scottpdx

I would like to build a quarter scale Grumman American Tiger (AA5B). I have done lot of searches and I am coming up empty handed. I would like to know when you decide on a new plane to build, where do you get all the information that is necessary to make plans for it. I went as far as calling the Aircraft Manufactuer and they were not able to help me. I know that this is not a well know or popular aircraft, but a good friend of mine owns one and I would like to scale it after his.





This is the orignal factory paint scheme.

Any help or direction in which to look would be greatly appreciated.


Scott

dolanosa

Just wondering, when you checked the aircraft manufacturer, did you check with Grumman or did you check with Tiger Aircraft? I think they might be better to deal with rather than Grumman. I think they and other big businesses making planes and such are still ticked off that no one has to pay for making models of their products. Another think you can do is to slice a plastic scale model of it.

BMatthews

If he's a very good friend then do what many others have done and go measure up the real one and make a set of drawings from that. Yes it's a lot of work but in the end it may be the only way to do it.

scottpdx

I talked with Tiger Aircraft, they refered me to someone who use to work for Grumman, but now has his own shop. He does service for the older Tigers. Tiger Aircraft does not deal with the AA5B's, only the new ones (AH5B). Although there is very little cosmetic changes between the two, they where not willing to share the line drawings for that aircraft either.

I was trying to avoid makeine measurement off the plane, but I thought I would use that as a last resort. Is it difficiult to get the airfoil that way? I think most of the other measurement would be straight forward.

Thanks for the input

Scott

aerowoof

there is an gruman office that will send imformation that they have including 3 veiws for a small fee.seems like it was in new york or con. search rcu for grumman and it may show up,I will look and see if I can find the address

Ron S

My Feedback: (2)

If this is the same as a Grumman American AA-1B (2 seater, trike gear), this is listed in the drawings section of my 99 Bob Banka catalog. This might get you started. I'm just not sure if it's the same aircraft.
www.bobsairdoc.com

aerowoof

Northrop Grumman History Center
South Oyster Bay Road, Bethpage, NY 11714
Phone 516-575-2401

Daren Savage

My Feedback: (6)

There was a Grumman guy who was offering plans (kit?) for a 1/4 scale Tiger a while back. It was for the easy part, of course; the hard parts--cowl and glass he left up to you.

The Tiger/Cheetah is actually a pretty simple design. It's shaped very much like a model with almost no compound curves except for the cowl and canopy.

You might want to contact someone at the American Yankee Association (AYA-- http://www.aya.org/ ) or the Grumman Gang ( http://www.grumman.net/ ). I don't recall the guy's name who was offering the kit/plans, but someone there might.

One thing to keep in mind. These are nice flying airplanes (much better than Cessna, Piper, et al), but they are NOT aeroabatic. All GA Grummans (AA1, AA5, AG5B) are restricted from spins as they are unrecoverable. As an aside, I don't believe your paint sceme is a factory paint job, unless it was a one-off. I've seen that one, but can't remember who owns it right off hand.

You can see some more Grummans on our site at http://geocities.com/tiger67bravo/

The hard part about building a Grumman will be the nose wheel steering. All AA1/AA5/AG5Bs have a castoring nose wheel and tube nose gear strut. Ground steering is done with brakes. It can be done. Robart had a few 1/4 scale nose wheel struts that places the nose wheel steering servo inside the wheel pant. http://www.robart.com/closeout.aspx

If they still have any in stock, I'd grab it quick. It's a killer price.



Tiger Aircraft won't be much help since they've all but shut down operation. They have two employees left and very little money. Mostly just sending out parts and supporting their Tigers.

Daren

scottpdx

Thanks you for all the input. I was able to find someone with 1/5 scale palns. I think I will order those and enlarge them to quarter scale, also Robart still has some of the nose gears so I ordered one of those too.

Thanks again for the help

Scott