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Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 12:06 am
by TwinOtterFan
I've been looking at a few taylorcraft planes as they fall within my criteria and price but I've noticed most of them are labeled BC-12D but I thought the D was the military designation and so it should be a tandem seater with stick and rudder? Not yokes like they all seem to have.
Anybody have any knowledge on this?
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 2:40 am
by Colonel
I used to instruct on a beautifully restored Taylorcraft BC-12D which the AME
who did the work, hung an O-200 on it and somehow converted the paperwork
to amateur built.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorcraft_B
It was a sweet old girl. Side by side, yokes. Heel brakes. Lots and lots of adverse
yaw. Great primary trainer. Like taking your grandma to a church dinner.
It landed so slowly, you could almost get out and walk alongside it. Best on grass,
but hey, everyone else likes dry pavement.
His wife was convinced that he was going to die in the airplane. She was frantic.
I told her to get enough life insurance on him that if the phone rang while he was
at the airport, she should have mixed feelings.
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 3:17 am
by Big Pistons Forever
The T Cart’s don’t seem to get the love Cubs and Champs do. The good news is that means they are significantly cheaper. A guy I knew bought one with a new PPL and no tail wheel time and asked me to teach him how to fly it.
The first flight was rather amusing as he learned that unlike a C 172, the pedals on the floor were more than just foot rests. He also found with 65 hp, you had to fly the wing not the throttle.
He went on to have many excellent adventures flying all over Western Canada and the US on 3.5 gallons per hour.
Personally I prefer the Champ just because it has a more comfortable cabin and better visibility, but a good T Cart is a worthy first airplane. The kicker is the state of the fabric. It has to be good or you need to run away as fabric replacement will be at least 25K
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 3:48 am
by TwinOtterFan
There are a few at around that price and they look pretty good, one in particular. Redone in '98 painted in '20 comes with wheels, skis, and lotus floats.
The reason I was asking about the tandem is because I swear earlier today I seen one setup like a Champ, but now I can't find it and when I read about that it says it's the 12D that was done that way, a military variation I guess.
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 12:41 pm
by Colonel
better visibility
That's probably my biggest beef with the t-craft - maybe I'm just too tall,
but the wing root seemed to be always in way when you were looking in
a turn.
I think it's adverse yaw makes it an excellent trainer. It lacks many of
the crafty design tricks of later airplanes (eg 172) so rudder will be required.
I am not a fan of heel brakes. I know a cub with heel brakes that was
wrecked because of a lack of pilot familiarity with them.
Also, when you are looking at really old airplanes, make sure the carb
has an accelerator pump which squirts fuel when you push the throttle
forward. Without it, you have to advance the throttle really slowly on
an overshoot, and that's increased workload at a time when you really
don't need it.
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 2:40 pm
by Nark
Learned to fly tail dragger in a 12d as well. Took off from Chilliwack, and ran up the valley to Hope and landed all over the grass runway.
Without a doubt the smartest “add-on” type flying I did after obtaining a PPL.
Had to look in the logbook, EJX. I wonder if she’s still flying?
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 2:44 pm
by TwinOtterFan
Well I looked again this morning and still cannot find the tandem stick and rudder Taylorcraft I thought I seen yesterday... maybe I'm going crazy.
Here is the other one I mentioned.
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 4:30 pm
by Colonel
I won't ask how a 1946 BC-12D is registered as an ultralight. The
paperwork in La Belle Province ....
As BPF says, look at the fabric. Paint cracking? Peeling?
Tap the lower longerons with a hammer. Lightly. Check for corrosion.
Pull the inspection panels on the wing at the strut pickup and the wing
root, and look at that wood spar real carefully. Any wrinkles in the fabric?
Any recent damage history? Sometimes people don't always
keep it straight on the dry pavement ....
The engine. Pull the spark plugs, put them in a tray and take a
picture. Bottom plugs tell the story (one of my engines, below):
Leakdown test. Where is the air going past? The rings, or
exhaust valve? Check for metal in the oil screen.
Pull one valve cover. Does it look like this? Not one of my engines:
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 4:38 pm
by Slick Goodlin
TwinOtterFan wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 2:44 pm
still cannot find the tandem stick and rudder Taylorcraft I thought I seen yesterday... maybe I'm going crazy.
If it was indeed a T-cart it sounds like an L-2.
Re: Taylorcraft model help
Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2021 4:49 pm
by TwinOtterFan
Colonel wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 4:30 pm
I won't ask how a 1946 BC-12D is registered as an ultralight. The
paperwork in La Belle Province ....
As BPF says, look at the fabric. Paint cracking? Peeling?
Tap the lower longerons with a hammer. Lightly. Check for corrosion.
Pull the inspection panels on the wing at the strut pickup and the wing
root, and look at that wood spar real carefully. Any wrinkles in the fabric?
Any recent damage history? Sometimes people don't always
keep it straight on the dry pavement ....
The engine. Pull the spark plugs, put them in a tray and take a
picture. Bottom plugs tell the story (one of my engines, below):
Leakdown test. Where is the air going past? The rings, or
exhaust valve? Check for metal in the oil screen.
Pull one valve cover. Does it look like this? Not one of my engines:
Haha shit! Your right, I didn't even notice that yet. The registration brings up "tailer-craft" lol. Well it's of no use to me then.
As far as inspection goes it will not be me doing it. I have learned a lot from everyone on here, enough to at least decide if it's worth having a pre-purchase inspection done. But an AME will be the deciding factor when I find the right one.