The Astroliner

[lincolnlerner]

[quote="Atomic77"]So... For you composite guys or anyone else interested. Here's what I've been working on this week. I start with the mold and I make a part from the mold. After I pop the part off the mold I cut it and trim it to the approximate size I want. Then I build a foam frame inside to give the two parts something to glue together to. After some grinding, sanding and shaping I glue them together. Add some carbon fiber to the edge to seal the seam. And then it's ready for final sanding and finishing. The wing skin is now 100% carbon fiber and foam and will withstand some serious abuse at speeds well over 200 mile an hour. Just thought I would throw this out there today.

So now that you have the perfect teardrop.....



Make a mold and .....


Pure carbon fiber teardrop!

[Atomic77]

OP... that was at the end of a race that we just won. There was a collision during the race that took our rear horizontal wing and one of the vertical uprights off. The vertical upright that is left is like the ones I'm building. All carbon fiber outer skin which we call a fairing, and a chrome moly A-frame that goes inside. With a chrome moly V-brace which is the brace you see supporting it from the rear.

[OP827]

Thanks Michael, pretty amazing to continue race and eventually win it with such damage, I've found and read the article about this race.
I would think that full carbon uprights are going to be much much stronger and stiffer than fiberglass, but did you think of adding kevlar for more shock resistance, or that would be an overkill with such already thick CF skin?

[KCStudly]

Better to avoid such collisions in the first place, anyway, than to build a heavy (slow) boat that would survive such an unplanned event. My guess.

[Atomic77]

KC you're pretty much right on. The cf holds up to most everything. We do use Kevlar in impact zones (water impact) and parts that take a pounding like bull noses or the shoes. The wings typically don't hit anything but air.

[Atomic77]

So... For you composite guys or anyone else interested. Here's what I've been working on this week. I start with the mold and I make a part from the mold. After I pop the part off the mold I cut it and trim it to the approximate size I want. Then I build a foam frame inside to give the two parts something to glue together to. After some grinding, sanding and shaping I glue them together. Add some carbon fiber to the edge to seal the seam. And then it's ready for final sanding and finishing. The wing skin is now 100% carbon fiber and foam and will withstand some serious abuse at speeds well over 200 mile an hour. Just thought I would throw this out there today.

So now that you have the perfect teardrop.....



Make a mold and .....


Pure carbon fiber teardrop!

My brother thinks that would be an awesome idea! Sounds like more work to me!! But a great idea for sure...

[OP827]

KC you're pretty much right on. The cf holds up to most everything. We do use Kevlar in impact zones (water impact) and parts that take a pounding like bull noses or the shoes. The wings typically don't hit anything but air.

You guys are absolutely right, I was clearly not thinking here.
Like why would airplanes be build to survive mid air collision, they would not be able to fly then. Same with these boats, the boats will not be fast anymore then.

[OP827]

Michael, do you know that Burt Rutan is working on his new project called SkiGull, which is most versatile amphibious plane ever also capable of crossing the ocean. I now speculate that could be one the reasons why he was visiting you guys to learn more about 200Mph flying boats.

[Atomic77]

Michael, do you know that Burt Rutan is working on his new project called SkiGull, which is most versatile amphibious plane ever also capable of crossing the ocean. I now speculate that could be one the reasons why he was visiting you guys to learn more about 200Mph flying boats.

Yes OP, he talked about that project the weekend I met him. He's a brilliant man.

[Atomic77]

No pictures to show but a busy weekend of sanding and perfecting. Most all of the shell is now ready for primer. I still need to work on the tail light and license plate recess, which means I have to pull up a stool and do some hand crafting. Then I can try out a new polyester primer that I've really been wanting to test. It's made by U-Pol and is said to be amazing over fiberglass. Maybe pictures next weekend of the new primer. In the meantime, here's a picture of the oil burner brother Matt has been designing and fabricating. Almost complete here, getting ready for a test fire to burn off all the old LP tank paint. It should drastically cut down on the fuel bill to heat the shop.

uploadfromtaptalk1447644304609.jpg (25.55 KiB) Viewed 1604 times

[KCStudly]

One of my favorite movies is "The Fifth Element", and my favorite scene in the movie is the diva scene. (If you want to really wring out a sound system, demo the diva scene... lot's of high female vocal tones, range changes, symphony (strings), crescendos and big bass.) Anyway, shortly after this there is a line, "it's a, it's a, it's a (bomb)".

1:03 min u-tube video clip

[Atomic77]

Nope... Just a stove.

[OP827]

Great to have a brother who has the shop and then the stove in it .

[Atomic77]

You got that right

[roamer]

I want to build one myself. A previous coworker made one. It would cook you out of his shop. He made it from an old hot water heater tank.
I have an large supply of free waste oil from an automotive shop. FREE HEAT! If I only had more time!
I actually have used it to power my Cummins. I try to keep it to 25% when I do, waste to diesel. It is an oil burner after all.