Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand - Skycraft Scouts (3) - Rangitata Island Scouts

Well, after the excitement of the last couple of weeks it is time to get back to my Microlight Aircraft of New Zealand series with the next instalment about Skycraft Scouts.  A couple of weeks ago I spent some time with Russell Brodie at Rangitata Island and he knows a lot about Skycraft Scouts, and had some photos of Scouts on his airstrip that I managed to photograph.  He was an agent for the Scout for a while and sold several of them into the local Mid and South Canterbury areas.

Here is the original brochure for the Skycraft Scout Mk III as given to me by Russell:  (click to enlarge  - actually I found it easier to use Control + to enlarge it to read).

In the above brochure it mentions "The Scout is supplied crated and takes about one hour to assemble for the first time, this requires no special skills or tools."

And here is how a Scout crate arrived, with a young Russell Brodie and his father Struan on the porch of their Rangitata Island homestead.  This may have been ZK-EYK that was registered to Struan G Brodie on 25 May 1982.

And here is ZK-EYK being flown by Russell at Rangitata Island.  You can make out its registration in small letters on the tail.  Later it was in blue sailcloth covers, the ease of change of which makes these early microlights hard to pin down.

Russell has the remains of 8 Scouts at Rangitata Island;  ZK-EYK, ZK-EXQ, ZK-EZN, ZK-FMJ, ZK-FEN, ZK-YHI and ZK-OWL.  And Ross Brodie has the Scout Mk III ZK-FJI that is airworthy.