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Touring Motor Gliders Association (TMGA)

Any Ogar owners out there?


Sean Sweeney

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I have just acquired an Ogar with a Turbo Revmaster in need of much TLC. I am wondering if there are any other Ogar owners who may be available to answer some questions that I am sure will pop up.

I flew one with a Happy/Great Planes VW conversion many years ago in Ft Collins Colorado and found it to be a pleasant flying TMG. I did not get to do any soaring, or even power off flying with it, but I do really like the pusher configuration for its outstanding view. I am looking forward to getting this one up and in the air, however there will be a good amount of work to do once I get it back to Florida. This one had some rather poor maintenance and some strange work don to it that I will have to fix, as well as having sat for the last 5 years. Fortunately it has been in a dry climate, and the wings are in very good condition.

I have spent about 5 days working on it so far to get it ready to ferry back home, and it is now ready for taxi tests. I was unable to taxi it at all this weekend due to the high winds, and now I have to head out to LA for work, so it will be at least a week before I can get back to it.

I will try and upload pictures, when I can, to chronicle my journey getting this machine back into soaring condition.

cheers,

Sean

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I have just acquired an Ogar with a Turbo Revmaster in need of much TLC. I am wondering if there are any other Ogar owners who may be available to answer some questions that I am sure will pop up.

I flew one with a Happy/Great Planes VW conversion many years ago in Ft Collins Colorado and found it to be a pleasant flying TMG. I did not get to do any soaring, or even power off flying with it, but I do really like the pusher configuration for its outstanding view. I am looking forward to getting this one up and in the air, however there will be a good amount of work to do once I get it back to Florida. This one had some rather poor maintenance and some strange work don to it that I will have to fix, as well as having sat for the last 5 years. Fortunately it has been in a dry climate, and the wings are in very good condition.

I have spent about 5 days working on it so far to get it ready to ferry back home, and it is now ready for taxi tests. I was unable to taxi it at all this weekend due to the high winds, and now I have to head out to LA for work, so it will be at least a week before I can get back to it.

I will try and upload pictures, when I can, to chronicle my journey getting this machine back into soaring condition.

cheers,

Sean

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post-170-144848146105_thumb.jpg

This is the before picture. Yes, the horizontal stab is not straight, the work of a local shop several years ago. It had been flying like this, but I expect it to be a little out of trim. The shop that did this told the owner it was to counter act torque... I will repair this as soon as I get home. It is a shame to have to go back and re-do a job that should have been done correctly in the first place!

Also the gear collapsed at some point in the last year. I suspect the wind picked the poor Ogar up, and the gear was not properly locked down (it came down and all the load went into the idler/transfer arm). We had to remove the gear leg in order to get to the idler/transfer arm and have it re-welded. I was very lucky in that a local glider pilot volunteered to weld it up for me! Thanks James! It is now good as new (the gear).

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]104[/ATTACH]

This is the before picture. Yes, the horizontal stab is not straight, the work of a local shop several years ago. It had been flying like this, but I expect it to be a little out of trim. The shop that did this told the owner it was to counter act torque... I will repair this as soon as I get home. It is a shame to have to go back and re-do a job that should have been done correctly in the first place!

Also the gear collapsed at some point in the last year. I suspect the wind picked the poor Ogar up, and the gear was not properly locked down (it came down and all the load went into the idler/transfer arm). We had to remove the gear leg in order to get to the idler/transfer arm and have it re-welded. I was very lucky in that a local glider pilot volunteered to weld it up for me! Thanks James! It is now good as new (the gear).

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  • 2 weeks later...

post-170-144848146116_thumb.jpg

We had to remove the gear after first jacking up the fuselage. By researching on line and using google translator I was able to determine that "lift here" in Polish was written just aft of the gear (but no longer on this one). With the gear linkage repaired I cycled the gear a few times and then took it down off the jack. This Ogar has been converted to a hyd disc brake, and a 6:00x15-6 wheel and tire. This will make it much easier to find a replacement tire and tube, not to mention some real brakes as the stock ones will not hold it from rolling under full power.

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]105[/ATTACH]

We had to remove the gear after first jacking up the fuselage. By researching on line and using google translator I was able to determine that "lift here" in Polish was written just aft of the gear (but no longer on this one). With the gear linkage repaired I cycled the gear a few times and then took it down off the jack. This Ogar has been converted to a hyd disc brake, and a 6:00x15-6 wheel and tire. This will make it much easier to find a replacement tire and tube, not to mention some real brakes as the stock ones will not hold it from rolling under full power.

