allanflowers

I get that there is a lot of traditionalist resistance and BIAS against liteply. I have seen this for many years, as long as the material has been in popular usage.
As I have said in the past, a designer has to be aware of and conversant with many materials, adhesives, processes and structures. Even the traditionalist’s “stick” fuselage is dependent on decent (and historically recent) available glues.
Liteply is just another material, and it has to be evaluated IN CONTEXT of many other issues. Typically it is weak in one plane, a bit heavier than some (sheet balsa) construction but amazingly good at making CAD-ACCURATE glue-together structures. I produced a fuselage for a kitted E-V that you can build on your lap - with far better accuracy in terms of the usual fuselage twist associated with ANY other type of build. One can put this fuselage together in an hour, and know for a fact that the tail planes will actually line up correctly with the UC and the wings. 30 plus custom kits out… no complaint about the liteply.
I also did a 1/6th scale Siemens Schuckurt D-3, using lite ply for many components. This model is absolutely museum scale (and is in fact on permanent display at the San Diego Aerospace Museum). Believe it or not, liteply was the obvious and best possible answer in many cases to match the D-3’s historical ring construction, making for the best possible SCALE solution. In fact I used a sandwich of 1/8” sheet balsa bonded to 1/8” liteply (cross grain) for the fuselage rings…. just a matter of knowing and utilizing each material’s properties.
Of course it is necessary to know, respect and deal with the weaknesses of a material, along with its significant advantages.
That is what a true designer does.
In regards to the comment that other saws are faster at doing interior cuts than my saw, that is absurd. You should see me do one of these fuselage panels, simply drilling a 1/4” hole in each interior bay – then zipping it out. I have several coping saws and have used them a lot. I am quite aware of their abilities and will always used them when they are the best choice.


Currently I have five models hanging from my ceiling that are traditional built-up construction (some liteply, some stick) AND five (please forgive me) FOAMIES. I would have denounced these evil things a few years back but they are fantastic, adding so much enjoyment at this stage of my life. I know that my collection of scale awards at various regional meets around California and Arizona will not grow with these foamies. So be it.