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Low wing Sonerai 1

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Upon close inspection YEP! I was fooled by the title I guess! Sooo nevermind LOL!
Far as single place Sonerai 2's go TMIKUS gets my vote for the sweetest ever.
 
It looks to me like a well built metal airplane with a Sonerai wing, but not a Sonerai. Noting tubing on the interior behind the pilots head, may even be steel tubed fuselage covered in sheet metal. Enough difference though that I would not consider it a Sonerai. Nice work.

Kevin
 
This S1 is the work of master Sonerai builder Wayne Richmond at Stratford Aerodrome in NZ. It is a very active airport and home to Richmond, and 9 other Sonerai. Wayne has numerous S2’s to his credit including one with UL Power that posts RV4 performance. Wayne and I chatted while I was contemplating the restoration of 994SP.
This Jabiru 2200 S1 was a lengthy project documented in the blog below.
He has several S1’s and 2’s to his credit. Here is a link to his blog:
http://blogspotbigsky.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-bit-of-treat-for-you-all-today.html
It’s a very active Sonerai locale definitely high on my bucket list....
V/R
Smokey

YouTube of Wayne’s UL power S2 chasing down a T51
https://youtu.be/hkB5v40z4q0


UL power!
 
The aircraft in that blog looks like an s2 with no forward seating area/panel moved backwards.
 
The aircraft in the video link mentioned in ifida's post (number 5) is a Sonerai 1. It started out as a stock standard Sonerai 1 but in 2000 the decision was made to convert to a low wing and to power it with a Jabiru 3300. A number of modifications have been made but apart from the change to low wing, the aerodynamics are unmodified Sonerai 1. The performance and handling is first class and a tribute to the design skills of John Monnett. Attached are pictures in 2000 and in 2018.
 

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cosmic said:
The aircraft in the video link mentioned in ifida's post (number 5) is a Sonerai 1. It started out as a stock standard Sonerai 1 but in 2000 the decision was made to convert to a low wing and to power it with a Jabiru 3300. A number of modifications have been made but apart from the change to low wing, the aerodynamics are unmodified Sonerai 1. The performance and handling is first class and a tribute to the design skills of John Monnett. Attached are pictures in 2000 and in 2018.

looks like there is no dihedral in that first picture.
 
I should have been more clear: I was referring to the first picture cosmic posted of the low wing plane. Low wing plane should have some dihedral
 
I think the photo you are referring to was taken when I was first thinking about going low wing. At that stage the wing had no dihedral. The spar box was subsequently changed to give 1 degree of dihedral but that was purely for aesthetic reasons. From head-on a wing with no dihedral can appear to "droop" at the tips. An important practical reason for dihedral though is wing tip clearance from the ground. The standard Sonerai undercarriage is quite short so a low wing without dihedral would be a problem. Our Grove landing gear is 5 inches longer than standard so wing ground clearance is ok. In my experience a wing with minimal dihedral gives sportier handling.
 
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