It would prove nothing if we featured a shiny new aircraft and extolled it's unproven virtues so we've decided to feature a plans built Thorp T18 which was constructed and flown over 18 years ago.

VH-OTM was constructed over the period of a few years by Tom Kreig with the help of friends who dropped past regularly to check on his progress. It was built in the single car garage of his home, at the time, in suburban Bateman in Perth, Western Australia. The T18 has a 185 knot Vne. Tom cruises at altitude at 180 knots true and can cross Australia, Perth to Mangalore (just north of Melbourne) with refuelling stops at Forrest and Ceduna in one day. Tom's T18 is an amazingly capable Aircraft.

The T18 is Tom's first homebuilt. He had previously owned in turn 6 commercial aircraft. Tom was a farmer's son who joined the RAAF during WW2. He served as a Wireless Operator on Catalina Flying Boats. After the war Tom returned to farming in the wheat belt of Western Australia and completed the flying training for his own pilot's licence. He owned in turn an Auster, a couple of Cessnas, a Beechcraft Debonaire and a Beechcraft Bonanza before deciding to build the Thorp T18.

The small images below are links to the full sized photographs. Just click on them to see a bigger picture.

This photo gives an idea of the size of Tom's workshop. It was just a brick single car garage.

Tom's bench was bolted together from Dexion and Chipboard. You dont need to build elaborate benches to build aircraft. Something that can be unbolted and changed around for the needs of each component is quite suitable. A chipboard bench top covered with a remnant of soft carpet is more than adequate for sheet metal fabrication. Components were assembled using the sawhorses and the boards you see under Tom's bench. ( That's a youngish Tom in the green overalls ) Under Tom's hand you can see one of the tail feathers being assembled on a few boards bolted to the benchtop. If the tops of those boards are parallel to each other the item built on them will be true. You might also notice the cleeko fasteners used to preassemble the parts and check their positioning. That is one of the secrets to good sheet metal construction.

Individual components were built on the bench and then assembled on the saw horses. Tom also had access to a sheet metal guillotine and a bender. All of the drilling and deburring was done by hand on the bench. The final assembly uses solid aluminium aircraft rivets. Tom used a compressed air aircraft rivet gun and bucking bars but preferred a hand rivet squeezer where ever possible.

Here you see a wing section being completed on the bench. You might also notice that at the time the T18 was being built Zinc Chromate paints were yellow.

Whenever the space around the aircraft became too cramped it was wheeled outside and the work completed in the open air. At the time of this photo the horizontal tailplanes were being fitted to the fuselage.

As you can see in this indoor shot of the instrument panel good lighting is essential in the workshop.

The panel has changed a little over the years. Tom phased out the VOR and upgraded to a GPS a few years back. The aircraft has a 180 hp engine with constant speed prop and is kitted out for night VFR.

Here is the centre section of the wing being assembled in the driveway. It was getting a bit crowed in the garage so Tom took advantage of a warm spring day.The rear spar was being rivetted here.

Another shot taken during the assembly of the wing centre section.

When the centre section was completed it was bolted to the fuselage.

You can see that as an aircraft is assembled it gets bigger. More care needs to be taken as you roll the aircraft in the driveway. That really is just an inch of clearance between the pillar and the wing. It's enough.
You can see that the aircraft was taking shape nicely at this stage.Engine and cowling are fitted. The canopy is fitted, rudder and tailplane is completed and the wheel fairings are in place.

Tom could only fit the outer wing panels in place by rolling the aircraft under the patio. The left wing tip was fitted first then the right wing tip.A lot of care was taken during assembly and disassembly to ensure that nothing was damaged.

Another shot showing just how tight some of the workspace became as the project progressed.

When all was completed the Fuselage was trailered to a friends hangar on Jandakot for the final assembly and painting.

You can bet that the neighbours didnt forget the sight of the aircraft appearing out of Tom's driveway for years afterward.

We've skipped over quite a few of the minor details here but following the painting and final assembly checks Tom test flew the aircraft at Jandakot. His meticulous building resulted in an aircraft that "flew straight off the drawing board." It has required no subsequent adjustment. Tom reports that he has now enjoyed 18 years of trouble free aviation in his homebuilt, It has had no AD's applied to the design and remains as much of a pleasure to fly as it was on that first flight.

Tom moved his T18 into the Experimental category almost as soon as it was introduced. He'd always thought of his aircraft as an experimental and has a few mods which have kept this the fastest homebuilt T18 for the power in Australia. He used the Lou Sunderland aerofoil. He has an experimental S-Tec wing leveller autopilot fitted. Tom's antennas are all installed internal to the canopy and a streamline Glassair tailwheel has been fitted.

Tom is a very active pilot and at age 76 is one of life's true gentlemen. You can email him by clicking here.