RE: Engine Pod - how much support?
Hey, thanks BMatthews. Indeed, Porco Rosso should be required viewing for all aviation fans IMHO.
I hadn't considered the availability of solid alloy pieces that I could machine down - just shows my general lack of knowledge about metals vs. wood.
Generally the Porco Rosso plane looks like it is structurally do-able but there are a few obvious weaknesses - the stabilizer/fin connection is one such area and clearly the support struts under the stab will have to play a very active role. The 3-view I included in my first post shows that the elevators have HUGE tip-balancers, and I don't think this is really workable. I don't know for sure, but I don't think the tip balancer should grossly exceed the chord of the elevator.
One note if anyone wants to use the 3-view I posted: look closely and you'll see that the profile view is drawn to a different scale than the top/bottom views. You can't just trace it without correcting the scaling.
Nice thing about doing plans for a fictional plane is that you can be a little bit freer in interpreting the pictures than in a real "scale" project. After all, in the movie, I notice that the hull step shifts back and forth with respect to the cockpit depending on the view. If they can move things around a bit so can I.