Well here I go... I'm gonna do it. I've obtained a set of Supra Fly 2500 plans that I scaled down to match Hanno's 60 size specs. Thanks again bem!
It will be foam core wings, stab, and turtle decks. I have an original cowl that I will try to reproduce in glass. I also have a new canopy that Will need to be reproduced. I'm not sure about that one yet. I hope that anyone who has any pics or info post it here for all to see. I'll try to post pics as I get into this project.
I've been wanting to do this for a long time and started one other time on the 45. Please wish me luck! I'll need it!!!

Chris

Good Luck!!

Does anyone know the airfoil Hanno used on this? I'll probably just digitize it into cad.

He's the scaled drawing, original cowl, original canopy and new OS ready to go. The fuse formers, and wing templates are digitized into cad and will be sent out for cutting tomorrow.

Chris,

great project. Surely you've also seen Steve's 2500 build in the forum.

What are you going to use for landing gear?

David.

I have seen that thread. I was originally going to build the bigger 2500 but really didn't want that big of a plane right now.

There's no way I could build this plane and not have retracts. I do plan on using new style Supra's

Hi,

I assume You have seen that stab and wing templates on the drawing are the outer edge WITH sheeting. So You need to substract the thickness of the sheeting you are going touse so the templatesfor foam-cutting will be accurate. Just easy to forget this. Just measure on the drawing and You will see this.
It will be exciting to follow this build.

/Bo

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't noticed that.

good luck , what anoher great project !!....

regards
steve

Here's a few pics of the cowl mold. I forgot to take a picture prior to pouring the material. I think the mold turned out very nice. It'a a 2 part polyurethane used for industrial molds.

Here's a few updates... Got the gel cote in the mold, glass laid, and the first cowl out. It turned out really good for my first glass project. I'm also thinking about doing the turtle decks with glass or carbon fibre... The fuse sides are also done just waiting to get the formers finished up.

Chris,

very nicely done!

With the cowl and canopy molds, you should consider making a short kit including these, and laser cut wood for the fuse and cores for the wings, stabs and turtle deck. Glass, carbon decks sound nice but they do require painting. Using sheeted foam decks gives you the option to produce a model which can be entirely covered (except for the cowl).

BTW, what industrial mold material did you use for the cowl? Where to obtain it? I like what appears to be a relatively easy pour into the mould container approach.

David.

P.S. I'm building a Calypso at the moment - getting retract gear work done on the panels.

Thank you David, I'd like to do a kit for this but first things first. Once I get through this one I'll look more into that. I'm planning on painting the fuse so the glass or carbon deck will be quicker and easier for me right now. I'm even considering painting the entire plane.


The material I used for the mold was given to me by a friend that works in a pattern shop. It's called Pro-cast 132. It was very easy to use and didn't harm my brand new Supra-Fly 45 Unlimited cowl. I'm not sure were to get it but I bet there's a lot of other products just like it.

Chris,

Here are some more Supra Fly 60 pictures. It is from EZ Modelers Catalog No. 5.
Maybe they will inspire You on your way to building,finish and eventually fly your Supra Fly.

regards,
Bo

Bo, once again... Thank you. The info and pictures are awesome.

Thought it was time for an update. There's not much to see here, fuse is coming together. Wing and stab cores should be here in a week or two.

Double post.

Chris,

very nice! Progress?

I'm just about 3 years behind you...

When you have some figures/info on the cowl/canopy and cores, please PM me with costs. It might also be worth looking into having the decks done in foam - precise and quick. Since one is sheeting wings/stabs, doing the decks as well as just a little more epoxy...

I did the decks with formers and sheeting but it is somewhat more time consuming if you want clean and light results (bored out all the formers).

David.

What plans did you use for yours?

The ones I haven't drawn up yet... Actually, there are no Calypso plans I'm aware of so I will draw some up.

This is a Blue Bird (World Models) kit. For what its worth, some cores, some fuse sides and some badly warped glass, ply and balsa. Considering its a ~27 year old kit, I can't complain. Back in the day it would have been something - today, better off laser cutting fresh cores and wood. I was interested in your mold material in order to make one for this cowl. Hopefully, I'll get around to it before putting it in service.

David.

Chris,

did Bo send you the 2500 digitally? I have a copy but it is pretty poor quality so I can't blow it up.

David.

Yes, I got them in both PDF and TIF formats.

Here's some updated pictures. Fuse formers, firewall, and rear pipe tunnel are in. I laminated 6oz carbon on lite-ply. I think they turned out great!

I got back on reproducing the canopy.

Here's the pics.

I cradled the original, sealed it off, and used the same material that I used to mold the cowl.

Now it's time to build the vacuum form!

This is very cool Chris.

So the ply plates on the bottom are to provide some structure to the plug? To pull the original canopy from the plug, do you simply disassemble the cradle and pull it right off? I imagine you need to spray the canopy interior with release wax - correct?

I understand that mold silicone is quite pricey but I bet it is really very fast compared to the traditional two part glass/epoxy approach - right?

David.