Tag: Wright

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Keith Shaw’s Radical RC 1905 Wright Flyer Part 6

Some final photo’s from Keith:

view of pilot
Orville in his aircraft/

Last two. Attempt to show Orville “flying”. Last photo is from pre-detailing to show rib and spar details. Done with a light brown Prismacolor marker available from craft stores like Michael’s. Put on the bare foam before over-painting with the High-Heat Almond paint. Gives a nice muted look as if real ribs and spars are underneath fabric covering. Looks great in the air.

…………

Also thought I took a few shots of the launch dolly, but I guess not. It works well, both flights off the dolly. Will be sure to take some shots if the weather holds this weekend.

Dave, this has been a fun project to do, it let me do a lot of “adaptive” engineering that I so enjoy.

Thanks!

Keith

Rear quartering view of 1905 Wright Flyer

Love the Faux ribs and spars idea. It adds an extra dimension of scale detail and sounds really simple. I am thinking the next one I do will use your method. I might do the carbon rods and trailing edge as well??? Might be too much of a good thing if I did.

Dave

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Keith Shaw’s Radical RC 1905 Wright Flyer Part 5

Pilot Front Detail
Pilot Front Detail

At the field. Note the “cross-country fuel tanks”. Each tank contains two A123 cells inline, housing made of 1/64 ply and card stock. The 4 cells and holders weigh about the same as a 4 amp-hr 3s LiPo pack, but produce a little higher voltage. I pull 32 amp at full throttle, but the two flights so have been a half throttle. 6-7 minutes consumes about 1 amp-hr out of the 2.2 amp-hr available.

Detail Rear View
Detail Rear View
Cross Country Tank Detail

Keith, an astounding amount of detail. I love the fantasy tanks. You mention flying it. I’m going through the emails one at a time as I’m posting them in the schedule.

I have noticed that although this model should be very energy hungry, when cruising around at slow speeds, it seems almost magical how little energy is used. Think about all that weight, you have to be around 60 ounces, all those struts, two props, two motors and two no-load currents (something worth a whole blog post to explore), both those wings and your only using about 150mah a minute.

I’ve never seen a mah per minute chart based on weight or style or anything else for that mater. However it seems if there were such a guideline out there, something is wrong. This model in my mind should not fly as long as it does on so little energy and so little battery mass relative to machine weight.

A little quick math shows cruise current should be about 9 amps (150ma per minute x 60 minutes). However, when you deduct the no load current (not sure what it is for those motors) we’re talking maybe only 7 amps at cruise for the pair of motors. Figuring a at load depressed voltage of 3.3v x 7 amps _ only 23.1 watts. Further, it would imply that two 14 watt brushed IPS gearbox’s would be able to keep this machine aloft and still have an excess 4.9 watts for climb. It seems impossible, yet, I know it is true.

Dave

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Keith Shaw’s Radical RC 1905 Wright Flyer Project Part 2

You’ll notice a detail here. Keith modified the kit so he could remove the front frame and canard assembly for easier transport. Also notice the rib detail on the foam. Keith told me he purchased a marker intended for furniture finish repair. The marker was just a slight shade darker than the paint recommended to paint the wings. He carefully traced onto the foam all the rib locations and a spar. The idea being that when the wing was painted the marks would show through the pain enhancing the illusion of fabric over ribs. Great Idea! If I build another one, I’ll certainly copy this great idea. Dave

Chain drive, engine and pilot detail
Chain drive, engine and pilot detail

Photos of pilot and dummy engine mounted, along with vertical radiator. Note how easy it is to work on the plane with the “head” removed.

Canard Control Yoke
Canard Control Yoke

The dummy radiator is 3/32 ply with 1/8th balsa on both sides to make it look like a strut with rear-mounted radiator. Cooling tubes are cheap 16 gauge insulated wire. Additional benefit is that it helps stabilize the center ribs by keeping them from tilting sideways. Note also the 0.1″ carbon rod going between the top three center ribs. It serves several purposes, as it helps stabilize the center rib, gives a convenient CG locator (located 1/2″ behind the leading edge), and serves as a hard point for hanging that is not dependent on rubber bands or foam. I’ll later include a photo of the hanger in my living room, where the Wright now lives.
The removable head took some brainstorming, as I needed to come up with a way to do it so that I could take at least another big plane in my minivan to air shows. Once the head is off, the plane sits front down and occupies only as much space as a normal large plane fuselage. It is still tight, but I can fit my big Bearcat or Stomo or Bugatti or Goon or UT-1 in with the Wright. I’m sure another round of photos will be needed to show everything that had to be modified, but perhaps a Mark II of this kit will include this feature. There are total of eight 4-40 allen cap head bolts that are removed, but are screwed into blind T-nuts instead of the nylon inset capture nuts. I didn’t want to fiddle with a nut driver and the chance of dropping the nuts in the grass. The bottom four connect the sled frame members with a kind of a knuckle joint with the blind nut on the inside. The top four allow the various support struts for the front canard to be disconnected, again with blind nuts on the inside of the inner most strut. The two center vertical struts are kept in place with a short length of aluminum tube to act as a kind of bushing. The mounting holes for those struts and ribs need to be slightly drilled out to accommodate the 1/4 long pieces of tube. I lightly tacked the tubes and struts together with a dot of Loctite Stick N’ Seal, a flexible water-based product similar to RTV silicone rubber. Even though this all may sound complicated, I can remove or reinstall the head in less than 5 minutes. It does have the added bonus of making the plane MUCH easier to work on in my very small shop. All of my big giant scale electric planes that everyone has seen over the years have been built in my tiny 9′ x 9′ shop.

