Any designers out there?

[AVOCET]

Hi ,sounds like the Aussie design team is alive & well,

 

It was this time last year that my design the Avocet was first flown . It took 3 years to design & build the plugs & moulds .i flu to Temora last year &it was well received . It's a great feeling when you finally get to fly something that started as a scribble on a note pad & then watch it develop to a modle. I remember about 4 years ago peddling the balsa modle around the air shows asking everyone what they thourght.

 

Actually , it was quite encouraging , but some folk think your crazy & then you go though a stage that you start thinking you are crazy , but after its finished and up and flying , well ,like I said its a grate feeling .

 

I had to go back to the books and study , but I found it stimulating & well worth the effort .

 

One in particular was A C kamode ,it's basicly a first year aeronautical engineering book that spells out the basics '& is a good place to start . If you google mike Sharples avocet ,there's some info from last year . I'm building the mk. 2 at the moment whith a few mods from the original , like a single post turret, and moving the wings 30 mm forward , I've put a larger ventral fin & mk. 2 should be about thirty kgs. Lighter .

 

Using a differant core mat , & I found through testing that it's over built in a couple of areas,

 

Cheers, Avocet .

 

 

[rtfm]

Hi guys,

 

I joined this forum a few years back, and for some reason it dropped off my radar. I have just been reminded of its existence again, and so here I am, back again.

 

I know this is an old thread, but hey - since when has age ever been a barrier to folks like us? There are very few amateurs today who actually are designing brand new aircraft starting with a blank sheet. I'm one of them. And I'm glad to find some others here as well.

 

I started out planning to build a KR2. But I couldn't find enough decent wood (I was living in Auckland at the time). So I bought a set of Sonex plans, and discovered that I didn't like the zillions of little bits of aluminium which had to be rivited together. Besides, I didn't like working with the stuff. So I began to think composite. My dad and I built a number of very early composite surfboards way back in the 60's when no-one knew what the hell they were doing. But I liked the process.

 

So I began looking for suitable composite kit planes. There was nothing I could afford. The idea struck me that I should save money, and design my own. HAH! Save money? Not...

 

Almost four years later, I have finally got a grasp on what aircraft design entails, have received a lot of peer advice (and criticism), and have thrown away more than a dozen "final" designs. I've also discarded a half dozen plugs. One only got as far as the basic shell. I have completed five other plugs, made adjustments to them, fixed errors, changed dimensions etc till they were so mutilated, I had to chop them up and begin again. One of these was abandoned when I moved from Auckland to Brisbane. Each time I restarted the process, I went into lockdown mode, and made significant changes to the basic design. I have tried low wing, high wing and now I've settled on a mid-wing configuration. I've gone from tailwheel to tricycle. Over the years I've acquired three engines: a Suzuki 3-cylinder (sold it - too hard to convert), a BMW K75 (trying to sell it - too heavy) and now a Valley Engineering Big Twin. This is an already aero-converted engine, 50hp, 116lbs including reduction drive, started, alternator, oil.

 

With the aid of WizardWorks (a 3-D Wizard mate on the homebuiltairplanes.com web site) I now have plug # 6 ready to go. All template files are currently at the CNC shop, and foam is on order. The last plug took me 8 months of sometimes daily labour to get to the stage where I was ready to make molds. Then I decided to change the tail for better spin recovery, and to widen the cockpit. The new plug (with new and improved construction method) will be ready for molds within a few weeks from starting. Well, that's the plan.

 

So - if you're reading this thinking that you might give designing a plane a go - do it, mate. Do it. But don't expect it to be quick, cheap or simple. Hopefully, however, you will end up with a unique and ultimately satisfying design you can truly call your own.

 

More info on my design can be found on my web site:

 

http://rtfmaero.wordpress.com/

 

Regards,

 

Duncan

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Hi guys,I joined this forum a few years back, and for some reason it dropped off my radar. I have just been reminded of its existence again, and so here I am, back again.....

Welcome back Duncan, we need more support in the designers' circle!

 

Cheers, alan

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Fascinating project, Duncan. You must love building more than designing, judging by the number of plugs you have discarded! Composite sure is a great way to build efficient and streamlined aircraft.

 

Your design looks like an exciting aeroplane. A few years ago that was my sort of plane. (I'm too tall to fit in a Sapphire, an otherwise ideal machine. Now I have come to appreciate safety, slow landing speed and simplicity of design. After spending far too long in the workshop, I'll be glad to be able to fly the damn thing and enjoy the scenery. Who needs to go fast?

 

The Big Twin looks promising. There is a gap in the market here for that sort of engine to power small single seaters.

