My OperaYou want to build a what?
Sunday, October 10, 2010 2:33:49 PM
After I did most of the research on Wright flying machines and decided on the 1902 glider I need to figure out the size of machine I wanted. Building a full size was out of the question for the wing span was 32 feet with a body (fuselage was not a term used yet) of 17 feet. This was way too large for my garage/ workshop and besides my co-pilot (wife) insisted she be allowed to park her ‘Big Boy’ in the garage/shop at night. Her Big Boy is I think the world’s largest SUV but she loves it and I luv her so…… back to what size to make the build (woodworking term for any project) I finally chose 1/3 scale, that would make the wing span just over 10.5 feet. Granted this makes the build a model, which is true, but a very big model. Before starting the build I had to lay down some ground rules; I wanted this to be historically correct, I wanted where ever possible to use the same materials as the Wright brothers did and I wanted to use the same techniques in construction as the Wright’s and finally I wanted to flying machine to be fully operational. As a kid I built many a model from plastic to balsa wood and some even flew, I thought this will be a snap. Tim the Tool man master model maker, ya right. Well I got to work the first order of business is to have clean and organized shop, this went well for I usually keep a fairly clean and organized shop mostly for safety reasons, I still have all my fingers. Still thinking this will be a snap, ya right.
I downloaded the plans from a company called the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co. they have a great web site, tons of helpful information, and the plans were free. This will be snap, ya right. Now a model builder when he gets plans to build usually say something like find part A and glue to part B or something like that, right? Not these plans, these plans are Engineering Drawing plans, about now Murphy had risen up from the dead, You know Murphy and his Law right, “if anything can go wrong it will” also it states that in any scientific or engineering endeavor, anything that can go wrong will go wrong" I thought plans tells a person to do this and this in some type of order, you know step by step. I had not even cut a piece of wood yet, or even bought the wood and I was already in a pickle. Engineering Drawings are wonderful drawings of each part in a project, done in great detail with exact measurements of every bend, curve, angle and hole of that part, but they don’t tell you where that part goes. Engineering plans are NOT assembly plans, but the plans did show some assembly of parts in drawing form but not in order. Undaunted I went back to the internet, my book and found photos and articles of building the glider not step by step but enough to get me started. With a clearer idea I started to look for the lumber required. No longer had I thought this will be a snap, but it will be a challenge, ya right.
The Wright’s used two types of wood for their flying machine Ash and Sitka Spruce. Ash and Spruce have long been associated with aircraft building, the most famous aircraft is Howard Hugh’s Spruce Goose built at the end of WWII, flown once and made mostly of wood and some spruce. My favorite lumber yard had both types of wood and I purchased one board 2x9x9ft of spruce and 2 boards of 1x6x10ft of ash, now finally I was ready to cut wood for the build. Next post Photos
To be continued…….
I downloaded the plans from a company called the Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co. they have a great web site, tons of helpful information, and the plans were free. This will be snap, ya right. Now a model builder when he gets plans to build usually say something like find part A and glue to part B or something like that, right? Not these plans, these plans are Engineering Drawing plans, about now Murphy had risen up from the dead, You know Murphy and his Law right, “if anything can go wrong it will” also it states that in any scientific or engineering endeavor, anything that can go wrong will go wrong" I thought plans tells a person to do this and this in some type of order, you know step by step. I had not even cut a piece of wood yet, or even bought the wood and I was already in a pickle. Engineering Drawings are wonderful drawings of each part in a project, done in great detail with exact measurements of every bend, curve, angle and hole of that part, but they don’t tell you where that part goes. Engineering plans are NOT assembly plans, but the plans did show some assembly of parts in drawing form but not in order. Undaunted I went back to the internet, my book and found photos and articles of building the glider not step by step but enough to get me started. With a clearer idea I started to look for the lumber required. No longer had I thought this will be a snap, but it will be a challenge, ya right.
The Wright’s used two types of wood for their flying machine Ash and Sitka Spruce. Ash and Spruce have long been associated with aircraft building, the most famous aircraft is Howard Hugh’s Spruce Goose built at the end of WWII, flown once and made mostly of wood and some spruce. My favorite lumber yard had both types of wood and I purchased one board 2x9x9ft of spruce and 2 boards of 1x6x10ft of ash, now finally I was ready to cut wood for the build. Next post Photos
To be continued…….
