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Spinner alternatives?

nzrv8

Well Known Member
Morning all,

I?m looking for suggestions for an alternative longer spinner for my -8. (Hartzell BA)

I have a Cummins spinner already - and although it?s great quality, it?s a similar length/shape to the quite stumpy looking factory Vans part.

In my opinion the RV-8 can look quite short in the nose, and I?ve seen some with spinners a couple of inches longer that helps stretch out the visual appearance.

Any ideas of alternatives? Any thoughts on performance impacts with a longer spinner?
 
What about calling a place like Catto? I'm sure they have made a lot of custom pieces for people and might have an idea of what you are looking for. Here is a link to a spinner list:

https://www.cattoprops.com/?s=spinner&post_type=product

There are other examples of spinners that look like what you might be after. For example the F1 Rocket spinner? Now that I've suggested an F1 spinner there will probably be someone to kindly let us know that won't work, but hey, at least that will help move the conversation along :) In the meanwhile coll F1 pics are always worth a glance for eye candy.

http://www.f1aircraft.com/photo-gallery/

I had a list of aftermarket aerodynamic and cool mods for RV's that was good in 2013 when I was involved in an RV-4. A lot of these links are expired now. I guess that's the nature of cottage industry and also the temporary nature of web addresses too. I bet there are a lot of options out there!
 
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I took a tour of the Hartzell propeller factory today and I did not know that they make the spinner for their props. Check with them.
 
I got a polished Hartzell 14? spinner for my RV-10 (James Cowl). It is beautiful but grossly overpriced. List price is around $1500. I found a kit airplane company that used them for their airplanes and sold me one for $780 (no clue if they still will do this). The spinner was shipped to me direct from Hartzell. This just demonstrates how much they mark this stuff up when selling to the public.

Bottom line - shop around. If buying a new spinner today I?d look at Cummins for the standard 13? size, as well as the carbon fiber options now on the market.

Carl
 
Yeah it does look like the Rocket spinners are 15".

In reference to Dave's advice, I saw this article from the Hartzell web site. The RV-8 owner claimed he preferred his longer spinner on this new prop combo. The article shows an image of his RV-8 and it has a polished aluminum spinner that seems longer and more aggressively aerodynamic like an F1. See article HERE.
 
Eddie, Dave, Carl,

Thanks very much for the guidance. I?ll dig deeper and report back once I?ve found my solution.

Hugh
 
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