Have had the desire to do Spirit of St. Louis for some time. Having seen the replica in the Smithsonian last summer solidified my resolve. I bought the Flyline kit from a friend, and chose to enlarge the plans x 2, ws at 68." She'll be built light, Roughly guessing about 5 lbs. AUW.
The wing is flat bottomed. Would there be an advantage to building it undercambered? Would there be a disadvantage?

I would use the airfoil as is. Not even sure if the Spirit had an undercambered airfoil. Flyline planes are noted for being good fliers.

The replica in the Smithsonian has a flat bottom airfoil. Pics of the original indicated an undercamber, so I was wondering.

I'll be watching for sure, got a Guillows kit a few days ago and hope to build sometime in the future. 68 inches should be a great flyer, with out a doubt at 5 pounds...


Bill

Thanks Bill, I could be a bit optimistic with the 5 Lb. estimate, who knows? Probably learn something along the way.

Originally Posted by phillip57

The replica in the Smithsonian has a flat bottom airfoil. Pics of the original indicated an undercamber, so I was wondering.

Don't know what I was thinkng.... looking at the pics now, can't find a trace of an undercamber!

No rest then Phil! Straight into the next build. This should be interesting? What will you be using for the power plant?
Subbed!

The Spirit in the Smithsonian is the original one--Young Paul Garber, in 1927 a young employee of the Smithsonian, sent a telegram to Paris while Lindbergh was still flying towards France requesting the Spirit for the Smithsonian--he boldness was rewarded when Lindy donated the Spirit. Paul was the guest speaker at a DC Maxecuter Christmas banquet back in the 70s and told us the story.

Also See

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/24/us...e-exhibit.html

I thought the Parisiennes ripped the original to pieces... I snapped many pics of the Spirit for future reference. Thanks for the link!

Gavin I don't know yet what the motor will be. Something in the neighborhood of 500 watts, 3 or 4S.

The orgininal Spirit was damaged some by the crowd in Paris when it landed, but she was shipped back to the US. Watch the movie with Jimmy Stewart playing Lindbergh. The Paris Police got the plane into a hangar and away from the crowd.

We watched the film many many years ago, have to watch it again.

This looks like very interesting build! I'll be watching!

Great to have you along Gupi.

Same here! Good Luck with it.

Pat, I love your Velie Monocoupe build, this is along the same lines.