Other BushCaddy Builders

Don's BushCaddy R-120, The Skunkworks Airplane Factory, N2C

Other BushCaddy Builders

Don's R-120, On The Gear, 11/06

I never met anyone....building any airplane, that didn't enjoy sharing the experience. If you are building a BushCaddy and haven't sent me a few pics and some contact info, pls do so, we're all in this together and we can learn a lot from each other.

The purpose of this page is to highlight other BushCaddy Builder's projects and perhaps any changes or things done differently. Anyone out there, trying to figure out if they: want to build an airplane, have the skills to build an airplane or are just plain curious about airplanes, should feel free to contact these guys and take a look at their project; ask some questions and figure out if this is for you. You'll find out that these guys are no different than you...they just got going.

Cecil's L-160

Cecil Dawe, lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and completed his L-160 in November, 2009. The plane is powered by a Lycoming O-320 D2B, 160 HP and has a McCauley 7557 prop. Initial flight results are as follows:

Cruise:100mph @75%

Stall speed:40mph

Stall speed with flaps:38mph

Flying at 40 mph on takeoff

Landing over the fence, be at 53mph or it floats quite a ways.

Fuselage Structure Complete & Skins On

Robert Poirier has just recently joined the Bushcaddy Builders. Robert is building an R-120 and lives in Laval, Quebec. He started his project in December, 2008 and already has the fuselage structure complete. He will be powering the airplane with a Rotax 912 ULS.

You can watch Robert's progress on a regular basis through his Kitlog website at: http://www.mykitlog.com/robertw

Horizontal Stabilizer Spars and Ribs

Fuselage Structure

Bob Forbes, L 164 Cabin & Fuselage

Bob Forbes lives in Brasher Falls, New York, that's fairly close to Montreal. Bob is building an L164 which will be powered with a Mazda Rotary Engine. Bob is close to flying his plane and has added some nice modifications: an electric flap system utilyzing a linear motor, a closed loop rudder syatem, leading edge wing lights and heated pitot.

Doubler Added to support the motor

Linear Motor

B Forbes Closed Loop Rudder System

BForbes Closed Loop Rudder System

B Forbes, Pitot

B Forbes, Leading Edge Light

B Forbes, Rotary Engine

B Forbes, Wing Complete

Great Paint Scheme!!

Marin Streeter, lives in Stanwood, Washington and is building an R-80 ELSA, which will be powered by a Jabiru 3300. I have gotten to know Marin quite well since he started building and I'm counting on him to get ahead of me so I can follow his engine installation!!. He has an affinity for the tools and plans like no one else I've seen. I've told him BushCaddy should hire him to do their quickbuilds. He is an airplane building machine. Marin also uses Kitlog and has a Construction Log on the internet. One of Marin's modifications was to change the door skins to Lexan for a "total" view. I love the paint scheme. Marin has used the water borne paint process from Stewart Systems. You can paint with just a basic respirator...nothing special required.

Jabiru Air Box

Jabiru Air Ducts

Jabiru Heat Muff

M Streeter, Lexan Door

M Streeter, Wing Ribs & Stringers

R Beland, Fuselage Complete w/Epoxy Primer

Rene Beland, is building an R-80, is originally from Quebec and currently lives in Waterford, Wisconsin. Rene has a Construction Weblog on the internet. If you review his pics you will see that he is very detail oriented. Rene is taking a break from his project while he pursues a Master's Degree. When that's done he'll be back at it.

Rene just recently decided to use Poly-Fiber Epoxy Primer on his plane. Check out the pic above, it looks outstanding and he says it is a very hard finish. It seems to have been relatively easy to do with the right prep work.

R Beland, Fuselage

R Beland, Bulkheads & Stringers

R McNamara L-162 Complete

Ron McNamara lives in Ottawa, Ontario, and is building an L-162. He also has his engine, a Mattituck TMX, IO 360, 200 HP, with cold air induction, forward intake and flowed heads. He will mount Clamar 2500 Amphibious Floats. Looks great!! This is Ron's 2nd BushCaddy, he also owned an R-120, GHSU, which you can see on the BushCaddy website as a tri-gear, he used it as a taildragger. Ron's L-162 is now complete and flying, see a short video of the plane taking off and note how quickly it is off the ground w/o even having to raise the tail: http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z76/ch300-fnqi/?action=view&current=P1100825.flv

Almost Ready To Fly

Wings On

R McNamara L-162 Cabin & Fuselage

R McNamara, Mattituck TMX 360

York Harbour, Newfoundland

Calv Swift, is from York Harbour, Newfoundland, which is on the west coast, near Corner Brook. Looks like a beautiful area. He just started building an R-80 in early 2007 and is one of three builders in the Atlantic provinces.

Cabin & Fuselage Complete

Cabin Frame Attached To Fuselage

On The Gear

Cabin Fame

C Swift, R 80 Fuselage

C Swift, R 80 Inside Corners

S Sapkos L-162 Cowl

Stan Sapkos lives in Wickenburg, Arizona, he has finished building and has successfully flown his L-162. His plane is powered with a Superior IO 360, 180 HP. Stan's prop is an 80" Hartzell. Stan got the Quick Build Kit and he worked daily to get it together, he started 11/06 and flew the airplane for the first time 10/07. Really nice paint job, interior and panel. Fantastic and an inspiration.

S Sapkos, L-162, Almost Ready For Flight

S Sapkos L-162 AirBox

S Sapkos, L162 Nearly Complete

S Sapkos, L 162

S Sapkos, L 162 Panel

S Sapkos, L 162 Almost Flying

S Sapkos, L 162 Panel & Interior

E Tremeer, Fuselage

Everett Tremeer, lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is building an L-164. I like the jig he made for making sure Bulkkead 7 was square. He plans to power the plane with a Lycoming O-360.

