Vintage aircraft construction style ..

[GPW]

This could be an interesting build for a woodworker/modeler... extremely lightweight , fabric/canvas covered like an old WW1 Biplane or Piper Cub.
Not much in materials , but Lots of Labor .. Probably have to be stored in a garage ... when not out on the road.. more like a nice tent on wheels .. many decorating possibilities .. and the entire rear could be hinged to lift up like a cargo /galley door...
Just playing around with designs...

[starleen2]

A little more sculpting on the profile and make it a little bit wider and you'll have an airfoil ready for take off, too!

[GPW]

Wonder if we added a wing would it increase the towing capacity ... at speed ... probably have to drive pretty fast for take off ... hahahaha

I know anybody whose made a Guillows kit would feel right home on one like this ...

No bears Please !!!

[AZSpyder]

My rig is similar to aircraft construction. It was actually designed by a WW2 German aircraft designer. One difference is joining aluminum and steel isn't seen much in aircraft due to corrosion.
The rig is welded thin wall tubing like a Cub fuselage except it is then covered with .125 aluminum. I have wondered about building a tear using this method but going to be busy a while longer getting this old rig back together. It would be more labor intensive but could be much lighter then using thick plywood.
Jerry

[GPW]

Spyder, is that the one in your album .... Pretty Cool !!!

[teardrop_focus]

We've talked about this here on T&TTT before, but no one has actually drawn up a rudimentary design like GPW has just posted.

I've had some ideas along the lines of fabric-and-dope construction... but would use "skin boat" materials... some of the material choices there are ballistics nylon and urethane dope. Can't puncture the finished "skin" with a claw hammer.

To build a teardrop entirely of canvas fabric over a tube frame, though, it would wind up being little more than a framed tent on wheels, abeit an interesting tent. I've got other ideas along these lines... and may attempt to execute some of them in my tear's Version One cabin.

[asianflava]

Look up the "Runlite" design. It is a canvas over wood design.

[GPW]

QUOTE: " some of the material choices there are ballistics nylon and urethane dope. Can't puncture the finished "skin" with a claw hammer. "

Oh yeah !!!! That sounds like the ticket !!!

Yep!!! a tent on wheels ... Should be Extremely Light !!! I was thinking about aircraft spruce framing , profiles laminated from 1/4" thick strips X 2" wide (6 > 1 1/2" profile thickness) ... All Wood , since that's the preferred material here.. or so it seems ...


The mind wanders to the Red Baron decor ... Could be cool ... couple fake machine guns would keep the Lurkers away ....hahaha

Thanks Flava, will check it out ...

[Pottercounty]

I would be curious to find out how it would behave in a 25 +knot cross wind...

[GPW]

WOW !!! The Runlite is so COOL !!! Just a little more framing than I was thinking about...
PC , it would be loaded with all your stuff (cast iron) and perhaps a rudimentary interior... therefore heavier / more stable in a X wind than just an empty tent..

[Idaho Robert]

We just bought a 36 Kaycraft Kampster. It was originally covered in fabric with some type of coating. There is very little of the fabric left as the previous owner stripped it in plans of restoring. My absolutely wild guess is that it is aircraft canvas with a coating. Does anyone know what they used? How could I find out with just tiny snippets of material left?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[GPW]

IR... In those days , they were probably limited to some type of canvas. And just painted ... and sometimes Felt under the canvas, but I can't think why ??? There's a Kampmaster .pdf in the Vintage trailer plans here ... http://www.mikenchell.com/VintagePlans/ ... mpster.pdf

[Ageless]

Canvas? Too heavy for aircraft. Boeing, for one, used linen stitched on by women for wing covering.

[AZSpyder]

Spyder, is that the one in your album .... Pretty Cool !!!

Thats the one. It is the Puck model, the smallest from the manufacture Eriba. Eriba is the designers name condensed, Eric Bachem.

For light weight this thing had no extra screws and very light cabinets. I learned a lot about light weight construction with this example from a wood and fabric days aircraft designer. I still added weight for what I wanted to have. For example the inside walls were cloth, I used Birch ply. But then I'm not intending to tow with a VW bug like the original was advertised for.

Jerry

[Prem]

Back in about 2005 we had a gathering outside of Eugene, OR and a 20-something fellow showed up with a trailer kind of like that, only covered tightly with blue tarp. He put plywood trim (with silicon under it) on the outside over the ribs and around the doors to seal all his staples. Some thought it was tasteless and avoided him. I thought it was likely to come apart, but nevertheless pretty cool and asked him for the tour. There were a couple of places that looked like they would rip out soon, but he said he had lots of blue tarp material.

We never saw him again. He was an young experimenter. He did darn good for a first build. Gotta admire him for that.