readers who are not intimately familiar with the competition levels at the Reno Air Races, the top six finishers in the Sport-Gold race were faster than the winner of the Unlimited-Bronze race (330.507). Further, the winner of the Sport-Gold race (Jeff LaVelle at 393.552) would have finished a VERY close second to the winner in the Unlimited-Silver race at 394.52, with the Unlimited-Silver second place speed was 391.907, and Sweet Dreams would have finished ahead of the fourth place Unlimited-Silver, an F7F-3 Tigercat at 359.2. Jack Kane jack@epi-eng.com www.epi-eng.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 16
While in college I became interested in auto-conversions and followed the development of PSRUs and auto engine modifications for almost 35 years. I have been very impressed with the designs that Bud Warren developed and I share many of Bud's philosophies and opinions so it seemed like a perfect match. I was about one month from ordering his BW350 for my own Wheeler Express project when he passed away. Later that year at Oshkosh I met Dr. Lyle Moss, one of Bud's customers, and we decided to move forward with an updatBy Stuart Davis December 8th, 2012, I completed the asset purchase of the late Bud Warren’s engine conversion business, Geared Drives. Within two short two days after the fact, I have moved everything from Bud’s garage in Conroe, Texas to my hangar on Hicks Airport (T67) northwest of Fort Worth, Texas. There, I’ve started a new company called Auto PSRU's LLC. I have been very busy getting everything unpacked and organized to see what has to be done next to get the supply chain of parts going again and the inventory ready to handle all the backlog of demand. This announcement is very new and as of this writing, most of the vendors that supplied parts to Geared Drives have not been contacted yet so this may take a while. There are a few lingering details in finalizing the purchase, with the main one being the transfer of the old Geared Drives website and cell phone number to me, but by the time you read this, those issues should be well behind me. This will help ease the transition for previous customers and the family won't have to be bothered with phone calls for gear boxes any longer.
A BIT ABOUT STUART I’ve had a lot of questions asked about me and my background so let me summarize that. I joined EAA in 1976 while I was still in college and helped to complete a Fly Baby donated to the college. I graduated in 1979 from Central Missouri State University with a double major in Automotive and Aviation Technologies. Since then I have worked as an engineer in the aviation and aerospace/defense industries for companies like Beach, Martin Marietta, Boeing, Gulfstream, Northrop Grumman, Harris Corp, Lockheed, and Learjet, not exactly in that order. www.ContactMagazine.com
ed design— but Lyle died a few months later in a fiery crash while in his Glasair III. My friends and family actually encouraged me to continue with starting a new company based on the assets of Geared Drives. So after about a year of negotiations and discovery of the details behind Geared Drives, my new company, Auto PSRU's is ready to get started. Bud and the guys at Geared Drives had several improvements and upgrades in development marked up on their drawings, and I have some of my own. With Larry Perryman's help I hope to have some exciting announcements to make during 2013. The second most asked question that comes up most of the time concerns supporting legacy Geared Drives customers, and YES, I will do whatever I can to provide support, parts, information, and any updates that they may want for their units. The next question seems to focus on whether or not I will have a booth at Sun ‘n Fun and Oshkosh this year. The deadline for reserving booths at Sun n Fun 2013 as well as AirVenture has already passed. Bud had some serious issues with both events not allowing him to set up his demo trailer which is something that I will also have to work out before I can consider the time, effort, and expense to participate in either one. But I will make it to as many regional events as I can next year. If nothing else, I’ll have a display at the engine workshop area at Sun ‘n Fun and will participate in the Alternative Engines forums hosted by CONTACT! Magazine. I look forward to meeting you. Please watch for more updates on my website, www.autopsrus.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 17
By Len Bechtold Team-38@team-38.com
The 49th annual running of the “Titans of the Air”, the National Championship Air Races came off without a hitch last year and if there is one single thing to rejoice about it is just that; a safe and thrilling week of air racing. This was a critical mission, needed to assure the continuation of this American icon event of Flight. We certainly look forward to more of the same for the 2013 event, which is just a few weeks away!
