Correction to post above. The standard 6 bolt bike disc will not fit as the bolt pcd is too small and interferes with the bearing housing. Rohloff discs have a larger pcd which interferes neither with the bearing housing, nor the central tube separating the flanges. The 160mm diameter bike disc is w...

Hi David, Thanks for your reply. I think I'll go for the narrower 45mm hubs. This is based almost entirely on the fact that my glider (LS4), with minimal suspension, uses a single standard Tost 45mm hub which handles even my landings at 427kg AUW, so a Nipper with suspension, two wheels and 340kg AU...

I may have the manual you require in pdf format - I'll search it out.

Jim

I've been making up some wheel hubs to be able to change my Nipper from the 3 1/2 x 4.95 tyres (made from unobtainium) to easily obtained and much, much cheaper 4.00 x 4 (even from Tost!). However I've come across an interesting issue regarding the hub sizes which I hope the forum may be able to sol...

go to;

http://www.nipperaircraft.co.uk/index.htm

who are the Nipper operating arm of Airweld.

Jim

Hi Bert, Are you trying to comply with the LAA mandatory LAA/MOD/025/003, 01 May 2014? http://www.lightaircraftassociation.co.uk/engineering/Airworthiness/AWA03.pdf I am in the process of replacing the bolts on my Nipper with the stud design supplied by Airweld. They only had a limited stock a while...

Hi Neil, I've been working on a scheme for a composite tank, also with a triangular drop to increase the capacity and to provide a sump to the otherwise flat bottom. I hadn't thought of the possibilities of a flop tube but it seems a good idea even though my VW isn't adapted for inverted flight. Bui...

Hi Neil, My concern with repairing the existing tank by doing as you suggest, de-riveting the seam and using Proseal to re-assemble it, is that the original tank would have been made before ethanol in fuel was even thought of as a good idea. In an era of Avgas and no ethanol mogas there was unlikely...

Hello Neil, I hope to be camping at the rally over Saturday night, assuming the beer festival is on again. Possibly Friday night as well. Don't bother with the tool if the bands can be fitted without it. I would have gone for the bungee mod but by good fortune managed to get hold of a ring set. Othe...

Hello Neil, Yes, I'm sad I'm not flying it but..... force majeure. If you have a tool for fitting the u/c suspension then I would be interested in borrowing it. Are you going to be at the rally? My suspension is the Neumann (sp?) bands not the bungee mod, I was lucky enough to get hold of a set and ...

Hi Neil, No, not yet. The undercarriage structure is demounted to clear up a little surface corrosion and to repaint. Everything has slowed down drastically due to unforeseen domestic commitments. I'm also changing the hubs from the 4.95 x 3 1/2 style to 4.00 x 4 . The quote I got for 'old new stock...

Check the 4 stroke Briggs and Stratton conversions used by hovercraft people (and crazies that race lawn mowers :shock: ) Complete with belt reduction gear you are looking at 40HP at about 2200 propeller rpm and a weight of ~ 100lbs. This won't be much less thrust than a 1600 VW at 3400 rpm, if at a...

Once again tapping into the Nipper site knowledge base! I have the aircraft up on trestles as it makes it more stable for trial fits of the engine as I replace the Peacock style mags with a Leburg electronic set up. Consequently the undercarriage legs are 'dangling' so I shall take the opportunity o...

Hello ragson. That is a very interesting website, I'll certainly chase up some of their paint products. The specialist composite tank repair product isn't suitable for my purpose as it is essentially a sloshing sealant and I'm not happy with using sealants on a tank which has started to fail. I cann...

I've tried the LAA forum and even emailing LAA engineering with no response so I thought I try here. My fuel tank has developed a leak along a riveted seam. I've been searching for a composite system compatible with E5 mogas in order to lay up a fuel tank. The most likely candidate I've found so far...