Keith

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Keith Shaw’s Radical RC 1905 Wright Flyer Project Part 1

This series of posts created from email correspondence between Keith and I. He’s really done a lot of neat things to this kit. Expect a new report every Thursday for at least 5 weeks. Keith is in the AMA Hall of Fame. He is one of the fathers of modern day electric flight, a superb scale builder and solid modeler in many ways. Read more on the AMA website: Autobiography of KEITH SHAW

You can meet Keith every year at the Mid-America Flies electric fly in where he and Ken Myers of the EFO club host the longest running electric power meet in the country if not the world. Both are AMA Hall Of Fame members. Lots of scale modelers attend this event. Your sure to see many very nice hand built models here. The event is usually held in June and is always announced in the Ampeer Newsletter.

On to the first installment of Keith’s 1905 Wright Flyer Project:

Scale 1905 Wright Engine/Coil

First up is the dummy engine and magneto. Engine is made from foamboard, card stock, bits of lite-ply, dowel, and the chain is a section from a cheap necklace. Magneto is carved from pink foam.

Scale 1905 Wright Engine/Coil
Scale 1905 Wright Engine/Coil
Pilot
Toy Fireman taylor’d into 1905 gentleman.

Pilot is from Toys R Us, a “True Heros Fire Rescue, Robert Portman”. Very close to 1/7th scale. Had to use heat gun and some carving to pose him onto the necessary prone pilot position. Figure comes with boots and a bright yellow suit with day-go emergency strips. Fortunately the strips were sewed on, so easily removed. The uniform required some tailoring to make it look more like a 1900’s suit. The collar, tie and cuffs are all thin painted card stock. Toughest thing was trying to dye the bright yellow cloth to look right. The fabric is polyester and not easy to color. Tried RIT, then some aniline dyes without luck. Finally took a black magic marker apart, diluted the liquid, ad soaked the fabric overnight. It came out a black-green, and looks acceptable. I still have to make a cap for Orville, looking for better photos of that type of “Duster” cap he always wore.

Keith

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1905 Wright Flyer With Added Bling

Steve Cushing’s 1905 Wright Flyer
Stephen Cushing writes and provides photo’s of his Radical RC 1905 Wright Flyer kit. He added flying wires and also built a dolly. I know the dolly has it’s own RX that responds to his rudder inputs so he can taxi and guide the model on it’s take off run. This allows Steve to fly the model without a hand launcher to help. Nice job Steve!

Steve also informs me of a pilot doll he found on ebay: Legacy of Valor Wright Brothers Figures. So, more scale detail to come.

Rear View S. Cushing’s 1905

Click image to see full size. Thanks for the photo’s Steve!

Interested in this kit? Check it out HERE.

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Another Fantastic Wright Brothers Link

Wright Model L
Wright Model L
Check out the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company history of Wright Airplanes. This is one of my favorite Wright research sites. You won’t believe how many aircraft the Wrights built from 1903 thru 1916. Did you know they attempted to build a biplane contendor for WWI? Yea, it’s all there. Check it out.

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Hear Wright Engine #20 Run

Fantastic video shared with us from the The Wright Experience”.

Described by YouTube’s “N104f” as follows:

On special occasions The Wright Experience starts this engine … the engine (Wright Bros No. 20) was built under the direct supervision of Mr. Charles E. Taylor. Mr. Taylor also built the 1903 engine which powered the world’s first heavier-than-air flight on December 17, 1903 to the Wright’s specifications. This 1910 engine was started on June 17, 2000 for the first time after being in storage for more than 80 years. At that time No. 20 was the only Wright artifact “doing work” and is considered a “National Treasure” by those associated with it.

Present at this start … October 30, 2007 … were ArthurF, SalG, AntonioQ, BobB and JimD. GregC, master “engine mechanician” was in charge of the operation. Ray, a long time, The Wright Experience, associate, can be seen looking on in the background. Those of us familiar with this engine and its importance to our aviation heritage are drawn to its sound like moths to a lamp. Note: Those present at a start up are asked to sign the engine’s log. This engine powered aeroplanes as they accomplished many of aviation’s firsts. It powered the flight when New York City was first filmed from the air and many other such activities too numerous to mention here. The large galvanized tank adjacent to the engine is there to provide water for engine cooling … the aircraft radiator is not used for demonstrations. Suspended above the engine is a small gas tank used for demonstrations. The “fan” or “club” replaces the propeller and is reproduced here exactly like the one used by Mr. Taylor and the Brothers.

For further information go to a www.wrightexperience.com”.

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Hear the Voice of Charles E. Tayor

Photo from United Aircraft Corporation film, property of United Technologies
One of my favorite podcasts is “The Naked Scientists” produced in the UK. The July 22, 2012 podcast just released is entirely about the history of aviation. Charlie Taylor built the early Wright engines including the first one to fly in 1903. He is honored as the worlds first Aviation Mechanic. Much of the podcast covers the development of engines for flight. Lots of cool information on jet engines. Early in the podcast a surpise; a short clip of Charles Tayor speaking.

Home website of “The Naked Scientists” with many excellent science and engineering podcasts.

Home of the Wright Experience where you can hear and see 85 year old Charlie Taylor.

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