Kickstart the Bugatti "Blue Dream"

[Head in the clouds]

Wooooohooooooo, she's gonna fly! Target met!

 

Still 6 days to go to put up a few bucks and be a part of the project and get your choice of the rewards ...

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Here's the latest progress report from the project. Of course hopefully you're all getting these since you joined the supporters club few a few bucks ? If not you've still got today and tomorrow to get a piece of the Bugatti. After then it'll be ours and not yours

 

Progress Report #26

 

Structurally Complete

 

We made a lot of progress during the Kickstarter pledge period. The nearly-completed structure makes for a great photograph but says little about the work that remains to be done. Thanks to you, we're on our way to having a flyable airplane by this Fall.

 

We wanted to share one last photo of the plane before we disassembled it on Monday to complete the installation of the engines; gearbox; drive lines; flight controls; etc. The next time she's together everything will be painted blue and she'll be outside in the sunlight!

 

You can continue to follow us on Facebook or visit our website

 

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[Guest Howard Hughes]

Simply WOW!

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Last chance to get your part of the Dream folks, the Kickstart sponsorship ends in about 24hrs.

 

For those of you who have so generously helped the project along towards its history making flight, you have the sincere thanks of the project leader Scott E Wilson (Scotty)

 

I have been corresponding with Scotty a fair bit over the last couple of weeks and he is certainly a really genuine down-to-earth nice guy and sincerely deserves success with this stunning project. I definitely believe it's the most exciting homebuilt project in the world today.

 

Here is a transcript of the latest email I received from Scotty this morning, after I mentioned that a good number of us in Oz were following the build with enthusiasm -

 

Alan:

 

Such kind words. Thank you.

 

Surprisingly, the cost to ship the plane to Australia isn't all that high. We've found we can get some discounts from logistics providers by offering to them a visible "seat at the table" so to speak.

 

Recall too that our overarching theme is to celebrate the entrepreneur with vision and courage (like Bugatti) and to inspire the next generation of artists and engineers. It's a message that should resonate with those who have generated their own wealth and want to encourage others to make their own dreams come true.

 

Cheers,

 

Scotty

 

With Scotty's agreement I will shortly begin a search for a suitable Corporate sponsor for the Australian leg of the Blue Dream's tour. Those of you who have shown your enthusiasm for the project by becoming Kickstarter Blue Dream project sponsors may like to be included in a social group here where we can discuss how we can each help with the logistics of the visit of the aircraft and team to our own specific region. Naturally that would provide insider privileges to the participants. Let me know your interest by PM please.

 

 

[Gforce]

........AND IT FLEW !!

 

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Nice video G, thanks. Looks like all it needs is a decent pilot! At first I thought it appeared to be pitch sensitive which I'd suspected it might be since I first looked at the planform, but it seemed gentle enough in flight when left to its own devices. The main gear is a bit too far back as the landing showed but it probably just needs a bit of allowance for that in the piloting.

 

Overall I think it indicates great promise for the real thing - nice!

 

 

[Gforce]

To be honest, I think he did a fair landing all things considered. It looks like a bugger to land ! Reminds me on my Gee Bee R3 ! Great plane but hard to land well.

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

........AND IT FLEW !!

Seems to be short a prop!

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Great.

 

I can't find the T shirt I bought at Airventure. Really great design and quality. Bummer, let the search begin.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Just an update -

 

Scotty and the crew have been hard at it and the beautiful Bugatti has been rolled out of the hangar for the first time, Scotty's words follow -

 

We been very busy over the two months since out last post (we do update our Facebook site on a regular and frequent basis). Mostly, the kind of work we've been doing doesn't produce noteworthy photographs. Today though, we rolled-out the plane into the sunshine for the very first time. It is every bit as pretty as it looks in this photo.

 

 

 

We could not have come this far without your help, and every day we thank all of you for supporting this project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Just an update -Scotty and the crew have been hard at it and the beautiful Bugatti has been rolled out of the hangar for the first time, Scotty's words follow -

 

We been very busy over the two months since out last post (we do update our Facebook site on a regular and frequent basis). Mostly, the kind of work we've been doing doesn't produce noteworthy photographs. Today though, we rolled-out the plane into the sunshine for the very first time. It is every bit as pretty as it looks in this photo.

 

 

 

We could not have come this far without your help, and every day we thank all of you for supporting this project.

