“Dirty Moldless Composite”

[Tiger Tim]

From another thread:

I know it is anathema to most folks.. but what I call Dirty Rutan Moldless construction can greatly simplify these designs. If one does not care about laminar flow and these designs are decidedly high drag, you avoid all the time-consuming finishing and can roll out derivatives of the classics rather quickly ( at least in homebuilt airplane terms).

You can literarily latex paint over glass with minimal sanding and no need to fill the weave- it is fabric after all. Imagine how quick to build (ok again in airplane terms) Volksplane would be in foam and dirty glass ? Most of the airframe is minimum gauge apart from the spars and it is easy to adapt and modify.

This idea gets touched on from time to time and I think it’s worth fleshing out. Take it away @ragflyer

 

[Flatiowa]

 

[Topaz]

 

[Riggerrob]

 

[Vigilant1]

 

[Flatiowa]

 

[Topaz]

 

[TFF]

 

[wsimpso1]

 

[cluttonfred]

 

[BBerson]