This is my fourth time covering the event, and there certainly was a special atmosphere in the shadow of last year’s tragedy. The coverage for CONTACT! Magazine was initially intended to focus on the alternative engine entrants in the Sport Plane class but my plan this year was to get a bunch of photos in the pits and out on the race course. While we can’t fit them all within the pages of CONTACT! We can show a few and provide this link to see the rest online. www.facebook.com/www.CONTACTMagazine Many other forms of media report the race standings and strategies, even on a daily basis. There is enough drama to keep the hard core race fans on the edge of their seats, even if only on the internet, but without being there— well, I’ll leave the playby-play and lap times to the professional reporters. What follows is my attempt to convey the sights of the event as you might see them when you finally decide you’ve got to go! The bus ride to and from the airport from the downtown hotels is $20 round trip and it leaves about every 20 minutes. Just be ready to leave at the end of the races, or before 6:00 pm to get back!
THE LOOK AND FEEL OF RENO RACE WEEK The Formula One and Biplane classes run first thing in the morning; about 0800. The hope is that the calmer morning air will give the light airframes a reasonable chance of getting airborne and landed without the sudden wind speed and direction changes that are typical of the region. So if you’re a dedicated fan of these incredible racing machines, the wakeup call at your Reno hotel will be about 0600. They taught us in the US Air Force about this 24 hour time numbering thing. We learned that anything starting with a lower number than “06 something” was what we considered the middle of the night, but I digress. Suffice it to say that to see these screamers rounding the pylons requires a serious commitment to get there on time! It’s well worth the effort to arrive early to see these very competitive pilots running hard and turning just inches apart. www.ContactMagazine.com
But first, you have to park if driving and get your tickets in order (if not already done on line) and walk in to what seems to be an overwhelming site. Being “herded” to the ticketing center behind the large grandstands looking out to the race course is easy enough. Going to the right side, there is a large civilian and military static display with lots of food and souvenir vendors on the way. Heading left gets you into an even larger vendor area, but still behind the stands, with many specialty aviation shops on display and with many food and drink stands leading to the pit entrance. After spending all the time and money to get this far, pit passes are an essential! Buy them before you leave the ticket window or pre buy on line. Just before entering the pit area is the “High G Ridge Club” stand, where a ticket gets you a bus ride out on the course where the racers make the highest ‘G’ turns before heading toward the home pylon. With the new layout positioning the home stretch pylons on a more level flight path heading parallel to the stands, the “High G” experience is exhilarating. A buddy and I went for it, and believe me, this is worth every penny. You get to sit either in a tent where drinks are served or stand “at the fence” and take it all in. They even give you a souvenir t-shirt. Way cool, and the refreshments are a real treat when the temps are in the 80s and above!
THE PITS Continuing straight ahead is the pit entrance, and this is where the magic begins. First are several interesting commercial displays with the Reno/Stead Airport resident hangars on your left with the flight line on the right. We’ve now gone beyond the viewing stands, which ended near the pit entrance. This is about the time comfortable shoes are appreciated as the expanse of the flight line becomes more apparent. If you have ever been in automotive racing pit areas, the first thing that strikes you is the size of the spaces! First is the Warbird area, all big planes and the sight is almost overwhelming. Row after
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 18
Hawker Sea Fury September Fury
row of T-6s, Yaks, Sea Furies, Corsairs, a Tiger Cat that races, and more. Then there are the “classy” pits like F8F-2 Bearcat Rare Bear, P-51D Strega and a couple of other race teams with completely tented pits full of crew members working in unison to fix or prep the aircraft for the next heat. Astronaut Robert Lee "Hoot" Gibson and crew (Hawker Sea Fury September Fury) impressed me this year with a joyful hootenanny after a race win. As with all of the crews, if they’re not crazy busy, they enjoy talking to you as much as the other way around. The world’s best are right there, shaking your hand and thanking you for being there. Way cool.
In the biplane hangar, my interview with Tom and Gerry Aberle (see the cover of CONTACT! issue #79) was a high point of the week. I was as interested in the status of Paul Lipps’ propeller program as I was in the performance of their modified (yea, right, just “modified”) Micro Mong Sport biplane Phantom. They are making winning look easy with their well oiled team and dedicated preparation. The Paul Lipps companion piece (next page) addresses this unique propeller design that has been well covered on these pages of CONTACT! previously.
