fairchild24

I think building a left half and then a right half is a appendage left over from my childhood days of building rubber band powered "comet" planes !
If you know someone with a medium sized metal lathe you can spin your own cowl I bet. You get a piece of water pipe. Screw a steel flange on end. stack up
plywood disks on it and then cut the disks on the lathe to get the exact shape of the inside of the cowl. Have a threaded hole in th end (where the propellor shaft would
be) Cut a piece of sheet aluminum ( 1100 or 3003 type ) into a round disk, and drill a hole in center for that threaded hole. Bolt the disk on the front of the mendrel
and tighten the bolt. The lathe has to be big enough so that the outer edge of disk does not hit the bed of the lathe. Start the lathe. Use a tool like a piece of oak wood
and beeswax. Just start pushing on the spinning disk - gradualy work it back over the mandrel a little bit at a time. The beeswax lubricates the surface and lets the tool
slip easily. After you get to the other end of the mandrel you cut off the sheet just past the mandrel. ( you can ruin it here if not carefull - maybe just make a groove and then
cut it with dremel ) If the lathe owner is a GOOD frend he might do this for you if you make the mandrel ! A complication with the hughes cowl is that it had a double taper.
Have to figure out a way to make the back half of the mandrel collapse inward so cowl could be remover toward front. I havnt figured out how to do that yet.

The screw jack on the tail idea was used on some full sized planes on the 1930 's. I read that howard hughes went to great lengths to get the horizonal stab at just the perfect
angle so that when changed throttle settings there would be no need to re-trim the elevator. I am building a prototype so I was thinking of that as way to find the perfect
angle for the stab. This is my first searious scratch built plane so I will probably make lots of mistakes !

I think I am going to veneer the leading edges, the tips and the center section . leaving the main areas rear of the spar to be fabric covered. Maybe add cap strips to the
wing ribs where there is not sheeting. This seems to make the ribs a little less noticeable through the fabric.

Still have to figure out how to make the support structurein the fusilage which forms the wing cradle. Also I may make a removable tail cone ( lower half) so the
horizinal stab assyembly can be removed out the back.

I too was thinking about covering with aluminum somehow. I have considered using ONLY aluminum for the skin on the body. Maybe .010 inch sheet like roof
flashing stuff. Thats a little thin for rivets though. Not sure what glue I could depend on there ( if any ) ????? Probably have to do it in rings arround a few inches wide.
Not sure how to do the joints where it would come together. A foil would definately be easier to use ! I saw a material like gold leaf except it is aluminum.
don't know how that would be...... The H-1 had all flush rivets so ugly panel lines wouldn't seem to be appropriate. (sadly I bet the tape would do that well ..)
Not sure if the leaf type would be durrable enough without an overcoat of something clear - which would ruin the neabare aluminum look I would think.

Maybe a working spring / oleo type gear leg ? Thats for later though !

I think it could be a REALLY fast plane if a relatively thin airfoil was used ( and a big engine! )

The real plane was REALLLLY heavy. like 6 or 7000 lbs ! Maybe hughes WAS trying to build a submarine after all !

I will post a pick when there is something worth seing !
It is neat to see yours in the meantime !

Keep up the great work !

T