Anequim update - records smashed

Did we ever doubt them?

They didn't just beat the existing records they smashed them!

Amazing results from what is a small team of students mostly (led by a genius aerodynamicist - Paulo Iscold).

I copy the text from their Facebook post below.


Ok, time to tell you guys some numbers.

We arrived here in Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, last Tuesday and since then the work load has been huge! We've been working all day until 10PM and waking up at 3AM, Flying early in the morning and late in the afternoon and using the middle of the day and part of the night to do some improvements on the airplane or to re-configure it for the next flight. Our record flights started last Friday and until yesterday we had already managed 5 world records. What a way to fulfill our promise! These are the records (all C1a category):

1) Speed over 3km with restricted altitude
Previous record: Nemesis DR-90 - 466.83km/h (Jon Sharp)
New record claim: 521.08km/h

2) Speed over 15km
Previous record: Nemesis DR-90 - 455.8km/h (Jon Sharp)
New record claim: 511.19km/h

3) Speed over 100km
Previous record: W.Air Race - 389.6km/h (Richard Young)
New record claim: 490.14km/h

4) Speed over 500km
Previous record: VariEze - 387.4km/h (Klaus Savier)
New record claim: 493.74km/h

5) Time to climb up to 3000m
Previous record: Pushy Galore - 3min and 8sec (Bruce Bohannon)
New record claim: 2min and 26sec

So, yes, we got five world records and now we can call Anequim the world's fastest four cylinder airplane, delivered as promised!

Paraphrasing my friend, Paul Bonhomme, if we can say anything about this, it is teamwork, teamwork, teamwork! The Anequim project doesn't have sponsors, it has a TEAM! A team that is not afraid to face challenges, a team that is, always, willing to overcome difficulties, a team that doesn't mind extra work. Thanks to Catto Propellers, Sky Dynamics, Fibraer, Grove Wheels and Brakes, Alto Alumínio, Solid Works, Saber Manufacturing, Raphael Brescia, Brian Utley, and last but not least, all the students that spent hours working on the project, since its conception to now! I am sure it will be a mark for the rest of our lives!

Week 209 - Electrics and Fuel lines again!

Hours to date: 1945.0

As you can see by the hours I've done very little in the last two weeks. Been away for two weekends in a row. One of them was flying though so that's okay.

Nipped across to Le Touquet in France. Perfect weather for it too - it was the best visibility that I've experienced in the UK on the return leg.

I've now got the 12 hours needed for revalidation of my license. Just need to do 1 hour with an instructor and get my license signed and I'm good for another 2 years. Hope to be flying the Twister in less than a year though.

These last two weeks it's seemed like 2 steps forward and 4 backwards.

After doing some more research into the fuel flow issue I contacted the manufacturer of the 'red cubes' and they said I needed another module to connect to the two transducers. No one would sell me this module on it's own - they all come with a red cube and the price was $350 US. 

I decided to contact the UL power factory direct and ask about the output from the ECU marked - fuel consumption.

Here is what they had to say:


Hi Andy,

 Indeed, ECU has 2 different output signals . Up to you to make a choice which signal you use.

 Sorry, I do not know how to connect to dynon, please ask directly to dynon.

 Both signals give a nearly exact fuelflow. ( we checked it with measuring cups)


 Met vriendelijke groeten,

 Cordialement,

 Best Regards,

 Patrick Denorme

 ULPower Aero Engines NV


The red cubes are heavy, expensive and complicated so I've made the decision to remove them and use the ECU for fuel flow measurement.

So I've used the white and red wire which is for fuel consumption in Pulses/Liter - rather than the blue and white wire which is for Injector Pulses. This is connected directly to the yellow wire marked for fuel flow in the Dynon.

There is no info regarding the configuration with the Dynon - which wants a 'Pulses' figure inputting. I will contact Dynon and see what they say - I've already looked through their forum and can't find the information. I'll share it here when I get the figure from them.

In doing this I've had to re-do the fuel lines to remove the red cubes - the feed line is done and the return line is almost done.

It's kind of been a blessing in disguise as I've taken the opportunity to relocate the non-return valve in the return line which I put in the wrong place before.

It should be as close to the engine as possible to minimise the amount of fuel in the system that could be burnt in the event of a fire. I don't have room forward of the firewall so I've put it straight after the fitting behind the firewall.

I've also been working on the throttle connection - but before doing this I did some research. I phoned Pete and asked about his set up - which looked very complicated to me and also Mark of Galaxy Microlights - who is the UK agents for the UL Power engine.

Pete's reply to why his throttle was set up this way was - it looks more 'Aviation'. Mark's set up is much simpler - see pics below of both set ups.

I've decided to go the simple route as complexity for no reason is not a principle of good reliability.

I've had to make up a bracket which takes the throttle cable up a bit to clear the oil fitting behind - see pic. I've got a drilled bolt on order for the attachment point. Will post pics of that when it is done. It's that simple. Just make sure to leave a little movement in the lever at either end of the range so that you are certain you are getting both full power and a complete idle from the lever.

