I'm taking the plunge and starting to honestly search for a plane to purchase. It's a big moment for me, since I've never owned a plane before. It also feels like a yawning chasm in my knowledge, so I've been studying up. One of the planes I'm going to look at (this weekend, in fact) is a Starduster Too.
The first advice anyone will give me (or anyone else looking into Stardusters) is to talk to Dave Baxter, and I've already done that. We had a long, excellent conversation, and he told me many things about the particular plane I'm going to look at, which he's flown in the past. He also recommended a local Starduster builder, who may be willing to go up and help me inspect the plane. However, those conversations are not recorded here, so I figured I'd summarize what I know, and solicit further information so that future Starduster shoppers have a single thread that contains many useful pieces of information.
The first bit of practical advice is to check the landing gear. The older plans had the gear 4" aft of the firewall, which made the plane very tail-heavy on the ground. This leads to more difficult ground handling, and an increased tendency for the plane to want to swap ends. Newer plans have the landing gear 8" aft of the firewall, which is much improved. If someone could fill in how exactly you measure that, so that a non-expert with a measuring tape could figure it out, that would be very helpful.
The next thing to check for is the center of gravity, particularly as related to engine mount length. I believe, but am not positive, that the currently approved engine mount length is about 26", where past designs had the mount shorter, which resulted in the CG being too far aft. This thread has more details:
http://www.biplaneforum.com/showthread.php?t=14326
Most of the Starduster Toos out there have four ailerons, though the specific one I'm going to look at only has two, and there's a relatively small population of Toos that only have ailerons in the bottom wing. Dave tells me that it's the nicest flying 2-aileron SA300 he's flown, but it's still limited by that. He said they don't slip as well, their roll rate is pretty slow (for a biplane), and the ailerons become ineffective in ground effect. Four-aileron Toos are more desirable.
The landing gear bungee truss on Starduster Toos has been known to be a touch undersized, and can suffer from rough landings. This is an area that's worth inspecting carefully for cracks, deformation, etc.
That's what I know of for "gotta check" items specific to the Starduster.
One thing that's specific to homebuilts in general is to check the empty weight: it makes a huge difference in how the plane performs. Aircraft Spruce (current owner of the Starduster Too plans) claims 1000 lbs empty weight, but most real airplanes will end up being about 1200 and up. The lower the better; a 1400 plane will be a real pigdog in the air. If the empty weight on the form is from the same time when it was certificated, it's worth re-checking now, since equipment tends to change, and paperwork may not be updated.
A thing to check on any taildragger is for toe-in on the landing gear. Any toe-in is to be avoided, as it will make the ground handling much trickier than if the wheels were straight.
It's also well worth your time to locate and secure an A&P or even a non-A&P who is an expert in the type, and will help you inspect the plane.
For the normal stuff, there are many articles out there (from AOPA, EAA, etc.) that explain the paperwork, insurance, financing, inspection, etc. details. Those are also important and well worth reading, but I don't need to reiterate all their points here.
So... What did I miss? Also, how do you measure to figure out if you're looking at an old-gear or new-gear plane?
The first advice anyone will give me (or anyone else looking into Stardusters) is to talk to Dave Baxter, and I've already done that. We had a long, excellent conversation, and he told me many things about the particular plane I'm going to look at, which he's flown in the past. He also recommended a local Starduster builder, who may be willing to go up and help me inspect the plane. However, those conversations are not recorded here, so I figured I'd summarize what I know, and solicit further information so that future Starduster shoppers have a single thread that contains many useful pieces of information.
The first bit of practical advice is to check the landing gear. The older plans had the gear 4" aft of the firewall, which made the plane very tail-heavy on the ground. This leads to more difficult ground handling, and an increased tendency for the plane to want to swap ends. Newer plans have the landing gear 8" aft of the firewall, which is much improved. If someone could fill in how exactly you measure that, so that a non-expert with a measuring tape could figure it out, that would be very helpful.
The next thing to check for is the center of gravity, particularly as related to engine mount length. I believe, but am not positive, that the currently approved engine mount length is about 26", where past designs had the mount shorter, which resulted in the CG being too far aft. This thread has more details:
http://www.biplaneforum.com/showthread.php?t=14326
Most of the Starduster Toos out there have four ailerons, though the specific one I'm going to look at only has two, and there's a relatively small population of Toos that only have ailerons in the bottom wing. Dave tells me that it's the nicest flying 2-aileron SA300 he's flown, but it's still limited by that. He said they don't slip as well, their roll rate is pretty slow (for a biplane), and the ailerons become ineffective in ground effect. Four-aileron Toos are more desirable.
The landing gear bungee truss on Starduster Toos has been known to be a touch undersized, and can suffer from rough landings. This is an area that's worth inspecting carefully for cracks, deformation, etc.
That's what I know of for "gotta check" items specific to the Starduster.
One thing that's specific to homebuilts in general is to check the empty weight: it makes a huge difference in how the plane performs. Aircraft Spruce (current owner of the Starduster Too plans) claims 1000 lbs empty weight, but most real airplanes will end up being about 1200 and up. The lower the better; a 1400 plane will be a real pigdog in the air. If the empty weight on the form is from the same time when it was certificated, it's worth re-checking now, since equipment tends to change, and paperwork may not be updated.
A thing to check on any taildragger is for toe-in on the landing gear. Any toe-in is to be avoided, as it will make the ground handling much trickier than if the wheels were straight.
It's also well worth your time to locate and secure an A&P or even a non-A&P who is an expert in the type, and will help you inspect the plane.
For the normal stuff, there are many articles out there (from AOPA, EAA, etc.) that explain the paperwork, insurance, financing, inspection, etc. details. Those are also important and well worth reading, but I don't need to reiterate all their points here.
So... What did I miss? Also, how do you measure to figure out if you're looking at an old-gear or new-gear plane?
