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Slider vs Tip Up Ratio

B

BlakeB

Well Known Member
Good Morning Gents!

Just curious if anyone knows today's ratio between Sliders & Tip ups? Considering the RV14 is only available in a Tip Up, Is there more demand for the Tip Up?

Thanks!
 
See, I always thought a tip up was simply the end result of ordering the wrong parts from Vans....same as an -A - ordered one too many gear legs and large tires so you had to do SOMETHING with them. :)
 
No clue, but you might post a poll to collect responses. Limit to 6/7?

Just a thought, building a tip-up.
 
Just a guess, but the tip up makes it easy to rig a front hinge release for ejection during extreme prototype testing. Maybe that is why the early models are tippers. Obviously that logic does not work for the 8. I wonder what mechanism was used for that canopy ejection? Was it not needed due to extreme testing previously done on others? Fodder for another thread.
 
Unscientific

About 10 years ago I was at Oshkosh and counted all of 6/7/9's. The ratio was 4 to one Sliders to tip ups. Last year, I did a much more informal count and it was about 2.5 to 1 Slider to tip ups. I have no idea why there has been a decline in Sliders.

My first 7 was a tip up and I loved it. The benefits were a little better visibility than a slider, access to instruments and ease of getting in and out. Drawbacks. Not as good of airflow when taxiing, doesn't seal well up front, a little noisier, frame work tough to get right during building. There are a few other things others might come up with.

Slider good things. Easier to build (my opinion after building both), seals better, quieter, easier to load and unload baggage area, especially with the tip up/slider option, cooler when taxiing. Drawbacks, slightly less visibility, harder to get in and out, no direct access to instrument panel. Just a few thoughts.

You really can't go wrong with either one.
 
N941WR said:
One other advantage of the tip-up is weight, it is lighter than the slider.
Click to expand...

Just wondering what the extra weight of a slider is on say a 9 over the tip up.
Anyone know? I presume Vans uses the least weight in their advertising.
 
I don't believe the weight would be too much different. The tipup has a complex latching mechanism where the slider has two aluminum roller tracks. The tipup also has the two hinge hinge points and jettison mechanisim, slider doesn't. There is different ribs behind the panel.

The slider may be just a little more, but I bet it isn't much.
 
muddyin' the waters.........

....and then there's the -4's and -8's that have been turned into some kind of HR or F1 -EVO, and become slip-ups, or ti-ders, depending on your orientation! :D
 
The slider's biggest disadvantages to me are:
  1. more complicated to build
  2. a bit heavier due to the extra frame between the front and back halves
  3. reduced visibility due to the extra frame mentioned above
  4. more difficult to seal (in my opinion)
  5. more expensive

The sliders do look nice, like a fighter jet.... but you'll notice that the newest jets all have tip ups now!

OTOH, I have a slider on the F1 Rocket and on the RV-6 in my shop. Sigh....
 
longranger said:
IIRC, all of Vans' company 6/7/9's have been tippers.
Click to expand...

No.

The RV-6 and 6A prototypes are tip-ups (the slider hadn't been developed yet)
The RV-9 and 9A prototypes are both sliders.
The RV-7 prototype (since converted to a 7A) is a tip-up.
The RV-7 transition trainer is a slider
 
vfrazier said:
The slider's biggest disadvantages to me are:
  1. more complicated to build
  2. a bit heavier due to the extra frame between the front and back halves
  3. reduced visibility due to the extra frame mentioned above
  4. more difficult to seal (in my opinion)
  5. more expensive

The sliders do look nice, like a fighter jet.... but you'll notice that the newest jets all have tip ups now!

OTOH, I have a slider on the F1 Rocket and on the RV-6 in my shop. Sigh....
Click to expand...

Recent fighter jets have tip ups - except they're hinged at the back and not the front. The F-35 isn't a real fighter jet, BTW :)

I'd quantify the visibility thing - tippers have better forward visibility, but much worse rearward visibility. Also, I don't think I've ever heard of a slider leaking onto avionics, so sealing would seem to favor the slider.
 
ChiefPilot said:
Recent fighter jets have tip ups - except they're hinged at the back and not the front. The F-35 isn't a real fighter jet, BTW :)

I'd quantify the visibility thing - tippers have better forward visibility, but much worse rearward visibility. Also, I don't think I've ever heard of a slider leaking onto avionics, so sealing would seem to favor the slider.
Click to expand...

Most aircraft have "O" rear visibility. It's not an issue. But the things that can be hidden by that roll bar IS a big deal. I would never have a slider for that reason.

Sealing a tip has proven to be well within the capabilities of a kit builder....... If it leaks, it's because the builder did not seal it well enough.
 
I have over 500 hours in my slider and have never had one time where I felt the rollbar hid any aircraft or objects and put me into an unsafe condition. It takes up very little real estate and even if you tried you couldn't hold you head still enough to blank out any one thing for length of time. I have done flights in a half mile trail to up close formation and once again have never had a moment where the roll bar was in the way.

I do not have an issue with the tipup canopy and have flown many hours in both 6's and 7's that have tipup canopies and they are ok, but my preference is slider and if I built another plane it would have the same.

I am always looking for a reason to fly and I'm ready to take anyone flying so they can show me where the rollbar can blank out an object that will cause an unsafe condition that will cause a midair or near miss.

This is just my opinion and not meant to sway anyone to a slider.
 
gasman said:
Most aircraft have "O" rear visibility. It's not an issue. But the things that can be hidden by that roll bar IS a big deal. I would never have a slider for that reason.

Sealing a tip has proven to be well within the capabilities of a kit builder....... If it leaks, it's because the builder did not seal it well enough.
Click to expand...

863c79059325b765e7d656e0b591aa69.jpg

:p
 
Just out of curiosity this moring while out flying I tested how much the slider rollbar would hide from your vision. My results were very eye opening (couldn't pass this pun up :D). I would pick small objects from up close to way out in the distance such as a house to do my testing. I would close one eye and position the object on one side of the roll bar and then I changed eyes while holding my head steady and found that I could see the same object with either eye without moving my head.

From my testing the rollbar does not blank out any objects as long as you have both eyes open. Note: I did do all of this testing while setting in the normal position and looking past all areas of veiw of the rollbar.

I know this won't change opinions on the purist who favor the tipup's, but no one can tell me that my slider rollbar is unsafe and hides objects while flying.
 
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