Q-talk 38 - ODDS and ENDS
- Details
- Category: Q-Talk Articles
- Published: Sunday, 28 February 1993 06:11
- Written by Jim Masal
- Hits: 2420
TIME MARCHES ON DEPT.: The popularity and completion rate of kit aircraft has much to do with the fact that when you reach out for a component or material ... there it is! Or at least it's easy to get. For Quickies, each passing day puts us farther away from the people and materials that we need to finish the project. For example, Q-TALK doesn't have as much on the Quickie lately. Gradually there will be fewer replacement parts available and that will require time-consuming fabrication at machine shops and elsewhere. The additional time spent will increase the possibility that the plane won't fly. If you have a controllable reason for not working on the plane, control it, otherwise the passage of time may put completion uncontrollably out of your reach.
To help you along, I was able to get location reports on some of our favorite people:
SCOTT AND DUANE SWING, COMPOSITE DEVELOPMENT CORP, 200 WEST AIRPORT RD., SEBASTIAN, FL 32958. PHONE (407) 589-1860. The Swing families have this year moved to Sebastian to take over the production and marketing of Velocity aircraft. Scott is still able to supply Tri-Q gear leg conversion components. He was once employed by Quickie Aircraft in Mojave. He and his Dad are very knowledgeable about the breed.
TOM WRIGHT now of ADVANCED COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGIES, Rt 2, Box 269A, Somerset, PA 15501 or (814) 445-3802. Tom can build wings, Waddelow canards, etc. and he used to have the engine mount components to mate the O-200 to the Q2 firewall. He would probably be willing to advise you on it. From time to time someone breaks an airfoil and wants one made. This is the guy.
GARY WILSON of CACI in Tennessee. Things change, people move on. He is in telecommunications now instead of fiberglass, but he can make a good composite spinner and backplate for Q2's and Quickies. Also Rotax cowls. He's not easy to catch (you must be relentless), but he's still willing to support Q's. He's knowledgeable and easy to talk to.
GENE SHEEHAN, once grand poobah of the Quickie Aircraft Corp., can still be found working in his Mojave hangar from time to time, sources say, and now on a metal airplane. About as easy to contact as a poltergeist (and just as easy to talk to), but still around to a relentless pursuer with a hankering to see the desert.
FLY-IN ... FLY-IN ... FLY-IN ... THIS JUST IN ...
The West Coast Dragonfly guys want to have a gathering of theirs and our Q2's at the Porterfield, CA show on June 11 and 12. Camping, prizes, dances, fly-bys, etc too numerous to mention before I go to press. Sounds like great fun at a well-organized show. Contact D-flyer Gene Evans (209) 733-8358.
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