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post-170-144848146142_thumb.jpg

The Ogars sold in the US came with out the engine. They were test flown at the factory with a Limbach SL 1700, which was then removed before shipping. The recommended engine from the US importer, Aerosport, was a Revmaster 2100d Turbo made here in the US. This is the engine installed in mine. It has very little total time on it, and it was overhauled less than 50 hours ago. It puts out about 75 hp, and being turbo charged, should put out full rated power up into the teens. Some came with an optional Maloof metal adjustable prop, that later had some problems with the blades separating (not good!), however mine has a wood fixed prop. The cooling baffles were all missing, and it appears to have been flown that way. I decided to fabricate some temporary baffles for the ferry flight home. I still need to add some rubber seals. I will keep a close eye on the cyl head temps. My long term plan is to change it to updraft cooling as the pusher configuration lends itself well to that set up, and build a much lower profile cowl (to get every LD point I can!)

post-170-144848146127_thumb.jpg

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]106[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]107[/ATTACH]

The Ogars sold in the US came with out the engine. They were test flown at the factory with a Limbach SL 1700, which was then removed before shipping. The recommended engine from the US importer, Aerosport, was a Revmaster 2100d Turbo made here in the US. This is the engine installed in mine. It has very little total time on it, and it was overhauled less than 50 hours ago. It puts out about 75 hp, and being turbo charged, should put out full rated power up into the teens. Some came with an optional Maloof metal adjustable prop, that later had some problems with the blades separating (not good!), however mine has a wood fixed prop. The cooling baffles were all missing, and it appears to have been flown that way. I decided to fabricate some temporary baffles for the ferry flight home. I still need to add some rubber seals. I will keep a close eye on the cyl head temps. My long term plan is to change it to updraft cooling as the pusher configuration lends itself well to that set up, and build a much lower profile cowl (to get every LD point I can!)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been called out for another long job. It looks like it will be a couple of weeks before I will be able to get back out to work on the Ogar again. The good part is it will be warmer when I do though, it sure was cold out there in January.

If any Ogar owners stumble upon this thread, I have some questions about the tail wheel spring. Mine seems to not be very torsionaly stiff, when it is leaning over on one outrigger wheel, the assembly twists. This causes the tail wheel to turn. Any one else have this issue?

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I have been called out for another long job. It looks like it will be a couple of weeks before I will be able to get back out to work on the Ogar again. The good part is it will be warmer when I do though, it sure was cold out there in January.

If any Ogar owners stumble upon this thread, I have some questions about the tail wheel spring. Mine seems to not be very torsionaly stiff, when it is leaning over on one outrigger wheel, the assembly twists. This causes the tail wheel to turn. Any one else have this issue?

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Sean, I can't help you with your questions but I recall the Ogars were sold/distributed by a guy in Lake Elsinore, CA which is a reasonable drive from me in San Diego. I imagine you know all about this but if you ever need someone to take a trip up there to hunt for parts and stuff, I'd be available just for the experience.

How come you never tried power off soaring in your prior Ogar flights? Is it that bad at flying in quiet mode?

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Sean, I can't help you with your questions but I recall the Ogars were sold/distributed by a guy in Lake Elsinore, CA which is a reasonable drive from me in San Diego. I imagine you know all about this but if you ever need someone to take a trip up there to hunt for parts and stuff, I'd be available just for the experience.

How come you never tried power off soaring in your prior Ogar flights? Is it that bad at flying in quiet mode?

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  • 2 months later...

I did not get a chance to fly the other Ogar power off because I was test flying it with a new power plant for the owner. I'm sure it will be a great soaring machine!

Steve, I'll keep you in mind if we need to chase down any parts.

My brother and I are in Jean this weekend taking care of the last few items to get this Ogar ready to fly. Hope to make a test flight tomorrow, and if all goes well, I will head out for Auburn, CA. Looking forward to finally getting this bird in the air.

Sean

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I did not get a chance to fly the other Ogar power off because I was test flying it with a new power plant for the owner. I'm sure it will be a great soaring machine!

Steve, I'll keep you in mind if we need to chase down any parts.

My brother and I are in Jean this weekend taking care of the last few items to get this Ogar ready to fly. Hope to make a test flight tomorrow, and if all goes well, I will head out for Auburn, CA. Looking forward to finally getting this bird in the air.