I've also made up some fuel lines for an engine run which I hope to do in the next month or so. 

The weather is looking good for this weekend and I'm not going anywhere so I will most likely get going on the flap drive job again.

Carbon bracket I made so throttle will clear the oil line fitting behind.

Fuel lines I made up for an engine run.

Check valve in Return line - repositioned to reduce amount of fuel in system in event of fire.

Mark's throttle set up. Simples!

Pete's throttle set up - complicated for no reason.

Week 207 - Electrics Cont.

Hours to date: 1933.0

As you will see below I'm getting on with the electrics. 

In fact there is not much more to do other than the fuel flow and a tidy up in some areas.

I'm still trying to figure out the fuel flow set up as things were not clear from the manufacturer of the 'Red Cube' FT60 fuel flow transducer. 

After contacting the factory direct it does seem that I was right all along to install 2 transducers (even though their literature disagreed with this). However I also need to buy a small module that takes the readings from each transducer and works out the difference before sending that information to the Dynon D180. This is because with the UL engine we have a return line and most of the fuel travelling through the system has not been burned up each time it passes the transducers.

Make sure you include a big ground lead from the case of the Dynon to your master ground as the Dynon needs this to work correctly.

After what seemed like hours I finally got the harness sorted through the firewall and fixed the firewall protection plate (I'd previously made up out of stainless steel) in place. Quite a confined space to work in both sides of the firewall but we got there in the end. The white goo is from the other passthrough kit and makes a fireproof airtight seal. As you can see I used a piece of firesleeve to wrap the harness before doing this.

I noted that Pete doesn't do anything here and has a big gap around his wiring harness which means that his firewall is not truly a firewall! No wonder he had smoke coming in the cockpit when his alternator cooling fan failed.

I finally got the top panel in yesterday and have switched a few things on. The Dynon, GPS, Radio and Transponder - which all work okay. The only thing that isn't working at the moment is the Push to Talk for the radio - so I'm trying to trouble shoot that now. The power for the iPad also works fine.

The Dynon is going to take a lot of configuring but I have made a start. All the temp gauges are accurate so far, reading ambient temperature and agreeing with one another. The sensors must be configured as they will almost certainly be set up wrong in the Dynon as default sensors. I noticed my oil pressure was reading 85psi but after I had configured the sensor correctly it dropped to zero.

With the fuel sender electric connection on the wings I've gone for the same set up as Pete, which is an automatic connecting device when the wings go on. The wing part of which needs to exactly align for it to work, so I've made a small plate out of carbon which I will bond to the wing when I put them on next. This way the wing part of the connection will be in the perfect position. A trough needs to be made into the wing root around the area where this plate will bond. All of that I will do when I get the wings on next time.

When I've finished all the electrics and hopefully the weather improves then I will switch back to the flap drive job which I got part way through last year.

Dynon remote compass all wired up.

Headset plug sockets all wired up and installed.

Big ground lead from the case of the Dynon.

Main wiring harness firewall passthrough.

Getting tidier...

Conduit and P-clip added to main harness from cockpit to firewall.

Firesleeve over main harness as it passes through the firewall.

Fuel sender electric auto connect/dis-connect. Carbon plate will be bonded to wing root.

Getting tidier underneath with spiral wrap and zip ties.

All fired up for the first time. Everything works except for the PTT.

Catto props

I'd love to hear this talk by Craig Catto.

Using a GoPro attached to the prop centre he is able to study airflow and refine the fences. An improvement to the prop improves the whole aircraft performance envelope (much as tyres are the most important component on a motorcycle or car).

It will be interesting to see if this catches on and other prop manufactures follow suit/copy.

New engine from Rotax

Announced yesterday at Oshkosh.

It looks like a real challenger to the UL Power 350iS, which is rated at 130hp. And I'm sure the UL would have a higher fuel burn and has a reduction in power with altitude being normally aspirated.

Week 205 - Electrics

Hours to date: 1910.75

Slowly making my way with the wiring. Quite enjoyable work this - no messy resin or carbon splinters.

As you can see below I have redone the hook for the canopy securing cable as I was unhappy with the screw in single post effort I did before. It seemed like it would pull out if the canopy were opened to it's full extent in a hurry. This new hook is rock solid.

With the wiring I started off in connecting mode and have now shifted to tidying mode before doing any more. The below pictures were taken in the connecting stage.

Canopy cable hook redone using unused part from canopy parts board.

First it has to get messy then it gets tidy.

Conduit and p-clips to come here.

Week 203 - Plenums cont.

Hours to date: 1888.5


Good progress this week. 

I'm now taking a day off during the week (when I can) and this seems to help with moving forward. Honestly I've been pretty frustrated with the slow speed of progress over the build of this kit but the end is in sight now and I'm redoubling my efforts to finish it by early next year. Hopefully it will be ready for paint by April/May. Then final fettling and test flying in June/July is the plan.


Onto the plenums.


After sanding the micro I still had to add a little body filler to fill in the pin holes and gaps in the micro. Once that was done I used duct tape as a release.


