Flivver construction continues…

Alrighty, not to get too wordy on this post, lets get down to the good stuff.

 

Above shows the aileron cut free from the wing. Then after this was accomplished, I found the aileron control rod holes were mis-aligned, leading to the final decision that it’s simply better to punch them at this stage anyway by simply sharpening one end of the wooden control arm dowel, aligning it, and re-punching the holes while sliding it through the foam ribs with the new corrected alignment. Try doing that with ply ribs sucker face!  It worked….enough said. Ok, I might mention it’s a little late here. Enough said again.

Oh and the second pic is of the inspection by supervisor number two who decided to give it a look. Yes, the yellow one. No, the smaller white fluffy one is supervisor number one……oh never mind.

 

These show the tail surfaces being aligned and fitted, as well as the hinge locations being established. A single wood dowel runs the length of the control surface, and soda can stock hinges wrap around this and attach to the opposite surface. It makes a very realistic, strong and smooth operating hinge.

 

And finally these last two show, first a better shot of the soda can hinges in place before gluing, and secondly, the method I decided on for attaching the wing. Those ply saddles will take screws that pass up through the wing and hold it in place. I was just going to permanently glue the wing in place, but then decided on this method, although a bit heavier for versatilities sake, especially due to the fact it’s a prototype. It can be built either way though.

Some Flivver history before we return to the build…

While I prep some more pics of the build progress to post, I thought folks might enjoy a little of the history of this unusual little plane. The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry for the Flivver, and is a short synopsis of it’s curious but ill -fated career. I believe that it’s rather weak engine (for it’s size) was the main reason for the Flivvers’ unpleasant handling charactersistics as described by Lindbergh. I guess I’ll find out for myself whether it handles well or not! But in the meantime…..

The aircraft was a welded steel tube fuselage, with wood wing construction with fabric covering. The steerable rudder mounted tailwheel was also the only wheel with a brake. The exhaust was routed through a special manifold to a stock Model T exhaust. The designer of the plane, Otto Koppen went on to design the Helio Courier.

 Operational history

Ford’s chief test pilot was Harry J. Brooks. Brooks flew the Flivver regularly from his home garage to work. He once flew the aircraft in a race against Gar Wood in Miss America Von the Detroit River during the Harmsworth Trophy Races.

Charles Lindbergh flew the Flivver on a visit to Ford field August 11, 1927, and was the only other pilot to fly the Flivver prototype. He later described the Flivver as, “one of the worst aircraft he ever flew”.

A third prototype, tail number3218,was built to win a long distance record for light planes in 440 to 880 lb (200 to 400 kg) “C” class.The race was set from Ford Field in Dearborn Michigan to Miami, Florida . A first attempt launched on 24 January 1928, witnessed by Henry Ford, landed short in Asheville, North Carolina. A second attempt launched from Detroit on 21 February 1928, witnessed by Edsel Ford, landed 200 mi (320 km) short in Titusville, Florida, but still won a record.

Flying the second prototype from a winning record attempt four days earlier on February 21, 1928, Brooks crashed into the ocean off Melbourne, Florida . Investigation of the wreckage disclosed a matchstick had been plugged into the gas cap vent hole, causing an engine stoppage.

Following the death of Brooks, Henry Ford was distraught, and light airplane development was stopped under the Ford brand. In 1931 a new “Air Flivver” or Sky Car was marketed by the Stout division of Ford. Ford went back into light plane development in 1936 with the two seat Model 15-P. The prototype crashed during flight testing and did not go into production.

A surviving Flivver resides in the Henry Ford Museum.

Flivver wing construction

The Flivver wing design  I decided to make in a slightly more traditional method with individual ribs to create the old fashioned scale wing look with ribs portruding through the skin. All in all it is very simple and quick to make. The ribs are cut out with a razor blade. A yardstick is bisected lengthwise for the central spar and glued into place, then the ribs are added on top of the spar. One side is completed on a flat surface at a time. The next shots are how the plan is transferred to wax paper, and then onto the foam for building.

 

Then the wing is framed up….

 

The aileron rod holes are punched prior to covering with wet paper and wood glue.

….then covering.

 

…..next the ailerons get cut out, and rigged.

Cartoon P-40 Warhawk as promised

As promised, some pics of the cartoon P-40 Warhawk build.  Quite simply, starting again from a caed model base, standard wings were used with the tips slightly trimmed, coupled to a 3x scaled up fusleage with some length removed to shorten and fatten the shape. Results….a very cartoony design…..but will it fly? Current engine intended is a Surestart .049. Hopefully it will be up to snuff, and according to my calcs….it should be close. You never totally know for sure though. To the pics…

 

 

all for now.

Progress with Henry Fords’ Flivver

The basic jist of this design is a card-model styled format, executed in fanfold foam. The fuselage is cut out of the foam in one detailed piece and then scored and bent to shape as you can see in the images below. A litte right thrust has been factored into the engine mount as well to counter torque issues. You can also see in these shots the ply engine mount and fuel tank support floor, which is the one piece tray that has been installed. The bottomside  images show the plastic tube used for the engine exhaust which will portrude from the bottom of the fuselage, just fore of the wing.

  

 …..I think she’s shaping up nicely. That little notch in the edge of the cockpit will be filled with a chunk of foam and faired in. It was a necessary evil, in that the one piece fuselage had to be shaped without it. Small price to pay for simplicity. Now an underside view.

The rubber bands are holding in the fuel tank above. This is if course a scale model of the Flivver and not a “Cartoon” type creation. All in all I think the real Flivver looked cartoony enough to not need any embelishment, however, for those following whos leanings are less scale, I do have another machine I am building at the same time as this one that should satisfy all of your surrealistic desires. I’ll make a post on it shortly. But in the meantime, here is another image of what the Flivver should end up looking like. Pretty cartoony as-is!

