DrBoss302

Hi guys,

Found this site while surfing the web and a rush of childhood memories came back.

My introduction to gas powered planes was in the early 70's when I received a complete volume of Popular Mechanics "Do It Yourself" books. As I was thumbing through, Roy L. Clough's Hoopskirt airplane caught my eye. A .020 powered hooped shaped barrel wing. Wow, that was cool. There were several other models by Roy within the set such as a "Waterbug", "hovercraft", "Gyrocopter", to name a few from memory.

I built two Hoopskirts. The first was finished in 1971 and weighed a "ton". I made a pilots head from my Mattel Fighting Men ThingMaker Set and used Testors' enamel paint to paint the tissue. It was not correctly balanced and even if it was, it still would have plummeted to the ground when trying to trim.



My second attempt was finished during our nation's bicentennial and flew several flights. What a great sense of accomplishment to see that free flight Hoopskirt roll back and forth as she gained altitude. Look at the amount of forward weight I added to the nacelle to have it balanced. That weight was nothing but melted solder shaped and cooled in a bottle cap. I still have that "Bicentennial Hoopskirt".



In 1978 I purchased blue transparent "microfilm" and all the balsa to make a lighter 3rd version, but never got around to it.

Oh, by the way, that .020 cost $6.98 in 1971.

Well anyway, the main reason for the aforemention information is, does anybody know if Mr. Clough ever assembled a book pertaining to his wonderful models?? If not, does anybody know of an archival list of magazines, books etc that his projects were published in.

Mr. Clough was an extremely talented man and gave me a great sense of pride when I completed and successfully flew his model. There was limited first hand information available about model aviation from where I grew up. Determined persistence to get that Hoopskirt to fly was a stepping stone to overcome other obstacles as I have walked through life. Thank you Mr. Clough.

Cheers

DocBoss

dicknadine

fantastic. would you happen to have the plans laying around? sure would make a fantastic Giant R/C model? dick

Joe Nagy

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Hi Doc Boss;

Loved your story.

Joe Nagy, In Florida.

Joe Nagy

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Doc Boss;

Greetings from rainy, hot'n'humid Florida.

I have come across a couple more interesting articles by Roy Clough Jr.:

a. in the 19/54 issue of Air Trails, pg 38, is a construction article for WIND WAGON, a tethered prop-rod type of car, powered by a .09>.29 engine.

b. and just today a came across item # 5905874594, in eBay, for a CL design article from 1947-48, using a 'stressed-paper-skin' construction method that he had developed; far ahead thinking on his part.

Anyways, Mr. Clough seems to have been a modellers' developemental engineer for sure, covering a vast area of endeavours. I hope this info is of interest to you also, best regards from the Gulf Coast of Florida,

Joe Nagy.

DrBoss302

dicknadine:

I found the plans and instructions being relisted on ebay here:

Hoopskirt Plans and Construction

This item has been relisted. I can't lay my hands on my original instructions since last seen in 1976. Hope this helps.

Joe Nagy:

Thanks for the information. I'll look them up.

Cheers

DocBoss

dicknadine

thanks JOE. still need basic HELP, am not a Ebay user and tried to punch in what you said and my machine said 'no such thing'. can you help me futher ? all of my Ebay buddies are out of town. dick

Joe Nagy

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Dicknadine:

Re the eBay item above: I tried standard eBay Search...nothin'; then clicked Advanced Search, just entered word 'hoopskirt', 8 items popped up, the last of which is the item listed above, it is eBay # 5908084091. Just enter that # into the standard eBay Search and it should pop rite up for you. I do like the first of the 2 plans articles listed; the saucer shaped parasol wing FF, looks real interesting, as does the discussed hoop/barrel shaped wing.

Let me know if you need more assistance with ebay, glad to help out; best regards from really hot'n'humid Gulf Coast Florida,

Joe Nagy. email: [email protected]

DrBoss302

DickNadine

I see that I'm having trouble automatically sending you to the ebay site, therefore type the following number 5908084091 into the searchbar at ebay to locate the article.

Here you'll find the original article I used in 1971 for building "Hoopskirt" from the Popular Mechanics volume "Do It Yourself". Hope this helps with your endeavors.

Cheers

DocBoss

ChuckAuger

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you will have to replace the **** with the letters "e b a y" without the " " RCU won't allow links to E B A Y auctions.

fritzke

My Feedback: (1)

Here it is:
Dave
1968 Popular Mechanics do-it-yourself Encyclopedia,
p46, Roy Clough Jr.
TROT THIS MODEL out on the field at your next
meet and watch the eyes bug. If anybody snickers,
put 'em in their place by reminding them that the
annular wing is a very old aeronautical principle.
Then launch your Hoopskirt. If its tradition hasn't
impressed them, its performance is certain to!

At least a half-dozen full-scale planes (plus
innumerable kites and gliders) have been built on the
"flying barrel" design. One of the initial aircraft made
by Ellehammer---the first Dane to fly---took this form.
Louis Blerriot, the daring Frenchman who was the
first to fly the English Channel, perched one on
floats and tried, with indifferent success, to get it off
the water. The French are still at it; their latest
attempt at annular-winged aircraft is a tail sitting jet.

One of the big advantages of this design is its
propulsive efficiency. Efficiency in a flying system is
highest when the velocity of the discharged air is
almost as great as the forward speed of the plane.
This means that it's better to
move a lot of air relatively slowly than a small
amount at high speed. (It's rather like matching
impedances.) The annular wing with a propeller
ahead of it functions as an effective aspirator to
increase the amount of air thrust backward.

Such a wing has more lift than you might think.
The closed-circuit nature of the airfoil eliminates
wing-tip vortices. Theoretically, a hoop-wing plane
shouldn't have to bank in order to turn. This model
does, however, because of the vertical stabilizing fin
at the top of the wing. This was added to produce
an effect comparable to dihedral.

The Hoopskirt is an extremely stable flying
machine. It'll teach you a lot about this off-beat
configuration. Don't let the circular wing scare you---
it's quite easy to build. Any cylinder with a diameter
of about 10 in. (a half inch either way won't hurt)
can serve as a mold for the two spars. I used a
straight-sided layer-cake pan. The spars can be of
any light wood that bends easily when soaked in
hot water. Bind these
around the mold with a strip of rag. When dry, trim
the ends in long, matching bevels to form the lap
shown in the sketch; cement and bind with sewing
thread.

You can trace the wing-rib pattern directly onto
your balsa, stacking blanks to cut as many at once
as you can manage. The slots in each end are 3/32 in.
wide and 1/4 in. deep. The width should provide a
snug fit over the spars. When these hoops are
seated in the notches, their outer edges will
protrude 1/16 in. for rounding off.

An easy way to space the ribs accurately is to set
the spar-mold cylinder on a piece of cardboard and
scribe around it to produce a circle the same
diameter as the spars. Mark off sixteen rib positions
by means of radius lines and assemble the wing
vertically over this pattern.

Cover the frame one section at a time with light
model-plane tissue. Sections into which the strut,
fin or booms will pass can be left uncovered until
assembly is completed---or you can cover the entire
wing and then slit the paper
of these sections when you install parts that must be
cemented to the ribs. Water-shrink the paper; when
dry, give it a coat of clear dope.

Careful alignment of all balsa parts pays off in
good performance. Don't diminish the strength of
the rock-hard-balsa booms by sanding off the
corners---leave them square.

The tail plane has a deeply-notched trailing edge,
backed up with parallel pieces of soft wire cemented
to the wood. These wires---which can be snipped
from a paper clip---will hold any flight-adjustment
bends you may give the two elevator sections after
trial runs. An annular wing operates at zero
incidence, so you'll have to bend the elevators up
two or three degrees to get an angle of attack for
climb. Bending one elevator up more than the other
makes the model turn in that direction. The rudders
have no adjustments, and are simply cemented to the
sides of the booms after the tail plane is in place.

The engine-pilot nacelle is given a coat of
pigmented dope after the motor is fastened on its
plywood mount. The color scheme of the model
shown is: red nacelle, rudders and fin: natural white
wing; silver booms, strut and tail plane— a highly
visible combination against a blue sky.

For best performance, be sure the model balances
at a point about 1 1/4-in. ahead of the trailing edge of
the wing. An easy way to balance the plane is to
stick straight pins into both booms 1 1/4-in. ahead of
the trailing edges. Support the plane on these pins
between two stacks of books, and add weight---in
the form of bits of clay, small pieces of lead, etc.---to
either the nose or the tail until the plane is
suspended between the books in a level flight
position.

Hand launch the model over tall grass until, by
bending the elevators up a little at a time, you get a
flat glide. As a check on these adjustments try a
flight with the motor running rich, then lean it out
and watch your model zoom.

This is a free-flying model, and has not been
adapted for control-line operation. It is a stable flyer,
and when out of fuel, it will glide gracefully to a
landing if you balanced it carefully.

If you're flying it in a limited space, it's a good
idea to burn off some of the fuel before turning it
loose, because the model travels at a good clip.

In any event, you'll draw a good many curious
glances---and perhaps a few snorts of derision
when you take Hoopskirt out for its first flight.
Any snickers in your direction, though, will quickly
change to whistles of admiration when onlookers see
the stability of the "flying barrel," one of the earliest
of all aircraft designs.

DrBoss302

Fritzke

Boy, after reading that and looking at the construction diagram, it makes me want to build it again after 33 years from the first one built. Thanks for posting the info.

Which leads me back to my original question, namely:

I've always enjoyed his 1/2A cars (Hovercraft), boats (Waterbug), and freeflight (Hoopskirt) models. Thanks to all for any leads or info on how to compile a list.

Cheers

DocBoss

dicknadine

Got it, Thanks a lot. its already planned to be on the drawing board real soon. will be an upscaled RC version, size TBD. will give me more experimentation experience with bending/ fabricating the hoops that big. 1st idea is to laminate them to leading/trailing shapes. will keep you posted. may even take the place of the Dornier Do L2 seaplane. -- what size hoop would you suggest? what class would a 36" dia fit into?if I'm not wrong, it would equate to approx 113"ws 24" =75"ws. power is no problem, as I have all size engines avilable. think electric might be too heavy. so HELP from all. dick

dicknadine

have gotten started on the upscale. its going at a 13 3/4 X inlargement to 86.9" and chord of 8.875". plan on a symetical airfoil. will make it a giant scale class. plans are drawn, with a Enya .46,4 cycle for power, van go up to .70 if needed. 4 channel. now fabing the circular bending form for L.E. and T.E. both will be 3/16 laminated 3/16 sheet. plan on constant symetrical airfoil, my shape, with 6 stringers,radially. will sheet it if necessary to manitain a constant shape after covering, both ID and OD. any ideas or questions?? will be another odd ball at the field and fly-ins. whats tour response?? will keep you posted. dick

Strat2003

My Feedback: (1)

Dunno if this deserves a new thread or not, but...
How do you pronounce "Clough"?
Is it "cloff" or "clow" or "cluff" or something else I haven't thought of?

dicknadine

couldn't wait. here is the form for the leading and trailing edge 3/32 lamination strips. will glue them together tomorrow, after the dew gets out of the balsa. so far this has been a fun model. will keep you posted. dick

dicknadine

guess there's not too much interest out there in NEVER/NEVER LAND. will keep plodding ahead. so far its been a fun thing to engineer, really not worried about flight performance, it will make another good ceiling hanger to brag about. dick

DrBoss302

Roy L. Clough, Jr. last name is pronounced as "cluff". Hope this helps.

DocBoss

DrBoss302

dicknadine:

It's great to see someone tackle the same model that I first built in 1971:



Keep posting developments with pictures. Problems challenging for me included applying tissue without wrinkles to the inside ribs next to the booms and forming the hoop spars without eventually kinking them as the tissue dried.

Let me know what size engine you plan to use as a possible free flight.

Keep building and posting. Until next time...

Cheers

DocBoss

johnvb-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

Oh I think people are probably open-mouthed at the thought of carting a 7 foot round wing to a flying field, along with the 10ft(?) fuselages. I couldn't even get such a thing in my shed! Did I get the size right, 86.9 inches? More power to your arm Dick, and please keep us posted. I'd certainly love to see something like this fly, should be beautifully slow.

dicknadine

sorry, the dia is only 27 1/4". attached is the laminated leading edge, now to shape it. the trailing edge in similar process. not sure about maintaining contour between ribs, will probably sheet it over few stringers. this is the fun of scratch building-- if it doesn't work-- start over. still anticipating the oh's and aw's when it shows up at field. dick

dicknadine

Boy, did I screw up this noon. sanded a perfect leading edge. guess what ? its only 90 degrees off. can't take a straight wing and make a circle out it. more balsa gets scabbed on tomorrow and start over. its going to be strong enough, 4 layers of 3/32, yellow glue. will keep you posted. dick

dicknadine

sorry about the duplicate image. the yellow stuff (glue) doesn't keep you awake. dick

johnvb-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

You've discovered a new way to make two left wings!

dicknadine

how did you discover my secret? believe me it ain't easy. have a house full of family, all in town to celebrate my 80th. will get back with modeling next Monday and continue to keep yaalll posted. dick

DrBoss302

Happy Birthday Dick and many more...

Keep posting on updates of the Hoopskirt. Until next time...

Cheers

DocBoss