Rutan Quickie Q1

Bill McCarthy · Post by **Bill McCarthy** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:31 am

Does anyone have experience on the single seater - the Quickie Q1. Some two seaters have been modified to tri-gear. There was a build article on the Q1 several years ago in the PFA mag but no performance specs were mentioned. I also seem to remember that raindrops, and especially bits of grass on the "wings" altered the flight characteristics somewhat.

Nigel Ramsay · Post by **Nigel Ramsay** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:11 pm

Bill, a guy I knew won the Shneider Trophy race in a Q1 about '93 I think. It was powered by a Rotax 503! He swore by them and had two or three, but statistics don't seem to display the same enthusiasm.....

Brian Hope · Post by **Brian Hope** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:37 pm

I think the raindrops on canard issue was resolved with different airofoils. I also know somebody that had one, initially with an Onan, which was underpowered, and then fitted with a 503, with which it went like a dingbat. He had a number of mishaps with it, but he operated from grass and it was not great on bumpy surfaces. I've often thought it would make a very economical and rapid single seater with a half VW, or perhaps a Briggs and Stratton.
Not sure if the plans that are available are as complete as you need because the aircraft was supplied as a kit with many of the metal bits made. The drawings I have seen are to complement the kit rather than build from scratch. There must be a few dead ones tucked away in garages and ripe for e rebuild though.

Nigel Hitchman · Post by **Nigel Hitchman** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 7:54 pm

I guess there might be quite a few dead ones around as most of them crashed in one way or another, mostly during landing I think. Most of the ones in the UK were two seaters, but there were a few single seaters. There is a two seater that has been rebuilt and is apparently almost ready to fly at Turweston. There are a couple of recently completed ones around, one at Lee and one at Yeovilton, but I dont know if they fly much, Ive never heard of either going to any fly-ins.
Based on the accident rate, If I were you Id chose something else!

Nick Allen · Post by **Nick Allen** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:51 pm

There's one part-built, but allegedly complete kit, for sale in the USA on Barnstormers: http://www.barnstormers.com/, then search for Rutan.

SAW · Post by **SAW** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:06 pm

Bill,

I own the Yeovilton based Q2 that is mentioned in Nigel Hitchman's post above. It is currently undergoing restoration but should be back in the air sometime later this year. After which it will bee seen at plenty of flyins.

I don't know much about the Q1 but the best place to go is www.quickheads.com home of the Quickie Builders Association or the Q-List in Yahoo groups. There is a wealth of advice and information available on these websites if you are seriously interested in Quickies. There are also Quickies for sale on Quickheads.

They did suffer from contamination of the leading edge but this was resolved by the addition of Vortex Generators to the GU canard, they also have the advantage of reducing the pitch buck speed and therefore your landing speed. The later LS-1 canard resolved this problem and VGs are not required on it, but this is only generally fitted to the Q200 variants.

Unfortunately Quickies have a poor repuation mainly caused by inexperienced pilots mishandling them. They are great aircraft to fly and lots of fun, but do require careful handling when landing or taking off so tailwheel time is essential before leaping into a Quickie. There are also very few grass airfields in the UK you could safely operate one from, I will only be operating mine from hard runways.

If you want any further info please feel free to PM me.

Regards,

Clive Clapham · Post by **Clive Clapham** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:07 am

Hi You Guys

I have a Q235 ok not a Q1, you may also want to try the yahoo "Q-list" which has a lot of info on Q1s and Q2s.

Simon is correct they all have a bad reputation for ground handling, but that changes needed well well established which plane and simple front end wheel alignment. David Gall did an excellent article explaning the whys. So there is no reason for one to be a handfull now!

QAC in the eightes made a breif reference to adjusting the camber or toe just before they went bust. Mine was an unruly holligan untill I changed the main wheel alignment. Now quite docile, hope to be back in the air soon.

BTW I was in contact with Gary Hertzler recently and looked at Q2s very recently as he thought they have a lot of potential. Which is hardly as the Q1 was designed by Burt Rutan.

A real shame they never caught on.

Clive Clapham G-BXOY

Bill McCarthy · Post by **Bill McCarthy** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:02 pm

There was a very good build progress series in a set of past PFA magazines. Simple, cheap materials seemed to be the order of the day, but hard work establishing a good surface finish. I wouldn't mind a go at the hot wiring method of forming the "wing" cores. Fantastic performance on such a low powered engine - 110mph with a Rotax 503 burning just over 9 litres per hour. You could even get away with using a "Briggs and Stratton" V twin Vanguard engine at 5 litres per hour.

colinb · Post by **colinb** » Sat May 15, 2010 7:03 pm

There are actually 2 Q200's at turweston, both the Tri cycle versions

one is Mick Davies and is currently undergoing test flight

the other is mine and was brought over from the states, so has been stripped of paint ect for inspection and ready for rebuild, have also just purchased a low hour O-200 engine for it

once this is complete, i am also working on CAD designs at the moment for the next project, this is based more on the AMSOIL Rutan Racer (looks like a Q1 on steroids)
and will be contructed out of prepreg carbon from CNC machined moulds and patterns

so hopefully LAA allowing will be the next toy