Out with the old, in with the new!

Welcome to a NEW YEAR! Hope one and all had a great Christmas, and didn’t get too plastered celebrating the arrival of 2012. Some progress has occured since the last post I dropped here. Actually it’s kind of the Russian proverbial “one step backward, two steps forward” type of progress, but hey…it’s progress. At least that’s what my propaganda ministry is calling it.

1st update.

The glimmer of hope the Roland CII showed in finally getting balanced and becoming a good flyer erupted into a roaring flame which consumed it so completely that only a charred relic, and a brief memory remain.

By the way, the compelling picture above has been long debated as to its authenticity. I believe it remains currently undecided as to it’s being an actual shot of a German pilot tumbling from his machine after being shot down in flames. If it is real, I’d say it’s one of the more awful yet compelling images of the WWI air war. But back to the Roland. After about 4 very dodgy ROG flights, the bird was severely damaged on landing, was restored for another try,  and was now becoming an overweight flying patch after all of this abuse. A basic initial imbalance, coupled with a warped fuselage, had been causing these troubles all along. The final straw was when after extensive rebuilding and yet another attempt was made to fine tune the balance, the plane stalled in an re-inflicted all of it’s previous damage, which was severe. The final decision was to scrap the design, which may be revisited someday with more focus, a straighter fuselage, and less overall weight.

So thats the bad news, but the good news is, I’ve got all these plane guts….so what to do. Enter the next flying machine project currently underway…

I’ve always liked the Ford Flivver and thought it’dmake a nice scale subject…..well, it’s already being framed up as we speak…..more to come soon.

Roland CII-a shows glimmer of hope in flight test.

Well, it turns out the refinements outlined in the previous post regarding the Roland CII and needed balance adjustments were accurate, and this nice little machine seems to be pulling itself out of its borderline survival status.

The aforementioned weight and balance corrections were performed, as well as a reduction of both the control throws for the rudder and elevator, which resulted in the longest and most stable flight the machine has performed to date.  Granted, it was still a handfull in the air, but the final necessary tweaks to correct this are quite clear now, and once these are done, there should be some nice video to stick up here.

Keep those fingers crossed ; )

PS. And you thought the Flying Tigers in China were the first to use that mean looking shark mouth decoration on an aircaft…..look closely at the line-up of Rolands above……sneaky.

 

Roland test flights and questionable future….

Well, ok, it’s not quite this bad……..yet. But the Roland CII-a  has been quite a handfull lately in my attempts to get her flight worthy.

Initially she simply would not ROG, (Rise off Ground) and in the taxi she was planted firmly on terra firma and would nose over easily……all classic hallmarks of a nose heavy plane. When forced to lift off with use of excessive elevator she would snap immediately, often damaging herself. One issue with small planes like this is a little tweaking goes a looooong way, so you have to be very minimalistic.

So in that light, we moved the battery pack from just forward the fuel tank to the observers seat, well aft of the CG. Also, we did balance tests because this didn’t seem like enough weight redistibution to make a big enough change, and added some weight to the tail on the horizontal stabilizer as well.

As I said before….small increments….and these were rather large in hindsight. The results? Well, she lifted off much more readily, but after gaining altitude to about two or three feet, she would remain nose high, and bank left or right and stall in. No control inputs could counteract this and if you were quick enough to counter control one bank, she’d just as easily snap the other way and slam to ground.

Diagnosis: You have overcorrected and gone from obviously nose heavy to obviously tail heavy.

So currently: We have removed the weight from the tail, and are making repairs to the damaged elements in order to give her another try with the new balance scheme. The wing attachments at the fuselage are where most of the damage has occured, so those are being repaired/upgraded. This is one of those planes that is a “combat veteran” before she’s even been really airborne. It’s irritating to see such abuse to such a nice airframe before it’s even seen the sky, but this happens once in a while. The more infrequently the better though!

So as it stands I will post results once the repairs are finsished and she has been tested again. Let’s hope I get her dialed in before she re-kits herself.

Tin Can Turbine 1st flame test..

Well the title kinda speaks for itself. I wish the results were more impressive, but at least the video has fire in it.  Enjoy : )

Ok….the bad:

Too much fuel…..thats obvious

Too much mechanical friction. The re-worked compressor lost a blade which fouled the mechanism. A new re-re-worked compressor will be constructed. Also, attempts to reduce friction and weight of the turbine shaft and fans will be re-thunked. Yes, I’m inventing new words….I’m aware.

And Conversely….the good:

All of the materials used are actually withstanding these temperatures well.

We have a better starting proceedure

The fuel system (so far) seems quite adequate.

More to come when refinements are accomplished…..

WWI Rogallo Fighter maiden flight video….

So, as I stated in the previous post, I have some low resolution video (sneak preview if you will) of the Maiden Flight of the WWI Rogallo Fighter. The previous post gives a description of the flight, so without further delay, here’s the vid. Enjoy.

As I stated earlier, it’s low-res due to the fact it was taken from an impromptu hat mounted camera, so now we will have to bring some better gear out for the next go and get some better shots. Drawing up the plans for sale to those interested in building thier own version, as well as further refining test flights are next on the list for this one…well, that in addition to having a heck of a lot of fun flying this thing! On a side note, the plans will allow you to detail the design any way you like, so in essence you can turn it into a French, English, or German variant.

For the technical aspect, this one is flying on an old OS LA.25, and has plenty of power. The wings also fold for compact transport.

By the way, to follow the build/design history of this model, click on WWI Rogallo Fighter in the menu bar on the right, and you can then review the entire archive relating to this design.

All for now!