When not gawking at all the incredible hardware and talking with your race heroes, there are plenty of viewing places along the flight line from which to watch the races. Maybe the whole course isn’t visible, but the up close viewing with the big airplanes at your back isn’t available anywhere else.
On the Sport Class side, a side trip on the way down to the F1, Biplane and Sport hangars at the end of the road is a left turn to John Parker’s Thunder Mustang complex which is a permanent resident facility at Reno/Stead airport. The home of Blue Thunder II and several other flying Thunder Mustangs provides unbelievable eye candy, as all the airplanes are meticulously finished.
ON THE RACE COURSE
Sport Class Nemesis
Continuing straight down pit row, the Formula One (F1) and Biplane class hangar is dead ahead, with the Sport class hangar next to it on the right. Another Sport class hangar is across the tarmac. The F1 and Biplane guys seem to have a lock on the humorous side of competition. Stuffed animals, “home style” pit areas and lots of friendly banter are the norm. Feel free to ask anybody any question you have and you will certainly get an answer. Good folks there. www.ContactMagazine.com
I was fortunate to have good equipment this year and got some shots that amazed me when editing back at the motel room. Captions will just take up more space, and while I’d like to fill these pages with as many photos as possible to try to give you a sense of what the racing is all about, it’s just not possible. However, you can see more images on the CONTACT! Magazine Facebook page. The nearness of the racers to the pylons and to each other has to be seen in person in order to fully appreciate, but hopefully these images convey a tiny bit of the excitement. Too bad we can’t print sound – but I’m hoping to videotape the 2013 event in addition to the stills, for publication as CONTACT! Magazine sees fit. Len Bechtold
Team-38@team-38.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 19
National Championship Air Races and Air Show, Reno/Stead Field, Reno, NV, USA.
By Len Bechtold Team-38@team-38.com
The Reno Air Races, as the event is frequently referred to, holds a huge variety of one-of-a-kind attractions that can be viewed in only that place, and on that week. A highlight for me this year was to spend some time in the pits of the fastest Biplane Class race plane in the world, Tom Aberle’s Phantom. Not only was I anxious to get to know the father and son team but I was also very interested in the status of the propeller they use. Besides the unmistakable look of the airplane, the propeller is a prominent feature that is an integral part of the airplane’s look and performance. The Aberles have been staunch supporters of the late Paul Lipps and his innovative Elippse propeller and I hoped to get some insight as to the future of the propeller’s technology. Paul Lipps was the designer of a radically shaped propeller blade that’s not only efficient but also quiet. Many CONTACT! Magazine readers may remember his technical articles on propeller design and various other topics that populated the pages of this magazine. Paul was an “out of the box” thinker who combined the math and his concepts in a unique way that led to the development of an insane looking, very high efficiency prop. For those new to CONTACT! our editor, Pat Panzera, published a special “all Paul Lipps” issue (#88.5) that is a reprint of all his articles up to that date. Before he passed away a few years ago, Paul wrote several more articles, but 88.5 contains the majority of them. In this article I offer first some background on the Aberles, then their airplane, and then the meat of my quest— to find out what the future holds for the propeller development. The following is from an interview with Tom’s son Jerry as we sat in the Phantom pit area. www.ContactMagazine.com
SOME BACKGROUND Jerry grew up in a flying family with his first airplane ride happening three months before he was even born. He got his A&P ratings while in the U.S. Navy and became involved in the family FBO in Compton, CA and then later on in Fallbrook, CA. His great grandpa, grandfather and father all have roots in aviation, including his grandmother who started the FBO business. Father Tom started racing in 1966 in a Smith Mini Plane. Jerry started crewing for his dad in the early 1980s working his way up to crew chief and this year was finally able to watch the crew go about their business while enjoying the races. With the airplane so well dialed in, aside from routine checks like inspecting the spark plugs and oil samples, there’s little “emergency” work between races. The engine is a parallel valve IO-360 using an Airflow Performance fuel injection with a dry sump oil system. The engine is balanced and the heads bench flowed and it has a unique updraft cooling system. Race RPM is reported by Jerry to be “a little over 3500.” He further reports that the airplane is pitch sensitive with the other axes more “normal.” Phantom is flown sometimes between the annual event to keep current and make adjustments but otherwise, this is a purpose-built racing machine intended to perform at Reno and that’s about it. Phantom started out as a Mong Sport and has the original chrome-moly steel tube fuselage still in place from the rear of the firewall to the back of the seat. The rest of the airframe is a carbon fiber structure with the wings designed to 18g! The airframe is a result of literally years of design and development by Tom and also Bob Bush, but it was actually built in about seven months to meet a sponsor’s deadline. It has been in its latest configuration for several years now.
