Merlin Merlin GT Aircraft of New Zealand - ZK-ROS

When I was posting my never ending  history of homebuilt and sport aircraft on this blog I made an executive decision not to include microlights as they seemed to be a separate category.  However the line between a homebuilt aircraft and a microlight became more blurred over the years so I adopted a rule of thumb that I would include homebuilt and sport aircraft as having a covered fuselage.  (I know there are other types such as Challengers and Bobcats and Z/Hi Maxs that go against this but they feel more like microlights to me).  This worked OK until a type of microlight popped up that I did not know of and that had a covered fuselage.

This was the case at the recent SAANZ flyin at Ashburton when CMM popped into the motorhome I was having a coffee in and said there was a nice Merlin aircraft in a nearby hangar.  At first I thought of the Techpro Merlin ZK-MEF that has recently been sold down South.  But no, it was a different type of Merlin that I had not known about previously.  It was a nice surprise.

The Merlin Merlin GT is a Canadian design from 1990 that was designed by John Burch who was a microlight instructor.  It is a conventional side by side high wing taildragger that looks quite smart.  It has a welded 4130 steel tube fuselage while the wings are constructed using an aluminium D cell with foam ribs.  Covering is using standard aircraft covering material.  Engines could be either a Rotax 582 or 912, both of which give short take off and landing rolls and cruise speeds of 85mph and 93 mph respectively.  With the Rotax 582 the empty weight is around 510 pounds and the MAUW of 1,300 pounds results in a very good payload.

It turns out that we have had only one Merlin Merlin GT registered in New Zealand:

ZK-ROS (c/n M1176) was built by Ross Marfell of Rangiora and was first registered to him on 13/6/96.  It is photo'd above at Wigram on 21/6/98.

Here it is at Omarama on 28/12/99,

And here at a Waitohi flyin on 15/4/02.

Ross sold the Merlin to Stan Hyde of Fielding on 1/7/05 and Stan sold it to John C McGuinness of Flat Point Station (near Masterton) on 10/2/06.  John McGuinness also had Alpi Pioneer 200 ZK-WHC at the time and the Merlin spent the next 16 years in his ownership.  I wonder how much it flew?

On 13/7/22 ownership changed to Stedon Holdings of West Melton and it is in their ownership that I photo'd it at Ashburton on 15/4/23.  It seems to have a new engine under the revised cowling, and a 3 bladed prop.