coyote216

Here are the rest of the formers with the spars

coyote216

fairchild24

Hello Kiriakos :
I just started a 82 inch span hughes H-1 about 2 weeks ago. I couldn't find a good plan so I am scratch building from 3 view drawings and pictures.
I have built a "keel " out of two layers of 1/8 birch ply. This forms a perrimeter ooutline (1/4 by 1/2 ) I plan to lay this down flat on the table and put on the right
half formers. then a side stringer or two. Then the left formers and stringers.
I decided to NOT make the former just behind the cowl a structural part. I will try to start the motor mount at the former just behind the frontmost big one .
I'm going to try spinning an aluminum ring cowl for it (?) I am going to try sheeting the fuse with woodworking veneer and then a coat of silkspan soaked
with resin. Like a hard thin shell over the very thin wood. Then maybe a coat of 2 part automotive polyurethane.

I am still wrestleing with which airfoils to use. I am considering a selig 8038 root and naca 2212 tip.
or maybe a 2315 root and 2412 tip (?)
I want good landing manners !
Want flaps like real plane.
Was thinking of putting a hinge on the rear of the horizonal stab and a jack screw at the front to make a ground adjustable incidence stab.
(untill I find the perfect angle to minimise trim on power changes)
.......IFI can do it so as not to be too heavy .........

Your plane looks beautifull !
You are building it like it is a kyak ! The boat builders call the jig a "horse". They put on stringers first then formers (more sticks! )
How big of an engine are you considering ? 38 cc ? 50cc ?
I am hoping for a light build maybe I can get away with a 1.2 4 stroke (?)
Can you give me a reccomendation of airfoils ?
Another fellow mentioned that he built one but had to move the wing rearward about 1 inch for cg reasons. (don't know if he was heavy in the tail than
he needed to be ) I think I am going to try to keep mine in the scale position. Just have to build lite ! :-)

Keep the pics comming !

Tim

coyote216

Hello again everyone.

Tim thanks for the good words and I wish you many happy construction hours.
I guess every building method is effective as long as it suits with your building plans.
I find very interesting your method and especially the aluminum cowl. It's the part that I haven't
decided yet how to make it. I guess there is time until I get there.
Anyway my building plan is to skin the fuse with 3mm balsa because I don't know if the formers are
going to be cut precise as they are cut by hand. So I want to have enough material for sanding.
After the fuselage is ended I will also glass it. But I haven't decided if I am going to paint it
or to cover it with aluminum tape. I'll see what's best at the time.
As for the airfoils, the plans are made from a fellow modeler who knows how to design rc planes and
he was kind enough to help me with the wings. I'll try to find witch airfoil he used and I'll let you
know as soon as I can.
The engine is going to be the sc 5 cylinder radial 65cc 4stroke glow engine. And the weight I'm aiming for is
12 to 13 kg.

Imagine the look in my eyes when my brother in law Saw a picture of the fuselage and told me that it was
a very nice submarine. I guess it's the way I build it ha ha..

About the adjustable incidence stab I'm not so sure about it, besides the weight. Have you considered of trim
tabs instead?
And yes, please try to keep the wing in place.
Hope I could help

Kiriakos.

coyote216

And here are some pics from the first pieces of the skin.

fairchild24

I think building a left half and then a right half is a appendage left over from my childhood days of building rubber band powered "comet" planes !
If you know someone with a medium sized metal lathe you can spin your own cowl I bet. You get a piece of water pipe. Screw a steel flange on end. stack up
plywood disks on it and then cut the disks on the lathe to get the exact shape of the inside of the cowl. Have a threaded hole in th end (where the propellor shaft would
be) Cut a piece of sheet aluminum ( 1100 or 3003 type ) into a round disk, and drill a hole in center for that threaded hole. Bolt the disk on the front of the mendrel
and tighten the bolt. The lathe has to be big enough so that the outer edge of disk does not hit the bed of the lathe. Start the lathe. Use a tool like a piece of oak wood
and beeswax. Just start pushing on the spinning disk - gradualy work it back over the mandrel a little bit at a time. The beeswax lubricates the surface and lets the tool
slip easily. After you get to the other end of the mandrel you cut off the sheet just past the mandrel. ( you can ruin it here if not carefull - maybe just make a groove and then
cut it with dremel ) If the lathe owner is a GOOD frend he might do this for you if you make the mandrel ! A complication with the hughes cowl is that it had a double taper.
Have to figure out a way to make the back half of the mandrel collapse inward so cowl could be remover toward front. I havnt figured out how to do that yet.