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 20
knowledge that Paul had amassed. I wanted to know that the technology and manufacturability would move forward, as having everything neatly archived and forgotten would be a huge loss. We need to have Paul’s work continue and see his technology benefit all facets of aviation.
I asked about racing strategy, from the standpoint of having to mix it up with other airplanes and wake turbulence concerns. I supposed that since Tom is so much faster than the other competitors, he could simply stay wide and high in the turns and have a relatively easy ride in clean air. Not so, said Jerry. This is all-out racing, and lap times and “track position” are as important to the Phantom team as any other. Jerry’s closing remarks expressed his appreciation for the teamwork and camaraderie that makes all the work possible.
THE ELIPPSE PROPELLER As Jerry pointed out in simple terms, the Elippse propeller is designed to produce an elliptical lift (thrust) distribution all along the blade’s span, weighted heavily at the root, diminishing at the tip, and with the correct airfoil at each station that corresponds with the speed— slower speeds at the root, higher speeds at the tip. As with other props, the angles along the span change with changes in local airspeed at each station. Nothing new there, except that the blade chord and pitch angles are much exaggerated at the hub. Unique also is the blade planform that’s not seen on any other prop. Also, Jerry said that conventionally the tip area contributes little to thrust but creates rotational drag at speed. The very small chord at the tip solves this.
Tom related that there are “activities” going on that will assure further development and eventual distribution of the Elippse propeller, through Paul’s son, Jeff Lipps. Tom recognized my genuine interest in making sure that this thing doesn’t just go away, and frankly with some emotion by both of us, his reassurance was that he remains committed to the propeller project. Tom wasn’t at liberty to discuss specifics at that time. Much relieved, I pressed no further and left confident that Tom Aberle will see to it that we have not seen the last of Paul’s designs.
IN CLOSING One of the “must do” items on my Reno itinerary was to spend time with Tom Aberle and get an update on the Lipps prop. He is the most visible proponent of it and I hoped to get just a few minutes to ask some questions. These guys are busy at Reno and sometimes just don’t have time for the press. Well, I came away thankful that Jerry had spent so much time with me, giving background information about the whole Aberle family’s involvement in aviation and racing. I was blown away by Tom’s appreciation of my interest in the prop’s future. The Aberles are just plain good people and deserve to be successful at whatever they do. Thank you, Tom and Jerry for your kind hospitality. When you’re passing the Aberle team pit at Reno this year, stop by and say hello, you will be glad you did. Len Bechtold
Team-38@team-38.com
I remember from Paul’s writings that prop tip noise consumes energy and the less energy wasted translates into thrust potential. A byproduct of the extremely narrow tip chord is that the prop is very quiet. This would account for the audio pleasure of Phantom blazing past with its trademark unique sound. What the tip-speed is, relative to Mach numbers, gets into the specifics that Paul had written about. I think that the smallish diameter of the four-blade prop is a result of still running somewhat sub sonic as is usual, but very near the limit. Because of timing issues, I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with Phantom’s pilot Tom Aberle, but the most important questions that I came with were answered— pretty much. Being in the engine and high performance airplane business for several years with Team-38 (home of the 80% P-38 Lightning project), I was most interested to know what is going to happen with the body of prop www.ContactMagazine.com
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 21
SWITCH ON! Continued from page 11
The following is an email I received from my friend Mike who lives in Perth, who had visited with us the week previous. Sums it up pretty well: “It was surreal to receive your message so soon after meeting Terry and sharing a meal together only a few short days ago. The quality of his work and vision were (and remain) an inspiration to me. It is indeed a great loss to Terry's family, friends, community and aviation in general. I feel blessed and honored to have met him and to have shared photos and video of the beautiful P-51 widely with friends and family since my return home. I have a renewed sense of how precious life is, and an enduring wonder at what people who choose to live out large and audacious dreams can do. I honor Terry's memory and legacy by building quality and style into my own aircraft and by refusing to live small.”
