L
Liras
Hi,
I'm a high-school student just doing my finals next month. For a long time, I wanted to design and build airplanes, but had insufficient funds, time and workshop space. I did not waste my time though. Over the past year, I've been building model aircraft and studying aerodynamics. I've read many great books on the subject and, with a little bit of help, I think I just might be able to design and build a real aircraft. My interest in aviation primarily comes from thousands of hours in WWII combat sims and I just have maybe 1 hour of real flying time (being in control at least), but I guess building an airplane would take long enough for me to get all the licenses.
So, without any more ado: I'm an avid wilderness fan, one day I'd like to become hunter-gatherer with no dependence on civilization, etc... I thought I could very cleverly join my two passions by designing a special kind of bushplane, which could fly on very low power (cheap), have floats and basically serve as my portable home. My imagination started running wild. I came up with a unique configuration, a huuugee list of requirements and lots of cool ideas in general. Then I looked at it again and it struck me that I'm never gonna detail-design or build it. It's just too complicated for my skill level.
I decided that I need to build at least two planes. The first one would serve as a learning experience, so that I don't make so many costly mistakes on my intended project. I turned to the other end of the spectrum. I tried to come up with a plane so simple that even a child (like me) could build it. Obviously, such a plane doesn't exist. Every plane is complicated to design and build. I tried to even make it a glider to further reduce complexity, but now I'm realising that I'd limit its utility capabilities just way too much. So, I'll add a 28hp Hirth engine to it (design spreadsheet to be updated).
I've gone through all of the conceptual design, made some nice drawings and models and a nice design spreadsheet, but now I hit a brick wall. I lack experience to make any further decisions: e.g. about the powerplant, structural design, control system, etc. I'm having lots of trouble finding good resources on the net and even if I found something, I wouldn't risk so much money without consulting it with someone. I've asked at the local aeroclub, but these guys don't have much time for me... and they're not engineers (I live in Poland, so no EAA, btw).
So I thought I could maybe find someone here with sufficient experience and time who could review my work, help with critical decisions and then detail (structural) design. Remotely, of course, via Skype or something. I don't have many $$ to give in return, so consider it to be an act of charity. But, if we get my second (bush) design off the ground... a year long wilderness excursion for anyone who helps, for free. And these are very expensive normally.
Anyway, I attach my current design spreadsheet and a solid model of my "simple" plane. It's still in its glider state, I'll be redoing the design soon to account for the engine. The most similar plane to what I would like to build is miniMAX.
Thanks,
Liras
I'm a high-school student just doing my finals next month. For a long time, I wanted to design and build airplanes, but had insufficient funds, time and workshop space. I did not waste my time though. Over the past year, I've been building model aircraft and studying aerodynamics. I've read many great books on the subject and, with a little bit of help, I think I just might be able to design and build a real aircraft. My interest in aviation primarily comes from thousands of hours in WWII combat sims and I just have maybe 1 hour of real flying time (being in control at least), but I guess building an airplane would take long enough for me to get all the licenses.
So, without any more ado: I'm an avid wilderness fan, one day I'd like to become hunter-gatherer with no dependence on civilization, etc... I thought I could very cleverly join my two passions by designing a special kind of bushplane, which could fly on very low power (cheap), have floats and basically serve as my portable home.
My imagination started running wild. I came up with a unique configuration, a huuugee list of requirements and lots of cool ideas in general. Then I looked at it again and it struck me that I'm never gonna detail-design or build it. It's just too complicated for my skill level.I decided that I need to build at least two planes. The first one would serve as a learning experience, so that I don't make so many costly mistakes on my intended project. I turned to the other end of the spectrum. I tried to come up with a plane so simple that even a child (like me) could build it. Obviously, such a plane doesn't exist. Every plane is complicated to design and build. I tried to even make it a glider to further reduce complexity, but now I'm realising that I'd limit its utility capabilities just way too much. So, I'll add a 28hp Hirth engine to it (design spreadsheet to be updated).
I've gone through all of the conceptual design, made some nice drawings and models and a nice design spreadsheet, but now I hit a brick wall. I lack experience to make any further decisions: e.g. about the powerplant, structural design, control system, etc. I'm having lots of trouble finding good resources on the net and even if I found something, I wouldn't risk so much money without consulting it with someone. I've asked at the local aeroclub, but these guys don't have much time for me... and they're not engineers (I live in Poland, so no EAA, btw).
So I thought I could maybe find someone here with sufficient experience and time who could review my work, help with critical decisions and then detail (structural) design. Remotely, of course, via Skype or something. I don't have many $$ to give in return, so consider it to be an act of charity.
But, if we get my second (bush) design off the ground... a year long wilderness excursion for anyone who helps, for free. And these are very expensive normally. Anyway, I attach my current design spreadsheet and a solid model of my "simple" plane. It's still in its glider state, I'll be redoing the design soon to account for the engine. The most similar plane to what I would like to build is miniMAX.
Thanks,
Liras
