Oh... yeah... first on the board...

Success have you with Force young Padiwan, now balance you must
feeelll the carbon flowwww it shall, surface you see shall be in your hand, yet balance you learn with diamonds, remember the balance: 2 diamonds for one bird, Ignore past reflexes of shameful failures: become one with balance now find one cat you must but not from wife- she is who diamonds are, yes?

but in reality guys, would ya like to hear a story of a Navion eating a Mooney 251? gotta diskify the negatives! or Osh Kosh '85??

I've been meaning to mention this.

Anyone interested in a 1/4 scale Ray Hayes (Skybench) AS-K18? Fuse is around 90% complete, wings around 75%. All wood. Built by a great builder. These fly great! If interested contact Keith (KWMTRUBRIT) or shoot me a message and I can hook you up with him. I'd buy it in a heartbeat but already have a flyable one. Model is in Little Rock, AR but can be delivered to the Huntsville Aerotow or Keith can be met between LR and H'ville, or I can deliver between the meet and Pensacola. Shipping, though possible might be an issue.

Originally Posted by Captain Canardly

but in reality guys, would ya like to hear a story of a Navion eating a Mooney 251? gotta diskify the negatives! or Osh Kosh '85??

I think I know this one Cap'n but may be a different incident. PLEASE share it with the crowd!

Sean, I wish I could! I would in a heartbeat, too. I love scalies!

Always up for a good yarn Cap'n.

Sean and Keith, certainly! but there is just that same old tyranny of distance. it'll not take long to be snapped up by the right person I would bet.

To much work and not enough play here, 10hr nightshifts... come late November, come and take me back home to a normal life involving recreational hobbies, what a great dream!

The Skybench K-18 was under construction by Stan that passed away a couple of months ago. Keith is trying to help his widow through these trying times. I'd grab it in a heartbeat but I have way too many projects in line already. The problem with long range shipping is how fragile the glider is at this stage of construction. I had that problem when I sold a similar scale job at the same point of the build. There was much more wood by weight and sq. ft in the shipping crate than in the model and that doesn't help with shipping costs at all. These kind of deals usually work out best in a friend to friend relay. That's how I got one of mine here from Connecticut. Went from there to Illinois, then to north Alabama, down to south AL and then on to me. Sort of like the Olympic torch.

Idle curiosity, how much is he asking?

Could come back to it's home in Indiana, yet, California Dreaming would be a choice place.
I would quick est shipping only at $250.00, unless it just fits within FedEx maxes or one wishes to risk Greyhound, then at $125.00.

Hey katie,

I don't know. We discussed that the other night and Keith is going to figure out a fair number. Money is going to Stan's widow. I'll be talking to him tonight and we'll come up with a price.

Can it be done, build a unlimited class sailplane that can compete with the synthetic ships without using carbon or glass? I know the use of carbon and glass are commonly accepted in the construction of our sailplanes and when you get to the unlimited big boy, and girl, planes about the only wood in them is maybe the servo tray. But, can a competitive, full house sailplane be built only from wood. Now I will exclude wing joiners and pushrods and things like that. I am talking about the airframe, no carbon caps, no glass on the fuselage.

Now we might need to think outside our regular building box, different woods might need to come into play for the spars, maple, hickory for example, butternut veneer for wing skins, same weight as obechi but possibly stronger. How strong would a truss framework with sheeting be for the aft parts of a fuselage?

Tell me what you think woddie builders. Do you think it could be done? It would need a modern thin airfoil, full camber ability, stand up to a big launch, maybe not a 2 man tow but a respectable 12 volt winch launch should not cause concern. Let's say 3.2 to 3.5 meter span and under 70 oz. Does that sound about right? Let's talk about it.

Wayne

I could probably add a full-house version of the three meter Chrysalis to my list. Dunno about stretching it to more than 3 meters, not sure that's necessary. Other than that, it's already everything on your list. Only carbon in it is the joiner rods in the wing.

Still trying to get the RES version done, in between getting unpacked after moving back from Michigan, and getting settled into my new day job.

Originally Posted by Windependence

Can it be done, build a unlimited class sailplane that can compete with the synthetic ships without using carbon or glass? I know the use of carbon and glass are commonly accepted in the construction of our sailplanes and when you get to the unlimited big boy, and girl, planes about the only wood in them is maybe the servo tray. But, can a competitive, full house sailplane be built only from wood. Now I will exclude wing joiners and pushrods and things like that. I am talking about the airframe, no carbon caps, no glass on the fuselage.

Now we might need to think outside our regular building box, different woods might need to come into play for the spars, maple, hickory for example, butternut veneer for wing skins, same weight as obechi but possibly stronger. How strong would a truss framework with sheeting be for the aft parts of a fuselage?

Tell me what you think woddie builders. Do you think it could be done? It would need a modern thin airfoil, full camber ability, stand up to a big launch, maybe not a 2 man tow but a respectable 12 volt winch launch should not cause concern. Let's say 3.2 to 3.5 meter span and under 70 oz. Does that sound about right? Let's talk about it.

Wayne

Off the top of my head:

Airfoil accuracy: It would be really hard to beat a moldie there.

AUW-Strength: Probably could be done by someone that's much better than I at building and wood selection.

Having said the above I would still say the big determining factor would be the pilot. What the woodie might lose in AF efficiency could be made up in skill.

If I ever get around to building an OIII in full house I'd fly it in competition but that isn't saying much since my flying skill level would be my doom anyway.

A butternut veneer? I would soooo varnish that sucker.

As far as research into other woods to use goes... I've got a program that lists all of the properties of about 950 different woods that could be of great use in determining which woods besides the usual could be helpful in such a build. It lists pretty much everything you would need or want to know about a wood (but were afraid to ask). I picked it up years ago for my other wood working endeavors and it's proven itself to be worth it's weight in gold at times.

If we happen to come up with a wood that would be perfect but is hard to find, I also have connections for just about any wood we'd need including some very exotic ones.