E Tremeer, Bulkhead 7 Jig, Simple & Effective

E Tremeer, Rudder Spar

Factory Built R-80

Gord McKay lives in Carvel, Alberta, which is 20 miles west of Edmonton. He flys out of Barrhead, CEP3. He has a factory built R-80 that now has 720 hours on it. Gord flies on skis in the winter and wheels in the summer. A local flight instructor, after flying his R-80 said, "This is the King of Kings of ultralights"....Wow, great praise. Gord also says, "the R-80 has no tendency to ground loop..as long as you stay on the rudder, which is extremely effective on the ground...the Caddy is very forgiving." This is great news for those of us (like me) who have yet to get a taildragger endorsement.

Martin Abud lives in Laval, just outside of Montreal and is building an R-120. The plane is powered with a Rotax 912 ULS engine. Martin was, I believe, the first builder to use an L-160 cabin on the R-120 to get the extra headroom. He started his project in 2004 and should have the airplane flying in early 2009.

Martin was one of my first contacts when I started my project as Sean & Marlene gave me his name as a reference. I initially talked to him way back in 2005 and he has been a good friend ever since. Martin and his wife have a summer place up on the Gaspe Peninsula, in Mont Joli, which I think is only about a 2 or 3 hour flight from my summer place in Cape Breton. One of these days we will drop in on each other.

Martin added electric trim to his R-120 and recently purchased a set of skis from www.datumair.com. I like these so much I'm pretty sure I will do the same.

Rotax 912 ULS

Filtered Air Duct

Nose Bowl With Grote Light

Kannad 406 ELT

Wings On!!

Wayne Burtney, lives in Acton, Ontario and is building an R-120. It will be powered with a Continental O-200. Wayne started his project in Feb, 2001 and has just successfully completed the Pre Cover Inspection. This is a very big deal in Canada, where all components of an experimental aircraft, must be inspected by MDRA ( Ministers Delagates-Recreational Aviation ), prior to being finally riveted and closed up.

The inspector found only minor items like a burr on the end of a stringer and a solid rivet that needed some additional setting. Wayne is also well versed in Corvair engines and in particular the addition of a fifth crankshaft bearing to that engine.

Since the inspection Wayne has squared away the landing gear and has also achieved a major milestone in mounting the wings.

For door handles he is using reproduction Teardrop Trailer door handles made by Vin-Tek, Portage, Michigan. The pics show them in the rough-in stage,

Wings Mounted To Cabin

All Control Surfaces Ready To Be Closed Up After Pre- Cover Inspection

Wing & Fuselage, Pre Cover Inspection complete.

Wings On!!

Rick Pewtress lives in Utah and is building an R-120. Rick has worked on several Bushcaddy's and is very knowledgeable. He is also building the Jabiru engines mounts for two builders - Marin Streeter in Washington and Stan Shannon in Texas. Originally Rick was also going to build the engine mount for my Jabiru 3300, but after I switched gears and went with my Lycoming O-235 L2C, he made me a dynafocal engine mount instead.

Rick is pretty far along with his R-120 which will be powered with a Lycoming O-290 D, it is 140 HP with electronic mags, chromed cylinders, lightweight starter and alternator...that cut out 22 lbs. Looks like he'll be flying in a few months.

Mounting Wings

Baffles Installed

R 120 Cabin & Panel

R 120 Lycoming O-290 D2

R 120 Prop Installed

John Birrell, flying over Waikerie, South Australia. Photo by Rob Wintulich.

John Birrell, lives in the Beetaloo Valley in Southern Australia, and has completed and is flying an R-80, powered with a 90 HP Subaru engine. He has several hundred hours on the plane to date. I believe he is the only builder with a Subaru and is very happy with the result. One of his modifications, after completion, was to add an aileron trim system.

Check out his installation in these pics, it seems very straightforward and according to John is extremely effective and helpful for flying a straight course, with rudder input only.

J Birrell R 80 Complete & Flying

J Birrell, Subaru Engine

J Birrell, Aileron Trim

J McKinley, Fuselage Complete

Jamie McKinley is building an R-120 and lives in Pennfield, New Brunswick. I have stopped by and visited with Jamie several times on my way to Cape Breton. Jamie's airplane was the first BushCaddy I saw. After seeing the structure up close and personal I knew this was the airplane for me and I can tell you because I have seen it...Jamie's workmanship is top notch. Jamie is also very involved with the Young Eagle program and was recently mentioned in EAA's Sport Aviation Magazine.

D Bonin, Cabin & Fuselage

Denis Bonin, is building an R-120 and lives in the Montreal, Quebec area. Denis has modified a few things: he added a trim tab to the elevator which will be controlled via a push/pull cable, a Naca air scoop to the cabin area and fabrictaed his doors using a single piece of aluminum sheet...no seams. He fabricated his own throttle set up and will add two skylight windows. He has fabricated an aluminum box that matches the curve in the roof and will divide the skylights (glass not in yet).

D Bonin, Elevator Trim Tab

D Bonin, Ceiling Box, Skylights To Be Added

D Bonin, Custom Throttle

D Bonin Vert Stab Fairing

R Pitts, Son Mark At The Controls

Rick Pitts, lives in Wasilla, Alaska and is building an L-164. I believe he plans to power it with a Rotary Engine. He is almost done with his wings but has been working long and hard on the cabin.

Check out the aluminum diamondplate floor boards. Also Rick added his own seats. The front seats are from a Cessna and the jump seats in the back are really nice. He got those from Atlee Dodge (www.fadodge.com), they are only about 5 pounds total and stow in an up position until needed.

Rick also fabricated a large dorsal fin for his L-164.

The engine is a 6 port, p-ported Renesis which will deliver between 220 to 250 HP on takeoff.