Rob Thomas is in the process of restoring Clutton FRED G-BMMF to its former glory near Cardiff in Wales.  He recently shared this interesting e-mail exchange with Eric Clutton with the FRED Yahoo! Group, so I thought I’d preserve it here for posterity.

Rob’s part of the thread is in italics, Eric’s part is in bold:

Hello, Eric.

I’m still buggering about with G-BMMF, a silver FRED that I bought as a wreck.  The latest instalment has seen me doing the first taxi trials with a new prop, only to find it too long.  Mowed the field nicely, though!  Anyway, I’ve used a rubber/aluminium doughnut trick to space out the spring on the gear leg to pre-load the leg and to have it sitting a bit higher.  At least I’ll be able to have another crack at taxiing about.

I see that you’ve added a door to G-ASZY and there was mention of ‘the original long-stroke gear’ which I assume is the bog standard unraked leg?  I’ve still got this version without ‘knuckles’ at the top and bottom.  Is this what you meant?  Hmmmmm.  Maybe I need an updated version of the plans since I have 3 sets that all seem to date back to the 1970s or before.  Are you still selling them?

We took FRED to our local Infants School and managed to get 130+ kids (including the Headmaster) in-and-out in an afternoon.  I told the boys that the Headmaster had made me remove the machine guns before I could come along.  Strange how little boys remain the same throughout the generations!

Right.  I’m off to English Wheel my thumbs and a new bottom cowling.

Cheers,

Rob

Hi, Rob.

When I originally built FRED he had no brakes and a tail skid but when I started going to fly-ins, the need for brakes became very obvious!  I changed the wheels for ones with brakes but when I applied them the tail came up, so I moved the wheels forward.  Easiest way to do this was the ‘knuckles’ top and bottom of the shock strut.  An easy addition but you have to modify the wheel mounting to bring them forward two inches.

Your VW seems to be mounted a bit on the low side—there should be ample room for a 60 inch prop.  Raising the fuselage up is not a good idea because it will make FRED difficult to mount.  My legs don’t bend like they used to, hence the access door I put in a couple of years ago.  I got it cleared with PFA/LAA so anyone can do it.  A complete set of up to date plans, including the door mod are 40 pounds, sent airmail.  A ‘normal’ Sterling cheque payable to me is OK because I still have a NatWest account.  ERIC CLUTTON, 913 CEDAR LANE, TULLAHOMA, TN 37388, USA.  For an additional 8 pounds I can enclose my book “An Aeroplane called FRED,” describing development and early adventures.

Eric

Eric,

Thanks for the speedy reply.

I’ve got a set of “forwards” undercarriage legs from another still-born FRED that donated wing spars and ribs to finish a FRED down in Devon (Ian Pearson, co-owner of G-BGFF) so I may end up going with the newer design.  My brakes are a little…ahem…weak and ineffective, but I can see the benefit of leaning everything forwards a bit to keep those prop tips connected to the engine as long as possible.

My engine mount is the standard 6-inch design in the plans so the engine mounting height is standard.  I guess it all looks rather precarious with the old springs and long grass.  Do you recall what your springs came from?  Mine were custom made but seem a bit soft for the job and the original spec was lost years ago.

Would I be right in thinking that adding the knuckles is done WITHOUT shortening the legs?  I’ve noticed that quite a few FREDs (although, not yours) stand quite tall with their feet together, if you see what I mean. 

I’ll get a cheque over to you this week.  No point in me blundering about in the dark over this.  Also, the owner of G-BWAP has been on to me this week because the C0fG is aft of the limit and it needs about 6 pounds of lead placed 30 inches forwards of the wing.  I guess that “PFA fin mod” wasn’t such a good idea.

Cheers,

Rob

Hi, Rob.

I didn’t shorten the tubes when I added the knuckles so I gained a bit that way. My original springs were from an AJS rear dashpot suspension.  They were not long enough so I used two each side in tandem.  FRED’s springing is quite soft to allow good road towing and I have landed in lightly ploughed fields too!  I sent a mate of mine off on a taxi around the farmer’s field we were using at one time and he came back quite shaken, saying, “I thought it was going to tip over sideways!”  No chance—you get used to it and it makes even a bad landing seem quite reasonable.  It should be possible to get your springs retempered if necessary.  Over the years mine have settled a bit and one more than the other, so I put an aluminium spacer in on that side to even things up.

My wheels are Vespa or Lambretta scooter wheels.  They have cable brakes (one leading and one trailing) operated by heel pedals made from one inch square tube.  They will not hold at full throttle but very few taildraggers will.  They work well every other way with a steerable industrial castor tailwheel.  Better than my Luscombe!  The wood fairings (can be aluminium) are just to keep the grease off your legs when you get in, etc.  Eric

Eric

Photo:  G-BMMF sits pretty at Henstridge, year unknown.  Courtesy of Ron Smith.