Claude, of course you are correct. I have a couple options so far but nothing decided yet.

Tesla f3a
Avatar f3a
Nebula

The name is Fred............

No Scott, that would not be fitting at all. Need to add more to it. It is a BI plane so maybe Freddy as in Freddy Mercury?


Im thinking Nebula is the winner. It's the name Virginia likes the best and as you know she usually gets her way LOL

Hi Shawn

Nebula is already used in France.
Friend of mine Rémi designed his personal plane.
Claude

Well shoot! I liked Tesla F3A better anyways. I think I have plenty of time to figure out the name. Looks like I will do more sanding and work on the cowl this weekend.

Fred Squared maybe???????????

Being that it is a pattern airplane which of course implies a certain higher level of sophistication, it would at minimum have to be Frederick.

Well if you want something fancy here is a place to start..... Aristocratic names.

http://www.babynames.net/list/aristocrat-names

:D

Ken

EDIT: I'm thinking "Hildebrand" Sword used in battles

I have pretty much decided to go with Tesla F3A. It conveys every aspect of what I want this airplane to be. US designed, high performance electric, stylish and a game changer.

I worked on the cowl some today. Just a couple changes but will alter the look quite a bit. The next pictures will be after I get the cowl shape the way I want and attached to the fuse and the final rough out of the fuse. Then it will be time to cut foam.

Oh, it is electric? Why didn't you say so. That makes it simple... The name is Wimpy.

End of story.

Scott

Scott, Scott, Scott, you mean to tell me you didn't figure that out the first time I mentioned the name Tesla? LOL it would be a great airplane for the New YS 200 but between the engine, mount and exhaust I would be spending about 1,500.00. The planned electric setup will cost less 1/3 of that. It will perform just as well and be far less maintenance. Not that the YS engine needs a lot of maintenance, quite the opposite but the by products of the YS ( fuel residue, vibration ) are what requires the additional.

Shawn, I was not always the first one to raise my hand in class......................

LOL as long as you stay at a Holiday Inn Experess once in a while.

I believe the name "Tesla" may already be taken.... Stop me if I am going too fast for you.

Scott

As is Mooney.....LOL

Tesla as in the car manufacturer and the rock band and the inventor.

Sanding, sanding, sanding.......I forgot how much fun making a plug was. However, the more I work on it and get it closer to its final shape the more I like it. The hatch is being made from pink foam and only has about 1/2 hour of sanding so far. Just to get a feel for the rudder I cut one out of pink foam as well. Going to start with some sample layups to help determine what weights of cloth and core material I will use.

A few better pictures after some sanding. Tomorrow, a bit more sanding and then I will glue the canopy in place. By the end of the weekend I hope to have the fuselage ready for glassing and wing templates cut. I have been doing research on epoxy resins for both the molds and final production. I will be talking with my buddy Scott over the weekend about the resin system he uses for mold production and have decided that MGS will be used for the production of parts. I figure I will need a resin that will give me 2 hours of working time. The fuse will be a minimum of 3 layers of cloth with a core material that will need to be vacuum bagged. 2 hours will be pushing it.

"The Builder" over in the hand launch forum of RCG is using a mix of water putty and epoxy for his molds. Now they are a bit smaller but he says the WP/Epoxy mix is very hard and tough. I believe he uses a 50/50 mix. Maybe a PM to him would be in order if that might be an interest to you.

Ken

Ken, I will certainly check into that but I have a feeling that the size of my fuselage may be the issue. I think even the water putty will generate some heat while curing and the more you use the higher the temp. As I get closer, I will be investigating more. Even though I am an aerospace composites tech for a living, the technologies here are a bit different. My plan at this point is to have the plug prepped up with a splitter plate, well waxed up and a medium coat of PVA applied. I will then mix up some Klass Kote clear with some graphite powder and spray 3-4 coats of that mixture onto the plug. Next will be a mixture of epoxy, graphite powder and cabosil brushed on in about an .080 thickness. Once that gels I will do another layer of the epoxy/canosil mixture and lay down 4 layers of 1.4 oz cloth. That will end the first day. The second day will be 4 layers of 3.7 oz cloth and the third day will be 14 layers of 10 oz weight 8" strips run in 0-90-45-135-45-90-0 orientation twice. At least that is the plan as of now. I will be starting off with the wheel pant molds first.

Ken, I will certainly check into that but I have a feeling that the size of my fuselage may be the issue. I think even the water putty will generate some heat while curing and the more you use the higher the temp. As I get closer, I will be investigating more. Even though I am an aerospace composites tech for a living, the technologies here are a bit different. My plan at this point is to have the plug prepped up with a splitter plate, well waxed up and a medium coat of PVA applied. I will then mix up some Klass Kote clear with some graphite powder and spray 3-4 coats of that mixture onto the plug. Next will be a mixture of epoxy, graphite powder and cabosil brushed on in about an .080 thickness. Once that gels I will do another layer of the epoxy/canosil mixture and lay down 4 layers of 1.4 oz cloth. That will end the first day. The second day will be 4 layers of 3.7 oz cloth and the third day will be 14 layers of 10 oz weight 8" strips run in 0-90-45-135-45-90-0 orientation twice. At least that is the plan as of now. I will be starting off with the wheel pant molds first.

The canopy has been glued on and the first round of filler has been applied. Next week I will lay down a layer of 3.7 oz cloth which will get blocked out and then a finish layer of 1.4 oz. then of course prime and paint will follow.

Shawn, you might want to touch that canopy up a bit.. It fits about like a saddle on a hog.

Scott

Foam cutting this weekend. Before I can finalize the fuselage I need to have wings and stabs in hand. Still happy with the progress. The wheel pant plug is done and I have a good starting point for the landing gear. The CF wing tubes have come in as well. Im getting close to be able to mock it up and get a good feel for the final look.

Yep, I will have to pot it in place to really get the fit correct. After the fuse is glassed I will cover the hatch area with Monokote and then wax. I will then put down a couple layers of 3.7 oz cloth to form the bottom of the hatch to an exact fit to the opening. I will brush a paste of epoxy and cabosil on the bottom of the hatch plug and put in place. After the epoxy has cured I can do the final sanding and then actually glass it into place. Once that has cured and gets blocked out, it will be cut free and then will be a perfect match.

Looking good Shawn. I figured you would clean those lines up a little bit. Almost ready to make a mold.

Scott