Hi!
I'm just thinking about building my first seaplane, have never flown on the water before. I have experience mostly with foam-building, my last project was ''giant'' PZL M-18 B Dromader, wingspan 2000mm, all made of 4mm thermoplan. Well, that's probably the way I'd like to go- styro construction, very very light. In Dromader, I used Dualsky Xmotor 400A [ www.horejsi.cz] with 3 Li-pol cells 1050mAh and it has planty of power, actualy half throttle is enaugh for normal flight. AUW is only 900g!! And it flies realy slow...
Well in my first seaplane, I'd like to use the same power set. And here it is : http://wmilitary.neurok.ru/sh2.html
My idea is wingspan around 1700mm, weight under 900g, all made of styrofoam.
What do you guys think about it? Has enyone built one before? Will it fly well?

Look what I found:

There was a nice free plan for the Shavrov Sh 2 in one of the English magazines, Aviation Modeler International a few years back. It was sized for 020 FF, but it would scale nicely to any size.

You can also order the plan here:

http://www.wiseowlmagazines.com/inde...5&categoryid=6

I do not remember the back issue, but if someone does, you could order the old mag back issue for a mere 8 bucks from the same web site. The plan was a free pull out newsprint plan.

Thank you. But since I found those plans of real ship scaled 1:20, i can't stop thinking about building it clasical method- balsa wood and playwood construction. Friend of mine has a large printer, so that he could easily print the original plans in scale I wanted.
But I'm not sure about this. You know, it would spent much more time building the wooden construction compared to the foamy. Also the weight would increase and my power unit would not be strong enaugh. Flight speed would also increase...
The only thing I'm sure about is the landing gear. I will surely make fnctional retracted gear, so that it'll be able to taxi from the sand beach to the water and vice-versa.

By the way, this s my Dromader:

Originally Posted by ivo

Thank you. But since I found those plans of real ship scaled 1:20, i can't stop thinking about building it clasical method- balsa wood and playwood construction. Friend of mine has a large printer, so that he could easily print the original plans in scale I wanted.

The plan I mentioned is of classic balsa and plywood construction, not foam.

Certainly not hard to build one from those very detailed copies of the real plans listed above, either.

A well designed balsa model will usually end up as light as a foam one.

My wife & I are currently building a pair of mostly-foam Shavrov SH-26 Ambulance planes. I cannot tell you how pleased we are that you posted that great information! Those are details that we did not have before, and they are greatly appreciated!
Our planes are fairly small, not quite 1 meter wingspan. They use the lower wing of a GWS Tiger Moth 400 for their upper wing, and cut-down Cox Spitfire wings for the lower. Motors are 1500 KV outrunners, to be driven by 2S, 2100 mAh Li Ion cells. Attached is a photo of progress to date.
Your Dromader looks very much like our friend's Piper PA-28 "Pawnee", which does not have a radial engine. It is large, (1/4th scale, gas powered).

Originally Posted by Lancer31

My wife & I are currently building a pair of mostly-foam Shavrov SH-26 Ambulance planes. I cannot tell you how pleased we are that you posted that great information! Those are details that we did not have before, and they are greatly appreciated!

I'm glad those information will help you. Your Shavrov is very nice. Am I right if I see a functional retratcts? What is her weight? And whatabout the rretracts construction?

Actualy I think, I'll build two of these beauties- one smaller, all made of Styrofoam, powered by that Xmotor 400A. Just to be sure about the flight characteristics.
Well and than, I would like to try to build a bigger one- wingspan around 2000mm, wooden construction, fully functional as the original one. Of course with the retracts, and hood wing [not sure if using the right word, sorry, English is not my mother tongue ]. You know, so that it could be placed longitudinaly with the fuselage during the transport. To power this big-one, I could probably use Xmotor PR40 with Li-pol 11,1V/ 3700mAh. Or maby a four stroke engin, but I'm not a friend of fuel...

I estimate the flying weight will be less than 500g. (As pictured above, and with all equipment on scale, weight was 436g).
The retracts use a re-worked Robart #123 mechanism, as shown in the attached picture.
We, too, intend to build larger versions, and now, with such splendid drawings, that is a much more attractive project! (Some very nice 5-cylinder radial engines are available. Wouldn't THAT be nice)?
Also attached are 2 photos sent to me by a fine gentleman named Al Stix, a.stix@sbcglobal.net, who is Director of the Air Museum, in Saint Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., where this SH-2 is displayed. The museum also sells Shavrov SH-2 "T"-shirts!

Very nice and useful photos. That retracting mechanism looks also great.
Yesterday, I started converting the original plans from JPEG to Dxf format, but I'm not sure if it's a right way. I used a WinTopo freeware as a converting program, but after vectoring the original plan, there is so much mistakes and errors... Therefore I started repearing it and it looks like a never ending work.
The reason why I wanted to do this is that after converting to Dxf, I could cut all the playwood parts using CNC cutter and the work on it would go much faster. Also the ribs of the wing and all more complicated parts could be cut.
Well, it looks like a long-time project.

I took a look at the WinTopo also, and while better than the one I tried several years ago, it still does leave a lot of work to be done! I am trying some other possibilities, so we shall see.
By the way, your command of english is better than some posters on these forums, whose mother tongue IS english! As long as modelers can communicate, that is what is important, I think.
On that subject, the only cyrillic I think I deciphered from this whole thread is "Aeroflot", on the bow of the Saint Louis SH-2, and only then because I had seen it on airliners, and I think I read that that organization did the restoration!
It would be helpful to know what those legends say, in your drawings.

The British "Radio Modeller" magazine had a 60" span SH-2 for a .20 -.25 as a free plan in the February 97 issue.

Originally Posted by Kiwi

The British "Radio Modeller" magazine had a 60" span SH-2 for a .20 -.25 as a free plan in the February 97 issue.

Hmm, wish I had this magazine...

PM me with your email address and I'll send you some scans.

Originally Posted by Kiwi

The British "Radio Modeller" magazine had a 60" span SH-2 for a .20 -.25 as a free plan in the February 97 issue.

I am interested in all documents on SHAROV SH2 ...
If I could have the scans
Thank you