There are very few homebuilt amphibians built anymore and I think that's a shame as they seem to offer great flexibility and opportunities for adventure if you don't need to go very fast. In creating a modern one, I'd take inspiration from the Dornier Libelle "Dragonfly" (now over 100 years old!) and Shavrov Sh-2 for the basic layout.
I also like how Dornier essentially repurposed the Libelle as a land plane with a different fuselage as the Spatz (Sparrow).
Keeping in mind that none of these aircraft were very powerful for their weight -- Libelle I 80 hp, 640 kg (1,411 lb); Spatz 100 hp, 1,764 lb (800 kg); Sh-2 100 hp, 1,160 kg (2,557 lb) -- I think we could scale the general concept down to suit the two-seat microlight category at 450-545 kg with 60-100 hp engines and/or the experimental/light sport category at 600-650 kg and 80-100+ hp.
For construction, how about moldless composite for the fuselage, basically a glassed sheet foam box fuselage with fixed gear for the landplane version and a boat hull with step, cutwater, sponsons, and hand-operated retractable gear for the amphibian. The rest of the structure could be aluminum tube and gusset and Oratex fabric with typical ultralight ladder-frame wings and V-struts or maybe Ercoupe-style wings with Warren-truss ribs and just single struts.
In keeping with the originals, I'd go with an open cockpit with optional enclosure. Ideally folding wings would be designed in as an option and you can see that the parasol configuration with a fold-up flap on the center section makes that relatively straightforward to do.
Who's in? ;-)
I also like how Dornier essentially repurposed the Libelle as a land plane with a different fuselage as the Spatz (Sparrow).
Keeping in mind that none of these aircraft were very powerful for their weight -- Libelle I 80 hp, 640 kg (1,411 lb); Spatz 100 hp, 1,764 lb (800 kg); Sh-2 100 hp, 1,160 kg (2,557 lb) -- I think we could scale the general concept down to suit the two-seat microlight category at 450-545 kg with 60-100 hp engines and/or the experimental/light sport category at 600-650 kg and 80-100+ hp.
For construction, how about moldless composite for the fuselage, basically a glassed sheet foam box fuselage with fixed gear for the landplane version and a boat hull with step, cutwater, sponsons, and hand-operated retractable gear for the amphibian. The rest of the structure could be aluminum tube and gusset and Oratex fabric with typical ultralight ladder-frame wings and V-struts or maybe Ercoupe-style wings with Warren-truss ribs and just single struts.
In keeping with the originals, I'd go with an open cockpit with optional enclosure. Ideally folding wings would be designed in as an option and you can see that the parasol configuration with a fold-up flap on the center section makes that relatively straightforward to do.
Who's in? ;-)
