Project News

Astaple of internet motoring channels is the ‘Barn Find’. In short, a vehicle locked away and untouched for decades, usually totally original and, as such, quite desirable. I suppose we could then use the same term for Stuart Porter’s Renegade kit below. It was, after all, locked away for 32 years and left untouched, until found and built by him over the last two years.

A very unusual type for Project News nowadays but in the early nineties some 30 or so ‘hatched’ and came out into the sunlight. Have a look, I think it’s an interesting tale.

At a recent Fly-In at our airfield, I stood next to an RV-14, and it struck me as to what a sizable aircraft the type is. Checking online I see there are some 13 registered, but I think we are in the first handful of examples actually flying. I suspect that over the next year we should see more of them appearing in the Cleared to Fly list. Steve Hicks details the building of his example very nicely and I have to say what a super paint job. Interesting to see that this example isn’t a nosewheel version and in fact of the baker’s dozen registered on G-INFO, tailwheels outnumber trikes more than three to one.

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G-CMIX (LAA 188A-15732) Murphy Renegade Spirit 912

Built by Stuart Porter

By a combination of luck and planning, Stuart Porter had sold his Kitfox right at the start of the first Covid lockdown, funding the purchase of his Murphy Renegade Spirit kit. He had located a seller with two Renegades for sale, one, an untouched kit and another as a non-flying project. The kit dated from the type’s heyday of 1990, and more to the point was the coveted Rotax 912 variant where most UK examples of the day were built with a Rotax 582 two-stroke. The pandemic was both a blessing and a curse to the project – lockdowns and restrictions provided plenty of time to work on the aircraft but they also made it very difficult obtaining the parts and supplies needed. On balance, it must have been a help, as this is by no means a ‘quick build’ kit and to be ready for test flight in two years is very good going indeed.

In its time the Renegade was a fairly complete kit with the fuselage main structure factory built, all of the aluminium ribs pressed and any welded parts prefabricated. But typical for kits of the period, simple items were supplied as sufficient raw material for the builder to cut, file and drill themselves. The build manual, while very comprehensive, was typical of the day, so by today’s standards very rudimentary. The kits were supplied with sufficient Polyfibre cloth to cover the aircraft, but this had been exposed to sunlight for many years and so was binned and fresh purchased. On the other hand, the aircraft’s wooden propeller had been more carefully stored and was in excellent condition with both blades being of identical weight and the whole unit perfectly serviceable.

Above The fuselage is quite tricky to cover, Stuart resorted to taking the undercarriage off and suspending the engine mount in a sling to rotate it.

The engine also came with the kit and is somewhat unusual being of 1990 vintage, Rotax only introduced the 912 the year before and the early phase engines differ from today’s models by having all the electronics installed in a single aluminium box that is bolted to the firewall. Rotax 900 owners will be more familiar with the engine’s two coil packs attached to the top rear right of the block. Interestingly, this first iteration of the motor also came with a 600 hour TBO, but that’s easily extended to the modern figure of a couple of thousand. In fact, many regularly used Rotax 912s often double this figure before needing attention. All that said, this 30-year-old lump came out of its original crate and fired up happily on the airframe and ran like the proverbial ‘Singer’.

Stuart had little trouble with the build, and although this is his first full project, he’s spent a lifetime making flying models, and has owned a MKII Kitfox, initially fully restoring it. As the Kitfox was another child of the early 1990s, he felt quite at home with the Renegade.

Originally not a standard item, Stuart’s kit was supplied with the optional trim tab, but of course there was no mention of it in the build book. Not an option 30 years ago but today the internet soon had Stuart in touch with an original Murphy employee who explained the process required.

The only significant rework required in the whole project was the top wing fuel tanks. Upon pressure testing it was found that one tank leaked due to the hollow pop rivets used, even though the Pro-Seal process was followed. The tanks are constructed from ribs without lightening holes and form the actual structure of the wing, these sections were all de-riveted and re-assembled with captive mandrel pop rivets, and once re-sealed and pressure tested, all was fine.

A neat rotisserie was fabricated to make wing covering an easier job, there are four of them after all. While Stuart stayed with the original Polyfibre fabric, he chose the Stewart Systems finishing process, presumably not because of the name, but the fact that it’s waterborne and not a solvent-based process. The difference begins with attaching the fabric to the airframe, instead of a very pungent fabric cement, it uses a waterborne glue more like copydex. Thereafter, the rest of the process is relatively odour-free – I think this sounds worthy of further investigation! The finished result is very striking, and Stuart must be pleased with the outcome.

Like all aircraft there are bits inside the structure that benefit from inspection, service and maintenance. The original design left this to the builder as part of the covering process with standard fabric inspection rings, but Stuart has gone a little further with some neat custom inspection hatches here and there. Just imagine trying to tend the brakes by performing a handstand in the P2 cockpit! A little forethought – and an inspection hatch –can save so much future grief.

Stuart is very grateful for all of the help given by Jon Viner in Engineering who went out of his way to assist the project, things were kept on the straight and narrow by Nick Woolsey his Inspector, but of course Stuart extends his gratitude to his wife for putting up with him while the aircraft was built.

Top left Top port wing looking very shiny in its waterborne paint system finish.

Above left Pre-test engine runs, all of the debugging had been undertaken before covering.

Above The cockpit interiors.

Below Stuart posing with his creation.