JACK KANE You may have noticed that in the beginning of Jack Kane’s article on the GP-5 Reno racer, his bio seems disproportionately lengthy. The reason for this is I wanted to introduce you to Jack, from whom we plan to publish a lot more. Jack isn’t new to CONTACT! He provided us with two awesome articles for issue #97, one on understanding power and torque, the other on brake mean effective pressure (BMEP). We look forward to working with and learning from Jack in the future.
WELCOME OSCAR ZUNIGA Very few people may realize it, but Oscar Zuniga has been slaving away for years behind the scene at CONTACT! Magazine. He has done this in complete anonymity, and we think it’s time for him to come out of the closet and be recognized. In addition to providing the occasional article, such as his propeller balancing story found on page 10, Oscar has been a tremendous help with his copy editing, as well as helping to keep the voice and mission of CONTACT! alive and thriving. With this issue, we’ve added Oscar to the masthead in the position of Associate Editor but at his day job, Oscar is a consulting professional engineer with a BS in mechanical and an MS in fire protection engineering, as well as registration in electrical engineering. His first airplane ride was in a Luscombe in the early 1960s, which established his love for taildraggers and for low-and-slow flying. After soloing a Piper J-3 Cub in college, he obtained his pilot’s license and has since logged 500 hours of mostly VFR flight. He owns and flies a Pietenpol Air Camper and has two other projects in construction: a VW-powered highwing M-19 “Flying Squirrel” and a Corvair-powered Zenith CH 601 XL B. He lives in Medford, Oregon.
QR CODES You may notice funny-looking little square graphics peppered about the pages of this issue. For those of us who have smartphones, with the right application (software), www.ContactMagazine.com
these symbols can be read by the phone and will direct us to a specific webpage on the Internet. By adding this tool to the pages of CONTACT!, we can link articles to our website, surplus photographs on Facebook (which you don't have to join to see the photos) or even videos on YouTube, as well as just about any website that may be relevant to the articles in our magazine.
ALTERNATIVE ENGINES VOLUME 4 In this issue we also launch our pre-sale of Alternative Engines Volume 4. It’s been several years since we started delivering Volume 3, and it’s long overdue! In addition to ordering one for your personal library, please consider donating another issue to a library of choice, be it public, school, or military base.
ISSUE 104.5 From time-to-time an issue of CONTACT! becomes very popular and we run out of back issues. If the demand remains high, we’ll consider reprinting it. If there is specific content that’s being sought, that may be in more than one issue, we’ll compile those articles into a new, special issue. Since these special issues are done between regular issues, we’ve opted to number them with the current issue, but add .5. The first time we did this was for Paul Lipps. We ran completely out of issue #77 where we introduced Paul and #79 that had Tom Aberle’s Phantom on the cover, using Paul’s prop, so we created special issue #88.5 and in it we added all of Paul’s articles to that date. Since then we’ve also run out of any issues containing Revmaster’s R-3000 and their new R2300, so we put together special issue #104.5. In addition to these issues, we reprinted my very first issue, #72 in full color. Back when I took over CONTACT! from Mick Myal, we printed the magazine in black and white and it wasn’t until #75 that we started adding color. About the time we ran out of issue #72, we were printing in full color, so the reprint of that issue now looks great! This issue too, as well as all the back issues, are available for purchase. There is a tiered pricing structure that as the quantity goes up, the per-piece price drops. Unfortunately, issues 1-25 are only available in photocopy quality. If you’d like to see a list of each issue along with a brief description of the contents, please visit www.contactmagazine.com/backissu.html or use the above QR code for smartphones. For those without internet access, you can either phone us at 559-584-3306 or drop a letter in the mail and we’ll send you a printed version of our list. ~Patrick Panzera, Editor.
