Welcome

*****Skyote #88 gets Bronze Lindy for "Airventure-Oshkosh 2016 Plans Built Champion"******


October, 2007

Welcome to "Skyotelog", the build record of Skyote #88. I assume that you are familar with the Skyote biplane. If not, you should visit http://www.skyote.org/ for a complete introduction to this unique but elusive biplane.

The posts are presented in reverse chronological order (newest first). Or you can click on one of the "Labels" to see all of the posts concerning a specific topic. Click on any photo for a larger image.

All my building experience is limited to Van's RV's so I have no experience with building tube and fabric or "plans building". I have much to learn so take everything I write with a grain of salt and reasonable skepticisim.


I do not intend to follow a "traditional" path for the construction of #88. I intend to employ low level technology and $ to reduce the construction time and difficulty where possible and practical. By low level technology I am referring to CAD, laser, waterjet, CNC. For example:

  • I have purchased a complete wing spar kit from Jerry Kerr.
  • A rib kit from Mr. Bartoe.
  • Brunton Flying Wires and Drag wires from Harvey Swack.
  • CNC profiled tube kits for the fuselage, tail feathers and landing gear from VR3.

In addition I have converted all of the wing fittings, brackets, links, lugs etc. to CAD and had them cut by water jet. I have designed a laser cut wing spar drill template/jig which positions the five spar components so that all of the holes can be drilled in a complete spar as an assembly. I plan to continue converting as many parts as I can to CAD so that I can reduce the "hand-made" components to a minimum.

Note: As of June 2015 I have over 100 CAD files which provide 600+ water jet cut parts for the Skyote.


While it takes a little time, converting the design to CAD is a great way to truly understand the drawings. plus a huge amount of information has been extracted from the rather complex drawings. This can be a great help to others in understanding and interpreting the design.


The Skyote is uniquely suited for conversion to CAD in that a "computer" was used in it's original design. I have read that Mr. Bartoe used a HP calculator to "compute" the design and dimensions of the Skyote. The plans show all of the critical dimensions to three decimal places for X,Y and Z axes.


Amazingly, when I put the design into CAD the resulting 3D models agree with Mr. Bartoe's thee decimal place dimensions about 99.9% of the time. I have found one discrepancy but less than 0.030"!


If you want to build your Skyote as cheaply as possible, or if you enjoy handcrafting the same parts over and over again then my approach to building is not for you!


If you want to build your Skyote in the minimum possible time with highly accurate parts then this approach may be the answer. I personally get a lot of satisfaction out of organizing the project so that it can be produced accurately. Hopefully some of this work will prove useful to others in the future.


Comments are welcome. I will respond as time permits

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Thursday, July 23, 2015

A Shocking Development!


About five years back I got interested in finding an alternative to the bungee sprung landing gear shocks. I was looking for something that was more tunable as to preload and spring rate. There were some very interesting shocks being used on sand buggies and other off road atv's but nothing quite fit the Skyote. That led to my design of a shock which used a stack of urethane bushings in compression. This was indeed tunable for preload and spring rate. The design seems to function fine but has not been flown. The only shortcoming was the continuing lack of rebound damping. 

I recently stumbled across an ad in Barnstormers for TK1 Racing shocks that have all of the features I want! Since I was first looking, TK1 has discovered the market for fully functional aircraft shocks for the experimental aircraft and now offers quite a few models. Tony at TK1 was able to assemble a set of shocks for the Skyote using mostly standard parts, just a custom clevis on the top end. 

They are nitrogen pressurized and oil damped on the rebound. They are dimensionally interchangeable with the stock shocks, look good and being all aluminum, weigh almost the same the same as stock. The nitrogen pressure will be adjusted for proper ride height when the airplane is at "Taxi Weight". I hope to be able to give a flight test report in the next few months.



 TK1 Racing shock installed on #88.



Top: Stock shock.
Middle: My design. 
Bottom: TK1 Racing shock.




Installed on the Skyote.

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