Wednesday, 13 June 2007 - Martin Writes: Home of Spacewalker II and RotcRadial

The Spacewalker II (aka Revolution II) is an open cockpit 2-seat tandem, low wing sport aircraft. It was designed in America by Jesse Anglin in the 1980's, along with the Karatoo, which took out Best New Aircraft at EAA's Oshkosh event in 1985.

The fuselage is a conventional chrome-moly steel tube truss arrangement, covered with synthetic fabric. It is VERY strong. The wings use wood spars, over which ply ribs are positioned. The wing is also fabric covered.

This arrangement of construction has been used successfully since the 1920's.

The undercarriage is conventional fixed gear with a tail wheel.

Originally powered with a 65 hp Continental or Lycoming engine, the Space-Walker will accept up to 150 hp depending on weight.

I will find out soon enough, as I intend to fit the Rotec R3600 radial with its 150 hp. From all reports the Space Walker flies beautifully, so with an extra 50 - 100 % more hp I expect the rate of climb to be very impressive.

The Space-Walker, because it already has all the classic features and style of the early aircraft, lends itself to the use of a radial engine. I will be modifying the basic boxy shape by making the firewall circular and continuing the rounded look back to the tail using the same materials and techniques used back in the 1920's and 30's. I will also be working up a conversion guide for others that may follow, and this may be offered as an option by Serenity Aviation, the current manufacturer of Space-Walker and Karatoo kits (http://www.serenityaviation.com/)

I started working on the conversion, which I call the Space Walker II-RR, around March 2007 and you can see pictures of the progress since then.

June 2007 - Milestones to-date: Sacewalker2 and rotec+radial

Click on the thumbnail to view full size pictures...

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Feb 2008 - Taking shape:

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With a R3600 up front Rotec predicts that this will end up being one sensational looking aircraft! Rotec=Radial

Looking forward to progress reports!