 

 

 

[ATTACH]23829[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]23830[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]23831[/ATTACH]

Thanks for posting that , HITC. This is a venture many of our members would be fascinated by. This is truly an international project; one of the Aussie elements is the construction material: a wood product from Queensland.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

I'll bump this thread with an article I came across this morning.

 

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/in-the-wings-recreating-the-bugatti-100p/1016516.article?cmpid=tenews_90332#.UswUe-4BWNE.facebook

 

 

[DrZoos]

I'll bump this thread with an article I came across this morning.http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/in-the-wings-recreating-the-bugatti-100p/1016516.article?cmpid=tenews_90332#.UswUe-4BWNE.facebook

Nice read. That Meredith Effect is a smart idea. Wonder why we dont see that used more often. Seems like a good solution to the ever present problem of cooling v drag.

 

 

[Yenn]

With that gearbox I have difficulty seeing how the props can turn in different directions, when the drive shafts are also different direction. I suspect that both engines and drive shafts turn the same way and the forward prop is reversed in the gearbox, also it turns at a slower speed.

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=495942017109871

 

video of cad drawing of gearbox

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Nice read. That Meredith Effect is a smart idea. Wonder why we dont see that used more often. Seems like a good solution to the ever present problem of cooling v drag.

Good point, Doc. The extra efficiency would sure cut down on fuel use. Perhaps the reason is that wartime aircraft with large engines had a lot of waste heat available to assist thrust. Modern piston-driven aircraft, with smaller engines, may not produce enough waste heat to warrant the design effort required.

 

I invested a lot of effort in adding exhaust augmentors (an energy-saving idea from the same era) to my little aircraft.

 

The waste heat from my tiny engine only gave about 3% more power, but I was nearly deafened.

 

 

[Guest burty]

Has aircraft flown yet?

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

No. This year sometime.

 

 

[Yenn]

Now I see both drives go through a reversal. I saw it as one direct and one reversed.

 

 

[DrZoos]

Is that

 

but I was nearly deafened.

Interesting because those Contra Props are supposed to be super noisy as well. Wonder if the pilot will be able to stand the noise.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Update - the project is much delayed due to funding issues, I imagine a project like this chews up the dollars faster than anyone would anticipate.

 

However - progress continues and the big day is not that far off now.

 

Two days ago the engines had their first test run with all systems normal so the wing will be re-attached and the props fitted next, for full-power runs.

 

Here is a link to the build thread, it's well worth a look if you haven't seen the progress for a while, it's a fascinating aircraft.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

High power engine test and a ground run to 60kts has been conducted without any problems.

 

There's an onboard video posted on their project page, it's worth a look. The twin Hayabusa engines sound the part.

 

It can't be too long now before the first test flight

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Yep getting closer to the first flight . Looking good so far. Hope all goes well for it.

 

Hope they do another run on those cool T Shirts, the one i bought at Airventure is getting a bit thin and need a new one.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Flight tests are imminent!

 

And you can watch it live if you like.

 

This morning Scotty Wilson posted the following on Kickstarter -

 

"We will be conducting tests today to include high-speed taxi and possibly a short hop. To view these tests online you need to create a livestream account by going to www.livestream.com. Once you've created an account you can access the tests by accessing the "Reve Bleu" profile. Note there are two "Reve Bleu" profiles (we do not know the other account owner). Our account is the one with the top-down airplane silhouette in blue.

 

There is a mobile app for both iOS and Android."

 

Note that when you first go to sign up on Livestream it appears that you have to pay a subscription fee, but you don't have to for viewing others' vids as a visitor, so scroll down to below the paid options for the free sign-up.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Flight tests are imminent!

 

And you can watch it live if you like.

 

This morning Scotty Wilson posted the following on Kickstarter -

 

"We will be conducting tests today to include high-speed taxi and possibly a short hop. To view these tests online you need to create a livestream account by going to www.livestream.com. Once you've created an account you can access the tests by accessing the "Reve Bleu" profile. Note there are two "Reve Bleu" profiles (we do not know the other account owner). Our account is the one with the top-down airplane silhouette in blue.

 

There is a mobile app for both iOS and Android."

 

Note that when you first go to sign up on Livestream it appears that you have to pay a subscription fee, but you don't have to for viewing others' vids as a visitor, so scroll down to below the paid options for the free sign-up.