The screw jack on the tail idea was used on some full sized planes on the 1930 's. I read that howard hughes went to great lengths to get the horizonal stab at just the perfect
angle so that when changed throttle settings there would be no need to re-trim the elevator. I am building a prototype so I was thinking of that as way to find the perfect
angle for the stab. This is my first searious scratch built plane so I will probably make lots of mistakes !

I think I am going to veneer the leading edges, the tips and the center section . leaving the main areas rear of the spar to be fabric covered. Maybe add cap strips to the
wing ribs where there is not sheeting. This seems to make the ribs a little less noticeable through the fabric.

Still have to figure out how to make the support structurein the fusilage which forms the wing cradle. Also I may make a removable tail cone ( lower half) so the
horizinal stab assyembly can be removed out the back.

I too was thinking about covering with aluminum somehow. I have considered using ONLY aluminum for the skin on the body. Maybe .010 inch sheet like roof
flashing stuff. Thats a little thin for rivets though. Not sure what glue I could depend on there ( if any ) ????? Probably have to do it in rings arround a few inches wide.
Not sure how to do the joints where it would come together. A foil would definately be easier to use ! I saw a material like gold leaf except it is aluminum.
don't know how that would be...... The H-1 had all flush rivets so ugly panel lines wouldn't seem to be appropriate. (sadly I bet the tape would do that well ..)
Not sure if the leaf type would be durrable enough without an overcoat of something clear - which would ruin the neabare aluminum look I would think.

Maybe a working spring / oleo type gear leg ? Thats for later though !

I think it could be a REALLY fast plane if a relatively thin airfoil was used ( and a big engine! )

The real plane was REALLLLY heavy. like 6 or 7000 lbs ! Maybe hughes WAS trying to build a submarine after all !

I will post a pick when there is something worth seing !
It is neat to see yours in the meantime !

Keep up the great work !

T

coyote216

Propably I'll decide which type of cowl I'm going to use depending on the first results of balance.
Unfortunately the lathe is not an option but I'm thinking of making one in the case of a fiberglass cowl.

Based on the drawnings of the real H-1 I think that the angle of the stab was the one that Hughes ultimately used.
Also I think that the less complicated the less trouble you will get. Then again I'm trying to build it as close
to the real one. Except the fuselage which it has to be from balsa. The materials are similar to the H-1.
Wood for the wings, fabric for the control surfaces and metal... well for metal I'll just have to make it look
like it. For documentation I'm using every picture I can find on the internet. And most of them are from the
replika so I guess its more likely to look closer to the replika than the Hughes one.

By the way the airfoil that I'm using is the Naca 2415.

coyote216

Some pics from the fin

coyote216

a diferent angle just before placing the hinges

coyote216

here we are we the hinges in place

coyote216

and a small detail

coyote216

Hello everyone

Is there any chance I can find documentation for the H-1? The only thing I got are some pics from the internet.
Very helpfull I may say, but I would like to use anything that could help me to build parts like the cockpit,
the retracts or any other part of the plane, on a more scale style.

Tim how is your plane going? can't wait to see your project.

Kir.

RAMFlyer

My Feedback: (65)

I would countersink the area for the hinge knuckle so you can close the hinge gap down as much as possible. The H1 was a high speed plane and this much gap might contibute to flutter...

coyote216

RAMFlyer thanks for the advice, I'm going to need many of them.

I'm planning to do so later on, as I'm just doing the test fits for now. I'm trying to be as accurate as I can be
with the hinges in order to have the best movement for the rudder and the elevator. That's why I had to make a new
set of holes for the hinges on the rudder.

coyote216

After the rudder, the next thing to do was the elevator.

The movement is going to be via pull pull cables, to keep the controls hidden.

coyote216

coyote216

coyote216

RAMFlyer

My Feedback: (65)

Great Work!!!

I ordered my H1 cowl while I was at the Toledo show on Friday. I'm going to be building the Pepino plan version of the H1, probably this next winter...

coyote216

Thanks a lot RAMFlyer

I have to say that you're so lucky to have these shows, - no such luck here-.
Could you tell me some info about the cowl
and the Pepino plan,what size they are etc.?

coyote216

The time has come to set the fuselage free from the jig.

coyote216

The first piece from the wing seat. It is a bit modified to accept the long version wing set

coyote216

The upper side skin is almost finished

coyote216

coyote216