Sean

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My brother and I flew down to Jean and worked on the Ogar all day Saturday. Before nightfall, we had it ready to fly. I set the alarm for 5:00am, as sunrise is at 5:30, so we could get an early start. After fueling up we discovered a fuel leak at the top of the tank, so it took an hour to sort that out so I could make a test flight to make sure everything was working. The winds were light, out of the south, and so I taxied out. Take off was uneventful, but I was only able to get about 3-400 from climb. The temps tho were manageable, and that was my main concern as there was no baffling installed on this motor when I got it. My crude baffling seemed to be working adequately enough to get the Ogar to my brothers shop tho. I landed and we refueled for the trip to Auburn. We had decided to take the long way by starting out heading south west to Barstow rather than direct to Auburn. This route left me with far more options should the need arise. We made it to Barstow averaging about 70 kits ground speed, and found we had an oil leak. We pulled the cowl, but could not pinpoint the source, and the oil level had barely dropped, so we cleaned it up, refueled, and headed for Lancaster. I had worked a few strong thermals on the way and was at 8,500' as we crossed the hight desert, so we decided to cross the mountains near Tahachape and go into Bakersfield. When I pulled up to the pump, Eric noticed large quantities of oil all over the tail boom, cowling, and tail. After removing the cowling we found the oil return line from the filter had broken off at the sump. How it had made it with out dumping all the oil out and seizing is amazing to me. The oil level was fine too, so I can only imagine that the line failed just before I shut down.

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My brother and I flew down to Jean and worked on the Ogar all day Saturday. Before nightfall, we had it ready to fly. I set the alarm for 5:00am, as sunrise is at 5:30, so we could get an early start. After fueling up we discovered a fuel leak at the top of the tank, so it took an hour to sort that out so I could make a test flight to make sure everything was working. The winds were light, out of the south, and so I taxied out. Take off was uneventful, but I was only able to get about 3-400 from climb. The temps tho were manageable, and that was my main concern as there was no baffling installed on this motor when I got it. My crude baffling seemed to be working adequately enough to get the Ogar to my brothers shop tho. I landed and we refueled for the trip to Auburn. We had decided to take the long way by starting out heading south west to Barstow rather than direct to Auburn. This route left me with far more options should the need arise. We made it to Barstow averaging about 70 kits ground speed, and found we had an oil leak. We pulled the cowl, but could not pinpoint the source, and the oil level had barely dropped, so we cleaned it up, refueled, and headed for Lancaster. I had worked a few strong thermals on the way and was at 8,500' as we crossed the hight desert, so we decided to cross the mountains near Tahachape and go into Bakersfield. When I pulled up to the pump, Eric noticed large quantities of oil all over the tail boom, cowling, and tail. After removing the cowling we found the oil return line from the filter had broken off at the sump. How it had made it with out dumping all the oil out and seizing is amazing to me. The oil level was fine too, so I can only imagine that the line failed just before I shut down.

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Eric and I went to the Rocket Cafe to let the motor and oil cool, and get some lunch. We met an RV-6 builder who offered his truck, and gave us directions to where we could get the parts we needed to make a new oil line. Eric made the new line while I cleaned up the mess of oil all over the cowl, tail boom, tail fuselage, etc, etc... Then we fueled up and made one more leg to Visalia, arriving about 30 min before sunset. I pulled the power back to cool the engine, and then set it at idle and glided down from 4,500'. The Ogar seems to glide quite well, and I look forward to shutting down and getting some soaring in. Tomorrow we make the final leg into Auburn where I will leave the bird for two weeks until I can return to get it ready to fly home to Kissimmee, FL.

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Eric and I went to the Rocket Cafe to let the motor and oil cool, and get some lunch. We met an RV-6 builder who offered his truck, and gave us directions to where we could get the parts we needed to make a new oil line. Eric made the new line while I cleaned up the mess of oil all over the cowl, tail boom, tail fuselage, etc, etc... Then we fueled up and made one more leg to Visalia, arriving about 30 min before sunset. I pulled the power back to cool the engine, and then set it at idle and glided down from 4,500'. The Ogar seems to glide quite well, and I look forward to shutting down and getting some soaring in. Tomorrow we make the final leg into Auburn where I will leave the bird for two weeks until I can return to get it ready to fly home to Kissimmee, FL.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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