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SPORTPLANE BUILDER Tony Bingelis

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SPORTPLANE BUILDER Tony Bingelis SPORTPLANE BUILDER Tony Bingelis WHAT does a wood aircraft look like? of construction. Actually, compared to the necessary manhours more freely It can look like an ordinary production metal construction, simple wooden than dollars. airplane ... but it doesn't have to. airplanes are cheaper to build and re- It can look like a perky little biplane, quire little or no special tools and equip- HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? an amphibian, or maybe like a plush low ment other than typical home workshop wing job with a sliding canopy. On the tools. No construction material will last other hand, it might look like something Certainly, most of us have more basic forever .. aluminum corrodes, steel out of the pages of history - a World experience working with wood than we rusts, composites decay, wood decays. War I or World War II fighter, perhaps. have with composites and metal alloys. However, with the proper protective Then again, it might look like a sporty When you complete your wood air- measures you can virtually eliminate open cockpit homebuilt obviously in- craft according to the plans, you will be rusting, corrosion and decay in what- tended for fun flying and airport hop- assured of a very stable structure, one ever material you choose to use. ping. It can even look like a sleek, remarkably resistant to a broad range Wood assembled with good glues speedy, high tech design with a tucked of stress factors ... and best of all it will and adhesives, and treated with protec- up landing gear, controllable prop and be fully paid for, easy to maintain, and tive coatings, can be made to last for loaded with instruments and avionics. easy to repair. decades. In short, your wood airplane can be con- A wood airplane, like a composite For that matter, a number of home- structed to look like any kind of aircraft one, is much quieter than a metal air- builts built in the early 1930s are still your mind can conceive .. but, best of craft because wood doesn't "oil can" airworthy today. This, in spite of the fact all, it doesn't even have to be painted and resonate noisily like metal. that the glue used in those bygone days white like those fast, but expensive, Perhaps the primary reason wood air- was a casein glue. "plastic" ('scuse me, "composite") jobs. craft are not being built commercially is Casein glue was a dairy by-product. So, why not consider building a wood simply because, by its very nature, It lacked gap filling qualities and was airplane with a personality of its own wood does not lend itself to automated not waterproof or resistant to mold. That .. one that will not suffer that "look mass-production. Obviously, this form made it far inferior to most glues and alike" monotony so characteristic of of construction is not a drawback to the epoxies available to builders today. many current aircraft designs. average builder who merely wants to Even so, poor glue notwithstanding, build only one aircraft and can expend these wood wonders have not only sur- WHY WOOD? Well, why not? Indeed, wood is a natural construc- tion material ... the only aircraft build- ing material not manufactured by man. It is readily available, and even the smallest of community lumberyards may carry some of the woods suitable for use in aircraft construction (Douglas Fir, for example). You can buy a few boards and rip them to size if you have a bench saw. Or if you prefer you can purchase di- mensioned aircraft spruce wing rib capstrips and pre-cut longeron mate- rials from one of the homebuilder supply houses. A builder with a good set of plans in hand, and a strong desire to build, will find that wood is easy to work with and is as strong as most man-made compos- ite materials and light alloys. Furthermore, an aircraft built mostly of wood will provide you with an You can begin construction of your wood aircraft inexpensively by starting with the airplane for which the overall cost, even wing ribs. Very little expense is involved here and the satisfaction gained with the today, remains lower than other forms completion of each rib is hard to convey to non-builders. SPORT AVIATION 71 vived but a number of them are still air- worthy 50 years later. Today, in addition to the availability and use of superior adhesives and pre- servatives, the complete aircraft struc- ture is normally protected with two or three coats of clear glossy polyurethane varnish. This varnish is waterproof and does an excellent job of sealing out moisture. Another protective treatment for wood structures, known as the "West System", is used by many wood boat builders as a means for waterproofing a boat's framing and planking. It is an epoxy that coats and seals the wood quite effectively. Many homebuilders also use it. Longevity of a wood structure is un- limited provided no moisture is allowed to become entrapped over long periods of time. This means that if moisture en- ters a wood structure it should readily The rugged strength of the easy-to-buitd wood structure of a Boredom Fighter is most drain out so that no water remains ac- evident here. cumulated anywhere. You can ac- complish this with strategically located paratively inexpensive tail surfaces. ful hands-on experience and enter- drain holes. No entrapped moisture - no This enables you to become familiar tained yourself quite inexpensively, too. dry rot. with the construction practices, and to If you are a wheeler-dealer type, you Incidentally, this same need is appli- develop your skills on the relatively sim- might even be able to sell what you cable to metal aircraft structures, too. ple and least costly parts of the air- have completed to someone else. You These drain holes should be inspected plane. can't lose ... unlike bowling, golfing or periodically to assure that they remain All you need, besides the plans, is attending rock concerts, etc., you will at open. some glue, wood strips, a small sheet least have something to show for your of plywood and, perhaps, some small modest initial expenditure. ARE KITS AVAILABLE FOR aircraft nails. With these basic materials WOOD AIRCRAFT DESIGNS? on hand, you can get started on your THE THREE EASIEST TO project by constructing the tail surfaces BUILD WOOD AIRCRAFT Yes, but their numbers are not many, or, as many builders prefer, building nor are these kits as highly prefabri- wing ribs. I'll bet you have accumulated your cated as those for the current crop of Should you learn that building a wood share of brochures, visited local build- high dollar composite aircraft. aircraft is not for you, you can simply ers and once you even bought a set of Wood aircraft designs, for the most quit - and you will not be out much plans for an airplane that just caught part, are not available in kit form where money at all. everyone's fancy. It seemed just like the the major components, fuselage, wings Even so, you will have had some use- airplane for you until you studied the and tail section are prefabricated. In other words, you will have to assemble these parts from raw materials, or in some cases, from basic wood kits con- sisting of bulkheads and ribs ... or more likely consisting of wood, plywood, glue, nails, etc. Special, hard to make parts like cowl- ings, canopies, landing gear compo- nents, engine mounts and similar parts are available for many of the more pop- ular wood aircraft designs. However, even if you do elect to pur- chase some ready made parts, the overall cost of building a wood airplane is quite modest compared to those so- called, complete kit projects because you will be doing most of the construc- tion. YOU CAN GET STARTED FOR, SAY, $100 As with most projects, even the ex- A wood fuselage ready for its fabric covering reveals the simple method of construc- pensive kit types, building an aircraft tion typical of almost all wood aircraft... four longerons, truss braces, and stringers. begins with the construction of the com- All joints are strengthened with plywood gussets or plywood skins. 72 MAY 1991 and are reinforced with grooved upper and lower capstrips. There is even an option for converting the basic low wing Fly Baby to a biplane using the same fuselage, tail and land- ing gear. After some 30 years or so, the Fly Baby is a well proven design. Hundreds have been built and continue to be built by builders interested in having a good safe economical airplane to fly. The construction manual is a plea- sure to use and it has proved to be a reliable best friend for many a first time builder. THE PIETENPOL AIR CAMPER This charmer was originally designed and built by "Bernie" Pietenpol in the early '30s way up in the Minnesota north country. Thousands of the "Piet", as it is affec- The Fly Baby in its element. This is what they mean by grassroots flying it will tionately called by builders and owners, never get better than this. have been built in all parts of the world. Many, many modifications have been plans and concluded that it would be THE FLY BABY tried through the years but rarely did too expensive to build .. even if you any of them (airfoil shapes, etc.) result could figure out how to build it. in improved flight characteristics over Well, there is new hope for you to Construction is all wood with fabric the original design.
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