1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

Is Glenn Torrence still selling 1/4 scale cowl kits for the DrI? And, if so, what's the diameter?

RE: 1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

Seems to be available still:

http://www.flygtm.com/products.php?t...ni&kit=cowling

RE: 1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

I measured my GTM cowl and it's a little bigger than 10.5 in., maybe 10-5/8.

RE: 1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

Thanks. I've been "trying on" the idea of (sometime) doing a scratch-built 1/4 DrI and have blown up some scans of the Ian Stairs drawings to the size of the GTM cowl. The pots I usually use for cowls are perhaps a bit too flat-faced for the DrI so basing the build on GTM cowl would seem like a smart idea. Looks like 7" wheels are also about right. I had initially considered working off Achim Engel's plans for his full-scale replica but those drawings are apparently no longer for sale.

RE: 1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

Glenn will print whatever size you'd like. I have a 1/4.5 DrI direct from him.

Martin

RE: 1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

The last price I saw for Achim Engel's plans was $800. I think he stopped selling because either people trying to steal his work or was tired of nitpickers, when they had done nothing themselves. Gary Sewall on the Aerodrome has his own plans, not for sale as I asked, but he said he would not mind contributing or reviewing if I came up with problems. I think his plans are possibly the best as he has been working on them for 40 years trying to perfect them; that's his hobby. I have seen snippits on the aerodrome.
I would be interested in trying to draw up a scale structure 1/4 Dr1 plan too.

RE: 1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

If I did a 1/4 scale DrI, I'd want to go all out and that would mean essentially building a miniature flying replica vs. "a model." For example, I would consider starting with a welded stainless steel tube frame. But still I wouldn't want this to become a decades long obsession.

I think you're right and I certainly wouldn't have paid that much. I'm not up on the bleeding edge of DrI scholarship. I just know that the Ian Stairs drawings in the datafile(s) are considered more up to date than the Nieto drawings (which I love so much). But the Stairs drawings don't provide all the information needed.

I'm just looking for sharp technical drawings that I can blow up to 1/4 scale. The lines on the crop from Stairs drawings got awfully fuzzy at 400%.

RE: 1/4 scale DrI cowl?
 

Technical drawings are the key. Almost nothing is available without creating it yourself; even WW1 Aero has almost nothing. If you look at the Stairs footnotes, the info came from Engel and DSA. I hope the estate of DSA keeps selling his work, I know he had 6 pages of drawings, not blueprint type drawings but details and dimensions. The details are the tough part. Drafting up from a 3 view is not to bad, but if you want accuracy you need dimensions plotted. You dont know what distortions the picture of the original 3 view has built in much less the blowup.