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Thanks for the photo, Wayne, that looks like fun!

Too bad we can't make a real one, we'd be cruising at redline every flight.

I remember when my A&P was doing his tailwheel conversion, and his 150 was up on jacks with no landing gear.

I could squint my eyes at it and visualize it as an RG.

Of course, when I bought my plane and it was sitting in high grass... I could visualize it as a gear-up....

Steve,
It is possible to convert a 150 to a 150RG. I saw one with my own eyes.

Harold Vroman, a well known and well respected member of the aviation community in West Texas, actually installed retractable gear along with an injected 0-320 160 HP engine on a 150 back in the late ?70s. He demonstrated the gear operation to me one evening and it worked just as slick as any 172RG or 182RG.

He had made a deal with the GADO to license the plane in the Experimental category but before he got it to the point of licensing the GADO had a change in personal and they told him that since he had not done 51% of the work on the plane it could not be licensed as experimental, only for development and exhibition. They did tell him if he would build the wings he could get an Experimental License.

He abandoned the project and started building a RV-4. Sadly due to injuries sustained in an accident while building Tee Hangers on the airport that he developed, Sky Ranch (now Sky West ? 7T7), the died before finishing the RV.

I would have loved to fly or at least see the 150 RG fly. Goodness only knows how much it would cost to make the conversion. After my experience in modifying a 150 I am sure that it would not have been an economically viable project. But it sure would have been fun.

Everybody's favorite overpriced aerobat is also over on barnstormers.com.

Oddly enough, the seller also has a barnstomer ad looking to buy a helicopter....

JC

Hey guys I am on both sides of this discussion.

I have what I think is a pretty slick 150/150 with way too many $$ in it, (I call it the SportHawk).
I have a 182 that I bought right but is not all that slick (I call it the WartHog).

The WartHog is in the process of eating $ getting the radio equipment up to snuff and cleaning up some mechanical issues. It will most likely not get a paint job or a new interior or much if any lipstick. I will just get it in GOOD mechanical condition and fly it the way that it is, cosmetically.

We all have our own perspectives and views on what is important to us and that is as it should be. When I built the SportHawk I thought that it would be my last airplane and as such I wanted something that was not only mechanically sound with good performance but that was as comfortable as possible and looked good.

Well things have a way of changing. So now the WartHog is my last airplane. (I think.)

At first Texas Wing fly in a made a horrible mistake. In order to add a little more fun to the festivities I made up some awards. One of the awards was for the airplane with the ?Most Potential?. I had absolutely no intention of being hurtful but it turns out that some poor owner got an award for having the least beautiful airplane at the fly in. That still keeps me awake a night, man can I be a dope.

It really doesn?t matter how slick our rides are. The thing here is that we fly airplanes and love the airplanes that we fly and we have a community of like minded folks that mostly agree on the ?big? things and hash and rehash the little ones. When you fly a 150/152 it is a little hard to be superior, and that is one of the things that I love about our little and often misunderstood mounts.

If we are not the luckiest people on earth we are very, very close.

Wayne Westerman for President, 2008.

With Wayne's drawwwaaalll and my name, we could carry the 'ol South. Might be a viable campaign Wayne, what do you think?

I'd vote for y'all.

I don't look down on anybody with an airplane just because of the shape their plane is in! A plane is a plane, it flies. All planes fly (well... most! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />). That's the important thing. I can have as much fun in a 150 with paint flaking off and huge gashes in the interior with a handheld radio and a bunch of holes in the panel as much as I have in mine! Chances are, it's rigged better than mine, anyway!

The $48,000 includes EVERYTHING spent on the plane, acquisition, tax, hangar and tie down fees, insurance, gas, maintenance, tires, wax, tools, and of course the radios.

I couldn't afford to own Gremlin without my dad! Some may say I'm a spoiled brat. Maybe I am, maybe not. I am very thankful for my airplane and my father knows that, and I pay all I can for my airplane (all of the money I make goes into the airplane, so those of you who think I'm completely spoiled think again!)

The airplane was NOT a simple gift to me! It is a long term loan that I AM going to pay back, like my college expenses! This airplane is not a plaything for some 'rich' kid to play with. My dad and I both completely deny that we are wealthy - we aren't! This airplane is a timebuilder for flight time so I can eventually fly for money (oh my!)

This isn't directed to anybody in particular, or to anybody at all. Just a rant.

[/soapbox]

Oh yeah, and I like airplanes no matter how pretty they are. Except maybe Pipers!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I've never said you're a brat!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Sorry Jeff, No Can Do.

I?m agin? cheatin?, stealin? and lyin?; I?ll never be a successful politician <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
(So are you!)