Carlo Cilliers has been scratch building his Patrol in Maryland. I thought his plane was especially fascinating and so did the judges, who awarded him a Plans-built Champion Lindy.

This plane has so many noteworthy details. In most cases, if you see a red anodized aluminum part, Carlo machined it from scratch. This plane has integral fuel tanks which give a slight increase in capacity, but at a much higher build complexity.

The empty weight is 1235, which includes an autopilot. For now he is still running the engine intentionally rich while he sorts out break-in and cooling, but he sees 11 gallons per hour at 115 knots true.

Several of the interior parts like cable guards are custom 3d printed out of ABS plastic. The floorboards are custom carbon layups, with extra thickness in the areas between the flooring tubes where standard floorboards tend to flex.

All of the door hinges and latches are custom fabricated.

These oval panels on top of the wing provide service access to the integral fuel tanks.

The stainless steel tunnel panel is formed and shaped with an English Wheel, quite masterfully.

Note the bear paw detail on the engine baffle. On this side, the bear paws are open to allow more airflow.

On the opposite side of the cowl (airplane left) the paws are merely decorative, because that cylinder didn’t need as much airflow.

The landing lights are retractable, electrically operated.

More carbon fiber floorboard detail:

3-D Printed Rudder Cable Guards (ABS)

On the baggage door side, the rudder cable guard is bent aluminum sheet. Note the custom red hinge parts.

The baggage door is a composite layup, thickened with foam in the center for extra rigidity.

Carlo eliminated the usual handles at the bottom of the fuselage, opting instead for a retractable handle at a more ergonomic height.

Overhead Flap Lever Detail

This is a photo of a photo, of the way the brake line fitting exits the bottom of the main landing gear leg. Carlo brought along a very nice bound book of photos and descriptions of the build process, something apparently valued highly by the judges and also by me. In this photo, he has not yet welded up the bracket.

This is a camera at the wing root, which displays a feed on the Dynon.

More bear paw details on the exhaust:

Electric cowl flap detail: