Looks like 3 were made for the Jimmy Stewart movie, 2 were made by EAA, and both of those had different specs lol documentation can get tricky

What a wonderful build, true craftsmanship is shown here. Subbed up!

Originally Posted by oopsicrashed

What a wonderful build, true craftsmanship is shown here. Subbed up!

Thanks, I consider myself a hack compared to the ol' regulars here, but I'll take all the warm fuzzies I can get!

I took these the last time I went to the Air and Space Museum - I have more - and happy to get you high resolution versions if they will help -

Thanks Shnokey, those are like the ones I have. One cannot get all around the plane due to its location, this limited perspective is as good as it gets.

Originally Posted by phillip57

I've not seen a pic of the original with the gear splayed out like that. Must be an intentional deviation from the original plans, like the minimal dihedral.

I think I can explain the differences in appearance of the landing gear regarding splayed or not splayed. It depends on the weight of the airplane. Thus different pictures of the same airplane can show the wheels splayed sometimes and not splayed other times.

The design of the shock absorbing system is such that the wheels tend to splay out when the airplane is heavily loaded. The springs (or rubber bungee cords) are selected such that the landing gear isn't too highly deflected at full weight. Then when you use up all that fuel, or are in flight, the landing gear pulls together and appears to have the bottoms of the wheels closer together.

If you go to Google images and search for Spirit of St. Louis you can find pictures of the original airplane with bottoms of the wheels pulled in together in flight or hanging on display. I didn't spot any pics of the wheels splayed apart on the original airplane, but that may be because it was only fully fueled a couple of times. The pics taken at Roosevelt Field just before takeoff all seem to have people standing in the way so we can't see the wheels.

By the way, splayed wheels are one of the ways that you can identify worn out bungee cords on a Piper Cub. Cords only last a few years and then you have to put new ones on.

Dick

The aluminum clad cowl beginning with the nose piece. Small cuts will subsequently be made for the pushrod tubes.

I think Dick is 100% correcct, as regards to lg geometry. No doubt he more she was loaded, the wider the stance got. Could also be something to do with it being one of the replicas as well. I guess at least 5 have been built, I'm sure they aren't all the same

Where are you located? Maybe we could graba coffee sometime, or get a flight in...

Mark (in Roseville)

Originally Posted by mrittinger

I think Dick is 100% correcct, as regards to lg geometry. No doubt he more she was loaded, the wider the stance got. Could also be something to do with it being one of the replicas as well. I guess at least 5 have been built, I'm sure they aren't all the same

Where are you located? Maybe we could graba coffee sometime, or get a flight in...

Mark (in Roseville)

I'm the other end of town, Troy. Doesn't look as though there'll be much flying soon with the storm blowing in...

Troys not far...

Guess we'll continue working on the cowl....

She's coming along very nicely Phil. Where did you find the dummy engine? Judging by the timing of your last post there's a lot of midnight oil being burned on this one!

Originally Posted by Chompwat

She's coming along very nicely Phil. Where did you find the dummy engine? Judging by the timing of your last post there's a lot of midnight oil being burned on this one!

Midnight oil mostly, the time spent on it. Progress is slow, holiday time, lots to do. The motor is a Williams bros. 1/8 scale Wright J-5. My LHS stocks a few cylinders, I had him order a complete engine kit.

Originally Posted by phillip57

Midnight oil mostly, the time spent on it. Progress is slow, holiday time, lots to do. The motor is a Williams bros. 1/8 scale Wright J-5. My LHS stocks a few cylinders, I had him order a complete engine kit.

Good choice. It certainly looks the part.

Great effort! I'm just finding this and was pleasantly surprised! Please don't hold it against me as I'm not yet electrified. I am a SoSL fan, in any form,however, and aways enjoy anything related.

A few years back I was involved with a very exacting full scale reproduction. We found the "original drawings" held by San dDego Air & Space Museum erroneous and and after a false start fusleage frame (now part of the replica on display at Lindberg field) sought better documentation. Eventually we found an original loft of the NYP2 and original design sketches by Donald Hall. We also located a Hall rendering of the NYP wing from the file of Posey Bros. Lumber, who made spruce spars for a number of aircraft from the classic era.

There is quite a bit of legend and myth surrounding the design of the aircraft and no end of controversy of who designed what, etc. I got a chucle from mention about the "selection" of the Clark Y airfoil. It should be noted that the Clark Y was the airfoil chosen for the M-1 was probably made by a fellow named Waterhouse. Hall probably "chose it " for SoSL because it existed in M-1 form! Hall did use the profile of Clark Y as the plan view of the balsa wing tip, however. It was planked in large section boards cut between several formers (spar ends and additional formers). The tip appears to be slightly undercambered because its sections are eliptical roughly centered on a spruce tip bow that is inclined (higher at tip extremity= front view) approx 15 deg .

Keep up the good work. I look forward to the flight photos.