Mitch

G'Day All,

I tried to start on the G Force 3 days ago but got side tracked with 'life' and a visit to the cinema to see AVATAR......Best movie I've ever seen. Do your self a favour and see it in 3D if you have not already done so.

Ok, today was my first real start.

I spoke to Larry Neal on the phone early, got what I needed and armed with my Butterfly Build Book Picture Graphics, I set out to make a start.

Alum Bushes ( Nubushes ) need to be made for holes in tubes to carry the thru bolts....these take time.

Some of the Nubushes also utilise HD Plastic inserts.

Plunger bolt needed to be made for the G Force relase mechanism. Some cutting and drilling, slip the springs on, job done. Larry sells these manufactured, ready to bolt on. I wanted to make mine up with a different hand release lever, so Larry was good enough to provide me with the box section and some other parts. Parts sourced locally, cable, cable casing, cable ends.

Ole Mate Al, sent me some other stuff I was going to need, some bolts and stainless plate to make tangs and connectors etc.

Measurements I got from Larry transferred to the cluster plates ( I have original Butterfly cluster plates from the first run of Emperor Butterfly's, 6 years old), drilled and installed the brackets to carry the front drag or horizontal, axle support tubes/struts.

Brake lines installed into new axle tubes.

The motorcycle springs are used from the original mains suspension.

I therefore, needed to remove the original landing gear entirely. Retrieve the motorcycle springs and after doing these tasks, I spent some time rebushing the springs with slightly better rubber inserts and and split steel bushes through the gromets top and bottom. The I worked on putting the main struts together.

This involves putting the main G Force strut, with Nubushes installed, into the strut tube at the top end and adding the coil motorcycle springs to the bottom of the strut. This gives the 'All Terrain' suspension to the G Force Landing Gear.

I was impressed by the quality of the parts I removed from the Monarch. These parts have over 100 hrs on them since I rebuilt the Emperor Butterfly and morphed her into a Monarch. They exhibit very little ware and tare. Once cleaned they will be placed into storage.

Wheels and brakes remain as is and will go on the new landing gear once it has been installed.

Interesting looking at the gyro with no landing gear at all.

There is a possibility that the Monarch may end up on floats.