FACEBOOK CONTACT! Magazine’s Facebook page is updated nearly daily, sometimes several times a day, with news and information of interest to homebuilders. www.facebook.com/ www.CONTACTMagazine
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 22
Alternative Engines Volume 4 CONTACT! Magazine currently offers three 8-1/2x11 soft cover books, each of them a unique, authoritative reference, dealing with auto engine conversions, each unrivaled in scope and detail of content. Each volume of "ALTERNATIVE ENGINES" is a compiled work of past CONTACT! Magazine articles, documenting individual experiences in preparing, installing and flying converted auto engines. The three volumes also contain important information and solutions for cooling, ignition redundancy and selection of components. We are pleased to announce the publication of yet a fourth in the series, "ALTERNATIVE ENGINES VOLUME 4" Over 350 glossy pages of black and white content, (or your choice of full color!) compiled from issues of CONTACT! Magazine (picking up where Volume 3 left off) as published by Patrick Panzera, the current editor and publisher of CONTACT! Magazine. Each volume explores in detail the builder's or designer's trials and tribulations in development and testing. Decades of experience are available at your fingertips, presented in a manner that is educational, informative, and entertaining. While we have not printed the book yet, progress is being made. We are very close to being ready to go to print, but we need your help to make the color book happen. While the black-and-white version will be created on a "print on demand" basis, we have to preorder the color book in in the highest quantity possible in order to get the best price. The prices shown below are based on a first run of 500 books, and that's where we need your help. Just as we did with Volume 3, we are asking you to pre-purchase the book now, which is several months before they actually become available. We will either have enough orders in the next few months to go into print, or we'll refund all the monies sent in for the color book. The black-and-white version will go to the printers in two months no matter how many orders we get.
Alternative Engines Volume 4 Order Form (or simply call 558-584-3306 and order over the phone) Please sign me up for the Black & White version. I understand that this is a preorder for a book to be published in the near future.
Contact! PO Box 1382 Hanford California 93232-1382 Editor@ContactMagazine.com http://www.ContactMagazine.com (559) 584-3306 Office (559) 585-0922 Fax
Please sign me up for the COLOR version. I understand that this is a preorder for a book to be published in the near future.
United States
Canada / Mexico
Overseas (Air)
COLOR
$65.00
$70.00
$78.00
Black & White
$42.00
$47.00
$55.00
PayPal is another accepted form of payment, with the link found here: http://contactmagazine.com/Vol4tableofcontents.html Payment enclosed: $
Check, M/O or Credit Card.
All US funds only.
M/C
Visa
Exp. Date
Name Address City / State E-Mail address
Zip www.ContactMagazine.com
Phone Issue #106
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 23
August 5, 1954 - January 1, 2013
By William Wynne I was recently brought the sad news that John Moyle, an aviator known to many people in the experimental aviation community, had passed from this world. He was a relentlessly positive person in a world where that attitude is an ever more scarce quality. He was a devoted family man and the best of friends to many people who knew him. His attitude on any challenge was always, “Why not?” The world is full of people who are quick to think of all the reasons why something won’t work and can’t or shouldn’t be done. John had enough positive energy to counter legions of such people and he also had the charm to make many of them crack a smile at the same time. In a few short paragraphs it would be very hard to describe the positive work of John Moyle in experimental aviation. In addition to being certificated as an FAA powerplant mechanic, John was a tremendous volunteer for any needed task, large or small. Need help setting up Corvair College #5? Just ask. Got a plane in Europe that needs to be in California? He was on it. Patrick Panzera always credited John as being CONTACT! Magazine’s number-one supporter. In addition to being on the board of directors at CONTACT! and carrying on the duties of associate editor, John was a prolific writer and is nearly 100% responsible for the all the articles in issue #72. And if asked, Pat will tell you that if it were not for John’s ready support, he probably wouldn’t have accepted the responsibility of taking over CONTACT! from the late Mick Myal. Many experimental aviators have had the pleasure of meeting John at various airshows around the country because he frequently staffed the CONTACT! Magazine booth along with Pat. His overwhelmingly positive energy and super gregarious nature made him a complete natural at the position. He wrote a great number of magazine articles and contributed a lot to unseen tasks like editing stories and digging for feature articles, yet he still found the time to own a lot of different experimental aircraft and various projects, including one of his own design. John was just the opposite of people who always ask, “what’s in it for me?” If John was doing something, you www.ContactMagazine.com
could be sure it had a strong element of some greater good. If I am painting a picture of a very large version of Gandhi or Mother Teresa, let me correct this by saying that John was also a lot of fun to be around and also had a wicked sense of humor. John knew many of the best parts of aviation; the moments he made by working to put himself where the fun was, where things were going on, and where people were doing things. He also knew the somber side of aviation. His eldest brother Ben Moyle was killed in a fiery Glasair crash while approaching AirVenture, Oshkosh 2001. Other than marking the first anniversary of the accident, John didn’t speak much of it, but it was certainly an emotional burden that he quietly carried. I suspect that it stole a lot of the personal joy from flying for himself, but if it did, he never said so. He was the kind of person who wouldn’t let his personal loss dampen the positive day of others. Most people find it hard to be positive, even when things are going well for them. John Moyle was positive at all times, good or bad. He was the genuine article, the real thing, a person who understood what Roosevelt was saying when he spoke of “[The man] who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause..." John’s life was far richer for embracing this creed. He was one of a kind, and we won’t have another quite like him again. Blue skies and tailwinds John, and thanks for everything. You left aviation a better, richer, friendlier place than the way you found it.
CONTACT! ISSUE 106 PAGE 24
Contact! Subscription / Renewal / Address Change Form Please sign me up for a new subscription (4 issues) Start me with # Please send a gift subscription to: (SEE BELOW)
(If blank, the “current issue” will be sent) Ordering books, back issues, subscriptions or hats can also be done online at our website, www.ContactMagazine.com or by calling us direct at (559) 584-3306 Monday through Friday, 9am to 6pm Pacific
Please renew my current subscription Please change my address Please send me the following back issues: Issues: $5.00 ea. (for a complete description and list of our back issues see www.ContactMagazine.com)
Subscription rates 2008-2015 United States
Canada / Mexico
Overseas (Air)
$20.00
$28.00
$35.00
Payment enclosed: $
Check, M/O or charge.
All US funds only.
M/C
Visa
Exp. Date
Billing Name
CVV/CVC Number
Address City / State
Zip
E-Mail address
Phone
Gift recipient's Name Address City / State
Zip
E-Mail address
Phone
WE HAVE HATS! Yes, for $15.00 plus shipping, we can send you a beautiful 100% cotton ball cap with our CONTACT! Magazine logo embroidered on the front. The hat is black with white lettering, and for the ladies we have pink with purple lettering. Please specify: Men’s Women’s United States $15.00 + $5.50 s&h Canada/Mexico $15.00 + $8.50 s&h Overseas $15.00 + $15.00 s&h We are pleased to announce the publication of yet a 4th in the series, "ALTERNATIVE ENGINES VOLUME 4". Over 350 pages of full color content, compiled from past issues of CONTACT! Magazine as published by Patrick Panzera, editor of CONTACT! Magazine.
Alternative Engines Order Please rush me Volume 1 of Alternative engines.
CONTACT! Magazine
Please rush me Volume 2 of Alternative engines.
PO Box 1382 Hanford California 93232-1382 Editor@ContactMagazine.com http://www.ContactMagazine.com (559) 584-3306 Office
Please rush me Volume 3 of Alternative engines. Please rush me Volume 4 COLOR VERSION of Alternative engines.
Prices for Volumes 1, 2, and 3.
Shipping included:
United States
Canada / Mexico
Overseas (Air)
$42.00
$47.00
$55.00
Volume 4 $65.00 COLOR
Volume 4 $70.00 COLOR
Volume 4 $78.00 COLOR
Issue #106