If you can't lift the nose, it's too heavy. On mine, the nose (check notes) came in a 104lbs.
I was going to get an EarthX battery when the Gill needed replacement. Lifting the nose with one hand is a good thing. It means more weight can be put in the front seats. But it also means carrying some ballast when you're solo. I carried 60lbs in mine. I didn't have to but it handled better and I didn't run out of pitch trim in cruise.

That price sounds a bit on the high side. Mine sold for good amount less than that. But I didn't have a finished interior (I deducted $10k for that).

There is a beautiful one listed for sale now on Trade a plane and Controller. They were asking $139K.
It’s been listed for a long time. I emailed and offered 125K and did not make the offer contingent on anything, financing or a pre-buy, nothing … because I found someone who was very familiar with the aircraft .. but they didn’t even respond to my offer or send a counter offer.
It has sense been listed as “Sale Pending” taking back up offers. But, it’s been listed that way for a while now so I am not sure what’s going on with it or what the actual status is.
It’s listed with a broker and when I never got a reply from him in a week I reached out directly to the owner who also never responded .

Thanks, Frank

N499V?

That's a Standard RG, not an XL. Single, clamshell type door. What some call a "top loader". You have get up on the strake and then lower yourself in. Little smaller than an XL. But no keel. I think you would be a tight squeeze in one of those. I know I am.

No, N551ZL

http://www.aircraft.com/aircraft/230363 ... city-xl-rg

And this is the one that I though was a good deal probably .

https://www.controller.com/listing/for- ... t-aircraft

Thanks,
Frank

I have no personal knowledge of either of these airplanes. So these are just some observations.

N551ZL: Dark colors on a Velocity (or any homebuilt composite) are usually a bad idea. No recent flight history. Then there's the 20 year old plane with 300 hours on it. I can't help but wonder why. I've seen a couple like this and it's usually because the plane had some flight characteristic that made people not want to fly them.

N21MK: Another 20 year old plane with 300 hours. And this one has changed hands quite a few times. Last flight was 50nm and never got faster than 120kts. Just makes you wonder.

If I were looking at either of these planes and I didn't have a bunch of Velocity time, I would hire one of the test pilots who do 1st flights and have them fly the plane to find any surprises.

Don,
Replies like yours is EXACTLY why I posted my questions on this forum. You are mentioning things that I would have never though of.
I do know that the owner of N551ZL is a busy guy that owns either three or four airplanes and no doubt the nose shimmy that broke the nose gear off as well as the gear up a few years ago may have him a little squeamish.

As for N21MK I really don’t know the story there other than someone who supposedly has a good pedigree in Velocity told me that it was a good airplane and that’s why I made the cash offer that I made on it.

Thanks, Frank

Yeah, nose shimmy is a problem. I got it. Installed a shimmy damper but (I think) the damage was done. About six months later, I got a shimmy and the nose gear departed.

I had the old style nose leg with the small, "taco" gusset. The newer ones are much beefier.

If you get the plane, check the nose gear for the "taco" gusset. If you got it, plan on replacing it sooner rather than later. And if it doesn't have the shimmy damper, get one ASAP.

I love these planes and have ogled them since seeing one in a magazine in the late 90s. I looked hard at buying one but insurance was prohibitive for my tolerance at the time and I couldn’t swing self insuring. Went with an rv and have been happy but would love a vtwin one day. The one for sale now at 350-375 has been very tempting for me.

Robert,
I am exactly the opposite as you. I never cared at all for the look of the canard style aircraft, well, except for the Beechcraft Starship. Then when I got to looking for something faster than my Bonanza, reasonably priced, with a solid reputation, the Velocity XL-RG came into the picture … and all of a sudden I said I kind of like the looks of that style of aircraft, then the more I looked at them the more I liked their physical appearance. I guess maybe they are like spinach, eggplant and sushi … they just had to grow on me.

Frank

Hi Frank-

If you like your A36, but want some more speed, you might consider turbonormalizing your current plane. As long as you are willing to use oxygen, the speed difference is substantial. I never fully appreciated it until I started flying my Dad's turbonormalized V35B a bit. Even going into headwinds, it usually pays to fly high due to the higher TAS.

There are plenty of other threads that discuss turbonormalizing and I don't wish to start another one, but I just wanted to throw this out there for your consideration.

Regards,

Bob

Hi Bob II,
How have you been? I appreciate the suggestion … and you are definitely right ….. but as I said in my original post, I am looking for more speed below 12,000 MSL and ideally would really like to find something with more speed below 10,000 MSL. I have owned Mooneys in the past that were both turbo, two M20K’s / 231’s, as well as an E model that had the Ray Jay TN set up on it.

I don’t find myself up above 8,500 ft very often.

Thanks, Frank

About 18 months ago, I was keen on getting an XL after I decided to transition to the experimental world. I flew with a fellow who had a really nice one at a nearby field and really liked it. But the combination of the XL plus my age (70) made it pretty much uninsurable and I gave up. I was told that there are only a couple of underwriters that will insure a Velocity and they didn't like older pilots. Sigh....

Hi Again Frank-

All is well, and looking forward to Oshkosh! Sorry for the irrelevant comment, but over the course of this thread, I must have skipped over the part about more speed below 12,000. Good luck in your search!

Regards,

Bob

I'm just wondering what resin is used in the XL build?

I ask because this "don't paint a composite airplane dark colors" mantra can be a bit misleading. As a case in point, the Glastar is definitely a "don't paint it with dark colors" airplane. Meanwhile the Sportsman can be painted any color you like.

Why the difference?

The difference in paint color choices boils down to a difference in the resins used in the fiberglass. The Glastar was built with a resin which had a substantially lower temperature at which it looses stiffness (it's "Glass Transition Temperature" or Tg). The Sportsman resin's temperature limit is a 85 degrees warmer than that of its nearly-identical-looking little brother.

To get specific, the Glastar (and low-wing Glasair aircraft) uses Derakane 411-45 with a Tg of 215F while the Sportsman uses Derakane 470-300 with a Tg of 300F.

A small change in resin can make a huge change in tolerable operating conditions.

E-Z Poxy is what's used for the majority of the build.

I have been told there are three reasons behind the recommended light color paint on the top surfaces. All related to heat.

1) The epoxy on a Velocity is not post cured. So it will soften at a lower temp. I don't recall exactly what temp, but I know that if you have a part that needs some tweaking to get the shape just right, a bit of heat with a heat gun will get it soft enough that you can bend it some without the part being so hot that it burns your hands.

2) The foam under the outer skin can shrink if it gets too hot. When this happens, it can pull away from the inside of the skin.

3) Imprinting. People who have used dark colors report that the fabric pattern of the fiberglass will raise up. Or maybe the epoxy settles. Whatever it is, what was once is nice, flat surface becomes a fabric textured surface.

Of all these, the only one I've ever seen first hand is #3. Interestingly, I had a dark blue trim color around the windows and did not get any fabric imprinting. Maybe because it was hangared. Or maybe the primer I used which is different that what everyone else used.