Just started this winter's building project, a 1/4 scale Scheibe L-Spatz 55, from a plan.
I got the plan from VTH in Gemany. Scale actually is a bit bigger than 1/4, at 1 :3.83 ( weird number... ), resulting in a wing span of 3.92 m ( 154 in ) , and a fuselage length of 165 cm ( 64 in ).

I designed a set of ribs in Compufoil, and will have them laser cut, parts for fuselage and stabs I will cut myself.
Fuselage is built of plywood, Liteply and spruce.

Example of how nice this model can look ( if you know how to build... ) :
The first 2 pics are from the home page of Michael Ohlwein in Germany, he is one of the best, if not the best builder of large scale wooden sailplanes.
Here the link to his HP : http://www.m-ohlwein.de/ .

I just hope that my Spatz turns out half as nice as his...


Here a few pics of the early stages of mine:

Plans for fuselage :
Wings and stabs:
This bunch of wood is supposed to become an airplane.....
The fuselage is built upside down in a jig box :
Only the forward part of the fuselage is built in the regular "formers & stringers" type construction, the aft part is assembled stick by stick, and will have no sheeting, only fabric covering
A bit tedious, to say the least.....


To be continued.....

Michael

looks to be coming along very nice, will be following this one! its huge toooo
mike

Nice model,

congratulations Michael. The Spatz is allways an impressive plane. With simple, clear lines and a fragile structure shining in the sun.

I saw Oliver Theedes large 1:2.5 Spatz in Hamburg two years ago. iIt was the biggest glider during the show.
here is his website:
http://www.oliver-theede-oldtimersegler.de/

Looks nice. I hope that the model does not show all the traits of the original? i.e. Ailerons stall at large deflections at low speed high alpha making it interesting at times on launch and whilst scratching. I admit to being towards the min-cockpit load but I was a good 14lb in.
The other one based at the same club spun in a couple of seasons later.
It will still look a wonderful model.

Regards
GeeW

Some progress, all the diagonal bracing in the tailboom is in, getting ready to install the fuselage side stringers.

Michael,

Very NICE!! I love the L-Spatz 55, have the 108" Arnold Hoffman plan, but the 3.92m VTH plan is much nicer. I will be following this thread with much interest.

BTW, I like your fuselage jig. It's the only way to do this. Good work.

Don.

Hi Michael
What a delightfull sailplane. Can you let me know more about the source of plans as I would be most interested in building this one. Do you know the rib profile details used on the original as I use Profili to run out my ribs. I presume the plan details are in german.
Good build, will be following it with relish.
John

@ Don :
Thanks !
The idea for the fuselage jig came from my Bergfalke build from the Chris Williams plan, he recommends this to build the fuselage, and it worked well. I also used it on the fuse of my 1/3 scale Grunau Baby, it really makes it a lot easier to build a straight fuselage.

@franciscan :
I don't know what airfoil the original uses, my Simmons book says : "Scheibe airfoil with 14% " thickness.
The plan uses a E207 at the root. transitioning to a E205 at the tip.
From what I heard from other modelers, who built the model from this plan, this combination works very well.

Michael

A Little more progress:

Fuselage side stringers and diagonal bracing in cockpit area is installed

Well, only a little progress this time...
First, because I did not have a whole lot of time, second, because I already had my first ( probably not the last.... ) mess-up during this build....
Since the fuse is built upside down, I got mixed up when installing the diagonal braces in the cockpit area, and installed them upside down, too...

So these had to come out and be replaced.
But now, the fuselage skeleton is ready, and out of the jig box :

On the pics, the additional stringers in the cockpit area are just installed, and I am waiting for the glue to cure.

Next step will be sanding and planking the nose and cockpit area.

Michael, looks great. Amazing how a small pile of "sticks" turns into such an elegant fuse. And strong, too!

Can't wait for the next installment.

Regards,

Steve

Started to sand and clean up the fuselage skeleton to get it ready for planking.
Installed balsa fillets in the nose area, so that the planking has more surface to hang on to

Also made the rail on which the canopy frame will rest

Beautiful work!

Originally Posted by SZD16

Beautiful work!

what he said!!! well done
mike

No progress to report, but my ribs( well, the model's ribs..) arrived today, had them laser cut by Alex at AK-Models .

The first 10 ribs are 1/8 Liteply, the rest is 1/8 balsa.
All ribs have cutouts for weight saving, only the ribs in the area where the spoilers will be mounted are solid.
And I brought in a modification to the plan, in the d-box area the wing will have double the amount of ribs than aft of the spar,
this improves torsional stiffness, also, the sheeting is not so easily crushed when handling the wings during assembly/disassembly at the field.