 

 

[rtfm]

Ha ha. Not really. I LOVE the design phase, but only LIKE the building phase. Problem is, I'm having to learn by trial and error. It is a damn side easier to learn how to design a plane than to actually build it. But I'm getting there. This one is the charm, I think. And with my half fowler, half split flap design, I should be able to tootle around low and slow with the best of them.

 

Regards,

 

Duncan

 

 

[Mark11]

Hi guys,I joined this forum a few years back, and for some reason it dropped off my radar. I have just been reminded of its existence again, and so here I am, back again.

I know this is an old thread, but hey - since when has age ever been a barrier to folks like us? There are very few amateurs today who actually are designing brand new aircraft starting with a blank sheet. I'm one of them. And I'm glad to find some others here as well.

 

I started out planning to build a KR2. But I couldn't find enough decent wood (I was living in Auckland at the time). So I bought a set of Sonex plans, and discovered that I didn't like the zillions of little bits of aluminium which had to be rivited together. Besides, I didn't like working with the stuff. So I began to think composite. My dad and I built a number of very early composite surfboards way back in the 60's when no-one knew what the hell they were doing. But I liked the process.

 

So I began looking for suitable composite kit planes. There was nothing I could afford. The idea struck me that I should save money, and design my own. HAH! Save money? Not...

 

Almost four years later, I have finally got a grasp on what aircraft design entails, have received a lot of peer advice (and criticism), and have thrown away more than a dozen "final" designs. I've also discarded a half dozen plugs. One only got as far as the basic shell. I have completed five other plugs, made adjustments to them, fixed errors, changed dimensions etc till they were so mutilated, I had to chop them up and begin again. One of these was abandoned when I moved from Auckland to Brisbane. Each time I restarted the process, I went into lockdown mode, and made significant changes to the basic design. I have tried low wing, high wing and now I've settled on a mid-wing configuration. I've gone from tailwheel to tricycle. Over the years I've acquired three engines: a Suzuki 3-cylinder (sold it - too hard to convert), a BMW K75 (trying to sell it - too heavy) and now a Valley Engineering Big Twin. This is an already aero-converted engine, 50hp, 116lbs including reduction drive, started, alternator, oil.

 

With the aid of WizardWorks (a 3-D Wizard mate on the homebuiltairplanes.com web site) I now have plug # 6 ready to go. All template files are currently at the CNC shop, and foam is on order. The last plug took me 8 months of sometimes daily labour to get to the stage where I was ready to make molds. Then I decided to change the tail for better spin recovery, and to widen the cockpit. The new plug (with new and improved construction method) will be ready for molds within a few weeks from starting. Well, that's the plan.

 

So - if you're reading this thinking that you might give designing a plane a go - do it, mate. Do it. But don't expect it to be quick, cheap or simple. Hopefully, however, you will end up with a unique and ultimately satisfying design you can truly call your own.

 

More info on my design can be found on my web site:

 

http://rtfmaero.wordpress.com/

 

Regards,

 

Duncan

Duncan

 

Your blog/website is outstanding

 

Very informative - especially on engines

 

I'll be watching with much interest

 

It would be great to participate in a build - just for the experience...

 

Your not within an hour of Sutherland (Sydney)by any chance?

 

With the weight of the pilot and COG, could a moveable weight be incorporated to allow different weight pilots?

 

Regards

 

Mark

 

 

[rtfm]

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately, I'm in Brisbane, otherwise I'd jump at the opportunity to have some help. Movable weights? Yes, I've considered this from time to time. The difficulty is in the logistics of it. Probably the most weight-efficient way to do it would have been to move the battery fore/aft. But that's not a particularly quick job, and since the battery I want to use only weights less than a KG, that idea went out the window. I'm toying with the idea of fitting Fowler flaps to the h-stab also, to be deployed as required - either to counteract the pitching moment of the wing when the 40% chord Fowlers are deployed, or to simply increase the tail volume coefficient should a heavier pilot be in the plane. But the jury's out on this one.

 

Cheers,

 

Duncan

 

 

[Mark11]

http://fraseraerotechnologycompany.com/Design_Concepts.html

 

This is an interesting link

 

 

[rtfm]

Yes... I see he's added some colour to his site since last I visited it. I agree - some of the designs are fascinating.

 

Duncan

 

 

[Mark11]

 

Didn't see the pilot put on a seat belt!

 

 

[rtfm]

Bloody hell - that's scary... I'm scared witless just sitting in an open cockpit! But don't you just love that terribly stylised way of speaking adopted by early announcers?

 

Duncan

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Is that a 3 cyl radial?

 

 

[Deskpilot]

Is that a 3 cyl radial?

Time to get glasses my friend.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Time to get glasses my friend.

So is that the juice-mixing department on top?

 

 

[skeptic36]

So is that the juice-mixing department on top?

Kiekhaefer O-45-35 flat-twin piston engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beecraft_Wee_Bee