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Turning away from making fictional aircraft in a game...

47.7k FlyingThings  4.1 years ago

...To make a real one instead

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As few of you, well barely anyone, know, i've been tinkering with the idea of building an aircraft irl for some time now, a year actually.
And i've finally decided to begin with it.
With the help of books, and probably a few people online, i'll try to get it done before the summer of 2020.

these are its laid out dimensions (whats currently planned)

6 meters in lenght and a 8-10 meter span

sketches for its possible look


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The cockpit is fieseler 105 reichenberg inspired since it looks relatively easy to make. Now i could've gone with a laying down position for the cockpit to make the overall aircraft more sleek, but in case of a crash i'd rather not go face first.
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Well thats all i have for now. Should i do some regular updates on here?
And well, since i dont use this website much anymore, maybe make a discord for it?
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Ah well, see ya
For now...

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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @MethaManAircraft this is one of the books that im using

    4.1 years ago
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    Neat @FlyingThings

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    @FlyingThings also, what books are you using for reference and learning?

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    @FlyingThings no probs! I definitely don't know enough yet, but I am friends with an aeronautical engineer (future dr) and am trying to learn as much as possible now about structural integrity and designing something through calculations (the proper way) rather than trial and error...
    So I hope I can be helpful and experiment myself. Like that we can share what we learn and succeed in our projects a bit easier!

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @ACEPILOT109 glider
    It'll be a glider
    For now...

    4.1 years ago
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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @MethaManAircraft thanks for the links man

    4.1 years ago
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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @DuckMint yeaaah i realized that i'll run into a lot of issues, mostly legality ones with this.
    That wont prevent me from building it tho.

    4.1 years ago
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    48.6k Wogchamp

    Big tip, get this flight approved before even thinking of flying this. Also I would extend your finish date to a couple years, this won't cost $50. This aircraft could potentially cost you thousands.

    Screws, bolts, rivets > ($)
    Your material whether it be galinium, fibre glass($$) , wood(($-$$) what type)
    Canvas fabric($) or carbon fibre($$)
    Think about the servos($$$) needed, manual control surfaces are extremely difficult off the ground.
    Custom glass bending, ($$$)
    That's only the stuff that immediately comes to mind. This is a huge endeavour, I would recommend building a 1:2/1:4 scale mockup rc version first.

    +2 4.1 years ago
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    Or it’s glider?

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    Yes!
    What do you plan to power it with? And the material to make it?

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    The general lift equation is cl * 0.5 * rho * v^2 * surface area. cl being the coefficient of lift determined by the aerofoil and rho the air density in Kg/m^3
    (cl and surface area interchangeable with cd and frontal area for calculating drag)
    also this is for subsonic flow... (wiki)
    A good piece of software to get is Xfoils created by MIT students/teachers. It's nice to tinker with aerofoils and find out coefficients of lift and drag for different aerofoils at different aoa's
    I can also recommend a vid by the late Samm Sheperd which is my inspiration for my flying wing project...

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    7,775 Karzigg

    @FlyingThings your alive!!!

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @MethaManAircraft also i have no idea how to calculate lift.
    That horten glider style plan sounds nice, i actually thought about constructing a glider flying wing style too, buuut i making a plane with a conventional wing layout might be better for a first

    4.1 years ago
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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @ThePilotDude yeeaaah i should do that

    4.1 years ago
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    35.7k ThePilotDude

    If you get real serious about it, consider documenting the experience, maybe posting update videos, timelapses and stuff on youtube

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    @FlyingThings Nice! Looking forward to it! I also want to design and build my own glider (Horten style), but I'm not independent enough yet...

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    That looks epic though, with a proper "blueprint" or in this case white print you might have a chance of it actually flies, just remember that you need to find thermal when flying a glider

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @MethaManAircraft
    1. Trial and error.
    2. Yes
    3. I honestly have no idea what order i will build this in
    maybe cockpit, then tail, rudder, wings, about in that order
    4. Only copying the cockpit since it seems easy to make

    4.1 years ago
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    What approach are you taking to calculate lift, aerofoil, drag, weight, geometry, etc...
    Would you feel like documenting your process for us?
    What order are you doing things in?
    Are you "copying" the fieseler and seeing if it flies or actually designing it yourself to fly well first hand?

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    47.7k FlyingThings

    @WarHawk95 as long as it works, the look doesnt really interest me.
    I need to make an ugly glider first to grasp the basics of flying, before making a glider that one could call beautiful.
    Like the ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan...

    +4 4.1 years ago
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    9,245 UraniumOxide

    Niiiiiiice!

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    34.7k WarHawk95

    Dude, are you really gonna build a Reichenberg-like glider ?!?
    I wonder how many ppl will think you're crazy...
    But that thing looks terible !!!

    +1 4.1 years ago
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    15.7k Vidal99977

    That's going to be a thicc one.

    +1 4.1 years ago