N18983 - 1938 MINX CAPEA

1938

MINX

CAPEA

N18983

1

Used

396

This 1938 Minx Capea final assembly project equipped with a Continental A-65 engine and Fahlin 64-5 propeller is being sold by an estate, which is eager to sell the aircraft.

• Registration: N18983 • Serial Number: 1 • Airframe Time: 396 Hours total time since new (estimated) • Price: $8,900 USD • Location: Private residence garage, Galt, California Background: • A group of Ryan Aircraft and Continental Aircraft engineers formed a partnership consisting of C.C. Flagg, W.L. Hammond, L.A. MacDonald, and E.E. Postal named Aircraft Mechanics Association (AMA) in San Diego, CA; their goal was to design and build their own aircraft. The date of manufacture for N18983 Minx serial #1 was July 1, 1938 and the team had built an open cabin, low wing monoplane powered by a Continental A-40 engine. The aircraft was cleared for test flights from Lindbergh Field in San Diego, CA on July 5, 1938. In its original condition with the A-40 engine the cruise speed was 90 mph, top speed was 104 mph, landing speed was 36 mph with a range of 400 miles. Although its photo appeared on the cover of a 1938/39 airman magazine, due to the war in China followed by WWII, AMA was unable to secure funding to start production. N18983 was flown until placed into storage from 1941 to 1956. At some point there was a hangar fire which destroyed the registration, airworthiness certificate, original logbooks, and drawings; the fire caused some damage to the aircraft. N18983 was located in 1956 and restoration began. In 1960 the Continental A-40 engine was replaced with a Continental A-65 engine, and the next year the propeller was changed to a Carlson 70-45. In 1964 the prop was changed again to a Fahlin 64-5 wood propeller with metal leading edge. It was flown in the San Jose, CA area until 1971, then disappeared again until 1983 when N18983 was located in a hangar in Watsonville, CA. The aircraft was restored to flying condition again in 1984, but there was a constant issue with the exhaust manifolds rusting. A friend of the owner at the time took the manifolds to his workplace at Lawrence Livermore Labs, and there hasn’t been a problem since being returned with "no questions asked" after receiving a coating of something that had also been used on aerospace parts. The plane was flown in the San Jose area until it suffered wing damage in a transportation accident. N18983 sat locked away again until 1992, when a thorough restoration began once more. The fuselage was powder coated, a wing rebuilt and many other items refurbished or replaced. The previous owner retired and prepared to move out of state so N18983 was placed up for sale. William Marose purchased the plane in March of 2000, and he resumed the restoration up until his death three years ago. N18983 is a one of a kind aircraft, that is classified by the FAA as experimental in the amateur built category. Furthermore, since the aircraft is in a state of partial assembly, it can be considered to be a project aircraft. N18983 will need finishing paint of the wings, ailerons and horizontal stabilizers, and assembly of the aircraft. Furthermore, once assembled the aircraft will need to be balanced and checked for proper rigging, engine run up and leak checked, and will require an annual inspection, and test flights before the aircraft can be granted an updated FAA Special Airworthiness Certificate.

0

SMOH

• Engine: Continental A-65, 65 HP • 1,259 Hours total time (estimated), 1,800 hour TBO interval • 0 Hours since major overhaul • Engine overhauled 02/1994

• Propeller: Fahlin two blade 64-5 wood propeller with metal leading edge • 0 Hours since repair/overhaul • (A Northern California propeller repair facility repaired/overhauled the propeller according to the owner, although no corresponding records were located to determine date of work.)

Instruments: • Aeronca airspeed indicator • RPM recording tachometer • Oil temperature indicator • Oil pressure indicator • Altimeter Avionics: • Not equipped with any communication, navigation or transponder avionics

• Paint Comments: The fuselage was cleaned and painted 07/11/2012. Aircraft was covered using Poly-Fiber fabric covering, four coats of Poly-Brush, six coats Poly-Spray silver, and six coats of red. All work was done in accordance with FAA AC43.13-1B/2A. The aircraft's finish well protects the fabric covering and airframe. There are no drips, sags, pooling or debris in the paint, although on metal surfaces there is an orange peel effect. Due to the number of paint layers, minor paint cracking has started to appear. • Condition 7 (Professional Aircraft Appraisal Organization Exterior Paint Grading Guide)

2012

• The interior seat is sitting, unaffixed in the cabin. The interior is sparse, and there are metal panels under the rudder pedals. The skins covering the airframe from the inside of the cockpit, although not paint finished, are smooth, taught and well affixed to the fuselage. The cabin windshield is comprised of three sections. The left, center and right sections are clear without crazing or discoloration. There is a crack at the base of the left windshield section at the base attach point, which may need to be stop drilled to prevent further enlargement of the crack.

• Inspection: Many pictures, documents, and other ephemera included • Final assembly and annual inspection required • Original Logbooks Destroyed in Fire (The only airframe logbook presented has no time or date entries, and is blank. A handwritten sheet of paper dated 07/11/2012 was notated as the airframe having a total time of 1,257 hours, when the aircraft was apparently painted, although this appraiser believes that notation is incorrect and represents the total time on the engine and not the airframe, as the engine logbooks were lost prior to 1,000 hours and pertain only to the engine total time and not the airframe total time. The first entry in the first engine logbook presented is dated 11/1960 at time of overhaul with no time noted. In the title page of this logbook, a statement reading, “Logs Lost, 1,000 Hrs.” was notated. The last entry in this logbook is dated 04/10/1971 with no times noted. The first entry in the second engine logbook presented is dated 02/1994 at time of overhaul with no time noted. The last entry in this logbook is dated 07/02/2002 with no times noted. This is the current engine logbook.)