Tipsy Nipper

I voluntarily grounded G-AVXC in November 2003 after I discovered very light surface corrosion on the fuselage tubing.
This was my first involvement with aircraft restoration and I naively thought it would take three or four months and cost a couple of thousand at most.
WRONG! Here we are over three years later and the light is starting to shine at the end of the tunnel....

G-AVXC last flight 30/11/03

The stripdown begins.....

Last engine run....

About as bare as it gets.....

The wing was in good shape when opened up and checked. NO glue failures. Not bad for a 40 year old machine!

Rudder recovered...

Tailplane and elevator taking shape....

Another big job nearly done....

Fuselage ready for covering.....

Now we're getting there!

Not long now....

I hope to be able to make the maiden flight during the spring of 2007.
I am very grateful to all of those that helped with this project, I have learnt a lot
both about the aircraft and aero engineering in general. The confidence I have in the design
is high after seeing the strength that was originally designed into it.
Particular thanks to Paul Wells, Ian Gates and Alan Turney.
Will post again with a date for the airtest...

Paul
G-NIPR

Well we really are nearly there... paperwork has gone to the PFA and we hope for a permission to test fly soon.
Here are some pics of its current state.

Hi,
Well done, looking great !!!!
Funny how "little" jobs turn into years of work. Please can you tell me what is the lever on the right side next to the engine gauges? I see you are in Scotland (or am i wrong).
I'm 1/2 scottish and 1/2 new zealander but via my great great parents.

Anyway, i wish you the best of luck with the test flight

Regards
Glen Rae

Hello Glen,
Yes I am in Scotland, near inverness. The aircraft will based at Inverness airport.
It is currently in the south of England and I hope to fly it north in the coming weeks.
The lever you refer to is an elevator trim lever, it is a really powerful trimmer that works brilliantly via a small trim
tab on the starboard elevator. Makes life easy in the cruise.
Thanks for your intereest!

Paul
G-NIPR

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the reply. My Nipper still has the spring thing below the brake lever on the control stick. It's not very effective, still have to push or pull a little to mantain s/l . Are you a com pilot by any chance, thought i saw your nipper,in a photo here, in front of a Jetstream (i think) .
What size engine is installed in your nipper and is the engine bolted straight to the airframe.
I would love to install some sort of rubber type mountings it isolate to engine vibrations from the frame. The last engine i had all the insides balanced and this helped a lot, the spinner was constantly out of balance and i improved it to a point but no further.
Chat later
Glen

Hello Glen,
Yep right on both counts, i fly for a living and it IS a Jetstream! Well spotted.
I am a TRE on type and still fly the line very regularly. Varied work, but fun.
See the pilots section of this website for more info. You fly commercially? Tell us more...
My engine is the VW 1834cc. It has just been rebuilt and had everything balanced, but it remains to be
seen how it will be. There was never a problem before with vibration so I hope it hasn't started now.
From what I remember it is bolted straight to, via some spacers, but I don't recall rubber mounts. I will
check with my engineer friend.
Is your a/c currently serviceable and do you fly it much?

Cheers for now,

Paul.
G-NIPR.


Ps: Please put a profile about you on the pilots section....

Hi Paul,
AIRLINK uses jetstreams from Johannesburg on regional routes internally.A friend of mine began his airline career on jetsteams (j41 ?).They are real mean machines,powerful etc.
Unfortunately i have to work on the ground for a living . I'm a core network field tech for a communications company. If i could rewind life, i would certainly have written my commercial licence and flown for a living.
Anyway, i flew skydivers for years in a C182 and have -+ 500 hours but my licence has lapsed.
My nipper is in the same boat as yours was, in for a overhaul, recover etc. There are pic's loaded of my nipper under "Pilots" somewhere on this forum.
I fly it "virtually" at this moment . Am on 4 weeks vacation at this moment so am trying to catch up on things that need to be done around my house (would rather work on the nipper to be honest).
chat later
Glen