Then followed a tricky layup which seemed to take forever. 5 layers of carbon were used and laid up on plastic then cut out to a neat shape. My big mistake was not allowing for the fittings close to the edges - which stop the carbon from laying flat against the sides. If I were to do this job again I would remove anything close to the top edge. But it was too late as I didn't have access to the inside of the baffles as the foam plug was there. My mistake for not thinking far enough ahead again. 

I find things stick better when you apply a coat of neat resin to the plug early on in the layup - then by the time you are ready to put the carbon on the resin has cured a tiny bit and become quite sticky.


As it turns out things worked out pretty good anyway and only the back area is not great - although it will still seal air tight with a good application of RTV.


The duct tape release worked well and with a couple of plastic wedges I was able to remove the plenum tops with no trouble.


Slow steady pressure is the idea here - don't force things too much.


As you can see below the plugs came out in one piece from the baffles - so if anyone wants to borrow these to layup their own plenum tops then give me a shout. They will save you at least a days work.

All that was left to do was trim the plenum tops out and then fit them with 4mm nut plates all round. I used 14 on the Starboard one and 13 on the Port one. The odd spacing is due to obstructions on the inside and or access from the outside to drill. There will be quite a lot of air pressure inside here at VNE so it's best to make sure it is properly secured. I read a forum in the USA about building a plenum for an RV8 and the forces measured were very high for the plenum. If I remember it right it was over 200 lbs at 200knots. Just think what it does to the top of your cowl if you only have baffles - no wonder they are so inefficient.

The 5 layers of carbon is just right - very strong but with just a little flexibility so the nut plates pull the edges in tight.

Next job is installing the top instrument panel and finishing all the wiring.

Micro and body filler sanded smooth - all ready for duct tape.

Duct tape added.

5 layers of carbon layup.

Plastic wedges help with releasing from the plug.

Foam plugs released easily and in one piece.

Trimmed out. Now for some nut plates.

Port side done. (RTV not added at this stage).

Starboard side done.

Nice flush profile

Week 202 - Inlets and Plenum

Hours to date: 1872.75

The inlets are all done now. The job went fairly well except I shouldn't have bothered with painting and waxing the foam plugs as they didn't release. If I did this again I would just apply the light coat of micro slurry, sand and then put duct tape on it as a release.

I ended up having to Dremel out the foam - same as I did on the oil cooler ducts.

I used a bead of RTV all round to make the edges air tight and nut plates to attach the inlet to the baffles. It all fits good and makes the baffles a lot more rigid than before.

I bought some 1mm thick rubber sheet and cut out some strips which are the connectors to the inlet rings. Using big hose clamps to connect the two. The end result is an air tight connection which is also flexible - about 2mm movement in any direction. This is necessary as the inlet rings will be bonded into the cowling and the carbon inlets are connected to the engine so some movement and vibration will occur between the two. Also you need to be able to remove the cowling completely so the hose clamp makes this easy to do.

Onto the plenum.

After much masking and protecting with thick plastic sheet it was time to mix up the 2 part PUR foam. This stuff is super messy to work with and goes everywhere so it's worth protecting anything in the vicinity. I should have put some plastic sheet on the floor too as there was a bit of overspill. Anyway Acetone gets the foam off so that's good to know.

Once mixed you have 30 seconds to pour it in place until it starts to kick off and expand. It also has an exothermic reaction and puts out a bit of heat too.

I wasn't thinking too much here and didn't realise the foam would spill out as much as it did - I ended up having to use my hands (in gloves of course) on the back sides to stop the foam spilling out too much.

The foam expands to 25 times it's original size so you don't need much.

After a 1 hour break for lunch I came back and it was set rock hard.

Time to get out the rasp and do a rough shaping job. This was followed by a sanding bar (hunk of wood with 80 grit sandpaper glued to it) to finish the shape.

When I was totally happy with the shape I used some micro slurry to fill in all the pin holes in the foam and then create a layer on top which I will sand to final shape and this will give a smooth surface for a layup. I'm just going to put duct tape on this as a release. Then it will be ready for a carbon layup - probably going to go for 5 layers of carbon on this job as it's got to be rigid with all that air pressure going on under there.

More about all this next week.

Plugs all waxed - 9 coats - all ready for layup. I needn't have bothered with waxing as it turns out.

4 layers of carbon on main areas and 6 layers on areas where nut plates and hose clamps will go.

After trimming and removing the foam plugs. They are plenty strong enough.

Both on.

Loads of RTV to seal the edges and make it air tight.

Inside view from the back.

With inlet rings in place.

2 part expanding foam - messy stuff!

All masked up and ready to go.

Told ya it was messy!

After sanding one side.

As you can see I had one tiny leak of foam - easy enough to peel off a shiny surface - which it doesn't stick to - and clean the rest with Acetone.

Both sides sanded. Ready to micro now.

Loads of pin holes to fill. That's where the micro slurry comes in.

Micro added.

Just needs sanding now.